"C'mon, Daniel! Hurry up!"
Daniel Mackenzie looked up to see Henry Winslow, his best friend, waiting for him about thirty feet up the road. He hurried to catch up, but his thoughts remained in the past.
He knew that he shouldn't have gotten into that fight last week. Certainly not against Malcolm Lewis. Malcolm was fifteen years old, the largest boy in the school, while Daniel was only twelve, one of the youngest boys in the school.
Still, he couldn't just stand by as Malcolm picked on the smaller and younger boys. Especially when Malcolm pushed Henry, knocked him down, and started beating him.
Daniel had pulled Malcolm off of his best friend. When Malcolm had swung at him, it had only been natural to block the blow, as his father had taught him to do. But when Malcolm kept throwing punches, Daniel had gotten carried away, wading into the bigger boy, using his greater strength and quickness, quickly knocking Malcolm down.
The headmaster had interrupted, before things got out of hand, before any of Malcolm's chums could join the fray. Both boys had served detention, and had received black marks on their records.
That had earned Daniel Malcolm's undying enmity. Not for the detention --- Malcolm was used to that. And not for the black mark, either --- Malcolm already had plenty of those against him, one more wasn't going to make any difference. No, Daniel was certain that Malcolm would never forgive the younger and smaller boy for having humiliated him in front of his chums.
Daniel forced those thoughts out of his mind, as he and Henry hurried through the city. The city's rugby team was about to play a match against a visiting team from England.
Daniel enjoyed rugby. Even though he still had to be careful not to show too much of his strength and quickness, it still gave him an opportunity to show off some of what he had. Henry also shared his enthusiasm for the game --- in fact, his older brother William was on the city team, though only as a scrub, unlikely to play in this match. They were soon thoroughly engrossed in discussing the merits of the players on the two teams.
"Okay, Mackenzie, now you get yours."
Surprised at the new voice, he looked up to see Malcolm and one of his chums standing in front of him, blocking the way. He knew that he could take on one of them --- he had already proven that once. But two of them? Deciding that discretion was the better part of valor, and knowing that both he and Henry were faster than Malcolm was, he turned around. His heart sank when he saw two more of Malcolm's chums behind them, blocking off their retreat.
He turned back around, holding his hands out to his side. "Come on, Lewis. Four against two? That's hardly sporting."
"Sporting?" Malcolm snorted. "Four against two? Make that four against one, Mackenzie. Your pipsqueak friend can go. It's you I want." He stepped forward, his hands clenched into fists.
Henry Winslow knew that Danny was a pretty fair fighter. After all, his father had been an unarmed combat instructor in the Navy during the war, and now ran a school teaching the Oriental forms of unarmed combat. And Danny was a strong athletic boy, as well. But right now, he was facing four opponents, all of them older and bigger than he was.
He saw one of the big boys go down, his hands clutching at his stomach, where Danny's fist had struck him. But then, another boy jumped on Danny's back, forcing him down to his knees. Henry jumped in to help his friend, but a pair of meaty hands grasped him, throwing him aside.
He just managed to cover his head with his arms, rolling with the fall. Still, there were stars in front of his eyes. He shook his head, trying to clear it, but the stars remained.
"Hey, guys. What's going on? It looks like you could use a hand."
This was a new voice. A sweet melodic voice. A sweet melodic feminine voice. A voice which he had heard before, though at the moment he couldn't quite place it.
He shook his head again, still trying to clear it. This time, the stars disappeared from his sight. He was sure that the blow to his head had driven him silly, for the stars were replaced by Danny's older sister, Tyreen. He'd long had a crush on the tall beautiful girl, though he'd known from the start that it was hopeless. But this was neither the time nor the place to be thinking about that. After all, what was she doing in a fight? He shook his head again, trying to force those thoughts out of his mind.
When he looked again, Tyreen was still there. She was standing between two of the boys. He was still trying to scramble to his feet, intending to do what little he could do to protect her, when he saw her going down.
No, she wasn't going down. The two boys were going up. She had a hand on each boy's throat, and she was actually lifting them up off of their feet. Each of the boys was much larger than she was, yet she was lifting each of them up with just one hand. As he continued to watch in amazement, she shook the two boys, and then flung them aside.
She then walked over to where Malcolm and the other boy had Danny down on the ground. Bending over, she pulled the two of them off of his friend. She flung one boy away, tossing him on top of the first two.
That left her with just Malcolm. Putting her hands on his waist, she lifted him up over her head. "Put, put me down!" Malcolm screamed out, his arms and legs flailing apparently without any effect, though Henry thought that the fists were sometimes hitting her chest.
She looked up at him. "You leave my little brother alone, you hear?" She shook him a couple of times, as if to emphasize her words.
"Yes, yes. Just put me down!"
She shook him again. "Say please."
Like all bullies, Malcolm caved in when faced with superior force, even when that superior force was in the form of a slender girl his own age. He was all but whimpering in fear, as he pleaded for her to put him down. "Please. Please put me down. Please."
"Okay, since you asked so politely." She put him down, but not too politely, as she threw him to land atop his three chums. The three boys had just gotten themselves untangled and were starting to rise up when Malcolm crashed down on top of them, sending them all back down to the ground again.
She immediately knelt down beside her brother. "Dan-Dan, are you okay?"
Danny struggled to sit up, assisted by her arm around his shoulders. Henry quickly joined them, squatting down on the other side of him, casting a wary eye at Malcolm and his chums. They hadn't even bothered to get back up to their feet, but were crawling away on their hands and knees.
"Dan-Dan, are you okay?" she repeated. She reached out to his face with one hand. He winced as her fingertips touched a dark area below his eye, and she quickly withdrew her hand.
"Uh, yeah, I think so." He started to stand up, with both Henry and Tyreen helping him. "Thanks to you, Sis. It could have been much worse, if you hadn't shown up."
"I should've been here a couple of minutes earlier," she said. "There's no way you could have taken on four of them."
But his older sister could? Henry had always thought that she was beautiful, and very fit, but had never considered her to be that athletic. Let alone to be that good of a fighter, despite who her father was. But she had single-handedly beaten those four boys, hadn't she? He hadn't imagined it after that blow to his head, had he?
