by Juno Wells
“I think I do,” I told him. “I mean, I know it’s a bit silly now, since I’m already pregnant. But I think I’d like to—”
“Say no more.” Aster didn’t wait a moment. He got down on one knee and took my hand. “Ava Clarke, will you marry me?”
Chapter Twenty-Two
It was the first wedding that had ever taken place on Alluvia, and the citizens of the planet were feverishly excited. They didn’t quite understand the custom, but they happily played along. Aster’s mother Vissa commissioned a wedding dress from the best seamstress on the planet, and his sister Prix fell into the job of wedding planning like she was born to do it. We decided that we would get married by the ocean, of course, our bare feet in the sand. I didn’t want a grand, extravagant wedding – just a simple ceremony to commemorate our bond, human-style.
I wished my parents could have been there, but they didn’t like to travel so much in their old age. It was virtually impossible just to get them on a plane to Georgia. There was no way they would agree to interstellar travel. Plus, explaining to them the truth about my new life was a can of worms I wasn’t ready to open. I figured after the baby was born, Aster and I could go visit, maybe have another small ceremony in my parent’s backyard for them. And then maybe – maybe – I’d think about telling them the truth about Asterion. Or maybe they’d just have to go on thinking I lived in Paris.
When the big day finally arrived, I was a nervous wreck, like all brides. But I wasn’t just nervous for the normal reasons – I also had the Zatharians to think of. Since I’d come to Alluvia, all had been quiet. But I knew they were out there, wishing harm on my beautiful new home. Wishing harm on my beautiful new husband-to-be. It was hard to concentrate on a wedding when there was an evil race of aliens lurking nearby. Aster assured me that he had his best men on the job, guarding against potential threats. They were monitoring the Zatharians’ communications, and would know in an instant if there was any trouble. And the best fighters on the planet were on standby, ready to spring into action at a moment’s notice.
Still, I worried. I couldn’t help myself. I tried to put it out of my mind, to concentrate on the wedding. I slid into my dress, which was covered in clear Alluvian glass beads, then walked to the mirror to check myself out. The glass beads clinked as I moved, like little bells. I’d only been pregnant for about two months, but I looked as big as a house. I had a feeling the baby was coming very soon.
Even with my giant pregnant belly, I felt like a beautiful bride. There was just one thing missing. I ran my hand through my dirty blond curls, then reached out the open window and plucked a small pink flower from a plant at the windowsill. I tucked the flower behind my ear. There. Perfect.
“Ava?” I heard Aster’s voice calling out to me from the front of the house. In the next instant, I saw him peek through the open doorway.
“Aster!” I shouted. I grabbed a large leaf off the plant at the windowsill and tried to cover my body with it. “Don’t you know you’re not supposed to see the bride before the wedding?”
Aster quickly put his hands over his eyes. “Sorry. I don’t know the custom. It’s just... your wedding gift has arrived.”
“A wedding gift? But I didn’t get you anything...”
“You’re giving me a son,” he said, his eyes still closed. “And I don’t want to wait to give you your gift.”
“Well, let’s see it. And you can open your eyes now, Aster. It’s ok I guess.”
He opened his eyes, and when he saw me, he bit that sexy lip of his. “Fuck, you’re so beautiful,” he said, then rushed toward me and claimed me with his mouth. He kissed me deeply, until my legs almost buckled, then he pulled away. “Stay right here,” he commanded. “I’ll be right back.”
Aster left the room for a minute, and when he returned, my heart almost exploded out of my chest. He had my dog. He had Pepper. I dropped the giant leaf I was holding to cover my dress and ran to her, scooping her up in my arms. I kissed the top of her sweet head as she wiggled happily. “How did you get her here?” I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe I had Pepper back.
“I called your friend Beth on that phone we rigged for you,” he said. “I told her I wanted it to be a surprise, and she agreed to let a friend of mine come pick Pepper up.”
“So you sent someone literally across the universe to get my dog for me? That’s the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard.” I gave Pepper a tight squeeze, then put her down and wrapped my arms around Aster. “And this is the best wedding present I could’ve ever asked for. Thank you, Aster.”
“I’m sorry about seeing you before the wedding,” he said. “I didn’t know. This doesn’t mean we have to postpone the wedding, does it?”
“No, it’s fine,” I reassured him. “They just say it’s bad luck. It’s just a dumb superstition.”
“Earth is such a superstitious place,” he said, shaking his head. “Your traditions are so strange.”
“You don’t have to tell me. But don’t worry.” I planted a kiss on his lips. “We don’t need luck. We have each other.”
“There is one tradition I’m looking forward to,” he whispered, his lips an inch away from mine. “The wedding night.”
I’d decided that we should abstain from sex during the lead-up to the ceremony, to make the wedding night more exciting. So it had been a while. It was so hard to resist Aster, and I was so hungry for him I could barely stand it. And I could tell by the insistent erection that pushed against my wedding dress that Aster was more than ready too. “Yeah,” I sighed. “I can’t wait for that either.”
“Then let’s go get married so I can fuck you already,” he growled.
