The Cook's Game (Warriors Book 2), page 12
She opened her mouth, but hesitation flashed in her eyes, and she closed it again.
'Addison,' he growled.
'What does dycalti mean?'
Keral smiled. Had he really called her dycalti? It fit.
‘My love,’ he lied. Though it was only partially a lie. The term was complex, but the simplest translation meant my love, my bond, my wife, my heart, part of my soul. It was an Amaran word. He had never called anyone dycalti. ‘Does that bother you?’
Addison’s eyes lit up. She shook her head.
‘I knew I wanted you the moment I saw you on Caras,’ she admitted.
‘Did you?’
Addison nodded.
‘You are far more intelligent than I am,’ he said. ‘I was attracted to you, yes, how could I not be? I am a foolish old male for not realising before this.’ He smiled at her. ‘Forgive me?’
In answer, Addison threw herself into his arms and found his lips. She moaned as he took control of the kiss.
‘Please, Keral.’ She took his cock in her hand and pumped it.
Keral groaned. With great effort, he took hold of her hand and stilled it.
‘Not until you've cum over my tongue a few times,’ he whispered before firmly pushing her onto the bed and retreating down her body. He kissed his way down until his lips were against her mound until his nose was taking in the heady aroma of her orgasm.
‘Vrok,’ he groaned, his cock bucking in protest, precum trickling down his hypersensitive shaft.
‘Vrok, that smell is divine.’
She was swollen and wet from his ministrations. Her folds, the creases where her groin met her thighs, her thighs. He started there, licking her clean and tasting the burst of her flavour over his tongue. He groaned again. ‘Vrok, you taste so good, Addison.’
‘Please, Keral,’ she gasped.
He looked up at her.
Addison's eyes were closed. There was a desperate, almost feral look on her face. He looked down at where he had been licking her; it was far from where she seemed to need him, but all that did was increase the wickedness of his act and his mood. He chuckled.
‘Do you want my tongue in your cunt, little human,’ she opened her eyes to look at him, ‘or on your clit?’
She bit her lips and moaned.
‘I’ll get to both of them,’ he promised. ‘Eventually.’ He winked at her and settled back down, slowly, torturously, cleaning every drop of her from her soft skin.
Addison shuddered as Keral tongued around her pussy. Digging her fingers into the bedding, she moved her hips, chasing his tongue until he placed his hand on her abdomen and pinned her down.
‘Is this what you want?’ he asked before his tongue swiped up the full length of her pussy. Addison gasped as a shock of intense arousal shot through her, causing her upper body to raise off the bed almost of its own accord.
‘You like that, my dycalti?’ Keral repeated the action.
Addison wasn’t sure if he wanted a response, but she was beyond words now. She’d been told by friends that once she had an orgasm, she wouldn’t be able to have one for hours after, but Keral was teasing her body back to that same height as before.
‘Addison, watch.’
It took a moment for Keral’s words to penetrate her mind, but finally, she raised herself on her forearms and watched as he pressed the pad of his thumb to one fang. A single drop of milky white liquid coalesced on his thumb.
‘What is that?’
Keral grinned. ‘The single good thing our creators did. This is designed specifically to pleasure human females.’ With that, he rubbed his thumb over her clit.
Addison dropped back onto the bed as her arousal flared to a new brilliance. Her hips rose from the bed, grinding against Keral’s thumb as he moved his venom-covered thumb over her. His tongue followed a moment later, and Addison cried out as another orgasm ripped through her body.
Before Addison knew what was happening, Keral was on his knees between her legs and had placed a pillow under her hips, then bunched the covers beneath it. He slid inside her, his girth pushing the boundaries of her comfort, but somehow it felt so good. She moaned, her hips rising to meet him. He lifted her legs, placing them over his shoulder and pumped into her slowly. Addison watched, her eyes locked on him as he worked inside her, his expression concentrating, intense until his eyes were closing, and he groaned each time his full length was encompassed by her.