Danny insisted on going on to watch the rugby match. As they walked along, Danny steadfastly refusing all offers of assistance, Henry kept sneaking sidelong glances at Tyreen. She was taller than either of the boys were, which was not unusual given their ages. Her long black hair didn't even look ruffled at all. Nor was her dress, a floral print reaching just below her knees, ruffled at all, except for a little dirt around the knees, where she had knelt beside her brother. She had just beaten up four boys, and yet she looked fresh, as if she had just stepped out from her room.
He finally worked up the nerve to ask her the question that was foremost in his mind. "Ah, Tyreen, how did you, I mean, how did you do that?"
She turned her face toward him, her eyebrows rising. "How did I do what, Henry?"
He was inordinately pleased and flattered that she remembered his name. He tried to control a blush. However, she was evading his question. "How did you...? I mean, there were four of them."
"Oh, that." She favored him with a dazzling smile, her deep blue eyes seeming to glow with their own inner light. "It's just a little something I learned from Papa."
Even though he hadn't gotten into the match himself, William Winslow joined his teammates in celebrating the victory. A victory was always sweet, but as a Scot, a victory over an English team was especially sweet. But this was even sweeter.
He had met his kid brother's friend, Danny, several times before. He knew that Danny's father ran the martial arts school in the city. Several of his teammates had taken some classes there --- they said that the training and the discipline helped with their game. He had often thought about joining, but he had never gotten around to it.
But he had never met Danny's older sister before. The girl with the unusual but pretty name. And what a girl Tyreen was! What a dish! Jet-black hair framed a pretty face. Her deep blue twinkled when she smiled, seeming to glow with their own inner light. And what a smile! Her even bright teeth were dazzling.
And there was nothing wrong with her from the neck down, either. He smiled to himself, as he remembered that it had taken him a while to get much further below her neck. But he did remember getting down to her legs. Very shapely, they had rippled with muscles as she walked. Like a runner's legs, though much shapelier.
Right then and there, he decided that he would enroll at her father's martial arts school. Hopefully, that would give him the opportunity to get to see her again --- he knew from Danny that she sometimes helped out, when there was an odd number.
Tyreen lay awake, looking up the dark ceiling. She was having trouble going to sleep that night, after the excitement of the rugby victory. Not for the first time, she wondered about the injustice of it all. Why couldn't she play rugby, while Dan-Dan and his friends could? Just because he was a boy and she was a girl?
She knew that even among his friends, Daniel always had to be careful not to use all of his strength and his quickness. Just as she always had to be careful in her martial arts classes, both those that she took from her father and those that she helped to teach.
She had tried a little rugby once. If it could be called rugby with just the four of them in a park. Her father and Dan-Dan could never bring her down, even when they both hit her at the same time. Her mother could occasionally do it, though she usually needed help from the two males.
If she were ever to play in a real match, she knew that she would have to be even more careful. Not only would she be the strongest player on the field, she would be stronger than all of the other players put together would be. If she wasn't careful, she could seriously hurt somebody. Maybe even kill somebody.
However, that wasn't the only thing that was keeping her awake tonight. She knew that she had done the right thing, coming to her brother's rescue. After all, he only had a tenth of her strength. And her parents agreed that she had done the right thing. But still, she had been forced to display her strength to people outside of her family.
She didn't think that those four bullies would tell anyone. It wouldn't be like them to admit that a girl had beaten them up. But what about Henry? Would he tell anybody?
She sighed softly, as she thought about Henry. He was kind of cute, in his own way. But he was Dan-Dan's age, much too young for her.
But then, her mother was older than her father was, though she hardly looked it. And by a much wider margin. She now knew that it was due to her Arion blood, blood that she shared, the same blood that gave them such strength. Blood that Dan-Dan had only in part, for their father actually was his father, but not hers.
They hadn't told Henry any of that, however, passing off her feat as something that she had learned from her 'father'. She sighed again, as Henry's face swam before her eyes.
But then, the face blurred. When it stabilized again, it was the face of Henry's brother, William. Henry had introduced them after the match, when the team, indeed, the whole city, was celebrating the win over the visiting English team. A tall man, William had Henry's face, matured to handsomeness, framed by red-blond hair. She sighed again, remembering the way he had smiled at her, making her knees feel weak. None of the boys at school had ever made her feel that way.
Thinking of William, she was barely aware of her hands throwing off the bedcovers and slipping inside her nightshirt, lightly stroking and caressing her breasts. She began to wonder what it would feel like to have William's hands, instead of her own, stroking and caressing her breasts.
She'd never let a boy touch her breasts, except for Malcolm's fists striking her there earlier today, and that really didn't count. Not that they haven't tried, that seemed to be all that boys were interested in. She was pleased that she had developed faster than most of the girls her age, already, she was bigger than most of the girls two years her senior. She knew that it was due to her Arion heritage, a heritage that she had to be careful to keep hidden from the Terrans around her. But that same heritage also made her more of a target for the boys.
She gradually increased the pressure on her breasts until, without realizing it, she was actually holding herself much harder than William would ever be able to do. Even harder than Malcolm's fists had done when he was hitting her. Despite herself, a low moan escaped her lips.
One hand worked down her stomach, finding its way between her legs. Another moan came from her lips as her fingers found their way into her sex. She wondered what it would feel like to have a man in there. A man like William.
It was a perfect throw.
Or as close to it as he was ever likely to come to one in this life.
William Winslow caught the sensei over his hip, throwing him down to the mat. Exactly as the sensei had done to him a dozen times in the past fifteen minutes during the private lesson. He stood aside as the sensei slapped the mat to break his fall, rolled, and sprang back up to his feet.
A perfect throw. And apparently, he wasn't the only one who thought so. "Very good, William. You learn fast." Donovan Mackenzie bowed to his pupil.
William bowed in acknowledgement. "Thank you very much, Sensei." As he straightened up, he heard the applause behind him.
