She hadn’t seen Dacen in just over five years, the young man had never come back to visit her. After she’d raised him. She’d come to the conclusion that had been her fault, mostly. She’d been too hard on him, too strict, and too fast to jump on any lapse of proper deportment for a celestial.

  She could see that now. He was a celestial, and it was important, but he’d only been a little boy at the time.

  When he’d come to the attention of the wizards eighteen years ago at five, he’d been brought in to live at the palace to be trained and schooled. That was standard procedure for any wild emergence of celestial potential in the common class among the twenty-two worlds of the Star-Kingdom.

  What wasn’t typical was usually their parents came with them, and they raised the child even as the royal tutors took care of his education and training in magic, as well as training in deportment. In his case that didn’t happen, mostly because his father had been an abusive piece of shit, and his mother and he had been abused. Something not all that common in this day and age, but it still happened. Take away all the technology, and the human race was still made up of flawed humans.

  Celestials couldn’t afford to be emotional, couldn’t afford to let their anger dictate their actions. She’d taken on the task of raising him, and she’d drilled that into his head on a daily basis.

  He’d been so wild and angry as a five-year-old, she didn’t know what else she could’ve done. But obviously she’d been too hard on him, because he’d become too closed off. His anger too controlled, and he’d become the person he was today. He was one of their best agents, and she loved him dearly.

  Which was why she volunteered, she had to figure out a way to make it up to him. To make things right between them.

  There was another reason she volunteered as well, thought it was a distasteful one. If anyone had to judge Dacen Black’s state of mind, then it should be her. She wouldn’t make mistakes, or condemn him out of an overzealous protectiveness of the king. She wanted to make sure his evaluation was fair, and the only way to do that was to be the one to do the evaluation.

  Even if it was distasteful to the old artificial.

  It was a secondary mission from the king himself. Dacen’s recent actions at the palace had shed some doubts on the state of his mind, judgement, and loyalty. Even if the action he’d taken itself hadn’t been disloyal, it’d been a mistake of epic proportion.

  She didn’t blame King Andros either, he loved Dacen like a son, but family betrayals were far more prominent in powerful families, so it was just… prudent to be sure of him.

  He should’ve known better than to do something so stupid.

  It was her job to figure out if he’d become too big for his britches, and if he’d started to eye the throne with the idea of sitting there himself. Also, if not that, was he still loyal to the crown, or would he try to walk away from his duty to the kingdom.

  That’s why she was there, and what she had to find out. In addition to trying to make things up to him personally, and of course supporting the ship and mission. She didn’t like it, but she’d do it.

  It was after all, her duty to the king.

  Chapter Four

  Dacen pretended not to notice how stiffly the lieutenant sat next to him as he took the shuttle up the to the military space station. Instead, he was chatting up the really cute redhaired master chief who apparently supervised the non-enlisted personnel on the Condor. It wasn’t even about getting her into bed, since he didn’t have time for a diversion. His ship was already docked as of two hours ago and had to go straight to the airlock.

  Not that he wouldn’t have tried, if he’d had the time to make her scream while bouncing on his cock, or even riding his tongue for that matter. He’d never been able to say no to pleasuring a beautiful woman, and the lady in front of him definitely applied. She looked around his age, though he knew she was probably closer to twice his age. Not everyone in the kingdom could afford it, but everyone in the military had free access to healers on their ships and looked relatively youthful.

  It wasn’t true life-extension, but it kept people looking and feeling young and fit up until the very end of their lives. When the telomeres had been fully expended, the body broke down quickly as the end came. Magic did not grant immortality, or even exceptionally long lives, just a very healthy life until the end.

  But chatting with the cute redhead with mesmerizing brown eyes was far better than dealing with the asshole on the other side of him. It was just a pleasant conversation.

  As the shuttle docked, he tried to get in the correct headspace. He knew the sooner dominance was established the smoother things would go. Cheelah did not like being in the dark as to where they fit in the social hierarchy. Once that was out of the way they could talk and get to know each other, as well as prepare to disembark from the station.

  Some humans would use knives during that physical confrontation, to make up for the fact they had pitiful claws compared to the hard and sharp nails of a Cheelah that could easily rip out a throat. Most Cheelah accepted that compromise, but he also knew it wasn’t their custom and would make for an uneasy relationship. The Cheelah would always deep down, wonder if they should be in the submissive position for that relationship.

  Given he was a celestial, that was easy to say, he could admit. It allowed him to assert dominance without a weapon rather easily. It also wasn’t cheating, since magic was an intricate part of his body it was part of the custom in establishing dominance. And only made sense to be so.

  He said his farewells to the chief, then headed for the elevator. The docking systems on the cylinder-shaped military space station were more numerous on the top deck, slightly less so as it moved down. By design. All the corvettes as a result would dock on B-level, destroyers on C-level, frigates on D level, battleships on E level, and at the bottom on level F there were only four docking ports for either carriers or dreadnought class ships. Which was more than enough, a system rarely ever had more than one dreadnought or two carriers in the system, even on the major worlds. Those ships were rare in the kingdom.

