“I’m not familiar with your technology,” I said. “I know what a ReGen wand is; but what is a ReGen pod?”
“It’s a statis bed that allows your body to regenerate, to heal in ways it can’t while you are awake,” the doctor said, coming into the room. He held a tablet similar to what Warden Egara used back at the Brides Program Testing Center.
We turned to look at the Everian and he offered both of us a slight bow. I was unused to being shown such deference, but I doubted my mate, the prince, had the same problem. The doctor was big, like Gage, but was perhaps a decade older. While he had a serious demeanor, his voice was calm.
“You’re going to put me to sleep?” I gripped Gage’s hand. Hard. I wasn’t thrilled with being put to sleep so they could do things to me I didn’t understand.
“Before that, we will operate on your ankle.”
“Operate?” Gage asked. “That’s drastic. Whatever for?”
The doctor’s expression didn’t change, even with Gage’s cranky tone. That didn’t make me feel any better, knowing an operation was something even my mate didn’t want—and he wanted me healed pronto.
“She has pins in her ankle bones holding them together. A low-quality metal not found anywhere on Everis, except in your mate’s ankle. The ReGen pod can’t do its job with the metal inside her. We will remove it, then the pod will complete the healing.”
“I can’t have surgery now,” I countered. “You’ve got your ascension ceremony tomorrow. The ball. I’ve told you, we’ll wait because I don’t want to miss it. The ankle isn’t a big deal.”
Gage gave me a look that had me biting my lower lip. It was going to be done whether I wanted it or not.
“How long will this take?” Gage asked the doctor.
“Three hours.”
“Three hours?” I asked incredulously. “That’s it?”
“This is Everis, Princess.” I was not used to being addressed as princess and it felt…weird. “It would be shorter, but I must remove the metal first.”
I looked up at Gage. “I’m not nervous now. I’m scared.”
“I won’t leave your side,” he reassured.
“You can’t stay with me in the operating room,” I countered, not thrilled.
“I won’t leave your side,” he repeated, but was eyeing the doctor as he said so.
“That is correct. He may remain. I can give you a blocker for the metal removal if you wish to remain conscious. I advise that you are sedated instead because there really is no need to cause yourself any kind of mental trauma witnessing metal being pulled from your flesh. However, it is your choice.”
When he put it that way… I shivered at the thought of watching my ankle be sliced open and him tugging out the pins, pain blocker or not.
“After that is complete, you will be moved to the ReGen pod for two hours. There, you will be unconscious to let the machine do its work, but the prince may remain at your side for that. For all of it.”
Gage squeezed my hand this time. “Doctor, will you give us a moment while you get ready?”
It was happening whether I wanted it or not. And right now. I knew Gage wouldn’t let me leave the med center until this was resolved.
“Certainly.”
He left the room with another bow and Gage sat down on the exam table beside me. He lifted me—with ridiculous ease—onto his lap, stroked my hair. He felt warm, his body hard, but he had a gentle nature. At least with me.
“If I argue with you, tell you I don’t want this, you’ll probably have me sedated, won’t you?”
He was a bossy alpha male, so I had an idea of his response.
“Just think. In three hours, your ankle will be completely healed,” he said instead of answering. “No primitive metal. No swelling. You may run as much as you wish. And I promise, I will chase you.” He kissed the top of my head.
I didn’t say anything, just savored the feel of his hold, of his hand as it soothed me, sliding up and down my back.
The doctor returned. “Do you wish for a pain blocker while I perform the surgery or do you wish to be sedated?” he asked me. Fortunately, he knew better than to ask my mate.
I looked up at Gage. He was so close, if he tilted his head down an inch, our lips would touch. “Can you hold me while they put me to sleep?” I asked, biting my lip. I was really nervous, my heart pounding. Normally, blood didn’t bother me much, but when it was mine? I was going to pass out.
Gage did kiss me then, gently. Sweetly.
“I will hold you, and I will not let go of your hand the entire time. I promise.”
I looked to the doctor. Sighed. “All right. Put me to sleep.”
