Primal Quest Read online

  It didn’t surprise her that he knew what she was thinking. He had shown himself more than capable of reading her more troubled thoughts when she had been at that inn. What surprised her was that she hadn’t known he was there just now. At the inn, she had been able to feel his presence with her.

  Chapter Ten

  They returned to the large living complex, now the heart of the Taivain. Caidi preceded Raven through the halls to their room on the lower level. Eager to get her into the privacy of their room, Raven shut and locked the door behind him. They wouldn’t be disturbed until morning unless there was an emergency.

  Caidi stretched, yawning. She was tired. The stress, the worry over what his reaction would be seemed to have drained her energy. She wearily sat down on the bed, slipping out of her shoes with easy economical movements.

  “It is time for bed, little one.” Raven watched her languid movements. With a smile, he thought about the coming night. There were a few things that he had planned that he knew would grab her interest.

  Caidi picked up her slippers before she stood and walked over to the partition without a word. She walked past Raven, her eyes lingering involuntarily for a moment on his taut, bronzed midriff before she began to undress. Barefoot, bare-chested and with the laces on his breeches partially undone, he was leaning against the partition wall, waiting for her to join him in preparing for bed. Interest, excitement stirred within her. She wanted to run her hands over that smooth, golden skin, to feel the muscles rippling beneath it.

  Naked, Caidi walked back around the partition and saw that Raven was now sprawled on the right side of the bed, gloriously nude. His golden body, hard and toned, gleamed in the light from the lumi-roc. He had thrown the covers carelessly to the bottom of the bed. His fingers were laced together behind his head and he was avidly watching her as she walked slowly to the bed. Caidi walked to the side opposite of the one he occupied, but with a small gesture from one of his hands, he beckoned her to him.

  Caidi walked over to him, a frown of confusion on her face as she approached. Raven tugged her down on top of him without a word, arranging her legs so that she was straddling his hips. Caidi pushed herself into a sitting position and, with a great deal of curiosity, looked down at him. The warm, hard length of his sex nudged her buttocks.

  “Why were you so afraid all afternoon, Caidi?” Raven asked the question that had been flitting through his mind since she had begun the tour. She had to have known that she had no fault in what the other women had done. “You worried almost from the time you woke up until well into the tour of the Taivain.”

  “I didn’t know how you would react to what they had done. I expected that you would be angry with them, very angry. I know that you had some reason to be. I didn’t know what you would do if you did get angry. I worried about how best to tell you about it and not draw your anger to my pack-mates. They had reason to behave as they did when you arrived. I was just not sure that you would understand those reasons.” Caidi shrugged.

  Raven watched her breasts sway with the movement of her shoulders. He reached out and cupped one of the full, enticing globes, enticed by how the light gold of her skin was gilded by the soft light. He ran his thumb over the dark crest of her breast and watched the nipple harden in delicious response to his touch. He wanted to taste those lush mounds again, but kept his attention on the subject at hand.

  “What did you expect me to do?” Raven asked, curious.

  “I thought that you might yell, rant, want to see them immediately, to take a strip off of them,” Caidi said. “The way you handled it surprised me. If they had hidden something of importance from me, I would have wanted a piece of their hide, at least.”

  Raven chuckled. “Ah, but you are actually their Acine. You have always had a right to expect only the truth from them. I suspected that they were withholding truths from me. I knew that it was likely that they were waiting for you to return home to confirm that I was actually the man who was your chalon. I knew they didn’t know for sure that I was that man. There was little need for all of that worry. I’m not an untried youth who lets his anger rule his actions. Until you returned and we were mated, I was merely an invader, and I had no right to expect truth and total disclosure from them.”

  “Well, I didn’t know that you thought they might be hiding things from you. When I was telling you about it, I did suspect, but if I had known that you really expected it, I wouldn’t have worried,” Caidi said with a glare at the man who was her mate.

