Awakening: A Sarazen Saga Anthology (Etheric Travelers Book 1) Read online

  Aley was not opposed to having another male who cared as deeply for Ilaria as he did. It meant she would have twice the protection, twice the care. There was no downside to that, and Aley knew she had more than enough love to give to both, and he realized then, in healing his body, Ilaria had made he and Satesh equals as males.

  “We share the same fear, Satesh.”

  “Do we?”

  Aley took a deep breath and gave the Satesh a piece of himself, an offering known only to himself, Ilaria, and his former Warden.

  “I was born into slavery. My mother was Issite, and I am told my sire was Belit-Murrim. Are you familiar with the species?”

  Satesh shrugged again, “No,”

  “Belit-Murrim are hybrids of several other species going back generations. They purposefully mixed and diluted their pure blood to ensure their offspring had extremely high cellular regeneration.

  “It was a practice my Game Warden and Margen shared. Cross-breeding.” Satesh grunted but otherwise kept his silence, “To breed an Issite and a Belit-Murrim created me. A child with the ability to heal others, who could regenerate fast enough to ensure the Game Warden got twice the amount of service out of me than he had my mother.

  “The Warden took coin from wealthy women who wanted to fuck a gladiator and only put forth his most worthy. I knew the Warden had plans to use me as breeding stock when I came of age, and more than one pampered, loathsome female had paid a fee to secure themselves one of my get.

  “My mother died in the process of healing one of the Warden’s prized gladiators, one of his most popular breeders, but his wounds were mortal.

  “She took them upon herself, and I was called to finish the job while she lay bleeding to death at the Warden’s feet.

  “I was young, only ten seasons had passed since my birth, but when you are born a slave, you learn quickly how to avoid as much usery as possible.

  “The male who lay before me on that table had been burned badly in the arena. One of his opponents thrust a lit torch into his groin, and all that remained of his cock was a shriveled mass of seared flesh no longer functional.

  “At ten, I made the choice never to be used, never see one of my own son’s forced to do what the Warden had done to countless others.

  “The pain was unbearable, and I thought for sure I would die from the agony. But as I lay huddled on the stone floor, deaf to the furious roars of my master, just before she drew her last breath the last thing I saw in my mother’s eyes was pride.

  “My body healed enough to allow me to piss, but barely. I would never sire children to be used by the Warden, and I thought it was a blessing until I met Ilaria.

  “When you liberated us, and I saw the way you looked at her, I knew it was a curse. She was not immune to your presence, and I feared the many ways she might come to care for you because you could give her what I would never be able to. Ilaria may not need us in the same way, but she will need us all the same.”

  “So she said,” Satesh answered softly, easing his hip onto the bed to take one of Ilaria’s small hands in his. “My desire is for her alone.”

  Aley chuckled as he met the other male’s gaze squarely, “Your virtue is safe from me, Exarch. I have never enjoyed the sexual company of other males.”

  He lifted Ilaria’s free hand to his lips and brushed a kiss to her soft fingertips, feeling a strange tug behind his navel and looked down just in time to see Ilaria's eyelashes flutter and rise, the vibrant shine of her eyes so bright Aley could almost drown in them.

  She hummed a soft sound, sleepily looking from him to Satesh and back, squeezing his hand.

  "How are you feeling?" she rasped, hoarse after so long asleep.

  Aley turned his lips to her palm, "Good. I feel good. You've been asleep all night and almost a full day. Are you alright?"

  "I'm fine," she assured him, moaning as she rolled to her back and stretched languorously. "Satesh?"

  “How did you wipe the scars from Aley like that? I've never seen anything like it."

  Honestly, Aley was curious himself to know exactly what had happened. The last thing he remembered was Ilaria's lips touching his and the bright, all-encompassing swirl of her eyes.

  She struggled to sit up, giving a soft laugh when he and Satesh both slid a free hand beneath her shoulders to support and lift her, but before she could begin her explanation, her stomach snarled with hunger.

  “You need food,” Satesh announced with a wry curl of his lips, leaning forward to press a quick, firm kiss to Ilaria’s smiling mouth.