At the sound of applause, he turned around to see Tyreen lying on a bench, one leg raised behind her. Stopping her clapping, she propped her chin up on a fist. She almost looked like the Cheshire Cat the way she was grinning, her deep blue eyes twinkling.
He bowed to her, acknowledging her praise. And, he hoped, to hide his blush.
While he was still wondering how long she had been there, watching him, she stood up, moving fluidly, almost like a cat. "How about going a couple of falls with me?"
He was about to accept the challenge, when he checked himself. It was one thing to go a couple of falls with a girl. But this was no ordinary girl who had challenged him. This was Donovan Sensei's daughter. He looked over to her father.
He was still trying to find the proper words with which to frame the question when she addressed her father, still grinning. "Don't worry, Papa. I won't hurt him."
"You better not, Daughter," Donovan Sensei replied, grinning back at his daughter. "He's one of my best pupils. He's making excellent progress. It would be a shame to have a hospital stay interrupt his progress now."
William felt his cheeks reddening again, though he wasn't sure whether it was due to Tyreen's offer not to hurt him, or to the sensei's statement regarding his progress. He looked on as the sensei glanced back and forth between the two of them, as if to make up his mind.
Finally he did so. "Very well. Best two of three falls." He bowed to the two of them. As Tyreen and William returned the courtesy, the sensei backed out of the circle.
Turning to face each other, William and Tyreen bowed to each other.
When the sensei barked out the command to start, she started moving to her right. He matched her, moving to his right. They circled each other warily, feinting with their hands to judge the other's reactions.
William had been studying at the dojo for the past year. He had to admit, he'd first started coming in the hopes of seeing more of Tyreen. But then, he'd discovered that he really enjoyed it. His teammates were right, the training and the discipline were good.
He had not been too surprised when he learned that she was a student of her father's. He had seen her in some of the classes, with students closer to her age. As one of the few girls, of any age, he had always seen her training against boys.
However, he'd never actually sparred with her before. He felt a little awkward at first --- this was the first time he'd actually gone up against any girl, let alone against Tyreen, while she had always trained against boys. And she had another advantage over him --- she'd had more chances to observe his style than he'd had to observe hers.
He felt even more awkward when she feinted right, went left, slipped through his guard, and threw him down to the mat.
Rolling back up to his feet, he saw her grinning at him, appearing to be pleased with having scored the first fall. Facing her, they bowed to each other again.
The sensei started them off again after correcting his stance. They began circling again. Even though he had the size advantage, both in reach and in weight, she had the advantage in quickness. Every time he tried a move on her, she simply danced away. Yet, there was nothing jerky about her movements, it was almost as if she was flowing away from him, almost as if she didn't have a single bone in her body.
She came at him again. He was just barely able to evade her attack, turning her momentum against her, as he stepped in behind her thrust. This time, he had her.
Suddenly, she wasn't there any more, but instead, at his side and slightly behind him. As his mind tried to register that fact, he felt himself being rotated. Her leg was thrust out in front of him, and he was going over it.
He retained enough control to tuck in his chin as he went over, slapping the mat with his arms to absorb most of the impact, using his momentum to spring back up to his feet. Automatically, he bowed to acknowledge the fall.
"That's two out of two." Tyreen was still grinning at him. In fact, he didn't think that the grin had left her face the entire time that they had been sparring. Not that it had been a very long sparring session, as easily as she had taken him down, not just once, but twice.
"Very good, Daughter. Except I don't think he knows that throw yet," the sensei said. "Perhaps you would like to teach it to him?"
She clapped her hands together. "Oh, can I, Papa? I mean, Sensei?"
"Certainly, Daughter. You know it as well as I do. And it's about time you started helping with the teaching." The sensei turned to William. "That is, if you would not mind being her pupil."
Mind? Of course he wouldn't mind. "Of course not, Donovan Sensei." He bowed. "I would be honored to learn from Tyreen Sensei." He bowed to her, and came up just in time to see that her grin had widened, if that was possible, at the compliment.
It wasn't quite the romantic situation he'd envisioned when he'd first met her. Still, it felt pretty good to have her arms around him, and to have his arms around her. At least, until he went down to the mat again.
"Did you see how I did that?" She was standing over him, still smiling.
He realized that he had been so lost in the physical sensations that he hadn't been paying any attention to her words or to her actions. "No, I didn't. Can you show me again? A little slower this time?"
"Sure." She reached down and helped him back up to his feet. If he hadn't known better, he could have sworn that she had actually lifted him up. But she couldn't possibly have that much strength in her slender arm, could she?
She went through it again, slower, talking her way through it, explaining every move. He paid attention to what she was doing, until he was on the mat again. They went through it two more times.
She then let him try it on her. She corrected the positioning of his hands, and guided his leg into its proper place. Following her instructions, he applied the proper leverage, and she went down onto the mat.
Slapping the mat to break her fall, she rolled right back up to her feet, smiling. "Very good, William. Now, let's try it at full speed."
She stopped him half way through to reposition his left hand. Resuming, he took her down to the mat again. She immediately sprang back up to her feet, her smile wider.
"Is there a counter for that?" he asked.
She continued to smile at him. "Perhaps. You want to try it again?"
They took their positions again. He moved in, exactly as she had just taught him. But this time, he found himself on his back. She was right on top of him, pinning him to the mat. He slapped her thigh to acknowledge the pin.
"Are you going to teach me that one?" he asked the girl on top of him.
She continued smiling. "Well, Father asked me to teach you the first one. He didn't say anything about teaching you a counter." She tossed her head to shake her hair out of her face, and then leaned forward, pressing her lips against his.
Despite having often kissed her in his fantasies, he was so surprised when it happened in actuality that it took him a couple of seconds to respond. But eventually he did respond, wrapping his arms about her as he pressed his lips harder against hers.
"You remember my daughter, Tyreen."
"Delighted to make your acquaintance." Tyreen Mackenzie held out her hand. "I've heard so much about you."
Pierre Carlier took her hand and bowed over it. "Enchanté, Mademoiselle." Raising her hand to his face, he brushed his lips over the back of it.
She had to fight hard to suppress a giggle. She'd heard stories about these Frenchmen, but she'd never had a man actually do that to her before.
