Taming Ryock

by Sara Page

  A blue-skinned man wearing a red mask that covers most of his face appears on the screen. “Greetings First Tiered Maul of House Lathuria, I am Fourth-Striped Byland. I’ve been commanded by the Supreme Leader to escort you to the Citadel.”

  There’s a long, pregnant pause as Maul frowns at the masked man on the screen and the air thickens with tension.

  “Define escort,” Maul finally says, breaking the silence.

  The masked man inclines his head. “The Supreme Leader has received your messages ahead of your arrival. It is his wish that you and your crew are seen safely to the Citadel.”

  Maul looks to Marketh and Marketh murmurs quietly, “According to the timestamps, the messages were received over an hour ago.”

  Maul turns his head back to the screen. “We accept your assistance.”

  Half a dozen more ships suddenly blink into the space outside the window and this time I feel Ryock’s alarm so intensely I find myself tightly gripping the armrests.

  The masked man nods his head. “Please refrain from proceeding until we have formed our cover guard.”

  Maul nods at the screen and the screen goes dark.

  “Well, this certainly is different than last time,” Lexi says a little nervously.

  “What happened last time?” I ask, watching as the ships grow larger and larger as they draw closer, surrounding us.

  “Oh… ha… the last time we landed on Rathturia, the Red Masks arrested Maul and separated us,” Lexi explains uneasily. Then she quickly adds, “But that was because they thought he kidnapped me.”

  “What?!” I exclaim and spin my seat around to face Lexi.

  Why didn’t she tell me this sooner?

  “Don’t worry,” Maul says firmly, butting into the conversation. “This time no one is going to separate us, my heart.”

  “Oh, I know,” Lexi says, forcing a smile for him. “This time is totally different.”

  Maul nods his head but his intense gaze remains locked on Lexi. In his eyes I see love but also a fierce protectiveness.

  Ryock’s hand comes down on my shoulder and I glance up to see him looking down at me with the same fierceness.

  I still don’t know what the future holds for us, but I can feel it in the very marrow of my bones that he would do anything and everything to keep us from being separated.

  “Ahem,” Marketh speaks up. “I hate to ruin this very touching moment, but I’ve been informed by our escort that they’re in position. Shall we proceed?”

  Maul tears his gaze away from Lexi as if it takes him a great deal of effort to do so and turns back to face his command station. “Proceed, Marketh.”

  Ryock

  I’ve had to control myself for so long. Boarding the ship, the jumps, the battles. The worry and heartache. All of it I’ve tried to manage inside of myself in an effort to keep it from sinking into Isla. Doing my best to keep her safe and unaware. I shouldn’t have. I can feel that now in my heart.

  I can feel that she has been doing the same for me. Now that we’re almost to the Tribunal, her fears, like mine, are almost palpable. They’re becoming too much to bear.

  Lightly touching her shoulder, I lean down to whisper in her ear. “We need to go to our quarters.”

  Tearing her eyes away from the screen, she looks up into my eyes.

  My need for her pulses through the bond and she nods her head. “I think that’s a good idea.”

  Leading her by her hand, we walk back to our quarters.

  Our bond has only intensified over these last few days. I believe it is now at its full strength. It’s so strong we can almost read each other’s thoughts.

  She knows my heart, she knows my fears, and she knows of my resolve.

  Nothing will separate us. Not now, not ever.

  If it comes to it, I’ll take on the entire Tribunal by myself to keep her by my side in this life.

  But I desperately hope it will not come to that.

  Entering the room, my hand slowly releases hers.

  No words are needed now. Not when we have the bond between us. This love between us. Love for each other and love for our unborn child.

  All we need now is touch and connection.

  Pulling my shirt up and over my head, I watch as her moves mirror my own. We’re in tandem now, each acting like a single entity with one purpose.

  Once my shirt is gone, I watch as she removes her bra. My fingers itch to just tear it off of her. Damnable fabric. Out of all the clothes she insists on wearing, it is the least needed in my opinion.

  Her breasts bounce as they’re released and my tongue aches to touch them. To taste them. If I could take my time, I’d lick every inch of her skin. Burn her taste into my memory and mark her with my scent.

  But time is fleeting, and we don’t know when we’ll have another moment like this.

  The rest of my clothes are quickly torn off. Pants, boots, socks. And hers are quick to follow as the full urgency of the situation hits us.

  Minutes. We have precious minutes before we reach Rathturia and face whatever is before us.

  Standing naked before my glowing star, I smile while she admires my body. Gone are the furtive looks. Gone are the bashful manners.

  Here and now is all we have. We must enjoy every moment. Every second.

  She pushes her panties down her slender legs and her scent envelopes me. Calling to that primitive part of my brain that craves to have her body against my body. To have her skin pressed against my skin.

  Grabbing her by the hips, I give into the craving and pull her close. Head bending down, my mouth meets her mouth, and I devour her, unable to stop myself. She’s so soft, so sweet. Her taste alone is an aphrodisiac that makes my blood roar.

  A purr builds up in my chest and she shivers. I lift her up in my arms and carry her to the bed.