The doctor moved about the room as Gage began to murmur in my ear. Soft words, just for me. “In three hours, when you awaken, we will go back to our quarters and I will strip you bare.”
The doctor returned and I expected him to have an IV or a shot of some kind. He had a wand that looked like the ReGen one we’d used in the shuttle that had healed Gage’s cuts and bruises, the swelling in my ankle.
“I love your breasts and sucking on your pink nipples. I love your taste; your sweet honey is all for me.”
If the doctor heard Gage’s carnal words, he made no sign of it. He fiddled with a few buttons on the wand as my mate continued to whisper to me.
“When you are beneath me in three hours, I will slide my cock into your pussy. I will claim your last virginity you’ve saved just for me.”
The doctor lifted the wand and a red light came on. He waved it in front of my face and I couldn’t help but follow it with my eyes. I relaxed into Gage, wilted and felt sleep tug at me. My eyes closed and I sank into Gage’s voice.
“You’ll be so wet, so tight, I will lose my mind. You make me lose my mind. My mate, my lo—”
Gage
The doctor overestimated the time for Dani to heal by twelve minutes. Thankfully. I sat and waited for the clear lid of the ReGen pod to open so I could reach in and hold her hand once again. I’d held it as the doctor cut her ankle open, retrieved the small bits of Earth metal and placed her in a ReGen pod. But the pod required the lid to be closed to work, and so I’d sat beside it, watched and waited as the flesh knit and healed. I monitored the timer until it ran out, felt the vibrations and hum of the unit cease. The lid slid open and I could once again touch her, hold her hand. I’d promised and I’d kept it as best I could, considering medical intervention.
Then I held my breath waiting for her to wake.
My love. My heart.
She’d come across the galaxy to save my life. And if she wanted me to do something as simple as hold her hand, I would.
And wait with the impatience of a male in need of his mate whole and healthy. To see her pale eyes alight with happiness, arousal. To see her smile and know it was all for me.
When her fingers finally twitched, then clenched mine, I knew she was coming awake. Within a minute, she blinked. Then again. I knew the second she focused on me, that she was truly with me again.
Three hours was too long. I trusted in Everian medical technologies, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t worry, even after the doctor assured me everything was fine. With Dani’s vivacious spirit and her willingness to take reckless chances, I knew I’d be worrying about her the rest of my life.
She popped upright in the ReGen pod so fast she almost whacked my chin. I laughed, sitting back, then stroking her hair back from her face. Her cheeks had color and she was alert, as if she’d just taken a nap instead of had an operation and ReGen time.
“Am I…is it all better?” she asked, her voice hoarse. I picked up a cup of water, held it out for her. She took it from me, drank greedily. I wiped the drop that clung to her lower lip with my thumb.
The doctor came into the room then. “My tablet said you were awake.” He smiled at both of us. “Let’s test that ankle, shall we?”
He looked to me, knowing I wouldn’t let him touch her, not now that she was well. I stood, scoop
ed her up and set her on her feet, but kept an arm about her waist. The pale green shorts and shirt were large on her, reminding me just how small, how fragile she was.
She shifted her weight from foot to foot, wiggled and twisted her ankle from side to side. The doctor grabbed a ReGen wand and another sensor and went down onto one knee before her.
“Lift your leg.”
With my arm about her, she was able to maintain her balance and follow his instructions as he did various scans.
“It doesn’t look any different,” she said, her head tipped down, watching him.
“The operation was to remove the metal,” he commented, looking at his implements’ readings. “The ReGen pod healed the bone and the cuts I made to get the metal out. But the scars from your surgery on Earth will remain. Jump up and down.”
I loosened my hold, held my breath once again as she followed the doctor’s order, coming off the ground a few inches. I saw the way her breasts bounced, even beneath the loose shirt and I was glad the doctor’s gaze was focused much lower.
“It feels…fine,” she said hesitantly. She looked to the doctor, then to me. Hope shined.
“The scans test normal. Skipping the complex clinical terms, the ankle is healed. All prior damage is gone.”
“That’s it?” she asked, marveled.
