Ascension Saga, Book 8: Interstellar Brides®: Ascension Saga

by Goodwin, Grace

  He was fucking perfect. Well, except for the caveman, over-protective, keep me in a bubble mode. But he’d learn.

  Opening my eyes, I walked to him, lifted my hands to his cheeks and tilted his face down to mine. “Are you sure, Nix? Really sure? Because after this, I’m not going to be able to let you go.”

  He sighed then, as if he were a balloon that had deflated. The fight left him and all that was left was Nix. My Nix. “I’m yours, mate. I’ve always been yours. It just took you a while to figure it out.”

  He was right. I’d been the one holding back, not committing. Afraid to trust that his promises meant anything. But now I knew the truth. He was mine. Really mine. Forever. And that changed everything.

  Lifting myself up on tiptoes, I kissed him. His hands came up to rest on my waist, but he didn’t pull me closer or try to dominate the kiss. He let me have my way, and I wanted to be gentle with him, only now realizing how my rejection must have hurt him. How frustrated and annoyed he’d been. “I’m sorry I was so slow on the uptake, mate.”

  He groaned and closed his eyes. “Say that again.”

  I grinned and ran my hands up and down his chest, his magnificent, muscled, perfect chest. Too many clothes. He was wearing too many clothes. “You’re mine, Nix. My mate. And I’m never letting you go.”

  He opened his eyes and looked down at me, held my gaze. “And that’s not just the Ardor talking?”

  Strangely, the Ardor was on a low simmer, as if it had a mind of its own and knew what was coming, content to wait for this moment to be just right. I shook my head. “It’s not the Ardor. It’s me. I’m falling in love with you, Nix.”

  I’d never said those words before. Never loved someone like I loved him.

  “Thank the gods, because you were killing me, female.” He swung me up into his arms like I was a new bride and carried me to the bed with a huge smile on his face. A happy smile. A smile I’d never seen before and would do almost anything to see again and again.

  I wrapped my arms around his neck as he settled me gently on the bed and pulled him down for a kiss. “Maybe I can make it up to you.”

  He waggled his eyebrows and it made me smile.

  “Whatever you need, mate. I will provide.”

  “So selfless,” I replied.

  He grinned at my teasing and pulled my uniform tunic up over my head. “Of course I am. I am the most magnificent male on all of Alera.”

  I watched, biting my lower lip as he pulled his own tunic from his magnificent body and lowered himself over me, his weight on his elbows so I could breathe. I kissed him. Again. “Yes, you are.”

  His mouth settled over mine, our tongues tangling, our bodies pressed together, chest to chest, skin on skin. Soft kisses. Slow kisses. I-love-you kisses. I could have stayed there, pinned beneath him, his mouth on mine for hours. Days.

  This was what my Ardor craved. Slow. Gentle. For the first time, we weren’t ravaging each other. We weren’t frantic or even desperate.

  But his cock grew hard, pressed between my hips and my Ardor rose to meet him. Not wild this time. There, but not boiling over, as if even my body had been tamed, gentled by Nix and his feelings for me. Or mine for him. As if since my mind had finally accepted him, my body did, too.

  My heart still ached, but the dagger-like pain was gone. Now the hurt filled me with power. With hunger and the need to make this man happy. No one else mattered. Only him. And me. And this heat flaring between us.

  “I need you, Nix.”

  He kissed me with a soft groan, lowering his mouth to my neck. Working his way lower, he took a slow exploratory path across my heated skin to my breasts. He sucked my hard nipple into his mouth, then the other, giving them due attention, as if he had all the time in the world. When I was gasping and writhing beneath him, he smiled and went lower still, kissing my stomach before lifting his head to pull off my boots. The rest of my clothes.

  He tried to slide back over me, his pants still on, but no way I was allowing him to get away with that. I wanted skin on skin. I needed him. I put up one foot and placed it square on his chest, but I didn’t kick. Just held him back. His eyes met mine. “You are not getting back into this bed until you are naked, mate.”

  He chuckled, but undressed quickly. “As you wish.”

