Ulua - Slang for female genitals.
Fratrin - Brother, but one of honour, friendship, or of oath rather than one of blood relation. Refers to the bond of karifratrus.
Derra - Wife. Female bond-mate.
Stabata - (turian) a long, narrow, nine stringed instrument strummed with both hands.
90 Days ASR 0030 hrs (Horizon)
Nihlus pulled out a chair next to the remains of the dextro buffet table, turning it around to sit while Garrus and Shepard wandered down to the shore to say goodnight. Picking at a platter of amazingly spicy drellak strips, he watched them; their easy affection a solid raft beneath his feet. They kept him balanced and afloat even when the seas boiled under him.
Despite everything he'd said to the contrary, before Shepard returned to them, he couldn't have imagined her loving him enough to marry him. He couldn't have imagined anyone loving him that much. And now his family stood at the water line, their arms wrapped around one another, and his jaws and mandibular muscles ached from smiling so wide for so long.
As if they felt him watching, they both turned to look at him, Shepard blowing him a kiss before focusing on Garrus. They kissed, long and passionate, then embraced, foreheads pressed together. Seeing their goodnight coming to an end, Nihlus stood, wandering over to lean against one of the pavilion's posts.
"Goodnight, Nihlus," Garrus called as they approached, arms slung around one another. When they reached the large tent, the general disentangled himself from Shepard to embrace Nihlus by the shoulders. "Congratulations, fratrin."
Heart aching with happiness, Nihlus returned the embrace, brushing his brow against Garrus's. "Thank you for making this happen. It was a beautiful day."
"You're very welcome." Garrus pulled away and turned toward the shuttle, caressing Shepard's cheek as he strode past her. "See you sometime tomorrow."
"Not too early," Nihlus replied, following up with a merry chuff. If any day deserved a lay-in, it tomorrow was that day. He watched after Garrus until his fratrin stepped into the shuttle, then turned to focus on his derra. "Alone at last."
Shepard nodded as she wiped the sheen of sweat from her brow. "We are, indeed." She turned a circle, looking for something to dry her sweaty hand on, the appendage flop-waving helplessly at her side. "This planet is stupidly hot," she grumbled, then lunged forward, uttering a small victory cry as she snatched a napkin off the cluttered table. "I adore your romantic side, my love, and Garrus's for finding us another gorgeous beach, but dayum, we should have gotten married at the north pole." After dabbing her face and neck, down to the valley between her breasts, she used the napkin as an ineffectual fan. "Sweet baby Jesus and all his Enkindler friends."
Still leaning against the corner pole of the tent, relaxed and completely content, Nihlus watched her fuss, a soft smile fluttering across his mandibles. He could scent her nervousness: her worry about hurting either Garrus or him … about sex being awkward with him after being with Garrus … after his insistence on waiting. Oddly, of all the things he'd worried about over the cycles since they first met, he didn't harbour the slightest doubt that they'd be fine together in an intimate way. No, better than fine. The electricity he'd felt through the kiss they shared overlooking Nos Astra … he'd never felt anything like that connection.
She always likened him to a forest fire burning out of control. When the woman was right, she was right. He kept the flames in check, waiting for the right time and place to turn them loose. He believed he'd chosen well, and now that fire would burn away his old life and set him free.
Shepard wiped her face and neck on the napkin. "Why the hell did they take the fans away?" she said, still fussing. "I mean, who's going to steal fans on a deserted beach in the middle of nowhere?" She dropped the napkin on the table and flipped a hand at the dishes. "Should these be left here like this? Won't bears or cougars or come out of the woodwork to eat us?"
Instead of telling her that the fans had merely been relocated to their tent and that someone would remove the food, Nihlus pushed off the pole and walked toward her, his steps leisurely, teasing her a little with his calm. "Have you sufficiently vented your ire at the universe?" He grinned when she spun, her withering glare sizzling across his plates.
"Maybe." She picked up a clean dessert plate, using it as a fan. "Do you have a means of turning down the heat coming off this sand?"
"I do, in fact." Holding out his hands, he invited her to meet him halfway, but she shook her head.
"No offence, cikabeknai, but you run hotter than the sun at the best of times." Narrowing her eyes, she stared at him, her gaze filled with mischief and love.
