The Iriduan’s Mate by Susan Trombley

Thirty-Nine

Shulgi had many reservations about Hierabodos V, and the inhabitants he would meet there. Roz had already explained to him that he must never mention his role in the destruction of the Akrellian ship—the Star Dancer—to anyone, least of all, the Akrellian spiritual leader, Tirel, whom some claimed to be the avatar of the Dark Partner.

Shulgi figured if the Akrellian was truly in tune with some deific spirit, he would already know what happened to the Star Dancer and its crew. If he wasn’t, Shulgi had no intention of informing him. That part of his life was buried now, and he didn’t want to bring it back to the surface. That was one reason he’d strongly questioned Roz’s very firm advice to relocate to Hierabodos V. The Akrellian leadership allowed this request for sanctuary because they believed Shulgi had become a fugitive of the Iriduan Empire due to working with the rebellion.

At least, that was what he’d been told. He found out differently after Roz teleported them to the surface of Hierabodos. A small crowd of unusual people met them at the teleportation pad. Fortunately, Nemon had already told him who to expect, and had shown him images of what they would all look like.

Nahash was one of the most startling, simply because he had once been an Iriduan soldier like Shulgi. He had become something so much more terrifying because of Iriduan experimentation. The one called Thrax hadn’t actually been an Iriduan but had been modified with the genome of one, again because of Iriduan experimentation.

But those creatures seemed welcoming, and Molly greeted them as if they were no more unusual than any other aliens she’d ever met. She possessed so much poise and class that she made him think of her more as an empress than a queen. The fact that Ava had teleported to the surface with them and made introductions in her exuberant manner between Molly and Shulgi and their odd little family of “test subjects,” no doubt also helped smooth the way.

Until Shulgi came face to face with a powerfully built Akrellian who regarded him with cold eyes and a chilling expression. A voluptuous human female with dark hair and light brown skin clung to his arm more like she was holding him back rather than being affectionate, though the way she looked up at him showed that she cared about him.

The greetings from the others fell silent, even Ava’s bubbly voice dying from the weight of the tension that fell upon the group. Roz appeared beside Shulgi, his enigmatic gaze fixed on the Akrellian.

The scaled features of the male twisted into a hard scowl as his eyes shifted from Roz back to Shulgi. “By the Dancer’s will, you’ve been allowed to settle on these lands, but I do not forgive so easily.”

“You must be Tirel,” Shulgi said with far more calm than he felt.

The Akrellian would be a challenge, even if his combat glands were still functioning. He’d requested that Roz deactivate them so he could overcome the addiction to battle and bloodshed now that he wanted to create a peaceful life with Molly.

“You murdered my crew and destroyed my ship,” Tirel growled, his claws flexing as the quills on his back and head stood erect.

So much for not telling about his past. It appeared that the Akrellian had somehow figured it out anyway.

His connection to the Dark Dancer is far stronger than I anticipated.

Shulgi glanced at Roz, whose expression still looked serene and unfazed, despite the words he’d spoken inside Shulgi’s mind. Shulgi didn’t know if he’d ever grow accustomed to having someone in his head. Roz invaded a person’s mind far less gently than Luna.

Suddenly, Molly left the small group of females who had surrounded her and eagerly welcomed her into their fold, admiring her dyed skin. She made her way straight to the Akrellian and his lovely, dark eyed mate, her steps graceful, her bearing regal, even as she bowed her head in a submissive manner.

“Honored Akrellian and honored human,” Molly said in a gentle, cajoling tone, “I beg that you find it within you to forgive my beloved for his past. He has suffered dearly for the crimes he once committed because he believed in the wrong cause.” She glanced at Shulgi, all her love for him in her eyes before returning her pleading gaze to the Akrellian and his mate. “He is a good person who desires nothing more than to right the wrongs of his past and his people.” She pressed her palms together in front of her, sinking into a low bow before them. “He will prove himself worthy of your forgiveness and generosity in time, if you will give him the chance.”

