“You’re being so bad,” she teased him her eyes betraying her feelings. “I love the thought of spending an eternity with you, even if it's just eternity in a day.”
“That sounds like a yes to me.”
“Always, but don’t think you can bite and get away with not marrying me. I expect a wedding, a reception, along with a honeymoon on Paradise.”
“I’ve spoiled you.”
“Never stop.”
“I promise.” He picked her up carrying her to their room.
“You do know I can walk, right?”
“I noticed that you can also run, I’m not taking any chances.” He kicked the door shut and then walked to the bed tossing her in the middle. She giggled like a school girl as she enjoyed the bounce. She stood on the bed jumped and did a flip.
“I’m amazed every time I see what you can do.”
“If you caught it on video and showed it, they would swear it was doctored, but we know.”
“It would be jealousy. I lived with that for years. I almost died because of another’s jealousy.” There was a sadness in his eyes that he usually hid. It broke her heart, the desire to touch him was overwhelming.
“Race ya.” She started pulling her shirt over her head.
“No fair you got a head start.” Slade pulled his shirt off thinking he would let her win. While he was still debating, she was taking off her pants. “Wait. How did you do that??” He went faster, but she still beat him.
She flopped on the bed resting on her stomach with her rear swaying in the air.
“Just because you are created doesn’t mean you move faster than me. Don’t forget I know the ancient art of Ky Zo Mol.”
“I know better, but I keep underestimating you.”
“It’s because I’m a woman.”
“Hardly, it’s because you’re small like a doll and seem fragile.”
“If you call me doll, I’m going to choke you.”
“Sadly, that endearment is already taken.” He crawled on the bed making himself comfortable before he pulled her into his arms.
“Yes?” he whispered in her ear.
“Yes, a thousand times over and then I’ll start from the beginning and say yes again.”
He leaned over and licked her lips like he was memorizing the shape with his tongue. When she couldn’t take any more her mouth opened in a pant. Slade swooped down thrusting his tongue in rubbing it against hers like he was making love to her.
She dragged her fingers over the back of his neck while she tried to devour his tongue. She needed him on her and in her.
“I need to be close to you.” It came out on a gasp when Slade finally allowed her a breath of air.
“Love the way you seduce me,” he rasped against her neck before he began to give her small bites. Then he sucked a bit of her skin into his mouth. He needed to leave a mark to let the world know that this woman chose him.
“Yours,” she told him pressing his head against her neck.
“I lose control when I touch you.” He showed her his hands that trembled. “That’s what you do to me.”
He pressed her back against the bed to continue kissing and tasting her. She wanted to flip him, but the feel of his lips on hers was like a drug. He was a male on a mission. She used her foot to rub against his legs when her hands didn’t give her enough contact. Her body arched into a bow when he sucked a nipple into his mouth. When he tightened giving her incredible suction, she thought she might blow.
Slade backed off to blow on her wet nipple before he started with the next one. Her moans and words of praise for his actions filled his heart. He pinched her other nipple before using his tongue to lick down her breasts. When he reached her stomach, he splayed his hands over her ribcage using his fingers to sensitize her skin until her hips were moving back forth.
When she started to thrust against his thigh, he moved down her body making sure that his thigh pushed against her wet pussy. Her screams of need made him pulse wanting to unload.
He dragged his body down hers until his face was buried in her pussy. She thrust up while his tongue flicked out to wrap around her clit.
“So talented,” she cried as he sucked her clit into his mouth. Her fingers flexed in his hair as she tried not to grab hold of him and push his head closer.
Slade used his hands to keep her spread wide while his tongue flicked and lashed at her clit. Her head rolled side to side as her hips lifted needing to get closer to him. He breathed her scent in before his tongue started going lower lapping at the wetness pooling from her as he teased her opening.
He needed more he took one hand and pressed a finger against her allowing it to sink inside while her mouth worked itself on a moan of need. He waited until she was watching before he withdrew and placed it in his mouth. He took the time to suck his finger clean as she begged for more.
“This is just the start.” He told her in a voice she barely recognized.
Mila’s eyes widened before he fell on her like a starving male. His tongue lips and fingers were devouring her. Her clit was pinched making her want to holler. His tongue sank deep within while he sucked up her wetness. Her body convulsed so close she wanted to dive overboard, but he kept backing down then taking her higher.
She moaned; she complained, then she followed it with begging. “Slade, now, please Slade now.”
He lifted his head his eyes were bright, but his lips were wet. It was so erotic she almost came.
“I want you to be mine.” He kissed her pressing her taste into her mouth. His hips shifted before she felt his hardness breaching her. Mila loved this, the first moment of possession when he opened her wide but never wide enough. She was still tight as he pushed downward fighting the resistance to bury himself snug within her.
She reached up pulling his head back down so she could bite him. It only seemed fair that he wore a sign of her possession. His hips pulled out and surged downward when she bit him. Slade set up a ruthless pace pulling her deeper into him, into his need for her.
