Aura was resigned, but Randr tensed.
Ravikka continued, “Randr, as you are the tutor of this woman and responsible for her until her training is complete. We are binding you to her for as long as you both shall live. She will be unable to walk the worlds alone, as will you. Where one of you walks, the other will follow.”
Randr jerked physically as if struck. “A forced bonding? That has never been enacted.”
Ravikka smiled, “We have reason to believe that you have already woven your timeline with hers and she with yours. You will be bonded and her knowledge will be yours and yours will become hers. There is no other way that the council will allow her power to traipse around Home and the universe at large. She needs a guard and a keeper and you are now both.”
Aura was confused. “What is happening?”
Rehnara piped up, “You are being ordered into an arranged marriage, Aura. Your punishment for breaking the rules and Randr’s for sending you off without you knowing all the regulations.”
Gwetho was smiling and one of the observers stepped forward, handing him a strange object. “Acquisitions tells us that it is traditional for a bride of your species and culture to carry flowers, so they brought these along for you.” He handed her a bouquet and gave her an encouraging pat on her arm.
Ravikka stood in front of them and looked at Randr. “As the speaker for the seven, I hereby declare you bondmate to Aura.”
She turned her head and smiled at Aura. “As the speaker for the seven, I hereby declare you bondmate to Randr.
“Where one of you goes, both shall go. When one is called to duty, both shall be called to duty. You are linked by law and power.”
Aura was going to comment that their power had not been combined when Ravikka extended her arms and the other members of the council sent small orbs of power toward her. She gathered them together and extended the ball, adding power of her own.
“Place your hands on the Orb and accept your binding.”
Aura reached out with her free hand and placed it on the orb. The crackle of power ran over her fingers as she caressed the surface.
Randr paused, looked down at her and then firmly pressed his hand to the orb.
Aura flinched as the power shot up her arm and raced through her body and she saw Randr do the same as the bundle of energy was gradually absorbed into their skin.
Ravikka grinned. “With this energy tying these two together, I now pronounce them bonded until the Orb of Time shall end their cycles. Go with our blessings.”
Aura’s hand stung, but she grinned, “The tradition of the flowers indicates that all single women must line up to take a chance at catching it as I throw it. Anyone without a bondmate needs to stand over there.”
The observers laughed a little but shifted and four women of the council walked over to take part. Aura turned her back to the women and tossed the bouquet.
Ravikka stood with a surprised look on her features and grinned in shock. “What happens next?”
Aura laughed. “Traditionally, out of the women gathered here, you will be the next to be bonded. It is a superstition but still rather fun. Whatever happens, you now have a lovely bouquet to keep yourself company tonight.”
Randr grabbed her from behind, his arm wrapping around her torso. “I believe that a consummation of the bonding is also required.”
She smiled, “If not required, at least demanded. Lead the way, bondmate. I will follow where you walk.”
Chapter Ten
He didn’t walk them there. He lifted her and walked her into the portal that led to his room.
Her clothing flew off under his skilled fingers and when she was standing in nothing but her hair, he stripped himself and stood next to her. “With my folk, we had a tradition of the woman tasting every inch of her bondmate on their first night. I will forego the entire experience if you will simply apply your lips wherever you see fit.”
She laughed. “I am a fan of upholding tradition. Hold still.”
Surprising him, she slid behind him and went up on her toes, lifting his hair and pressing a kiss to the nape of his neck. A soft flick of her tongue made him jump and she grinned as she moved on to his shoulders. She spent five minutes slowly caressing and licking every major muscle group and joint. His muscles were flexing and trembling under his skin with every soft touch of her mouth and fingers.
Feeling wicked, she knelt on the floor and scooted around him, facing his slick cock and tense aspect. She started at his feet, worked her way up to his thighs and then stood, kissing his jaw, neck and collarbone.
