Erecting Barriers Read online

  Tears came to Obedience’s eyes as abject sorrow rolled off Kulla. At that moment she realized how much she truly loved him. That he cared so much for one small, battered creature made her weep. Most men she knew would have killed it, kicked it, and strode away without a second thought. Her man whispered a benediction.

  He rose to his feet and came to Obedience. “Did he…”

  “No. No. I’m fine.” She wiped the tears from her cheeks and let Kulla take her arm. “How did you know to find me?”

  “I heard your cries,” he said without thinking.

  Obedience pondered this as they went back into the establishment. He’d heard her cries? It would have been impossible for a human, with all the noise in the pub. What was Kulla, anyway?

  He led her up a back staircase and down a short hall. He fit a key into the last door on the right. Their combined breathing―the only thing they heard over the noises emanating from below―sounded in the hallway as Kulla clicked the lock and eased open the door.

  “I’m going to see you settled for the night and find a spot by our carts.” He’d obviously planned his escape. Obedience’s mind scrambled with a way to stop him.

  As he lit the lamp, a warm glow suffused the room, and she could see the contents of the meager chamber; one chair, a small dresser and the trundle bed with its straw ticking and homespun comforter. A pulse in her throat thought to overwhelm her. She’d be sharing that bed with Kulla this very night…if she had any say in it.

  “I don’t think you should leave,” she lowered her gaze to the floor. “I won’t be safe without you.”

  He snorted. “You won’t be safe with me.”

  She looked up into his earnest face, and saw all the indecision there. He really tried to do the honorable thing, but Obedience had been wanting this since last fall, and he’d hold no sway against her will. She went around him to gently close the door, then held out her hand for the key. When he gave it to her, she locked the door from the inside, and did something she’d always wanted to do since she’d witnessed the town doxy depositing coins one day. She dropped the key down her bodice.

  “Now you’ll either have to stay, or retrieve the key.”

  “And both would suit your purpose?” He raised an eyebrow and gave a crooked grin, then turned serious before she could retort. “You’re certain about this Bee-Dee?”

  She could see the hunger and the reluctance battling within him.

  “I’m sure.” She looked straight into his eyes as her fingers reached to the front of her dress and worked the small bone buttons free. The key fell to the floor, ignored. By the time she stripped down to her chemise, she felt at a bit of a disadvantage. “I want to see you, too, you know,” she told him. She’d been wanting to gaze upon that very male part of him since she’d first felt it pressed against her clothed thighs. What would he look like? She pictured the large chestnut stallion owned by some neighbors. Oh Lord. She surely hoped not.

  Kulla worked the chambray shirt free of his trousers, loosened the string before tugging it over his head. He wore nothing beneath. Obedience caught her breath and moved forward, hand out.

  “May I?” she asked, articulation trembling. Before he could answer, she went to him and swept her hand through the smattering of soft blond hair on his chest. So delicate an adornment for such strong, hard muscles. His abdomen clenched.

  “I need to see more.” She let her gaze travel down; to where the bulge increased at the front of his trews. Her fingers sought the fastenings. Kulla caught her up.

  “You first, my love. I would see to your pleasure before ought is done to me. I fear there will be nothing left with which to satisfy you if your hand touches me now.”

  Obedience didn’t know what he meant, but readied anxiously to be shed of her own clothing. Her woman parts were hot and pulsing with a need she couldn’t name.

  After stripping her of every last garment, he tenderly laid her on the bed with a look of such exquisite awe and delight on his face that Obedience couldn’t help but squirm on the creaking mattress.

  “Does what you gaze upon please you, Kulla?” She received a moan for her answer, and a quick brushing of his hands across her pink nipples.

  “So very beautiful.” He breathed, then thought to caution her. “You may not understand any of the things I’m about to do, but let me assure you they are for your pleasure, and naught that isn’t allowed between a man and a woman.”

  Her eyes shined permission up at him. She trusted Kulla to show her all, and lay still. Waiting.

