by April Osirus
Rom’s dark eyes never left her face. He seemed hungry to gaze upon her. “You couldn’t have picked a better word, little one,” he said. “‘Gesture’ is exactly what it was.”
Avia felt less annoyed now with his endearment. She instead felt touched and warm. Taking another sip of the wine, she asked, “What kind of gesture were you making?”
Rom quickly thought about his words and made a firm and final decision. “A gesture to show how much I trust you,” he said. He sat still in his seat as if his body was tied directly to hers.
Avia stared at him. “Trust me? But I’m just a soldier. You don’t even know me,” she spluttered.
Rom gave her a faint smile. “Don’t know you?” he echoed. He held his wine glass but didn’t sip. “I know that you can keep a cool head even when under attack.” He emphasized the last word in reference to the attack of the two soldiers her first night on Vistra. “I know that you are tactical and know how to assess a situation to your advantage.”
Avia sat in silence. Had he watched her that closely that first night?
“I know that you are open with your heart and selfless with your body,” Rom continued, unperturbed by Avia’s stunned expression. “I know that you are gentle and sweet but have had to build a sturdy wall around you to keep out those who don’t understand you. You are an intoxicating mix of strength and softness, intelligence and sensitivity, sweetness and spice.” Rom smiled. “I know what counts.”
Avia’s heart raced. Even though her gown was as light as air, she suddenly felt like she was wearing a wool blanket. She had never felt such heartfelt arousal. It was as if while her body cried out for her more primal instincts, her heart was soaking in loving bliss. She felt completely seen and understood.
“It certainly seems like it,” Avia murmured, swallowing dryly. She couldn’t shake this deep and intimate connection that seemed to have formed from the moment they had met and had now solidified in the last few minutes.
Rom stood from the table with a panther-like grace that his huge size belied. He crossed towards her and gently lifted up her chin with his large hand. “And I, as a Vistran, can see and even smell your arousal, little one,” he said, enjoying watching Avia flush with embarrassment. “There is nothing to be ashamed of. I wouldn’t have invited you here tonight if I did not think you felt this way.”
Avia was confused. Was he saying what she thought he was saying? “But you are Vistran,” she started slowly. “When you mate, you….”
Rom nodded. “I am ready to show you how much my heart already knows you. And I pledge the rest of my life to learn what it doesn’t,” he said solemnly. “I have no doubts or hesitations, Avia. Be my mate.”
The tiny light in her stomach exploded into a raging fire. She looked up at the enormous alien. His broad chest was moving noticeably up and down. She could tell he was as wired as she was right now.
“But I’m human! I’m not Vistran!” she blurted out, thinking of the first thing that came to mind. Well the second. The first was his fiery dark eyes and his chiseled jawline.
“Mates only need to match hearts. The body the heart belongs to is of no consequence,” Rom said. But he gave her a searing long look. “But the body your heart belongs in is unmatchably delicious.”
Could she really do this? Be the mate to an alien king?
And yet, deep inside, she knew nothing had ever felt so right before. It was as if it all just fit.
She could hardly believe her ears when she heard her own voice respond. “Yes,” she breathed. “Yes, I will be your mate.”
Rom’s face swam with emotions. His jaw loosened its tenseness and his chest didn’t rise as rapidly on his next breath. Filled with such completion, he pulled Avia to her feet. Leaning down, he captured her lips, finally tasting her like he had wanted to all along.
Their tongues collided as they explored each other’s mouths. Their breathes mingled. Rom’s arms tightened around her as if he just couldn’t get enough of her. Avia felt her breasts press against his large chest. A ripple of heat ran down her back as an animalistic urge to feel him inside her exploded within her.
Breaking apart, Avia looked up at the towering alien king. Feeling surer about herself by the minute, she ran a hand down his stubbled cheek. “I’m ready,” she whispered. “I’m ready to be one with you.”
Avia didn’t think it was possible for Rom’s eyes to become any darker but darker they did become. Full of lust and roiling passion, he picked her up with an easy strength and took her to his large sleeping chambers. Laying her down on the plush covers, he leaned over her.
Pushing down the gown, he freed her large breasts. Squeezing each mound, Rom watched as Avia arched her back beautifully, moaning with the pleasure and pain he was inflicting.
Feeling her creamy skin calling to him, he lowered his head and pulled a sweet pink nipple into his mouth, sucking hard. Avia cried out as she ran her fingers through his dark wavy hair. He imagined her breasts and body swollen with his seed. The image tore through him, igniting such a passion, he felt nearly crazed.
This was the mate he had been waiting for all those years. Rom bunched up the bottom of the gown until his hand met with her moistness. He grunted in satisfaction in finding her just as thoroughly aroused as he was.
He slipped his fingers down her swollen folds, stroking against the sensitive flesh. Rom felt like he could hear Avia’s cried of pleasures for a lifetime. And with sudden sweetness, he realized, he would.
