by Roxie Ray
“And if that king of yours isn’t willing to protect you…”
I nodded. “He might dispose of me altogether.”
“You need people you can trust there. As many as you can get,” Knox said.
“I have…a few.” I gave Ronan a wavering smile as I turned the communicator to face him. I turned it on Kali and Orion next. “They’re all here with me now.”
“Then keep them close to you—and be careful how you play your hand from here on out,” Knox told me. “You must convince the king to protect you—but you cannot seem too close to him from now on either. If the rebellion on Earth succeeds—”
“We need the rebellion on Lunaria to succeed as well.” I took a breath. My mind was racing as I tried to connect the dots. “If my marriage is useless to King Brixta politically, I need the rebellion to take pity on me.”
“And if the rebellion on Lunaria fails, you need to give King Brixta another reason to keep you as his wife.” Knox looked grimmer than I’d ever seen him before. “I wish I could give you better advice right now, but there is too much up in the air. The gold-classes here on Earth and the nobles on Lunaria will always be able to find some way to escape the effects of shifting politics, but as part of the ruling class…”
“We need to be more careful now than ever.” I sighed. On top of everything else I was dealing with right now, trying to navigate the uncertainties of politics seemed like the straw that might break this camel’s back. “We can’t choose a side until we’re certain it’s the right one.”
“These rebels will want blood if they win,” Knox said, “but they’ll need people in power to grant them leniency if they lose. It won’t be easy…but we can manage this, little troublemaker. Don’t lose faith just yet.”
“I don’t have a choice, do I?” I closed my eyes and gave Knox a nod. “I’ll do whatever I can here. Stay safe, big troublemaker.”
Knox laughed, then returned my nod. “I don’t have a choice.”
As the call ended, I heard Orion, Kali and Ronan all release their breaths.
“This is all over my head.” Kali pressed her palm to her forehead and winced. “Hearing the two of you talk politics just gave me a headache.”
“Do the two of you always finish each other’s sentences like that?” Orion asked. “Not even Phoenix and I share a brain the way you and your brother seem to.”
“Just the effects of a lifetime of playing three-dimensional chess, I guess.” I saw the blank looks on the faces of the Lunarians and rolled my eyes. “It’s a game of strategy on Earth. A lot like politics.”
“Then we must all play it now.” Ronan came to me and folded his hands over mine. “What do you want to do, Alora? Your life is most at risk here. If King Brixta were to plant his seed in you tonight, it would secure your place here, but it would also make it impossible for you to curry favor with the rebellion should they depose him.”
“And if I refuse him tonight, he won’t forget it.” I tried to focus on the warmth of Ronan’s fingers over my knuckles, but it was hard to. Suddenly, it was like my blood was made of ice. “I don’t suppose Lunarians have morning-after pills or condoms?” The Lunarians all looked at me blankly again. “Things to stop pregnancy from happening even when you have sex, I mean.”
“We have a population crisis, Alora,” Ronan reminded me. “Preventing pregnancy has never been a worry on Lunaria before.”
“But…there are other ways,” Kali said slowly. A furrow appeared in her brow as she moved across the room to a small cart bearing several ornate glass bottles. She picked up a clear one that sloshed with red liquid. It looked like wine. “This is the king’s favorite drink, you know.”
“I don’t think drinking all of the king’s wine will curry favor with anyone tonight, Kali.” I eyed the bottle curiously anyway. “But I guess being drunk might help make the situation more bearable.”
“I think someone ought to get drunk tonight, yes.” Slowly, a smile bloomed on Kali’s lips. “But no, Alora. Not you.”
14
Ronan
I had waited before. Stoically. Patiently. In the temple where I had grown up, I was taught to sit unmoving for hours on cold stone in deep meditation. In the trenches during my years as a soldier, there had been nights where I lay in silence until dawn, not knowing whether the forces that surrounded me were still waiting to kill me, or if they had moved on in the dark.