The musculature of his body was different from a human male but similar enough for her to tell what was what. Her deliberately obtuse caresses were leaving him aching and the precum that his cock produced was actually coming out of the entire shaft, slicking the entire column for entry, an ingenious design that would lubricate the long, wide column for ease of movement.
When her tongue finished trailing down his torso and over his hips, she only had one part of him left un-licked. Her voice was husky. “Lie down.”
He jerked at the throaty growl of her tone, moving to the bed and lying back with the erect pole of his cock summoning her.
She climbed up and knelt at his hip, bracing herself so that the only part of her body touching him would be her mouth. She slid her tongue down the column of his shaft, feeling the pulse inside and the waves of heat that here coming from his skin.
He tasted vaguely of salt-water taffy. Sweet, salty and slightly smoky, she parted her lips and took the head into her mouth, licking and sucking softly.
The seduction of Randr had done its own work on her and as she sucked and slurped, her channel throbbed and clit ached for a touch. When she finally withdrew, licking her lips slowly, Randr’s control broke.
He flipped her to her back and feathered a kiss to the nape of her neck.
“Oh you are kidding me.”
He growled, “Equality is important. What you did to me will now be done to you. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.”
His tone did not say that he had enjoyed it. His tone said it had been torture and to be honest with herself, that had been her purpose.
Aura clenched her hands in the bedding and held tight. She arched, twisted and shook as his lips and tongue teased her spine, buttocks and thighs.
When Randr slid an arm under her waist and flipped her to her back, the rush of cold air on her hot and aching skin caused a gasp.
His grin was wicked, but the sweat beading his brow and coating his chest told her that this was just as difficult for him as for her.
She let her voice loose, sighing, moaning and twisting as he kissed, licked and caressed her torso until she was fighting the urge to flip him to his back and straddle him.
When he parted her thighs and tasted her, the keening wail of an orgasm denied broke from her and her body shook wildly when his tongue slid inside. He moved up and repeatedly tongued her clit, sending her into the arms of the release that she had been waiting for.
Snarling, he fit himself to her and pushed inside, the extra girth that he had gained must be a species peculiarity to waiting, because he was wider than he had been the night before.
She felt stuffed, filled to aching, but when he started to move, pleasure drove out all discomfort. With every stroke, her body stretched, shifted and accommodated him until she was able to wrap her legs around his waist and hold on tight as he began to thrust in earnest.
The fit was so tight that when he groaned and his hips jerked against her, she could feel the ripple that ran through his cock and when he jetted inside her, the peculiar stroking sent her over the edge.
Sweat coated them both, but Randr wrapped her in his arms and held her tight. He rolled to his side but remained inside her, holding her leg over his hips.
“Good evening, bondmate.” Lazy satisfaction was written all over his face and body.
She grinned and blushed. “Good evening, bondmate.”
He stroked his hand slowly down her back. “This is not the way I would have chosen to bring us together, but I am willing to deal with it.”
Aura grinned, “I think the method of our coming together was just fine. What did you have in mind?”
He laughed and rolled to his back, sending his cock to the hilt inside her. “You know what I meant.”
She sighed and rocked slowly against him. “Yes, I do. What did you have in mind?”
“A slow courtship, introducing you to my culture, that sort of thing.”
She cocked her head and she started to move on him with a more deliberate motion. “Why can’t we do that?”
His eyes widened and the stars spun rapidly in his gaze. “You would like a courtship?”
She rose and fell as their conversation started to wear on her concentration. “I would like us to be complete. We have been fused together at the centre, but the edges are loose. I want to seal those edges with experiences that we share.”
He grinned, grabbed her hips and pulled free of her. She cried out at the loss of heat inside her, but when he put her on her hands and knees and slid into her while cupping and kneading at her breasts, she forgot everything else.
He thrust, circled and thrust again, his cock waking every nerve inside her and the angle of his entry stroked the nerve bundle on her front wall.
Aura bucked, twisted and slammed back against him as she sought her release, but when he reached under her to stroke her clit, she screamed as her orgasm rushed her and pulled her under.