  A dreadnought was usually a command cruiser for a vice admiral overseeing an armada. Which was six fleets. Each fleet was two battleships, four frigates, four destroyers, and eight corvettes, and they were run by a rear admiral upper half. In times of peace, the fleets were usually split up into patrol squadrons, which was half a fleet. Half fleets were the domain of one-star admirals, or on rare occasion a senior captain in the fleet was breveted to commodore. Commodore rank was not permanent, and not used outside of that situation.

  Regardless, the A deck had no docking ports at the top of the cylinder, it was the command center and private quarters and level for the military serving aboard the station. All other personnel, military or civilian contractor, were forbidden access. The rest of the station was quarters, shops, and resources for the crews of docked ships.

  Military space stations were all like that, and standard across the kingdom. Of course, civilian stations varied greatly in shape and size depending on the main import and export trades of the world in question, as well as what size merchant and cargo ships were required for the product.

  So, he got onto the elevator and headed up to B level, then started to walk around the ring to docking port 14B. He was getting a little worked up, and he felt the adrenaline flow through his veins as he got nearer to the confrontation.

  To be clear, Cheelah didn’t have to establish dominance or submission with everyone, only with the people in their family, friendships, and the people they worked with. It would be chaos otherwise, as they challenged every human walking through the street. Those humans and Cheelah didn’t matter, because they had no social standing in their lives.

  While he and Riesa would be working together closely, and she was a part of his team for this mission. That made it absolutely necessary to establish their social hierarchy.

  It was perhaps inevitable, when the ship’s airlock door slid open.

  “Permission to come aboard.”

  She was very attractive. Lithe of body, with a very pretty face. Her golden blonde fur with a tinge of brown was also alluring, not to mention the exotic qualities of her catlike ears and tail. She had B cup breasts, which were actually quite large for a Cheelah female, who normally ran smaller than human females.

  About what he expected from the picture he’d seen, but what the picture hadn’t been able to get across was the sense of her presence. The way she stood proudly with a glint of challenge in her eyes, and he was a little surprised to already sense arousal from her. Cheelah were generally a randy bunch, but not that fast.

  Her voice was a potent mix of smoky and sweet.

  “Permission granted, sir.”

  That was enough foreplay for him, and he immediately leapt at her.

  She was fast, limber, and would’ve easily ducked out of the way and probably clawed him for his trouble. She would’ve, if it wasn’t for the magic dropping like a ton of bricks on her body, and taking her down to the deck. He landed on her as he pinned her down with his mind, then immediately gripped her throat with his hand and squeezed, cutting off her air supply.

  He was also getting hard.

  Not because he was a sadistic dick, his hardening length had nothing to do with his choke hold, and everything to do with the way her body was wildly squirming against his middle, and both the scent and sense of her arousal detected with his nose and magic.

  Cheelah were extremely limber and flexible. Think acrobat, master yogi, gymnast, and contortionist all added together, then multiply that by about five, and you’ll understand. Their spines were much more bendable, as were their joints, compared to a human.

  She struggled mightily for about fifteen seconds, and her face was turning an interesting shade of blue, when she suddenly relaxed all her muscles as she stretched her neck and bared it to him.

  He released her throat, and reached down as he stood, pulling her up with him.

  She lowered her eyes, “Sir.”

  He said, “Let’s get this thing on its way, then we’ll get to know each other.”

  Daisy interjected, “I’ve already requested docking release, and I’m fully capable of taking the ship out to the FTL line, which will take just over three hours. You have until then before you’re needed on the bridge. And welcome aboard, sir.”

  He sighed, “Thank you, Daisy. That sounds like a good a plan as any.”

  Riesa turned gracefully and pressed herself against his side.

  “This way, sir.”

  He didn’t comment, as she pasted herself against his side for the walk to his quarters. He wasn’t quite sure what to think about this insanely sexually aggressive minx. She was practically panting for it, which was odd, not for someone she didn’t know yet. That meant he was missing something, so he decided to just go along for now.

  Besides, he’d never been able to say no to a beautiful woman, and he wasn’t about to start now.

  She led him into his quarters, and immediately went into the bathroom. He heard her start the bath, then watched in bemusement as he went into his bedroom.

  He followed her in there, to see her laying out the formal wear of a celestial knight, which would be far more suitable for a diplomatic mission.

  At the moment he had on celestial combat armor. It was all black and had integrated comms and scanning systems. It might also aid in deflecting a bullet or knife, but it was only his magic shield that would keep him safe from military grade armaments. It looked intimidating, kept him in touch with his unit and support, and could give him an idea of his surroundings. That was about it, and a celestial didn’t need more, like the powered armor of royal marine specialists.

  The formal wear on the other hand was a conforming black suit made of rich clothes, and dress shoes and a white cape. It was a little over the top in his opinion, but it was the dress uniform, and he was representing his king and kingdom in matters.

  She took his hand and led him to the bath, then started to take his clothes off in an almost clinical way, but he could sense her respiration increasing and her eyes dilating in further arousal.

