FALAHA'S JOURNEY Into Pleasure | 18+

Prologue: Welcome to Adulthood (Episode #1)

I was on my knees fixing my pillow when I heard my spouse climbing into bed behind me, rustling through fresh bed sheets, closer and closer. Silent, determined, and unyielding, he always frightened me a little, yet made me shiver with anticipation. He knew all my soft spots and all of my weaknesses. When we were alone, he sneaked up on me every time he caught me off guard, and every time I never knew what he was going to do to me. I closed my eyes and waited, sensing the rush of blood through my body.

Eyuran was already so tall and huge, gaining on his dad fast, and I still had more catching up to do! Because of his body specifics, he usually trained under different, very extreme power loads separately from anyone else. As a Baal, my father kept him company, and occasionally Tagai, Anika and I joined the fun. Sometimes Wen came to play with everyone too—when he was in the mood for socializing. Orewen would normally have been with us as well, but he still hadn't returned home.

Our peers rarely interacted with my spouse—the natural way he carried himself intimidated people. Excluding our immediate family, who had quite an air of danger themselves, the only person immune to Eyuran's powerful presence was Arann. Those two now shared a weird kind of close bond. Hardly friends, hardly enemies, hardly rivals, they understood each other well and tolerated each other's quirks of imagination. And both had insanely vivid ones. Arann appeared too aloof, Eyuran too mechanical, but none of that was true. The first guy was actually daydreaming. As for the second one... Eyuran's black combat suit stood out amongst the colorful suits and clothes of the others, as did his large frame. He was respected, he was feared, he was avoided. Unemotional, fearless, cold. If only they knew the reason—most of the time he was thinking deeply about something, so tended to filter out the outside world. That something included me, most of the time without my suit, in poses that were anything but commanding.

The 'Machine Guy' he was called.

Behind closed doors was a completely different story.

His fingers slowly brushed my hair aside, revealing my neck.

"You are tense," he said.

Disapproval, not sympathy.

I frowned. "Of course I am! Today was almost a disaster—" Kennar relationships were matters not to be trifled with... I managed to speak for Baro today and negotiate the terms of his confinement. It wasn't easy, especially since his survival and my part in it got disclosed, but I got what I wanted. This whole heated debate wore me out, but this time it was my diplomatic victory. Had I slipped on my arguments, it would have been a total defeat. A failure to bring my crew together.

I also ran away from Eyuran today. As always, he had been waiting for me after training, so he could escort me to our quarters. He did not like the idea of me going anywhere alone, so he demanded my compliance and was quite stern if I disobeyed him in that regard. If something was out there to threaten me, he'd be on the spot immediately, yet he preferred not to test our luck—if someone was to target me, it would be someone really big.

As soon as I saw Eyuran standing leaning against the wall, arms crossed over his chest, a smile flashed on his dusky face. He noticed me and I felt my blood rush from excitement, yearning for his knowing hands, his safe embrace, his disarming kisses. But I didn't obey him this time. Instead, I ran away. My legs stubbornly carried me away on their own, deciding to play the old game of provocation with him.

I wandered the hallways till late at night, and when I finally showed up in our quarters, switching on the lights I saw my spouse sitting on our bed, still fully dressed in his black combat suit, legs spread out, with palms resting on his knees. Sitting firm yet relaxed, he was calm and silent. But he smiled, watching me stop in front of him.