  When he came back to me, I spread my knees wide, making room for him. Inviting him in. “Hurry.”

  His gaze was fixed between my thighs. I’d been bold, but he made me confident in my body, in my sexuality. There was no shame or embarrassment between us. Perhaps that was why we were mates.

  “Not this time.” He was on me before I could protest, his tongue working my clit as I arched off the bed. He lifted my bottom with one hand and pressed two fingers deep with the other, zeroing in on my G-spot with ruthless precision. My Ardor screamed through my bloodstream like a tsunami of boiling liquid in my veins and I came. Hard. My fingers tugging at his hair as I twisted and tilted my hips, trying to take him deeper. Harder. It felt so good. Exquisite. Bliss.

  “More.”

  I felt his smile in his cheeks as he kissed the inside of my thighs. He moved up my body with kisses, in no particular hurry, and I felt like I was being worshipped. Learned. Not possessed, treasured.

  When he reached my lips, I kissed him with tears streaking along my temples and down into my hair. He was killing me slowly, twisting my soul into an aching, needy thing. And I didn’t care.

  He slid deep, taking me with one slow thrust of his hips and I wrapped my legs around him, locked my ankles around his back. I never wanted this to end.

  His body fed me, the Ardor taking energy from him like it had dozens of times before, but this time was different. Slow. Gentle. If energy could be soft, like a warm blanket spreading through my body, this was it. Nix would be part of me forever and the thought made my pussy clamp down in hunger as another orgasm rocked through me.

  We kissed. Nix rocked his hips, not pounding into my body as he had in the past, but stroking me. Loving me, now that I had finally let him. It was bliss, his fingers entwined with mine, our mouths connected, chest to chest. Slow. Deep.

  He pulled his lips from mine and I felt his cock swell, knew he would come inside me. Fill me with his essence and his seed. And I wanted everything, everything he would give me.

  His cock jerked as he filled me, his lips next to my ear, my name like a prayer on his lips. A harsh growl that said… mine.

  God help me, I’d never felt anything so intense in my life. I exploded, crying out for him as I came, wrapping every part of me around every part of him. I didn’t want to be Destiny, I wanted to be us. Whole.

  “I love you, mate.” His words caused a flutter of aftershocks, and my Ardor made one final plea for him. Of course, his body responded, filling me with heat. Energy. Power. He made me stronger. He saved me, not just my life, but in every way.

  “I love you, Nix. Never leave me. Promise me.” I shouldn’t have begged, but I did, the insecure part of me refusing to die without a fight. I was too impulsive, too aggressive, not feminine enough. I’d heard it all before. And even though my heart ached with the need to trust him, there was still a part of me that couldn’t quite believe this was real.

  “Never, Destiny. You’re mine. My mate. I will always be at your side.” He kissed the wet remnants of my tears from my temple. “I give you my oath, on my honor. I will never leave you.”

  God, it felt good to hear that. Lying on top of me, I held him as my Ardor fed and then was quenched, the storm easing until there was nothing left. All at once, it stilled. My body was quiet, sated. Complete. Calm. The Ardor was over.

  And I didn’t want Nix any less.

  Nix must have sensed the change, for he pulled his cock free and rolled us both, tugging me into his arms. His heartbeat was a steady drum beneath my cheek and I was happier and more content than I’d ever been in my life. “I love you.”

  He kissed the top of my head and pulled the blanket up to cover us. “Slee
p, mate. You can fight tomorrow.”

  I pulled his arms tight around me and nuzzled in as close as I could get. He was mine. Really and truly mine.

  The Ardor was over, and I had never been so exhausted in my life. It was as if all the energy had been sapped from me. The Ardor had used it all up and I had to recharge. When my eyelids grew heavy, I trusted my mate to keep me safe and finally… finally let go.

  4

  Nix

  I heard heavy footfalls outside the door, the murmur of deep voices. My comms unit beeped quietly from my clothes across the room. When I ignored it, a quiet knock sounded on the door. I knew it was Captain Turaya. Perhaps Trinity or Leo had sent him. Had there been a change in plans? New intelligence that would require my mate’s input or mine?