"Did you just say that I'm hot?" When she met his teasing with a wink, he chuckled and extended his hands a little further. "I think you're legally obligated to trust me in these situations now that we've sworn our vows."
She appeared to mull it over, then nodded and stepped forward, slipping her hands into his. "Of course. Always." Releasing his hands, she reached up to cup his mandibles in the rough, worn heat of her palms. "I never want there to be the slightest doubt in your mind, Nihlus Shepard." A teasing smile framed the love in her eyes at the surname she'd assigned him. "I trust you completely and without reservation."
After a second, the smile burst into a grin. "And of course, I'm saying you're hot. By every last one of the Enkindlers' glowing backsides, husband, I've had the hots for that smokin' bod for a decade." She pressed in close. "And now it's all mine."
Nihlus guided her hands to his waist, then skated his palms up her arms and over the curves of her back to her hips, savouring the softness of the diaphanous blue silk. "As beautiful as you are in this, I think you'll find it cooler without." He slid his hands down as far down her thighs as he could reach, catching her skirt on the way back up. Leaning next to her ear, he pressed his mandible to her cheek, a breathy whisper brushing her neck. "I've been fantasizing about doing this all day."
"Oh, have you?" Nimble fingers made quick work of the fasteners up the front panel of his tunic. "That's quite the coincidence." Tipping a heavy-lidded glance up to catch his eyes with a sultry wink, she slipped her hands beneath his tunic and light dress shirt to press against his stomach, her touch not timid but definitely careful. "Because I've been fantasizing about doing this all day too."
Hesitating with most of the sheer silk gathered at her waist, front and back dipping just enough to satisfy modesty, he nuzzled her earlobe, catching it gently between his mouth plates. "Mrs. Vakarian-Kryik, will you make love to me?"
Instead of answering, she pulled back a little, her hands covering his, coaxing them up her sides. She lifted her arms over her head to ease his removal of the very beautiful dress. She took it from his hands to drape it over the back of a chair. He watched her, rapt, as she wriggled out of the bathing suit. Once free of her clothing, she stepped back in against him, her body bare but for what amounted to a small scrap of powder-blue lace clinging to her hips.
He admired the sleek curves of her body, seeing beyond the wounds and bones sticking out in places they shouldn't, seeing the work of art … the woman. When he helped her with bathing or applying her medications, he focused on the wounds and worried over how thin she'd become. That distinction kept him from violating her trust, no matter how much he wanted to touch her in a more intimate way.
"You still with me?" she whispered, her hand brushing his cheek, unexpected and refreshing, "because you were right. This is a lot cooler." Shepard backed away, her arms held out to catch the breeze.
"Tease." Nihlus shrugged out of his tunic and unlaced the dress shirt, leaving it and his leggings in place. When he bent to undo his boots and slip them off, Shepard beat him to it. Kneeling in the grass, she took hold of the clasps, then paused, looking up into his eyes. Her soft, devoted smile slipped through his plates to take root in his chest. His heart thundered against his keel: his bond-mate. Dear spirits, how could so much beauty have swept into his life on the same wind as so much horror?
"Cikabeknai?" she whispered, gaze still searching his, her fingers still poised on the clasps of his boots. "You okay?"
He caressed her cheek, his talons brushing her hair behind her ear. "Never better. I was just admiring the gift I received today."
A shy smile lit her from within as she shook her head. Looking down, she fidgeted as if the compliment didn't sit well. "Sweet talker." Deft hands beginning to tremble, she slipped his boots off and set them aside. Finished with their task, her fingers wandered up his legs, carefully avoiding his spur—thank the spirits—as she snapped open the straps around his knees. When she reached his waist, she pressed her palms against his belly. Despite her complaints about the heat, her touch felt cool.
Dear spirits, so cool, each point of contact electric, his hide singing with her energy, her unique frequency. A not altogether unpleasant, but certainly too early, pressure because to pulse behind his plates.
He cupped her face for a moment, the embers in his belly growing into flames. "Help me with my leggings?" he asked, giving his mandibles a suggestive flick. Her cheeks and across her nose blazed pink even as she smiled.