He shouted as his own climax struck him and his weight bore her to the bed under him.
Her heartbeat slowed to a normal pace and she smiled at the feel of him against her.
She might have a lot to learn as a Nameless, but it seemed that she had already caught on to one of the most important things in life, finding someone to share it with.
Chapter Eleven
Randr woke her in the predawn light. “Wake up, Aura. We have to go.”
She opened her eyes and his skin was glowing white, as was hers. “I don’t understand.”
“The Orb has summoned us to attend a moment in time and we must go. Can you not see it?”
Aura concentrated and an alien landscape came to her, rushing in to show her a town square and a people all wearing clothing similar to her outfit of the previous day.
“I can see the where but not the what.”
“We will be shown what do to. Now, take a shower and bind your hair up. We have a moment to witness for the archives.”
She stumbled to her feet. Her thighs fought her for a moment, not wanting to close properly. As a wedding night, it had been memorable. Perhaps one day in the future, the Orb would send someone back to witness it.
With a smile on her face, she waddled into the shower and stood as the hot spray woke her up the rest of the way. It was a cross between relaxation and pain and she used it to rinse off the sweat of the night before as well as the cum that had dried on her inner thighs.
She turned off the taps and gingerly patted her skin with the towel. Her skin had been nipped, bitten and sucked in a number of locations and she was covered with a layer of light bruising in peculiar areas.
She brushed her hair out and braided it. Looking at herself in the mirror was a challenge as the glow that she was putting out made focussing a little awkward. Aura tied the braid off with a piece of string she found in a drawer and when she got dressed, she left the wet braid hanging down her back. She put the wrap tunic and trousers back into place and arranged the cowl over her head as quickly as she could.
Randr was ready and wearing a matching outfit. “Are you ready?”
“I am.”
He held out his hand and they used the energy of their imperative to step through space and time.
“Why are we sent to some places and not others?”
“The Orb is trying to get an image of all living experience from what we can tell. It wants to see all pivotal points in time—where destinies were changed and lives took a different path.”
She nodded and they joined the crowd slowly working its way toward the centre of town. It was a modern city, but everyone was on foot and not in the conveyances that were parked on the sides of the streets.
Aura asked him, “Does anyone ever notice us?”
He nodded. “Every now and then there are individuals who can see us for what we are despite the cowl. It is how the Nameless got their names. Others call us the Sentinels.”
At his speaking those two titles, a few local folk looked at them before shrugging and looking away.
“They don’t
want
to see us, do they?” Aura was catching on.
“We don’t belong here, but we are not to be feared, so they try and look past us.”
“Why do we wear the blades?”
“Blades are used for defence on almost every world at every point in history. It is the easiest weapon that we can carry and not make a scene or draw attention.”
He didn’t have his arm around her, but he was as close as the crowd would allow. None of the people they walked with were touching and it was a telling point. No sense breaking taboos and bringing attention to themselves.
They walked and Aura looked at as much as she could. She had no idea what the moment they were supposed to be watching was, so she was going to take in everything.
A podium had been assembled in the middle of the square and as they watched, a male strode to the centre of the elevated space and addressed the crowd.
“Men and women of Tival, I am here to spread the news about a strange find at one of our satellite outposts. We have proof of life from beyond our world and it has made a request. Two thousand of our people are to be offered to them to test our suitability to join their Allied worlds. If our people can blend in, they will be welcome and we will experience the benefits of increased technology.
“Meetings such as this one are occurring all over our planet. If we agree, we will see some of those visitors and they will begin an interview process for our Volunteers.”
The crowd murmured, a voice called out, “What if we don’t want it?”
“Our government has already decided that the benefits far outweigh the displeasure of the people. We managed to expunge the psychic gene in our species, because it was not wanted. Now, we have the chance to use the advanced technology for our own advancement without the aid of genetic tampering.