Wyvern's Warrior (The Dragons of Incendium Book 3) Page 5

  “What benchmarks were used in the assessment?” Thalina asked before she could stop herself.

  Acion counted them on his fingers. “Physical dimensions, endurance, technique, variation in technique, adaptability to a partner’s needs, and successful simulation of foreplay.” He nodded. “That was calculated based on the partner’s biometric response.”

  “And how would you calculate mine right now?”

  He studied her with a little frown, then cupped her chin to look into her eyes. “Your pupils are dilated, a sign of arousal in humanoids. I can smell that your labia are wet, an indication of your preparedness for union. Your pulse has accelerated steadily since our enclosure in this room, and your breathing rate has also increased since we have touched each other. Your skin is warm and flushed, a sign of heightened circulation.” He ran a hand over her breast. “And the erectile tissue in your nipples is contracted. I would calculate your arousal to be between seven and eight on a scale of ten, with seventy per cent surety.”

  “Why the seventy per cent?” Thalina asked, hearing that her words were breathless. His touch was sending fire through her veins, undoubtedly because of the vehement call of the Seed.

  “I have no data upon the signs of sexual arousal in dragon shifters and am thus assuming that while in the humanoid form, a dragon shifter exhibits similar signs to those found in humans who are not dragon shifters. This is by no means a certainty, though, and my conclusion must be qualified.”

  “Your assumption is correct.”

  His brows rose in relief. “Then your arousal must be between seven and eight on a scale of ten.” He pursed his lips, clearly confronted by a question.

  “What is it?”

  “I must consider whether desire is increased in dragon shifters in the same way as in non-shifting humans.”

  “It is.”

  He was calculating again, but now there was a small smile curving his lips. “Then I must increase the probability of a successful union.”

  “And what about your arousal?” Thalina caressed him.

  “My arousal remains steady at five on the same scale, an optimal level to provide satisfaction without incurring any unnecessarily impairment of my awareness or responsiveness.”

  Maybe it was the dragon in Thalina, but that confession made her determined to push Acion’s arousal rate past ten on that particular chart.

  “Only five?” she purred and he nodded. “Let me see what I can do about that.”

  * * *

  Acion was intrigued. Not only were there secret androids on Incendium, but this one insisted that she was one of the royal family.

  The notion was ridiculous. No princess would be permitted to challenge an intruder without protection. Perhaps he was to provide a test of her functionality. It was remarkable to consider that they might have similar assignments, but when he considered how often androids tested enhancements to their functionality, the prospect was clearly likely.

  Perhaps there was a plan to replace the legendary sirens of their market with androids. Such a scheme would undoubtedly improve efficiency in servicing clients seeking sexual pleasure and Acion knew it would diminish biological contamination.

  This was a possibility that made sense, more sense than her assertion that he was the Carrier of the Seed. He wasn’t a cyborg, and so there couldn’t be a biological facet to his nature, such as would be the case if he were the Carrier of the Seed. No, he’d been trapped for a purpose. She’d been determined to capture him but not injure him, so as to avoid damaging his reactions in any way.

  He must be her test.

  He should mate with her, as she said she desired, and look for verifying signs of her true nature. An android, of course, would not be able to shift shape and become a dragon. This could explain why she hadn’t done as much already.

  Acion had never mated with an android himself, though he had been used to grant pleasure to various mortal Warrior Maidens of Cumae. This android presented him with yet another opportunity to serve by gathering information.

  She was attractive and stimulated his reaction, although he had to admit that much of her appeal was her intelligence. She analyzed in a way that he understood perfectly. She was fearless, as he had been programmed to be. They might have been two sides of the same coin.

  He supposed that they were.

  A feigned role as one of the dragon shifter princesses would explain her access to the security information. Had she been made to resemble Callida? That was the only princess she had named, and might explain her knowledge of Callida’s secret code. Acion launched a subroutine to pull the images of all twelve dragon princesses and compare their features to those of this woman.

  Thalina. The conclusion was reached by his facial recognition programming and he verified the result. She certainly resembled the third daughter of King Ouros and Queen Ignita. He would have to continue his investigation to decide why such a course of action had been pursued.

  Acion did all of this reasoning by the time Thalina caught his face in her hands, rose to her toes, and touched her lips to his. Acion anticipated a sweet kiss, a gentle beginning to a temperate coupling, but she surprised him. The first touch of her lips was beguiling and left him hungry for more. As soon as he leaned down and caught her around the waist, lifting her against him, her mouth locked over his with unexpected demand. She backed him into the couch, and he stumbled, then fell back upon it. She tumbled atop him, no doubt by design, without breaking her incendiary kiss.

  Acion closed his eyes, knowing he had never been kissed with such fervor. He concluded that there was no need to be as gentle as he usually was, not when his partner was as strong as he and unlikely to be injured. He tried to respond in kind to ensure that the test of her abilities was thorough, his need to serve overwhelming all other impulses. She moaned into his mouth and straddled him, the scent of her need feeding his own arousal.

