Oath Forger (Book 3)

by Nia Mars

  My spirits plummet again. “Are you in love with Senator Delza?”

  Koah’s body tenses. “No.”

  “Were you ever in love with her?” I hate the thought with the heat of a hurtling meteor. It’s a fireball of destruction.

  “I thought I might come to love her.”

  “And now?” I hold my breath.

  “Now you’re here and everything I’d ever thought about another woman seems shallow and ridiculous. Insignificant.” He pauses. “Like the packaged food on the spaceships. We eat it because it’s all there is.”

  “I thought the packaged food on the ship was a miracle.”

  “Changed your mind since?”

  I sigh. I’ve become ridiculously spoiled. “The palace chef is a wizard of taste.”

  He chuckles, his muscles relaxing. “I’ve had a taste of you now, my Ava. I’d rather starve to death than ever have anything else.”

  I’m not going to lie—his answer makes me happy and fills me with a feminine satisfaction that’s new to me.

  I want to stay in bed all day, curled up against him, but I make myself sit up. I can’t hide in my bedroom forever. I need to get out of here and figure out who killed Taly.

  I can see Koah fully at last, my gaze landing on the new network of pink scars on his chin, chest, and shoulders. Tembrian swords. I don’t even bother shaking my head. I scoot to the edge of the mattress. “I’m going to take a shower.”

  “Breakfast in the garden?”

  “I’m not hungry.” I can’t feel my stomach. Or my heart. Everything is numb inside me. Taly died because of me. Because someone wanted to send me a message.

  “Eat something anyway. You need your strength.”

  As I walk to the bathroom, he calls after me. “Need help?”

  I bite back a smile. He wouldn’t be Koah, if he didn’t try. “I think I can manage.”

  When I come out of the bathroom, he goes in, pausing in the doorway. “Don’t go anywhere without me. Actually,” he adds, “I don’t mind if you come in here with me. I don’t like the idea of you being alone. What if you faint?”

  “I’m perfectly fine.”

  “Be perfectly fine where I can keep an eye on you.”

  “Dason healed me.”

  He grunts and rubs a hand over his chest. “I can’t tell you how much I hate being forced to like the damned kid.”

  “He’s a man.”

  Koah’s eyes narrow. “Do you think of him as a man?”

  “As opposed to what? A poodle?”

  His eyes stay narrow. “Do you think carnal thoughts about Dason, my Ava?”

  I keep my face deadpan. “You mean like when he’s licking my body?”

  Now those indigo eyes burn with jealousy.

  “I was unconscious at the time!”

  “You said you remembered.”

  “One lick!”

  Koah’s hands sneak out and wrap around my waist, pull me flush against his powerful body. “Tilt your head to the side,” he says in a rough whisper.

  As mad tingles cover my skin, I tilt my head.

  He lowers his mouth to the exposed skin of my neck, then licks, his hot tongue messing with my nerve endings.

  I bite my lip. “You do know that this is weird?”

  He licks again, and then he nibbles, and then he sucks my skin into his mouth. I say nothing more because suddenly my body is alive, and I want nothing more than to celebrate that I’ve survived the explosion.

  A needy murmur escapes my throat.

  Koah’s fingers tighten on my hips. But then, with a ragged breath, he releases me. And then he steps back and closes the bathroom door in my face. I hear the lock engage.

  “I don’t trust myself right now,” he calls from the other side.

  And, for some reason, that accomplishes the impossible this morning. It puts a smile on my face.

  I watch the news while he takes a shower. The newscasters mostly talk about the peace and everyone’s hopes that the peace will hold. Then there’s the report on the confirmation committee and the hearing. Speculations are going wild.

  As the bathroom door opens, I turn off the display.

  Koah strides over to me with an odd expression on his face. “I just received a transmission from one of my captains.”

  I freeze. Is it something bad?

