"No, Mistress-you need to wear this. All right?"

"I...all right." Trin could hear the hesitation in her own mental voice and she tried to make it stronger. "All right," she sent again. "Do it, Thrace-I trust you."

"I am honored by your trust, Mistress."

Still lapping gently at her wet, open folds, he pressed the heart's blood phallus slowly inside her. Trin bit her lip to hold back a moan as it stretched her inner walls. Of course, it wasn't nearly as big as Thrace's shaft but still it felt alien inside her-subtly wrong somehow.

"It feels like that because it's not me," Thrace a.s.sured her, still licking and kissing her gently. "But remember, it's going to connect us in a moment. It will join us together intimately."

"And...you're sure you're all right with this? You still want to do it?" she sent as he seated the thick phallus completely inside her, to the hilt.

"Never been more sure of anything in my life," Thrace promised her. He placed another soft kiss on her throbbing c.l.i.t and looked up at her. "Are you ready?" he asked aloud.

"Are you?" Trin demanded in a slightly shaky voice.

In answer, he got off his knees and began to strip. Trin watched with a pounding heart as his naked, muscular body was revealed. G.o.ddess, he was a work of art-all hard angles and lines and thick, supple musculature. His c.o.c.k was hard, probably from tasting her, thrusting out from between his thighs. Her eyes fastened to the thick shaft and she couldn't look away. G.o.ddess, she wanted him so much. Wanted to feel him in her.

"I want to feel you in me too," he murmured through their link.

Trin looked at him uncertainly. "Really?"

He nodded. "Really. I..." He cleared his throat. "I want to submit to you-want to give myself completely the way you give yourself to me when you allow me to open you with my shaft."

"Oh, Thrace..." She was sitting up now, looking at him. Hesitantly she reached out a hand to cup his rough cheek.

"I love you, Mistress," he murmured hoa.r.s.ely and planted a soft kiss in the middle of her palm. Then he climbed onto the bed with her. Going to the head of the bed, he propped up the pillows and half sat, half lay against them.

Trin knew what that meant-it was time. She crawled on her hands and knees towards him, excruciatingly aware of how the heart's-blood phallus was shifting within her with every movement. There were no straps to hold it on but none were needed. One of the properties of the heart's blood was that it was made of an intuitive material-it wouldn't leave her until she was ready for it to.

Thrace's eyes seemed to be glued to the phallus as she moved. At first, Trin wondered if he had changed his mind.

"No, Mistress-I haven't changed my mind about opening to you."

In a final gesture of submission, he spread his legs for her, welcoming her in.

Trin had a sudden thought.

"We need some lube-something to ease the way."

"Already taken care of," Thrace a.s.sured her in a low growl. "I wanted to be completely ready when the time came. So just do it, Mistress-just take me."

"I..." Trin got into position between his legs but she still wasn't sure. There was so much in the past that should have made this act of sacrifice on his part impossible...so much pain and hurt and betrayal.

But Thrace seemed calm-at least outwardly. He simply kept his eyes trained on her and nodded slowly as she pressed the golden tip of the phallus to his nether entrance.

Trin was poised at the point of no return and she knew it. With one swift thrust, she could be inside him to the hilt, tying the two of them together closer than ever before...Or maybe tearing the two of you apart, whispered a cautious little voice in her brain. How do you know? How can you know until it's too late?

"Trin...Mistress..." Thrace's deep voice pulled her out of her worried contemplation. She looked up to meet his eyes and saw nothing but love there.

"Thrace," she whispered, looking at him earnestly. "Thrace I don't want to hurt you. Are you sure? Are you really sure?"

Slowly, he nodded.

"Yes, Mistress," he rumbled, holding her eyes with his. "Anything for you. Even this. Especially this. Take me-please."

Biting her lip, Trin did as he said. Using her hips, she thrust slowly forward, sliding the golden end of the double-headed phallus deep inside him. Then she waited to see the result.