  He lowered warm hands to her core and gently, with his big work-roughened palms, spread her legs. Embarrassment almost overcame her, but before she could demur, those very fingers parting her found the wetness between her thighs and stroked through it. She arched up with a cry.

  “Kulla, that’s…that’s…”

  “Wonderful,” he whispered. “I know, my love. It is.” He spread her folds and ran a gentle touch up and around, pausing at a point in her damp red curls to uncover yet another wonder.

  That point. The one he touched. It sent fire licking up into her belly and a moan for something more escaped her mouth. “Please,” she implored as he took his finger away. “Don’t stop.”

  “Your wish is my very pleasure,” he assured her. He lowered his head between her legs.

  Obedience thought she would die. Just as the thought of him touching her had settled, he now used his mouth to seek out the parts of her he had awakened. How did anyone live through this? This wonderful, decadent torture. Surely she would erupt into flames.

  Obedience felt his fingers probe, then enter her channel below. He murmured “sweet, sweet pussy.” And if she weren’t so far gone, she would have laughed that he compared her nether regions to a cat. She groaned as he pressed.

  “Am I hurting you, my sweet?” he asked against her, solicitously.

  “No, Kulla.” She threaded her hands through his thick curls and let him know that he held her enthralled. “It’s good. Nothing like I imagined.”

  He went back to her, working a little stronger, a little harder, and sent his fingers farther in for exploration of her depths.

  Obedience felt a tremor approaching. Very good or very bad? Whatever the case, surely it would consume her, but she couldn’t stop it. “Kulla.” She implored nervously, throwing her head from side to side in agitation.

  “Let it happen, Obedience,” he soothed. “All will be well.”

  She heard the calm in his voice and trusted once again. She lay back and let the decadent feelings spiral. Something built fast. Her breathing stopped and her hands clenched to his head. She found her back arching up, up, up, until…there. Talons of joy ripped through her body. Stars burst in back of her eyelids, and she couldn’t control the scream of rapture that wrung from her throat. She felt her inner walls closing around Kulla’s fingers, gripping and sucking as if never to let him go. He encouraged her with small sounds of succor. Praising her for any number of foolish things. She recognized his loving nonsense as she regained her equilibrium, and chuckled.

  When eventually she managed to speak, she chided her lover. “And why, exactly, have we been waiting so long to accomplish that?” she asked teasingly, and poked him in the shoulder where he lounged between her legs. “You knew such a thing could be practiced between the two of us, and you thought to deny us?”

  He tweaked one nipple and she felt her interior flesh clench again. “Wench,” he said, delightfully. “I will hold naught back from you a moment longer.” He went to his knees and much to her delight, worked the strings to his breeches. She held her breath, waiting. She’d wanted to see him for so very long. When his man part sprang free, her eyes went wide.

  “Oh my,” she stated.

  Kulla swallowed, hard. “Do I scare you, little one?” She took a long look and let the twinkle move back into her gaze.

  “Well, you’re certainly not as big as the stallion,” she muttered.

  He threw back his head and
laughed, a full throaty sound.

  “I would hope not, for your sake.” When his amusement settled, her hands come up toward that part of him while his nostrils flared.

  “May I touch it?” She couldn’t wait for permission. The back of her hand brushed against his softness, and she sighed. “ ‘Tis the smoothest of skin, is it not?” Her palm turned and she took him in her grasp; her small fingers unable to meet around his thick girth. “And this is supposed to fit…”

  His teeth, bright and strong emerged in a silent grimace of…pain? Did it pain him to have her touch?

  “Worry not, my sweet. It is the way between men and women.” He calmed his features, then lowered his head and kissed the indentation of her clavicle. He worked his way up to her jaw, then feathered his mouth until he nibbled her bottom lip. “I won’t say that it won’t be intrusive, and I’m told it causes some pain the first time.”

  In truth, she suddenly realized that Kulla had never taken a virgin before. Sweat beaded on his chest as he worried that he would hurt her.

  “But I will try to be as easy and gentle as I can. And if it distresses you this first time, know that every time we complete this coupling hereafter, it will get better and better. Of that I assure you.” He drew back slightly in preparation.

