The Sands of Argurumal (Argurma Salvager Book 3) Read online

  “You will not hold back and hide from me,” he hissed.

  A shiver ran through her, her belly clenching in reaction.

  “I’m not,” she shot back. “I’m trying to hold onto a bit of dignity and not wake anyone.”

  Something hot flared in the glow of his eyes and his face set into hard determination.

  “There is no shame in this. Let them wake. Let them hear and know I am well bonded.”

  He dropped his head, his mandibles opened at an angle so that they rested against her inner thighs as his mouth attacked her sex aggressively. His two long black tongues flicked against her slit as they caressed and dove within her. Her hips bucked against his mouth, a low cry ripping from her throat.

  A pleased snarl vibrated against her sex as he increased his frenzied pace, his tapered tongues dancing over her. They twined together to plunge deep within her, twisting and flaring as they stroked within her channel until one tongue slipped out to circle her clit. The rough surface gave it enough traction to tug at her clit with every slide over the small bead of flesh.

  The sensation of his tongues rapidly moving against her folds and burying into her cunt were ceaseless until they finally succeeded at detonating her orgasm. A loud cry left her as her back arched and thighs pressed tight around his head. The action increased the pressure of his mandibles against her inner thighs even as his vibrissae shifted against her skin. It fed her orgasm as he continued to lap at her sex. Her body twitched with the waves of pleasure that swept over her as it gradually subsided. He took one last lingering lick before he pulled back with an expression of intense need, making his face aggressively harsh.

  Terri spread her legs wider, welcoming her mate as he slid up her body, his hips nestling in their cradle. He pressed forward, scales sliding erotically against her inner thighs as his civix emerged. The gentle slap of it as it came into contact with her sopping entrance sent tingles through her. His tip angled just right to make contact and burrowed deep in a hard, relentless plunge to her core, the tubes running down the length of his cock secreting lubrication, easing his way.

  Her fingers clenched around the bony spines jutting out from his shoulders, and for a moment she forgot to breathe as his cock moved within her, pressing deep, sliding against sensitive spots within her. As attentive as he had always been, there seemed to be a particular urgency as he claimed her this time. Although careful of her belly, he claimed her thoroughly with every hard thrust, his mandibles clicking and vibrating in a deep, rattling purr. With his intensity and focus, the cybernetics on the side of his face, neck, and pectorals glowed brighter as he quivered against her, his muscles tightening.

  “Anastha,” he gritted out, lips curling back from his sharp teeth and longer fangs.

  Terri didn’t have the ability to answer. She was caught up in the magnetic pull between their bodies as if push and pull of their joining created a vortex, dragging every bit of her into it with the build of their passion. Her breath heaved in her lungs as raspy pants for air escaped Veral. One of his hands slid around her hip, gripping her solidly in place as he rutted her, his body arching possessively over her in a manner that seemed to punctuate his every thrust. The sound of shredding fabric where his opposite hand was planted against the bed spoke of his spiking frenzy. That could only be his claws digging into the bedding on the platform, and yet the hand that gripped her didn’t even prick her with the slightest threat of them.

  It was fucking hot as hell that he was so caught in the moment that he destroyed their bed, while keeping his strength tempered in his every touch.

  Terri wrapped her legs around his hips, her pelvis tilting and her bottom lifting to meet his every thrust as she moaned, loud and needy.

  Wasn’t she supposed to be trying to be quiet? She couldn’t remember why now. All she knew was that she was surrounded by pleasure—infused with it. She lifted one hand to bury it in his vibrissae which in turn wrapped tightly around her wrist, holding her tight to him instinctually. Her skin quivered in ecstasy as his hips snapped and drove against her, and that tremor drew deeper within her, tightening within her core. She felt his cock swell within her and the slight pleasure-pain of its hooked head lodging into place as he ground against her with a primal growl.

