Nadine's Champion: A Sci-Fi Alien Romance (Icehome Book 8)

by Dixon, Ruby

  “Cooties,” Penny says dramatically. “Who would have thought that parasites would be the most romantic things in the universe?”

  Who indeed.

  22

  NADINE

  It takes me a little while to unpack all my stuff in Thrand’s hut despite the fact that I don’t have much. I’m moving slowly and quietly so as not to wake him, and by the time the last fur is unrolled, the day’s events hit me like a ton of bricks. I pull my boots and clothing off, wash his seed off the insides of my thighs, then curl up under the blankets next to my guy and fall fast asleep.

  I wake up to my thighs being pushed apart, and then Thrand’s lips are on my pussy, kissing and nibbling at my folds. I moan as he grips my ass and drags his tongue over my clit. “Your…head…” I manage.

  “Better,” he says, not lifting his head.

  I close my eyes and spread my thighs wider. “If you’re sure—”

  “Very sure,” he says, and goes to work on my clit, sucking and licking until I’m squirming against his mouth. By the time he slides a finger deep inside me and strokes my G-spot, I’m practically coming off the furs. I explode with a fierce orgasm, and then collapse, gasping, as he kisses his way up my belly.

  “How did you know about my G-spot?” I ask him, breathless. It’s obvious that he knows it’s there, because he heads for it with uncanny accuracy and makes me come so hard that my legs jerk like a marionette. “Blind luck?”

  The look he gives me is smug. “I made you come harder than ever before, didn’t I?”

  “You did,” I agree. There’s no denying that.

  He lowers his head and tongues my nipple, teasing the peak until I start squirming underneath him again. His khui is loud and insistent in his chest, and mine is, too. It’s vibrating so hard that it feels like all of my internal organs are trembling with the force of it, but at the same time, it feels good.

  And even though I just came, I’m still achy with need.

  “Vordis,” Thrand says when he lifts his head. “He told me it is a spot that pleases Angie much and I should do the same for you if I wanted to win you.”

  I’m not surprised he went to his brother for advice. “God bless Angie for sharing that news.” It hadn’t occurred to me to point it out, because I’ve never had a boyfriend before that was ever able to find it. That Thrand finds it and hits it right away just proves that he’s perfect for me. My mate. My smug, eager, clever a’ani mate. “Well, you’re really good at that.”

  “The best,” he agrees.

  “A real champion.”

  He caresses my breast, his thumb moving over my nipple as he looms over me. He kisses my lips gently, then presses his hips against mine. I can feel the heated length of his cock resting against my mound. He feels so good atop me, his skin warm against mine. “Your champion,” he tells me.

  “All mine,” I agree, and lift one leg to hook around his hip. “You always knew, didn’t you?”

  “That you would be mine?”

  “That we would resonate,” I correct, running a hand over his chest. “I don’t know how you knew.”

  “I wished it to be so and it was,” he tells me, as if this answers everything.

  It answers nothing for me, but it doesn’t matter. He’s mine and I’m his and everything feels as if it’s falling into place. “I hope you don’t mind that I moved in,” I say, caressing his face. I can’t stop touching him, any more than I can stop the incessant hum of my khui. It’s urging us to have sex right now right NOW but I need this moment with him, need to connect with Thrand and revel in this joy as I catch my breath.

  He presses a hot kiss to my palm, reminding me that he still needs more, that resonance is as hot and urgent as ever. “I made this a home for you, Nadine. Everything I have done has been for you. From the moment I met you, I knew I was dedicated to Angie, but the way I felt every time I saw you was confusing to me. I knew I was supposed to be focused on Angie, but I could not stop thinking of you. Of your smile. Of your laughter. Of your fierce spirit.” He kisses my palm again. “Once I understood that I did not have to devote my life to Angie on this new planet, I felt as if I had been reborn. That I could be someone different. Someone new. I could just be Thrand, and Thrand could love Nadine. It is a new concept for me. An overwhelming one.” He takes my hand and guides it to his heart, where his khui is thrumming hard in his chest. “And it fills me with joy.”