He released her hand and straightened back up, looking down at her with a smile. "You don't remember me, do you? The last time I saw you, you were about this tall." He waved a hand in the vicinity of his knees.
She really had to fight down her giggles as she smiled up at him. He really was a handsome man, considering his age. Too old for her of course --- about the same age as was her father --- but handsome nonetheless. It wasn't hard to understand why Aunt Marlen had taken him as a lover.
As one of her numerous lovers. She'd heard enough from her mother to understand some of what made an Arion Prime tick, and Aunt Marlen was as Prime as they came.
Her own father had been one of Aunt Marlen's lovers, long before her mother ever met him. Both Uncle Michael and Aunt Vicky also had been Aunt Marlen's lovers, before they ever hooked up together.
Was she going to be like that herself when she got a little older? Her mother wasn't like that, Betas weren't quite as wild as the Primes were. But was she really a Beta? She was already much stronger than any ordinary Beta could be. Had she inherited some Prime characteristics indirectly from Aunt Marlen through her father?
"So, what brings you to Scotland, Pierre?" Her father's voice brought her mind back to the here and now.
"Actually, I came to see your charming wife."
"In that case, I'd better stick around and keep an eye on you two." Her father laughed as he led the way into the living room. Tyreen and her younger brother followed Pierre.
As much as Tyreen would have liked to listen in on them reminiscing about old times, the adults wouldn't let her, shooing her brother out and sending Tyreen to the kitchen for some tea.
"Ooh!" Daniel took her hand and mimicked the Frenchman, bowing over it and bringing it close but not actually touching his lips. "Enchanté, Mademoiselle."
"Dan-Dan!" She pulled her hand back from him, balling it up and waving the fist in his face. "If you don't behave yourself, I'll enchanté you into next week!"
"Ooh!" He skipped out of her range. "Enchanté, Mademoiselle." He bowed over an imaginary hand.
"Boys!" she snorted, shaking her head as she watched him work his way down an imaginary receiving line. She then turned and went to the kitchen to prepare some tea for her parents and their guest and wartime comrade-in-arms.
They were in a deep discussion regarding a new type of aircraft radio. At least, Tyreen assumed that's what it was. Even though she was planning on following her mother's footsteps and go into telecommunications, the snatches of conversation she picked up were well over her head.
It was also well over her stepfather's head. Abandoning his efforts to chaperone his wife --- she could take care of herself --- he followed his stepdaughter to the kitchen. Besides, once Chirren got to talking about communications gear, she would be oblivious to everything else. It was the only subject that interested her even more than sex. Both he and Pierre could have stripped naked and she wouldn't have raised her eyes from the schematics spread out over the dining room table.
Naturally, Daniel had taken the opportunity to make himself scarce. Donovan occupied himself by helping --- or at least not hindering --- Tyreen with supper preparations.
"Did you understand any of that, Papa?"
"Are you kidding? They could have been speaking French for all I caught."
She laughed. "If they had been speaking French, I might have understood some of it." She then shook her head. "I guess I have a lot more studying ahead of me."
Tall, handsome, athletic --- a star rugby player --- Stephen Nichols was exactly the kind of man that any girl could easily fall for. Tyreen Mackenzie had been very flattered --- and very pleased --- when he asked her out for a date.
She was also very surprised. She'd been at college less than a month, and the most handsome man whom she'd ever met had asked her out for a date. It took her a couple of seconds to get over the shock and accept.
Tyreen and Stephen had been dating for a couple of months when she found herself alone with him in her dorm room. So far all that he had done was to kiss her good night after walking her home. But tonight they were sitting on her bed --- her bed! --- with their arms around each other as they kissed.
And it wasn't just a good night kiss, as he kissed her deeply, in a way that she never been kissed before. The feeling of his tongue in her mouth, sliding against her tongue, exploring her mouth, was absolutely amazing. She began to writhe against him, savoring the feeling of her breasts rubbing against his chest.
Then she felt his hands work their way to her front, sliding between their bodies. It took her a moment to realize that he was working on the buttons of her blouse.
She offered no resistance as he unbuttoned her all the way, moving her arms to let him remove the blouse completely. She only stiffened slightly when he reached behind her to work on her bra, still offering no resistance. She actually helped him, reaching behind herself and unhooking the bra herself before he pulled it off of her, freeing her breasts from their tight confinement.
She continued to offer no resistance when he pushed her down onto her back. He took a breast in each hand as he leaned forward and kissed first the left nipple and then the right. He then took the nipple into his mouth and began suckling.
She moaned with pleasure at the unaccustomed sensation of having a man at her breasts. She'd never let anybody get this far before. She had been afraid to do so. Not for herself, but for her partner. She had been afraid that she might lose control of her Arion strength. She was so much stronger than were the men around her, she knew that she could easily hurt --- or worse --- a man in the heat of passion. Unlike Mama, who had about five times Papa's strength, she had about a hundred times a Terran's strength.
In fact much of the physical training she had been receiving from her parents had been designed to teach her how to control her strength. And Aunt Vicky helped whenever she came by to visit. Being an Arion, they knew that she wasn't going to remain a virgin. They --- and she --- wanted to make sure that the man enjoyed it as much as she did.
As he continued suckling at her breast, she wondered why she had waited so long. It felt so good. She wrapped her arms loosely around him.
It really did feel good, his big hands caressing and squeezing her breasts so gently, so much lighter than hers did whenever she played with herself.
Something that she had been doing too much of lately. She knew that it was a part of her Arion heritage. Not only was she stronger, but she was also so much more sensual --- so much more sexual --- than were the Terrans around her.
That reminded her to loosen her embrace. Fortunately she hadn't tightened it too much, for he was still fondling and suckling. She carefully moved one of his hands to her other breast, letting his use both hands on one breast while she lightly caressed the other one with her hand.
She was so lost in the delicious contrast between his light caresses and her much harder ones that it was several seconds before she noticed that his hands weren't working on her breast any more.
Opening her eyes and looking down, she saw that he was trying to unfasten her skirt. That again made her think about what might happen --- to him, not to her --- if he was to continue.
