EscapingLightning Read online

  Mistress Welk chuckled. “Then he simply is curious. There will be no harm in you attending for a meal.”

  Onari nodded and went about her preparations for lunch. When it was time, she checked her hair and the uniform of the palace in the mirror. She was exposing about half of the flesh of her body, yet all salient parts were covered.

  She picked up the first dish and led the pack into the dining hall. She almost came to a complete halt, but kept going through sheer force of will. Her cousin was sitting next to King Iro and his offensive face and smug attitude was enough to set her teeth on edge.

  As she approached, she heard Iro mention, “I find your obsession with inbreeding to be fascinating. It weakens the lines.”

  Mekar sniffed, “Of course, you would think that. Your folk are well known for mating with any passing shifter.”

  Onari could not believe the disrespect that Mekar was showing to the larger tiger shifter. He was not even speaking to him as an equal, but as a subservient.

  “And your folk are known for locking your women behind walls and smothering them in public with mobile tents.”

  “Our women have more potent pheromones than yours do, it is necessary for our peace of mind to keep them contained.”

  Onari withdrew after serving the first course and waited for the king to signal the end of his meal.

  She listened to their discussion of tradition and physiologies of their races, only moving forward to clear Iro’s plate and give him the next course. A runner was supplying her with the necessary platters and more than one noble gave her a long and assessing look.

  Though Mekar looked directly at her four times, he never looked at her face, the little pervert.

  Iro’s behaviour was more disturbing to her. He inhaled deeply each time she leaned forward and after a while, the very act of removing his plate started a thrum of arousal through her. By the time the dessert course arrived, she was almost quivering in place. The proximity to Iro’s scent was wreaking havoc on her ability to concentrate.

  He seemed content to draw the meal out to ridiculous ends.

  “Why are you pursuing your cousin? It doesn’t seem like she wants you in her bed.”

  Mekar sighed and told the truth. “My cousin is the strongest psychic my people have seen for decades. Her mother was the last one and if my idiot uncle hadn’t killed her, there would have been more daughters to choose from.”

  Onari’s blood turned to ice.

  “Psychic? How so?”

  Mekar took a gulp of wine. He was in his sixth cup. “She controls the seasons. When she is calm, everything is fine, but under stress, she can even call lightning down.”

  Iro nodded. “Those worthy talents indeed. Any others?”

  “Not that are documented.”

  “I see. No wonder you want to get her back. Well, your folk have been over the palace nine times, the city twenty. She isn’t here. You would do better to concentrate your efforts elsewhere.” The steel in Iro’s tone came through, even to Mekar’s addled senses.

  Onari watched the prince stagger to his feet and leave with his embarrassed guards in tow.

  A murmur of amused tones rippled through the crowd and Iro finished his dessert. When his plate was clear, he grabbed Onari’s wrist as she reached for it.

  He murmured to her, “We need to talk.”

  She nodded and made her getaway while he got to his feet and left the dining hall.

  Onari breathed deeply once she was out of his sphere of influence. The wind howled outside and she controlled herself once again.

  Mistress Welks came toward her and eyed her with concern. “You don’t look well.”

  “I am not. Is there a place outside the palace where I can hide for a week?”

  “I can look into it.”

  “If you would. I can’t pay you now, but I will as soon as I can be myself again.” She was trembling all over.

  “I know the timing is horrid, but the king wishes to see you in his study.”

  Onari concentrated on nodding. “I will go immediately.”

  “You haven’t eaten.”

  “Thank you, but I am not hungry.” She straightened her shoulders and went to meet her doom.

  The guards at the entrance to his study stood straight as she passed them. They did not challenge her and that worried her in and of itself.

  The outer room was empty, and when she knocked on the inner room, a voice answered, “Come in, Onari.”

  She opened the door and at his gesture, closed it behind her.

  She walked up to his desk and stood still, looking down at the rich wood of the desktop.

  “Why won’t you meet my gaze?”

  “It isn’t seemly, Your Majesty.”

  “Seemly or not, show me those eyes.” His demand was implacable.

  Slowly, she raised her gaze to his and the heavy pulse in her loins started again. “Satisfied, Your Majesty?”

  He grinned, showing a hard jaw with an impish sense of humour. “Not hardly. I was rock hard after lunch and I told you what would happen if you aroused me again.”

  She blinked and blushed. “I didn’t mean to.”

  “Your scent does it. I have been catching whiffs of it for weeks, but could never find the female it could be traced to. I don’t seduce my staff either, so that has presented a problem until I looked through the palace files to find out that you are not actually my staff.”

  She tried to play innocent. “What do you mean? I am a good worker, really I am.”

  “And yet, you don’t exist and certainly don’t draw a salary. In fact, you appeared on the palace rosters less than an hour after a certain Lanar princess disappeared from under her guards.”

  Onari raised one eyebrow, “Coincidence?”

  “You are the missing princess.”

  “I am not really missing. I know where I am. More like, the runaway princess.” She let a little more of her personality show in her eyes. His silver orbs widened and a grudging respect came into his gaze.

  “Why the early winter?”