  “I love you, too,” I tell him, and I feel silly that I was ever jealous of Angie and his fixation on her. “Resonance is forever, though. It means you and I are going to make a family, and that we’re together. There’s no takebacks.”

  “Good,” he tells me fiercely, his eyes going dark with emotion. “Then I will not have to murder R’jaal for casting longing looks in your direction.”

  I sputter in surprise. “R’jaal? He doesn’t want me.”

  “Yes, he does,” Thrand tells me with a scowl. “He watches all the women with a hungry gaze.”

  “Then he doesn’t want me, he wants resonance. There is a difference—”

  “Yes, the difference is that you are mine.” He rocks his hips against the cradle of my sex, dragging his cock over my folds. “Mine alone.”

  I gasp, holding onto his shoulders as he moves over me. For a man that’s never done this before, he somehow knows just how to move in a way that will drive me wild. He leans in and kisses me, his mouth gentle on mine even as he drives against my folds once more, the tip of his cock sliding through my slick flesh until it drags against my clit.

  Resonance seems to drown out my moan, the thrumming between us is so loud and fierce. I know how it feels. Even though I just came, I don’t think I’ve wanted anything as badly as I want Thrand in this moment. He moves over me again, and I dig my nails into his skin. “Take me,” I whisper. “Make me all yours.”

  He gives me another heartbreaking, cocky grin. “I will be the best you have ever had.”

  “You already have been.”

  With a fierce groan, he kisses me again and shifts his weight. I feel him press the head of his cock against my entrance, and encourage him with a flex of my hips. He stiffens over me and then thrusts forward, pushing into me. The first thrust makes me ache with incredible sweetness, and then he pushes into me again, and the next thrust is nothing but pleasure and the surge of his body over mine. He starts a steady rhythm and I arch my hips to meet each thrust.

  We move as one, racing toward another climax, and when he gets there before me, that’s okay, too. I hold him close as he shudders over me, my name on his lips, his cock deep inside me and filling me with his seed. I love the closeness between us, the way he feels on top of me and inside me, and I don’t even care.

  But Thrand groans a moment later, lifting his head as the quaking in his body slows. “I…was not the best that time.” He’s panting and flushed, and the grin on his face is both cocky and rueful.

  I laugh, because it’s so very Thrand of him. “It doesn’t have to be perfect every time. I like the imperfect times, too.”

  He leans in and kisses me, and slides his hand between us, where we’re still joined. His fingers glide over my pussy, find my clit, and he begins to stroke it. “But then I do not get the pleasure of seeing you come, my pretty human.”

  I moan, burying my face against his bicep as he pushes me right back to the top, and then I’m coming so hard that I see stars. I gasp his name, clutching him against me as he gives me that confident smile and keeps touching me until I come twice in short succession.

  “Mercy,” I tell him after that. “I need a moment.”

  He chuckles and lifts his hand from my sensitive folds, brushing my hair back from my now-sweaty face. “You are beautiful like this.”

  “Gasping for air like a fish?” I joke.

  “Exactly so.” He grins. “But I meant in my arms, flushed with pleasure.” His hand skims down my side, caressing my skin. His khui hums loudly, and the sound is insistent. Thrand still feels hard ins
ide me, too.

  “Five minutes,” I say, breathless. “Five minutes and then we can go again.”

  “Five minutes,” he agrees, and kisses me lightly.

  I reach up and brush his hair back from his face, studying the light pink scar there. It does look mostly healed, the discoloration against his bright red skin the only telltale sign it was ever there. “How’s your head?”

  “Not all that important compared to other parts of me that are more insistent.”

  I snort. “Because of resonance?”

  “Because I have a beautiful mate and my cock is deep inside her and it fills me with a joy I have never experienced in my life.” He gazes down at me, his expression thoughtful. “Because I have always been Thrand to her and not just another a’ani.”

