Lily and the Lion by Honey Phillips
Chapter Thirteen
Two hours later, Leotra was cursing the gods, his ancestors, and his own temerity in assuming that it would be a simple matter to win Lily back into his arms. Nothing had gone the way he’d planned.
She hadn’t been any more impressed by the luxury of his quarters than she had been by the rest of the lodge. He had envisioned bathing her in the enormous pool attached to his room. Instead, she had ordered him to leave while she bathed herself.
“This is my bathing room,” he reminded her.
“Fine. Then I’ll leave you to use it.”
“Don’t you want to get clean?”
“Yes. By myself.”
They had glared at each other until he threw up his hands and stomped away. Stubborn female.
Then when she emerged after her bath, she was wrapped in a towel rather than one of the outfits he had chosen for her from the selection Hudomo had provided.
“Why didn’t you put on one of the gowns?”
“Why should I?” She sniffed disdainfully. “I don’t want to wear one of your other lover’s castoffs.”
“They don’t belong to another lover,” he roared.
“Then where did they come from?”
He scowled, but finally admitted, “I don’t know. Hudomo arranged for them. But I have never seen any of them on another female.”
She didn’t seem convinced. In the end, he settled the matter by letting her choose something from his own wardrobe. Although having her dressed in one of his shirts was surprisingly… satisfactory, he wanted to see her in clothing that suited her beauty.
He was still irritated when they entered his sitting area—and the situation got even worse. A maidservant knelt by the selection of foods on a low table, but at their entrance she rose gracefully to her feet and slinked towards them. She completely ignored Lily as she came over to him, stopping a little too close.
“I’m ready to serve you, Master Leotra,” she purred.
Her behavior wasn’t completely unexpected—most of the female servants had tried to seduce him at one point or another. Usually he just ignored them, then had Hudomo remove them from any duties that involved direct contact with him.
“You are here to attend to Mistress Lily,” he said, his voice cold.
The wretched female didn’t even look at his mate.
“Of course, Master Leotra. But I am prepared to attend to your needs as well.”
To his astonishment, he heard Lily make an odd little growling noise as she stepped in front of him.
“He doesn’t need you to serve him, and I certainly don’t. Leave.”
The female looked shocked, but then her fangs flashed and he saw her claws emerge. He immediately tugged Lily back behind him.
“If you dare to lay a single claw on my female, there is no place where you will escape my wrath. Your mistress told you to leave. Now do so.”
He was roaring by the time he finished.
She hissed and shrank back, ducking her head.
“I—I apologize, Master. I was misinformed.”
He was too enraged to have any patience with her attempt to apologize.
“Leave.” he ordered, and she fled the room.
“I’m sorry, love,” he said, turning back to Lily.
He expected her to be angry, or even frightened, but instead she looked oddly thoughtful.
“Are they all like that?”
“Like what?”
“Fawning all over you.”
“Of course not—” He stopped, then sighed. “Not all, but many of them. My father expects all servants to be accommodating.”
“You mean he expects them to have sex with him?” she asked bluntly.
He started to deny it, but hesitated again. “He wouldn’t demand it—” at least he hoped not “—but most female servants in a household like ours would regard it as an honor.”
Or a way to earn rewards, he thought cynically.
Lily snorted. “Yeah, right. It’s such an honor to suck your dick, Master Leo.”
Even though she was obviously being sardonic, his cock flexed at the image of her taking him in her little pink mouth. His thoughts must have shown on his face, because she took a step back, holding up her hands.
“That wasn’t an offer.”
He followed her retreat, curving his tail around her waist so she couldn’t escape.
“Don’t worry, love. I’m far more interested in sucking on that sweet little clit of yours until you can’t come anymore.”
Her eyes widened, and he caught the scent of her arousal. Unable to resist, he buried his face in her neck and licked the tender skin. She shivered but she wasn’t pulling away from him, and triumph roared through him.
Then his datapad chimed, and she jumped and stepped back. Fuck. Now what?
Cursing under his breath, he strode over and flipped the switch.
“What is it?” he snapped impatiently.
“You asked us to search the monitors for any unidentified flying objects entering the atmosphere,” Captain Nargan said patiently.
Lily gasped and came over to join him, pressing against his side. He automatically put his arm around her slender shoulders.
“Yes?”
“We only have a record of one such object. Since there was no attempt to control its destination, or to slow its entry, we assumed that it was a meteorite.”