  Breaking the kiss, we both pant as I lay her down and crawl on top of her. She spreads her long, slender legs as I hover over her. This will be the first time we’ve actually done it this way, I think. I worry about how large my body is to her, how heavy I am. But I can feel through the bond that she has no fear.

  She simply desires me. She desires that my massive body cover her body. To feel my warmth, my strength, and my undying devotion.

  Looking into her eyes, I know words are still not needed, but I have the sudden urge to say them. “Isla, we have searched for each other since the dawn of time. Nothing will break us apart now.”

  A small tear spills from her eye as she looks up at me and I almost regret reminding her of our perilous situation, but the words must be said. She must know what is in my heart. The truth I’ve come to accept in the very core of my soul.

  “Even if we are separated, we’ll always find our way back to each other. In this life or the next.”

  “Ryock,” she gasps and her legs tighten around my waist, trying to pull me closer.

  I feel her need for me to be in her body. Her need to merge our flesh so we can become whole.

  Fisting my hard cock in my hand, I slowly swipe the crown of it against her entrance. Each time I squeeze just a little to add my precum to her own wetness. I fear tearing her more than I want to admit. She’s so small and I’m stupidly big.

  “Fuck,” I groan out through gritted teeth.

  Her pussy is so pink, so tiny, it looks almost obscene as my thick head begins to spread her delicate lips.

  Rocking her hips again and again, she tries to force me deeper into her and moans, “Please, no more teasing me. I can’t take it! I need you, Ryock. I need you now.”

  Growling out loudly, I resist the temptation to just slam myself into her. I know that despite her pleadings I could hurt her and that is the very last thing I would ever want to do.

  Pushing the head into her opening slowly, I move in a slow, aching rhythm. With each downward thrust, I push just a bit further in. Her walls are so tight around my cock that I can feel the silky smoothness gripping me, tugging me.

  “Oh god!” she m
oans as I push until I’m nearly fully buried inside of her.

  My chest finally rests against hers and I start to give in to my instincts. My cock pushes past her tight walls until I can go no more.

  Pulling back, I pull almost completely out and she whimpers. Then I thrust in again and again.

  Each thrust I can feel through the bond. Each magnified by her pleasure and my own.

  Her nails bite deep into my back as she begins to rise up the steep peak of her arousal. My own is so close to matching hers that I grit my teeth to hopefully stem off the explosion that will surely follow.

  She shrieks all of a sudden as our bodies slam together. Her mind going blank in ecstasy as mine loses all track of thought and control.

  My body jerks and I follow her into orgasmic oblivion. My cocks swells and I grunt and growl as I pump her full of my essence.

  “Oh god! I love you, Ryock. Mind, body, and soul,” she cries out as we hold on to the last moments of our bliss.

  “Fuck,” I growl out in happiness.

  I’d roar in triumph, but I don’t think she wants the others to hear.

  My cock that was softening is slowly stiffening again and I push it back deep inside of her.

  “Wait…” she giggles. “I say I love you and you all of a sudden are raring to go again?”

  “Careful with your words,” I growl before I take her lips again. “They have consequences, my dear.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Isla

  “Look, Isla, isn’t it amazing?” Lexi gushes as she holds Thorn in one arm and points with the other at the planet we’re approaching.

  Amazing doesn’t begin to describe it as my eyes drink in all the sights before me.

  Rathturia is nothing like I pictured it. It looks like something straight out of a science fiction movie. Something I imagined Earth would look like a couple of hundred years from now.

  Glimmering, spiraling buildings stretch up towards the dark, multi-hued sky, their spires piercing through dark inkblots that must be clouds. Hundreds of neon lights glow and blink like a bedazzling light show with every color imaginable.

  Flying cars soar along blue-lighted paths and even more vehicles zip along on the ground.

  Dozens of spaceships of all shapes and sizes land and takeoff from a building in the very center that we’re fast approaching.

  The building grows to gigantic proportions as we draw closer, becoming the size of a small city, and is shaped like a pyramid. The walls of the pyramid glimmer, reflecting off the multi-colored lights like a glittering black diamond.

  “That’s the Citadel,” Maul says with a measure of pride.

  It’s all absolutely dazzling. So dazzling, I think I’m actually awestruck.

  Lexi takes one look at my face and laughs. “That’s exactly how I felt the first time I saw it.”

  I snap my jaw shut and smile sheepishly. “Rathturia is beautiful.”

  Maul flashes me a rare smile. “It’s your home now.”

  Ryock’s grip on my shoulders tightens and I try not to flinch. His grip isn’t hard enough to be painful but his fear that others will try to separate us and he’ll have to fight is so unexpected and so intense it hurts.

  “Yeah, if you look real close,” Lexi says, squinting her eyes into the horizon, completely oblivious to my sudden distress. “You can see our house from here.”

  As much as I want to strain my eyes and catch a glimpse of my sister’s house, I can’t ignore what Maul just said.

  “Ryock’s too?” I ask, forcing myself to meet Maul’s eyes.

  He stares at me and his gaze is so cold, so alien, I wish I could read his mind so I could tell what he’s thinking.

  Probably sensing the tension around her, Lexi leans away from the window, frowns, and looks between the two of us.

