Page 11 of Shadows Approach

“Admiral Tranis, huh?” Kila’s dangerous grin had returned. “His Nobek won’t be there, will he?”

Piras regarded him levelly. “He isn’t part of Fleet Command, so I see no reason why he would be.”

Hope wondered why Kila was so jealous of Piras’ previous relationship with Admiral Tranis’ Nobek. Piras never brought him up, but anytime Admiral Tranis’ name was spoken, Kila immediately mentioned Nobek Lidon.

She’d asked for clarification on their past. Kila wouldn’t answer her questions. He acted as if he didn’t hear her ask them. Piras merely shrugged and said it was ancient history. Lokmi had no idea what had happened except Piras and Lidon had been in a long-term relationship, supposedly once destined for a clanship. Dramok Tranis had shown up, and Lidon had clanned with him instead.

Lokmi opined Kila was territorial when it came to Piras, and somehow saw the other Nobek as a continuing rival.

It was a mystery, and Kila and Piras were determined to keep it so. Hope wondered if she’d get the opportunity to ask Tranis for the story. She wondered if he’d answer her, a stranger and the Matara to his former rival for Nobek Lidon.

Probably not.

Piras’ expression was closed off as he offered Hope a forkful of food. Kila appeared sullen, his smirk more of a snarl. The clan’s celebratory dinner was quickly fading into a pout party. Hope and Lokmi exchanged a glance. His eyes rolled.

“You know what we need?” she suggested brightly. “Or at least, what I need? A naked man. Piras, make me happy.” She pushed his nearly empty plate away.

He blinked at her. A flush crept up from his collar.

“You heard her.” Kila’s voice was a growl. “Strip or get strapped.”

There was a hesitation as Piras weighed whether he wanted punishment or not, then he pulled the resealable seam of his one-piece uniform apart. Hope ogled him as his defined chest came in view, then his shoulders and biceps. He shrugged the top of his formsuit free.

Piras got off the mat to pull the uniform the rest of the way off. Then he stood before them, his twin cocks gleaming wetness and thick from arousal. His head was bowed, but Hope saw the gleam of his purple eyes sneaking a peek at her through the fall of his long, black hair.

She pointed at the surface of bed beside her, aware Kila was chugging the last of the leshella directly from the bottle and Lokmi was clearing the remains of their dinner away. “Kneel. Hands behind your back.”

The most demanding admiral of the fleet, the brute who’d cowed the nastiest Nobeks who’d dared to refute him, was nowhere in evidence. He was a Dramok, a breed that backed down in no way to no one…but Piras was a rarity of his kind when it came to sex. He was as submissive in bed as he was insurmountable everywhere else.

Though he stood around six-and-a-half-feet tall, towering over Hope, he was hers to dominate. She enjoyed doing so as much as she enjoyed surrendering to their clanmates, who were as domineering as Piras was not.

Piras climbed onto the bed again, kneeling next to Hope, his arms behind him. She grasped his secondary and pumped it, looking away as if he barely rated her attention. “So, about my nanobots…”

She spent the next few minutes discussing her new program with Kila and Lokmi, masturbating Piras’ cocks in turn with seeming casual negligence. However, she was tuned to his reactions, subtle and otherwise. He was hot on her palm, his shafts jerking when she squeezed the base of either, where he liked it best. He trembled as the seconds ticked by, growing excited by both his helplessness to evoke his will and her pretended indifference to his increasing arousal. Being treated as a mere plaything was high on Piras’ list of enthralling carnal activities.

After her discussion with Kila and Lokmi, Hope flicked a glance at him. He kept his head down. His gaze through sleek black strands was pleading, as if he didn’t know the night’s trials were only beginning.

Chapter Three

“You’re very hard, Piras.”

A tremor passed through him. “Yes, my Matara.”

“And wet.” His lubricating juices ran over her fingers as she worked him.

“Yes, my Matara.”

“I’m pleased. When I decide to use you for my enjoyment, I won’t want to be kept waiting.”

“Never, my Matara.”

“If I had to, Kila might strap you for insulting me.”

Piras’ gaze flickered to the grinning Nobek. Hope couldn’t see a lot of his face, but after five years of clanship, she intuited his anxious excitement in response to the threat.

“I wouldn’t do that, my Matara.”

“Hmm. It might be good for him to strap you anyway. Your ass looks best a certain shade of red, and there’s nothing wrong in giving you an occasional reminder of what’s expected.”