Page 127 of Mates for the Raskarrans #1-6

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Shemza

T he touch of my Lorna’s lips against mine is exquisite, but I am not sure what else human kisses involve, so I hesitate. Wait a moment. My lips remain pressed to hers, and my heartspace pounds to feel it, singing its joyous song.

Then my Lorna moves, parting her lips a little, caressing mine with them, nibbling her teeth against my bottom lip, and I groan low in my throat at the sensation. When she soothes her little nips with her tongue, I am undone.

I lift her into my arms, holding her to me as I taste her mouth, sliding my tongue against hers.

Instinct drives me, for none of the elders ever spoke of mating this way.

But if licking other parts of the body is pleasurable, then why not licking into each other’s mouths?

My Lorna does not protest, pressing herself closer to me, her hands digging into my hair.

And I would be content to taste her like this for all our days, if there were not other parts of her body I wished to discover.

I stumble with her toward the hut, yanking the door open and slamming it closed behind us.

The room is unchanged since we sheltered here last, the chairs still set out where we were sitting on them.

So many times I have visited this place in my thoughts, banished Ellie and Anghar from the proceedings, and imagined where we would have ended up.

Now I can live those imaginings, and it is even better than I could have dreamed, my Lorna’s tongue licking over mine, our mouths locked together in a passionate tangle.

The cot bed is not big, but it is built for raskarran bodies, meaning there is room enough for the two of us on it.

With one hand, I shake out the furs, spreading them out so my Lorna is comfortable as I lay her down upon them.

I lie next to her, resuming our kiss as soon as I can, not wanting my mouth away from hers for more than a moment.

Her hand comes to my face, cupping my cheek before sliding into my hair, and I love it.

Love that she is exploring me. Love the feel of her blunted little claws as they scrape over my scalp.

Love how close she has wrapped herself around me.

I brush my hand down her body, tracing past her arm, down her side, to her leg.

She is slight and small, but she does not feel delicate, and she arches into my touch, her body greedy for more.

It makes my cock throb, so I hook her leg over mine, drawing her even closer to me, so that she might feel how much I desire her.

How wild with need her kisses have made me.

She moans as I press against her, and I have never heard more beautiful music than that sound.

“It is all yours,” I say to her. “My heartspace beats for you. It has only ever beat for you.”

“ Ahvegotnoeyedeawhachursaying ,” my Lorna replies, her voice deliciously husky.

She draws my mouth back down to hers and we kiss again, fiercer this time, more urgent.

The heat grows between us, intense and consuming, and I shift so I am atop her, my body pressed against every inch of hers, resting most of my weight on my arms either side of her.

She hooks her legs around mine, her hands roving over my back, tugging at my top until it comes loose from my leathers, then slipping her hands beneath to explore my skin.

Distantly, I wonder if this is okay. Only mates are supposed to touch as this, but that is a truth that holds to raskarrans, not humans.

I do not know what the rules are where humans are concerned.

It does not feel wrong, but then, I do not know how anything with my Lorna ever could.

As long as she is pleased, as long as she does not object, I will continue.

And I intend to make sure she is very well pleased.

I break our kiss, both of us breathing more heavily than any of the exercise we have taken together has made us.

Her lips are swollen by our kisses, her breath coming out of her in little pants, her eyes wide as she looks up at me.

I claim one more brief kiss, then start to kiss a path down her body, learning her shape with my mouth, pushing her top up to her neck so that I might taste her skin.

Her nipples have tightened to inviting points, and I suck one into my mouth as I caress her other breast with my palm.

My Lorna moans again, speaking my name on a breath.

“Shemza.”

It is the greatest thing, to hear her speak my name this way, full of want and need. I want to hear her cry it out next, as I bring her to a climax that overwhelms her. I do not think there could be anything sweeter.

With reluctance, I leave her breasts, questing lower on her body, kissing the slope of her stomach, the valley between her hips, to where her leathers are bunched around her waist, the material folded atop itself and held in place with a belt to stop them falling down.

She is still thin, but she gets less so every day, growing more vital, more beautiful as she fills out.

It will not be long before she has flesh to spare, and I confess, I like the thought of that.

I undo the knot in her belt, pushing her leathers down her hips, along with the strange garment that humans wear beneath. Panties. I do not understand the purpose of them, except to tease a male, hiding the treasure between their thighs from view.

I tug her leathers over her feet, laying her bare before me. I stroke a hand along her thigh as I look up at her. Wanting to be sure that she is happy, I give her the good hand signal, turning my thumb upwards, as I give her a questioning look.

My Lorna makes a choked sound, her hands covering her face.

At first, I think I have frightened her, but then I see her shoulders shaking, and I realise she is laughing at me.

I do not understand why, but I find I would prefer my female not to be laughing in this moment.

The sounds of breathy gasps and moans of my name are the only ones I wish to pass her lips.

So I lower myself between her legs, press my face to her cunt and lick through her folds.

She gives a startled shout, almost sitting all the way up in surprise.

I glance up at her, holding her gaze as I run my tongue over her again, finishing by circling the nub of flesh at her peak.

She groans, her eyes fluttering shut as pleasure courses through her.

Better.

I lave her again, watching her face as I work, paying attention to the ways she likes to be tasted.

It is the nub of flesh that brings her the greatest pleasure, so I draw it into my mouth, sucking on it gently, before lapping up the fresh juices her pleasure releases.

Her flavour bursts on my tongue, the most divine thing I have ever tasted.

“Shemza,” she moans, her voice high with the nearness of her release.

