by Sophie Stern
“You’re everything to me, too,” I say, and I start to cry because I can’t quite believe this is happening.
I can’t believe something so sweet, so magical, so special, is happening to me. I’m just a normal, ordinary human girl who had something bad happen to her. I haven’t accomplished any great feats or made a difference in the world, but none of that matters because I’ve made a difference in Max’s world.
I’ve made a difference to him.
I’ve changed him.
“I love you,” I tell him. “Always and forever.”
“I want to have a mating ceremony,” he says. His voice is determined, and I know he’s been thinking about this for awhile.
“I don’t know what a mating ceremony is,” I tell him, a little embarrassed. “But if it makes you happy, then of course we can do it.”
“It’s like a human wedding,” he explains. “But with more drinking, and more promises.”
“You had me at ‘drinking,’” I say, and he laughs. Then he kisses me, and soon neither one of us is laughing. Soon we’re entwined with one another. Soon we’ve forgotten everything except how this feels.
He kisses me and pushes me back on the bed. He hovers over me, but he’s careful not to press his entire body on me. I know he doesn’t want me to feel trapped, and I appreciate that. He’s always so careful, so cautious, but not in a way that makes me feel babied.
Somehow, Max helps me to feel special and strong, but he’s still gentle with me.
He’s incredible.
He peels off my clothes layer-by-layer, and I reach for his clothes, too. We toss everything to the floor, and then Max begins to kiss his way down my body. He starts at my neck and kisses along my collar bone before moving carefully to my breasts. There he kisses one, and then the other over and over again.
My mind goes blank, filled only with one thing: longing.
I want more of this, more.
I want to feel him kissing every inch of my skin, want to feel him licking and sucking and touching every part of me.
I want to feel him everywhere.
As if reading my mind, Max sucks one nipple into his mouth and bites down gently. While he’s teasing one breast with his tongue, he twirls my opposite nipple between his fingers. The feeling is euphoric, and it’s one I won’t soon forget.
All too soon, he stops playing with my breasts and kisses me on the mouth again. He steals my breath away over and over. How did I get so lucky to find him? He kisses me, and I feel like my heart is going to stop beating or explode. I can’t tell. I just need more of him.
He pushes my legs apart with his knee and then makes a place for himself between my spread thighs.
“I love you, Diana,” he murmurs, and then he thrusts into me. I groan as he fills me. It’s only been a few days since we were intimate, but it feels like forever.
It feels like it’s been years since we were together this way: not days.
“I love you, Max,” I groan, and as he thrusts into me, I can’t help but melt into his touch. He makes love to my body like he’s an expert. He moves in ways that make me feeler hotter and needier with each second. Each thrust brings me closer and closer to orgasm, and then it hits me, and I explode with pleasure.
He comes at the same time, filling me with his seed, and I groan as I feel him pulsing inside of me.
Beautiful.
Max makes me feel beautiful.
He makes me feel like I’m the most incredible woman in the whole damn universe.
He makes me feel like I am magic.
Max climbs off of me and snuggles up beside me. He wraps his arms around me and holds me close to himself.
“How was that, princess?” He whispers.
“Incredible. I think you missed me.”
“I did,” he says. “So much, Diana. You have no idea.”
“On the contrary,” I smile. “I think I know exactly how much you missed me because I missed you, too, Max.”
“I was worried about you.”
“That I’d get scared?”
He nods, and I’m touched he would feel so concerned about me. Max explained that when he goes out on a mission, he has limited contact with the ship, and he can’t always make personal hologram calls. While I would have loved to have had the chance to talk to him while he was gone, I understand why we couldn’t chat.
The lack of communication made getting through the time he was gone very difficult, but now that he’s back, everything is fine.
“I did have a couple of nightmares,” I confess. “But I thought of you, and that helped so much.”
“What did you think?”
“I thought that if you were here, you’d remind me I’m special, and sweet, and that the past is in the past.”
“That’s right.”
“And I thought of the way you rescued me, of the way you made sure Boss Man was dead. You did that for me so I could have peace, and now I owe it to you to seek out that peace.”
“You don’t owe me anything, Diana. What I gave you was given freely.”
“On the contrary,” I tell him. “I owe you everything I am, Max. Without you, I would have rotted away in that cell. Each day, a little bit of my humanity was chipped away. Each day, I died, just the smallest bit. If you hadn’t found me, he would have won.”
“I wouldn’t have let that happen,” Max says fiercely. “And I will never let anything like that happen again, Diana. I will protect you until the day I die, and I will love you with everything I am.”
He wraps his arms around me even tighter, and in that moment, I know that no matter what happens, I will always have Max. No matter what battles I face, no matter how hard my life gets, I will always have him by my side.
Forever and always.
Epilogue
Diana
Four months later
My life wasn’t supposed to turn out this way.