  “I asked them to hack into any systems they picked up in Earth’s orbit while fighting the pirates. My techs got a couple hits, but it took our experts a few days to make the data compatible with our technology. Among other things, we have twenty-four hours’ worth of security footage from what I think is your Dallas Colony. You might be able to see your sister.”

  The hope that floods me is so sharp, it almost hurts.

  He taps his comm unit and the wall display comes back on. As I hold my breath, security footage from the colony’s entrance starts playing, the camera aimed at the opening in the hospital’s ruins. He speeds up the video feed so I can still recognize people, but we won’t have to sit here for twenty-four hours for me to find Lily.

  I stare at the screen, tears springing into my eyes as I see people I know. Jack Crane, one of our doctors. Irma Minch, the woman who gave me my weapons training. But I mostly see scavengers. People like me who come and go regularly. I see a few others, too, people who don’t scavenge, but go up onto the surface to feel the sun on their faces when the wind isn’t blowing sand.

  “Stop!”

  Koah sets the vid feed back to normal speed.

  My heart leaps.

  Lily.

  My sister is walking back into the colony, a young man by her side. They look dusty and dirty, sweaty from long-range scavenging. They’re laughing.

  When they’re inside, fully in the cover of the ruins, he picks her up and swings her around, and then he pulls off his mask before he pulls off hers, and then kisses her with obvious adoration. He looks at my sister as if Lily had invented underground gardening.

  I’m openly crying by the time they disappear from the screen. Koah fast-forwards through the rest of the recording, but Lily never appears again.

  It’s okay. I know that she’s healthy. I know that she’s safe. And I know that she’s not alone. She’s loved, if that kiss was anything to go by.

  “She looks a little like you,” Koah says behind me.

  I whirl around and then throw myself into his arms so hard, I manage to knock him back a step. “Thank you.”

  He laughs as he lifts me off the ground. Then he loses that laugh as I seal my lips over his.

  I FELT PRETTY HEALED when I woke up, but after having breakfast in the garden with Koah, I feel even better. Some of it definitely comes from seeing Lily. But some of it is truly physical. I stretch my arms and look at my skin. No scars. Even my old, Earth scars have disappeared.

  Dason and his magic tongue. O-kay.

  Koah eyes me thoughtfully. “I think it’s the garden. I was hoping this might happen.”

  “You brought me out here to finish healing me?”

  “You are some small part of Smys. Our gardens belong to Smys. And Tib met you here.”

  “Is that why you made me drink from the pool?”

  He nods. “Both you and Tib were in that water.”

  I don’t believe in magic water, but I can’t deny that I feel healed. I even have my energy back. And then some.

  I push to my feet. “If it’s magic water, then I’m going in.”

  I take half a dozen steps, then I hesitate and turn to him. He’s still reclining on his side by our breakfast trays.

  “Your clothes will get wet,” he warns and leaves me to figure out for myself that I need to undress.

  I can’t not notice the hunger in his eyes. He wants me, but he won’t push. He always tries, but he’ll never grab and take. He’s resigned to waiting. And if I decide not to accept him at all, he will not complain.

  I can’t help but think how he almost died on his Earth mission. Where he’d gone for me. To keep my pe
ople safe.

  Then I think about how I almost died in the explosion in my bedroom.

  I reach for the hem of my white tunic top, and before I can change my mind, I pull it over my head and off, tossing it on the grass. I’m naked underneath. I guess they didn’t bother with a bra at the med center.

  Koah rises to his knees as if drawn up by a string. He looks as if someone has just punched him in the gut. His hot indigo gaze caresses my skin. “My Ava.”

  I bend to shove down my pants and my underwear at the same time. I kick them away, then turn and walk into the water.

  “Ava?” he calls after me, his tone desperate.

  I walk to the middle of the pool, then duck under the surface to kneel on the bottom the same way I did when Tib’s hands were on my shoulders. I squeeze my eyes shut and hold my breath as long as I can before bursting up out of the water and into the air.

  Koah is standing right in front of me. Naked.

