Timtur, p.19
Timtur, page 19
“I’m in a hurry to get home,” she said with a grin.
“I hear that.” He gave her a snappy salute and a wink. “Low and fast, and we’ll be there before you know it.”
“Your sister will fire me if I don’t check you over,” Rik said, standing next to her in the aisle. “How’s your broken arm?”
She raised it to show him. “Fine. Akkarmogg healed it for his own reasons soon after we arrived at this lab. Really, I’m doing okay, maybe a few bumps and bruises from all the chaos in the tunnel.”
Timtur frowned at Rik. “I’ll take care of my mate. Dr. Garrison has no reason to be concerned now.”
Lily laughed and elbowed him, more light-hearted by the minute. “Except she’s my bossy older twin and the human doctor. She doesn’t need any other reasons.” She gestured to Rik. “Okay, you can have a few readings, to make everyone happy.”
Timtur brushed a kiss over her hair and murmured, “Whatever pleases you.”
Jill came to stand in the aisle next to her. “We’ll need to do a full debrief when Aydarr’s got us assembled at the valley by the way. So I’ll try not to ask any questions now, let you and your mate—congratulations on the mate bond, by the way—have a peaceful flight home.”
Lily stretched her hand to her oldest sister and squeezed hard. “Thank you for coming to rescue me. I tried to do everything you taught me, kept asking myself what would you do.” She turned to Timtur with a smile. “Except for the times I asked myself what you’d do.”
Her sister gave her a hug. “You did great, sis.”
“She climbed through ventilation shafts,” Timtur proclaimed with pride.
“You’re kidding?” Eyebrows raised to her hairline, Jill did a double take. “When I think how hard we had to fight to get you into the ones at the first lab—”
“Yup, I ventured into the damn shafts more than once at this place,” Lily reported as she laid her head on Timtur’s shoulder. “All in all it was quite an experience but one I’d rather not have had to go through. Except for ending up with my mate.”
She heard the flyer’s hatch closing and scarcely a second later Walt had the craft angling into the sky. He did a tight turn over the burning lab and Lily leaned across Timtur’s lap to get a last glimpse. There was a huge explosion, flames climbing into the atmosphere and she recoiled instinctively, although they were gaining altitude so rapidly there was no effect on the flyer. “What was that?”
“Fusion bomb. Aydarr ordered the place completely levelled. We couldn’t retrieve the bodies of Vattan or Wynmar from the rubble, and he doesn’t want any evidence of what Akkarmogg was doing. I hope the Khagrish enjoy the mystery.” Timtur’s grin was one of pure satisfaction. “Shouldn’t you be resting on this flight?”
“How about you? I mean we were both up all night, so to speak, but then you had to fight for our lives.” Lily turned sideways awkwardly in her seat, checking him out head to toe. “I’m not sure whether to be glad or sorry someone gave you a pair of utility pants. That loincloth and all those bare muscles were sexy. Until the fight started. Then I was terrified for you.”
“And I appreciate seeing you still wearing my shirt, which I find sexy as hell, having my scent surrounding you.” Timtur nuzzled her neck and gently nipped at her earlobe.
With a blush, Lily remembered she was in a flyer surrounded by Badari with super powered sense of smell, and her sister right across the aisle. “I guess we’d better cool it until we get home. How long do you think this debrief for Aydarr will take?”
His whisper was hot, sending a tingle of arousal straight to her core. “Too damn long, mate, but then we’ll go straight to our cave and put up the do not disturb sign.”
When they reached sanctuary valley, Megan put her foot down and insisted Lily spend the night in the small hospital she ran. “Mostly so you can get a shower, a change of clothes, a decent meal, and a bit of peace and quiet before you have to tell Aydarr all about the ordeal you suffered,” she said in private to her twin as the two women had a joyous reunion at the valley’s landing field. “You seem fine to me, all vital signs in the right ranges, but we’ll keep your condition our secret for tonight. The Alpha won’t argue with my medical assessment so you won’t have to do a debrief for him immediately, which is his normal custom. He likes to get the facts while they’re fresh, or so he says.” She grinned. “Not everything has to go according to his preference.” Megan cast a glance at the waiting healer. “I don’t mind at all if Timtur stays with you. Hell, he’s probably essential to your health, right?”