For a moment-a long moment-Thrace closed his eyes. He took some long, slow, deep breaths and Trin heard him mutter under his breath, "Not the Master. It's Trin...it's all right because it's Trin."

"Thrace?" she whispered uncertainly. "Thrace, I can pull out if you need me to. If you want just say so."

At last he opened his eyes.

"Mistress," he said, his voice coming out low and hoa.r.s.e with emotion. "I...I submit to you and offer my neck for your collar. I will serve you until I die or until you set me free."

"Oh, Thrace..." Trin reached out to stroke his cheek. The movement thrust the golden end of the phallus deeper into his body and the heart's-blood end deeper into her p.u.s.s.y. They both groaned and Trin saw his long, thick c.o.c.k twitch and a droplet of prec.u.m appeared on its broad tip.

She stared at it in wonder as she reached to take the thick, pulsing shaft in her hand. It felt hot and velvety in her palm and Thrace gave a low groan as she stroked him from root to tip. Was it possible that he wasn't just enduring this? That it was actually turning him on?

"Of course it's f.u.c.king turning me on-it's you inside me. Or as close as we can get anyway," he murmured through their link.

Experimentally, Trin pulled out an inch or two and thrust in again, making him gasp and lift his hips to meet her as she stroked his shaft again.

"That's right," he growled, looking up at her, his silver-blue eyes blazing. "That's right, Mistress-do it again. f.u.c.k me. f.u.c.k me while I say the words."

"All right." Biting her lip hard, Trin pulled back and thrust into him again...and again...and again. Now that she knew he was really all right with this, she could feel her own pleasure beginning to grow again. There was a broad golden disk between the two halves of the phallus which was studded with little nubs. With each thrust, they rubbed hard against the tender b.u.t.ton of her c.l.i.t, stimulating her as she moved. She moaned breathlessly as jolt after jolt of pleasure went through her and Thrace answered her with low cries of his own as she continued to stroke his shaft.

"Mistress," he gasped, looking into her eyes as Trin moved within him. "I will belong to you body and soul. I will protect you with my life...shield you from harm in times of danger, and...and pleasure you in times of peace."

"Oh, Thrace," she moaned, stroking him harder even as she speeded up her tempo. "Oh, G.o.ddess..."

But he wasn't quite done yet. His eyes seemed to be nothing but silver fire as he said the last words.

"Mistress," he groaned, "To the last drop of my blood, I...am...yours."

Trin gave a final thrust and felt the pleasure that had been building inside her peak. But it wasn't just pleasure-there was a profound sense of oneness-a feeling that came through the link she shared with the big Havoc and seemed to consume her completely.

Together, she thought. We'll always be together now. Nothing can separate us. We're one.

"We're one," she heard him echoing her thought. "The Deep Bonding has occurred. We are one."

"Oh G.o.ddess, Thrace, I love you!" With a low moan, she pressed the phallus as hard as she could inside him and held it there, allowing the intense waves of sensation to wash over her as she clung to him, like a drowning woman might cling to a solid rock to keep from being swept out to sea. Thrace held her tight as they rode out her o.r.g.a.s.m together, stroking her back and murmuring how much he loved her, how right it felt to give himself this way.

At last the intense o.r.g.a.s.m was over and she was able to pull out of him, removing the heart's blood phallus from his body though it was still nested snugly inside her own. Panting, she tried to regain her composure.

"G.o.ddess," she whispered weakly. "That was...I didn't know it could be like that!"

"There's another way it can be," he growled softly.

"Is that so?" She arched an eyebrow at him.

"Mm-hmm, that's f.u.c.king so." His eyes were blazing and before she knew it, Thrace had flipped her over on her back so their positions were reversed.

"h.e.l.lo, baby," he murmured, looming over her in a way that was both familiar and still just a little frightening. Enough to send a sweet, tingling chill down her spine anyway. A male...there's a male on top of you...about to take you...about to penetrate you, whispered the little voice in her brain. Once such a prospect would have been unthinkable. Now she welcomed it-and him-with open arms.