I grip her hips with my hands as I press myself closer to her core, lapping at her entrance, pressing my tongue inside her.

Her legs squeeze against me as I focus in on that nub of flesh again, and with a cry, her body convulses, pleasure rocking through her.

I continue to lick and suck her flesh, working her through it, until she collapses back onto the pelts, spent.

I move along her body, shifting so we are lying side by side again.

Her chest rises and falls in rapid little breaths, her eyes fixed on the roof overhead, her expression dazed.

I grin, drawing her into my arms and nestling her against me.

She presses a kiss to my cheek, then burrows against my shoulder.

I find I cannot stop touching her. My hands roam all over her body, not satiated by her taste.

I want more. I want her beneath me as I rock my body into hers.

I want her atop me, feeding my cock into her as she grinds her hips down against mine.

Images come to my headspace one after the other of all the ways we could enjoy each other, and I fear I will spend in my leathers before I have the chance to enact any one of them.

Then my Lorna sighs heavily, her breath snuffly with sleep.

I gaze down at her and see her eyes closed.

Exhaustion has overcome her and I chuckle to myself, even as frustration bubbles inside me.

I have worn out my sweet female. I would feel more smug about it if not for the rapid pace of our walk here.

I let her sleep, watching her eyelids flutter and the steady rise and fall of her breathing.

I think of how Gregar described being overcome with tiredness in the middle of the day the first time he visited his linasha in their dreamspace.

A weight on his eyelids that seemed to drag him down.

I blink a few times, hoping to feel that same weight, but it does not come, and I am forced to only wonder what is going on inside my Lorna’s dreams, not take my place with her inside them.

When my Lorna wakes, she dresses quietly, and pulls on her boots.

I have let her sleep for some time, and it is deeper into the afternoon than I would like, the air cooling, the sun on its downward journey.

I think we can make it back to the village before it grows too dark, especially if my Lorna is refreshed by her rest, but we should not delay our leaving any longer.

I grab one of the meal bars from the basket in the back of the hut, snapping it in half to share with her. For the first time since waking, a hint of amusement crosses my Lorna’s lips as she takes her half, and she chews it without any enthusiasm.

“Hannah will have prepared a proper feast for you back at the village,” I say as I put an arm round her shoulder. “This is only to see that you get there.”

We walk this way for a while, but as we draw closer to the village, my Lorna removes herself from my arms.

“ Weshudproblynotmentionthistuhanywun, ” she says, pointing between the two of us and shaking her head.

At first, I think she does not wish for me to touch her at all, and my hurt must show in my expression, for she darts forward and kisses me, a sweet, chaste kiss.

“ Secret ,” she says, putting her finger over her lips in the ‘quiet’ gesture, then making the same gesture over mine.

I search for the human words to clarify what she is trying to say.

“ No … talk.” I point to my mouth, then mime speaking with my hand. “ This. ”

I gesture between the two of us, then run my hand down her back to cup her backside. I do it as much to be reassured that she craves it as to make my meaning clear. She leans closer to me, her whole body shifting in my direction, and I am quite satisfied that her desires remain as strong as mine.

“ Thasrite, ” she says, giving me the good gesture with her thumb. “ Notalkinbowtus. ”

I wonder if she is ashamed of our actions, if I have done something with her that is beyond what humans find acceptable.

But that is just my pride talking. I wish to boast to the world that I have such a beautiful, sweet linasha.

My heartspace forgets once more that she is not my linasha, that we have broken with raskarran traditions, and that I could be punished for this.

Gregar is a sensible male, and not quick to anger, so I think I could persuade him of my reasoning and the depth of my feelings, but he would not be unreasonable to even banish me if he thought I had done my Lorna any harm.

Perhaps my Lorna wishes to protect me from this possibility.

Or perhaps she could face consequences herself.

It is not something I had considered, too eager in my desires to touch her. I cup her face and draw her gaze to me, looking for any sign of unhappiness, but she only smiles at me, her eyes bright and warm.

My Lorna is clever, and she is right. It is best we keep this a secret between us. Until I can persuade her heartspace that it belongs to me, we will keep our actions as friends, unless we are alone.

It is nearing full dark by the time we return to the village and Liv approaches, concern in her gaze.

“ Ahwuzstartintahwonderwhereyuhdgone.”

“ Mahfault ,” my Lorna says. “ Fellasleepwhenwestoppedfuharest.”

Liv arches a brow at me, and I feel a flicker of tension down my spine.

“ Lemmeguess,” she says, hand on hip. “ Hewuztoopolitetahwakeyuh?”

“ Do not look so worried, Shemza,” Sally says, stepping up beside me. “Your chieftess is only amused that you would be so noble not to wake a sleeping female.”

“I would not wish to incur her wrath,” I say. “Your sister is fierce.”

Sally laughs. “Well, perhaps walk less far next time. Or carry Lorna home while she sleeps.”

“I would not wish to incur Lorna’s wrath either. She will not hear of my going easy on her.”

Sally gives me an amused smile. “Then I fear you may be in trouble.”

I am definitely in trouble, just not the kind Sally imagines.

As my Lorna heads across the clearing around the fire to her sisters, I cannot help but track her with my gaze, my mind replaying over and over the memory of her taste on my tongue, her cries of pleasure in my ears.

I have always been addicted to her, but the feeling is only growing stronger.

Lina, let me not be wrong about this. Let me not be learning all these things about my Lorna, only to have her taken away by some other male.

I do not think my heartspace could bear it.