| |
The sedative and whatever numbness had affected Dawn from Pilan’s injection had worn off. That meant nothing to Venik. She couldn’t get him to listen and found herself in the medical unit for a full day, waiting for confirmation from the medical team that she had no lingering injuries.
The night had been long and lonely as Venik reluctantly left her there to deal with official business. Based on a scan of the wreckage, Yon and the other purists working with him died in the explosion he set but there was still the matter of more Vassi who may have had purist leanings.
Knowing a group had attempted to kill her because of her relationship shook Dawn. She only hoped it wouldn’t be a continued issue since she’d declared her love for Venik in front of a large number of the crew on the Black Star. Worry there’d be repercussions from her declaration kept her tossing and turning in bed until the early hours of morning.
The door opened and Venik entered, followed by the Chief Medic. “You’re awake.”
For the first time since being struck in the head, she understood everything being said. The procedure to repair and replace her translator had been a simple matter of her lying under a scanner and not feeling a single thing for the ten minute procedure.
One of the good things she noticed upon her return was that everyone in the medical unit went out of their way to be unreasonably kind to Dawn. Maybe it was their guilt over Pilan’s part in everything or their fear of repercussions from Venik, who vowed to search out any purists remaining onboard.
For Dawn’s safety of course. She had a feeling Venik used that as an excuse to vent his anger on those who hadn’t made her welcome and because he couldn’t exact retribution on Yon or Pilan.
Miaji waved a three fingered hand at Dawn in bed. “As I mentioned last night, she’s fine.”
Sitting up in bed, she grinned at a glowering Venik. “Told you.”
Venik came over and gripped her hand tight, almost crushing her bones with the strength of his hold. “Thank you, Miaji. How is Sevanti?”
“He came through surgery better than we could have hoped. We amputated his arm and an artificial limb has been attached.”
That was news to her. Eyes wide, Dawn looked through the glass partition separating her from Sevanti’s prone figure. “Artificial? He lost his arm?”
Miaji nodded. “Vassi are self-healing to some extent but due to the nature of the injury and blood loss, it wasn’t feasible to save his arm. The new one will grow at an accelerated rate and with intensive therapy, he’ll regain use and full mobility.”
Ignoring Venik’s attempts to stop her, Dawn climbed from the bed and walked over to the glass wall. She peered through the partition. Sevanti rested on a similar bed under sedation. A light blue sheet was pulled to his waist. One arm lay on top, the other extended a few inches from his shoulder and ended in a blunt stump with three knobby digits.
“His arm will grow? You can just do that?” she asked, unable to believe it.
Earth had come far in prosthetic technology but nothing near growing an entire body part. How would the vibrant leader do his job, return to work? Was it still an option for him?
It was Venik who answered as he joined her at the window. “Yes. Vassi have limited regenerative abilities that decline as we age but with stem cell technology injured limbs and organs can be replaced. The hardest part is acclimating the new limb to the nervous system which is why extensive therapy is required. It would have been easier if an organ had been damaged. Those grow faster and with less trauma upon reintroduction.”
Spinning around, Dawn’s jaw dropped. “You can create new organs too?”
Venik reached up and caressed her chin, closing her mouth. His dark eyes moved over her face with care. “This will all be technology shared with your people on Earth now that they are a part of the Protectorate.”
It would change things in ways Dawn couldn’t comprehend. “Amazing.”
“The lom doesn’t need to stay any longer for oversight. Nothing on the scanner indicates she needs anything more than rest,” Miaji interrupted.
Now that he mentioned it, exhaustion sent her swaying on her feet. Venik caught her with his hands to her hips. “I’m taking you to my quarters.”
Dawn couldn’t find it in her to protest. They didn’t speak as they took the lift to their floor. Venik eyed Dawn as if he expected her to expire at any moment. She appreciated his attention but it also made her wary. They hadn’t spoken about her declaration of love nor addressed it. At this point, she wasn’t even sure he’d heard her.
“Give me a moment,” he said, leaving her at the front after he closed the door.
He walked away without saying more. Unsure what to do or what this meant, Dawn hovered at his front room. When Venik returned he stood at the door of his bedroom in a different outfit.
The red fabric of his fahsi draped around his waist and overlapped in the front, the ends tucked into his waist. Beneath it, he also wore red pants that were tight at the ankle. His feet were bare. He’d removed the braids from his hair and stared at her with enough heat to set a fire in her loins. “Come, Dawn.”