"Thrace," she whispered, reaching for him.

"You won't be needing this anymore." Gently but swiftly, he withdrew the heart's-blood phallus and cast it aside. Trin barely had time to draw a breath and brace herself before he was replacing it with his much longer and thicker shaft.

"That's right," she urged, gripping his broad, bare shoulders and drawing him down. "That's right, Thrace-take me! I need you so much-please!"

"G.o.ds, baby!" With a low groan, he slid deep in her channel, filling her completely as the broad head of his c.o.c.k kissed the mouth of her womb.

"Make a baby in me," Trin begged him, wrapping her legs around his trim hips as well. "Take me hard, Thrace-fill me with your seed!" She hadn't realized how much she wanted to carry his child until now. But it seemed that now the Deep Bonding had occurred, it was all she could think about.

Thrace seemed to like the idea as well. He filled her p.u.s.s.y with long, deep thrusts of his c.o.c.k, working hard inside her as though he wanted to make sure she was well and thoroughly f.u.c.ked before he spurted deep in her open p.u.s.s.y.

It was faster this time...harder. Trin instinctively understood that he needed it this way-that he needed to dominate her completely after having submitted so sweetly. She opened herself to him, throwing her thighs wide and matching him thrust for thrust as she worked her pelvis to meet each stroke of his thick c.o.c.k in her cleft. She could feel her pleasure building again, could feel another o.r.g.a.s.m set to overtake her-a deeper one this time. One that would cause her inner muscles to clench around his shaft and milk the seed from him, one whose deep contractions would draw that seed deep into her womb.

Just thinking of that, thinking of letting Thrace fill her with his c.u.m and make her pregnant was too much. The very concept was so deliciously forbidden and she felt so opened, so completely taken by him. With a gasp, she felt the hot sensations peaking as a pleasure deeper than anything she'd ever felt rushed over her in warm waves.

"Ah! Ah-oh G.o.ddess!" she cried as she felt herself clench around his hard shaft. "Oh Thrace, please-it's too good-it's too much!"

"G.o.ds, baby-hold on," he growled hoa.r.s.ely in her ear. "Almost over with now. Just have to fill your sweet little c.u.n.t full of my c.u.m."

"Come in me," Trin heard herself begging as she wrapped her legs around his trim waist to draw him in deeper. "Do it now-fill me up! Please."

Apparently Thrace couldn't resist her invitation.

"Oh, baby-you feel so sweet and hot and tight around me...need you so much!" With a final low groan, he thrust as deeply into her as he could. The broad head of his c.o.c.k pressed hard to the end of her channel and Trin felt him coming as spurt after spurt bathed her fertile womb with his hot seed.

The sensation of him coming inside her caused another intense o.r.g.a.s.m and she could actually feel herself milking him, pulling his seed deep within. It was almost as though her body knew instinctively that it was safe now-that it was right to take his seed completely and let him come as deep as he could inside her.

It felt incredible...she never wanted it to end. Not just the pleasure but the emotional connection she felt which was like nothing she'd ever experienced. They pressed together, arms and legs wrapped around each other, eyes locked together, as though they could never bear to be parted. And now they would never have to be, Trin realized. They were tied too tightly for anything in the universe to part them.

"Where you go, I will follow...always," Thrace murmured inside her head. "In life and in death. I love you, Trin."

"Oh, Thrace..." She felt tears wetting her eyes and couldn't hold them back. She pressed forward, rubbing his rough cheek with her smooth one. "I love you too," she whispered in his ear.

"Hey...what are these for?" Thrace must have felt the wetness against his cheek because he pulled out gently and brushed the pad of his thumb over her wet cheek. "I didn't hurt you, did I? Sorry, I know I was thrusting harder than I usually do."

"No, I wanted you hard inside me," Trin protested. "I understood why...why you needed to do that. And I wanted it too."