For the twenty-nine years before I met Alora, I had waited for a mate. There had been sex workers on other planets more than happy to bed Lunarian warriors such as myself. Females of other species, too. We Lunarians were, as the other soldiers told it, incredibly desirable bedmates for our strength, our passion, our tongues and our cocks—among other things. But every opportunity I had been presented with, I had passed on.
The only female I had ever wanted was the one destined to be my mate. My wife.
Alora was that female. There was not a doubt in my mind. And as I waited for her to emerge from the bedchambers of the baz-terd who had married her instead of me, I quickly discovered that it was the most difficult wait of my entire life.
It could not have lasted more than half an hour. Perhaps even less. But in my mind, it felt like an eternity. The whole time I worried for her—what if she had failed? What if Kali’s plan had gone wrong?
She could be hurt.
Hurt, or worse.
When the doors to Brixta’s bedchambers finally parted, I realized I’d been holding my breath. I didn’t know for how long.
“Alora?” I tried to search her face for emotion. For anything. I wished that she had Lunarian eyes, so I could at least detect the color in them. But, as always, they were the same green I had been dreaming of since Edon.
I counted my heartbeats until I finally saw a small smile appear on her lips. Light flickered in her eyes as she gave me a nod.
“Thank the moons.” I reached for her, then thought better of it. I longed to hold her, to kiss her, to tell her how proud of her I was. But given how tense her political position was…I could not risk that. Not here in the hall where anyone could see. Instead, I offered her one of my arms. “I worried for you, Alora.”
“You shouldn’t have.” Alora curled her fingers around my elbow and let her smile widen. “Kali’s plan worked like a charm.”
“Like a charm?” I blinked down at her. “You…you did not tell me you were a magic worker. I thought only the high priests of Drakova could—”
“No, I can’t work magic, Ronan. Just a turn of phrase.” Alora laughed. “But you wouldn’t be able to tell otherwise from how easy it was to get my new husband drunk.”
“Is that so?” I chuckled softly as I tried not to bristle at Alora calling Brixta her husband. It was true, I supposed—but if I had my way, it would not be for long. “I cannot imagine.”
“Is that sarcasm, Ronan?” Alora arched an eyebrow as I guided her back to her rooms. Her cheeks were so flushed, if I did not know better, I would have guessed that she had been freshly bedded. She was playing her part well. “I didn’t think you Lunarians had it in you for that kind of thing.”
“I have been around enough human females over the years that I must have picked it up at some point,” I said with a chuckle, recognizing the turn of phrase. “You would be surprised at what I have in me, I think.”
“Maybe I’d rather have you in me,” Alora said with a deliciously sinful grin.
It was my turn to arch an eyebrow, even as my cock throbbed in my pants. “Alora…”
“Yes, handsome?”
“As you were plying Brixta with the wine…how much did you drink?”
“Nothing. I promise.” Alora clung a little tighter to the arm she held. “It’s just…this is a little exciting, isn’t it?”
“We have very different ideas of exciting, my queen.”
“Maybe so,” Alora allowed. “You’ve had power for most of your life, Ronan. You’ve been free to fight for yourself, to bed whoever you wanted—”
I smiled down at her. “I have only wanted you, my queen.”
“Good. Then come back to my room with me.”
“Are you sure that is wise?” Moons. I did not want to argue with her on this point. If we were not in such a precarious position here, I would not have been.
I would have had her there in the hall, bent over with her skirts over her head and pressed up against the wall, if I had thought it safe to.
“Kali and Orion were supposed to be witnesses. In the morning, they’ll assure the king that he successfully bedded me.” Alora’s smile grew wickeder. “He’ll be passed out drunk until then. Meanwhile…” She pressed a kiss against my shoulder. “It’s still my wedding night, Ronan.”
“I think I have heard this one before.” I stared down at her, stunned by her boldness. All this time, I had thought I would be the one to become overwhelmed by my lust. But instead, it was Alora who was offering herself to me. It was…endearing.
It was maddening.