As if in a trance, she went to him. He waved her in and pointed to a blanket spread on the floor of his bedroom. Dawn’s tone was tentative as she entered. “Venik, what’s all of this?”
“Sit. Please.”
Dawn came to the edge of the blanket and sat cross legged as she eyed all the items covering the blanket. Bowls of colored powders, slender eight inch silver sticks and plain folded cloths. Venik joined her.
“What’s going on?” she asked again.
“You claimed me in front of others. Did you mean it?” Venik asked instead.
Dawn twitched. So he had heard her. “If by claim you mean told anyone in hearing that I love you, then yes.”
Staring into his pitch black eyes, she most definitely meant it. She’d wanted Venik on Earth long before finding herself on an alien vessel. She loved him and being in a life and death situation had only reaffirmed those feelings.
“Then let me claim you in the way of the Vassi.”
It was all he said before dipping one of his fingers in the first bowl containing a thick red paste. He leaned over and painted her face with red lines. His fingers traced down her left cheek then the right. He dipped it back in the bowl then etched a line across her forehead. When he was done, he nudged the bowl of yellow toward Dawn.
She had no idea what this was, except he’d called it a claiming. Maybe instead of words of love, this was his version of a declaration. “What do I do?”
“I connected our mind and thoughts with the uzi. You will connect our hearts and bodies with the giru. Like this.” Without touching himself, he sketched a line down his chest as a demonstration.
Dawn’s throat tightened and she worked to swallow past the knot. “Right. Got it.”
She dipped her finger in the yellow paste stuff and drew a line down the center of his bare chest. When she hesitated on what to do next, he grasped her wrist and guided her gently in making a circle around his left pectoral. It was a bit wobbly but definitely a circle.
Venik smiled and released her wrist to nudge her chin up. “Repeat after me. I accept you as you accept me. We are gagazi.”
Tears burned against the back of her eyelids and Dawn worked to speak past the lump in her throat. “I accept you as you accept me. We are gagazi.”
Venik leaned across the blanket and pressed his lips firmly to hers. Dawn closed her eyes as her heart filled with so much emotion she could barely speak.
***
Hearts pounding, Venik held still as Dawn drew the giru lines on his chest. He remained still when her hand shook, only reaching up to help when she hesitated. After completing the circle around his skin where his hearts beat for her, he had her say the ritual binding words.
Her eyes welled with tears as she spoke. “I accept you as you accept me. We are gagazi.”
Venik closed his eyes and pressed his lips to hers. When he sat back, he exhaled softly and faced her. It was done. No one could separate them now. Any Vassi who had an issue with what he’d done would have to confront him. The time of Vassi avoiding interspecies relationships was over.
What he and Dawn shared wasn’t unnatural or perverse. She brought out a side of him that challenged his mind. The bold courage it took to declare her love for him in front of those who viewed her as unacceptable was a level of bravery that humbled Venik.
He could do no less, thus his desire to permanently join them and publically acknowledge he was mate locked for her. Venik took the stylus from her lax fingers, laying it next to the bowls, touched her wrist lightly and helped her to her feet.
Showing a level of trust that astounded him as always, she followed his lead as he walked her to the bed. The covers were already pulled back and he eased her down, coming over her in the same motion.
Eyes bright and a teasing smile on her lips, Dawn asked, “Are we getting to the sex part?”
Venik bit back his laugh. He stroked loose strands of hair back from her face. “Would you like that?”
“Absolutely!”
The chuckle burst free and overwhelmed with feeling, Venik rubbed the side of his temple against hers. Dawn gasped, her hands coming up to run through his hair. She pulled the ends, lifting his head to face her. Venik tipped his head to the side and her gaze followed. In the palm of his hand, he held up a black sheath.
“Is that a used one or new one because I have to be honest, I’m not completely sold on that sterilization device?”
Another laugh. That’s what she gave him. Laughter and joy. Frustration and happiness. With Dawn, he’d never know what she’d say. “New. I’ll buy more if it makes you uncomfortable but I wouldn’t risk any harm to you if I wasn’t certain it all works exactly as it’s supposed to.”
She humphed, then pushed at his shoulders. “Undress. Slowly. I want to see all of you.”
Almost losing her would cause remembered horror for Venik for many senims to come. There wasn’t much he wouldn’t do for her. He rose and stood to the side of the bed. After the report of the explosion and destruction of the Renegade, Anders and Harum had to drag him from the transport room in a daze.