  Obedience looked up at him with love and certainty in her face, and opened her legs to him. “I want you to do it,” she said. “I want to be fully yours.” She waited while he sought strength.

  She felt the warm, soft tip of him as he rubbed in her cream. The invasion of just that bulbous end stretched her and made her want for more. She grasped his strong arms. “Quickly now—” she gasped. “—be in me.” She tipped up to give him access, and felt the long dagger thrust. Saints. It hurt. It burned. She went rigid beneath him and he stilled.

  “Oh, Bee-Dee. I’m sorry,” he stammered.

  She could feel his heart nearly break in two as he witnessed the two small tears she couldn’t help but leak from the corners of her eyes. He went to withdraw but she refused to let him go. Her fingers dug into his thighs and she held him with surprising strength.

  “Do not leave,” she told him forcefully. “The pain is nearly gone.” If other women could do this, so could she. He had shown her great pleasure with his fingers and his mouth. If he needed this to find his own gratification, so be it. She loved him enough to put up with this painful invasion.

  Obedience willed her muscles to relax around him, and found, after a minute, that her dissatisfaction ebbed. As a matter of fact, she actually yearned for more. She moved her hips tentatively and heard his groan. The pain nagged, but that good feeling swooped back again to overwhelm it.

  “Oh my.” Obedience’s body hummed with new interest. “Will you move within me?” she asked shyly. No wonder women allowed this.

  She could see the effort it took for Kulla to keep still, but she no longer needed his caution. “I would feel your strength glide in and out.”

  He willingly obliged.

  “There. That.” She felt the mass of him within her and suddenly he remained the only thing on earth—their connection, their bond. She scaled to those previous heights again, the ones that before had her screaming her fruition, and surely after several more deep abiding strokes, she careened there again.

  This time, she closed around his massive member, and cried his name; her senses bombarded. She felt every luscious inch of him, and relished the feeling. How wonderful.

  It took minutes, but finally she relaxed beneath Kulla, curious to see he still strained above her. She softened for him, and opened her legs wider. Did this continue for a purpose?

  Suddenly her eyes popped wide. Kulla cried out. Not only that, but torrents of warmth bathed her womb, and she felt the same pulsing from Kulla as she had experienced. Wonder of wonders. He had reached a pinnacle of his own. It was not just a woman thing. A man grabbed for those stars as well. She nearly purred beneath him. By his face, the satisfaction she felt had been shared.

  ****

  Present Day

  Obedience smiled in her sleep. The first of many wonderful couplings we were to have, she thought, and stirred, still slumbering. Kulla answered.

  The first of many wonderful couplings yet to come. His body relaxed against hers. What a glorious memory. How happy that they had shared it.

  Kulla tightened his arms around her. And this time she knew that nothing would make him let go.

  Chapter Six

  Obedience slept so well. She wondered how it was possible, cramped in a small bed next to Kulla. She slipped from beneath the sheets and headed to the kitchen for a quick bite before continuing her vigil.

  “How is he?” Jake, standing at the counter, asked the question. Bee-Dee knew he still felt guilty that Kulla had been so badly injured on his watch. Everyone assured him he couldn’t have changed the outcome, battling several demons of his own at the time, but neither he nor the blue man would be consoled until Kulla regained his feet.

  “He had a peaceful night,” the witch informed the kitchen group, which included those two, the human agent, Ken, the doctor, and plastered against each other at the banquette, Enlil and Candy. “No thrashing about like he’s been doing.” She didn’t say that she’d snuggled up to Kulla in order to keep just such a thing from happening, but with the way Dani-Lee quickly turned her head away, the doctor must have witnessed the sleepover.

  The doctor wiped her mouth and arose. “Take your time with breakfast, Bee-Dee. I’ll keep an eye on him for a while. If he wakes up, I’ll call you.”

  “Thanks, Dani.” In fact, Obedience was starving. She had a good feeling about today, and it reflected in her appetite. “English muffins?” She peeked over Ken’s shoulder, where he scrambled some eggs, and saw the package.