  “Medication.”

  “What?”

  “I was on medication and froze my season, so the season froze. I am not sure how it works, but that is what happened.”

  “What was the medication for?”

  “To hold back my heat. It is why Mekar is so frantic to find me. He wants to breed me until there are dozens of babies in the royal family.”

  “Certainly he would allow you time to rest between infants.”

  She threw her head back and laughed. “There would be no infants. No babies, not for me. Just endless pregnancies and having the children removed and implanted in surrogates.”

  His expression grew dark. “What do you mean?”

  She let anger show on her face. “I mean that Mekar will come to me every time I am in heat, he will fuck me until I am with child and I will go to a doctor the next day who will remove the embryo and give it to another woman. And then it will happen again. And because I won’t carry a child to term, I will go into heat every freaking month. That will be my life.”

  King Iro sat back in his chair. “What can I do to help?”

  “Find me a place to hide. My body betrays me here. I will be sending out enough come-and-get-me pheromones to summon half your guard in a few days. I need to hide.” She dragged in a shaking breath. “I am sorry to inconvenience you. It was never my intention.”

  He nodded. “Give me a few hours to come up with a plan, but first, you have to attend to a certain matter.”

  Onari cocked her head. “What is that?”

  “I told you, the next time you aroused me, you would have to do something about it. Now is good.” He gestured to his lap and she struggled with what he was asking of her.

  In a daze, she came around the desk and he turned to face her. She dropped to her knees between his thighs and reached out to unsnap his trousers. His cock snapped out and she jumped a little, but soon got over being startled and leaned in t
o taste him.

  The wood armrests of his chair creaked as he tightened his hands on them. The heat and flavour of him soon outweighed her confusion as to what to do. She lapped at the head of his cock, flicking her tongue into the tip and swirling it around. She gripped the shaft with one hand and placed her other on his thigh for balance as she sucked and stroked.

  A rhythm came to her that felt natural and a pulse began between her thighs. She moved her free hand from his thigh to the join of her own and slipped her fingertips beneath her tights. She moaned and rocked against her own hand as she sucked and stroked faster and faster.

  His groans took on a tempo that she matched and as his cock jerked in her hand, jetting his seed into her throat, she wailed as a wet rush of heat accompanied her own release.

  Her scent and his thickened the air. She withdrew from his cock with a light pat, putting it back where she had found it. He was leaning back in the chair with his eyes closed, his hands turned to paws that had gouged the wood.

  She rose to her feet and began to lick the fingers she had used on herself. His eyes snapped open and he gripped her hand in his. He pulled her to him, draping her across him while he licked her fingers and sucked each digit into his mouth, one at a time. Her trembling was uncontrollable by the time he finished and her heat was once again raging.

  “You were going to work on my plan of escape, Your Majesty.” Her words were whispered against the thick cords of his neck.

  “I have a place in the mountains. You can go there and hide until after your heat passes. From there, we will determine where you should go.” He was still licking and sucking at her fingers.

  “Do you have the directions to the place in the mountains?”

  “I will send you with a driver and plenty of supplies.” He continued lazily licking her fingers.

  “When?”

  “A few hours. Attend to your regular duties and I will come for you when it is time.”

  She nodded and tried to stand up. He didn’t seem to want to let her go.

  “I will have to leave if I am to attend my regular duties.”

  He sighed and helped her back to her feet. She smiled as she left the door, “Now you owe me one.”

  He barked a surprised laugh that must have reached the hall outside. The guards were grinning as she passed and as quickly as she could, she went for a shower, scrubbing the traces of her scent and his from her form.

  She was in a clean uniform and polishing the staircase in under half an hour. Several folks passed her by, some fellow maids who called out greetings. Onari simply kept her head down and polished for all she was worth.

  A hand on her shoulder brought her out of her peculiar meditation. She looked up and wished she hadn’t. “Your Majesty.”

  “Come. Now.”

  She got to her feet and swiftly moved to put her equipment away. He tried to forestall her, but she gave him a glare and completed her task.

  With her hands reeking of polish, she looked up at the shifter king. “Where are we going?”

  He sighed and grabbed her by one arm. He hauled her out one of the side doors to a two-man skimmer loaded with crates. He took the controls and before she could realize what that meant, they were off.

  As they flew, he opened in a conversational tone, “You have changed much since you were a child.”

  She snorted. “Yes, Your Majesty, that happens to females. They grow and change over the course of twelve years. You remember me then?”

  “I remembered those eyes of yours. They have remained the same throughout the passing of time.”

  She bit her lip. “They say my mother had the same eyes, but since I have only seen one portrait of her, I couldn’t say for sure.”

  He glanced at her, his silver eyes gleaming. “I met your mother once. She was beautiful and gentle, her eyes glowed with good humour. A little tiger like me should have been beneath her notice on her wedding day, but she gave me a rose and told me to take care of it. One day it would grow into something beautiful.”

  Tears pricked her eyes. “And did you?”

  He flew them into a small gap between two mountains. A large cottage sat in a valley surrounded by lush rosebushes. “You tell me.”