He opened his eyes, and they watched each other. He moved her legs carefully from his shoulders and leaned over, his lips grazing over hers as he continued pumping inside her. Addison couldn’t bear the distance any longer, and, her fingers sliding into his hair, she pressed his lips to hers.
Keral sped his rhythm until Addison’s pussy was clenching and fluttering around him.
Suddenly his length, his heat was gone, and he was between her legs once more, teasing her with fingers, lips and tongue until Addison was crying out, her pussy spasming, waves of ecstasy pulsing along her nerves.
Almost as soon as she was done, Keral expressed more venom, and she was cumming more intensely than before less than a minute later.
When he entered her again, she was spread wide open. When he pressed his body to hers, he was almost the perfect height for kissing as he pumped inside her.
‘I’m too close,’ he whispered. ‘I can’t hold it back anymore.’
‘Please don’t,’ she said, wrapping her arms around his neck and meeting him thrust for thrust. His rhythm quickened.
‘Cum for me, Addison.’
‘I don’t think I can,’ she admitted.
‘Yes, you will.’ With that, Keral slowed as he expressed more venom onto his hand. She watched him spread it over his hand before he drew back from her. She felt his hand against her and realised he’d wrapped his hand in his cock, then he wiped his open palm over her sex before thrusting into her once again.
In three thrusts, he took her from satiety to arousal to orgasm. She cried out, her pussy clenching around him. A moment later, Keral gasped, then groaned as he pushed into her in four short snaps of his hips. Addison could feel him pulse inside her, felt his hot release. He groaned one last time, his arms tightening around her, his lips next to her ear, his cock pressing deep inside her.
He collapsed on top of her, his knees still beneath her thighs and hips taking much of his weight.
‘Vrok,’ he whispered. His breathing, fast and erratic, grew steadier. ‘Now I know,’ he said, kissing her neck and cheek. ‘Now I know.’
Sex was exhausting and somehow energising all at the same time. Even with the knowledge of what she’d done burning new pathways in her brain, Addison fell asleep as soon as Keral settled them back into bed.
She had no idea how much time had passed by the time she woke up. Keral was already awake, his pale blue eyes watching her as he stroked her cheek. The corners of his mouth twitched into a smile when he saw her awake.
‘I was wondering when you were going to join me again,’ he said.
‘I feel like every bone in my body has turned into silly string.’
‘I don’t know what that is.’ He chuckled. ‘Is it good?’
‘Very good.’ Addison giggled. ‘Very, very, very good.’
Keral chuckled again, the points of his fangs resting against his lower lip.
‘I think I love those.’ Addison reached out slowly and pulled his lip back. ‘And the only use is to give women orgasms?’ Addison gave him her best sceptical look. ‘Why would the Cealin do that?’
There was a mild look of surprise on Keral’s face. ‘What do you… Don’t you know? Your government said they’d announced it. Said no women were interested.’
‘Announced what?’
Keral sat up in bed, a frown on his face.
‘You know we used to be human?’
Addison nodded. ‘You were one of the fifty-four thousand eight hundred and nineteen men that were kidnapped from Earth during The Violation.’
‘You know that the Cealin meant to return us to Earth, to take over?’
‘Yeah. They did a big programme on it. Said they were going to alter the whole population.’
Keral watched her for a moment. ‘Not the whole population,’ he said. ‘Just the men. Then, the altered males would change the females.’
‘How?’ Realisation flared through Addison’s mind. ‘The venom?’
Keral nodded. ‘It’s designed specifically to add Tessan DNA to human women. It’s pleasurable to speed the process so that the females want to be bitten.’
Addison shook her head. ‘The documentary said nothing about this. The government hasn’t mentioned it.’
Keral hissed, anger evident on his face. ‘It was part of the agreement for helping them, that they would allow human females who were interested in joining us to leave Earth. They said none had shown interest.’
‘Well, that’s just bullshit. There are whole forums, clubs, groups dedicated to you guys. It used to be just Cealin—’
‘Cealin?’ Keral’s head snapped around. ‘They’re attracted to Cealin?’