“Venik?”
Dawn’s voice pulled him from the painful memory. She sat up in his bed, hair tousled and naked. She’d taken her clothes off while he’d wallowed in his misery. Determined to shake off the darkness, Venik eased loose the tuck of his fahsi until the cloth came undone and slipped to the floor.
“Oooh,” Dawn moaned.
Venik’s hands went to the fastening of his pants.
“Nice and slow,” she coached.
Smirking, Venik tugged the pants down. Slowly. His cockti was erect, rigid prongs extruding from the shaft. He glanced at Dawn to see if things had changed since the last time they’d sexually joined.
In one hand, she held up the black sheath in the clear plastic. What she did with the other caused Venik’s mouth to go dry. She had her fingers between her wide spread legs, teasing and pumping the digits in and out of her entrance. Unable to pull his gaze away, he made his way back to the bed and sat on the edge to watch.
Dawn arched up, every gasp and pant making him harder. When she pulled her fingers free and held the glistening digits up to his mouth, Venik could only stare. “I want to suck them. I want to lick your essence and draw it onto my tongue.”
She gave him an enticing smile and dragged her fingers over his lips. “Taste.”
Venik licked his lips and groaned. Arousal mixed with the tangy sweetness he’d forever associate with Dawn. Tackling her back onto the bed, he towered over her and took the sheath from her hand. He didn’t care that he nicked himself as he eased the length over his hardness. All that mattered was getting inside of Dawn as soon as possible to soothe this ache.
With all the care he possessed, Venik leaned down and nipped at her cheek. Dawn blinked then playfully nipped him in return, not understanding the sexual connotation behind the act. Venik released a deep seated groan and growled. If a Vassi female did that, he’d know she wanted him to be forceful and pin her to the bed as he slammed inside.
He wouldn’t do that to Dawn. There could be no true Vassi foreplay with biting on his part involved. As it was, he risked much with the tiny nips.
Her wet tongue trailed down his throat as she moved lower. Venik braced his hands on the bed, holding himself up so as not to crush her. Dawn worked her way down and bit all over his chest as she went. The more he felt her stubby teeth on him, the more aroused he became.
He strummed a thick finger along her swollen bud between the folds of her sex then circled it. Dawn gasped and swiveled her hips, creaming a layer of white on the tip. Already the market flooded with details and information on Earth beings. The sex manuals he’d procured after their first time together had been very informative.
“Now. I need to be inside you,” he whispered.
With a quick slide back up, Dawn massaged his straining forearms. Venik took it as agreement and guided his shaft to her entrance. She was soaked. Her cream hot enough to warm him through the sheath. He glided deep into her core and pumped back and forth.
Dawn hiccupped a ragged breath then wrapped her legs around him. Her ankles kicked at his thighs as she rocked up and worked herself against his cockti. The waves of passion flowing from her filled Venik with an illicit thrill. His hands held her hips roughly, his snarl fierce as he pumped away.
It was fast. Fast and hard to the point Venik feared he’d lost control of himself. He tried to slow the pace but Dawn moaned and held tighter. Her moans came faster, louder. “Venik! Venik!”
She clenched around him, the convulsive spasms in her passage sending his pleasure faster and higher. She contracted on a powerful stroke and Venik groaned. He pulled from her before his raging cockti exploded.
“No! I want to feel you,” she yelled.
Venik slammed back home and succumbed to the orgasm. He shook above Dawn as his release surged. He gritted his teeth, fearful of biting her. When the urge proved too great, he dove for the pillow beside her head. Fabric ripped, stuffing burst free and still his hips pounded into Dawn.
Horas could have passed. Venik had no idea. Only that his mind had blacked out for a split segment of time. He panted and pushed up onto his elbows. Had he hurt Dawn? He jerked upright and moved to the side. “Indira?”
She must have heard the fear in his voice. Drowsy, Dawn patted his face, shoulders then his chest. “Tired. I’m okay.”
It was too soon. He should have waited before performing the commitment ceremony, given her more time to recover. Venik brushed his lips against her ear. “Rest.”
“I love you, Venik,” her voice slurred on the words.
Just as it had in the bay when she’d said it, Venik’s breath caught. “I love you too.”
He pulled her close in his arms and placed his head on top of hers. Safe. Dawn was safe.