"I can. After all, you promised me a way to get cool, and all you've done is get me all heated up." She finished with the last fasteners and laid the top of his leggings open. Easing them over his hips, she slid them down. Wandering fingers traced the lines of his plates and muscles, lingering wherever he moaned, gasped, and writhed. Spirits, those cool fingertips on his hide fanned the flames until his pulse roared in his head.
"Lift your foot," she said, her voice barely audible through the storm of desire raging through him. Then a flat palm stroking the inside of his ankle, coaxing him to allow her to slide his legging over his feet. When he didn't obey immediately, she pressed her thumb into the arch of his foot. Gasping, he stumbled, nearly stepping on her as the world tilted, a heady rush of pleasure surging up his body to drown his brain in endorphins. "Dear spirits."
Shepard chuckled when he steadied himself with a hand on top of her head. "You turians and your erogenous feet." She slipped the leggings off the one foot and then the other. "It's a good thing the reapers don't know about that species-wide weakness."
"You going to tell them?" he teased, reaching down to lift her onto her feet. Not that he couldn't have stood to have her stay there, playing him like a stabata in a virtuoso's hands.
Shepard caressed his neck as she wrapped her arms around him, pulling him down until her lips brushed his mouth. "No," she whispered, low and throaty, "I think I'm going to keep that little secret to myself and abuse it as often as possible." She kissed him. "Pick me up and let's get on that cooling down, yeah?"
Nihlus's hands glided over her shoulder blades, thumbs tracing the sharp edge of the bone. Her skin glistened with a light sheen of sweat as he followed the long sweeps of muscles down her back. Cupping her backside, he lifted her into his arms. A ragged breath stuttered between them as she wrapped her legs around him, her sex so warm against his plates.
Tipping her head back a little, Shepard grinned at him, full of teasing mischief. "You sure you'll be okay in the water?" She squeezed his waist just enough to send a blast of need rocketing along his nervous system. "Yeah, see … you just don't seem all that steady on your feet."
"Not steady on my feet, am I?" Growling through his second larynx, Nihlus boosted her up and strode for the water, plunging into the cool shallows in five, long strides. The lake embraced them, soft sand beneath his feet, the water soothing. "I'll show you steady on my feet, derra," he said, offering the spirits a hearty plea for coordination.
"You okay?" Shepard teased, bracing as if to leap to the rescue. Her grin turned to bright laughter as he snatched her close, nipping the curve of her neck. "What? I'm just—"
He nipped her again, harder that time, earning a lusty moan for his efforts. She wrapped her arms around his neck, her breasts teasing the right side of his chest as she lifted into him. He stumbled a tiny bit, taken aback, his plates loosening at the sensation of her hardened nipples along the ridge of his plates. Judging by the sound she made as she dragged them back up the groove, Shepard felt it as well. Without lifting his head from her neck, he walked further in until the low waves lapped around their waists.
"Oh dear, sweet baby Jesus," Shepard moaned. She leaned back, Nihlus switching his grip to her waist as she laid out, floating spread-eagle, their hips the only point of contact. "This feels glorious."
Nihlus supported her, happy to be her anchor as he feasted on the beauty of her. He'd never seen her with all the guards pulled down off her walls, ballistas disarmed, gates thrown open. Spirits, she glowed brighter than the stars, soft and silver against the dark water.
She smiled up at him, her arms swirling just below the surface. "Penny for your thoughts, cikabeknai?"
He stroked the curve of her waist. "Still just admiring my gift." He fluttered his mandibles. "And thinking I know why goddesses are most often associated with moons and stars." Leaning forward, he caressed her stomach, slow lazy circles, kneading her flesh. "And maybe thinking how honoured I am by your trust."
Shepard tightened her legs around him and held up a hand. "Pick me up, husband." She clung to his hand when he took hers, his other slipping around behind her back to lift her into his embrace. Water cascaded off her, washing down his front, warmed by her skin. He smoothed her hair away from her face, admiring the copper glints caught by the light of the torches on shore. He traced them with a talon. Perhaps, he could preserve the moment forever if only he could manage to capture one.
"I love you," Shepard whispered, brushing soft, cool fingertips along his mandible. Her touch coaxed him to lean into her caresses, her fingers weaving a spell of perfect contentment as she traced the patches of plate on their way to his fringe. Soft but firm, her thumbpad rolled circles into the sensitive flesh where his fringe and back of his neck met.