‘Human women have slim pickings with human men. The good ones are rare. It’s easy to fantasise about how good or bad an alien can be. But when they found out there were fifty thousand males who used to be human who have awesome genetic changes…’ Addison struggled to find the right words. ‘You should have women fighting for spots. The only reason they aren’t is they don’t know any of this. They don’t know it’s an option.’
‘Thanesh is going to be very angry about this.’ Keral got out of bed and started pacing across the room. ‘They promised they would make it clear that we were looking for human females to become our mates. But when all of the humans from Kallis’s experiments opted to go home, we assumed that meant no human females would want us, just those who had already been changed, or the few human females who opted to make a life on Tessa rather than return home after we saved them from slavery. When Thanesh finds out about this…’
Keral continued pacing in silence.
All the while, Addison watched him feeling her heart sink into her stomach. They’d made love, and he’d opted not to bite her. She swallowed against the emotion thickening her throat and bit her lip, trying not to let her disappointment show.
‘What’s wrong, dycalti?’
Addison looked up at him and forced a smile to her face. ‘What?’
Dycalti. He said that meant ‘my love’. Surely that had to count for something.
Keral stepped towards her. ‘Dycalti?’ There was a deep, growling warning to his tone.
‘Nothing,’ she lied.
Keral got up on the bed. ‘Addison?’
Letting out a nervous breath, Addison forced a smile back on her face. ‘I get it. I’m not an idiot. It’s just sex.’
A deep growl reverberated through Keral’s throat, resounding in his chest. ‘That was not just sex. What are you saying?’ His voice was hard. A spark of realisation lit up his eyes. ‘No. You think I did not bite you because I do not want you?’
Addison shrugged, not trusting her voice.
Keral crossed the space between them. His hand wrapped around the back of her neck, his cheek pressing to hers as another growl echoed off the walls. ‘You have no idea how close I came to biting you. When you were on the bench and as you came around me. As I came inside you.’ The growling restarted, building up in his throat as he moved. Teeth scraped off her skin, and she felt the wetness of his venom drip down her back in two paths, leaving her skin sensitised behind it. She gasped, her eyes closing.
‘Addison, I have already claimed you in my heart and in my mind. But the rest has to be your decision.’
‘I choose it,’ she gasped.
‘No. You must think about it, Addison. If I bite you, your body will change. A sheen will be added to your skin.’ His fingers grazed down one arm. ‘It will mark you apart from your people. Make you alien to them. The darkness of your eyes will lighten. Your life will extend by unknown centuries. You will become stronger, faster, healthier. You will heal faster than you do now.’
‘I’m not hearing any drawbacks, Keral.’ Addison smiled at him.
‘You will have to spend the rest of your existence with me.’ Keral gripped her chin lightly, his fingers tracing down her cheek. ‘Our venom becomes something your body needs. You can’t create your own, so for your body to function properly, you must be bitten regularly by your mate, and only your mate’s venom will do. It’s a part of the Sehn genes. Addison, it bonds you to me for the rest of your life.’
Addison placed her hand on his face. She knew every line, every curve, every expression, and she loved him. ‘I don’t hear any drawbacks,’ she repeated. ‘I want it. I want you if you want me?’
‘Forever,’ he whispered, his forehead resting against hers. ‘But you will take the time to consider.’ Keral withdrew from her. ‘I can’t bear the thought of you hating me for the rest of our lives because I didn’t give you the time and the chance to back out.’
Addison shook her head. ‘I’ll take a few days, and then we’re going to do it. Because I can’t think of anything that would make me happier.’
After eating, Keral and Addison spent the rest of the day making love. Keral found he liked nothing in the universe so much as being deep inside Addison, hearing her cries, feeling her cumming around him. He could get hard in an instant just thinking about it, and thankfully, Addison seemed just as insatiable as he felt.
When she was fast asleep, Keral forced himself from the bed and snuck out of the bedroom. He walked to the ops room and looked over the cameras.
Addison had filled him in on the aftermath of her rescue.