  God, those warrior muscles, that wide chest, those granite boulder shoulders, those sharply carved lips, those indigo eyes. He’s...

  I can’t help myself. I lean forward.

  His strong arms pull me closer.

  We are skin to skin. He feels hot, burning.

  I lift my lips to his. “Kiss me.”

  “Are you sure?”

  Suddenly, I am. I know I’ve had doubts in the past, and plenty of them, but just now I have none. My chest is bursting with feelings for the man in front of me.

  “Koah, Krek of Nador, Head of the Worben Alliance, I accept you. I am your Oath Forger.”

  I hope those are the right words.

  They must be, because his indigo eyes flare. I’m mushed against him even harder the next second. And then his lips touch mine.

  “My Ava.” The words float on a reverent whisper before his mouth explores me.

  The slow seduction phase of the game is apparently over, because we are inhaling each other.

  Yet I know he’s still holding back. He’s vibrating with restraint. He’s working so hard not to scare me off.

  “You will not leave us?” he breathes against my lips.

  I shake my head, opening my eyes.

  His indigo gaze burns into mine, hot and sharp. “If you accept me, it’s forever.”

  “I’m forever yours. And you’re forever mine.”

  His wide chest rises with a ragged intake of breath.

  “You know, when we first met, I thought you were mad at me,” I tell him. “You looked angry.”

  His eyes narrow. “Did I? I remember being stunned.” He pauses. “Maybe angry for a second. I was winning against the other kreks. I was looking forward to finishing them. The tides of war were turning.” He flashes his cocky warlord grin. “Then I looked up, and there you were, the Oath Forger.”

  He leans in to nibble my lower lip for a few seconds, then draws back. “I was happy you came. But I hated the thought of sharing you with them. And I hated to give up all the ground I’ve gained.”

  “And now?”

  “I’m going to be your first.”

  “Yes.”

  His hungry, triumphant smile shoots straight to my heart. Then that smile softens and morphs into something open and unguarded. “I can be a conceited bastard. I wanted peace, but I wanted it on my own terms. After my resounding victory.”

  He draws a deep breath. “But, my Ava, now that you’re here... This is the right way. Even I know it. You brought life-giving light into my life. I can’t be angry with the others for wanting you, any more than I can be angry with other people because the sun also shines on them and they wish for its warmth.”

  His words wrap around my heart. His thick, hard cock is a firebrand between us, pressing into my belly. Koah holds himself completely still. He still won’t push me.

  I let my hands drift down over the muscles of his back to settle on his insanely hard, warrior ass. I let my fingers discover him, gliding over all that warm skin.

  His eyes widen. His muscles flex. “We don’t have to.” His voice is shredded. “You don’t have to right now. You’re recovering.”

  “I’m fully recovered.” I brush my lips over his. “Olipha said it’d help at the hearing if I have at least one link completed.”

  His large hands cup my face. His fierce expression steals my breath. “Fuck the committee. We do this when you’re ready.”

  My entire body is tingling with need for him. “I’m ready.”

  He kisses me with the desperation of a drowning man.

  Before I can fully recover, he’s carrying me out of the water. The breakfast trays clang as he sweeps them aside with his foot. Then he’s laying me down onto the soft blanket.

  I’m on my back, surrounded by the verdant lushness of the garden, with the brilliantly clear azure sky above. The waterfall sounds like music in the background. Koah is on his side next to me, propped up on one elbow.

  Finally, I dare to look at his naked body. All of it.

  Too much. I squeeze my eyes shut.

  He gives a low, rumbly laugh. “We’ll go slowly. Any time you want to stop, we stop.”

  I look into his eyes. Koah’s so not the slow-going type. Yet I know that he would do anything for me.

  I reach out and touch his chest, dragging my fingertips over his muscles. I could do just this for the rest of the day and be happy.

  He lets me explore him.

  My gaze dips to his rigid cock straining toward me. I hesitate, raising my gaze back to his face. His focused attention is on my fingers. He looks as if he might die if I don’t reach lower and touch his hard length.