  “I’ll get you a bath, clean you up and take care of any other needs that may… come up, then get you dressed. Sir.”

  “I’m not sure this is necessary aboard ship, and you can call me Dacen.”

  Despite his words she didn’t stop, and her lips pressed together.

  “Speak freely.”

  She shook her head, “I don’t think that’s a good idea, sir. On both counts. We should do it for two reasons. We’ll likely be under constant surveillance while in the grand temple. If my cover is to hold then we must get accustomed to what we’ll be doing when we arrive. A misplaced look of surprise at something you or I do, or faltering body language, would give away I’m not what I appear to be.

  “I should also continue to call you sir, as an obedient and meek body servant would. I’ll happily use your name after the mission, but until then I should call you sir, and handle all of your needs. That also includes wearing your formal attire, you don’t want to appear as if you’ve never worn it before, which will happen if your cape keeps getting in the way. Better to learn it all in private, on the way.”

  He nodded slowly, “Well thought out, you’ve convinced me. The last six years of my service I’ve never worn anything but the armor.”

  She faltered herself for a moment, when she finally pulled down his pants and saw how big his cock was, even half erect. Then she got to her knees and he lifted his feet one at a time as she pulled off his clothes while trying not to get poked in the face.

  Once he was naked, she stepped back two steps and started to disrobe for him. He shamelessly enjoyed the view, and it was obvious that fact was just getting her hotter. He wasn’t sure what it was all about, but he sure wasn’t going to argue.

  Still, the raw chemical attraction between them was insane, and the sexual tension was still building between them, so he figured he’d let it ride a little longer and extend the delicious anticipation. He wanted to see what she’d do, and he was also still trying to wrap his mind around it.

  She stood naked before him, proudly with her back slightly arched and her B cups sticking out and up proudly. They were mostly rounded, though they were a bit longer than they were wide, he’d hesitate to call them torpedoed. Her nipples were a dark brown, on fair pinkish skin. Her pussy was petite, both her labia and her mound, and it was already glistening for him.

  After he’d gotten a good look, she walked over and turned off the water, then lowered her head. Her walk past him had allowed him to see that petite and perfectly rounded ass of hers, as well as her tail which was up high at the moment.

  “Your bath is ready, sir,” she said a little breathily.

  He smiled as he walked over and stepped into the bath, and he was completely unsurprised when she followed him in and grabbed the loofa and body wash. He relaxed as she washed him, getting more breathy about it by the moment, and he could swear he heard a mewl of needy desire when she got around to soaping up his junk.

  That was pretty much the last straw, and he gripped her wrist firmly and pulled her to him. She didn’t resist in the least, and even helped by lunging into his arms. Her lips found his and he kissed her back firmly, passionately, and maybe a little messily. His hands found her supple tits, and they were a perfect handful plus a little more as he squeezed firmly and then tweaked her nipples with thumb and forefinger.

  That seemed to break her, and she gasp mewled into his mouth while grinding her sex hard against the bottom of his cock. Fuck this, they could finish the bath later.

  He summoned the magic within him and teleported them straight to the master bed leaving the water behind. They were dry at that point, well, mostly dry he thought, as he pushed her off him and onto her back, then dove in between her legs to latch his lips onto her arousal soaked pussy. She was so hot for him and started to wiggle and squirm even as he held her down and started to suck, lick, and kiss her delicious sex.

  He slid two fingers into her quivering quim, and started to work her as he sucked in her clit, circled it with his tongue, and then just sucked hard while brutally fingerfucking her. His fingertips curled slightly to brush her g-spot, and he wet his thumb to put pressure on her clit while he came up for air.

  “Riesa, your scent is driving me crazy. So hot for me. So sexy as you squirm on my tongue and quiver around my fingertips. Look me in the eyes, and cum for me. Show it to me, how much you need this, want this.”

  Her whole body trembled, as she looked up into his eyes, and then those eyes widened at whatever she saw in his.

  “Sir! Don’t stopppp!”

  Her tail curled like a corkscrew, as her whole body arched, and her center started to convulse against his fingers wildly.

  He immediately dove back down, careful not to break eye contact, as he licked up her liquid pleasure as his reward. He sucked on her pussy and batted her clit with his tongue, as he used his fingers to continue to work her through her ecstasy.

  As she started to come down, he used his other hand to grip a nipple, pull, pinch, and twist.

  She cried out in ecstasy, and her eyes widened even further.

  That’s when he lifted her legs, pinned them back so her feet were behind her ears, and speared home into her wildly quivering and convulsing heaven. Fuck, she was so tight and hot around him, sending a luxurious rush of sensations through his body. She was soaked, and he was on the high side of average at an eight-inch length, but it was really his unusually large girth that stopped his cock after only two inches of penetration.

  Her cry of shocked pain and pleasure thrilled him, as he started to saw his way into her one hard stroke at a time. It still took him a while, even as she started to wildly and sloppily buck up into him to help him bury his full cock in her paradise while she was still in the midst of blissful ecstasy.