She grasped his wrists and pulled them away from her. "No, don't, please."
He struggled for a few seconds, apparently surprised at the ease with which she had pulled his hands away. Or perhaps it was because he wasn't used to having girls refuse him. "C'mon, Tyreen. You know you want it."
"Please, Stephen. I'm not ready for this."
She had not told him about her Arion strength. Naturally there was no way for him to know that her slender female body had about a hundred times the strength that he had in his big muscular male body. Knowing that many men were proud of their athletic prowess, she didn't want to threaten him by revealing her superior abilities to him.
She continued to hold on to his wrists until he relaxed. She then brought his hands back to her breasts. She released his wrists when his hands began kneading her soft flesh. She wrapped her arms around his body when he resumed suckling.
She lay awake long after he had gone home, her hands idly caressing her breasts, her slim fingers applying about a dozen times the pressure that his big hands had earlier that evening.
He had been right. She did want it. Oh, how she wanted it!
That was precisely why she couldn't have it. She wasn't sure whether she could control herself enough to avoid hurting him in the heat of passion. And the last thing that she wanted to do to him was to hurt him.
Despite her initial refusal to go all the way with him, Stephen continued to see Tyreen. She, was after all, the most beautiful girl whom he'd ever met. And quite athletic --- he knew that she had helped her father at his martial arts school.
He was also quite confident that he could eventually get her to go all the way. He kept trying, but so far she wouldn't let him go beyond fondling and suckling her breasts.
They'd been seeing each other for most of the school year. So far she'd been able to resist his increasingly persistent attempts to get her into bed with him. It took a lot of effort, for she wanted it as much as he did.
Tonight would be different. Returning from a party, he walked her up to her flat. Naturally he accepted when she invited him in. She suppressed her anticipation as he unbuttoned her blouse and then reached behind her to unhook her bra. Unbuckling her belt, she stepped out of her skirt and slid her panties down her legs.
She then lay back on her bed, propping herself on her elbows, the posture making her breasts jut out even more than usual. It was all she could do to simply watch him undress himself, rather than throwing him onto her bed and doing it for him.
Then he was on top of her, his body pressing her down into the soft bed, his lips seeking out hers, his hands seeking out her breasts. Closing her eyes, she wrapped her arms around his body, being careful not to hold him too tightly.
She loosened her embrace to allow him to break off the kiss and shift his body downward, his mouth kissing the point of her chin, the curve of her throat, the tops of both of her mounds, before eventually fastening about her left nipple.
Moving his left hand to join his mouth and right hand on that mound, she began lightly stroking and caressing her right breast with her fingers, applying no more than about twice the pressure that he was applying to the left. She then took her nipple between her thumb and forefinger, rolling it and then pinching it, harder and harder.
Savoring the delicious contrast between his gentle caresses and her much harder ones, it was several seconds before she realized that his hands had left her breasts, moving to the insides of her thighs and trying to push them apart. She initially resisted but then relaxed her arms, letting him move down her body. Spreading her legs, she allowed him between them.
She felt a moment of panic when she felt him sliding into her, her eyes snapping open. Then she relaxed --- this was what was supposed to go in there. Closing her eyes again, she wrapped her arms loosely around him as he began his powerful rhythmic thrusting. The warm sensations spread out from her groin, encompassing her, warming her entire body. Involuntarily, her arms closed around the man causing the sensations.
Gradually she became aware of the warmth fading away. Stephen had almost completely stopped moving. She opened her eyes.
He was trying to pull out of her embrace. Opening her arms, she let him push himself up to his knees.
"Stephen, what's wrong?"
He climbed off the bed and started to put his clothes on. "What'd you do to me? Some kind of martial arts crap?"
"What do you mean, Stephen?"
He continued dressing. "I didn't come here to wrestle. If I wanted to wrestle, I'll do it with some other chaps."
"But Stephen, we weren't wrestling. I thought we were..."
"I don't care what you call it. And I don't care what kind of hold you put on me, I'm not sticking around for any more." Finishing dressing, he stomped for the door.
"Stephen, no!" Springing up from the bed, she caught him before he could open the door and held him, wrapping her arms around him.
He tried to break out of her embrace and couldn't. "Let go of me!"
"Stephen, stay with me. I won't do anything like that." She pulled him to her.
"Let go of me!" he repeated when further attempts to break out of her embrace failed to even lessen the pressure.
She pulled back her arms and let him go. He stomped through the door. "Good bye, Tyreen," he called over his shoulder, slamming the door in her face.
She collapsed against the door, her eyes overflowing with tears. "Good bye, Stephen," she sobbed.
"You go to any good parties?"
"Sure, Dan-Dan. There are some good parties." And some not so good. She'd been to both kinds.
"Tyreen, why don't you tell your brother some of the things to watch out for at college?"
"Hunh?" She had been so lost in her thoughts that she hadn't even heard her mother come into the kitchen.
"Yeah, what about it, Big Sister? Some wild parties, huh?"
"Daniel's going off to college this year. I'm sure he can benefit from your experience."
"Ah, yeah, sure." She took a deep breath and stood up. "But can it wait until supper? I wanna wash up before we eat." Without waiting for an answer, she stood up and left the table, going to her room.
Turning on the shower, she undressed. Unfortunately a cold shower wasn't enough to drive the memories from her mind.
The party was already in full swing when Tyreen Mackenzie arrived. Couples were dancing to the music pouring out from the large and expensive-looking stereo speakers.
She saw Stephen standing by the buffet table, but he was with another girl, a blonde. When she tried to approach him, he took the blonde's arm and led her away.
He avoided her the entire evening, clinging to the blonde almost as if she was some kind of a protective talisman. Abandoning the effort, she went to the back to retrieve her coat.
Two young men met her there. The thin wiry one she vaguely remembered from one of her classes. Tom, she thought his name was. The other one was a stranger. Tall, he was as big as was Stephen, though on this man it was mostly fat and not muscle.
They each grabbed an arm. She knew that she could easily break out of their hold. She had taught the techniques in her father's school, she wouldn't even have to use much of her Arion strength. However she remained still, wanting to find out just what they had in mind.
