A/N: Tada! The long awaited chapter. (It's the one I'd be waiting hungrily for as a reader anyway. I mean after all one of the key reasons I want to see more Sabas fic out there is to get those awesome pants off again and again . . .) Also the words in brackets [ ] are the music tracks I listened to while writing if anyone is interested. This chapter is the first half of the end of this round of seduction, but the battle for Aleeria's heart is far from over.
I just have to say a big thanks to all my reviewers. I am so grateful for the amazing quality, length, thoughtfulness, and intelligence of the reviews here. I have been bad at getting back to you directly, and can't figure out how to track who I actually replied to and who I didn't so, here are my shout outs:
fanficfan84: So thrilled you're enjoying the heat. I hope, this next chapter lives up to the build up, but so much more to come . . . I'm so thrilled that I'm not the only Craig Parker obsessed fan who enjoyed his role in this movie. Honestly, the whole Craig Parker fixation completely snuck up on me. I noticed Sabas in the movie and didn't make the connection until much later, but you know I always seem to notice the hot guy in leather with the smart mouth and wicked sense of inappropriate humor so like my own.
luthien587: Thanks so much for the feedback on the writing. I've really been working hard to hone my storytelling skills. I'm so glad you're enjoying a Sabas story. I thought when I first considered writing it that I'd have like three readers including the one who gave me the idea. I'm so thrilled that I'm not the only one hunting for Sabas stories. I actually have a second one in rough stages.
Taylorxtorniquet: I'm glad his feelings for her don't come across as unrealistic. I'm really enjoying how things are developing as I write more of the story. Aleeria certainly has a mind of her own. I'm really glad you're enjoying the story!
maggie 56: Always pleased to hear you've enjoyed the latest chapter. It makes the time I like to take editing so worth it. I really appreciate your faith in this chapter and I hope it exceeds expectations.
Everyone else: Please keep reading if you're enjoying it. As always, I love to hear what you think.
Chapter 6: Soapy Goodness
[Strictly Physical, Blood & Chocolate Score, Saving Josh by Trevor Morris]
When Sabas's teeth were clean, Aleeria looked at the floor shyly. "Well we've eaten and you are about as clean as I can get you from the waist up. I guess there's nothing left to do but start taking off your pants."
"I was beginning to think that this moment might never come," he replied, letting out a sound somewhere between a groan and an impatient sigh.
"Eager are you?" She teased.
"Aren't you?" He asked teasing her back in an incredulous tone.
"Yes, but I'm nervous too." She giggled uneasily. Aleeria couldn't articulate fully the entire reason she was nervous: she was about to see the only bit of him that she couldn't easily guess at from what she could see of him when she watched Sabas from her tower perch. Still, something about Sabas made her want to tell him all sorts of things she normally wouldn't say aloud, so she tried to explain what she could of her nerves. She took a deep breath, the words rushing out of her like water spurting past a crumbling dam. "I understand theoretically, but I've never seen, and certainly not touched, well except for before, but your pants were on then and they won't be soon, and I'm babbling . . ."
"You're fine Aleeria," Sabas reassured her, smiling tenderly. "There's nothing wrong with being nervous, just try not to be afraid. I won't hurt you." There was something about her being so nervous about touching him of all people that Sabas found heartily endearing.
"I know that," she replied sharply, as if the very thought offended her being. "I'm not afraid and I'm not worried about you hurting me, certainly not while you're all chained up, but I'm about to wash what I assume are sensitive, personal places and I just feel it shouldn't be a casual thing." Aleeria explained, her voice softening.
"Very sensitive, but you don't have to do much more than a cursory cleaning to satisfy your Mistress. I won't tell her if you're not comfortable doing a more thorough cleaning." It cost him something to say it after doing little but think of her stroking his 'sensitive places' for the last few hours. But he wanted it to be a good first experience for her, partially because he wanted to be able to give her that gift and partially so she would be eager to repeat it. It would be so much easier if he were free of his chains, he lamented.
"I'm strangely more concerned that I feel too comfortable with the idea," Aleeria admitted shyly.