Keral gritted his teeth. Waking up to find her in that room had felt like a nightmare come to life. When they walked out into the hall, and he saw the dead Raqhan, he was, all at once, so proud of her and so angry with himself that she’d been forced to take a life to rescue him.
When Addison and Keral had put the Ledaan system back together, they’d had to focus it on cameras in order to preserve the system, but Keral had also added a facility to tap into his ship, and through the ship, to the small probe in the hull of Caras. A metri later, Thanesh appeared on the screen.
‘Keral! Thank vrok! I was expecting to hear from you two rotes ago! What happened?’
Keral stood before his best friend, his leader, his tongue glued to the roof of his mouth. Shame washed over him. ‘I… I failed.’
Thanesh stared at him for a moment before shaking his head. ‘Explain?’
Keral looked into Thanesh’s amber eyes.
‘I’m not a leader, Thanesh. I never have been. I don’t know why you chose me as your second. All I had to do was get Addison to safety. I failed.’
Thanesh frowned. ‘Keral. You led at the Battle of Falish. Did you fail there?’
‘No! Of course not.’
‘You led half of our forces on Colister. Did you fail?’
‘Thanesh—’
‘Did you fail?’
‘I—’
‘Did you fail?’
‘No.’ A burst of breath exploded out of Keral’s mouth. ‘But you don’t get it. I’m not like you. I can’t control every element. I tried. I tried to strategise. I tried to lead. I tried… I failed.’
‘You did fail,’ Thanesh said. ‘You tried to be me. That is your failure, Keral.’ Thanesh scowled. ‘Do you think you have become my most trusted friend, my second-in-command, because I wanted to shape you in my image?’
Keral stopped on the spot. It’s exactly what he’d thought; for solars, for centuries, he’d been waiting, watching, trying to become what he saw.
‘Keral.’ Thanesh stepped closer to the screen, his scowl deepening. ‘That day. When I woke up in Teralis, my blood burning in my veins. Rage directing my every move. We killed.’ Thanesh closed his eyes. Keral didn’t have to ask about the images behind his eyes because they were the same images that haunted him. Thanesh’s eyes opened. ‘You were the first one to stop. To throw your weapon down. You talked me down. All of us. I knew then I would always need you by my side to be, as Alethia calls you, my better angel.’
‘What the vrok does that mean?’
‘I have no idea.’ Thanesh smiled, love for his mate softening his features. ‘Later, I grew to admire your ability to spot talent. To place our people in the right jobs. To delegate. Your ability to lead is through your ability to let others do what they do best. To bring out the best in those around you. Dairon once told me what he liked best about you was that you do not have an ego. If you hear a good plan, you do not decide you must do better.’
Keral shook his head. Being Thanesh’s second had taken a lot of the pressure off. Especially because Thanesh had a habit of controlling every little thing, allowing Keral to worry about his own plans and not about the overall picture.
‘Well, I’ve been a vrokking vashni.’
‘Yes, you have.’ Thanesh didn’t smile, but Keral could see the humour in his eyes. ‘I am reliably informed by Sophia that Addison is, as she said, “a bit of a legend in the gaming community”. Apparently, she is particularly good at strategy. I suggest you use the talent at your fingertips and stop trying to be something you are not.’
Keral closed his eyes and groaned. All the times he’d seen it, the inner workings of Addison’s mind as she went through the plan for the ops system. Refiguring, refining, moving things around to optimise performance. She had a mind beyond any he’d met except for Thanesh.
‘How is she?’
Keral opened his eyes. ‘She is,’ he paused, unable to talk for a moment as everything she was to him poured over him. He couldn’t help the smile that came to his lips.
‘Keral… have you?’
‘If she accepts me,’ he confirmed.
Thanesh smiled now. ‘I am very happy for you, my friend. I know she will. I am told she is very intelligent. She will see you. Who you are.’
‘Thank you. I hope so.’ She’d practically begged him to earlier, and he’d almost given in. But he wanted Addison to be absolutely sure when he finally bit her. Wanted her to understand what it meant.