  “I do,” she agreed with a laugh, “but I’d like a bath first, please.”

  “Anything you wish. Aley, will you help her?”

  “Always. Will you join us?”

  “Yes,” Satesh stated, his tone both determined and surprised. By what, Aley couldn’t say.

  Ilaria whipped the blankets back and reached out to him with a gloriously mischievous smile, wrapping her arms around him, their bodies pressed together from chest to groin. The heat, the sensation no longer inhibited by thick layers of scar tissue, caused Aley’s knees to wobble in an effort to remain on his feet.

  ~You are truly in no discomfort?

  Oh, he most certainly was. His cock was so full, so unbelievably engorged, Aley was afraid he’d burst with the urgent, demanding hunger pounding between his thighs. Every breath was agony, but he had never been so happy to be in pain.

  ~The very best kind. I thought you were only going to try and smooth out a small spot.

  Ilaria lifted her shoulders in a tiny shrug, hitching her legs around his hips at his urging, her teeth sinking into the plump curve of her lip, her lashes lowering to sensual slits as the weight of his shaft pressed tight between their bodies, separated only by the thin material of his trousers.

  ~I did, and I realized I could do the rest without difficulty. Her palms spread on his shoulders, the sensation making him reel with the pleasure of it, but the feeling of his cock rubbing against her belly as he carried her to the bath? The most pleasurable torture he had ever endured.

  Like before, Aley walked straight into the sunken bath, his eyes nearly rolling back to feel the water saturate his pants, the fabric clinging to his skin like a glove, stroking him with each step until he was fully submerged.

  Ilaria’s laugh was beautiful, and he was powerless to stop her when she slithered out of his hold and began to strip him. His brain felt as though it had been short-circuited, his lashes fluttering as he tried to process all the stimuli bombarding him.

  “I thought he was going to bathe you,” Aley could only give a garbled groan in response to the humor in Satesh’s voice, Ilaria’s palms having curved over his rump as she passed, the water churning like a thousand fingers across his skin.

  “He was, but I changed my mind. Imagine never knowing what it felt like to be touched, only to find yourself surrounded with heat and warmth for the very first time.”

  “Ah. Well, perhaps you might take pity on the poor man and surround him with something else?”

  “You won’t mind?” she asked Satesh, who sat on one of the benches close by, stretching his long legs out in front of him while crossing his arms over his chest, a wicked light flashing in his eyes.

  “Not so long as you promise to do to me, whatever you do to him at another time.”

  “Do…do?” Aley croaked, not sure he could withstand much more.

  Ilaria gave a low purr in response, “I promise.”

  She leaned forward to touch a kiss to Aley’s shoulder, a little frown of concern pulling between her brows when he jumped at the contact.

  “Aley? Is it too much too soon?”

  He floundered for a response that would adequately describe what he was feeling. “I don’t…I don’t know. I never knew…knew my body could be so…so sensitive. It’s not painful, but I—”

  When he struggled to continue, Ilaria gave him an understanding smile, “Everything you feel is magnified tenfold.”

  “
Yes,” Aley rasped hoarsely.

  “Mm. I felt this way when I first opened my eyes and experienced being submerged in my physical body once more. Sit, let me bathe you for once.”

  “Sit…sit. Mmhm, all…alright.”

  Satesh~

  Satesh watched Aley’s lashes droop in hazy bliss, leaning into Ilaria’s touch as she massaged soap into his neck and shoulders.

  Every few moments, she would lift her gaze to look across at him, and Satesh couldn’t tell if it was to gauge his mood or to include him in the bath even though he remained sprawled on the bench to watch.

  He smiled at her, giving her an encouraging nod, pleased to discover he was enjoying the show.

  After listening to Aley explain his fears of displacement, sharing the painful memories of his past, Satesh was not so uncertain as to whether or not he could have a place within Ilaria’s heart.

  She had opened her eyes and looked no differently at Aley than she had before and had sent a push of shy affection Satesh’s way when he squeezed her hand.

