The Thief Of Mardu Part 8

"I want to see you," Catam whispered aloud his desire, lost to anything but Isa. "I want to see your lips closed around my c.o.c.k. I want to see you when I come, to see you swallow all of me."

She groaned, a soft sound that reverberated around his c.o.c.k, stimulating the already sensitive nerves to the point of pain.

He nearly begged her to end it. A Xema begging a woman, of all things!

"Arnath just stuck his d.i.c.k in Daarna's mouth," he rasped, saying anything to regain a measure of control. "He's f.u.c.king her mouth now, in and out," he said as his own body followed his words. "She's swallowing him, all of him," he breathed.

Isa clutched his b.u.t.tocks tighter and drew him inexorably deep.

Panting with the effort to keep from ramming into her throat, he tried to resist her pull when her tongue stroked the underside of his shaft just under the head.

Unable to stop, he thrust once, then twice, and finally came. She swallowed him greedily as his hands burrowed into her hair, holding her to him. Her lips robbed him of speech, and he almost collapsed on top of her, so satisfied he felt weak.

Groans and grunts sounded through the door, finding Catam's ears as he finally returned to his surroundings.

Isa remained on her knees, gradually letting his c.o.c.k slide from her mouth. She licked him gently and let him fall limply against his groin before she straightened.

Standing so close to him, she couldn't help but notice his still ragged breathing. She smiled with satisfaction. Her thighs slid together as she fought for balance. Pleasuring Catam had made her wet, the taste and touch of his c.o.c.k an aphrodisiac to her senses.

The man did something to her, something that made her lose all reason. She should have been upset making love in a closet, in a murderer's closet, to be precise. But she could only feel contentment. She knew Catam had experienced the ultimate bliss.

His sweet cream had slid down her throat with ease, his taste the raw essence of him that she would never in her lifetime forget.

"Isa," Catam said in a low voice. She waited with curiosity for him to speak. He said nothing, however, and grabbed her in his arms, hugging her to him in a tight, secure grip.

Her heart melted. She would curse herself and her inability to separate the man from his job later. Right now she intended to revel in his affection. She hugged him back and smiled to herself when his hold tightened.

She had no memories like this to compare. With the other men in her life, she'd had disappointing s.e.x, and always felt as though she'd missed something grander, more meaningful. Though she'd been lectured time and again by her mother that women didn't need o.r.g.a.s.ms to have good s.e.x, Isa had never felt replete.

She did now.

Giving Catam back the pleasure he'd given her had been a wonderful gift, both for him and for herself. She'd been too sensitive after her o.r.g.a.s.m for another one right away, but she'd felt Catam's hardness still within her. Pleasuring him had made her wet all over again.

Still, she felt just as connected with him now as she had after sharing mutual intercourse.

She sighed and glanced through the closet crack at the bedroom bathed in light, unfortunately aware that they had company and would for the better part of the night.

"I wish it weren't so tight in here," she whispered against his chest.

"I don't know," Catam drawled, satisfaction and humor lacing his words. "I kind of like the close quarters."

She told herself she wouldn't ask. She knew he'd enjoyed himself. "You liked it?"

"If I'd liked it anymore, I would have shouted down the house."

She let out a soft breath of relief and pulled back from his embrace, eager to change the subject. "Believe it or not, this waiting is exactly what happened to me the last time I paid this house a visit. Don't worry. We won't be here all night."

An hour later she crept out of the closet with Catam hard on her heels. They left the room as silently as they'd entered, Arnath and Daarna asleep and snoring.

"Lightweights," Catam muttered as they moved swiftly down the corridor away from the room.

"Lightweights? What? You could have gone another round?"

"Isa, despite the closet, if we'd had more time, I'd be f.u.c.king that sweet p.u.s.s.y of yours right now. Better yet, I'd be eating you, savoring every drop."

Isa blushed bright red and increased her pace.

He chuckled. "What? Too honest for you?"

She glanced back to find his gaze bright and engaging, a contented smirk lingering on his full lips and a swagger to his gait.

"That's my one regret about this job," he said.

"What?" She stopped and stared at him. He regretted being with her?

"I regret that I have yet to taste you. For all that we've done, we've yet to make love leisurely in a bed, where I can take my time licking you until you cream all over my lips."

His words made it hard to focus on anything but having Catam inside her again. Then footsteps sounded near and she started to awareness.

"Ah," she cleared her throat, "we'll have to do something about that then. Later." He chuckled. "Now stop distracting me. We need to get out of here before we're found. I think I know where to go to get the answers we need."

Catam nodded. "Fine. Then lead on, sweet."

His voice sounded gritty, and she knew he'd aroused not only her, but himself as well with his s.e.x talk.

She grinned and increased her pace. There around the bend should be a servants' exit. Harron couldn't have sabotaged this entire map. She'd checked a clean copy of the Klin estate blueprints during her two week run from the law, and had found only one or two inconsistencies between the real map and Harron's.

They found the servants' exit and Isa heard Catam mumble a thank you to Flor for seeing them out safely.

"Catam, never thank Flor until the job's done," she whispered. "You'll jinx us."

"Too late." Catam cursed and threw her through the exit door. "At least four thrells are coming, and they sound angry."

Isa and Catam broke into a run, snarls and grunts following them along the paved pathway around the house.

"We can't keep to the path," Isa gasped as Catam pa.s.sed her. "Security will be waiting for us."