“Absolutely!” Lily nodded enthusiastically, loving the idea of time to herself to decompress with Timtur. “Isn’t there a mineral springs hot pool at the hospital?”
“Way ahead of you. I already made the area off-limits till further notice, so you and he can have privacy.” Her sister winked conspiratorially. “Can you walk or do you want the anti grav litter?”
“Why do either when she can be carried like a princess?” Timtur asked, coming up behind Lily and sweeping her into his arms. “Unless, of course, you’d like to go on your own two feet?”
“Being carried is a luxury I embrace for tonight.” She laughed.
Megan and Jill accompanied them to the hospital and supervised the process of getting them installed in a large room close to the clinic’s own hot spring, tucked away in one of the caves.
“You have until dawn probably,” Jill said. “I doubt we can hold Aydarr off from a debrief much longer than that and, to be fair, he really should have all the information available as soon as possible.”
“I’m more than ready to manifest data for the Alpha,” MARL said in his resonant voice, bobbing up and down on his anti grav. “More than he can absorb in one twelve-hour night.” Pink waves of color washed across the AI’s metallic shell, and Lily bit her lip because it sounded like MARL was attempting to make a joke.
Jill patted her AI on the side, MARL’s shiny ‘skin’ going turquoise where her hand touched. “Thanks, fresh data to pore over should hold him off for a few hours.”
“You know where the call button is if you need anything,” Megan said. “And there’ll be Badari guards outside the hospital for tonight, to ensure you’re not bothered. Chef Sandara is sending over dinner in an hour, but the trays can be left outside the room so as not to disturb you. And I left fresh clothes for both of you on the chair by the bed.”
“You two are the best sisters ever.” Lily stepped away from Timtur to have a group hug with her siblings. “Thank you for taking care of me.”
“See you in the morning.” Megan gave her a cheery wave and walked out, Jill and MARL on her heels. The Alpha’s mate closed the portal, and Lily and her mate were finally alone.
Timtur opened his arms and she went to him gladly. As she tilted her face to kiss him, he picked her up off the floor. She wrapped her legs around his waist, feeling the pressure of his impressive arousal against her bottom.
“Bath first,” he said.
“Sounds good.” Lily stepped away when he set her down and struggled with the makeshift belt on her shirt-dress. “The knot is too tight. Can you help me here?”
Timtur flicked out the talons on one hand and sliced through the fabric. Then he paused, eyes wide in concern, frowning. “I’m sorry.”
Lily shook her head, shaking a finger at him in mild rebuke. “That was a perfect thing to do, thank you. Don’t ever try to hide your Badari attributes from me. I’m fine. I thought we covered all this on the flyer.”
He shrugged and took off his T shirt, throwing it on the floor before working on his combat boots. “Just checking.”
“All right, I guess we both need time to get over what we went through, but I promise I’m not having flashbacks every time you let your claws or fangs show.” She undid the dress and stepped naked to his side. Putting her hand on the considerable bulge at his crotch she pressed hard, knowing the sensation was pleasurable to him. “I love being a Badari mate.”
Incentivized, Timtur got the utility pants off, allowing his fully lengthened and expanded cock to spring free. Lily swallowed hard, enjoying the sight of her mate ready for her. “You did say bath first. Want to change your mind?” She reached out to fondle him.
He pulled her closer for a deep, passionate kiss, then picked her up and carried her through the door to the pool area. “We’ll probably both feel better if we’ve been in the water first. And I want to make sure you’re fully healed from all your adventuring.”
Lily checked a big bruise on her forearm. “Yeah I got a few bumps when the tunnel was collapsing, for sure. I’m glad you can run so fast and got me out of there.”
He set her on her feet at the edge of the glowing pool and launched himself into the water in a shallow dive. Lily decided to proceed decorously down the small steps cut into the side then swam, going under to get her hair wet. Timtur towed her to the ledge in the shallow end, grabbing a bottle of the soap sitting there and washed her hair for her. Lily relaxed and enjoyed the sensations as he massaged her scalp. Next, he employed his talented healer’s hands to soap her entire body, paying special attention to her breasts and the vee between her legs. She giggled and writhed in pleasure. “It’ll be my turn to take care of you next,” she said as she pushed off into the deeper water to rinse herself.