His eyes closed as he seethed. Those bastard slavers hadn’t even bothered to put her in an escape pod with any type of working controls. If he ever got his hands on them, he would tear them limb from limb with his bare claws.
“Were there any others?” Lily demanded anxiously, and he relayed the question to Captain Nargan.
“No, sir. No other unidentified objects, either controlled or not.”
He felt Lily sag against his side and pulled her against his chest.
“Will you send the same inquiry to Yangu? And perhaps Mafana?” The inhabitants of the ocean world did not associate frequently with the other planets in their system, but they remained on civil terms.
“Yes, sir.” There was a moment’s hesitation. “Hudomo asked me to remind you that a representative from House Bishar is scheduled to arrive today.” Nargan cleared his throat, obviously uncomfortable with his role as intermediary. Leotra couldn’t blame him. He should have realized that ordering Hudomo not to disturb him was bound to backfire.
“Very well. Have Hudomo send the information to my datapad.”
“Yes, sir.” Captain Nargan hung up without any further comment, which was one of the reasons that Leotra preferred using the Bukharans as his personal guards instead of his own species. Most Tajiri males would have been unable to resist expressing their curiosity about his unusual attempt to sequester himself. And he was quite sure that word of Lily’s presence in his quarters had already spread.
“What are those other places you asked about?” Lily demanded. He could see the strain on her face and feel the tension in her shoulders.
“They are the other two planets in this solar system. Mafana is an ocean world inhabited by a different species. Yangu is the Tajiri home world and where I usually reside.”
“You don’t live here?”
“No, I come here to get away and go hunting. Although I never expected to capture such a delightful prey.”
“You didn’t capture me,” she said crossly, but as he hoped, some of the despair on her face was replaced by annoyance.
“And yet you’re here.”
“Because you tricked me.”
“I have never lied to you, Lily.”
“You didn’t tell me the entire truth either.”
Her blue eyes snapped blue fire at him, and he winced. But then she sighed. “Although I guess if all females fawn over you like that servant, it makes a little more sense.”
He was about to tell her that the servant’s advances had been extremely mild compared to some of the other attempts that had been made to entice him, but decided that she probably wouldn’t appreciate the information. At least, he hoped that she would be as displeased by them as she had been by the earlier female.
“Do you think you’ll be able to find out anything about the other pods?” she asked hopefully, returning to the previous subject.
“I don’t know,” he said honestly. “The Mafana have many competing Houses, although they usually present a unified face to outsiders. I believe they will cooperate eventually, but there may be some internal discussions first.”
“And what about your planet, Yangu?”
He sighed. “I’m afraid that might be a little more difficult. It is a heavily populated world with a lot of space traffic. The merchant houses do not willingly divulge information unless they see the chance of profit.”
He hated to see the sorrow in her eyes and tugged her back into his arms.
“I promise that I will do everything I can to find out.”
“Thank you.” Her voice was muffled against his chest, but it sounded suspiciously watery. The thought of her crying made him want to stab something, but his anger wouldn’t relieve her suffering. Perhaps it would be better to distract her.
He reached down and slid his hand under the hem of the shirt she was wearing so he could squeeze her luscious little ass. He heard her breath catch and smiled with satisfaction.
“You’re going to have to choose an outfit now,” he whispered.
“What do you mean?” She gave him a suspicious glare—which he much preferred over her previous sorrow.
“You don’t want to meet the representative of House Bishar wearing only my shirt, do you?”
“I don’t want to meet him at all.”
“I don’t particularly want to meet him either, but unfortunately it’s necessary. And of course, you will accompany me.”
Her skin was so soft beneath his hand. His shaft was already hard as he let his thumb slide over to tease the crevice between her cheeks.
“I will do nothing of the kind. Why should I?”
“Because you are my ma—my female.”
She gave that adorable little growl again, and he hardened even further.
“No, I’m not.”
Why did her defiance make him so hard? He wanted to kiss her until she melted against him, then carry her off to the bedroom and make her come until she could no longer deny that she was his.
But unfortunately, such pleasures will have to wait, he thought as his datapad pinged again. He needed to review the scheduled events and any background information that the efficient Hudomo would have provided.
But before he let her go, he dipped further between her legs and found the evidence of her body’s response. He circled his thumb in the slick heat, then teased the sensitive pucker of her bottom hole before pulling away.
Her eyes glared at him, but her cheeks were flushed and her nipples thrusting against the fabric of her shirt. She was most definitely his.