  Another orgasm whipped through her at the contact, cries bursting out of her as she was swamped with white hot ecstasy. With a few more grinding thrusts, Veral followed, his own roar of completion filling the room.

  His pelvis was still locked against hers, his lips and mandibles brushing over her face. He crooned some sort of primal, wordless love song as he often did when they were together in their private quarters, coming down from their vigorous lovemaking. Terri sighed and nuzzled her nose against his collar bone—damn his massive size—as she rode out the little orgasmic tremors that continued to ripple through her body. She was half drowsy and relaxed against him when a light by the door flashed angrily and was followed by a loud curse.

  Seconds later, it was Veral growling as the door slid open and another male strode in. The stranger came to a complete stop before them, eyes wide as he took in their joined state. Veral gathered the bedding to tuck it around Terri, covering her nudity and swollen belly thoroughly with the fabric. His vibrissae rustled, hissing with the rapid rattling. Even the stunted vibrissae flailed with his anger. The male stepped back a pace with an uncertain expression on his face.

  “You have five seconds to tell me the meaning of this intrusion before I incapacitate you, mother-kin,” Veral snarled, his voice low and lethal.

  The danger was not lost upon the stranger because he quickly nodded his head. “Peace, mother-kin. Forgive me. I heard screams that I was sure was some battle and so I used my authority to override the locks. I am Dreth, son of Featha.”

  The young male dropped his head respectfully, his eyes turned away. There seemed something so young and uncertain about him that Terri felt an upwelling of sympathy for him. She glanced over at her mate.

  “Veral, perhaps we should hear him out. This was clearly an accident. I told you I would wake someone.”

  Her mate grunted sourly but nodded as he shifted their positions so that he could sit up and face his relative while keeping her on his lap due to their currently locked together state.

  “As you can see, we are well, so leave us,” he hissed impatiently.

  The other male balked but nodded, and he set his shoulders as if steeling himself but didn’t otherwise move. Veral’s frown deepened into a glower.

  “Why are you still here?” he snapped.

  Dreth held his ground as he rapidly spoke.

  “I know I have no right to ask this, but I heard of your return and wanted to speak before you meet with my mother. I request a favor,” he said.

  Terri bit back a groan and dropped her cheek against her mate’s chest.

  Fucking perfect.

  6

  Veral narrowed his eyes on his cousin, his processors filing away the male’s image and identity. He had not known that Featha birthed a second son. Kaylar had not made mention of a younger brother. This male was young, no older than fifty revolutions, if he was not mistaken. He had been born long after Veral had left Argurumal. He did not understand why the male would come to him if he needed assistance since they were veritable strangers.

  “I do not know how I may help you,” he replied. “I have not been to Argurumal in many revolutions and have no sway here.”

  “That is where you are wrong, cousin,” Dreth corrected. “You are still head of our line. Mother has been holding it in proxy, but everyone knows that, should you return, the authority would revert back to you. When this happens, I ask that you close any arrangements that my mother may make for me and declare me ganshar, unmateable.”

  Veral gasped, causing his civix to move just enough within Terri that she squeaked, and even he was forced to hold back a moan in reaction to the pleasurable tug. Instead, he focused completely on the male in front of him.

  �
�To be declared ganshar is no trivial matter,” Veral warned quietly. “You will not be able to be around or take a mate from any female on Argurumal. It is reserved usually by only the worst and most violent members of our society. Why do you wish such a punishment?”

  The male’s somewhat smaller mandible clicked in agitation, his vibrissae puffing up and moving erratically.

  “Ever since Kaylar pledged his service to get offplanet, my mother has been quick to see me mated.”

  “Males and females are encouraged to mate young. It is our way,” Veral reminded him.

  “Yes, so I am aware. I do not object to a mate. I know it is necessary. I just cannot endure another mate trial. I am only just now seeing thirty revolutions and have had no less than six of them.”