“I want to heal the worst bruise first. Come over here, mate, please.”
“Since you ask so nicely.” She made her way to him and sat in the shallow water. “Really, I’m fine. Don’t waste your power on me.”
“Healing my mate is not a waste. It’s my right and privilege.”
The green light flashed from his fingertips and her arm tingled where the energy bathed her skin. Lily had to admit she was relieved to be free of the pain. “When you healed yourself in the arena, the light was nearly blinding,” she said, getting soap on her hands and working it into his gorgeous mane of hair.
“The goddess healed me. I was nigh unto death from the poison, and she granted my prayer to stay, to defend you.” His voice was calm and sure.
Her heart stuttered at the serenity in his belief and she froze, hands resting on his head motionless. Considering what he’d shared, she found she accepted the idea the goddess had intervened directly, based in part on her own uncanny encounter with the Great Mother at the end of the long night when she’d sat with and comforted the dying Hilkirr. Gooseflesh rose on her arms at the memory of the ethereal voice and the light emanating from no known source. “I’m grateful. She—she was there in the lab too, I think. At the end I heard her myself, when Hilkirr died.” The memory was almost too raw to be given voice. She went a little weak at the knees. Encounters with goddesses were way outside her realm as a common sense citizen of the tech-based Sectors. In her heart, however, she knew she hadn’t been dreaming or hallucinating. “We’ve been blessed all through this dreadful experience. We should find a way to thank her properly.”
Moving so rapidly he sent a wave of water splashing onto the surface surrounding the pool Timtur embraced her. “I’m sure she knows how we feel. We can show her our gratitude by honoring our vows to each other as mates and serving the pack in our separate ways, according to our gifts.”
Lily snuggled with him, thinking through the discussion and her experiences since Vattan had kidnapped her. Timtur gently rubbed her back and sat silently but then gave her a nudge and a smile. “Hey, remember me? My body still needs your attention, mate.”
“Oh, it does, does it? This body right here?” Happy to focus to more personal concerns, Lily put her soapy hands on the rock hardness of his cock and massaged lazily as she spread the suds, being sure to give his balls and the sensitive nerve endings behind them extra attention. As his hips bucked, she laughed gently and moved her hands to stroke and lather the enticing planes of his abdomen and his heavily muscled chest. “Turn, let me do your back.”
Obediently he changed position. “We’d better be nearly done here,” he said over his shoulder. “I’m not prepared to delay much longer.” His wink was playful. “You’re keeping me hard and ready. It’s a torture I appreciate, but a man only has so much will power.”
She touched the mate mark on his shoulder, then pressed her lips to the spot tenderly. “I love you and, yeah, I’m about out of patience too.” Lily hurried to soap his back, gliding her hands over the assorted scars from Khagrish force whips, gathered during his time as a prisoner in the lab. “You’ve endured so much,” she murmured as she traced a particularly long scar with her fingertips. “All of your pack has.”
Creating a wave with his dramatic motion, nearly sweeping her from the ledge, he readjusted his stance to take her in his arms. “Speaking for myself, it was worth it, to end up here, with you. “
Smiling, he took her with him in an underwater plunge and when they emerged, gasping, Lily was laughing, her legs locked around his waist. Timtur shook the water from his eyes and sat on the ledge, the tip of his cock pressing against her. He stroked her folds with one hand then circled the sensitive bud as she arched her body and cried out in pleasure.
When Timtur moved to enter her, Lily took him with a sigh of sheer bliss and then clamped down with her internal muscles as hard as she could, to amplify the effect of the engorged ridges on his shaft and the thick vein that ran underneath as he plunged deeper. She knew he enjoyed the heightened sensations from her maneuver, which created a feedback loop of pleasure ratcheting up the intensity for both of them. They really were perfectly matched in the bedroom. All of him was pleasuring all of her as he pumped in and out with a demanding rhythm, and she didn’t intend to miss a scintilla of the sensual joy to be had. The waves of the orgasm built until she was right on the edge, ready to give in with total abandon. Timtur roared as he thrust deep and hard and his hot seed jetted into her. Lily clung to him and let herself go, savoring the sensation of climaxing around his immense Badari manhood, caged in his arms, cherished and safe.