I had big dreams for my future, and none of them included Max.
Now?
Now I can’t imagine a world without him in it. Now I can’t imagine what my life would be like if we’d never met. The thought pains me. I’m so lucky to have found him when I did. Well, I suppose he found me, and that makes it even more magical.
Max and I are going to live on the Extrinsic ship together. He’ll continue going on missions and saving the world, and me?
I’m busy growing our baby.
He doesn’t know yet, but I can’t wait to tell him. When it comes to Max, every day is a miracle, and I can’t wait to go on this next wonderful adventure with him.
My darling.
He’s already such an incredible mate, and I know he’s going to be an incredible dad. With each passing moment, I feel more and more lucky that we found each other when we did.
What happened to me was terrible, but Max makes it not seem so bad. Slowly, we’re replacing my bad memories with good ones, and each day feels like a fresh start to me. If I didn’t have Max to help me cope with what happened to me, I don’t think I would be able to function. I think the pain would be too great to deal with.
And that’s the beauty of love, isn’t it?
When one person is weak, the other can be strong for them. When you find that endless love, you find a way you can work through any trouble, any issue, any problem, and you do it because you know that without a doubt, they will always be there for you.
Max has been there for me, and I will always be there for him.
No matter what we go through, we’ll face each issue together.
As a team.
As mates.
Blake
Sarah and I sit in the cafeteria together, and I can’t help but look at her eyes. It’s really her eyes that get me. There’s something so incredible about them. I don’t know what it is. Maybe it’s her never-ending patience. Maybe it’s the fact that her kindness seems to have no bounds.
In my life, that’s something I don’t have enough of.
Raised on Orch
id, I was meant for a different life than the one I live now. If my brothers could see me now, they’d be disgusted with me. My past is a sketchy one, and it’s one I’m not proud of.
I don’t want anyone to know where I came from, where I was bred.
I don’t want anyone to know about my family or the kind of person I used to be.
With Extrinsic, I’m different.
I’m not just a man anymore. Now I’m part of a team, part of a group of brothers who never let each other down. I would die for any man on our team and I know they would do the same for me.
When I look at Sarah, I wish for things I don’t have.
A mate.
A child.
A family.
When I look at her, I wish more than anything that I could beg her to be mine. I wish I could tell her I love her, that I’ve always loved her, that I want to grow old with her, but I just can’t.
The truth is that Sarah is an angel, and me?
I’m so far down the rabbit hole I don’t know if I can ever claw my way back out.
THE END
Star Kissed
Blake doesn’t have time for love. As a member of the elite Extrinsic team, he’s never minded giving up romance for combat. He likes fast ships, fast fights, and fast women: in that order. Blake has been a part of Extrinsic for years and he's seen the worst parts of the universe, but when a betrayal catches him off guard, his confidence is shattered.
Sasha doesn't need a man. They can't be trusted, and she has no interest in getting her heart broken again. When her best friend's world is threatened, though, she knows she can't stand idly by and let him go through this alone.
The problem is, she's not sure if her heart can handle it.
Get Star Kissed (In the Darkness Book 2)
About the Author
Sophie Stern writes paranormal romance about dragons, bears, wolves, and princesses. Her work ranges from adult fairytales to cowboy adventures to dragon shifters who live on their own private island. Visit her at www.sexysophiestern.com to learn more.
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Alien Dragon
I'm on the last ship out.
I don't think I'm going to make it, but I do. Earth is dying and there's only one way I can possibly survive: fight for a spot on the dragon planet of Taneyemm.
They don't want humans there.
They don't like us.
They don't know us.
But when I step foot on the ship bound for Taneyemm, I know it's my last hope. I'll do anything I have to survive.
I'll do whatever it takes.
When I finally reach my destination and I see the alien dragons for the first time, I realize I'm in way over my head.
And I don't know if my heart is ready for this.
Want to read more? Get your copy on Amazon or keep reading for a sneak peek!
Chapter 1
What’s that old Earth saying?
Karma’s a bitch?
Well, I must have done something super fucked up in a former life because right now sucks.
The worst part is that there’s nothing I can do about it.
As I make my way slowly through the crowds of people to the herbalist’s shop, I search my brain for one more idea, one more method I could employ to make my life just a little bit better. I just need one more way to try to make my dad more comfortable. I just need one more way to give him a little bit of hope before everything vanishes.
My home planet is dying. The grass is gone and the air is thick. It’s always hard to breathe. Always. When I was a child, we had green, rich grass. That was before the wars. That was long ago. Now things are damaged and it’s all I can do to get through the day.
I just need to make it through each day.
My world has always been broken. There are legends of times past when humans were happy, but to me, those stories are just myths. They’re happy bedtime stories to help children fall asleep, but they don’t fix the reality I live in.