  The man could drive her insane. She tried to ignore her body’s reaction to his touch on her breasts, his scent, and his very nearness, to focus on their conversation. Even when anger flowed through her, she wanted him. She was going soft, her body readying for his. Warmth was pooling within her, thick moisture gathering in her pussy. It was impossible to ignore everything.

  Raven laughed, his hands rubbing over her ribs and stomach. “You will learn, little one.”

  Caidi rolled her eyes at his arrogant statement even as she drew in a shaky breath as he cupped both of her breasts, lifting, squeezing. By the Goddess, he knew just how to touch her. His fingers plucked at her nipples, sending fire streaking down into the core of her. “Of course, I will learn how you think, what you will do in certain situations. How else am I to know how to get my way when you might be inclined to stop me?” she taunted.

  Raven laughed at her threat, totally unimpressed. “It isn’t easy for a Shadatai to deceive his or her mate. One will always know that there is something wrong even if they can’t tell just what that is. You may learn to coax and cajole like any other woman, but you can be assured that I will be aware of when you are trying to scheme.”

  “How long will the change take?” Caidi asked as she thought about what he said.

  Shadatai mates were able to touch each other’s minds, to know what their mate was feeling and some thoughts. In time she would be able to touch Raven’s mind as he was able to touch hers. While she still wasn’t accustomed to feeling his presence within her mind, it was an intimacy that she longed to experience again.

  “It will only take a week or so. The only notable change to your body will be two stripes high on each side of your rib cage, running onto your back. They will taper to a point right about here.” Raven ran his finger across her breast to the side and pointed to the underside of her breast. Her obvious enjoyment delighted him. “I love the way you taste, the way you feel. You are so responsive that it sets me on fire.”

  Caidi shivered at the tingle of electric desire zipping through her. She leaned down to kiss him, nibbling at his lips for a moment before running her tongue over his lips and entering his mouth with a slow, lazy glide. When Raven tried to reverse their positions, Caidi resisted the movement just enough to prevent him from completing it.

  She grabbed his hands when they began to pluck and fondle her breasts in that teasing tormenting way of his. With a gentle grip, she held them down by his side and flattened her body on his. She smiled into his curious eyes as she rubbed her body sensuously against his.

  “Caidi…” There was clear warning in Raven’s voice as he frowned up at her. She knew what he was warning. Either she stopped teasing or he would take matters into his own hands.

  Caidi knew her strength was no match for his, but there was a purpose to her teasing tonight. She had no intention of stopping until she had what she wanted. She wanted her Zarain male tonight. The craving to be dominated couldn’t be resisted.

  Earlier had been good, but it had been far too civilized for the primal animal within her. She wanted to provoke him, taunt him and break his control over the animal, dominant side of his character. Deep within her there was a part of her which needed to know that he believed she belonged to him as much as she knew that he belonged to her. The only way to get what she wanted was to push him until he couldn’t resist taking control.

  Caidi growled low in her throat when he tried to raise his hands to her shoulders. “I want you like this ton
ight.” Caidi leaned down and nipped at his shoulder in a quick move. “I want to know that you are my male, all mine to do with as I want tonight.”

  Caidi licked his lips again, pressing her tight, full breasts against his chest and rubbing them against the hard, muscled plane. She moaned at the electric tingles that coursed through her from even that simple contact. His scent was playing havoc with her needs. She could feel his desire in the press of his hard cock against her and smell it rolling off him almost in waves. Everything that was female within her responded and softened to welcome him.

  Caidi wasn’t surprised when Raven gave a low, rumbling growl of his own.

  “I want to play, Raven. I want to touch you and know that you respond to me, not merely because you are in need of a woman. I want to arouse you. You have so much control. Surely, you can let me play, just this little bit,” Caidi whispered as she nibbled leisurely on the lobe of his ear. The position served to keep him from seeing the devilish smile on her face. She didn’t want him guessing what she was doing just yet.