Sabas raised his eye brows in pleasurable surprise and gave her a slow, broad smile. "Well then, do be most through."
"I did promise Sabine to be through," Aleeria agreed, grinning. "As long as it's all right with you . . . I mean as long as you still want me to . . . and it would be all right if you didn't . . ." she trailed off.
Sabas began to wonder if she was asking about what he thought she was asking about, which was something along the lines of a 'happy ending" bath. If that's what she was indeed asking, he didn't want this to be about her feeling obligated or like she owed him anything. He wasn't sure yet whether she was asking for her sake or his, but either way, this needed to be about her wanting to for both their sakes.
"Aleeria, I'm sure your Mistress didn't expect you to find such creatively pleasurable methods of cleaning me, thought she could hardly object much, as you've followed her rules. So if you don't want to you don't have to. Whatever you are comfortable with is fine with me, but I don't want you to do anything because you feel obligated to me for saving you all those years ago or anything like that. I don't want you to feel like you have to do more if you're not ready or interested or have any other reservations." Sabas knew he was starting to babble, but it seemed to be disturbingly contagious.
"I won't. I don't." She assured him fervently. "I'm not asking because you saved my life. This is about something else isn't it?"
"I'd like to think so." His voice was low and vulnerable. He could feel so much hanging on her words, her reactions. It was terrifying how swiftly that attachment had come into being.
Aleeria noted that his tone seemed to be as earnest her own. "I don't feel obligated Sabas. I was teasing before. I," her voice faltered. Could she say it? "I want to touch you," her bold, mischievous smile breaking forth at her confession. Her voice became more playful and seductive, "I want to torment you until you find your ease."
"Then by all means, please do." He grinned encouragingly, the fire in his belly sparking at her sudden change in mood.
Aleeria refilled her basin and knelt down by his feet. "You're boots aren't in the way anymore, so it should be easy to remove your pants for cleaning." She ran her hand lightly over his legs. "So many places to touch, but where to start?" She paused long enough for his mind to clearly form a hopeful and unspoken suggestion. "How about your feet?" She giggled a little when Sabas groaned in frustration. She could almost hear his pant laces tightening. "Foot washing was an activity of great significance in my village," Aleeria continued. "As I understand it, you start at the feet and work your way up."
"How foolish of me to doubt your logic," Sabas chuckled. She could be such a tease and gods how he loved it.
She did wash his feet, carefully, scrubbing his toes and scouring the dirt away. Aleeria found he was a bit ticklish. He shifted his feet, trying to keep his bare soles away from her tickling fingers. Recalling suddenly his comment from earlier in the day about being stiff after standing in one place for so many hours, she eyed his legs speculatively. "You must be quite stiff by now, after standing for so long."
Sabas looked her straight in the eye making sure they were both on the same wavelength. "Exceptionally, as well you know after your lunchtime explorations."
Aleeria smiled, her face flush, but her smile daring. "Well then, I suppose it's good that you'll get to stretch out soon when I release you from your confinement."
Sabas could hear her heart thudding in her chest, her scent growing stronger and he felt dizzy with want. "I look forward to it, fair captor. I greatly anticipate the moment you grant me release." He emphasized the last word to be sure she got every nuance of his meaning.
Aleeria nodded, whispering, "Soon my prisoner, soon," before she began to slowly move up his legs, unbuckling his pant straps along the sides as she went. As she moved up past his knees, she could feel his pulse though her fingers as she cleaned up his thighs. Sabas's breath became more ragged and she could feel his heart pounding. It was intoxicating to literally see and feel what she was doing to him and increased her own desire for him tenfold.
Sabas could hear Aleeria's heart racing as well. He could smell her, the way she was as distracted and eager as he was. It was exhilarating, the way the pace of her heart and the strength of her scent increased as she worked her way up his legs, revealing more and more of him to her eyes and fingers. He was nearly shaking with need as she unknowingly teased him nearly beyond his limits.