  Iro landed them on a small pad and she wandered out of the skimmer to smell the roses. Tears started down her face as she realized that the blooming and beautiful bushes were a touchstone to the mother that died before she could know her.

  Behind her, Iro unpacked the skimmer and carried the boxes into the cottage.

  She didn’t know if it was hours or days that she spent caressing the flowers and tapping the thorns. The petals of each rose were the softest she had ever felt. As she rubbed one against her cheek, she remembered a scent, warm and woman that had to be her mother, a soft cheek rubbing against her own and a cascade of laughter.

  Her mother. Queen for a year and dead when her daughter was two months old. Everyone had told Sehra that it was complications from childbirth, but complications didn’t kick in six weeks later and as soon as she figured that out, she ceased to see her father as a parent, but rather as a warden holding her prisoner.

  “Come inside, Onari, or should I call you Sehra?”

  She turned and nodded. “Sehra is fine, Your Majesty.”

  He wrapped an arm around her and led her into the cottage. “Sehra, you have had my cock down your throat, you can call me Iro.”

  She blushed and shivered at the memory. “I don’t know how I could have forgotten that.”

  “I have to say I am rather insulted.”

  “Sorry. I was distracted by the roses.”

  He had set out the supplies for tea and a snack.

  “Iro, what is this place?” Bemused, she watched as he handed her a cup of tea.

  “My private hideaway. I come here to hunt and think things out.”

  The word caught her attention. “Hunt?” Her voice was wistful.

  “Yes. Would you like to?” He raised a brow.

  “Now?” She slugged back the tea and looked at him hopefully.

  He grinned. “You are serious?”

  “I haven’t been able to run in three years. Pacing in my rooms isn’t the same. I need to run.”

  “Then we shall run. Wait on the hunting though. You might not want to over stimulate yourself.”

  Before he finished speaking, she was at the door and stripping off her clothing. She stepped into the cool mountain air with a smile and raised her arms to unbind her hair.

  Iro stripped next to her and quirked a smile. “I remember your hair being lighter.”

  “It is, but it was thought to be a little bit of a giveaway, so we dyed it.” She shook her head and the braid unravelled into a dark cloak. She glanced over at him and his erection made her blink. Apparently, he was excited to be going for a run.

  She raised her arms to the sky and called her other form. Her body transformed in a smooth glide of fur and claws, leaving her on all fours, scenting the air.

  Iro’s male scent overpowered the roses. When he stood next to her in his black and white stripes, she gave in to the urge to rub against him.

  He started to purr as she rubbed her head, neck and body against him. Just when he started to lean back against her, she jumped and started to run.

  She stretched her limbs, digging her claws into the grass as she ran. The wind ruffled her fur and she worked her muscles until she regained the grace of movement that had once been hers.

  A steady thudding behind her caused a frisson of alarm. She was in the presence of a larger predator and he was gaining on her.

  The first strike with his head knocked her to one side and she regained her footing quickly, darting under him and tangling his feet, turning and changing direction in an effort to evade him.

  Sehra pinpointed the cottage in her view and streaked as quickly as she could toward its dubious protection. She didn’t make it.

  The huge body of Iro struck her and bore her to the ground. She tried to squi
rm loose, but he caught her and held her with his jaws on her neck. A few moments of struggle and she surrendered, relaxing under him.

  Her beast receded, leaving her naked human neck in the jaws of the tiger. The crushed green grass under her filled the air with the scent of chlorophyll.

  A deep purr of satisfaction came from Iro’s beast and as he bore his weight onto her back, she felt his fur give way to skin.

  Her pulse pounded, her body pulsed moisture in invitation and Iro slid behind her, parting her thighs with his knee and moving between them.

  He transferred his grip on her neck to her shoulder and pulled her onto her knees.

  Iro ran his hands along her breasts and belly, stroking each inch of her as if committing her to memory.

  She twisted against his hands and rocked her hips against the hot rod of his cock in invitation. Her body writhed, shifted and slid against his, begging without words.

  The hot slide of the blunt head against her opening froze her in place and the moment that he was inside her, she pushed back to take him within.

  Her body concentrated on the feel of him inside her. The slide of the flared head dragging within her stroking every inch of her as he thrust and retreated.

  Sehra dug her nails into the ground, the scent of soil mixing with the earthy scents of sex.

  Iro maintained his bite on her shoulder as they bucked and strained together, the sun beat down on them, the roses sent a column of enticing vapours across them and after an endless round of thrusting and pumping, they roared and screamed their releases to the valley at large. Lightning flashed on the mountaintops and she shuddered as her body milked his dry.

  Iro bore her to the ground, lapping at her neck with a tongue roughened by a partial shift. Sehra had heard that men would use their tongues during sex, but she hadn’t really understood how.

  Iro rolled her to her back and propped himself up on his forearms, licking his way up her neck and rubbing his face against her skin. She shivered and when his lips covered hers, she enjoyed the first true kiss of her life.

  He leaned up on his arms and frowned down at her. “I have a decision to make.”

  She cleared her throat. “What is that?”