The doctor stood. Smiled. “That’s it.” He looked to me, said, “No restrictions.”
My cock swelled at his inference, at the knowledge Dani was well, whole and nothing was stopping me from finally—FINALLY—claiming her.
“Thank you, Doctor.”
The man offered another slight bow. “I am honored to serve.”
When he left, I tipped Dani’s chin up, kissed her, just a swipe of my lips across hers. She lifted up onto her tiptoes, flung her arms about my neck. I lifted her so her feet cleared the floor, cupped the firm globes of her ass and she wrapped her legs about my waist. Her small breasts pillowed against my chest, her nipples hard points.
“Gage,” she breathed, taking the kiss deeper.
The rigid length of my cock was nestled against her pussy, only our clothes in the way.
“Now…please,” she begged.
I pulled my head back, but didn’t put her down. “Not here.”
She shook her head. “No. Not here. But now. Please. I want to be yours, in every way. You promised.”
I groaned, my cock pulsing, pre-cum escaping.
We’d had so many setbacks. Kidnapping. Meddling family. Injuries. Claiming Dani was not an easy task to accomplish, but now was the time. It was going to happen. I just had to get her to my quarters and lock the door. The ascension ceremony was tomorrow and I wanted my mate, fully claimed, by my side. Until then, neither of us was needed.
Dani wiggled in my hold and I lowered her to the floor. Pushing out of my arms, she walked around the room, hopped up and down. Her breasts bounced beneath the plain shirt once again. The garment and matching green shorts were unisex and unattractive, but my balls ached with the need to fill her. She could wear a sack and I would find her appealing.
“Mate,” I growled, my fingers itching to slip beneath the shirt and cup her breasts, to play with her sensitive nipples.
She looked up at me through pale lashes. “Yes?” she replied coyly.
“I watched them cut open your ankle, pull out pieces of metal. While I believe you are well, I do not wish to cause you harm.”
“I’m fine,” she said, laughing, clearly impressed by Everian technology. “Amazingly, I am. Completely healed.”
“If you aren’t, then I will toss you over my knee and spank you.”
Her cheeks turned pink and her eyes flared with need. She bit her lip. “You’ll have to catch me first.”
And she was off, dashing out of the room.
Oh, she was in for it now. A spanking and a sound, thorough fucking were happening.
10
Dani
“I thought you said you were spanking my ass for arguing with you,” I said, my voice soft. I was naked in the bathing tube—which mere mortals called a shower—with Gage—and he was washing me, running his soapy hands over every inch of my body. No part of me was left untouched. Unlike the tubes at the Touchstone and at Bryn’s home, this one was large, easily big enough for two.
“You will learn, mate, that when it comes to your health and safety, I will not tolerate disobedience. You are surrounded by Elite Hunters, Dani, men strong enough to snap your delicate neck with barely a thought. And we have enemies. Never argue with me. I can’t tolerate seeing you in pain, love. I can’t. Don’t ask it of me.” He didn’t look me in the eye as his hands gently roamed my body, assuring himself I was healed. Whole. Ready for him.
Catching his hand on my hip, I lifted it to my lips and kissed him. God, how the hell had I gotten so lucky? Tears gathered, burning the back of my eyelids as I dropped his hand back into the water and turned my head to wipe them away. Crying was stupid. This wasn’t me.
And I wasn’t a Marked Mate, either. I didn’t have alien—Everian—ancestors. And I wasn’t going to officially become a princess tomorrow either.
Right. Somehow my plans for my life had gone way off track. Not that I was complaining.
Somehow, Gage knew exactly what I needed. While the surgery and healing in the ReGen pod had felt like a blink of an eye, I still felt as if I’d spent time in a hospital. I saw the dark look in his eyes, felt his need in every taut muscle of his body, heard the deep timbre of his voice. Knew he needed to touch me, assure himself that I was well and healed and his. He wanted me as much as I did him.