Her ministrations pulled a low, soft rumble of arousal and contentment through his second larynx. Allowing the water to cradle them, he melted into her touch, one hand spread across her narrow spine, the other underneath her.
"Do you realize that you purr when you're all happy and turned on?" she said, pulling back a little. "I'm sufficiently cool; pick me up, husband." She smiled, the expression suddenly so shy that his heart ached to see it. That smile spoke of too many years behind walls, a prisoner suffering a self-imposed exile inside her skin. The sheer amount of trust it took for her to show him so much of herself … spirits, he prayed he lived up to it.
Nihlus pressed her in tight against the left side of his chest. Eyes closed, he followed the warm, intoxicating beacon of her scent to her neck. Nuzzling under her jaw, his tongue drew a line from the hollow between her collarbones up her jugular groove and along the underside of her jaw. The taste of her … spirits, she tasted of an intoxicating brew of sweat, rylamia, and the iron tang of lake water. He paused when he felt the keen beat of her pulse against his mouth. Breathing slow and relaxed, he nuzzled into it, suddenly needing to feel it, needing that connection.
It seemed such a fragile thing. It fluttered, quickening as he raked his teeth over the skin. But the pulse lied, for he knew within her chest, pounding against his plates, beat the strongest heart ever born into mortal form. And it belonged to him and Garrus.
"Come on," Shepard whispered, between kisses. "I know they had to set up somewhere comfy for us. I doubt they expected us to just throw down on the grass." She shrugged, a soft giggle rolling from her lips, tickling his aural canal. "Well, at least not to make love."
Nihlus chuckled and turned to kiss her. "We're not sparring tonight. I have a bad habit of saying stupid things when we're sparring." Despite the time and healing between them, his heart took a couple of sick, squeamish beats at the thought of that day.
"Ancient history, cikabeknai." She kissed him, her lips soft as they tugged at the rigid plates of his mouth. As if to emphasize how far behind them his unkindness lay, her tongue darted out to flick just the tip of his. "It's all ancient history. Be here, with me right now."
She tried to wriggle down, but he held onto her, carrying her from the cool waters up onto the warm sand and grass, the planet clinging to the heat of the day as tightly as he clung to Shepard.
"Don't worry," he whispered, brushing his cheek against hers, savouring the cool moonlight of her skin, "I've got you. I always will."
Ducking a little, he used a shoulder to sweep aside the gauzy curtains around his pavilion. Inside, fans circulated the air, the entire place a sea of clouds enchanted by a zephyr. He set Shepard down on the rug beside the roomy bed, but kept her held in the circle of his arms.
"Looks like Mari's been busy," Shepard said, nodding toward a deep pot of oil warming over an element. Sighing, she leaned into Nihlus, allowing him to support her weight. "Shall we take advantage?"
He nodded toward the two garments hanging on the one wall. "Their bonding robes." Shaking his head, he tried to articulate how honoured and loved he felt wearing that long, black robe and all its history. His story embroidered in gold thread next to Garrus's … it meant a real family, one that loved him without question.
Gentle fingers pressed against his chin. "You found the family you always wanted." Releasing him, she turned from his arms and walked over to run the cream silk of the other robe through her fingers. "It's a beautiful thing, the way you became their brother and son the moment you and Garrus swore that oath."
He watched her unfasten the coillasi from the robe, the thick chains light in her fingers. Crossing to the warm pot of oil, she beckoned to him. "Come, let's sit and do this part right."
Nihlus heard rather than saw her lower the chains into the oil, as he focused on unclipping the finer chains from his robe. Much as he had when Herros brought the robe in to his changing tent, Nihlus let the chains trickle through his talons. He'd never expected to take a bond-mate. Especially after Saren. The example of his parents killed all his desires to take a bond mate, and then Saren gave them a proper burial.
Then, after Saren's betrayal, this impossible, infuriating human decided to take care of him the only way she knew how—by torturing him—and suddenly he understood what it meant to be nurtured, if oddly. Everything changed that day on the Normandy. Everything.
"Hey, gorgeous." Shepard's hand rested in the small of his back. "You okay?" She stepped into him, her body so gloriously soft as she pressed against the back of his arm, her hair cool and damp where she laid her head against his arm. "You doing okay? We're getting to some really good bits here. Are you getting cold feet, cikabeknai?"