Undoing his trousers, he released his own aroused member. Avia stared at it with awe. His cock was just as huge and thick as she had imagined. How could that possibly all fit inside her?
“It will, little one,” Rom said, his voice rough with need. “Your human body will work to fit my alien one. And soon, we will be one.”
Leaning over her, he stole another kiss as he position his cock right at her wet entrance. And in one swift plunging thrust, he drove himself all the way home into her warm wetness.
An entwined cry of passion exploded from both of them. Rom could feel his body heating up as his genes began recognizing the feel and touch of his true mate. Avia could feel the bite of pain as her body tried to accommodate such a large invader. But just as quickly, the pain subsided and it was only pleasure that began to pulse through her.
With slow, tantalizing movements, Rom began to thrust in and out. Holding her fragile head within his hands, he looked down and whispered raggedly, “I love you.”
Avia looked up at her king, her mate. She had never felt so whole, so totally at peace. “I love you,” she whispered back, tears falling down her cheeks.
Together they rocked their hips, finding their own unique rhythm. As they became more in sync, they sped up. Rom began thrusting with more strength, holding his delicate, strong, sweet, powerful mate to him.
“Kiss me!” Avia cried out, knowing they were both near the final end.
Rom quickly captured her lips as he thrust himself into her warmth one final time. They both arched and cried out against each other’s lips. Their breaths, their bodies, their souls were one. They had mated. They had accepted eternity.
They took a moment to regain their breath. Rom rested his forehead on Avia’s, both enjoying the closeness and warmth of the other.
Finally, Rom rolled over to his side, pulling Avia along with him.
After another peaceful and sated minute or two passed, Avia turned around in his arms. Rom looked down, smiling at the small bundle that squirmed next to him.
Looking up, she touched his cheek and whispered, “Rom?”
Rom didn’t think it was possible for his heart to soar to any higher. Avia had finally accepted their connection, their intimacy, and she now was showing it by finally using his name. He felt a deep love run powerfully through his veins. So this is what being mated felt like. He couldn’t imagine life any other way now.
“Yes?” he asked, his voice husky with his newfound love and devotion.
Avia’s eye
s shone with all the love of the galaxy. She had found her mate. She had found her home. This was the only man she could have ever been partnered with and she thanked every star in the universe that she had been lucky enough to come across his path.
“Rom,” she said again, making Rom’s eyes darken in pleasure. “I’m hungry.”
The King’s laughter carried out of his sleeping chambers and far into the adjoining rooms, rattling the silverware of the forgotten dinner that lay waiting for them.
Alien Guard’s Mate
Lady Amara Phillips sat uncomfortably in the tight first class cabin of the ship. Normally such a cabin would be quite spacious and comfortable. Amara should’ve been able to comfortably stretch out with room to spare. She should’ve.
But she couldn’t.
Not with a giant Vistran sitting across from her, watching her every move. Topping well over seven feet tall, Loku looked like the perfect representation of the warrior race. Tall, broad chested, and muscular, the man looked like he had never known an ounce of fat.
Hearing that her accompanying guard was a Vistran, Amara had an image of a thickheaded ape of a muscleman who only knew brute strength and power. But as soon as she had met Loku and had arched her head far back enough to catch a glimpse of his face, she knew she couldn’t have been more wrong.
The man was gorgeous.
She didn’t know how this alien warrior could be so brawny and yet so undeniable hot. With a high, almost regal, forehead, sharp nose, and chiseled jawline, this man looked like what every girl fantasized a white knight hero would look like.
But leaning her head back against the wall of the cabin, Amara sighed. Despite his hero-like looks, this man was far from being her hero. Instead he was her jailor. Her father had called the Vistran her ‘escort’ but she knew better. And judging by her father’s smug face, she was sure he knew better as well.
As part of the new elite that had emerged in Traxil, a human colony off of Saturn, her father enjoyed his status as a wealthy man of upper society. Several families had recently struck it rich by mining several rare minerals that could only be found on the moons of Saturn. This had paved the way for a new realm of upper class families to emerge. It wasn’t long before one very image-hungry man to declare the reintroduction of titles. Soon, anyone with enough money could essentially buy himself a title. That was how Bill Phillips had become Lord William Phillips and how his daughter Amara had become Lady Amara.
But Lord Phillips wasn’t satisfied with just incredible wealth and a prestigious title. He wanted more wealth and prestige. And he found the perfect way to accomplish such a task: marry Amara off to another equally wealthy family to join the power of both families.
So without any regard to Amara’s wishes or protests, Lord Phillips began making introductions to appropriate families and bringing Amara along to meet the suitable son. At first, Amara had felt extremely uncomfortable and awkward. She noticed the way her potential mother-in-laws would stare at her long glowing chestnut hair and her dark green eyes with a calculating gleam. Amara knew they were imagining these qualities being passed down to their grandchildren. The sons would ogle her slim waist and curvy breasts and she could only imagine the things they were imagining. Despite her high title, Amara felt cheap. She felt like chattel in those moments.