They turned a corner and not surprisingly, six men armed with phasers stood menacingly in the garden patio.

Catam slowed and stopped, his arms up in surrender.

"We're unarmed. Before you do anything, call off the thrells."

One of the men gave a shrill whistle and the thrells gaining on Isa and Catam broke off chase and joined the head handler.

He ordered all four beasts inside and left, leaving five men to guard Isa and Catam.

"Let's talk about this," Catam tried in an easy voice.

"Silence, thief," one of the men barked. "Uron, inform Lady Klin we've found the housebreakers. Keep it quiet. We don't want Statesman Bedenzi to know we have trouble here."

As if Arnath won't know when they find him with Daarna, Isa thought with a huff. She swallowed her alarm when the guards motioned for Catam and her to draw nearer.

Forced to move, they did so, until Catam stopped a few feet from them.

"I'm a peacekeeper. Check my papers." He opened his jacket slowly and nodded to an inside pocket.

One of the men laughed out loud. "Sure."

"No, really. I followed her," he nodded at Isa, "inside the house and had just captured her when someone released the thrells. Please, check my papers."

The lead guard nodded but kept a wary eye on Catam. "Sherf, search him."

Sherf found Catam's peacemaker papers and looked disappointed as he handed them to the lead guard.

"Catam of Mardu?" the lead asked.

"Yeah."

"I know your brother, Sernal. I didn't realize you had two peacemakers in the family."

"Why am I not surprised you know Sernal?" Catam distanced himself from Isa, lowering his hands as he walked calmly toward the guards.

They accepted him and Isa felt very much alone.

Catam chuckled at something one of the men mumbled and turned to leer at her.

"Sherf, much as I agree with you, I can't have you saying it out loud."

In the blink of an eye Catam laid Sherf out flat on his back, unconscious.

"Catam!" Isa cried worriedly. What was he thinking? He would get himself killed!

The lead guard gaped and redirected his phaser. "You traitor!" He began blasting.

Catam narrowly avoided a phaser pulse by ducking behind a nearby stone fountain. Then the attention turned back to Isa. She dove for cover too late to avoid a burning wound across her shoulder. "Catam, what are you doing?"

He laughed nearby, ducking when a shot would have struck him. "Saving your a.s.s?"

She wanted to blister his hide for scaring her when he did it again. His lack of communication skills not withstanding, he could at least warn her to prepare for his stupidity.

She watched the man she'd made love with for the past several days turn into someone she didn't know in the slightest. His eyes became twin orbs of fire before he began to s.h.i.+mmer, fading from sight only to reappear a far distance away.

The guards fired at random all around, hoping to hit one of the 'Catams' dancing just out of reach. He laughed, an arrogant chortle that sent worry down Isa's spine.

One guard suddenly toppled to the ground. Isa blinked when his phaser found its way into her hands, out of thin air. She felt a brush against her cheek.

"Be careful," Catam whispered then vanished again.

Another guard fell, then another, until only the lead guard remained.

"d.a.m.n you," the guard shouted and fired haphazardly around him. "Show yourself."

"Okay." Catam s.h.i.+mmered to visibility behind the guard's back and struck him in the neck. He caught the man and gently led him to the ground. "He's a friend of Sernal's. It'd be rude to let him drop to the rough ground," he explained in Isa's direction. "He might hurt himself."

Isa could only stare. Catam's eyes glowed, but no longer with the burning intensity he'd worn before he'd set storm to the guards. He looked positively thrilled, excited and pleased with himself all at once.

Isa clenched her jaw. "Let's get out of here. And don't think you're not going to explain this. You're in a lot of trouble, Peacemaker." She ignored the wounded look he shot her and stalked past the garden, back the way they'd come.

It was a good thing he hadn't been killed. She wanted that job for herself.

Chapter Nine.

They spent the next few hours in silence, putting a healthy distance between Voran and Tekar, the northern territory where Isa hoped to find Cheltam. According to Feltang, Cheltam was her best hope for information.

Right now, however, she wanted anything but information. She wanted Catam's stupid, prideful, macho head on a platter. She jerked at a low-lying branch and grimaced at the pain that shot through her arm.

Her shoulder throbbed. The blood pooling from the wound had matted onto her jacket, and the fabric now clung to her arm. Fortunately, the jacket masked the wound, leaving no blood trail to their escape--an escape that almost hadn't occurred because someone thought he was invincible.

Unable to keep silent any longer, she swiftly turned and found Catam's gaze warm and full of humor.

"What the h.e.l.l is wrong with you?" she seethed.

He looked shocked at her outburst. "What? What did I do?"

"What didn't you do? You didn't tell me what you were planning. You didn't use a lick of sense when you attacked a guard--in plain view of the others! You didn't seek cover until after they started shooting."

She opened her mouth to continue but Catam quickly bridged the distance between them and covered her lips with his hand.

"If I lift my hand will you stop harping already?"

He sounded exasperated, and she couldn't believe how dense he acted.

She bit his palm and he cursed, whipping his hand away. Her eyes bright, she admitted, "I was worried, you drun!"

His eyes narrowed and his lips thinned in displeasure.

"You could have been killed," she continued. "They fired everywhere, and only by Flor's grace did you escape unscathed. What the h.e.l.l was that, anyway? I want my explanation, and I want it now!"

His gaze warmed. His golden eyes filled with an emotion she couldn't quite name, and he stared at her for a moment before his expression sobered.

"I'm sorry I worried you."