“You have such lovely manners!” the Akrellian’s woman said with a wide smile. She patted Tirel’s stiff arm as her gaze shifted from Molly to Shulgi. “You are a very lucky Iriduan to have a woman like her as your mate.”

Shulgi bowed his head respectfully, already sensing he had an ally in the Akrellian’s mate. He could tell she had the heart of a romantic. “I’m the luckiest Iriduan in the galaxy.” His voice rang with his sincerity.

“That’s my line,” Nahash growled in irritation from where he still coiled next to Nemon and Thrax, all of whom were watching the standoff between Shulgi and Tirel with more curiosity than concern.

Nahash’s mate chuckled, which seemed to break the tension among that group, though Tirel still stared at him with anger in every line of his body.

“My queen speaks true,” Shulgi returned his full attention to Tirel. “I deeply regret the actions I’ve taken in the past in service of an unworthy empire.” His brows furrowed as he scowled. “And an even less worthy female.”

“You speak of Ninhursag.” The Akrellian proved he knew a great deal more about the situation than Shulgi had expected.

Then Shulgi recalled that Tirel had been a part of the showdown between Halian’s fractures and Ninhursag and her minions. Shulgi himself had been kept isolated both from Tirel and from that battle. Not only had he still been recovering at the time, but Roz didn’t want the others to question his loyalties, claiming it would be an unnecessary distraction.

“My Shulgi was bound to that woman when he committed the crimes against your people,” Molly said, rising gracefully from her bow. “He had little choice in his actions, and yet he owns them completely and desires to make amends.”

Shulgi stepped up to stand beside Molly, not wanting her to have to speak for him. This brought him closer to the Akrellian, who tensed, his eyes narrowing.

“My mate speaks so eloquently, but I would not have her bear the burden of my apologies.” He met the hard gaze of the Akrellian. “I cannot change the past, though I can promise you I would if I had that power.”

“That would be unwise,” Roz said mildly from behind Shulgi. “Changing the past would undo the present.”

Tirel frowned, shooting his narrow-eyed glare at Roz before returning his attention to Shulgi. “A very large part of me wants to kill you for what you’ve done,” he looked down into the eyes of his mate, his features softening, “but the wisdom of the Dancer prevails over my darker urges.”

His mate smiled softly, leaning her cheek against his arm.

“I can’t promise I will ever forgive you,” Tirel growled in a hard tone as he returned his focus to Shulgi, “but you’ll get the chance to prove you deserve forgiveness.”

“I’ll do what I must to earn it,” Shulgi vowed, internally sagging in relief, since he recognized that he needed the Akrellian’s cooperation to remain on this world, safe from the Iriduan empire.

Tirel stepped closer until they stood eye to eye. “Be the male your mate believes you to be, and we won’t have a problem.”

“You still desire bloodshed,” Shulgi murmured in a volume so low that even Molly didn’t seem to hear it.

Tirel’s lips split in a sharp toothed grin. “I do.”

Shulgi’s grin was just as deadly if not as sharp. “Best to postpone that until the females are otherwise occupied.”

His voice was still very low, but Molly watched him suspiciously, creeping closer to Shulgi as if she debated jumping between him and Tirel. Though at the moment, there wasn’t enough space for her to fit.

“What did you just say?” Molly demanded, reaching to take Shulgi’s hand.

“You’d better not be considering what I think you’re considering, Tirel,” the Akrellian’s mate said in an exasperated voice.

“We better get to watch the battle,” one of the other males said.

Shulgi suspected it was the one called Thrax that had spoken, because it was his mate—a curvy human female with a hair color that was vibrant and unnatural for a human—who made a shushing sound even as she wrapped her arm around her towering male’s waist.

Despite what went on around them, Shulgi and Tirel didn’t break eye contact for a long moment, neither wanting to be the one to look away first. There was no question about it. There would need to be bloodshed before he would ever have the chance to earn this male’s forgiveness. The dark look in his eyes reminded Shulgi of his own joy of battle, and also reminded him of what little he knew about the Dark Partner that this Akrellian apparently hosted within him.

That entity was the spirit of battle and bloodlust.