They held each other close, as the gentle waves of the pool lapped at their bodies, cooling them. The special minerals in the water tingled against her skin, adding an extra stimulus Lily enjoyed.
Timtur kissed her mate mark and nuzzled her neck. “How about if we towel off, see if dinner was delivered yet then try out the bed for round two?”
“Sounds like a wonderful plan, especially the eating dinner naked part which might be a lot of fun.”
“Depends how creative Sandara was in what she sent over for us.” Rising from the water, carrying her easily, he walked to the towel stand, wrapping her in a huge fluffy towel before setting her down and grabbing one for himself. Rubbing his hair to dry it a bit, he said, “I’d like to try licking berry jam from your sweet body. I’ve had my fantasies.”
Lily blushed, braiding her hair in the loose fishtail style she preferred. “Whipped cream is fun, or so I’ve heard, but I don’t think we have that here. I know where I’d put a large dollop and use my tongue to good effect.”
Now the tips of his ears were red, although she was gratified to see his body was already rising for more lovemaking. Playfully, she snapped the towel at his lower leg. “Food first, dessert after.”
He came close to her, dropping a kiss on her forehead. “I thought I just had dessert.”
Hours later, long after dinner and another round of creative lovemaking, they were lying in bed cuddled up, playing a desultory game of cards, when Timtur straightened and closed his eyes.
“Problem? Headache?” Concerned, Lily set her cards on the blanket facedown and rubbed his temples.
“Message from Aydarr.” He opened his eyes, which were glowing. “He’s arranged a burial for Brendonn at dawn, deep in the forest. I need to be there, to give a blessing.”
“I’m coming too,” she said, sitting up. “Tell him I insist.”
Timtur stared at her briefly before closing his eyes to send the addendum. “Done.” He laid back against the pillows, scattering the cards, and pulled her against his chest. “We’ve never buried anyone before.”
“Never?” Surprised, Lily did a double take.
He shook his head. “In the labs your body belonged to the Khagrish even after death. We weren’t given a chance to mourn, although the next time we were allowed into the Preserve, we’d go to the goddess’s circle and sing for whoever we’d lost since the last visit there.”
“I’m glad I’ll be there, to stand with you and add my voice. I owe Brendonn a final farewell. After all, he did make it possible for me to get away from Akkarmogg at the end. He died a Badari warrior.” Lily was positive of her declaration and the thought lightened the sadness of the lost lives slightly. “Pack is everything to your people—now my people—and I can bear witness he did the right thing in his final moments.”
Timtur hugged her close and in a voice choked with emotion, he said, “Your presence will mean a great deal to everyone, not just to me. Your acceptance of the situation, of his ultimate sacrifice, will go a long way to healing jagged wounds in many hearts. Loss of trust is a terrible fate for a Badari and the fact you of all people trust us again—not only me, your mate, but the pack, the other Generation 9 soldiers, will be a powerful statement.”
The following day was intense emotionally and long, beginning with the trek at dawn to the gravesite selected by Aydarr for Brendonn. Lily took a small bouquet of wildflowers and left them on the heaped earth, after whispering her thanks to Brendonn’s spirit for his actions in saving her. The assembled members of Aydarr’s original pack, and the remaining Gen 9 soldiers , sang a chant to the goddess, led by Timtur.
Unbidden, Lily paused by the grave after the chant ended and gave a brief eulogy for Brendonn, not glossing over the fact he’d been complicit in her kidnapping, but emphasizing how he and Hilkirr as well had made amends with her and that she forgave them. She spoke of the way the Great Mother had taken Hilkirr’s spirit at the end of his long, hard night. When she was done, the silence in the glade was absolute, not even birds singing. Lily had tears running down her cheeks, her grip on Timtur’s hand as tight as she could make it. Glancing at the crowd, she saw Jill wiping away a tear surreptitiously and the Badari were visibly moved, many with hopeful expressions.
