“If things had been different…if we had the time, how would we have formed the bond?”
“Passionately. Whatever else existed between us, there was always passion.”
The ring began to cool, and in his arms Ellis’s body grew lighter, as if his entire being was flowing out from the ring and into the Zzesstari. Julian wanted to pull it off. Ellis was already gone, what could the harm be? A small voice in the back of his mind whispered deadly temptations—if he put the ring on his own finger, and Ezvorkian fed his lust for immortality from Julian’s soul as well, would he and Ellis finally be together?
Kaelem’s words came back to him. If there was a way to join the two of you… The Airthir soul bond cannot be recreated by men. But wasn’t the connection between him and Ellis like a soul bond of itself?
“I love you, Ellis.” He pulled the ring off Ellis’s finger.
“What are you doing?”
Julian ignored his yell of protest as he slid the ring onto his own finger.
“Julian, no!”
Immediately, he felt Ezvorkian’s presence in his mind, like oil and sand rubbed between his fingers, the Zzesstari’s smug satisfaction. Julian felt him begin to feed. It was like he was bleeding out through a small wound, sacrificing his life in inches.
Instead of resisting the pull, he fed into it. He focused on his connection to the alien and charged forward, pulling himself along. Ellis existed on the same line and Julian focused on what parts of him lingered along the thin path that bound them to their bodies. Ellis’s specter became less ethereal and more real. His heartbeat was slowing and Julian forced everything he was into the bond connecting him, Ezvorkian and Ellis.
He felt like he was slowly fading into existence before Ellis and was unsurprised when his lover grabbed and roughly shook his shoulders.
“How could you?” Ellis demanded. “Julian, why?”
“I can feel you.”
“You’re going to feel me kicking your—”
Julian pulled Ellis into his arms and pressed a hard kiss against the other man’s lips, cutting off the agonized words. Their naked bodies molded against each other, desperate for contact. Ellis resisted at first before finally surrendering and wrapping his arms around Julian’s shoulders.
When they finally parted, breathless, Ellis met his eyes. “You can’t die, Julian!”
“I’m not going to die, Ellis. And neither are you.”
Ellis frowned in confusion.
“Bond with me. Here. Now. Before Ezvorkian consumes us both.”
“I…I don’t know if…”
“Even if it doesn’t work, at least we won’t be separated again.” Julian kissed Ellis once more, their pressing lips sweet and almost chaste. It seemed to break down the last of Ellis’s resistance and he grabbed Julian, pulling him closer.
“Then let’s make love. One last time.”
It won’t be the last time, Julian swore silently. He lowered Ellis to the ground, his hands already roaming over the other man’s body. Their bodies fit together perfectly as always and they both gasped when Julian’s groin brushed against Ellis’s.
They rocked against each other, Ellis running greedy hands down Julian’s sides. Visceral memory flowed back between them and Julian easily mapped every spot that had ever made the other man shiver. He made a point of worshipping all of them. Color and life flooded back into each inch on Ellis’s body his hands touched. Slowly, Ellis became more real beneath him, more solid.
Ellis grabbed Julian’s hips and pulled him close. “Now.”
Without waiting, Julian positioned himself before Ellis’s puckered opening and thrust inside. Ellis gasped, but his features betrayed no pain. Julian held himself still, savoring Ellis’s silky heat around his cock. Waiting for Ellis to adjust, he pressed his lips against Ellis’s neck.
hotsweetwantwantwant
The thoughts were not his, but they flowed through him, and his own thoughts twined with Ellis’s. Ezvorkian’s rage remained muted and impotent in the back of his mind.
Julian moved with gentle thrusts of his hips. Ellis whimpered, the sound escaping from breathy and disbelieving lips. His lover’s thoughts—abstract and almost imperceptible—grew in his mind.
“Julian!” The word became a cry and Ellis’s body arched beneath him. In their minds, Ezvorkian grew more distant.
“Let this happen,” Julian whispered, kissing Ellis’s brow. “Bond with me.”