It didn't take very long. Still holding her arm in one hand, Tom's other hand went to her chest, fondling her breast through her dress.
Still she hesitated to break out of their hold, knowing that they couldn't do anything to her that she didn't allow. The problem was that she wasn't sure exactly how much she was going to let them get away with.
"Not here," the stranger said. "Somebody else might come back here and find us. Bring her to my room."
His room? That meant that the stranger had to be Hugh Richardson, whose father owned the mansion.
Still holding her arms, they walked her down the hall and into a bedroom. They threw her onto the bed and began undressing her. She resisted the urge to help them --- let alone to rip their clothes off --- only rolling over to give them better access to her buttons and fastenings. After getting her undressed, they rolled her over onto her back and Tom pinned her wrists to the bed while Hugh dropped his pants and climbed onto the bed, getting between her legs.
It wasn't quite how she had imagined her first time would be like. Hugh was nothing at all like Stephen had been. Still, she wanted it. And more.
Shaking her arms free from Tom's grip, she rolled Hugh onto his back and got up on her knees. Tom grabbed her from behind, wrapping his arms around her waist.
Prying his arms loose, she pulled him in front of her, his legs flailing as she swung his slender body over her left shoulder. Putting her left arm around his waist, she tucked him under her arm while lowering herself onto Hugh's erect shaft, using her right hand to guide him into her.
Her powerful legs began their rhythmic pumping. Her right hand moved up and guided Tom's face to her left breast, forcing the nipple into his mouth.
Realizing what was going on, if not quite the how, Tom quit struggling. His hands closed onto her breast, squeezing and holding on with all of his strength as her pumping tossed his body around as if it was nothing more than a rag doll. Hugh had also stopped struggling, putting his hands on her hips as if to guide her movements.
Her right hand moved to her right breast, caressing and squeezing several times harder than Tom was doing to the left. Feeling Hugh's body shuddering under hers, her legs quickened their pace.
Hugh's body spasmed and his back arched as he reached his climax, shooting his seed into her.
She hadn't reached hers. Pulling Tom's mouth from her breast, she laid him down on Hugh's chest. Too impatient to undo his pants, she stuck her fingers into the waistband and pulled. His shorts parted like paper under her fingers. Picking him up and setting him down next to Hugh's gasping body, she unmounted Hugh and lowered herself onto Tom.
Hugh tried to scramble off the bed. Grabbing his arm, she pulled him to her. Getting her other arm under him, she picked him up and held him in her arms, guiding his face to her right breast. Forcing her nipple into his mouth, she closed her eyes and savored the sensation of having two men working her over simultaneously.
Even his big body was tossed around like a leaf in a storm as her powerful legs drove her body on top of Tom's. She reached her climax seconds after Tom reached his, her arms open wide, back arching, her head thrown back, a wordless scream escaping her lips.
Coming down off her peak, she opened her eyes and looked around herself at the unfamiliar surroundings. It all came back to her in a flash. The two motionless men on the bed with her helped jog her memory.
"Oh no! What have I done?" She immediately scrambled up to her knees and moved to the side of the bed.
She was relieved to discover that both of them were still breathing. At least she hadn't killed them; she knew that she was strong enough to have done so. Further examination revealed no obvious broken bones, though both of them had dark purple bruises starting where she had been holding them too tight.
She laid them out on the bed, laying out their limbs to make them as comfortable as she could. Gathering up her clothes, she put them back on. Opening the door, she cautiously looked out into the hallway.
The sounds of the party came drifting down the hallway, although much quieter than before. Retrieving her coat from the front bedroom, she slipped out into the main room.
The party was definitely winding down. Either that, or a good number of couples had retired to the other bedrooms. She didn't see Stephen or his blonde.
By the time that supper was ready, she could at least sit and carry on a conversation. Though naturally she didn't mention anything about that particular party. Nor did she mention anything about any of her other experiences before she learned to better control her Arion strength in moments of passion.
Hopefully it wouldn't be as much of a problem for her brother. It was more acceptable for a man to be stronger than his partner, and his strength was nowhere near hers.
William had gotten two tickets to a concert in Edinburgh. A new band out of Liverpool, who called themselves the Beatles. They were the hottest thing sweeping through the United Kingdom. Everybody wanted tickets --- how William had gotten his hands on them, she didn't know. She wasn't going to complain about it, though.
"I wanna go, too." Daniel had just come inside and immediately joined the conversation.
She turned to her younger brother. "William only has two tickets, Danny."
"That's perfect. One for you and one for me."
"Danny! If you think I'm going with you, you can forget it."
"You're not even gonna listen. You're just gonna be kissy-kissy with William." He puckered his lips as he looked at her.
"Danny!" She turned and glared at him, starting to get up to her feet. He was at that awkward age where he had discovered that half of the world was female, but he still wasn't quite sure what they were good for. Besides to be looked at, of course. And for kissing.
"Children!"
"Yes, Papa," she and Daniel chorused in unison. She sat back down. Daniel pulled up a chair and also sat down, though he was careful to stay out of her reach.
Putting an elbow on the table and resting her chin on her hand, she studied her younger brother. He really had grown up in the past year. He no longer was a boy, but instead was now a handsome young man. He was looking more and more like his father, while she knew that she took after her own father. They really didn't look much like siblings.
She found herself revising her earlier estimate of him. He probably did know what to do with the female half of the population. Though she didn't think that he'd actually done it yet. Beyond the kissing and cuddling, that is.
He would be going off to college soon. He probably wouldn't have much trouble finding a girl. And while he was quite a bit stronger than was the average Terran, he was nowhere close to her level.
In a crazy kind of way, she envied him. He wouldn't have to be too careful in order to avoid hurting his partner during a moment of passion. He could let himself go, without doing what she had done to Stephen. And to...
She pushed aside that train of thought. That really was crazy. She liked who she was. She wouldn't trade her strength for anything, even if she couldn't use it when she most wanted to use it.
Just like she had done with Stephen when she'd finally let him go all the way.