Aleeria continued to wonder at the strength and solidness of his muscular legs under her hands. She glanced up at him as she began to wash his thighs, alternating between her work and looking into his eyes much as she had when she cleaned his chest. It felt more important now than ever though. She needed to make sure he wanted her to continue to explore him as she had before. Aleeria would have understood if Sabas wanted her to stop as he became more and more exposed to her while he was still bound and for all intents and purposes helpless. She didn't want him to be uncomfortable or unsure. She acknowledged that he might have second thoughts now that they were so close to the critical moment when all was revealed. Maybe he'd decided he didn't want this to happen while he was still bound. Maybe Sabas wanted to wait until they were both unchained. Aleeria had a full hand span's distance between the exposed bit of thigh and the top of his thighs, but she decided that now was as good a time as any to finish removing his pants. She could see the very solid outline of him under the straining leather.
Aleeria paused and moved to his left side and began to undo the final straps of his pants. Sabas was watching her closely, the anticipation clear on his face a wild, desperate gleam in his eyes, perspiration glistening on his skin. She held his eyes, forcing herself not to let them hypnotize her so she could say the thing she needed to say. "Sabas," She began softly. In her moment's pause, she considered a hundred different things: to ask if he wanted her to continue; if her knew what she wanted to do, what she intended, and if he wanted it. Things she'd asked before, but she needed to hear it again anyway. She wanted to find the words to say it plainly and without allusion and hear his assent. She needed him to want it as much as she did or this would feel too much like a violation. However, in the end, she couldn't get all the words she wanted out and so she simply asked, "Are you with me?"
Sabas looked right back at her, drowning in her sea blue eyes. "I'm with you Aleeria. Do as you will."
"Do you will it so as well?" She pressed. She needed to be certain. She knew how his kind were treated, with no choices ever given to them. She would not be like that. She would not presume. It was so important to her that she not be lumped in with his other captors for him. She needed to be certain he saw that he mattered to her.
Sabas forced himself to focus. Was it possible that she didn't understand that he'd been waiting hungrily for hours, for years, for decades for this moment to come? "Aleeria, I do. Of course I do. Please continue, finish your task. I'm in desperate need of your attentions. Please grant me release from torment, even if it is inevitably temporary." He chuckled a little. Yes, any release she granted him would be most temporary as he was already certain he'd never have enough of her.
Something about the way he said 'your' helped her to see through her fear and nerves and she smiled reassuringly at him. "Don't worry. I make it a habit of seeing things through to the end," the hungry, teasing look back in her eyes. "I won't stop until my task is done to our satisfaction."
Something that sounded like a cross between a purr and a growl rumbled from Sabas's chest.
Aleeria undid the straps on his right all the way to his waist, revealing a tantalizing triangle of flesh to her eyes. The way the rest of the leather draped over his erection was both enticing and frustrating for both of them. Then she finished unbuckling his left side. The leather fell to the ground and Aleeria picked the pants up. She used the action of putting them on the table to clean later on as an excuse to step back and admire him. His hardened flesh, now freed at last sprang forward, seeming to quest towards her. Aleeria considered taking the time to clean his pants before cleaning the rest of him, to buy time and try to calm herself, but she couldn't resist anymore.
Sabas watched her face closely. He saw wonder and curiosity, but not fear. He could almost hear the questions forming behind her eyes before she spoke the words aloud.
Aleeria fumbled for the right words to explain her amazement. "Does it always? I mean, wouldn't that make it very uncomfortable to wear pants, pressing you in all the time?"
Sabas chuckled. "No, it doesn't always look like that, so pants are generally comfortable enough."
"Then why . . . ?" She didn't finish the question, she didn't have to. He understood.
"You, fair captor, have bewitched it." Sabas replied with his most beguiling smile, his gaze mesmerizing her.
She somewhat absently put the pants on the table and moved closer. Aleeria knelt before him and began to resume her cleaning. She scrubbed at his inner thighs, tracing all the way up now before going down the other side, his arousal bobbing and brushing against the backs of her hands all the while. Sabas wanted to let her get used to him. He could sense she was nervous and he didn't want to add to it, but he thought he'd die if she didn't touch him soon.