  To watch Aley sit in the center of the steaming pool of water—Ilaria slowly circling him and paying careful attention to the ticks and twitches of his muscles, how he groaned or gasped when she located a particularly sensitive spot, knowing soon he would be on the receiving end of such loving devotion—Satesh selfishly hoped Ilaria would do more than only bathe Aley.

  He watched her step up behind Aley, how the younger male winced in bliss as her breasts pressed against his back, her hands gently encouraging him to tip his head back on her shoulder, so she could wash his chest. It seemed Ilaria was fascinated by Aley’s reactions, and Satesh couldn’t help but be fascinated in turn.

  They were beautiful together. Ilaria’s black hair and creamy skin a marked contrast to Aley’s burnished gold skin and shimmering red-gold hair.

  Like night and day, wrapped around one another. Such a curious pair, and yet there was an unmistakable innocence in the way they touched.

  Satesh had seen Aley devote himself to Ilaria’s pleasure while spying from inside his armor on Myst, but it had been a stolen moment, given quickly and carefully.

  Unrestricted, they were unabashed in expressing their desire for one another, but there was no concealing their tender clumsiness.

  Aley claimed he had been only ten when he had purposefully castrated himself.

  Ilaria had been an incorporeal being, unable to touch another person for close to a thousand years.

  Satesh reached up to rub at his jaw thoughtfully, watching how Aley continued to shiver and flinch despite how carefully tender Ilaria was being, and the closer she got to Aley’s groin, the more his muscles bulged.

  Satesh tried to remember his first experience with a female, and in no time at all, he understood what was going on.

  “Ilaria, Aley has had enough washing.” Her vibrant purple eyes shot up in reaction to his deep growl, her lashes fluttering with uncertainty, her worries so plainly chasing across her face, wondering if she had upset him somehow.

  Satesh grinned slowly, pleased to see her gaze drop momentarily to his lips before rising again to meet his stare.

  “Put the soap aside and take his cock in hand.”

  Aley~

  Ilaria quivered behind him, silently asking via the mental connection their contact allowed, whether Aley wanted her to obey Satesh. Aley thought about it for a split second and realized there was nothing in the universe he wanted more.

  He nodded, and with a wet plop Ilaria discarded the soap and washcloth. Her hand slipped beneath the surface of the water, down the center of his chest, down, down, her slender fingers wrapping around the painfully swollen stalk of his shaft.

  The pleasure was sharp, an immediate surge of blood that left him dizzy and shuddering, gripping the edge of the stone seat so hard his bones creaked.

  “Aley, did I hurt—”

  “Tighter, Ilaria,” Satesh ordered, his voice a dark, knowing rumble. Before she could ask, Aley silently insisted she comply, beyond all power of speech at that point.

  Her fist tightened, and his eyes nearly rolled back in his head. Her touch sent streaks of fire spearing straight up his groin, up and down the length of his cock, radiating outward like a burst of fireworks.

  “Good, now stroke, mmhm. Roll your fingers tighter around the tip—breathe Aley—”

  His entire body shuddered. The muscles in his thighs clenched so hard his toes curled, liquid flame racing through his bloodstream with every frantic beat of his heart.

  Breathe? How could Aley breathe when each slow pump of Ilaria’s fist drove him closer and closer to an inferno that threatened to rage beyond his control? His hips lifted without thought, meeting her strokes as his balls drew up tight to the base of his cock, so close, so hot.

  “Find the spot just beneath the flare, a little knot, and rub with your thumb.”

  Ilaria followed Satesh’s evil commands, her breath quickening with excitement behind him, and when she found the spot Satesh directed her to, Aley felt himself go completely lax before his entire body seized.

  The eruption began in his toes, tearing up his calves, rushing through his thighs to pour from the bulging crest with such force Aley was certain he was dying.

  He could only groan as every drop of tension left him, unsure if it was the violent release or the heat of the water making his head spin, but as he sat there, his head held up only by Ilaria’s shoulder, he knew one thing was sure.