  Raven stopped pushing against her hands. He even left his hands by his sides when she slowly, cautiously released her grip on his wrists and sat up, watching him closely. She felt a light touch in her mind, could feel his need to know exactly what she was trying to do now. She kept her mind totally focused on his body. He felt her anticipation, her desire for him, but for the moment the thoughts and images in her head all focused on what she wanted to do to him. He suspected that she was playing a game, testing him. She felt his determination. He would bide his time until he knew for certain. Then, if she was playing, he would finish the game.

  “You taste so good, mmm-hmm.” Caidi leaned over to lap at his nipple before playfully nipping at it. “Smell so good. You’re so strong, my chalon, but I know that you will never hurt me. That strength is my defense.”

  Caidi laved at the flat brown disc before her, sucking at his hard, muscled chest. She pictured him before her, his hands tied behind him with colorful scarves. One of her hands slipped between their bodies and circled his thick cock.

  A low growl of urgency rumbled through Raven. He arched his hips into her hand, pumping into that stroking hand. By the Goddess, she pushed him. Didn’t she know that he ached to be deep in her tight pussy?

  He wasn’t with her in her mind, she knew. She was certain that that particular thought would have landed her on her back if he had chanced to catch it. She would have to keep going until he did pause to wonder what she thought she was doing. What next?

  Caidi drew back, kneeling between his legs and holding his long, hard staff in her hands. She ran a finger down the throbbing vein on the side of it. His muscles tensed and he groaned, his hands tightening into fists. “All of this in the palm of my hands,” Caidi murmured as she nibbled at the tight flesh over his ribs.

  She deliberately pictured him in a pair of manacles, silver ones attached to the wall. He was lying on a vibrantly draped bed. The coverings were contrasting blue and yellow and red, the fabric bright against his dark skin. His body was hard, aroused and she was fully dressed, stroking her hands across him, teasing him.

  “All the strength, all the power within you is mine to command tonight, because you are so strong, so in control, my chalon. I know that whatever I want you will give it to me. You will ensure my happiness above all else.” Caidi placed a kiss in the center of his flat, muscular abdomen.

  Caidi had become so absorbed in her imaginings and exploration of his body that she missed the tensing of his muscles. She also missed his touch within her mind. She had moved to nip at his hip, her hand cupping the sac as she ran her thumb over his balls in a slow, caressing movement.

  The bed seemed to come alive beneath Caidi. Her hand was pulled away from his sac and he flipped her onto her back in less than the blink of an eye. He was kneeling beside her even before she stopped bouncing on the soft mattress. The grin on her chalon’s face as he leaned over her was decidedly feral.

  Raven knelt between her thighs, captured both of her hands efficiently despite her effort to evade him and roll away. He raised her hands above her head and held them there with one of his. “I’ll give you what you need, my chalie, and right now, you need to be fucked, long and hard, and maybe you’ll need to be fucked again after that. You have been asking for it since we got to the room. You want me in you, now. Your scent calls to me. You want me filling you, riding you. I know without touching you that you are wet for me, your cream glistening on your cunt.”

  Raven nibbled on one of her nipples, before sucking it into his mouth, alternately suckling, scraping it with his teeth and flicking it with his tongue. His free hand moved into the blonde curls at the apex of her thighs. One of his fingers dipped into the warm folds and found her wet and slick as he had predicted. His finger rubbed over her clitoris. He stroked the swollen nub until her hips arched and twisted beneath his hand, her eyes glazed with desire and she was panting as she strained, arching, seeking fulfillment.

  “What do you want, Caidi?” Raven asked, leaning forward to kiss her, his tongue thrusting aggressively into her mouth as his fingers plucked at one of her nipples. Her tongue eagerly tangled with his and she writhed against him.

  “I want you.” Caidi arched into him. She wanted him, hot, hard and deep within her. All games had been tossed to the side now.

  “Whose chalie are you?” Raven raised an eyebrow and waited for an answer. Two of his fingers slid easily into the snug channel of her slit, his fingers already coated with the evidence of her urgent yearning for him. She was more than ready for him.