Aleeria washed thoroughly all the flesh around that part of him that quivered for her. It was mere inches from her face as she worked, tempting her. She was certain she'd be afraid or at least more nervous finally face to face with her very naked Lycan's arousal, but it hypnotized her. Aleeria finished washing every other bit of his front, but the part she most wanted to touch, torturing them both. Then she moved her hands closer, the wash cloth in the basin now and watching his face all the while, took him in her hands. Her attention to his expression wasn't wasted. The look of utter pleasure and abandon on Sabas's face was one she would bring to the forefront of her memory often for the rest of her life.
Keeping his eyes open for that fraction of a second before submitting to waves of dizzying pleasure had been worth it. Knowing she seemed to enjoy herself almost as much as he had was its own profound drug. He groaned audibly, his hips thrusting lightly forward, rattling his chains, seeking more of her touch.
Aleeria grinned and looked back at the long column of flesh in her hands. She was surprised at how attractive she found it to be. Long and solid and perfectly formed, just like the rest of him. She ran her fingers over every bit of it, testing, exploring, curious as to what he liked and how it all felt under her fingertips. She picked up the wash cloth and began to wash him thoroughly, but carefully, recalling his words about being sensitive. She noticed that when she slid her cloth up and down its length it seemed to grow bigger and his breathing more erratic. When he was clean, she stopped and went around to wash his backside, to further torment them both.
Sabas was certain he was going to lose his mind now. If her teasing and her touch weren't enough, the look on her face when she held him, the look of wonder and simple pleasure, perhaps even affection made his blood pound all the harder. He could feel her hot breath on his backside now as she scrubbed away, touching, testing. He couldn't help but think of when she had washed his back, the feel of her lips on his skin. He began to imagine her questing fingers replaced by lips and tongue, which only furthered his descent into pleasurable insanity.
When his flesh was clean, she began to soap it up, letting the lather move her hands in smooth strokes over his backside, cupping and stroking, enjoying the solid feel of his ass in her hands, grabbing handfuls of it and listening to him groan. Aleeria slid her hands down between his cheeks and underneath to cup his furless tail and the attached sac of flesh from behind. Sabas nearly leapt out of his skin with the intensity of the sensation, which only encouraged her and made her giggle impishly. Then she returned to enjoying running her hands greedily over the flesh of his most delectable backside. She was so fixated on finally getting to enjoy one of the parts she had greatly anticipated that she was slightly startled when she heard his hoarse voice.
"Aleeria, please," he pleaded roughly. "As much as I am enjoying what you are doing, I beg you, return to finish my front soon, or I will go mad." He shifted his hands in the manacles so he could grip the chains to brace himself.
Aleeria giggled and rinsed off his ass before circling back. She thickly lathered her hands with the soap then began gliding her hands over his thighs and finally taking him in her hands again.
Sabas sighed. "Please," he began, his voice rough. "Stroke it again as you did before."
Aleeria nodded, running her hands up and down his hard length, the soapy lather smoothing out her earlier motions. "Like this?" She asked, eagerly.
Sabas nodded. "Yes," he hissed, "A bit harder. Just like that," he praised as she adjusted her touch to his request. "That's perfect. Please don't stop."
Aleeria nodded. She wanted to give him this, to be able to please him as he seemed so gifted at pleasing her. His breath grew more ragged still as she began to increase her pace, testing at first, to see if he enjoyed it and then more so when she saw that his eyes closed and his head hung back. Impulsively, she again cupped the sack of flesh behind his rigid column, gently massaging it as her other hand continued to stroke up and down.
He hadn't been touched by a woman in so many decades and her hands felt so wonderful, he knew he wouldn't last much longer. "Aleeria," he began in low, rough tones. "Wait." The word pained him, but it had to be said. She wouldn't know. "Aleeria. If you continue to do what you are doing, things are going to get rather messy."
"Do you want me to stop?" She asked, looking up at his with a sort of innocent concern that nearly did him in.
"No," he replied, his voice insistent. "But you should not be in front of me when it happens."
"Would I be in danger?" Aleeria asked with a mixture of curiosity and amusement.