Nihlus unclipped the chains and turned into her embrace. "No, haksaya kubenar, no cold feet. I was just taking a moment to realize where I am—where we are—and soak it in. Who would have thought?"
Shepard took his hands and backed toward the bed, tugging him along behind her. "I think we put a lot of 'will they/won't they' bookmakers out of business today, and I am soooo okay with that." A soft, devoted smile shone up at him as she released him then held her hand out toward the pot of oil. "You ready to make this official in all the ways that seal the contract just between us?"
Nihlus dropped the chains into the pot, then climbed up on the bed, sitting cross legged. Once he settled, he reached out, talons inviting his mate to join him. He'd never been one for tradition, his parents had ensured that, but right then, he felt the magic of those chains and the oil calling to him. Odd that he'd finally feel fully immersed in, and grateful for, his culture the day he married an alien.
Taking Shepard's hands, he helped her climb up onto the bed, but then stopped her before she settled into the cradle of his legs. He slipped his thumbs under the blue lace clinging to her hips, then leaned up to press his face against her stomach. He nuzzled her belly button, then smiled up at her, asking permission to remove the last barrier between them.
Shepard nodded, her hands resting on his fringe, caressing the length between them. He closed his eyes as her fingers worked their magic, her touch more loving than sexy, but it was a touch he could dive into forever and never need to surface.
Nihlus kissed her stomach, taking a deep breath in through his mouth, saturating his pheromone receptors with the essence of her: lake water, the slight brine of her sweat, and the indescribable scent of her arousal. Spirits, she smelled like nothing he'd experienced before, but he understood why Garrus said hers was the scent of home. It cut through every bit of confusion and anger and resentment in his head, a window through the fog, guiding him home.
He slid her panties down a centimeter at a time, dragging careful talons along the outsides of her thighs. She gasped, her hips pushing closer when he dug in a little. Her fingers played his crest and the rim of his cowl, encouraging him as each touch sent waves of hot, aching need rolling down his spine. His mouth followed a meandering path down her belly, her toned muscles jumping beneath her skin as he nuzzled and tickled her with the point of his tongue.
"Sensitive, are we?" he teased, rolling his tongue around her belly button. Blessed Enkindlers, being able to turn her on formed the most powerful aphrodisiac in the galaxy.
Instead of answering, Shepard arched backwards and pressed his face against her skin. "Don't stop now," she said, her voice breathy, "I'm just getting warmed up." She gripped the rim of his cowl. "Oh dear lord, cikabeknai, that tongue …. You have a hell of a gift."
Nihlus doubled his ministrations until he reached the fine patch of red-blonde hair between her legs. Forgotten as the soft curl of hair tickled his hide, her panties fell down around her ankles. Brushing his cheek against the new sensation, he rumbled deep in his chest and pulled her in tighter. Mouth plates and tongue explored carefully at first, working around the edges until she squirmed so hard he could barely hang onto her.
"Sweet baby Jesus, Ni, the prize is at the center," she said between gasps. She lifted her pelvis, her thighs opening, inviting him to stop playing and get down to business.
And oh, he wanted to. Her scent deepened, beckoning him in. His tongue flicked out, tasting the droplets threatening to escape down her thigh. As indescribable as her scent, her taste pulled him in, his tongue still shy, darting in and out, even as his arms snaked around her tighter and tighter.
Shepard undulated above him, her fingers making love to his face and fringe. "Nihlus. Love." She moaned, deep in her throat. "As much as I could bear you doing that all night …."
Nuzzling into her one last time, he nodded and then pulled back. Right. They had all night to explore one another. He drew back just enough to look up at her and offer her his hands. She accepted, taking them before she kicked her panties free of her feet.
"Help me get myself twisted into this position of yours?" she asked, squeezing his talons. She didn't need all that much help as it turned out, easily settling into his lap, her calves circling his hips.
The moment they wrapped themselves around one another, forming a single unit, a switch he'd already thought flipped, clicked over. Staring into her eyes, he set her hands down between them, then reached up to cradle her face in his talons. He smiled, seeing the same light in her eyes that he felt in his heart.