"They why are you crying?" He cupped her cheek in his big hand and looked at her earnestly. "What is it?"

"It was just so intense. I...I've never felt anything like it before-not even when we repaired our bond after you healed my scars."

"The Deep Bond is intense," he said soberly. "Tying two lives together so tightly is no light matter. It's something most Havoc avoid like the plague."

Trin looked at him uncertainly.

"Are you sorry we did it? Are you worried about what your friend-what Solar-will say when you finally find him? Or are you just not going to tell him?"

Solar had been the first mate aboard Thrace's ship, The Empress, which was still in dry dock on a dull, una.s.suming planet called Padge. Solar was also a Havoc and the Havoc motto was, "We do not bond." He and Thrace had been captured and sold at the Flesh Bazaar slave auction at the same time. Trin had bought Thrace but what had become of Solar? They still didn't know.

Thrace frowned.

"Of course I'm not sorry," he growled. "It was my idea!" He pulled away just enough to put a hand between them, resting his big palm on her flat belly. Trin loved the contrast of his lighter skin against her creamy brown tones. "And now I can rest easy, knowing you're protected when you carry my child."

"I'm glad," she said, smiling. "Since there's no undoing it. And I suppose Solar doesn't have to know-when you find him."

"Of course he has to know!" Thrace sounded almost angry. "I'm proud of you and our bond, baby." He kissed her fiercely, taking Trin's breath away. "I want everyone to know," he murmured when he finally pulled away, leaving her panting.

"So when are we going to go look for him?" she asked. "Because you know I'm not letting you go without me."

"Of course not." He smiled. "We'll go as soon as the trackers find the Earth girl the Kindred are looking for."

Trin looked at him intently.

"You feel somehow responsible for her, don't you? Even though you've never met her."

"In a way, I guess." He shrugged uneasily. "I just don't feel right leaving until she's located-what if the trackers need something else they can only get from me?"

"And you think that girl-the Earth girl called Kate-can get more information from your memory of the vision Two gave you?" Trin asked. "I thought you said she'd already gotten more than you expected."

"Well..." He shifted. "I wasn't exactly talking about the missing girl when I told you that."

"What then?"

"This..." He made a motion with his big hand, indicating the way the two of them were entwined. "I'd been trying to make up my mind about the Deep Bonding. I knew I wanted to do it but I didn't know how to approach you about it. And I wasn't sure if it would stir up any bad memories."

"And that Kate girl saw all that in your head?" Trin raised an eyebrow at him.

"I don't know exactly what she saw-she has a gift she calls the Knowing'-said it's a family trait. But she told me what I was considering was the right thing to do and that I needed to act on my feelings. That's what made me finally ask you to form the Deep Bond with me."

"She sounds smart," Trin murmured. "Very perceptive."

"She's tiny," Thrace said. "Looks like a little doll with all this wild red and gold hair everywhere and her mate-that Wulven Kindred-is as big as me or bigger. I don't know how he keeps from breaking her when they love each other."

"Maybe they decided size doesn't matter," Trin said, smiling. "And just because I'm not tiny doesn't mean you're not strong enough to break' me. You're always careful not to hurt me when we make love."

"All the same, it's nice that you have something for me to hold on to." He put a big hand on her hip and squeezed appreciatively. "I wouldn't want to be with such a tiny female-I'd be worried constantly."

"You didn't want to be with any female until you met me," Trin reminded him, smiling. "And besides, we have other things to worry about-like the trackers finding the lost Earth girl." She twined her fingers through Thrace's. "I hope the a.s.sa.s.sin hasn't gotten to her yet."

"That's my hope too," Thrace said soberly. "But wherever she is, she's in the hands of the G.o.ddess now. And we know she takes care of her own."

"Yes, she does." Trin snuggled closer to him, laying her head on his broad, muscular chest. "She absolutely does. Still...I'm going to be saying a prayer for the missing Earth girl. I hope the trackers find her soon."