  He knew he should have been making observations about the caliber of her programming, the sophistication of her form, the simulation of biological surfaces and reactions. But her tongue was between his teeth, her fingers locked around his head, her breasts crushed against his chest. She kissed him with a savage passion that almost ignited his circuits and certainly drove all calculation from his thoughts. Acion felt as if a fire swept through him, frying all logic and leaving him hungry for more sensation. She wound one leg around his and rubbed her belly against his erection, prompting a reaction that was quicker than any he’d experienced before.

  “Kiss me back, Acion,” she growled against his throat, even though he was already doing so. The raw need in her voice sent sparks through him. He caught her buttocks in his hands and rolled on top of her, deepening their kiss and pinning her down. He felt a curious sense of satisfaction when she purred with pleasure and grazed his mouth with the edge of her teeth. She ripped open his shirt in her impatience and her hands roved over his skin. The way she touched him was proprietary, as if he was a pleasure slave commanded to serve her, and Acion extrapolated her desire from that.

  He kissed her ear, her neck, the hollow of her throat, the ripe perfection of her breast. He lifted her skirts and slid down the length of her to lick her wet sex. She gasped, surprised in her turn, then parted her legs as his mouth closed over her. The attention to detail in her sexual organs was a clear sign to Acion that he had guessed her intended purpose correctly, for he’d never seen an android that so perfectly replicated a woman, in both shape, design, and function. She was gloriously wet and her labia engorged, her clitoris perfectly sensitive.

  Acion feasted upon her, holding her hips so that she was captive to his intimate kiss, and monitored her arousal. It was easily nine on that scale of ten when she sat up and seized him, rolling him to his back again as she tore open his chausses. Her hand was locked around him, her hair wild and her cheeks flushed.

  He was astonished to note that his own arousal was in excess of seven.

  And that was before she climbed atop him like a
warrior queen, claiming him and drawing him deep inside her warmth. He faltered for a moment, shaken by the unprecedented wave of pleasure that rolled through him, then she moved her hips, demanding more. She rode him, holding him captive between her thighs and watching as she insisted upon more and more. She tore off her own chemise, giving him a view of her fine breasts, and he couldn’t resist the temptation. He reached up, cupping one in each palm, teasing the taut nipples with his thumbs, and was proud of her obvious pleasure. She arched her back and moved with greater speed, her slick heat drawing him deeper within her. Acion found his heart racing, his breath coming quickly, his erection harder than it had even been before.

  “Still five?” she asked, then bent and kissed his ear. Her tongue rolled in his ear and he closed his eyes, dizzy at the tumult she awakened in him.

  “Almost eight,” he admitted.

  She clicked her tongue. “The claiming of the Seed merits at least a ten,” she chided and he saw the challenge in her eyes.

  He assessed her response. “You are almost at ten.”

  She gave him a wicked smile. “I don’t want to be there alone.”

  Of course, pleasure should be reciprocal to ensure that clients returned for more.

  Even so, Acion wasn’t certain his systems could tolerate a higher reading than he was currently experiencing. His reasoning processes were compromised. He couldn’t think of anything except the woman atop him and the pleasure she was giving him. He was hot. He was agitated. His processes were consumed with combinations and permutations of sexual activity, and an almost frantic need to deduce which would grant this siren the most pleasure.

  He reached between them and found the hard bud of her clitoris. He touched it gently with his fingertip, heard her gasp in delight, then knew.

  He withdrew his hand enough to remove the tip of his middle finger and launch the small motor. He felt its hum more than he heard it, then pressed the soft vibrating tip, the one that was usually hidden away, against her clitoris.

  She gasped and her eyes flew open. She stared at him as the color left her cheeks.

  Acion held her gaze, increased the speed slightly and rubbed that vibrating fingertip against her. She moaned, a sound of such capitulation that he felt a primitive pride in his choice.

  Then he pinched the clitoris between the vibrating fingertip and his plain index fingertip.

  His partner roared. She bucked. She drew him deep inside her by some skill he’d not confronted before, then locked her legs around him. He was captive, snared inside her, barely able to move, as she convulsed and bellowed in her release.

  And in the sight of her pleasure, at the mercy of her sensory demand, Acion wanted only more. He caught her around the waist, rolled her to her back and thrust even deeper Heat surged within him, fusing their desires, making the experience of her pleasure as powerful as his own. He was certain that his desire reached a ten, if not exceeding that point on the scale, but he couldn’t stop. He managed two more strokes before the fire raced through him, his mind went blank, and the Seed—if indeed he carried it—was surrendered in an explosive rush.

  Then he laid his temple on the couch as his body rhythms returned to normal. It took so much longer than usual that he wondered what had just happened to him. He felt seared, cauterized on the inside…and lighter. Sexual intimacy had never been so extreme an experience for him, and Acion knew there had to be a reason why it had been different this time.

  But for the moment, he was too exhausted to consider the riddle.

  And that was just as strange.

  He needed to recharge and restore. He launched his own rejuvenation sequences without opening his eyes, knowing the nanobots in his system would seek out all places in need of repair.

  What was happening to him on Incendium?

  Was he changing?

  Was it because of his new programming?

  Or was it because of this android and some unprecedented abilities she possessed?

  Who was her maker?