“I can’t help myself around you, Ronan. I’m so scared here, so alone…and you’re so protective of me. So kind. So sweet.” Alora’s eyes shone as she stared back at me. Green and bright as a lush, livable planet. The same color that Edon had been. “If you don’t want to, I understand, but…”
I wanted to.
Moons be damned.
“I want to.” I placed an arm around her and moved her along a little more quickly. “Come with me.”
It was not Alora’s rooms that I guided her to. Alora had new handmaidens now, ones who could easily enter her rooms and walk in on us—something that, no matter how much I desired her, I could not risk.
I took her to my own room instead.
It was far less grand than the ones that Alora had been granted as Lunaria’s new queen. The only furniture in the room was a bed and a table.
It took all the self-control I had in my body not to immediately throw Alora down onto one with plans to bend her over the other shortly after.
“It’s…so small,” Alora said with a little laugh as she stepped into the room.
“I know. You deserve better.” I rubbed the back of my neck, embarrassed. She deserved a bed of moon-flowers and snow-lilies, her hair splayed out across diamonds and pearls. “But…this is what I can offer right now.”
“I deserve you, idiot.” Alora threw her arms around my neck and kissed me deeply. As her tongue pressed between my stunned lips, I barely had the presence of mind to kick the door closed behind me. “The room doesn’t matter. You’re what I want.”
Then, I did throw her down on the bed. I scooped her up beneath her thighs with my lower arms while my upper hands cradled her head. I ran my fingers through her hair, relishing the taste of her lips against mine for a moment before tossing her onto the mattress I had been given to sleep on since we had arrived here.
“Oof!” She giggled as she bounced on impact. “Easy there, tiger.”
“This tye-grr…it is a term of endearment, yes?” I smirked up at her hungrily as I folded my body over hers.
“Sort of.” Alora wound her arms around my neck and pulled me close to her. Her back arched as she wrapped her legs around my waist. “It’s a…a ferocious beast on Earth. Long claws, just as sharp as yours.” She hissed in delight as I traced the curve of her waist down to her hips with one of my claws. “And sharp teeth, too.”
“I am a beast to you, my queen?” I growled theatrically and sniffed her neck with enthusiasm as I shifted my touch against her skin away from my claws and onto the pads of my fingers instead. She gasped and laughed as I tickled her ribs. “A blood-hungry predator?”
“Mm. Maybe.” She took a breath, then stole a kiss from me again. “I can’t be sure quite yet.”
“No? Why?”
“Because, Ronan.” Green fire danced in her lovely eyes. “You’re still dressed.”
“I can fix that,” I told her.
We both did—and quickly. My fingers couldn’t pull the laces of my shirt and pants away fast enough. Beneath me, Alora scrambled to rid herself of the heaviness of her black wedding top and skirt.
“Here,” I offered. There was a faster way for me to do this—one that I would enjoy much more as well. “Let me.”
Alora lifted her hips up as I reached around her with all four of my arms. I slit the laces of her top and skirt simultaneously with my claws. The laces snapped with little resistance. It was as if even Alora’s clothing itself was begging to be removed.
“Those are sharp,” she said with a smile.
“When they need to be.” I pulled the clothing away from her body and tossed it on the floor where it belonged. When my claws brushed against her skin again, they were gentle and harmless except for the way they raised little bumps of stimulation across her flesh. “I can be soft too though, my queen.”
“I don’t want you soft, Ronan,” Alora purred as she reached for the laces of my pants. “Not tonight.”
“That…should not be a problem.” My breath left my lungs as Alora pulled my pants open. She took my cock in her hands, and that breath turned into a moan.
“No,” Alora agreed. “No, I don’t think it will be.”
She shoved my pants down to my hips with one hand and stroked my cock with the other. I was painfully hard, stiff and ready beneath her greedy fingers. I could have spent myself in an instant, being touched by her like that.
But I didn’t want to shoot my seed across Alora’s deep pink pussy lips—not tonight.
I wanted to be inside her. Needed to be.
Cum churned in my balls as I moved my fingers to her clitoris. I pinned it beneath my thumb and rolled it back and forth, putting slightly more pressure on it until she moaned for me.