"A whole new life, despite the war, despite everything," he whispered. "From now on, it's the three of us."
Shepard nodded, lifting one hand, the fingers spread, to press just under his jaw. "Everything you are and everything that flows from you, I accept as part of me. Everything that I am and everything that flows from me, I place in your care, if you accept it." As she spoke, she raked her nails down over his keel and belly to stop just above his plates.
Nihlus pressed his hand over hers. "I accept it, haksaya kubenar. It's my honor to accept it."
Easing her back until she laid stretched back, bare and vulnerable in his embrace, Nihlus traced the lines of her scars up her belly and over her breasts to her throat, where he spread his talons over the delicate skin. She swallowed, the little bump on the front of her throat bobbing with the motion, driving home just how easily turian talons could kill. Spirits, they didn't make people of any species as brave and beautiful as his bondmate.
Raking his talons over her skin, just short of enough pressure to break the skin, he repeated the oath, offering her everything he was, and gladly. In the machine on Thessia, even though she couldn't do anything to stop the abuse, she threw herself between him and his mother every time. She'd held him and soothed the pain from the old ulua's talons. Shepard had cared for him while he mourned his father. She already possessed his soul, but to hear her say she accepted him despite and because of everything he was, it gave birth to a whole new, entirely unique peace.
Shepard sat up and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling them together until his keel pressed between her breasts and her lips brushed against his mouth. "I accept it," she said, kissing him between each word. "I love you, Nihlus Kryik, and it will be my privilege to spend the rest of my days honouring our vows."
Reaching over, she withdrew the first of his coillasi from the oil, and held out her hand. When he held his arm up between them, she wrapped the chain around it, then watched the oil trickle down, mesmerized.
"Your hide," she whispered, "looks like it's on fire with the candles reflecting on the oil." She massaged the trails of oil into his hide. "My coillas looks wonderful there." She grinned and traced a single fingertip along the sensitive edge of his forearm plate.
Nihlus nodded, agreeing but unable to squeeze sound past the lump in his throat. Everything slowed—his thoughts, his heartbeat—as he focused on her, on the way her muscles moved under her skin, the ways her expression shifted, and damn it … the way her sex loosened his plates as it moved against them.
Once the second coillas sat securely around his wrist, Shepard wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling herself up to kiss him. Soft lips tugged at his mouth, while her tongue traced its lines. "You're all mine, now," she said. The kiss deepened, her tongue coaxing his into a slow, passionate dance, the two of them pulling the other in tighter and tighter. Spirits, they almost … almost managed to inhabit one another's skins.
"Your turn," she whispered against his mouth. "I need to get to the rubbing oil all over your body part of this ritual." She kissed his mouth and chin, and then dragged the point of her tongue along the edge of one mandible.
Nihlus pushed her away ever so gently. "You're going to need to stop distracting me, then." He brushed the end of her nose with his, then turned to fish the first of her chains from the oil. As he withdrew the linked shell, he closed his eyes and drew the scent of the oil in deep: rylamia, mint, and a couple of herbs that grew on the bark and rocks on Palaven. If heaven possessed a smell other than his new mate's, that oil smelled like heaven.
He allowed it to drip all the way over to Shepard's waiting arm. It took two wraps to get it snug enough not to catch or fall right off. He smoothed the oil over her skin, pausing when she hissed as he rubbed it over one of her larger wounds.
"Haksaya kubenar?" Heart pounding, he laid his palm against her cheek, guiding her gaze over to meet his. "Are you all right? Does it hurt?"
Shepard smiled and captured his hand, lifting the slick, sweetly-scented talons to her lips, kissing each one. "I'm fine. It stings a little but fades almost right away. It's okay, keep going." As if to encourage him, she smoothed the oil down her forearm, then smiled. "Mama Vakarian at work again," she said. "She put that numbing tree moss in it. I can feel it working already."
Nihlus nodded, sentiment grabbing his larynges in a choke hold again. Trea … one of the most amazing blessings Shepard brought into his life. Of course, his mari made sure the oil wouldn't hurt. If his birth mother possessed an opposite, Treana Vakarian was that opposite.
Lips tugged at his mouth plate, beckoning with gentle suction. "I'm still only half bonded," Shepard whispered, an understanding smile sitting crookedly on her lips.