Sabas chuckled. "Not physical danger, but your dress might get messy for example and that would give these explorations away. If you want to continue, you should stand to the side and use the cloth."
"Do you want me to continue then?" She asked softly, coyly, her eyes large. All her previous concerns long gone, lost to the obvious pleasure in his tones and movements. She could be blind and she'd know he wanted this moment as much as she did.
"Oh yes, very much." He breathed, flexing his grip on the chains.
"Then your wish is my command." Aleeria whispered lightly into his ear before crouching back to her work, eliciting another low, rough groan. She lathered more soap onto the cloth. Then she resumed her motions, moving faster and harder as he had requested, alternating between watching his face as she pleasured him and watching his length sliding in and out of the soapy cloth in her hand. She used her other hand to steady herself as she pressed herself closer to his bare leg, half wrapping herself around it, yet standing clear of his front just as he had asked.
She was so close to him, so close to where he wanted her most. He could feel the shape and softness of her linen covered breasts pressed into the side of his thigh. He could smell her scent, enveloping him, letting him know that she was just as ready as he was, spiraling his pleasure higher still. Then suddenly he shuddered, arching against the chains, pushing himself further into her hands a long low, moan rushing out of him. Surprised by his reaction, she paused her motions, sliding her palm up the length to cup the tip and held him until he went still.
Sabas seemed so vulnerable, so exposed, more so than any moment before, his body slumped against the chains, all fight and tension gone from him, his head bowed, eyes closed, utterly lost in pleasurable sensation. Aleeria felt moved beyond her ability to consider her next action, stood, her hand still holding the cloth over the tip of him, and tilted her head to kiss him gently on the lips at the same time.
Sabas was half aware at first, thinking perhaps he only dreamed it, that Aleeria held his sated length and kissed him. Then awareness returned and all he knew was the feeling of her lips gently touching, exploring his own. He came alive under her contact and kissed her back, forcing himself to be gentle even as he felt her reawaken a darker hunger. He had a nagging suspicion that she'd somehow slipped inside his armor in a much more profound way in that instant. When she finally pulled away, he looked at her with that awed expression she was getting to know well. "That's a first kiss that I won't forget," he breathed huskily.
Aleeria smiled weakly and moved around behind him, needing to stay close, but also to pause a moment and absorb. She leaned her forehead in the middle of his back expecting it to be soothing and cool, but it felt feverish like the rest of her. What was happening in this room that was dropping their defenses so swiftly? That was enabling them to share so much of themselves, so easily? Were they both just that desperate for it and in the unexpected situation of being left alone together, a sort of captive and receptive audience?
Aleeria still held him in her hand, her fingers sliding back down to the base without realizing it as she moved behind him. Because she wasn't ready to let him go yet, she simply wrapped her other arm around his other side and held onto him. "It was more overwhelming than I thought it would be. I understand how you felt: needing to explode. I feel quite that way myself."
Sabas made a sound in his throat. "I wish I could-," his voice broke off.
"It's all right," She interrupted swiftly. She couldn't bear listening to him finish that sentence. To hear him say aloud what could not be for now would only make the desperate needs within her that much more unbearable. "You will one day I'm sure. Sabine can't keep you here forever." Aleeria said it to reassure herself, her aching, tormented body as much as to reassure Sabas.
"If she does, you'd better keep practicing your torture techniques with me," He sighed, every syllable saturated with male satisfaction. "It's all I'll think about anyway from now on. I don't think I'll ever be chained up again without thinking about this."
Aleeria blushed. Then her thoughts unwillingly shifted to the practical. "You can't hear anyone coming can you?"
Sabas chuckled. "I'm not sure I can hear much of anything at all." He could feel her stiffen against him as panic slid into her. "Sorry, I was only joking. This about the point someone usually starts coming down the hall isn't it, but it seems we have a bit of a reprieve."