While he could easily clear my mind of all thought with a few kisses, I wanted to be clean, to wash the time in the med center from my body. I wanted to clean that time from Gage’s mind, too. I knew he’d been there, witnessed the surgery, the cutting and the blood. I knew the ache I’d felt finding him in that cave, beaten and bleeding. Really knowing him, knowing his touch and his smile and his heart would have made it ten times worse.
And as protective and possessive as these Everian Hunters seemed to be, I could only imagine the hell he’d gone through watching me bleed while he was helpless to do anything about it. That had to have been pretty intense. He needed to touch me, to feel every inch of me, to know I truly was whole before he took me to his bed. I had a feeling he’d be gentle this first time—I assumed—but I didn’t want him to hold back. Not for a reason as silly as a months old ankle injury.
Besides, what injury? Ha! Those ReGen pod things were some kind of miracle.
My ankle felt different. It didn’t ache, didn’t feel weak. The tightness, the stiffness that had lingered for months, was gone and I knew the doctor’s scans were accurate. I was fine. I’d have the scars from Earth to remind me of what had happened, but I didn’t care. Scars proved people lived and mine were the only outward sign that I’d ever been on Earth. It would be my reminder of the life I left behind. The wound, now healed, would remind me of how far I’d come. I had scars on the outside, but inside? My ankle was perfect now. Whole. Just like the rest of me.
“Once I get you to our bed, I’m not letting you up until tomorrow.” His hands roamed, slick with suds, over my belly to rise and cup my breasts as the hot water poured over both of us.
My head fell back, my eyes closed as he walked me backward, until my back hit the colder surface of the ceramic wall. “I think that part of me is clean,” I murmured after what felt like minutes of his fingers playing with my sensitive nipples.
I felt him drop to his knees before me. “Then I shall move on to other places.”
Other places just happened to be between my thighs. His hands moved lower to lift one of my legs up and over his shoulder, opening me to him. He didn’t delay; perhaps he’d been delayed for far too long. His mouth found my very center, the flat of his tongue running up and over me with such skill and precision I cried out. My hand slapped against the wall of the tube for balance, even though I knew he wouldn’t let me f
all.
“Gage!” I cried. Heat pulsed through my veins, just from the slick caress of his talented tongue.
“Yes, mate?” he teased.
I opened my eyes, looked down at my mate, naked and kneeling. He was so handsome, so perfectly mine. Seeing him there, between my legs, devouring my pussy like a man possessed was possibly the hottest thing I’d ever seen in my life.
“This pussy is mine.” He nipped at my thigh as he slid two fingers inside me, slowly opening me up, stretching me for his much larger cock. There was a small sting, a bite of pain, but when he broke that barrier, he groaned. “Mine. Fucking mine.”
His mouth closed over my clit as he slowly, carefully, fucked me with his fingers. His tongue was far from gentle, sucking, flicking. Tasting.
Owning me. I was spiraling high, the new sensations strong, but not enough. I wanted him inside me, his body pressed to mine. I wanted to be covered with his heat. Enveloped. Overwhelmed. I wanted to let go.
“Please.” I was begging. I didn’t care.
He pulled out of my pussy, circled my opening, pushed deep as his tongue worked miracles.
I came, my body collapsing against the wall of the tube, only his hand, his mouth, his bulk holding me in place as my pussy rippled around his fingers.
When I could speak, I reached down, cupped his face. Met his dark eyes. God, I was hot, my pussy still pulsing in aftershocks I knew he could feel. He looked at me, but he fucked me with his fingers. Slow. Sensual. So very wicked.
I felt wicked. And I knew what I wanted. Something new. Something naughty and wild and so unlike me that I almost didn’t tell him what I wanted, what I needed.
“Dani, I can see it in your eyes. Tell me. Tell me what you want.”
When he looked at me like that, I could not deny him. Or myself. “Spank me.”
Heat flared as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. He stood, wrapped his arms about me and lifted me out of the tube. The water shut off automatically as he grabbed a towel, dried me from head to toe. The friction only made me hotter, needier. Then he quickly dried himself before tossing the towel aside, angling his head.
His Virgin Princess (Interstellar Brides®: The Virgins Book 3) Page 9