  We were locked in a life and death struggle for control of this planet. My home. And though Destiny’s blood was half human, she belonged here. With me. With the people of Alera. She and her sisters gave the planet stability and hope for a better future. The past three decades of war and political upheaval would come to an end. Either the queen would be found, or she would not. But Trinity was here. Faith. Destiny.

  My mate was important to the people. But to no one more so than to me. She was my world now, and I would die or kill to protect her. Without thought or regret.

  Mine.

  Looking down, I stared at the top of her head. She was sprawled on top of me, her cheek pressing into my chest, one of her legs thrown over mine. A mate blanket.

  A sleeping mate. This was a rest of someone finally rid of their Ardor, her body exhausted and recovering, using the energy I had provided to grow strong again. The knowledge that it was my touch that healed her, my seed and my life force making her strong, filled me with a satisfaction so intense I nearly choked on it. I stroked her silky hair, and she murmured something unintelligible, nuzzling me with her lips, kissing my chest—even in her sleep. I marveled at the color of the strands as they slipped through my fingers. A deep purple, as bold as she was.

  Another knock, a bit louder this time. Damn it all.

  I glanced down at my mate. She hadn’t moved at the sound. She was out and it didn’t appear that she would wake any time soon. I didn’t want to leave the bed, for it was quiet, she was also quiet, and I marveled at the feel of her in my arms.

  “One minute,” I answered so that whoever was on the other side of our door would hear me. Destiny rolled over in protest when I pulled away, one eye peeking up at me.

  “Where are you going?”

  “Go back to sleep. Someone’s at the door.”

  “Tell them to go away and get back in bed.”

  I grinned. That was my demanding little mate. “Yes, Princess.”

  She snuggled back under the covers and closed her eyes, asleep in seconds. I stared, amazed that this female was really mine. It seemed impossible. A miracle. A blessing from the goddess I would do anything to protect.

  I knew my mate wasn’t safe. Even now, someone plotted to murder her and her sisters. The loss of any member of her family would cause Destiny great pain and could not be allowed.

  This secret meeting we’d spoken of was no accident. The hidden mastermind behind nearly thirty years of Aleran suffering was growing desperate, willing to risk everything in one final play. I sensed we were close to the end, that the Queen would soon be found, the traitor revealed. Until that happened, we would not truly be free to live out the rest of our lives together.

  Even as I worried about my mate, I could not bring myself to regret the circumstances that had brought us here. Had Queen Celene never been attacked so long ago, she would not have fled to Earth, met a new male, given birth to my mate. Had she not been kidnapped, my mate may have lived her entire life on another planet. My miracle lost, forever beyond my reach.

  I hated to hold gratitude to the traitors behind this mess, but in an odd twist of fate, had they not attacked Celene and killed the king that night, my life would have been empty. Destiny not part of me.

  She was now free of the throes of her body, the dangerous Ardor finally complete. I was fully awakened. I’d lost track of how many times we’d fucked over the last few days, but while my cock still rose for her—as it did now just thinking of being inside her again—it wasn’t an intense, all-consuming need. And still, there would be no going back. For either of us.

  Her Ardor had triggered something in me, something just as wild and edgy. She needed and I provided. That was what my body demanded. No other male would touch her. Kiss her. Fuck her. Give her his essence or his seed.

  Truth be told, I was exhausted, my body completely drained in every way, sexually, mentally, physically. But I had never been so content. She was finally mine. She had spoken the words. Claimed me. Spoken of love. I’d seen the raw emotion in her eyes, tasted her tears. She was mine, and even as I lay in bed, every muscle languid and weak, I felt as if my insides were about to jump out of my skin.

  Joy. This was joy. I’d never experienced this before, and I was heady with it. Smiling. I couldn’t stop smiling.

  All because of one spectacular, unique, incredible female.

  I kissed the top of her head and made sure she was covered with the blanket. She didn’t even stir, her hair fanned out across the pillow and one bare shoulder peeked out from the covers.

