The Iriduan’s Mate by Susan Trombley
Thirty-Eight
It wasn’t long after Ava left that Shulgi entered their cabin through the sliding door, looking refreshed, even though his verdant eyes remained somewhat haunted by what he considered to be his failure.
Molly jumped up from the bed where she’d been lounging, her eyelids lolling closed after a very exhausting time. Now, she felt alert, and that had everything to do with Shulgi’s welcome presence. At last, they were alone, in a private place where they could finally be together without fear of discovery or dark secrets forming obstacles between them.
Now, Molly felt strangely nervous, butterflies going wild in her belly as she went to her mate, her hungry gaze admiring the strong lines of his body and the fine chiseled features of his handsome face. He wore a robe now. One probably given to him by the Lusians as he’d essentially abandoned all his property in the dreg, where the chaos was only just dying down.
Though Molly found Shulgi very sexy in his armor, looking like the warrior he was, she preferred the way he looked in the traditional Iriduan robes. His wings folded against his back, gleaming among the silken embroidered dark green fabric of his robe. His hair hung sleek and shiny down his back, with thick locks framing his face. His skin practically glowed with vigor and health.
He studied her in silence as she closed the distance between them, a smile stretching on his handsome lips. “You’re so beautiful, my mate,” he said, holding out his hands to her.
She slipped her fingers into his, her own smile wide as happiness suffused her entire body. “You really make me feel like the most beautiful woman in the galaxy when you look at me like that, Shulgi.”
He released one of her hands to caress her face, then cupped it as he lowered his head. With his lips hovering above hers, he said, “you are the most beautiful woman in the galaxy, Molly. For me, you are the only woman in the galaxy.”
His lips falling upon hers cut off any response she might have made, though her head spun too much to think of what she could possibly say to that. She wrapped her arms around his neck as his kiss claimed her lips, both demanding and enticing her equally hungry response.
She slid one hand from the nape of his neck to the collar of his robe, her fingers toying with the catch at his throat. One quick flick of her finger unhooked that top catch and the seam of the robe parted as she drew her hand down the front of the silken material.
Shulgi moaned against her lips as her other hand trailed the first, pushing aside the silk that hid his powerful body from her view. She caressed his hard, firm muscles, reveling in the feeling of their power twitching and tensing beneath her gentle touch.
Once the robe’s seam was fully parted and it hung loose on his shoulders, Molly’s fingers trailed down his sculpted abdominals to the waistband of his trousers. He lifted his head from their kiss to stare down at her with eyes nearly black from his arousal.
“The things you do to me, my queen,” he said in a guttural voice, his eyes closing as she parted the seam of his trousers and pushed the material aside.
His body shivered when she encircled his thick shaft, slowly caressing the length of it as she watched the pleasure play over his handsome features.
His eyes flew open when she sank to her knees in front of him, both her hands pushing at the waist of his trousers to shove them down his thighs.
“Molly,” he said, then seemed to lose his voice as she parted her lips, exhaling a warm breath over the silky skin that covered his rock-hard shaft, tracing the veins crossing the firm flesh with a fingertip.
Then he groaned and slipped his hands into her hair as she followed the movement of her finger with her tongue.
“Oh, Spinner’s mercy, my Molly!” he cried as she took him into her mouth, sucking him as deep as she could, wrapping her fingers around his girth below her lips as she slowly drew them back up his length, her saliva lubricating his skin so her hand slipped easily up and down his shaft.
Her head bobbed as she hungrily sucked him, loving the wordless sounds of pleasure he made, his fingers gently clenching in her hair. When his spinal appendages—he called them cerci—moved to stroke her head and trail across her hollowed cheeks, she used her free hand to stroke each one in turn. He’d explained that they were sensory organs sensitive to her touch, and they vibrated under her palm as she drew it along their segmented length to the barbed and clawed tip.
“Molly, please,” he said, his voice rough with his arousal, “as much as I’m enjoying this, I don’t want to climax yet, and your mouth is bringing me to that point very quickly.”
She relented, dragging her lips one last time up his shaft to lick up the drops of precum welling from the head of it with relish, her eyes shifting to stare up at his face. His features were tense with lust and his struggle for self-control. His cerci coiled on either side of his lean hips, the barbs on the ends rippling from flat to extended and then flat again with his excitement.
One of his hands slid from her hair down to her chin as she lifted her head away from his thick erection. “I am just as eager to explore your body and taste you, Molly.”
She heard the hunger in his voice and her inner muscles clenched in anticipation as she rose to her feet. Shulgi unhooked the clasps on the silvery gray dress he’d bought her, whispering in her ear how he would buy her a thousand more, each more beautiful than the last.
“I would rather have no clothes at all,” she said with a wicked lilt in her voice, tracing his lower lip as he lifted his head to watch her while he drew her dress off her shoulders. “As long as I’m spending time with you.”
His chuckle sounded strained and ragged as he pulled the fabric of her dress down past her petite breasts, his dilated gaze growing even blacker as it fixed on the hard nipples peaked from her excitement.