"Can't have that!" Focusing his wandering mind back on task, Nihlus took her hand, nuzzling her palm before he wrapped the coillas around her delicate wrist. "There," he said, snapping the clasp closed, "completely married." He caressed the oil into her skin, talon pads skating over her arm, following the smooth curves of her muscles. "You're so beautiful," he whispered.
Shepard pulled the side table closer and submerged her hand in the oil. "So are you." She rubbed her hands together, then began working the oil into his shoulders. "You know, I think this is my favourite thing about being married to turians." A faint pink hue blossomed across her nose as she focused on the task to avoid meeting his stare. "I love the intimacy of it." She shrugged, the blush deepening.
Nihlus leaned in to nuzzle the tip of her nose. "I understand." And he did. While Shepard no longer feared sex, the oil massage didn't come with any pressure or expectation, just shared comfort.
He soaked his hands in oil and massaged it into her back, his eyes slipping closed as his talons followed the silken contours of muscle and bone. Leaning into her, he pressed his brow to hers. Passion's flames still burned hot and insistent, but he tamped them down until they kissed her with an endless calm born of love.
"This is always enough, haksaya kubenar," he whispered against her lips. "Always."
Shepard kissed him, then leaned back. "Hold me, husband."
His hands between her shoulder blades, Nihlus did as he'd been told, supporting her as she laid back, relaxing into his … care. He swallowed another bolus of emotion. His care. Damn. The weight of it hit … the sacred duty of it … but he found the burden light.
Shepard reached behind her back, tugging at his arm until she coaxed it out far enough to take hold of his wrist. Placing his hand so that his palm cupped her breast, she smiled up at him. "I love you so much for that, cikabeknai, but I'm not afraid any more, especially with you. You're my husband, half of my heart, and damn it, Ni, but I want you to touch me. I want you to make love to me."
Gently, even timidly, he squeezed her breast, her nipple a nub of velvet heaven in his palm. He brushed his thumb over it, his mandibles flicking when she moaned and arched up into his touch. Smiling, he repeated the touch, the sounds she made feeding the fire, the flames roaring behind his plates.
She arched into him, her sex slick against his plates. Holding his gaze, she rolled her hips, grinding into him. Her smile grew to a wanton grin. "Oh my, aren't those moving easily?" Arching her back, she lifted her hips right off his thighs. "You'll need to stick a pillow under me so we line up." She grinned and wriggled a little. "I want you inside me."
Stated that boldly, her need took him by surprise and his plates parted. He snatched a pillow from behind him and pushed it under her backside. Once he got it sorted and flattened, Shepard relaxed down into it.
"Oh yeah, that's the spot right there." She bounced a little, her grin teasing as she sorted herself. "Do you want a guided tour?"
Pulling his mandibles in tight, Nihlus massaged his way down her side and over her hip bone to her center. Raking his talons through the soft dusting of hair, he met and held her gaze, reflecting the desire and love he saw there. His thumb glided between the slick folds of her sex, pressing a little on the swollen nub.
She surged up in his lap, a loud mewl of pleasure tweaking his mandibles back into a grin. "Holy mother …." When he chuckled, she reached up, half-heartedly slapping his arm. "Stop laughing, husband, and just keep doing what you're doing."
"Just demonstrating that I don't need a guide." He swirled his thumb, trilling deep in his throat when the nub responded to his touch, his wife … his wife lifting into his touch, moaning and inarticulate with hunger.
"Oh, for the love of the Enkindlers," she managed to say between gasps, "stop teasing."
Nihlus pulled Shepard into his embrace with one hand while the other settled their bodies together. He slid out from behind his plates, and then everything turned to pure sensation. Shepard's arms wrapped around his neck, her body embracing him in fire and silk. She lifted into him, opening to him, her mouth panting against his neck, her breath and hands searing as they pulled his mind and heart into those miraculous spaces between.
Her muscles contracted around him, strong enough to make it his turn to holler and jump. Fiery bolts of lightning tore through his nervous system, simultaneously tying his muscles into agonizing knots and flooding his brain with bliss. She squeezed his length again when she leaned over to soak her hands in the oil, and his entire system shorted out, overstimulated to the point where he could only moan and try to ride out the dizziness.