“Julian…”
Julian pulled him up, tucking the younger man into his lap and rocking so that his cock slid in and out of his lover with an increasing pace.
“You’ve been searching for me for centuries, Ellis, and in my heart I know that I’ve always been waiting for you.” A particularly sharp thrust drew a cry from Ellis’s lips. “Accept me, Ellis. I want this. I want you.”
Ellis wrapped his arms around Julian’s neck, wordless cries falling like rain from his lips. Julian increased the pace, anchoring his hands on Ellis’s hips. With each second, the link between them seemed to become more defined and the bond tying them to Ezvorkian became less real. He knew the words Ellis couldn’t speak. Words of love and devotion poured from his mind as freely as small gasps did from his lips.
Julian started. He could see himself in Ellis’s mind; Ellis’s vision of him was breathtaking.
“Almost…”
“Yes… Come for me, love.”
Everything between them was suddenly sharper and more real. Julian’s hips snapped in a hard jerk and he spilled his seed inside the other man. Ellis cried out, and his body tightened and twisted in intense pleasure as his own climax overcame him. Ellis’s pleasure clouded his mind, washing over him and doubling the force of his own orgasm. Ellis slumped in his arms and Julian had to hold him up to stop him from toppling over. Kissing Ellis’s temple, he murmured small words of comfort and love in his ear.
Ellis began to fade away, and Julian felt a momentary stab of panic before he realized that the last trace of Ezvorkian’s presence was gone from his mind. Ellis dissipated into the darkness around them. Julian’s heartbeat quickly became more prominent in his ears. The heaviness of his body slowly surrounded him.
When his eyes opened, he was back in his body, kneeling on the floor of the cave. Ellis had returned to his embrace.
The ring on his finger crumbled into dust that disappeared in the dim light. His heart stopped when he did not see Ellis’s chest moving. But the body grew warm in his embrace. Finally—finally—the beautiful sapphire eyes opened.
They stared at each other, all history forgotten in the space between them. Though Ellis’s mind pressed against his, Julian felt like he was seeing his lover anew. As one, they adjusted to kiss each other. Ellis’s mouth was possessive and searching and Julian deepened the kiss. All touch of sickness was gone. He had fantasized and dreamt of Ellis’s taste for the past five years.
They finally pulled apart when a sob of disbelief wrenched itself from Ellis’s lips. “I thought I was dead.”
He stared into Ellis’s eyes. They were no longer the shining sapphires he had known for so long, but a dark blue that shone with memories of starlight. “I love you.”
A burst of joy welled in his chest, teasing his senses until he could barely breathe. Ellis’s mind responded in kind. Julian’s throat tightened. He wasn’t sure if his mind could process the raw sensations dancing between them, but he was eased by the very core of them, the core that spoke Ellis’s name.
He wanted to remain with his arms wrapped around Ellis forever. But even as he breathed in the scent of the other man, Ezvorkian’s weapons struck the mountain again.
Chapter Eighteen
Aboard the Eyas, upper atmosphere of Airtha Prime
Coalition Standard Date 113-234.76
Breaking through the heavy cloudbank of Airtha Prime’s volatile atmosphere, Julian just managed to dodge a poorly aimed laser array. He cursed and brought the shuttle up quickly.
When they’d left the
cave behind, it had been to the sight of the Kestrel chasing the Ethervold out of the lower atmosphere. The wreckage of a downed Airthan ship nearby had spurred them both into action, Julian taking point in their sprint back to the shuttle. Kaelem followed quickly, shocked silence straining the air between them. They could only imagine the alien’s thoughts at seeing Ellis alive and hale.
“Looks like we didn’t do a good enough job on their engines,” Julian muttered angrily from the pilot’s chair. The Ethervold hovered near the Kestrel like a specter of doom, its weapons firing on the Kestrel without remorse. “Where are the Airthan ships?”
“My people have little in the way of arms, Julian Gaspar. We have no need of them.”
Julian shook his head and swung the shuttle around to get a better view of the situation. The Ethervold had an imperfect line of sight on them, but guns were trained on the Kestrel’s starboard side.