  Veral’s eyes widened ever so slightly, betraying his surprise. Six mate trials at the age of thirty? That was unheard of! The age of mating among young Argurma typically began at thirty-five revolutions, when their bodies completed the maturations processes and their cybernetic systems settled. Dreth spread his hands wide in acknowledgment.

  “Six times I have endured being locked in a room with a female under contract in hopes that her pheromones will start the bonding process in me, and each time it has failed. The medic has reported to Featha that she must discontinue them, but she is desperate to continue her line, enough so that she has made arrangements to give me a hormone injection to artificially start the mate bonding. I know she desired that I sire a daughter of the line. If I did and you failed to, it would put our direct line permanently as the head of the mother-line of the household complex.”

  Veral frowned at the idea of a young male being injected with the hormone. It was more often than not used as a last resort and never on a male so young. Terri’s hair tickled his face as she turned her head to look over at Dreth.

  “Why not just refuse?” she asked.

  Veral chuffed at his mate and tightened his embrace in a show of affection. Naturally, his independent female would think the matter to be that easy.

  Dreth gave a baffled shake of his head, his vibrissae snapping around him. “Impossible,” he rebutted quietly. “After the cybernetic implants are completed, we are turned over to our mothers for training and placement within our line’s households. My programming will not allow me to dismiss my mother’s governance. If it could, then sending newly enhanced males and females to their mothers would be reckless. We have no bonds and no memory of our lines if we were even raised among them—which I was not. I still have my identification numbers from where I was reared. Our programming conditions us to be obedient and loyal to our mothers. Only the family head has more authority.”

  He inclined his head toward Veral.

  “She would have no option but to listen to his orders.”

  Veral growled quietly to himself. “I did not wish to come here to stir conflict with your mother or any of the mother-kin of our line. What you ask could bring Featha’s displeasure against me.”

  “But she would yield,” Dreth argued, his voice never rising over the soft volume in which they conversed despite the fierce tension in his expression.

  Veral inclined his head in agreement. The younger male was right on that score. Featha would not argue for her offspring.

  “I do not like this. I have my own mate to think of. My own offspring to consider,” Veral growled unhappily.

  “So it is true. You have succeeded in breeding your mate. I assure you that I do not contest your offspring’s right to the head of our line. I do not wish for it. I would prefer to leave Argurumal as you and Kaylar have done.”

  “Why leave?” Terri asked, voicing the question that rose to Veral’s mind.

  Dreth hesitated, his expression uncharacteristically vulnerable and expressive in his unguarded moment for an Argurma. “It is unwise for me to remain. My malfunctions are more severe than anyone, but the medic knows. He keeps my confidence at my request, but I am prone to great lapses in control of my emotions. Enough that I must lock myself in my chambers until I regain enough control to be able to be among kin.”

  “It is a crime for an Argurma to have malfunctions, but our line overlooks this tendency within our mother-kin with the provision that we control them so that the council does not find out,” Veral explained to Terri who was listening to their exchange wide-eyed. “This prompted my departure, because I knew that they expected I would malfunction to the degree of my mother and be unable to control it.”

  Dreth nodded. “My mother condemns Harahna’s suicide as a lapse from her greater malfunctions that made her unable to control her grief. She claims that Harahna disgraced our line and house. She would say this of me if she knew, and any mate I have would report me if she discovered it. I need the freedom and safety of retreat from Argurumal. If you declare me ganshar, my mother will not object if I decide to leave.”

  “I will not speak untruths. I will say that you desire this… but… I will support your decision and make the decree,” Veral reluctantly agreed. “If your mother peacefully gives me control, that is. I cannot promise that she will not attempt to withdraw the ganshar status when we eventually depart and prevent you from leaving the planet.”

  The younger male’s expression hardened. “Then it is an adequate reason for me to leave the planet when you do.”

  Veral gave a low, rattling growl. He sympathized with his cousin but worried that making such a decision might make his aunt a greater adversary. His decision would effectively terminate her attempts to extend her own direct line and any efforts to keep her claws into the honorable seat of the head of the line.