Mila matched his pace letting her hips thrust and retreat with his. It was a beautiful dance that she never fully understood until Slade.
“Slade, please.” She was restless needy. She could feel the tension coiling in her struggling against the leash that kept it bound. “I can’t take much more.” I’ll die, she thought dramatically when he leaned over her. His hips pounding into her, his teeth found her neck and sank deep.
There was a pull deep within her essence as she felt her life force combine with his. He plunged deep within her setting off a chain reaction that burned her body while setting her free. She flung her head back allowing herself expression with primal sounds. When he joined her, she knew nothing would ever come between them.
Mates, a smile of possession played on her lips.
Chapter Twenty
“Did you see how much she wanted for that painting? It’s not like she was painting her first encounter with God!” Mila fussed as she circled the painting again. It would look good in their living room. The blues and the greens in the pool sparkled as the water practically leaped over the edge of the falls. The silver in the night sky reminded her of Slade’s eyes. She had to have this, but damn!
“I can buy it for you,” Slade’s gentle voice was trying to calm her down. She almost started laughing when she thought gentle. That’s exactly who he was with her. Why did some man with less sense than brains try to palm her ass earlier? It’s a miracle named Mila that Slade didn’t break his wrist and his neck.
“That’s not the point. I can afford it, but…” She wasn’t going to cuss again. Beautiful things cost in the real world. This was just a reminder that she spent too much time being sheltered. “Violet Merlin.” That was the name of the artist. She was good, scary good.
“I want it, get someone over here before there is a bidding war, and the price quadruples.”
“Yes, dear.” She almost choked on her spit. This was Slade’s imitation of a good husband. He
would tell her since they were getting married, he had to practice acting like a human husband.
“Do you really think the painting is priced too high?”
Mila saw the woman when she approached but was learning not to jump to the offensive. She stepped closer and studied the painting again. This wasn’t the first art studio she and Slade had gone to. It was the first one where she found something she couldn’t resist.
“Honestly, no. I’ve seen some paintings that I don’t think hold a candle to this one that went for much more. I’m new to the world of art, so I still have sticker shock. The artist has my respect.”
The woman turned giving Mila a beautiful smile. “Thanks, I usually don’t get such sincere praise. Violet Merlin.”
“Mila Broken, nice to meet you.”
“I better get out your way.” Violet waved at her approaching another group.
Slade brought a young woman who put a paid sign on the painting. “We’ll have it delivered to you in a week,” she said looking at Mila.
“Thanks. That will work.”
“I met the artist,” she told Slade after the woman walked away. “I liked her, but she was different.”
“Different?”
“Like you or even me, different.”
“Then you know you picked the right painting for our house.”
“Flattery will not get you anywhere. The rest of our pictures are coming from Target.”
“Yes, dear.” She laughed as they left the studio.
The darkness enveloped them when they stepped into the parking lot. They moved away from the door of the studio stepping further into it. Mila placed her hand on his thigh and inclined her head around the car breaking off from him.
There was no one waiting to greet her. Slade went around the back; he shook his head. They got in the car. The darkness followed them leaving the parking lot shining in brightness.
Neither of them was surprised when the car stalled several miles away from the house.
Mila stepped out having grabbed a small cylinder from her purse. She walked to the front of the car before she hopped up on the hood crossing her legs.
“Slade, do you know what I hate?”
“No.” He came around to lean next to her.
“Cowards that hide under the cover of darkness.” There was shuffling but no sound until a dark figure stepped out of the foliage on the side of the road. “Look a coward.”
He stopped never placing his feet on the road. “I’ve been sent to give you a chance.”
Mila raised a brow.
“Trogon is giving you a chance to surrender without him needing to come down to this pathetic planet.”
Mila turned just enough to see Slade. His calm kept her from leaping off the hood of the car and handing the sniveling weasel his ass.
“Tell Trogon, to come and get me.”
“Fool,” he said derisively, “no one can defeat him.” He disappeared back into the trees. When the darkness abated, they got back in the car.
“It is almost time. He won’t wait much longer.” She told him. They hadn’t had enough time together. They mated two weeks ago, now she was making every minute of every day count because tomorrow wasn’t promised. The feeling of darkness snipping at her heels was overtaking her.
“We got this Mila.”
“You don’t know. Don’t underestimate him, he’s deadly and vicious.”
“I’m not. I have more faith in you than you realize.” She gave him a wan smile. They finished the drive home in silence.
“Did you find anything?” Brandi asked as they came in.
“We did you should have come with us. I even met the artist.”
“I wish,” Brandi said with regret. “Can you believe kids get sick? I’m taking Lisa a cup of tea hoping it will help her. Mekhi gave me his professional opinion. She won’t die it’s just a bad cold. Tell that to Lisa, who is milking this thing with her watery smiles and sad eyes. ‘Mom if I don’t make it, bury me in my favorite dress.’ Ugh! Remind me why I signed up for this?”
“Because you love her?”