  So I do. Right next to the small slit on the swollen purple head. I spread the clear drop of moisture I find there and make his taut skin even shinier.

  He shudders with pleasure.

  Screw being tentative. I feel filled with power. I slide my fingers down the entire length and then close my fist around him. His cock immediately jerks toward me.

  “You probably shouldn’t do too much of that right now.” The words are followed by a nearly-defeated groan. “Or this will be over way too fast.”

  When I look up at him again, his eyes are squeezed shut.

  I pull my hand away. But then I notice another drop of clear fluid at that little slit, and I’m filled with curiosity to know the taste. So I bend down and lick the bead of liquid.

  The next second, I’m on my back again. Koah is pulling my knees apart, and then he’s between them, pushing them up, his hands wrapped around my trembling thighs. He bends his head to me and his tongue darts out to lick my seam from bottom to top. Oh. The pleasure of his touch makes me moan, even before his tongue parts me, and he licks inside.

  The sight of Koah’s thick indigo hair between my thighs steals my breath away. I have no idea when I dug my fingers into his lion’s mane, but they’re there, tangled in his thick locks, holding him to me.

  A low rumble of a laugh escapes him, his mouth still pressed against me, and the vibrations drive me mad.

  His tongue wraps around my clit.

  Stars in the universe!

  The soft, begging sounds I make are embarrassing. I’m powerless to stop them. Then I don’t want to, because Koah answers with a hungry growl that tells me just how much he likes the sounds I’m making.

  I stop worrying about the committee hearing this afternoon. I might not even be here by this afternoon. I’m pretty sure Koah’s tongue is about to vaporize me. I already feel as if I’m nothing but a floating mist of pleasure.

  When his finger enters me, my body clenches around it. He’s gentle, but somehow still manages to fuck me with that finger like he means it, exactly like I need. Then another finger enters, and I’m stretched. At the same time, he sucks hard on my clit.

  My body goes into convulsions, squeezing tightly around his fingers, pulsing with a blinding orgasm.

  Wow.

  I can’t breathe. I don’t even care. I don’t need air.

  Wow.

  He waits
until my molecules reassemble themselves into solid form again, until my lungs remember their function, until my brain returns to semi-working order. Then he stretches out over me, supported on his elbows. The head of his cock is lined up with my soaking wet, swollen opening.

  “We can stop right here,” he offers in a choked voice.

  Like hell we can.

  I lift my hips and push myself onto him while he watches with fierce concentration. The groan that escapes him sounds as if someone tore his soul in half.

  I groan too, because... God, this hurts. I’m so full, so stretched, I feel ripped apart. And he’s not even halfway in.

  I suck a long breath through my teeth.

  He covers my face with tender kisses. His strong arms are trembling. “I’m sorry.”

  I squeeze my eyes shut. “Make it better.”

  He rocks against me gently. I hiss in a sharp breath. He eases in another inch, then another. One hand moves between us to play with my clit.

  Even that doesn’t work for several seconds. And then it does.

  He’s fully inside me, unmoving in me, giving me a chance to adjust to his size. Only his thumb flicks—small flicks in a steady rhythm against my swollen nub.

  As pleasure builds, I strain against him. I hold tight to his shoulders.

  He begins rocking into me. “My Ava. My Ava.”

  I open my eyes. He’s watching me, unmitigated happiness suffusing his face. He should always be like this. He is even more breathtakingly handsome than usual.

  The pleasure of our joined bodies is overwhelming, but it’s more than just carnal pleasure. It’s also a returning home kind of a feeling.

  “Can you come again?” he asks, his tone betraying how much he wants it.

  “I have no idea. I’m kind of new at this.”

  He laughs, and it’s the sound that pushes me over, the vibrations of his laughter inside me.

  My body clenches his thick cock as I come around him while he rocks into me one more time, then once more, and then he throws his head back with the sexiest growl I’ve ever heard, filling me with his hot seed.