  He would never be the same again.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Ilaria~

  Ilaria stood behind Aley with her arms around his shoulders, her lips pressed to his sweaty brow, trembling with pride and excitement. She felt no damaging aftereffects of having used her power to erase the scar tissue twisting his body and was full to bursting with the powerful energy of Aley’s release.

  The longer she stood there absorbing the riotous explosion, the more she felt restored.

  Restored, and insanely aroused.

  Without taking her mouth from Aley, Ilaria rolled her eyes up to see Satesh still seated, a sensual smirk twisting his thin lips.

  He looked very pleased with himself, but the sizable tent in his trousers told her he was every bit as in need as her.

  Aley’s throat worked loudly as he swallowed, his voice having dropped to a much deeper pitch as the strength seemed to return to him.

  “She still needs to be bathed, and I don’t have the strength to lift my little finger. Perhaps it is my turn to watch,” he rumbled thickly.

  Satesh agreed with a lusty hum, lifting his brows at her in question, his grin widening when Ilaria licked her lips in remembrance of the pleasure his kisses had brought her.

  She found it difficult to take a full breath as she watched Satesh stand, his fingers working at the ties that held his vest closed, the muscles in his arms and chest bunching as he shed the silky black material.

  His skin was several shades darker than Aley’s, his shoulders wider, his waist narrower, his belly cobbled so tightly with muscle she could count eight defined ridges.

  Ilaria touched the tip of her tongue to the corner of her mouth, a shiver working through her from top to bottom as Satesh put on a little show for her, reaching up to rake his fingers through his dark mane of hair, knotting the thick mass on top of his head to keep it out of the water.

  She was fixated on the play of sinew beneath his smooth bronze flesh, suddenly hungry to learn every inch of it with her mouth.

  There was an arrogant tilt to his smile now, his slumberous gaze bright with the knowledge to say he knew what she was thinking.

  His feet were braced wide as his hands worked the tie at his hips, and with one final tug, his trousers slid to the floor with a soft hiss, revealing the splendor of what lay beneath.

  Trim hips strapped with more muscle, long, strong legs, and an engorged pole of flesh between.

  Entranced, Ilaria followed every move, every step forward he took, memorizing it to recall later.
In her hand, Aley’s cock was capped with a broad head, his testicles hanging beneath the smooth, thick length of his shaft.

  Satesh was shaped altogether much differently. The tip of his cock was flushed a deep crimson, a blunt, arrow shape that widened at the base.

  The thick vein that ran the length was situated on the top of his cock instead of beneath, like Aley’s, separating what looked like cobbled or braided muscle all the way down to the round protrusions seated low on either side.

  A knot that bulged above a space no wider than her thumb where cock met groin.

  As he stepped down into the pool and the strange, arousing sight of him disappeared beneath the water, Ilaria felt her belly twist and churn, the slick muscles of her sex giving hungry pulses.

  In her arms, Aley sighed with contentment, turning his face up to press a kiss to her jaw before moving aside to allow Satesh to enter the bath and take hold of her.

  From the way he looked at her, she half expected, half hoped Satesh would simply grab her up and lay siege to her body, but to her disappointment, he only bent to touch a kiss to her brow before taking up the soap and a clean washcloth to begin bathing her.

  His hands on her were firm, kneading at her neck and shoulders to release the tension there. Satesh revolved around her, giving her back a thorough scrub before he stepped closer, his feet bracketing hers, his cock finding a cushion between the cheeks of her bottom.

  Ilaria wiggled a little, hoping to entice him into foregoing their bath for more pleasurable pursuits, but he only hummed his approval and continued to wash her.

  After rinsing the suds from her hair, Satesh bent to scrape his teeth down the shell of her ear,

  “Reach up, lace your fingers behind my neck.”

  Pulse-pounding, Ilaria obeyed. The water swirled around them as Aley shifted to get a better view, his gaze fixated on the way her breasts rose with the arch of her back.

  She had worried Aley might not be as comfortable with Satesh’s presence, but the hooded look of desire etched into his features, so raw and stark without the thick scars to disguise it, Ilaria let her concern go and focused on Satesh.