  Tugging on my clothes, I watched her sleep, reveled in the fact that she was finally at peace, that her body no longer ruled her. I refused to awaken her for another session of arguing and analysis. There were enough people working on finding her mother and ending this mess that she could continue her rest. She’d earned it.

  Opening the door to our suite, I looked up and saw the captain, Leo and Thor ten feet down the corridor, talking quietly. They looked my way when I stepped out and I shut the door carefully behind me.

  Leo’s face was filled with an odd expression. Resignation? Regret? “I apologize, Nix. I know you didn’t want to be disturbed, but this couldn’t wait.”

  I joined them. “What has happened?”

  It had only been a few hours since Destiny had stormed from the meeting room with a brash snap of her fingers. Oh yeah, that had been a challenge I could not ignore. She might own me, body and soul, but I was not a male to be dominated.

  “Cleric Amandine has sent another note.” Captain Turaya held an envelope identical to the one Destiny had opened earlier when we’d all been together. “The meeting has been moved up. It happens tonight, not tomorrow.”

  “The triad is already in Mytikas?” I asked, tempering my voice low to ensure Destiny rested. She needed to recharge. Becoming upset or agitated because of this latest information wasn’t what she needed. I needed her restored, energized and ready for what was to come.

  “Yes,” he replied. “I have men watching them now, following their movements, although it has been a surprisingly simple task. They went directly to the cleric building downtown and have yet to exit.”

  I looked to Leo. “Do the princesses know?”

  Both Leo and Thor shook their heads. Leo spoke. “My father collected this from the messenger, and I read it first. We wanted to discuss this with you, before we informed our mates.”

  I had no idea what they’d been up to since we’d left the meeting, but since we were standing in a back hallway and not conversing across a meeting table, they seemed to have some ideas on the next steps. “You don’t intend to tell them, do you?”

  Leo and Thor shook their heads. “No fucking way,” Leo said. “We can have this over and done. Every single one of our mates has a giant target on her back. I want Trinity safe and sound, surrounded by as many guards as I can spare.”

  I looked to Thor who crossed his arms over his chest. “And you?”

  His slight smile made it appear he was in pain. “Faith is soft-hearted. She has this magical ability to fight like nothing I’ve ever seen, but she hates to hurt anyone. And they’ve already tried to kill her. My parents are dead because of these traitors. I don’t want her an
ywhere near this bloodbath.”

  I couldn’t help but grin. I’d seen Princess Faith in action. She fought better than some of our most experienced, most skilled warriors. But he was right. The idea of the kind female being within three miles, let alone three feet, of a murderer did not sit well with me. And I wasn’t her mate. Thor looked barely contained in his feelings about this. And if anything happened to Destiny’s twin, my mate would be beside herself.

  It appeared these males were as serious about protecting their mates as I was. I nodded in approval. “Agreed. We take care of this ourselves. They will be angry, but I’d rather have my mate furious with me than in danger.”

  “Trinity is the problem. If she finds out, she’ll order us to include them and we won’t be able to say no,” Leo said.

  “Destiny is sleeping off the Ardor.”

  “Is it done then?” Captain Turaya asked.

  I nodded. “Yes.”

  He slapped me on the shoulder. “Well done, son. I’m surprised you’re still standing.”

  I chuckled, remembering just how exhausted I’d felt before hearing this news. Now adrenaline and action pulsed through me. These males and I would end this. Leo was from the Shadow unit, a skilled hunter and warrior. Captain Turaya was solid. Deadly. And Thor? I had not thought much of him before his mating to Faith, but he was deceptively dangerous, and had obviously received training at the hands of his mother, who had spent years in law enforcement within the Optimus Unit.

  We were a force to be reckoned with, and with our mates in danger?

  “No mercy.” I said the words as much as a vow to myself as an order to the others. I needn’t have worried. Both men agreed at once.

  Captain Turaya shook his head and grinned. “Are you sure about this?” He looked at each of us in turn, like a father scolding his young sons. “Your mates are not docile females. Earth has shaped them to be… different. More. They will not be happy that you have decided to exclude them.”