Or rather, when she had tried to let him go all the way. Lord knew, she'd wanted it as much as he did, if not more. Probably more, given her Arion heritage.
At least her Arion abilities were useful in her new job.
"Tyreen's latest assignment went well, don't you think?"
"She's really good. I'm glad we were able to recruit her. And I'm glad we've got you to train her. You're the only one who can put her through her paces."
"She's the only one who can put me through my paces."
"Oh, and I can't?" He came up behind her and put his arms around her waist, pulling her to him and nuzzling her neck.
She gently but firmly broke his embrace and turned around to face him. "It's not the same thing, and you know it." Leaning forward, she gave him a quick kiss before pushing him away. "Not now. We can do that later." She turned back to the closet. "What do you think about this one?"
Even after all these years, she could still catch him off guard with a change in subject. Michael Sinclair looked up to see his wife holding a pale red dress in front of her. The skirt didn't quite come down to her knees, letting him see several inches of the blue dress that she was wearing. "Isn't that a bit short?" he asked.
"It's the latest style." She turned around to look at herself in the mirror.
He also continued to look at her. Skirts definitely were getting shorter these days. And fortunately, Vicky still had the legs for them. Whatever else Marlen had done for her, it was also making her age very gracefully. She looked just as good now as she had on their wedding day.
"People are going to mistake you for the bride," he said. "Or else with the bride going out of circulation, all the young lads will be making passes at you instead."
"In that case, you're just going to have to protect me, aren't you?" She put down the dress and picked up another one, this one peach colored, holding it in front of her as she studied herself in the mirror.
"And are you going to protect me from the young girls?"
Vicky Sinclair put down the dress and studied the man sitting on the edge of the bed. Even though he was showing his age more than she was --- with silver streaks in his hair --- her husband still cut a dashing figure. She wasn't about to trade him in for a newer model. "I suppose I must. Our niece might be a little preoccupied. And it is the women in that family that seem to have most of the strength." She wasn't really their niece, but they were as much family as the girl would ever have. Tyreen Mackenzie had known them as 'Uncle Michael' and 'Aunt Vicky' all of her life.
"And speaking of strong women, are you going to save me if the bride's mother wants to dance with me?"
She laughed. "No, in that case, I'll just dance with the father. Strong women run in this family too, in case you haven't noticed."
She wondered what it would have been like to raise a daughter like Tyreen. Somehow, probably through her father, Tyreen had picked up some of Marlen's strength. Not nearly as strong as Vicky was, she was still quite a bit stronger than was her mother, Chirren.
She felt a little twinge of regret. She and Michael hadn't been able to produce any children, though certainly not from lack of trying. She was nearly invulnerable, bullets bounced off of her skin. It wasn't too surprising that he hadn't been able to impregnate her.
Still, Tyreen was a handful. A young girl, with more than the strength of twenty men. Most men, unlike her husband, would have been intimidated by a strong girl. Tyreen had been lucky to find one who wasn't.
She was certain of one thing that was going to happen on their wedding night.
"I think I know who's going to be carrying whom across the threshold after the wedding," Michael said, echoing her thoughts.
"We've been married too long," she replied. "You took the words right out of my mouth."
"And what a delectable mouth it is," he replied, standing up and walking toward her.
Even after all these years, he could still be romantic. She pulled him to her, meeting his lips with hers.
There was nothing wrong with his delectable mouth.
Still maintaining the kiss, she lowered one arm to his waist. Raising him up a couple of inches, she carried him back to the bed and laid him down upon it. They barely had to break off the kiss before their clothes were on the floor.
There was absolutely nothing wrong with the rest of him either. And he could put her through her paces quite well, thank you, though not in the same way as could Tyreen.
"Have you heard where they're going on their honeymoon?" he asked sometime after she had unmounted him.
"Who? Oh, them. No, I haven't heard." She rolled over to face him, propping herself up on an elbow. "Where are you taking me on ours?"
"Huh? Oh, we never really had one, did we?" They'd had a single night in a country inn after their wedding, and that had been it.
"There was a little war going on then, I recall." She placed her hand on his chest and stroked it lightly.
"Why don't we do it? Why not go on one now?"
She scowled and pushed down a little harder with her hand. "Michael! We are NOT going on their honeymoon with them."
He put both hands on her arm and pushed. Her arm stayed in place. "I... I didn't say go with them. I just said why don't we go on our own honeymoon?"
She smiled and relaxed the pressure, allowing him to roll over to face her. "So, where are you taking me?"
"Where would you like to go? How about Germany?"
"Michael!" She pushed him back down to the bed.
This time he didn't even try to push her arm aside. "Kidding. Just kidding," he gasped out. She eased the pressure just a bit, allowing him to gulp down some air. "How about the south of France?" he asked.
"Been there." He had once been stationed at the port of Marseilles. They'd tangled with more than one black market operation --- the port was a haven for smugglers, and had been since before the Romans had called it Massilia. And it would be, long after she was dead and buried.
Now wasn't the time to be thinking about that, it was time to be thinking about a vacation locale. "Try again." She eased the pressure a little more.
"Canada?" he gasped out.
She increased the pressure a little. "This time of year? That's probably colder than Scotland."
"You're right. Maybe someplace a bit warmer? The Bahamas? Or maybe Bermuda?"
"That's better." She released him, allowing him to sit up. "So, when do we go?"
"Hey, not so fast." He made a show of rubbing his chest where her hand had been pressing down on it. "We need to make sure we don't go where the kids're going."
<
"What do you mean, it's off? I thought you wanted to marry him."
"I do! He doesn't want to marry me."
"William called it off? Why?"
"He... he..."
"It's not because you're so much stronger than he is, is it?"
"No, it's not that. I've been careful not to show him my full strength. But he... he says he doesn't want me running around like I do. He... he thinks I'm seeing somebody else."
"He knows that's not true."
"But how can I prove it to him, Aunt Vicky? I can't tell him about my real job." With her job keeping her away from home more than she was home, the strain had been building up in their relationship. It only made it worse that she couldn't tell him why she was really away from home so much. "It's not that he minds me working, but he thinks I can get a job that doesn't involve so much travel."