"Nihlus?" Shepard's hands grasped his face. "Are you okay?" After a second, he saw realization hit. "Oh no, I did this to Garrus too." She pressed her brow to his and froze, remaining still except for her breath. "I'm sorry, love."
Nihlus raked his talons through her hair. "I'll be okay, just need a minute." He nuzzled her lips. "We've got all night."
Shepard drew a line along his center fringe spike, the oil tingling as it soaked in. "I'll leave it up to you how fast to take it." She kissed him. "But, can I say, that you feel amazing inside me. If it wouldn't blow the front of your head off, I'd be spurring you like a bronc rider." She kissed him and worked the oil into his head and neck, her fingers tranquil but passionate.
And oh, how they coaxed away the knots tied in his muscles. The scent of the oil combined with her touch eased the last of his tension. His mandibles fluttered, a susurrus of contentment rolling over his tongue, as once again he realized that he'd feel that touch every day for the rest of his life. Just as suddenly, he realized that the war might make it impossible to spend every day with her and that the rest of their lives could be any day.
"Sh," Shepard whispered, her voice as gentle as her touch. "Stop worrying, and lay those hands on me, husband. Just be here with me." She pulsed her inner muscles ever so gently, a soft sound tumbling from her lips as he finally entered her deeply enough to seat and he began to fill her. "Oh. Great. Father. Of. Light."
Nihlus pulled her in tight against his chest, his talons playing along either side of her spine. Her muscles felt like rock, solid and unyielding. That physical proof of the weight and pressure she carried wrapped his heart in thistles of fear and nettles of sadness.
"Cikabeknai," she whispered, pressing her mouth to his, "please, just be here with me."
Smelling the sweet brine of tears, Nihlus nodded and kissed her. Fear turned to passion as their tongues danced, all barriers of skin and bone disappearing until he felt nothing but her, saw nothing but her. She returned his kiss with equal fervour, lifting into him, her entire body coaxing him toward release. Hands gliding over his cowl, she teased the 'oh so sensitive' inner border between plate and hide.
Nihlus disappeared, escaping the prison of his body and mind. For those few precious moments, the pair of them became one being of light and sensation. His hands and mouth explored every centimetre of her body within his reach, delighting in the transitions between soft flesh and bone, all so deliciously covered in sleek satin-textured skin. When his palm brushed her breast, she leaned back, urging him in. Accepting most happily, he laved the nipple with his tongue, swirling around that velvet nub, teasing it with his teeth.
She showed her appreciation for his attentiveness with a symphony of sounds, the tempo and pitch growing more urgent. Her hands made love to him until his vocals rose to entangle with hers. Soaring, Nihlus and his wife clung to one another, mouths pressed together, open and panting, sharing the same air, uttering the same half-articulated oaths of love and forever.
Then, with a cry that echoed off the pavilion walls, Shepard came, her muscles clenching into a rictus of pleasure. Her body's grip on him drew a matching cry, the sound climbing up his throat and exploding through his teeth. Gradually, their rigor relaxed into slow, heavy pulses, both easing down onto the mattress to land in a happy tangle.
Coherent thought took another fifteen minutes, those moments spent trailing his talon pads over dewy skin.
Shepard leaned over him, looking down into his eyes. "That was very well worth the wait, cikabeknai." She kissed him, then wriggled into his arms, burrowing tight against his chest. "I love you, Nihlus Kryik." Kissing his mandible, she sighed, then said, "Just as much as Garrus. Always." She brushed his face with tender fingers. "It only gets better from here."
Nihlus pushed himself up until his mouth met hers. "I love you, haksaya kubenar. Always." In the silent depth of night, the flickering candles and breeze from the fans witnessed his oath, and he saw the understanding of it in his wife's gaze. Always.
(A-N: These two have come so far, so it's sorta lovely to get a chance to post this chapter for them, and you, along with Eva Soulu's amazing art that Natalie Tashar commissioned for me. It's just breathtaking. Soooo beautiful, and I gaze at it often with such joy and gratitude. So, a fitting birthday present for me (Yep, born on N7 day) and N7 Day present for you faithful readers. (even if it's a little late thanks to wild family party and being a lazy loser.) Thank you so much for still being with me and these crazy kids. I love you all.