Bond of the Maleri' IV:
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Publisher: Changeling Press |
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Lights from the computer screen flickered over the round, boyish curves of Zebian Bakar’s face. His fingers flew over the keys, adding to the data that flashed before his silvery blue eyes. So intent was he on the work before him, he didn’t hear the knocking that sounded several times at his door.
It was only when the door slid open and a hand settled softly on his shoulder that he pulled his attention from the screen. Without looking, his Maleri’ senses told him immediately it was Kiel Omontri, his guardian.
“Rick says you’ve not eaten since first meal, young one. Come share the evening meal with us, Zeb.”
“I’m not hungry.” Zeb felt a swift twinge of resentment which he quickly pushed aside, knowing it was unfair to aim such feelings at Rick.
Rick Mason, Kiel’s human mate, was concerned for his well-being. It was a feeling many others had expressed for Zebian since the death of his parents. Orphaned and alone at the age of twelve, he was an object for concern and pity. Zeb hated it, and so he retreated. Computers and facts and figures had no sympathy to offer. They merely bestowed knowledge and distraction and a surcease of pain when his unruly thoughts skipped back to the happy days before the accident. The accident that took his mother, his father, and his heart.
“Zebian, I know losing yourself in this work brings you comfort, but come eat. Rick will think you don’t like him.”
Zeb’s brow crinkled. “That’s not fair. You know I like him.”
“I know. And you’re smart enough to know I’m using this excuse to get you to join us. I also know you have a heart filled with kindness and compassion. You’ll come, if for no other reason than to put Rick’s mind at ease.”
A long sigh passed his lips before Zeb rose reluctantly from his chair. His eyes met Kiel’s and found affection and concern. Kiel and Rick had made a place for Zeb in their home. Together they’d held and comforted him through his tears, anger and confusion. In the many months he’d been living with them, they had become his family, a fact that oftentimes frightened him. What if something happened to them? Losing one family had been hard enough. He never wanted to go through that again.
But Kiel was right. He didn’t want to hurt Rick and so he’d go, eat the evening meal with them and keep his barriers in place. There was a line drawn before his heart and no one -- no one -- would ever be allowed to cross it.
* * *
They were having sex. Again. It sometimes amazed Zeb just how often his two mentors indulged. Though he couldn’t hear them, the past six years of living with Kiel and Rick had been enough for him to have established a peripheral link to them both. Now that he was eighteen, they no longer bothered to shield him from the mental vibrations of their play. He could feel the faint echoes of their pleasure as they touched and loved each other.
Zeb lay back on his bed, naked, his cock erect and aching as he moved his hand up and down in a leisurely stroke from the base to the tip. Eyes closed, he let his arousal build with theirs. Frequent spikes of pleasure drew audible groans from his lips. The hand at his cock moved faster while the other glided the length of his slim torso. His free hand slid over his nipple, pinching the tiny nub as it hardened.
Their emotions were so strong at times like these. He could almost feel the heat and the slick slide of skin on skin as Kiel’s cock breached Rick’s entrance and slid deep within. Zeb convulsively tightened his grip on his own cock, phantom touches of Rick’s silky sheath surrounding him, urging him to thrust deep into the tunnel of his own fist.
Zeb let himself sink into the growing sensation. His senses were alive with spectral touches, sounds and heat. The link blossomed open. Rick and Kiel invited him to partake of every aching pulse of pleasure that beat seductively through their veins. Sweat broke out on Zeb’s body. Incorporeal tongues swept over his skin and he groaned aloud, shivers rippling down his spine.
The need for release grew stronger. Rick and Kiel’s arousal was a wild, demanding thing that pushed them and him over a towering precipice and sent them careening through the air. Zeb’s cry of completion echoed theirs. He came to his senses with his hand still lightly stroking his fading erection. Thick streaks and smears of semen decorated his hand, cock and torso.
He lay still for a time, until his breathing eased, before rising to clean himself. As he settled in front of his computer, longing made a fleeting appearance in his mind before he pushed it away. He was eighteen now. Kiel and Rick had told him six months ago, on his birthday, that he was welcome in their bed. They allowed him to feel their pleasure when they made love instead of carefully shielding him as they’d done when he was younger. It was the way of the Maleri’. He longed to join them but refused to take that final step.
Young Maleri’ of eighteen were sent to live with a mated Maleri’ pair. The pair acted as the young man’s mentors. They helped him in his transition from student to part of their exclusive brotherhood. Maleri’ were born empaths, men who were trained to help other people and other cultures. In return, they received benefits for the people of their home planet, Belthola.
The mated pair saw to their charge’s every requirement, including his indoctrination into all things sexual. Maleri’ males had an instinctive need to seek one man, a mate with empathic powers who would provide not only love and companionship, but who would ensure their very survival. They were not by nature a promiscuous bunch but, as with all living creatures, their bodies demanded an outlet for their physical desires. The young, unmated Maleri’ had his needs met by his mentors until he was ready to seek his mate.
Zeb knew he had to leave. Because of his circumstances, orphaned at twelve, he’d been living with his mentors for the past six years. Six years in which they’d become a necessary part of his life. If he gave in to the demands of his body, sought to fulfill his sexual urges with them, he knew he was doomed. The love he’d held at bay would spill over and there would be no denying it. No ignoring it. No way to cut himself off from the pain if something should happen to either one of them.
And so he took the way out that had been offered.
Reviews
Zebian (Zeb) Bakar is a Maleri', one of a race of telepathic men. They each find
a male mate at adulthood with whom they bond for life. Unfortunately, Zeb is a
geek and not good with people. His parents died when he was twelve and the two
Maleri' bond mates who took him in and brought him up are concerned that now, at
eighteen, Zeb is too withdrawn to find his mate and he is sent off to learn a
bit about the world. Jace Fremont, a rancher from Earth and in his late
thirties, is annoyed to find out that his silent partners have saddled him with
a greenhorn. He agrees to have Zeb help out because they signed over the ranch
to him.
What an amazing book! Ms. Steele has written several books about the Maleri' and
Ride 'Em Cowboy is every bit as good as the others. Zeb and Jace are as
different as two men could possibly be, but Ms. Steele writes them so that the
almost instantaneous bond between them works in the plot. The two men deny their
feelings for each other until they simply cannot any more. Their sex was
positively orgasmic! I loved reading their sex (and love scenes)! Their age
difference was an issue but their relationship was solidified despite this. Zeb
convinces him that they are both adults and that Zeb wants Jace just as much as
Jace wants Zeb. This story had beautifully descriptive scenery and a mystery to
solve. I was enthralled throughout the entire book and was sorry that it had to
end. Thank you, Ms. Steele!
Marcy Arbitman
Just Erotic Romance Reviews