"Thank goodness for small miracles." Aleeria sighed, laughing lightly. "I didn't even think to worry about it until now. I suppose I was just too focused on my 'task' to worry." More than that, she knew, she hadn't worried about someone coming because she had wanted to touch Sabas so much that she'd been able to trust that Sabas would hear someone coming as he had before and that Lucian would buy them time if need be. It was a rare thing for her to put her trust entirely in someone else's hands when it concerned her welfare.
He grinned a little weakly still. "When I told you I could make you forget more than the walls of this room, I was thinking it would be because of what I did to you, not the other way around."
"Hmm," was all Alleria could say in response. She didn't want to spur her own needs on any further. She was beginning to feel like she was the one in chains instead, enslaved to a desperate need for her Lycan. Besides, she could hardly articulate that pleasing him had done quite a deal to her. Touching him and seeing and feeling his reactions to her aroused her as potently as his actual touch. She took a deep, shuddering breath to steady herself; no point thinking about it too much at the moment. She reluctantly released her holds on him and stepped away from his back, circling to face him.
"I suppose I should, ah, clean the rest of the soap off so you can dry." She picked up the cloth she'd used on him off the floor and opened it curiously to find a milky substance within that was sticky to the touch. "Yes, this would have been quite difficult to get off my dress I imagine." She giggled.
"You should burn the cloth just in case," Sabas advised.
Aleeria nodded walking over to the fire, "Seems wasteful somehow, but I suppose that is the safest plan. We can't have Sabine making you into a rug."
Her touch had been so exquisitely pleasurable. He needed to find some way to repay her, to give her release in kind. Sabas could smell how much she wanted it, needed it and yet she conspicuously was barely speaking of it. He wondered if she was not speaking of her need to spare his feelings. Perhaps Aleeria understood how it bothered him to be unable to touch her as she had touched him until she quivered and quaked and cried out.
Unaware, of Sabas's thoughts, Aleeria picked up a fresh cloth and wet it before starting to clean his legs one at a time. Then gently, reverently, she cleaned off his gradually shrinking length. Aleeria looked up at him, feeling his limbs tense and saw him avert his eyes. To her utter astonishment, she saw what looked a bit like a blush creep across his face. "Sabas, are you all right?"
He smiled sheepishly. "Yes, it's just I'm not accustomed to being seen at this particular moment with such bare scrutiny."
Aleeria looked up at him confused. "What do you mean?"
"It is one thing for you to watch my, ah, furless tail while it is eager and excited, but quite another to have you tend to it while it is . . . falling asleep," he faltered and much as her nervousness had enchanted him, Aleeria felt drawn again to his apparent vulnerability. It contrasted so sharply with the sheer strength and near indestructibility of what he was.
She finished wiping him clean and stood, cupping his face with her hand. "Nonsense. You have no reason to feel embarrassed with me. Though I do understand better how you can bear to wear pants when your furless tail is not quite so bewitched." They laughed gently and she kissed his cheek. "Well, you're all cleaned. I guess I should get to cleaning your pants so they can dry. I should have done it before, but I was far too distracted." She smiled wickedly against his skin and he could feel her mouth curve.
"I'd be happy to distract you again," Sabas offered as she moved back to the table covered with supplies.
"I'm counting on it," she replied saucily.
Aleeria pulled a heavy wool blanket off the pile and draped it over his shoulder so that it covered most of him and she hunted up a bit of rope and tied the blanket around his middle like a belt to keep it covered.
Sabas chuckled. "What are you up to? Trying to spare my modesty?"
Aleeria shot him a cheeky grin. "I don't want anyone else to see you this way, but me. I am apparently rather possessive of my prisoner."
"I suppose I can understand that. I'd hate to think of you tormenting another the way you torment me," he replied, with a gruff edge to his voice.
The almost growl of his voice sent pleasant shivers over her skin. To be possessed by her Lycan and to possess him in return would be powerful indeed. "Besides, I have work to finish and I can't have your nakedness distracting me further and interrupting my duties." She scolded in a mirthful tone.
Sabas grinned back at her. "Speaking of interruptions, Lucian is on his way."
A/N: More to come, much more apparently. (You know those plot tribbles and their breeding habits, they're born pregnant.) I hope this chapter was worth the build up and the wait.