He pushed the dress all the way past her subtly rounded hips and Molly felt the silken swish of fabric brush past her legs to pool on the floor at her feet. Then his warm lips met hers, but only briefly before trailing over her jaw, then down to the column of her throat. She moaned in pleasure as Shulgi kissed his way to her collarbone, then lower.
She clutched his nape with one hand, tracing his ears and playing her fingers through his long, beautiful hair with the other as he caught one nipple in his hot mouth and suckled it. His hands trailed down her body until his fingers delved beneath the waistband of her panties. He shoved them down and cupped her buttocks in his large palms, gently squeezing them before pushing her panties further down her thighs.
The cooler air of the cabin brushed over her soaking core, but it wasn’t long before the warmth of his fingers replaced that drafty feeling. His mouth sucked hungrily on her nipple while he drew the fingers of one hand through her folds, teasing over her swollen clit.
The hum of his pleased moan when he discovered how wet she was vibrated against her hypersensitive nipple, causing her to gasp and clutch at his strong shoulders.
Then she cried out in surprise when he lifted her up by her thighs and walked her backwards to the bed. He laid her out atop it, only then releasing her nipple. He teased the other one, licking it and then suckling it as his fingers played over her clit.
Molly’s back arched on the soft blanket of the bed as she cried out softly, her voice panting and nearly breathless as Shulgi teased her clit until she approached her peak, her body tensing in anticipation of toppling over it.
Then he freed her other nipple, leaving it as swollen and tingling as the first as he kissed his way down her body. His hot tongue and warm lips teased over her naked skin as he tugged her panties off her legs and tossed them aside. He parted her knees, spreading her legs wide so he could position his large body between them as he moved lower.
Molly gasped as his lips reached her mound. Her hips writhed with her pleasure as he kissed his way to her clit. She shivered with delight as his tongue swept over that sensitive bud in a teasingly long stroke. Shulgi tongued her clit over and over as she panted and gasped and pleaded with him never to stop. He slid two fingers inside her soaking entrance, fingering her as her inner muscles clenched in preparation for her orgasm.
When the rising pleasure from his tongue and fingers sent her over the edge, Molly cried out in ecstasy, her entire body tensing as her eyes closed. Her back arched, her knees reflexively trying to pull closed, but Shulgi’s body blocked them as he continued to move his fingers inside her convulsing passage.
Clutching fistfuls of the blanket, she writhed in the throes of a powerful climax, feeling the hungry, dark eyes of her lover watching her. When she finally fell limp in the aftermath, Shulgi withdrew his fingers from her sensitive slit and positioned the head of his erection there.
They both moaned in unison as he slowly pushed his length inside her. This time she felt no surprise when his cerci moved into place to vibrate on her clit as he began to thrust, pushing his shaft deep before slowly withdrawing it until only the tip remained inside her.
Their slow, deliberate movements didn’t last long. As much as they both wanted to draw out the pleasure of this lovemaking, the arousal proved too much. His cerci quickly brought Molly back to the peak of another orgasm, and as soon as she convulsed around his shaft, he lost control of himself and pounded into her, rocking her body on the bed until both of them were panting.
Her final internal convulsions milked his seed from him as he came with a loud grunt followed by a long moan. He pumped a few more times inside her as he spilled the last of his seed, then sagged over her, his strong arms bracing his weight above her so he didn’t crush her to the bed.
In the glowing aftermath of her orgasm, Molly stroked her hands over his body, caressing his warm, smooth skin and enjoying the shift of powerful muscles beneath it as he slowly withdrew his length from her. He moved from between her legs to lay on the bed beside her, gathering her into his arms as he turned to face her.
As she continued to slide her hands all over his beautiful body, reveling in the luxury of having him all to herself, with no obligations waiting for her attention and no one to tell her they couldn’t be together like this forever, he returned her languid caresses, his eyes meeting hers.
“I will make you happy, Molly,” he swore as if he was a knight making a solemn oath.
She traced his high cheekbone with the tip of her finger, a broad smile on her lips. “You already have, Shulgi.”
“I mean forever.” His gaze looked no less intense, even though his pupils had shrunk back to a more normal size with his orgasm.
“I like the sound of forever with you,” she said softly, her finger moving to trace his lips. “You’re my happily ever after, Shulgi. I’ve waited so long for you, but now I know the wait was worth it.”
His lips tilted in a soft smile as he studied her face. When his hand lifted to touch it, he traced the markings of Zaska that still crossed her features. “I will do whatever it takes to make you happy, my mate.” His brows furrowed. “But I hope it never involves allowing you to put yourself in such danger again.”
She chuckled then kissed him. “I’d rather avoid danger, if possible. I was never married to the life of the leader of a criminal organization.”
“Good.” His smile faded into a more solemn expression. “Will you marry me? Ava mentioned something about a ‘wedding’ in the human tradition, and I would give you that, if you wanted it.”
Molly kissed him again, her eyes misting with tears. “I will marry you, yes! But you don’t need to give me anything else, Shulgi. You’ve already given me the best gift in the galaxy.” She traced the straight line of his nose. “You.”