  “I give an oath to remain by your mate’s side and assist in protecting her,” Dreth offered as he correctly surmised Veral’s misgivings. “I can do little directly against my mother, but I can be of assistance against any threat. The Great Dunes of Argurumal forge many alliances out of such necessities.”

  Veral grunted in agreement. They would likely be on the planet surface for a half month at least, if not longer. There was a sixty percent chance that the medic would wish to supervise the remaining period of gestation and delivery. Not only because theirs was the first Argurma interspecies offspring, but also the first to deal with unknown tech.

  He cast a disgruntled look toward the symbiont but the soft touch of fingers in his vibrissae helped settle him. Terri rested against his chest, breath fanning his neck as she spoke.

  “It wouldn’t hurt to have more help. We help him—he helps us. It’s a good trade,” she murmured in a barely audible voice pitched for his ears alone. “I think I would feel better knowing that we have someone undeniably in our corner—someone, unlike Navesha, who has something to lose as well—if you think you can trust him.”

  It was not in Veral’s—or any Argurma’s—nature to be trusting. An Argurma by design was a solitary creature who owed no allegiance to anyone accept the council. They followed the minimal directive programming that was implemented to establish order within the households and condition them to following the strict hierarchy within their society, but that made most of their kind unlikely to otherwise form close relationships. After so many revolutions of looking in from the outside, Veral could clearly see that it was intentional.

  With the loss of the memory of early emotional bonds established in their youth, it proved difficult to forge such bonds as adults. This was part of the purpose of the memory wipe. The programmed allegiance to their maternal households kept interbreeding low and order among citizens while maintaining a level of isolation that kept their people from unifying in any way. Not as he had seen among the humans and other species. Among any of them, they might have easily claimed trust of their kin. But it was not so easy a matter for him.

  Narrowing his eyes on the male, he considered Dreth.

  His cousin, to all appearances, was earnest and possessed a subtle air of anticipation around him that was quite unlike the calculated attitude of most Argurma. That alone was a point in his favor when it came to
the truth of his words. He had no doubt that Dreth could be formidable. The younger male was nearly as tall as Veral and thick with muscle that came from years of battling the harshness of the Great Dunes and the mastery of the sand serpents. To have six lines agree to mate-trials meant that he was considered worthy by neighboring households over the dunes. Winning such approval was accomplished by demonstrations of strength and ferocity that would earn admiration and prove himself desirable for siring strong offspring. He would be a good ally to have to protect Terri.

  These things together did not mean that Dreth was not sent to get close to Veral, but the request to be made ganshar was not an idle thing to play with. Even if Featha attempted to reverse it in Veral’s absence, being declared such had a long-reaching consequence. It would be difficult to secure a mating contract with another esteemed household.

  In the end, that was what swayed Veral that he could trust the male with Terri.

  Shifting his mate closer to him on his lap so that she rested belly-to-belly against him as his civix finally slipped free from her hot, wet channel, he glowered at his cousin forebodingly.

  “Agreed,” he growled. “Now leave.”

  Dreth nodded curtly, his vibrissae puffing out around his head. “The hour to stand before the household will come soon. You and your mate will require rest. Featha is not one to face without optimally functioning processors.”

  Veral inclined his head, holding back his mirth as the younger male spun around regally and stalked from the room. Gone was the unsure male now that he had secured Veral’s agreement. When the door slid shut behind him, Veral allowed his lips to quirk as Terri laughed in his arms.

  “I think you have an admirer,” she observed as she leaned back and met his eyes.

  Veral glanced down at his mate without comprehension. “I do not follow your meaning.”

  Terri snickered and tipped her head toward the door. “The moment he earned your agreement, he fluffed up in front of you. You do that whenever you want to seem impressive. I doubt he would be interested in impressing you if he didn’t admire you,” she teased.