  I lean into his caress when he touches my cheek. It’s so strange to me that such a self-confident man so full of swagger and life can think of himself as anything but an individual. Even when he stands next to Vordis, they are wildly different to me. Their faces have the same features, true, but the cast of them is different. The way they hold themselves is different. The way they laugh is different. “To me you are always Ketchup.”

  “And someday I will learn what that is.”

  I laugh. “Someday I’ll tell you and then you’ll be disappointed.”

  “Nothing about you disappoints me.” He skims his thumb over my lips. “Except perhaps your stamina—”

  I grab his hand and he laughs, the sound gleeful as he grabs me around the waist with his other arm and expertly flips us over. Then, I’m atop his hips, straddling him, and he’s below me, grinning like a fool. He’s still deep inside me—and still hard—and the change in positions makes everything flare to life all over again. From the look on his face, that was his plan.

  So much for five minutes.

  Gazing down at him, I run a hand over his chest, loving the way he closes his eyes. It’s like my caress means more to him than anything. I shift my weight atop his hips, feeling the wet slide of our bodies together, and he groans.

  “You feel so good, Nadine.”

  He feels pretty fucking amazing, too. His cock is rock hard and prodding me deep inside, and it’s…awe-inspiring. “How’s your khui?” I ask, breathless. “Feel any different?”

  “No. Yours?”

  I shake my head. “Same. Veronica said we’ll have to keep going until I’m pregnant. It might take two more times or twenty…hopefully not two hundred.” I try not to think of Willa and Gren’s resonance. I’m hoping that was an outlier. Sex with Thrand is amazing, but thirty days of marathoning it might dampen my enthusiasm a tad. Even now, I’m feeling boneless and tired and yet somehow ready to go again, which is a weird mix of arousal and fatigue.

  “Ah yes, the reason for all resonance,” Thrand says, reaching up and teasing my breasts. “A child.”

  “Yeah, it’s the biggest side-effect.” My smile fades and I gaze down at him. “How do you feel about having a baby?”

  He shrugs, the movement of his body rippling under me. “I never thought of it much. I only thought of possessing you. The family part of resonance did not occur to me until I saw Vordis with Glory and Angie. I admit I have wondered what our child would look like.” His expression grows soft and he reaches up and toys with one of my curls. “If our daughter would have your hair.”

  “Or a son,” I tell him, and rock my hips. It’s almost an involuntary movement, as if my body can’t help itself. The movement makes my breath catch, and I’m utterly aware of how big his cock is inside me, how hard, how fucking good it feels.

  “I never thought of a son of my own,” he says in a low voice, holding my hips and dragging me back down when I lift up.

  “But…you like babies,” I point out. Our words are slow and scattered, my mind torn between the languid way I’m riding him and thoughts of the future. “You love holding Glory. I’ve seen you…oh god, that’s good.”

  Thrand apparently isn’t satisfied with my slower movements, as he moves one hand to my pussy and rubs his thumb against my clit, and I rock against it every time I move. “I like all babies,” he tells me.

  “Good, because you’re gonna have one.”

  “Good,” he murmurs, and drags his thumb over my clit. “I want to fill you up with my seed, my Nadine. I want all of you.”

  As if I’m holding anything back? But I lose track of words as I bear down on him, our movements becoming quicker as need overtakes us. I can’t move my hips fast enough, and I’m whimpering as I rock atop him, trying to get to the next orgasm. It doesn’t take long at all, my body primed for pleasure, the khui vibrating through both of us, and then I’m coming all over again, and his seed is so thick and plentiful between us that we’re both sticky with release. He rolls me onto my back and presses another hot kiss to my mouth, and then grabs a skin of water and offers it to me.

  “Thirsty?”

  I nod, take a sip, and then offer it to him. He’s smiling as he drinks, and a bubble of laughter escapes me. “You seem happy.”

  “I am. I have my mate, we will make a child, and I am free. What more could a male want?”

  It’s on the tip of my tongue to say ‘toilets’ or ‘running water’ but he’s right. When I think of all the things we have compared to what we don’t? Thrand is safe and the skyclaw didn’t kill him. We’ve resonated. We’re in love.

  I feel like the luckiest woman alive.

