There is a scene that briefly describes a brutal killing at the second break mark. For those who don't like to read about such things, skip to the next break mark. There are also scenes where children are discovered to have been murdered; the reason why may also be disturbing.
Thanks to my reader, gyfurune, who helps catch the errors. Any mistakes that slip through are my mine.
For those who are interested in such things, I have drawn a map of the region where events are taking place and submitted it on my page. It's basic, but it might help put things into perspective. Enjoy!
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"Lieutenant? Lieutenant, please wake up."
The voice poked at my consciousness, drawing me from sleep. Hot breath moved across my cheek, then a drop of wetness.
"Lieutenant?"
I finally registered who it was.
Zinja.
Opening my eyes, I saw the faint outline of her lean body above me. Normally, I'd be able to see some details with the ambient light. With the storm still raging outside, the room was nearly pitch black.
"What's wrong?" I reached under the pillow for the holstered Talon.
"I'm sorry to wake you, sir. I didn't want to. But I just .. I just need you right now."
"Okay, Zinja." Abandoning the search for the weapon, I propped up on my elbow.
"Can -- can we move to the floor? I don't feel right being in my Captain's bed while she's not here. And, we can't use my room."
It took a second. Then I remembered the little girl, Sisi. The murder of her mother and little brother, and her father's suicide. The grim images flooding back helped to wake me as I sat up.
Zinja moved off the bed and sat on the floor.
Crawling over the edge, I slid down beside her. Putting my arm around her, I drew her close, kissing her temple. "Talk to me, Zinja. What's bothering you?"
She turned into me then, burying her face into my neck. "I had a bad dream. It was all mixed up. What happened to me, what happed to Sisi's family. I know it was just a dream. I also know you haven't gotten much sleep lately. I just .. I just ..."
I lifted her chin, kissed her lips gently, nuzzling her cheek. "You want me to hold you?"
Her mouth moved along my jaw, licking my skin. "I need to feel alive. Please, make love to me," she breathed.
I felt her trembling, trying to burrow in against me.
"All right," I murmured.
Then her mouth came back for mine. My hand went to her face, caressing her. Moving over, she straddled my lap. There was need in her, but it was a fresh ache on top of old wounds. The desire was to be touched, comforted, and reassured. Another tear splashed on my cheek.
"Seeing them dead tonight brought back memories of your own family, didn't it?"
Zinja gave a strangled gasp, nodding as she clutched me tightly.
Her family had been brutally murdered by Atlantean raiders when she was fourteen. Assaulted, battered, and left for dead, from a family of seven, Zinja had been the sole survivor. Nine months later, Ixma was born.
I yawned.
And she immediately stiffened. "Oh, gods, I'm so sorry, Lieutenant. This could have waited until--"
"Hey! Just waking up is all. I have you, Zinja," I whispered, kissing her cheek. Then I lifted her face until I put my forehead to hers. "Right now, it's just the two of us. Be here, with me." Brushing away her tears, I kissed her eyes, working my way slowly down her face.
With a slow exhale, she relaxed. "Okay."
Reaching up behind me, I grabbed the blankets off the bed and piled them on the floor behind her. With the storm blowing around, the summer night was cooler. Then I rolled her onto her back. Scooting next to her, I drew her into my arms.
She reached for me, slipping her hand inside my underwear, seeking what lay within.
Cupping her small breast, I rolled her hardening nipple between my fingers.
She lifted up and pulled off her tee-shirt before laying down again. Her hands ran over my skin, through my hair. As my lips moved down her neck, she arched, pushing her breast at me. When my tongue caressed her aureole, Zinja gave a ragged sigh. Inhaling, I took in nearly all of her sensitive flesh, sucking and rolling her breast in my mouth. She stiffened, gasping. Her nipple hardened, and I suckled it firmly before flicking the nubbin and grazing it with my teeth.
"Oh, yes," she sighed.
Then I moved to the other one.
"Oh, gods, that's good," she murmured. "More. Give me more."
Moving back up, I sought her mouth, and Zinja eagerly opened her lips to me. Tongues danced, each of us tasting the other. One arm holding her close, my free hand drifted down, into her panties, exploring the growing dampness between her legs. She moved her legs apart to give me access. Putting her knee on my hip, she moaned into my mouth.
Dipping a finger within her folds, I probed her opening. She pressed against it, driving it deeper. Adding a second finger, sliding along slick flesh, I stroked the base of her clitoris and her swelling labia. Her kisses grew more urgent with her arousal.
"Please, I can't stand it any more. Take me," she whispered hoarsely. "I need to feel you inside me."
"Not so fast," I growled. Moving down, I hooked my fingers into the waistband of her panties, and she lifted her hips up as I pulled them down. Pulling her legs apart, I kissed and licked my way to her center groove.
"Oh, sir, you don't--"
"Oh, but I do, Zinja."
Using my hands to hold her legs apart and to keep her in place, I set about lathing those sensitive petals guarding her succulent channel.
Moaning, she reached down, ran her hands through my hair, and fisted them, while spreading her legs wide apart. The hitch in her breathing turned ragged. "Oh, gods, I love .. I love what you do to me."
Rocking her hips, she pushed her leaking, swelling sex at me, encouraging me to plunder her entrance. I was happy to oblige. Licking from the bottom of her crease, up along her thickening, full lips, all the way up to her engorged bud at the top of her mound. With each downward roll, I descended again, lapping at the juices leaking out of her.
As Zinja's breathing deepened and her belly tightened, her erect clitoris escaped its protective hood. I added more attention to it, circling it and caressing the underside. To keep her off balance, my tongue continued to give long caresses along her swollen lips, in between teasing her nubbin of joy.
Panting, her hips rocked faster. Pressing down her legs, I kept her leaking pussy open to my ministrations. Slowly, her feet lifted into the air, her breathing now hard gasps.
"Mmm. So close. Gonna .. gonna come!"
I slipped two fingers into her steamy canal, and she suddenly sucked air. Turning the fingers, I found the soft, spongy spot on the roof of her cavity, just inside her pubic bone, and gently rubbed. My tongue descended directly onto her clitoris, flicking the swollen bud with my tongue.
Zinja's gasps turned to grunts, her hands gripping my hair harder as I plundered her open flower, sucking and caressing and flicking her sensitive nether lips. With a sharp inhale, she suddenly arched and stiffened, then furiously ground her slick center into my face. Liquid gushed from her heated depths, her pussy convulsing around my fingers.
"Oh! Oh .. sweet gods .. above."
With heaving gasps, Zinja bucked against me for long seconds, then just as suddenly, she forcefully pushed me away. Her hands went between her legs as they snapped closed. Curling into a ball, she whimpered, her body shuddering.
Moving back up, I drew her into my arms, seeking her mouth. Covering her face with her own wetness, I pressed my tongue between her lips. Gasping, Zinja responded eagerly, pulling me tight into her arms, pressing herself against me.
As her body descended from her peak, she caressed my face.
"You are the only man and the third person who's ever done that to me," she whispered. "Gods, I love you. You didn't need to do that. I was wet enough for you."