Tonight I have to hurry home to my father, but my mind is focused on the pain, the exhaustion. No matter how hard I fight, the world keeps closing in on me, on all of us. Will there ever come a day when the grass turns green again? Will there ever be a time when the air is clean?
A woman bumps me and I glare at her, tired and angry. I’m frustrated. I’m worn out. I have to fight through a crowd of sick and dying people to get herbs for my father who is also sick and dying. We all just want to survive another day, but the grim reality is that it probably won’t happen. We’re all running on borrowed time and it’s only a matter of when it runs out.
My father is very sick. He’s in constant pain, but when he finally passes, I don’t know what I’m going to do. He’s the only one I have. He’s the only one who cares about me.
The herbalist gives me the jar and I throw my coins at him before leaving. It’s a long walk home and it’s already dark. We’re not supposed to be outside at night, but I don’t have much of a choice. It’s a three mile walk back to our hut and if I don’t make it, my father’s pain will be so strong he’ll pass out.
Things weren’t always so bad. Despite the world dying, falling apart, resting in ruins, my father and I were happy once, at least a little. He wasn’t always sick. When I was a girl, he would tell me stories of times when Earth was full and lively and fun. He used to make me laugh. We’d make plans for the future that always included escaping Earth, but we never had the money.
And then he got sick.
It’s not that there weren’t options. There were. For nearly 10 years, there were ships bringing people to other planets. Oh, you had to see your soul and maybe a few body parts to afford passage, but there were ways to escape.
Not anymore.
The last ship sailed this morning for Taneyemm, and I wasn’t on it. I couldn’t afford what they were asking. The price for simply getting on the ship is more money than I’ve seen in my lifetime.
And the ticket price didn’t even guarantee you’d get to stay on the planet.
Interplanetary relations are a tricky thing. Not every planet wants humans, even rich ones. Some planets super want humans, or so I’ve heard. It really just depends on where you go, and what you can afford, and which ship you can get on.
The rich people evacuated Earth first, heading to planets full of humans. They basically had their choice of planets to run to. The Martians were especially friendly toward Earthlings and took in more refugees than any other planet. Most of the others were a bit more standoffish, though.
Most of the others didn’t quite know what to do with us.
Taneyemm is one of the worst, but I’d still go there in a heartbeat if it meant getting off Earth. Even if the world doesn’t implode like some predict it will, we’re all going to starve to death pretty soon. There’s no food left.
Reslenoau delivered food for years to Earth, but even with Earthlings fleeing to other planets, there was never enough. Soon they couldn’t keep up with the demand and they quit bringing food altogether.
I try not to think about that.
Right now I have to get home. I move as quickly as my feet will carry me. My leather slippers are old and worn and they don’t do much to protect my feet. No, my skin won’t be torn up from the rocky terrain, but I feel every rock pressing against the soles of my feet.
I feel every sting.
It’s well past midnight when I arrive home and slip inside the tiny hut I share with my father. We built it years ago, long after Mama died, and it’s tiny, but it keeps us warm. It keeps us dry.
“Father,” I say, kneeling beside his bed. It’s only a pallet on top of some crates, but for the most part, it’s fine. His poor body is wracked with fatigue, pain, and sickness. I know sometimes he wishes it would just be over. He’s been sick for a long time and unfortunately, there’s nothing we can do.
There was a doctor in our to
wn, but he left long ago.
I reach for my father, ready to wake him and give him his herbs, but when I touch him, his body is cold and stiff. He rolls as I touch him and I see that I’m too late.
I took too long and he’s gone.
He’s dead.
My father is gone.
For a long time, I just sit next to his bed. I don’t react. I don’t cry. I don’t do anything. I can’t. He was all I had left in the world and he’s gone. He’s gone.
When the tears finally come, the sobs are loud and painful. I cry until I have nothing left, and then I sit there. If only our lives had gone differently. If only he’d been able to make it on a ship. Any ship. Anywhere.
Maybe he would have had a chance.
I don’t know much about medical care on other planets, but I know anything would have been better than this. The pain of losing him is only soothed by the realization that he’s no longer hurting. For months, my father has struggled with even the most basic tasks. The last few weeks have been the hardest.
We both knew there wasn’t much time left.
And now?
Now I’m stuck on a dying planet with no hope for a future. What am I supposed to do? Wait around until I die, too?
“Fuck you, death,” I whisper, and grab my father’s hand one last time. I hold it for a moment, then kiss him on the forehead. “Goodbye, Father,” I murmur, and smooth back his hair. He’s covered with a soft quilt and I pull it over his head before I stand.
There’s nothing left for me here.
It’s the middle of the night, but I don’t care. I ignore the fears that rush through me as I step back outside. There are wild creatures roaming about. They’re just as hungry as me, but they’re more vicious.