After the fifth family, Amara began to feel angry.
“Daddy, I don't want to marry yet,” Amara had said for what felt like the hundredth time to her father.
Lord Phillips busily looked down at the vast screen that covered his work desk. Files upon files of suitable families covered the entire screen. Amara grimaced just looking at it.
“Nonsense,” he said, not even bothering to look up. “You’d be marrying into one of the wealthiest and most elite families in the outer colonies. What more could a girl want?”
Love, she immediately thought. But she knew she could never say that to her father. Lord Phillips would only snort and call her a silly girl.
“But Daddy, couldn’t I at least choose who I meet?” Amara asked, trying a different tactic. “The more compatible I find the potential suitor, the better the match, right? And the better the match, the happier everyone should be.”
Her father looked up and paused in thought. Amara bit her lip, hoping she had finally reached him. But he soon shook his head.
“No, daughter,” he said finally. “You won’t know who has the most stocks in the mines or who has the best prospects off colony. No, it’s best to let your father find the best match.”
Amara knew her father had always valued profit above all else. But this was her future he was playing with here. He was auctioning off her heart and she knew she couldn’t just stand by silently. There was no one who would fight for her happiness but herself. So if it was a choice of marrying unhappily for money or to be a forever spinster with some independence, Amara knew exactly what she wanted.
From then on, Amara became the rudest, most ill-mannered girl any respectable family had ever met. She put her feet up on tables, glared at her potential suitors, and made as many rude comments as she could. She had never seen her father’s face turn so red before.
And this was only during the times her father could find her. Amara would also devil her father by hiding or running away right before they were to leave to meet a family. Hiding on the edges of the Phillips’ vast lands on Traxil, Amara could hear her father roar with frustration as he tore through his huge mansion trying to find his stubborn daughter.
It wasn’t long before her father had brought her around to nearly all the eligible families on Traxil. And any families left had heard about Amara’s terrible antics and were not interested in marrying off their son and their fortune to such a girl.
When her father got the message from the remaining elite family on Traxil declining a meeting, it was the only time Lord Phillips had struck his daughter. Amara had fallen to the floor, her cheek burning from the hard blow. She had looked up at her father, unable to comprehend the violence that had just occurred.
“Selfish girl!” he had cried. “Here I am trying to secure your future and you are being as ungrateful as possible!”
Secure her future? Amara would’ve scoffed if her jaw hadn’t been so bruised. He was only interested in how much more his own fortunes would increase by marrying her off. It was then Amara knew that not only would she never marry but she would also leave her father as soon as possible. She could care less about a title or money. She just wanted her independence.
Almost immediately after Amara had come to this conclusion, her father received a message from the Lincolns, an incredibly wealthy family on the colony off Soong, a distant planet. The Lincolns had visited Traxil many months ago and had just heard that Lord Phillips was searching for a husband for his daughter. They wrote their interest in meeting Amara again for their son.
Lord Phillips nearly hooted in triumph after reading the message. He had found his daughter and glared at her. “You will marry their son, Amara,” he had threatened. “This is the last chance at a good alliance and luckily this family lives so far away they haven’t heard of your horrible antics. And as fate has it, this family is wealthier than any of these small colony bumpkins here!” Lord Phillips eyes gleamed with the image of all the new wealth he would soon be coming into. “I will make sure this marriage happens.”
Amara couldn’t imagine a worse family to marry into. She remembered the Lincolns vividly. Their son Milo had been the most vicious man she had ever met. Although quite tall, he was thin with a very long face. He had had a constant expression of boredom during the ball he had attended on Traxil. It was only once he had been introduced to Amara that his expression had flickered any hint of interest.
For the rest of the night, Milo had kept Amara by his side. She had watched him harangue the servants for the merest infractions. He had even had some of the servants fired that very evening. Several of the maids had run off crying. Amara had never been so disgusted with a man.
Amara shook her head, unable to bring herself to touch bodies with such a cruel man. “No thank you,” she said, trying to take her leave.
Milo’s long fingers shot out and grabbed her wrist. Twisting her arm behind her back, he pushed her hand upwards, making Amara cry out. “Care. To. Dance?” he asked again, emphasizing each word.
Amara nodded quickly, afraid he would soon dislocate her shoulder. After another cruel twist, Milo released her. Her forearm was glowing red as they danced.
No. Of all the men out there in the galaxy, Milo Lincoln was the last man she wanted to meet, let alone marry.
***
The week before their trip to Soong and the Lincolns, Lord Phillips had received a message from his mines about problems that required his direct attention. Knowing he would not return in time for their trip, Lord Phillips had raged in frustration at the timing of the universe.