“This is going to be a bit tricky,” Julian said. “We’ll have to pass directly through their line of fire to make it to the docking bay.”
“Didn’t they make you pilot at sixteen?” Ellis asked. Julian nodded. “Show us why.”
“Both of you buckle up.” Julian listened for the click of their safety belts engaging and then threw himself into maneuvering the Eyas. He banked to the left, avoiding stray fire. It cut across the starboard delta wing and Kaelem quickly ran diagnostics on the damage.
Tearing left, Julian narrowly avoided another blast from the Ethervold and concentrated on nothing but the ship around him and the viewscreen in front of him. The laser fire intensified as they drew closer to the Kestrel and Ellis gasped as they narrowly avoided one of the warheads fired straight towards them.
“He knows you’re aboard this vessel,” Kaelem commented. Julian didn’t respond. “What he’s after, I can’t say. The soul ring is shattered. It would be impossible for him to forge another.”
“I can tell you why he’s after us.” Ellis reached forward and placed his hand on Julian’s shoulder. Julian automatically reached up to twine their fingers together for a second before returning his focus to the flight. “He’s a spiteful, bitter thing. If he can’t have me, he wants me dead.”
“Well, he’s spent far too long having his wants indulged.” Julian wound his way back around one of the Kestrel’s wings, taking them towards the docking bay. Quickly punching in the code to open the hatch door, he gestured for Kaelem to get Barth on the comm. “Barth? We’re coming in.”
“I’ll distract them, shall I?”
Even as Barth spoke, a barrage of fire shot out from the Kestrel. In his peripheral vision, Julian saw all five of the shots hit the Ethervold straight on. The Ethervold returned fire, attention drawn completely away from the Eyas and allowing it to pull into the shuttle bay unmolested.
Julian quickly unstrapped himself. Running to the back of the shuttle, he shouted to Ellis and Kaelem. “Stay here.”
Not really expecting either of them to obey, he hit the control panel on the shuttle to open the door and took off across the shuttle bay, pleased to see the lift’s doors open and awaiting him. Ellis followed fast on his heels, just managing to dodge into the lift before the doors closed.
Ellis grabbed Julian’s hands in his. “We’ve spent enough time apart.”
“I agree.” Julian wrapped an arm around Ellis’s waist and swept the younger man into his arms. Pressing his lips against his lover’s, he quickly laid claim to the warm lips beneath his own. When the lift slowed, he reluctantly pulled away.
Laying a second, brief kiss on Ellis’s lips, he stepped away just as the doors slid open and admitted them onto the bridge. Ellis followed, grinning from ear to ear when he saw Barth hastily evacuate the command seat. Barth clasped Ellis in a quick embrace and Julian dropped down into his chair to review the ship’s schematics. She was holding fine.
His lips curled into a half-smile, which disappeared when he turned to his second in command. “Report!”
“We’ve taken a beating, Captain, but our shields are still at forty percent integrity. We haven’t brought out any of the big guns yet.”
“Then let’s bring them out. And hail that son of a bitch.”
He didn’t expect Ezvorkian to respond, but a mere second after his order, the ghastly face appeared on the viewscreen. Every bit of life he’d robbed from Ellis had been stolen away, returning him to the desiccated shell Julian remembered.
“Julian Gaspar, I am going to destroy you.”
“You know that we outgun you, Ezvorkian. Surrender to the Airthir to answer for your crimes or we will have to blow you out of the stars.”
Ezvorkian smirked. “Even should you spontaneously grow a backbone and destroy me, I will always hold sway over your young friend. A soul bond is not so easily destroyed or forgotten. When he wakes up screaming, it will be my name that falls from his lips, not yours.”
“Look at us, Ezvorkian. You say the soul bond is not easily destroyed. Is it easily missed?” Ezvorkian peered at them. Ellis’s hand—deprived of his ring—rested gently on Julian’s shoulder. “You told Ellis you knew what I was to him. Know now that it was me who took him from you. And it will be me who keeps him.”
The communication relay cut out and Julian looked at Ellis. The younger man’s face twisted in pain, but he nodded.
