Avert by Viola Grace Page B

throttled down her instincts and held her hand out letting the shavirel scamper onto the leaves.
    Thank you again, Nameless. You may want to shake out the eggs in that fur. I dropped a few while you were pulling the dagger. I was nervous.
    Knowing a good idea when she heard it, Sky shook out the fur and watched a dozen tiny gems fly out and settle on the loamy ground. Thank you for that. I don’t think that the other Nameless would appreciate the little ones sprouting and running about.
    The shavirel chuckled, waved a tiny arm and scuttled into the undergrowth.
    Sky sighed and returned Home with only a slight shudder at how close she had been with a large spider-caterpillar-praying mantis mix.
    As soon as she returned to her prison, she went looking for Tavik. He was sitting up in bed and when she came in, he grinned, “I am guessing that you were successful.”
    She laughed. “I was. The creature is safe and we are Home. I will take a shower and try to see how much of me got scorched.”
    Sky draped his belt and knife across the edge of the bed at his feet. “Here you go.”
    Before he could say anything, she sashayed across the floor and into the lav. She showered and winced as her skin prickled from the near baking heat. The cooling water washed the grime and dust from her skin and her body ceased to hate her for a while.
    Heat had never been her favourite temperature. Sky had always preferred the silence and solitude of ice and snow.
    When her body was clean and the dehydrated skin soothed, she turned off the shower and wrapped herself in a towel.
    Humming, she dried her hair with a smaller towel and sorted it a little with her fingers. Her hair never enjoyed the strain of being brushed, but she could and did fluff it with long combs when she could.
    Clean, dry and still bright pink from the heat, she returned to the bedroom and dropped the towel on the floor before sliding between the sheets. It was difficult pretending to not notice that Tavik had watched her every step and shift as she wandered toward the bed.
    He turned toward her and propped his head on his hand. “You are very pink.”
    “I am. I turn this colour when I am exposed to heat.”
    Concern coloured his features. “Are you all right? Were you burned?”
    She chuckled. “Not like you were. I was lucky that you weren’t burned under your arms or your skin would have peeled off.”
    Tavik reached out and caressed her cheek. “Are you in need of healing?”
    She smiled, “I think I am fine.”
    “As your tutor, it is my duty to keep you in peak physical condition. I think I should conduct a detailed examination.”
    Sky shivered as his hands slowly stroked over her, the prickle of energy flowed into her via her skin and she arched into his touch.
    She shifted her thighs together and when he moved toward her, she lifted her leg and draped it over his hip.
    His erection prodded at her belly and when Sky rocked her hips upward, he slid against the petals of her sex.
    “I thought we had to wait.” Her mouth said one thing, but she shifted and reached down to open herself completely while he slowly slid home.
    He laughed and pressed kisses along her neck, biting her slowly as he thrust into her in short, pulsing increments.
    The corkscrewing, twisting of his hips combined with the pressure on her neck to take her senses to the edge, and she shrieked, then sobbed as her release struck her.
    He continued to thrust, pumping into her over and over as she whimpered at first, before she gripped his hips to pull him into her and keep him there.
    “Using your hands is cheating, Sky.” He pulled her hands from his hips and pinned them over her head, using his forearms to brace his weight.
    With a gasp, she said, “I didn’t know this was a competition, Tavik.”
    He chuckled low and deep, his body rocking rhythmically against hers. “All life is a competition and if you play right, everybody wins.”
    He nipped and sucked his way up her neck as he