  Caidi turned her head to the side and bit her lip as the sharp sensation of desire tightened within her. She hadn’t even really heard his question. Her focus was centered on the pulsing need slamming through her. Her pussy clenched around his thrusting fingers. She was so close, just a little more, another touch, another kiss. Her hips undulated against his hand. Raven’s fingers left her when her silence continued and Caidi groaned her disappointment.

  “Please.” Caidi twisted beneath him, her legs moving restlessly. Her arousal was a sharp blade cutting through her. Every touch sent fire raging right to the ache within her pussy.

  Raven nipped her shoulder. He knew the sharp, stinging sensation would heighten her arousal. With a wicked grin, intent upon making her want him as much as he wanted her, he sent her an image complete with feelings. In that image, he was bent over her, licking her body, especially enjoying the delightful scent and taste of the flesh between her thighs. He bent and took her dark nipple into his mouth, sucking lightly.

  The image sent a rush of hot need pouring through her. She could feel how much he wanted her, how much he truly liked her taste, the feel of her in his mouth. She arched and twisted beneath him, desperate to reach climax. She felt the warm honey flow from her needy cunt, felt it flowing down onto her buttocks. Desperate, she arched, her head pushing back into the soft mattress. She needed to be filled, to feel the thick, hard length of his shaft driving into her, his hard body over hers.

  “Whose chalie are you? Whose sons will you bear? Who do you hunger for?” Raven tugged on her lips with his teeth. The Zarain male within him demanded that she acknowledge him. With her teasing game, she had brought the dominant animal to the surface. She wouldn’t reach climax until she gave him what she needed. “I can keep you like this, hovering near peak for as long as it takes. Tell me.”

  “Oh…” Caidi moaned, turning her head agitatedly as his fingers plucked at her nipples. She arched, pulling at her captive hands, writhing, straining against him, aching for him. “Yours, only yours, I only want you.” She moaned breathlessly.

  “What do you want?” Raven smiled, enjoying the hunger, the need displayed on her face.

  “I want you in me.” Caidi’s body rolled against his as his mouth moved to her neck. She couldn’t stay still, the need burned within her, desperate for fulfillment.

  “Again, tell me whose chalie you are.” Raven nipped the delicate
skin just below her ear. His hands cupped her breasts, his thumbs flicking at her nipples.

  “Yours!” Caidi cried desperately.

  “Yes, mine, always mine, only mine,” Raven growled as he slid over her and drove fiercely within her. He maintained his grip on her hands as he thrust within her, keeping her helpless beneath him, subject to his whims.

  Caidi found release almost immediately. Her body was racked with the fierce shudders from the intense climax that gripped her. She lost her breath and arched her body against his, shaking. Caidi had felt Raven stop moving within her as soon as she reached peak. She blinked up at him, confused. He was staring down at her with a burning intensity in his eyes. His cock was still hard and remained deep within her.

  Caidi felt a hand on her breast, but she knew that it couldn’t be one of Raven’s hands, because one of his hands was holding her wrists and the other was balancing his weight as he stared down at her with that gleaming silver gaze that was more unnerving now than it had ever been before. She saw the strain on his face, the concentration that it required, but he was still and hard inside her.

  Caidi looked down at her breasts. She saw and felt her breasts being lifted, lightly squeezed, the nipples tweaked by large hands, but she couldn’t see any hands. She quickly raised amazed eyes to Raven’s face. He was grinning ferally at her.

  If she had had any doubts about just who was doing it, they would have been cleared in that moment. She closed her eyes, because the sight of her breasts being fondled by nothing was a little unsettling. The feel, though, that was incredible. Sharp stinging pleasure spread through her as her nipples were plucked by unseen fingers. Images, feelings flooded into her from the man poised above her.

  Caidi felt the tightening urgency within her. She saw herself as he saw her, stretched out below him, at his mercy and flushed with desire. Her hair was wild, flowing around her head and shoulders in a shining golden curtain. Her lips were swollen from his kisses. Her breasts were large and flushed, the tips a dark brown-red. The images were arousing, but it was his intense reaction to the image of her as his that caused a rush of liquid heat to flow through her.