"Too bad you can't just sit that boy down and pound some sense into his skull."
"Aunt Vicky! I would never..."
"Just joking, Tyreen."
"Is that what you did to get Uncle Michael to marry you?"
She laughed. "I didn't have to do much to him, not after Marlen got through with him."
"Oh, Aunt Vicky." The younger woman embraced the older one, hugging her with all of her strength. "You're so lucky to have a man who appreciates what you do. And what you are."
Vicky returned the hug, much harder than any man could have done. "I'm sure you'll find somebody, Tyreen."
"Will I? It's not like with you and Uncle Michael. I mean, there was a war going on, and..."
"Tyreen..."
"Oh, it's not that I wish there was a war going on. But things are different now."
"Thank God! You don't want to go through what we did."
"But you never would have met Uncle Michael if it wasn't for the war. And Aunt Marlen..."
Vicky Sinclair broke the embrace and pulled back, looking the younger woman in the eyes. "Do you want to quit your job?"
"I don't want to quit, Aunt Vicky. It's a better job than anything else I can get. And... and you and Uncle Michael need me."
Vicky frowned. "Don't take yourself too seriously, young lady." She then smiled to take the sting out of her words. "The Empire has survived this long without you, I'm sure it can continue without you."
"Is that supposed to make me feel better?"
"The Queen does have other loyal subjects, you know."
"I know that. But nobody else can do what I do. I mean, except for you, of course."
"So, what do you want to do?"
"A vodka martini, please. Shaken, not stirred."
The bar had just opened up for the day; she was the first customer. The bartender raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything as he fixed the drink and set it on the polished wood in front of her. She paid for the drink and took it with her. Since she was the only customer, it wasn't hard to find an unoccupied booth along the back wall.
Sitting down, Tyreen Mackenzie nursed her drink, thinking back to her recently completed assignment, the one for which she'd just finished writing up her report.
She had joined a group of Irish separationists, helping them to smuggle explosives into London. She'd been able to keep them from setting it off in an Underground station, calling in the rest of the team to capture the terrorists.
Most of them. She'd had to kill two men in the process, including the leader. It was part of the job, she knew. Still, she would have preferred to capture them, to have them stand trial with the rest of the group.
She'd never killed anyone before.
She looked at the half-empty glass in her hand. Had there been something she could have done differently? Or was she trying to lose herself in the alcohol? If so, it would take a lot more than a couple of cocktails. For perhaps the first time in her life she cursed the Arion constitution that made her much more tolerant of alcohol than a Terran, she would almost have to drown herself physically before she could drown her sorrows.
"Tyreen! I thought I'd find you here."
She looked up from her glass to see John Bannon standing at the end of the table, one hand on the back of the bench, the other wrapped around a pint of bitter. "Leave me alone, John," she growled, raising her glass to her mouth and draining it. He might be one of her teammates, but she had been the only one to go undercover on this assignment. And, she had been the only one to kill anybody.
He slid into the booth, across the table from her.
"I said, leave me alone", she growled again. The empty glass shattered in her hand, the sound seeming to her to be as loud as a gunshot.
He immediately grabbed some napkins and then reached for her hand.
"Leave me alone," she growled yet again, opening her hand to let the glass fall out and then making a fist and waving it in his face.
"I know you better than that, Tyreen. You wouldn't hit me." He put his hands on the table and leaned forward.
"Don't count on it, John." However, she unclenched her fist and raised her arm to signal the bartender for another drink.
"Another drink isn't going to help, Tyreen."
She pulled her arm back, ready to slap him.
He simply stared at her, not even blinking. "Hitting me isn't going to help either, Tyreen."
Her hand stopped, just inches from his face. She slowly pulled her arm back, dropping her hand into her lap.
"Thank you," he whispered. "I wish I could say that it was going to hurt you a lot more than it was going to hurt me, but we both know that would be a lie." He'd had first-hand experience with some of her Arion strength, in their training sessions.
She managed a weak smile. "So why did you sit down instead of leaving me alone?"
"You needed to get it out of your system. I'm glad you did it without taking it out on me."
"I've already killed enough people this week. Too many."
"I know. It's always too many, even when they're shooting at you."
"Was it like this for you your first time? And what did you do afterwards?"
His eyes clouded over. It was nearly a minute before he spoke. "I got drunk. It didn't help."
"And then what?"
He busied himself drinking from his mug. He finally looked up, a sly smile on his face. "I don't know if it would help you. I got laid." He raised his mug to his face and drained it.
"Are you suggesting I do the same?"
"No." His voice was flat, but there was a twinkle in his eyes.
It wasn't long before they found themselves in the bedroom of his flat. She pushed him down onto the bed and quickly undressed him, all but tearing his clothes off of him.
When he tried to undress her, she pushed him away and stood up, kicking off her shoes. She then proceeded to do a slow strip tease. Her skirt came off first, revealing her black panties and her powerfully muscled legs in all their glory. Then she slowly removed her blouse, revealing a black bra and the rest of her powerful physique.
"God, you're beautiful," he breathed, sitting up and propping himself on his elbows to get a better look.
Removing her underwear, she turned off the lights and joined him on the bed, wrapping her arms around him and kissing him. "Now, do your duty," she whispered into his ear.
"Oh, the things I do for Queen and Country." Those were the last coherent words that he managed to get out for quite some time.
And while he couldn't make her completely forget the shootings, it did help. If nothing else, it told her that life did go on, at least for the survivors.
An underwater volcano erupted just south of Iceland. Tremors and aftershocks spread out, creating swirls and eddies, disrupting currents, stirring up sediment. Geologists flocked to Iceland, setting up cameras and measuring instruments. Ships swarmed around the area, their decks filled with scientists and other observers. Aircraft circled the area, some of them even flying through the plume to gather samples.
One of the eddies stirred up some sediment along the course of an underwater river.
And something else. A red object floated toward the surface where another current grabbed it. This current carried it along for a couple of miles before losing it. The object sank back down to the bottom where yet another current dragged it along the muddy ocean floor at right angles to its earlier direction of travel.