“All weapons at the ready.”
He waited pensively, anxiety tearing at his gut. Though part of him still ached for revenge, he had entertained the hope that the Zzesstari would disappear from their lives completely when they had left him stranded. Julian had never taken a life or destroyed a single ship in spite or anger during his years as a privateer. He braced himself, his hand held aloft above his head. Everything that Ezvorkian had done to him and the people he cared about—did it justify the alien’s destruction?
Another shot impacted against their hull. Could he afford mercy, when Ezvorkian would show them none?
From behind his chair, Ellis took in a slow breath. His lover’s voice curled into his mind. “Whatever you decide, I’m with you.”
“Captain, they’re preparing their warheads.”
Julian gritted his teeth. Even the improvements of their shields would be unable to withstand the full brunt of such an attack. “They’re firing in five…four…”
“I love you, Ellis.”
“And I you, Julian.”
“Fire,” Julian ordered.
A lightning-fast collection of energy beams shot out from the Kestrel and hit the Ethervold head-on, each bypassing the shields entirely. Julian reached out and grabbed Ellis’s hand. The last beam scored a direct hit on the ship’s engine bay. There was no immediate effect but Julian could imagine the engine superheating. Every second that passed after the last beam hit the ship was another nail in Ezvorkian’s coffin. The sides of the Ethervold began to buckle. Ellis hastily averted his eyes at the last minute. The ship collapsed upon itself. Thousands of pinpoints of light exploded out from the ship, brilliantly lighting up the viewscreen before disappearing completely. The remnants of the ship, a million particles of superheated metal, sat suspended in space, shining like the stars surrounding them.
Ellis let out a staggered breath. Julian was unsurprised to see tears running freely down his cheeks. He reached out and wound his arms around Ellis, pulling the unresisting man into his lap. Ellis buried his face against Julian’s neck, whispering nonsensical words into his lover’s skin. After getting his own fast-beating heart under control, Julian had gathered enough presence of mind to understand what Ellis was whispering.
“It’s over.”
He pressed a kiss against the top of Ellis’s head. “Yes, love. It’s over.”
“So, do you two do a floor show?”
“Shut up, Barth.”
Epilogue
Orbiting Igrittian IV, “The Ocean Moon”
Coalition Standard Date 114-016.8
Ellis was watching the stars again.
He appeared more human every day, even with the lig
ht of the stars lending a pale silver cast to his skin. His eyes were becoming less crystalline and more sincere, and a healthy pink flush was slowly creeping its way into his features, small things that Julian had never missed until he thought of them. Ellis had been afraid that the changes would make him less desirable, but to Julian, his beauty felt less untouchable.
Rising from their bed, Julian crossed the cool floor and wrapped his arms around his lover. Ellis sighed into the embrace and leaned back against Julian. He was warm and heat danced across the bare skin where their bodies touched. They stood in comfortable silence.
“Which one is yours?” Julian finally asked. Ellis pointed. There were a thousand stars of varying brightness clustered in the small area he indicated, but Julian found it peculiarly easy to find it. It glowed strong, brighter than the others. Or maybe, it just seemed so to him. “Do you miss it?”
“Not when I have you.” Ellis tilted his head back. Julian accepted the invitation to lay a kiss on the warm lips.
“I remember you telling me the story of the Keeper. Didn’t you say that your star would always be comforted by the knowledge that you were happy?”
Ellis nodded. “Yes. Of course, it means you will have to keep me happy.” Despite the words, he smiled teasingly.
In reply, Julian kissed the sensitive skin behind Ellis’s ear. Goose bumps broke across his lover’s skin as he trailed a line up the graceful neck with his lips. Ellis shuddered under his mouth.
“Would you consider it cocky if I told you that I felt more than capable of doing so?”
“No. I would consider it to be an accurate assessment of your skills.” Ellis looped his arms around Julian’s neck, pulling him into a kiss. “I love you, Julian.”
“And I you.” He smiled. “I’ll never grow tired of hearing those words.”
Soul Bond Page 10