Page 74 of Taken to Lemora
Raingar chuckles. “These are the Dark Flats, Essmira.”
Endless fields of brightly colored pebbles rise and fall from the base of the hill out to touch the horizon. “It’s…”
And then there’s an explosion.
A cluster of pebbles shoot into the air and smash together and when they do, there’slight. Lights of all colors and shades and intensities and heights. Some of the pebbles spark just over the sandy dunes while others rocket hundreds of feet up into the air and fill the entire purple sky with magical fire.
Tears fill my eyes. My jaw works. I stammer. My chest floods with fire. I can’t believe this. Every solar, Raingar has taken me out to do something special, but this? Nothing holds a candle to this.
“Pagh! Now, don’t do that,” Raingar grumbles, looking all annoyed all over again. “Follow me.”
I do so dumbly, unable to look away from the field that clashes violently with the darkening sky. A single Lemoran sun hangs like a blue orb, like a fruit, on the horizon line. It dips a little lower as we follow a path around the crest of the hill until we reach a series of platforms. They must be viewing platforms. At least, that’s what I assume. But I don’t ask, because my mouth has entirely dried and my tongue is in knots as Raingar leads us to the largest one.
We dismount our pad pads and follow the short flight of yellow stairs to reach it by foot. Halfway down the hill, the platform juts out, not quite covering any of the Dark Flats beneath it, but perfectly positioned to view the spectacle, uninterrupted. A flat yellow base is surrounded by a pink guardrail, but my gaze is drawn away from the Dark Flats — an almost impossible task — to the structure in the center of the platform.
It’s a bed.
An enormous mattress covers much of the platform while a wooden platter covered with food sits on a low table off to one side. A bucket with bottles of something — I hope not lobba — rests beside it. Mountains of maroon and taupe pillows and blankets form dunes of their own on the mattress, the one Raingar is standing beside with that same frustrated —nob, not frustrated, nervous. My male is nervous this lunar.
My heart leaps up into my throat as my reality comes crashing down. I thought he’d been avoiding me because he was hurt, not because he was nervous. Not because he wanted to surprise me…
“I know that the last time we tried this, I wasn’t ready. But I feel ready now and, if you’re willing…or I mean, if you’d like to try again…I…” He scratches the back of his neck, his face darkening even more. He twists his hands together in front of his abdomen while I just stare.
I thought I was in love before.
I did not know love until this very moment.
My heart explodes through my chest and I don’t hear anything he says next because the wind is in my ears and I’m running, running, skipping, dancing, jumping up to meet him. I hit him so hard he wobbles and then goes down. He collapses onto his back on the mattress in the center of the sea of pillows and mania grips me unlike anything I’ve ever felt.
Heat savages me and I suddenly can’t breathe — know I won’t beableto breathe — unless Raingar enters me right now. “Raingar!” I shout. His eyes go wide as I claw at the ties on his trousers. I made them, but I suddenly can’t free the ties fast enough. “Help me. I need…need you…”
“Essmira,” he flounders, “are you okay?”
“I don’t…I don’t know…” I can’t think. My eyes are unfocusing. “I want…Ineedyou, Raingar. I need you like I need water to drink.”
But Raingar’s staring at my mouth like I’ve suddenly grown two of them. Without warning, he sits up, reaches past my teeth with his fingers and pulls my tongue out. “Whad…whadarreooo…” I can’t talk with him holding onto my tongue like that and I start to laugh as I slobber all over his fingertips.
But he doesn’t answer me, instead, he shouts, “I’M YOUR XIVERI MATE!” Hescreams.
A burst of pebbles sends a light show careening towards us. It explodes high over our heads in bright white-yellow and looks exactly like the physical manifestation of the sensations blasting through me. I’m so hot, I start to sweat. I blink over and over, frustrated andangrywith my mate that he hasn’t pulled his cock out yet.
“What…what do you mean?” I heave, nails scraping over his chest.He’s polished it. He’s polished it so the rough texture of his skin will hurt me less.The pressure in my abdomen becomes too much to bear. I’m going to explode. I’m going to die if I don’t… I need…
“You are half-Drakesh!” He shouts as if that’s all the explanation I need.
“Pagh!” I huff out my frustration this time and somehow find the strength to stand, but only enough to undo the tie at the back of my neck and let my dress fall to my feet. “Raingar, I need…”
“Your tongue,” he exclaims as I fall onto him in only my small under garments hiding my sex, the places where I desperately need relief. I rub myself ruthlessly all over his body even as he tries to hold me back.
“Raingar!” I mewl loudly.
But he shakes his head. “The Voraxians and the Drakesh wear their emotions in their ridges. They turn bright colors whenever they feel emotion and, when they meet their Xiveri Mates, they turneverycolor. All of them at once. You don’t have any ridges though…except for these, in your tongue.”
I pant, stretching my tongue out as I dive forward, not giving an ohr about ridges, just needing to taste. Raingar opens his mouth, but I’m stalled momentarily by the lights reflecting off of his lips. And they have nothing to do with the Dark Flats beneath us.
I blink in rapid succession while flares of energy zap my thighs, making them quiver. I reach down and grab my own sex, terrified it’s going to run off on me. I feeleverythingand moan, “I’m your Xiveri…”
“Yeffa,” he says, with a wild whooping laugh.