“I do.” She took the steeping tea bag out before bidding them goodnight.
“That’s what we’re fighting for,” she told Slade. “Goodness, family, love.”
He led her into the staircase. They walked the stairs until they reached their floor. It was funny it was the first time they took the steps.
“I want to take you somewhere.” They walked into the bedroom to change clothes.
She put on her yoga pants and a tee and waited until he changed into a pair of joggers and a tee. Then she followed him back to his rooftop hideout.
“Where are we going?”
“I want you to see my world. I want you to understand.”
He laid down on a lounge chair then she joined him curling up against his body.
“Relax and let me in.”
She closed her eyes and felt herself drifting towards sleep. The jolt when she fell was a rude awakening. She was in a room? In the corner was a small boy. His back was to the wall, and his knees were pulled up to his chest. He was skinny and dirty.
“You have to eat Leeyum.” The woman who she recognized as Brie was trying to tempt him with something that looked like soup. He shook his head and shied away. “They will not let me give you anything else. You must eat this.”
“There is an herb in the soup that makes me sick. The more I eat the weaker I get.” He tried to push himself through the wall, flinging his arms out when she brought the soup closer.
“I knew long before Brie caught on that they were trying to kill me.” Mila jumped. She was so into what was happening that she forgot Slade her mate was standing at her back.
“Where are we?”
“This hovel is where I lived. I was given to Brie for her to take care of me, but she wasn’t allowed to bring me in the house or give me a real bed to sleep on. She slept in this place with me until it was deemed that I was old enough to be weaned from any caring or nurturing. From that moment forward I was on my own.”
“How old?” Her eyes were already burning. She blinked fast with the vain hope that the tears she needed to shed would stay away until she was alone.
“Roughly six earth years.” She dashed at her eyes, there was a cloud in front of them making it hard for her to see. Little Slade curled into a ball. Brie left leaving the soup behind.
“The bowl of food mocked me. I knew I couldn’t eat it, but my stomach knocked against my skeleton demanding food.”
“What did you do?”
The scene changed. Now he was stalking something through the high grass. He sprung trapping it. His hands broke its neck. he took out a crude knife and skinned it.
“My first kill. I was so hungry that I didn’t care. I half cooked it and probably burned that half, but I didn’t care I had to fill the hole in my stomach.”
The scene changed again he was strung up being whipped.
“They said it was someone’s pet that I killed and ate.” She wrapped her arms around herself as she stared into the open wounds on his back.
“What happened after that?”
“I snuck out and killed another. After that, they moved me said I was too wild to be kept in a residential area. That’s when they stopped feeding me. I learned to cook the animals I caught while learning that the only person I could depend on was myself.”
The scene shifted. An older Slade was lying in the dirt.
“I’m waiting for the enemy to crest the hill. When they do, I’ll take them by surprise.” They watched in silence as Slade prepared to spring up. The enemy looked to be more than twenty.
“I was told there would be five.”
She watched Slade move with a lethal grace that took her breath away. He fought taking down one then another even as he moved fast enough to leave them looking for him. He was going to win, then someone threw a bomb at him. It rocked the ground throwing him down. Fragments from it pierced him until he stopped moving
.
“They left me for dead. I don’t know what happened after that. When I woke up, I was back in the hovel I’d been living in for years. Someone took care of me. There was a meal by my bedside. I realized I was going to live. It was a sour feeling in my stomach. I think I wanted to die; I wanted freedom.”
The scene changed again. They were on a different planet. This one didn’t have a lavender sky like the last. The house they were in was beautiful and clean.
Brie was standing next to an opened door with a male in it. Mila took a step closer and realized it was Phoenix.
“You’re welcome here. Slade, I want you to meet Phoenix. He's like you without brothers.”
“I hated him on sight. I didn’t want to know his pain, and I didn’t want him to know mine. I wanted to believe that I was the only created who lost his family. It sounded better when I believed that I was the only person who suffered. While I was trying to suffer in my world as a tortured soul of one, my brothers kept showing up.”
The scene changed. They were all in the backyard on the same planet playing a game. There were shouts and yells as well as friendly wagers. Slade broke off to run over to Brie. He checked the food that was cooking, gave her a peck on the cheek before returning to the game.
“That was my interlude. The time when I didn’t have to think about what I lived through. I pretended that everything in this galaxy was perfect. Then she died and the pain I kept buried threatened to consume me. Her death was the moment I could no longer deny that I was broken.”
The scene changed again, and they were on Earth. Slade was holding David in his arms while Lisa looked up at him adoringly. Tee was in her, I think I’ll kill you cat form rubbing against his legs.
“Brandi was the second mate. I knew as I held the son whom she and Jabari were adopting in my arms that I would fight for this family. Not just them, but everyone who came after them. Mila, evil sometimes wins I know that. I also know the minute I entertain the thought I’ve lost.”
Chapter Twenty-one
“Turkey, we’re going to have turkey,” David ran around the house singing.
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