  “And you,” he asks. “Are you happy?”

  “I am.”

  His grin turns wicked. “I bet I can make you happier.”

  I groan with amusement even as he leans in to kiss me again.

  Epilogue

  NADINE

  I wake up from a nap to the sound of…drums? Yawning, I sit up in bed, giving Thrand a bit of a push when he tries to drag me back down next to him. Our legs are entwined, the furs tossed all over the hut, and I feel sore and stretched everywhere.

  It’s been a pretty fun day.

  Wait…night? Or is it the next day? I actually have no idea what day or time it is. The world has blended together in-between rounds of making love, sleeping, and shoving food into our mouths between marathon sex sessions. My hair feels like a tumbleweed atop my head and Thrand’s is sticking straight up all over, which is far too cute.

  I nudge him as he hugs me close and tries to go back to sleep. “Is that drumming?”

  “Mmm.” He gives me a sleepy-eyed look that makes his lashes look sinfully long. I hope our baby has those lashes, because damn. “Come lie down.”

  The drumming stops for a moment, and then I hear the faint sounds of laughter. It definitely sounds like a party, and I’m tempted to get up and see what’s going on. I glance down at Thrand, who rolls onto his back and gazes up at me with his hand behind his head. It seems oddly quiet in our hut with the drumming gone, and I can’t figure out what it is until I touch my chest and realize my khui is quiet. No, not quiet exactly…calmer. It’s still humming, but it’s less frenzied, less like a swarm of bees in my chest and more like one contented bee.

  “Well, that didn’t last long,” I murmur, putting my hand over Thrand’s chest and feeling for his khui. It’s the same with him—still humming, but not nearly as urgently as before. “Resonance is over.”

  “You sound so sad, my mate. Resonance may be over, but you and I have just begun.”

  That’s sweetly romantic of him and improves my mood. I smile, and then rip the furs back from his waist. “Come on. Let’s go steal their food and see what the party’s about.”

  He groans. “I will only allow this if we can come back here once the party is over and you will ride me again.”

  “Allow?” I echo, but I’m laughing. I love how he turns a demand into another not-so-subtle request for sex. I’ve created a monster. “I will only allow you to go down on me again after I’ve eaten stew and some shrimp tea, how’s that for allowing?”

  “Very well.” He sits up and immediately pulls me into his lap,
then kisses me hard. “I like having you in my hut.”

  I wrap my arms around his neck. “I like being here.” The drums start up again and I jump to my feet. “Come on.”

  “You do not like being here that much,” he grumbles, but he gets up and heats water for washing. I just laugh at his mood. Like we’re not going to be all over each other the moment the party’s over? He’s got a lot to learn.

  A short time later, we’ve bathed and cleaned each other up—and kissed more than we should have. He pokes at my hair, grinning, and I can only imagine how wild it looks. I don’t care, though. I take his hand because the drums are going and someone’s singing loudly off key. “Let’s go join the party.”

  We head out to meet the group, hand in hand, and before we leave the “porch” of our hut, I see Vordis and Angie sitting in front of theirs. She’s feeding Glory, the baby tucked against the open neck of her tunic, and her mate watches her with a reverent expression on his face. They look up as we approach, and Thrand grins at his brother. “You were waiting out here for us?”

  Vordis rolls his eyes. “Not at all. We wanted a quiet moment to ourselves.”

  Thrand just smirks at me. “He was waiting for us. He just does not want to admit it.”

  Angie laughs and shifts the baby to her other breast, covering herself with a fur shawl quickly and effortlessly and somehow manages to expose nothing to the cold air. “Nice to see you haven’t let resonance change you, Thrand.”

  “Never.” He squeezes my hand and gives me a long, heated look that tells me he’s thinking about resonance and returning to our hut right now. The look gives it away—that, and the fact that his khui is humming louder again, as if it’s turned on, too.

  “Well, I would hug you, Nadine, but my hands are full,” Angie tells me, smiling so broadly that the gap in her front teeth shows even in the moonlight. “I’m glad we’re sisters, though.”