Man, I loved it when he used Earth-style curse words. It was so blindingly sexy. I pressed my lips against his delicious mouth for a moment, and it took every bit of self-control I had to pull away. “I’ll meet you by the shore,” I whispered.
Aster left the room, and a few minutes later his father Vestaran entered. “Are you ready, dear?”
I nodded and took his arm, and he walked me down to the beach. Pepper obediently followed along. The sun was setting, and the sky was streaked with deep indigo. Alluvian citizens lined the pathway holding large yellow leaves over their heads, creating a canopy for me to walk through. And in the distance, through the canopy of leaves, Aster saw me and smiled.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Pepper was quite a distraction among the wedding party. As soon as Aster’s sister Prix saw her, she let out a high-pitched squeal.
“What is that?” Her eyes were as big as saucers. “It’s so cute!”
“Darling, control yourself,” Aster’s mother Vissa scolded. “We’re having a wedding.”
“It’s okay,” I said. I picked up Pepper and held her out to Aster’s sister. “Prix, this is my dog. Her name is Pepper. Would you like to hold her during the ceremony?”
Prix gently reached out for Pepper. “A dog…” she said, letting the word roll around on her tongue. “I’ve never seen a dog before. It’s so soft and fuzzy!” She giggled as Pepper happily nuzzled against her neck.
“Okay, now that that distraction is over, I’d like to hurry up and marry this beautiful woman here,” Aster said. He took my hand, then turned to the man standing in front of us. One of the planet’s most respected elders had agreed to perform the ceremony, which was apparently a great honor. His name was Raxal, and he was the one who had delivered the initial prophecy. He had foreseen the mating bond between me and Aster, and he knew we were destined to have a child who would change the world.
“Are we ready?” Raxal asked. Aster and I both nodded. “Then let’s begin.” Raxal raised his voice and addressed the crowd.
“Friends, marriage is not an Alluvian tradition. But we respect Ava, our new Alluvian sister, and we respect the traditions of her home planet. On Earth, marriage is a symbol and a promise – a promise to weather life’s storms together, in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. A promise to love
each other, to be faithful, to be true.” The waves of the Alluvian Ocean tickled my feet. Aster squeezed my hand and smiled. “And in the spirit of true love, Aster and Ava come here today to proclaim their love and devotion to each other. So without further ado, Ava, do you take Aster–”
A blinding white light streaked across the sky. The crowd gasped. “What? What is it?” I asked. But before Aster had time to answer, I heard it. The humming. The humming of the Zatharians.
Chapter Twenty-Four
A massive black ship hovered in the sky above us. It looked like a snarled hunk of dirty metal, like it was pieced together from scraps. It blocked out the setting sun, casting a muddy shadow around us. I heard women scream. Prix began to cry. Raxal the elder hung his head and sighed. And Aster – he looked seriously pissed off.
I knew I couldn’t be hurt by the Zatharians as long as I was pregnant, but my hands still reflexively went to my belly in order to protect my unborn son. Then I looked at Aster. Dread bloomed in me like a spreading sickness. I couldn’t be hurt, but he could. His mother could be hurt, his father, his sister. The whole planet was in danger.
A young man ran onto the beach, panting and out of breath. “Prince Asterion, sir,” he said. “The Zatharians evaded our attempts to detect them. I don’t know how. They must have developed some kind of new technology. I–” The young man’s face contorted in a grimace of pain before he could finish his sentence.
I looked around, and saw that everyone was in pain. Everyone except for me. The Zatharians were obviously using their weird pain weapon.
“They’ve disabled our ships, sir,” the young man managed to choke out. “I don’t know what to do.”
People were dropping like flies around me, falling to the ground and writhing in pain. This is it, I thought. This is the end of everything. They’re going to kill the whole planet. Everyone but me, that is. Tears welled up in my eyes, and I turned to Aster. There was so much I wanted to say to him. We had a whole life left to live, a son to raise. It couldn’t end like this. Could it?
“Aster, I love you,” I said through my tears.
“I love you too, Ava.” He pulled me to him and kissed me, and I could feel his body shaking, trying to fight off the pain. Then he pulled away from me and raised his eyes up to the Zatharian ship hovering overhead. “And I’m not about to let these fucking cockroaches ruin our wedding.”
He raised his voice and shouted at the top of his lungs, addressing the ship overhead. “Do you hear me?!” he screamed. Then he let out what I can only describe as a roar – a deafening, powerful roar. It was a warrior’s call, a call to battle. A shiver ran up my spine as he screamed, his face full of righteous anger. Then I watched as Aster raised his arms, and as he did, half of the Alluvian Sea rose up into the sky. The assembled crowd gasped.
“Fuck you,” Aster muttered, then he pushed out his palms, and the hovering mass of ocean water surrounded the ship, encasing it in a watery globe. The crowd let out a collective sigh, and immediately I saw the pain drain from their faces. The ship was neutralized, stuck inside a mass of sea water, and it couldn’t hurt anyone anymore. “Fuck all of you.”