  Acion had insufficient information to make a satisfactory conclusion. His heart skipped with what might have been trepidation—if he had possessed the programming to experience such a sensation.

  He had time to realize that the probability of his now having such abilities might be higher than previously before the rejuvenation system slowed his thoughts. Acion was put into a resting state similar to the one humans called sleep, his calculations stilled for the moment.

  Chapter Three

  It was clear to Thalina that she needed a cyborg of her own, one that she’d use just to ensure her sexual pleasure. That finger was a wonderful augmentation and one that should be given to all men. Maybe Thalina would request it for all of her future lovers. She’d never had a mating as powerful as this one and was sure the next time would be better. It was clear that Acion’s intellectual capacities were also augmented, which would make him a learning machine.

  Next time, he’d send her over Incendium’s moon.

  He might just be the perfect companion. She wondered if he would be able to perform sexually at more frequent intervals than a man. Thalina had found her previous partners a bit disappointing in that regard.

  As a dragon, she had appetites, after all.

  It seemed highly probable that she could expect improved performance. She smiled, hearing the influence of Acion’s way of expressing himself on her own speech. She liked how he talked and how he reasoned everything through. She liked talking to him, and listening to him.

  One day and night wasn’t going to be nearly enough.

  She remained stretched out beside Acion as he appeared to doze, amused that he would have a similar reaction to a human after sexual release. It was comfortably warm in the Hoard and the sound of the fountain was soothing. Thalina felt as if she had stolen a day out of time, and already she didn’t want it to end. The scent of the Seed was reassuring in an odd way, now that she’d claimed it once.

  Would they have the chance to do it again?

  Reminded of the passing time, Thalina sat up and surveyed Acion. She might not have another chance to investigate him. He was nude beside her and looked like a man in almost every way. He had very little body hair, which was a good thing to Thalina’s thinking, just a little dark patch in the middle of his chest. He was extremely well muscled, as if he exercised rigorously, and she wondered if he had to do that, or it this was just the way he was made. His skin looked to be tanned, but she realized on closer examination that it was the same hue everywhere.

  As if he sunbathed nude.

  Maybe he did.

  She couldn’t discern any seams or joins in his body, which she supposed said a great deal for the quality of the membrane that encased him. It even felt warm and was flexible, like skin. She caressed his hip, wanting to feel him again, and thought she might wake him up. He didn’t stir at all, so she explored more boldly.

  His face was smooth, as if he had just shaved, and she wondered whether he even grew whiskers. There was a line on his forehead, over his right eye, like a scar. She knew that was where the broken light had been located. His head was smooth, too, as if it was shaved, but Thalina considered that might be simpler than planting hair follicles. The only ornament he wore was the silver ring on his right thumb, and she peered at it, trying to discern the pattern. It looked like a band of entwined lines, but she couldn’t make any sense of it. A blue tattoo peeked out from beneath it, maybe a more permanent mark with a similar meaning. Embedded in his left palm was that thin computer, much like the one she wore on the inside of her left forearm, but fixed in place and smaller.

  She wondered whether she could explore that computer’s contents without disturbing him and glanced back at his face.

  The line on his forehead was gone.

  Thalina leaned over Acion, focusing her gaze on that spot. The skin—or membrane—was repaired and seamlessly so, as if there had never been an injury.

  He wasn’t sleeping. He was undergoing repair.

>   He didn’t seem to be breathing, at least not deeply, and was very still. Thalina leaned over him and felt the barest whisper of breath emanating from his nostrils. She placed a hand on his chest and felt that his heartbeat had slowed considerably, much more than to a resting rate for a biological organism. She had to wait for each successive beat.

  All of his energy was being put into repair.

  She surveyed him, impressed and amazed, and wanting to know more. Digits lit on the computer screen in his palm, and steadily counted down from one hundred. Thalina was pretty sure he’d wake up when the count reached zero, his systems restored to their previous capacity.

  Fascinating.

  The digital numbers reached single digits as she wondered, then his computer emitted a faint beep as the one change to a zero.

  Acion’s eyes opened and he sat up. Thalina heard his pulse increase rapidly, then settle at a steady but increased rate. He surveyed her, then rose from the couch to dress. When he turned, tugging on his chausses, Thalina smiled at the evidence of her theory being true. “Back to five?” she asked.

  Acion nodded. “It is an excellent resting status.”

  “Why not three?”

  He pursed his lips, and she wondered whether he was seeking the answer or deciding how much of it to tell her. “Most warriors fight better when emotionally engaged in the result. Even non-warriors fight better when they believe their own survival to be at risk. This is called the fight-or-flight-response.”

  Thalina tugged on her skirt and chemise. “Fear stimulates a hormonal reaction that gives the organism greater strength and agility in the short term.”

  Acion nodded. “But my survival is seldom at risk, since most foes are inferior.” He spoke with such conviction that Thalina smiled. “And maybe the survival of the individual doesn’t matter that much in the end.”

  “How so?”

  “A biological organism exists in isolation, in most cases. Its memories and experiences belong to itself alone, and its sense of identity is strong as a result. An android is linked to a server and shares all experiences, as you know, so is really more like a single cell in the collective mind.”