Shulgi’s smile widened. “This will be a good fight!”

* * *

Molly’s protestsfell on deaf ears. Shulgi was determined to engage in combat with the Akrellian named Tirel, but they were given the opportunity to retreat to their pop-up housing placed on the shore of an unspoiled beach that bordered a gorgeous ocean. The ripple of waves glittered beneath a warm yellow sun as they approached.

She wished she could take a moment to enjoy the view and the experience of being outside on a world’s surface, with an actual ground beneath her slipper-shod feet. Instead, she had to worry about Shulgi and the Akrellian coming to blows.

Something that the other males eagerly anticipated based on their conversation. The other women weren’t at all happy about the turn of events. Least of all, Tirel’s mate, Theresa.

“I’m so sorry,” she said as she walked arm in arm with Molly to their new home—temporary as it was until they could build something more permanent. “I’ll talk sense into Tirel. Don’t worry. This fight won’t go down if I can help it.”

Molly understood how things worked when it came to repaying an insult or injury. On Za’Kluth, people killed each other over even minor displays of disrespect. Shulgi had done great harm to Tirel and his people, and it was clear that the Akrellian would have a hard time forgiving that. Still, she worried about Shulgi, especially since he’d given up his combat glands because he wanted to live a life of peace. It would be the first time he’d been able to do so since he’d entered his Meta.

He’d told her all about how the Iriduan lifecycle worked and how the empire chose an Iriduan’s path for him once he left his cocoon to begin his adulthood. She still had a hard time imagining Shulgi as a “child,” looking far more like a giant dragonfly skimming over the waters that bordered his creche than a plump two-legged toddler stumbling about on the ground.

“Shulgi had little choice in what he became. The empire decided the path of his life for him. Coming here was supposed to be a way for him to finally make his own choice about how he wants to live. And he chooses peace and serenity.” She turned a pleading gaze on Theresa. “If you can convince your mate to drop this idea of a battle, I would be forever in your debt.”

Theresa nodded her head firmly. “Have faith in me, my new friend, I know how to convince my Partner. There is a darkness in his heart, but it still beats in tune to my own. When he dances tonight, it won’t be a dance of blood.”

As they reached the temporary dwelling that the Akrellians had set up for Molly and Shulgi, Theresa hugged Molly close, reiterating her promise in Molly’s ear before releasing her with a confident smile. She glanced over at Shulgi, who stood listening to Nahash speaking of some Iriduan topic that brought a slight smirk to Shulgi’s lips and an unnervingly toothy grin to Nahash’s scaled face.

The other “test subjects” and their mates had dispersed not long after bidding that she and Shulgi rest up. Ava and the other human women, including Theresa, promised to get together the following morning.

None of them mentioned that it would likely be after a bloody night for Shulgi and Tirel.

Molly wanted to trust in Theresa to talk her man out of this. Yet, Shulgi felt equally determined to see the fight through. He insisted that blood needed to be shed in fair combat to make up for the murders of Tirel’s former crew. He refused to plead with Tirel to drop the idea of combat.

“You don’t have your combat glands anymore!” she said heatedly as she paced in front of him in their new and sparsely furnished bedroom.

Her new friends had promised they would help Molly find or build the furnishings to make this pop-up a home until their permanent residence was built. The building of it was something both Molly and Shulgi anticipated, as it would be their first major project as a couple.

His expression tightened from stoic to stubborn. “I am capable of fighting without those glands,” he ground out, a muscle ticking in his jaw. “I will hold my own, my queen. You needn’t fear I will shame you or embarrass you.”

She gasped in outrage, spinning in mid-pace to face him. “How dare you suggest that’s why I don’t want you to go through with this!”

She rushed to him where he sat on the edge of their bed, then wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling his head against her chest. “I’m not afraid you will lose, Shulgi. I’m also not afraid of you being hurt. I can tell that our new friends and neighbors won’t let the fight end in either of you getting too seriously injured that you can’t be healed.”

She stroked her fingers through his hair as he leaned his head against her breasts, his hands sliding around her waist.