Aster flicked his wrist and the ship dropped from the sky, plummeting at free-fall speed into the ocean, still encased in its watery globe. When it hit, it hit hard, sending up a plume of water miles high. Then the ship sank into the sea.
Damn, that was seriously fucking cool. I turned to Aster, and he smiled and took my hand. “Ok,” he said. “Where were we?”
Raxal the elder cleared his throat and chuckled. “Well, I believe I was about to ask Ava if she’d like to marry our young prince. Ava, do you take Asterion to be your husband?”
“I do,” I said. My heart was practically beating out of my chest from excitement. “Definitely.”
“And Asterion, do you take Ava to be your wife?”
“I do.” Aster didn’t wait for Raxal to tell him he could kiss the bride. He grabbed my face in his hands and I melted into his mouth. The crowd cheered. Aster hugged me to him and let out a long sigh. “We need to be alone,” he whispered in my ear. “Now.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
We ran from the beach, shouting promises to Aster’s family to return later for food and celebration. All I wanted in that moment was Aster – his mouth, his body. I didn’t want to wait one more second. And Aster was ready for me too. He pulled me inside the house and slammed the door, then moved toward me, the lust in his eyes overpowering.
“I want you,” he growled.
I stepped back, then sat on top of a high table and extended my right leg out and put my foot against his chest. My dress slid up, exposing my thigh. “Is this what you want?” I asked sweetly.
“It’s one of the things I want,” he said. He slid his hand up my leg and slowly pulled off my stocking. Then he did the same to my other leg, slowly rolling the stocking down. I tipped my head back and closed my eyes. I felt his fingers tracing down my leg, and his warm mouth ravenously kissing along my inner thigh. Then I heard him speak. “Stand up,” he commanded. I immediately grew warm and tingly between my legs at the sound of his voice.
I hopped down from the table and stood in front of him, and he began to take off my wedding dress. He started at the first button, at the very top of my neckline. Once he unclasped it, he kissed my skin underneath. Then he popped open the second button, followed by another kiss. At the fourth button, he pulled the fabric aside and lightly ran his tongue over my breast. My sex throbbed as his tongue danced over my nipple, coaxing into a hard, sensitive nub.
Buttons five and six ended with Aster’s mouth on my ear, and a shiver ran up my spine as his warm breath tickled me. After so much waiting, so much wanting, I was so wet, so ready, but Aster took his time, slowly unbuttoning my dress as he licked, bit, and teased me. Finally, he got my dress off and I stood before him, my skin flushed, my body shot through with excited electricity.
“You’re mine,” he said. He slid his hand between my legs, and I gasped. “On all planets, in all galaxies, you’re mine, Ava.” He stepped back, but kept his hand firmly between my legs, pushing hard against my mound. His indigo eyes cut right though me.
“I need you, Aster,” I moaned. I ripped open his shirt, and the buttons popped off and clinked on the floor around us. I didn’t tease him, and I didn’t go slow. I just wanted to get his clothes off immediately. Once his pants were off, his beautiful cock sprung to attention. I gripped it with both hands, and he closed his eyes and sighed.
“It’s been so hard to wait,” he said. He pushed me back against the table and kissed me. “I just want to fuck you every minute of the day.”
“Then do it already,” I said. He took his thumb and circled it slowly over the throbbing bud between my legs, then he leaned in and ran his tongue over my lip. “Please,” I whispered, my legs trembling.
In one swift motion, Aster spun me around and pressed his chest against my back. I felt his cock slide between my thighs and press against my entrance. Then he pushed in, just an inch. I gasped, feeling like I was about to come apart at the seams. My sex ached, and my muscles clenched around his shaft.
“Please,” I whispered again, my voice quivering. Aster loved to tease me, to prolong the pleasure. But in that moment, I needed it like a punch. I turned my head around and looked at him. His eyes were serious, dark, and full of passion. I began to pant. Please please please, I tried to tell him with my eyes. I want you. He was only an inch inside of me, and I was dying for more.
And just when I thought I was about to scream for it, he grabbed my hips and slid into me, slowly. I shivered and pushed back against him, pushing him in to the hilt.
Aster buried his face in my neck and slid into me, over and again. My body throbbed, and waves of sharp pleasure coursed through me.
“Finally,” he said, his warm mouth on the back of my neck.
“Harder,” I whispered. I’d been waiting for so long – weeks – and I needed it hard. I knew that there would
be plenty of times in the future where we could make love for hours, floating in the Alluvian Sea, taking our time. But in that moment, I just wanted Aster to fuck me senseless.
He grabbed the hair on the back of my head and pounded into me, giving me what I wanted. I gripped the table hard and cried out as our skin smacked together, my head bouncing up and down with the force of his thrusts. I felt deliriously, wonderfully dizzy, lost in a sea of shimmering pleasure.
“We’re going to have to do this a few more times tonight, at least,” Aster said, panting. “I don’t think once is going to be enough.”
“I don’t want to stop doing this, ever, but I don’t know how much longer I can hold out,” I said, my voice coming out in sharp bursts. Everything was throbbing and pulsating – my body, my sex – everything. He slid himself almost all the way out of me, then thrust back in deep and hard. I screamed.