  “I’ll pop one in for you,” he said amiably, but while he pried the two halves apart with a fork, he kept a watchful eye on Jake, still hovering. Obedience knew what this was about. She’d seen it once or twice and heard a few gods talking about it. Nearly every morning, Jake compelled Ken out of his breakfast, but he took the joke too far. None of the deities wanted to interfere. The two agents needed to work it out since Jake was Ken’s superior. Of course with Ken being mortal, and his boss now having superpowers, any fight would be highly one-sided. Obedience got a gander at the human’s set, stubborn jaw. It looked like it wouldn’t be long before things came to a head.

  “Thanks, Ken.” Her muffin came out of the toaster and she went to the table with butter and marmalade to spread. She slid in beside Candy. “What are you guys up to today?” Like all the couples around the compound, the pair couldn’t get enough of each other, but these two were a hoot. They fought as much as they cuddled.

  “We’re headed back to LA, to my office,” Candy calmly informed her, and got a look from Enlil.

  “I’m headed back to LA. You’re staying here,” he corrected. His wife punched him on the shoulder, and Obedience felt the reverberation. It hadn’t been a gentle hit.

  “We’re going back, together.” Candy set her firm, mutinous mouth. “Besides business as usual, my GPS implant is running low on batteries and I need to hook up to the external charger.” All the agents, of which Candy was still one, had imbedded tracking. She looked over at Ken. “We’ll bring it back so you can power up, too.” Ken gave a nod as Candy and Enlil continued to bicker. Quite obviously this particular discussion had been going on for some time.

  “Technically, Candy has to report in. She’s still employed by the DEA, Enlil.” Jake said, ambling closer to where the scrambled eggs were just about done. “And since Ken is sticking around here, you have to make the trip too. Don’t forget we have our exchange on; you for Ken.”

  “Fine. We’ll both go.” The god pouted. Jake and Candy did a virtual high five in back of Enlil’s head as he caved.

  “And what about you Jake? Are you staying in LA or commuting?” Obedience questioned. Only a half hour flight for him now that he was a god, but Bee-Dee would miss
living there if she settled in New England again.

  “Commuting,” Jake answered, sneaking up next to Ken. “Anna wants us to live here, so she can reconnect with her kids.” His new goddess wife―found to be the long lost, non-aging mother of Tess, Holly and Huxley, and new grandmother to baby Girin―didn’t want to miss out on any of it.

  “Yeah, and Marduk wants all gods home and tucked in by ten o-clock every night for a bed count.” Enlil snorted. “You’d think having a baby would make him lighten up on the rest of us.”

  The tension built; everyone aware that Jake would soon make his move on Ken’s breakfast.

  “Kenny boy,” the head agent cajoled. “Look at me.” Ken clenched his teeth and clearly battled not to move his head. “Ke…en.” Jake’s sing-song-y voice took on a compelling cadence and she could see the human losing his struggle. “Is that my breakfast?” Jake demanded an answer, and everyone knew what it would be. The underling’s knuckles were white where they gripped the counter, and his big shoulders quaked. The words almost worked their way free from between compressed lips when attitude from the doorway cracked like a whip across the kitchen.

  “I’ve seen just about enough.” All heads turned to where baby Girin’s wet-nurse stood, arms crossed under enormous breasts, glaring at Jake. “Don’t you have anything better to do with your new god skills?” She narrowed her eyes dangerously. “You’re like the brattiest child; spoiled rotten and taking all the toys for yourself.” A wooden spoon floated up and out of a stoneware jar of utensils toward Jake and whacked him hard across the knuckles.

  “There. Now you’ve been treated like the naughty boy you’ve become.”

  Everyone’s mouth hung open. Not just Jake’s. They were all surprised. Since Vesca had come to the house to feed the insatiable baby-godling, she hadn’t said more than a few words to anyone. Bee-Dee had thought the goddess shy and retiring. What a surprise. Ken gaped, the most astonished of all. His face went from stark white, to blushing crimson. How would he react to the intervention by the usually quiet nanny?