“I don’t want you to fight because I know that you feel like it defines you, Shulgi. You think this violence is simply a part of you. That it’s in your blood. You think that it is second nature for you, and you can never escape it. That’s why you aren’t even trying in this case.”

She pulled away from him to look down into his eyes, stroking his hair away from his brow with her fingertips. “We both came here to find peace from our lives of violence and bloodshed. You know as well as I do that starting out our lives here with a vicious battle won’t bring us the peace we crave.”

“Your wisdom shames me, my queen.” He bowed his head, tugging her close to him again. “I will not fight tonight. If I must fall to my knees and submit as soon as the battle begins, then so be it. Let the burden of choosing violence be on someone else’s head this time.”

Molly held him close, smoothing her hands down his thick, silky hair. When his embrace turned more purposeful, she sighed in pleasure, pushing aside her worry.

They had a few hours yet before sunset, when Tirel and Shulgi had agreed to meet on the beach for their battle. She and her mate would make the most of that time. If they had to endure pain—and she would feel his pain as if it were her own because of her love for him—then they would preface it by pleasure.

His warm hands slid under the skirt of her dress and up her thighs until his fingers caught on the waistband of her panties. He tugged them down her legs slowly, lowering his head to plant hungry kisses on the subtle curve of her belly, just above her mound. She felt the heat of his mouth even through the thin silk of her dress.

Leaving her panties bunched around her calves, he lifted her skirt, exposing her bare mound to his hungry gaze. She gasped and clutched his head as he kissed her clit, then stroked his hot, wet tongue over the sensitive bud. His hands shifted from her waist to caress her buttocks as he feasted on her clit.

Molly’s moans and soft cries seemed to urge him on and excite him more. He grabbed her thigh and lifted it, spreading her legs wider so his tongue could trail from her throbbing clit down her seam to her soaking entrance. He growled in pleasure when he encountered her slick, tasting her excitement.

She braced herself with both hands on his shoulders when he pulled her thigh to rest it over his shoulder, delving his tongue deeper inside her. In this position, she felt spread wide for him, unable to escape his hungry mouth. Not that she wanted to, the volume of her cries and moans increasing with each fervent flick of his tongue inside her.

He rubbed her clit with the fingers of one hand while the other held her thigh on his shoulder, pinning her in place and supporting her as her knees grew weak.

Molly’s back arched, pushing her mound harder against his face as she climaxed with a loud cry. Her fingernails dug into his shoulders as her inner muscles convulsed around his tongue. His flickering wing brushed her calf as he seemed to revel in the taste of her orgasm.

When he finally allowed her to set her leg down, he grabbed her by the hips to guide her down to his lap. Molly smiled seductively as she shifted into position. He’d freed his erection and the tip of it now probed her slippery entrance, but he let Molly set the pace. She tormented them both as she slowly impaled herself upon his thick length.

His cerci broke free of his robe, the clawed tips dragging along her thighs as she sank down on him until he was buried deep enough to bump her womb. The barbed ends vibrated as they trailed over her skin. She moaned with pleasure as one of them found her clit.

Molly framed Shulgi’s face with both hands, pressing her lips to his as she rode his lap, his thick girth pumping deliciously inside her as his cerci stimulated her clit and teased her naked body. The one not vibrating over her clit slipped up the bodice of her dress to tear it away from her breast, freeing her stiff nipple. Shulgi wasted no time cupping her breast with one large hand, caressing it as his thumb flicked that tender bead.

He captured her moans and whimpers of pleasure as his lips and tongue claimed hers, his cerci and hands running all over her body to drive her to another orgasm. He came as soon as her inner muscles convulsed around his shaft.

She shuddered in the throes of her powerful orgasm, rocking her hips on his lap as his shaft jerked inside her, filling her with his seed. She mourned the fact that it would never take root but knew that what she and Shulgi had would endure, even though she could never give him children.

They would make their own kind of family together, here on this wild jewel of a world, surrounded by some of the strangest, and most welcoming people she’d ever met.