When I pulled my thumb away to suck it into my mouth and taste her, I moaned as well.
She was already soaked for me, sinfully sweet.
“Fuck me, Ronan?” Her mouth proved to be as sweet as her pussy as she begged for my cock. She positioned it at her entrance and bit her lip, arched her hips. “I need you. Badly.”
“I will give you everything you need, my queen,” I swore as I lowered a kiss onto her beautiful mouth. “Everything you need and more.”
Her sex burned for me as I pressed into her. Her pussy throbbed around me like it was trying to pull me in deeper and keep me inside. I kissed her over and over again as our bodies writhed against each other.
This was not our wedding night, nor was it our first time. But there was something about it that felt even more right this time. We were slowly learning each other’s bodies. I knew now that when I nipped at her neck, her cunt would clench up around my shaft and gush with honey. When I teased her nipples, stroking them between my fingers and my thumb, I knew I could expect her to mewl and moan like she was desperate for more.
“Feel me inside you, Alora,” I growled against her lips. “Feel how I fill you—how I stretch you so perfectly and leave you so full.”
“I feel it,” she gasped. Her fingers curled against my shoulders, gripping them tight. “Oh…Oh, Ronan, I feel it.”
“I feel you too, my queen.” I could not stop calling her that, even when I tried. “So hot. So tight for me.”
“All for you,” she agreed with a quick little nod. “All yours.”
“And what do you want from me now, precious one?” It was cruel to ask it, perhaps, but it made my cock stiffen even harder within her velvet depths that I could not help myself. “To fuck you like this? To make love to you, the way your body deserves?”
“Yes,” she purred. Every breath from her lips was labored. Slow and swelling as I entered her, then a final sharp inhale as I plunged my cock deeper inside her. “I want everything from you, Ronan.”
“Take it, then.” I moved my hips faster, shifting back and forth within her until I felt half-mad with lust. She milked my cock ruthlessly, without even trying—convulsing around me uncontrolled and shuddering with every breath, every thrust. “Take me. I am yours.”
“You’re mine,” she breathed back at me. “And I’m yours.”
As I felt her pleasure ripple through her, rise and mount to a peak, I found myself, unbelievably, falling for her even more. The way her lips moved wordlessly, mouthing something so intangible it was unspeakable as well. The way her fingers grabbed at me, clawing, digging into my muscles, pulling me closer and closer with a near-frantic energy that I could not help but give into.
The way her eyes rolled back. The way her body went stiff. The way, finally, her lips found words as she orgasmed uncontrollably around me.
No. Not words.
Only one word.
“Ronan!” she cried, loud enough that I had to press my hand over her mouth to muffle the sound so that no passing servants could hear her ecstasy. “Ronan!”
One word.
My name.
“Shh, vringna,” I purred down to her. “Ride it out. Feel it. But quietly, my queen. We cannot be caught.”
She shuddered and arched as the final waves of her orgasm passed through her. When she opened her eyes, it seemed that her vision took a moment to focus on mine.
“I don’t w-want to be quiet,” she whispered as she ran her fingertips across my lips. I bared my teeth at her and bit each tip gently as they passed between my fangs. “I w-want you.”
“And you will have me, my queen.” My queen. Mine, and mine alone. “All of me.”
“You’re mine.” Her eyes widened with something akin to innocence—as if she had just now realized it. “You’re really mine.”
“I am.” I kissed her deeply as my hips set a new pace. This one was deeper, darker somehow. I could almost hear the drums of my ancestors beating, keeping me in time—at least, that was what I imagined the sound to be, until I realized it was the sound of my heartbeat. Thrumming and pounding for her. For her alone. “I truly am.”
I kissed her cheeks, her neck, the soft place beneath her small, delicate chin. I kissed her with a hunger I had only felt in her presence and a need that could not be denied.
My balls tensed, pressed tight against her ass. Inside them, I could feel my seed churning, eager to be released. My cock swelled as cum rushed up through my shaft, bursting explosively through my tip.