  Finally, Maul inclines his silver head and says, “Of course.”

  “In the eyes of the Tribunal, you’re a Rathurian now, Isla,” Marketh says as he zooms over.

  “Yeah, you guys said that earlier, but I don’t really know what that means,” I admit.

  I’ve been bombarded with so much information over the past few hours when everyone tried to get me up to speed on the Tribunal, only a portion of it has stuck.

  “It means that you are afforded all the rights and privileges of a Rathturian,” Maul says. “The right to find your mate and form your bond. The right to never be separated from your bonded.”

  Is he saying what I think he’s saying?

  “You mean you recognize Ryock as my bonded?” I ask, so hopeful I’m a little breathless from it. “And you won’t try to separate us?”

  Maul’s face softens towards me and he takes a step closer. “Isla, you are my sister in every sense of the word. For over almost a year, I have searched the cosmos for you. Through the bond I have with Lexi, I have felt her love for you, which has become my love for you. I have felt her fear for you, which has become my fear too. I apologize for being overprotective, but no, I would not dare separate you from your bonded.”

  Lexi makes a little squeaking noise and I glance over to see her hugging Thorn to her chest and silently crying.

  Her tears cause tears to prick at the corners of my eyes and I suck in a breath to hold them back.

  If I wasn’t so damn relieved, I’d probably be crying right along with her.

  “So, does that make us? Brothers?” Ryock rumbles out, his chest vibrating against my back.

  Maul inclines his head and the corners of his lips pull up into a smirk. “Yes, I suppose if Isla is my sister and you are her bonded that does make us brothers, Ryock.”

  “Great, we’re one big happy family now,” Marketh says with mock cheerfulness. “And we’ve landed. Now let’s get a move on before the Crima find a way to attack us again.”

  “I’m getting a very strong sense of déjà vu, Maul,” Marketh says as he nervously zooms around us.

  Maul shoots him an annoyed look as he hits a button on the wall and the cargo bay door opens. “Of course you are, it’s just like before.”

  Lexi narrows her eyes as she peers through the cargo door at all the red-masked men standing in a tight formation awaiting us. She has Thorn strapped to her chest with a long piece of fabric that crisscrosses over her chest and back. “Yeah, it’s just like before…. Except I’m pretty sure there are more this time. You got that contingency plan in place, Marketh?”

  Maul turns his annoyed look on her. “That won’t be necessary.”

  “Yep,” Marketh says over him. “The ship is set at full counter-attack mode. And after the last time, I’ve added a few of my own personal modifications.”

  “Oh, personal modifications,” Lexi says with a gleam in her eyes. “I like the sound of that.”

  Maul shakes his head and looks to Marketh with exasperation plainly on his features. “You will not attack the Red Masks, Marketh. That’s an order. They mean us no harm.”

  “Sure they don’t,” Marketh says sarcastically. “But if they do, they got another thing coming. What is that saying you’re so fond of, Lexi? Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice, shame on you?”

  Maul makes a disgusted sound in his throat.

  I look to Ryock and lift both of my brows and his lips twitch in return.

  Lexi sighs and rises up and down on her tip-toes to bounce Thorn. “It’s fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Meaning, if you’re duped twice, it’s your own fault.”

  “Whatever,” Marketh says as he zooms around us some more. “Maybe your saying ‘shoot first, ask questions later’ would be more appropriate.”

  Maul gives Lexi a look that screams this is all your fault and then drags a hand down his face. “You will not be shooting first, Marketh. We’re on Tribunal grounds. If you start shooting, you’ll get us all blown to oblivion.”

  “I’ll blow their asses to oblivion to protect the seven of us,” Marketh fairly buzzes as he pauses to hover in front of Maul. “We’re a family now, Maul.
”

  It takes me a moment to count us up and when I realize he’s counting my unborn child as one of the seven, I can’t help but place a hand on my tummy and beam at him.

  “We are a family,” Maul agrees and then says firmly. “And that’s why I’m ordering you to stand down, or I’ll revoke all your privileges.”

  Maul and Marketh seem to have a stare-off. Well, as much of a stare-off one can have with a floating silver orb.

  Despite having no eyes, Marketh relents.

  “Fine,” Marketh says with a huff. “I’ll wait until they strike first. But I’m telling you, Maul, I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Isla

  “Greetings, First Tiered Maul of House Lathuria,” Byland, the blue-skinned, red-masked man from earlier calls out as he steps forward.

  “Greetings, Fourth-Striped Byland,” Maul returns less friendly as he and Marketh approach first.

  Without being told to do so, Lexi and I instinctively hang back with Ryock at the foot of our landing ramp.

  Byland’s blue eyes pass over our small party. “By order of the Supreme Leader, we are to escort you to the Citadel for an immediate audience.”

  When Byland’s eyes meet mine I feel a jolt of recognition, though I swear I’ve never met him before.

  Maul stares at Byland for the longest time, scrutinizing him, and my heart starts to quicken with uneasiness before he inclines his head. “We accept your escort.”

  Byland’s eyes slip towards Lexi and I one more time before he gives a sharp nod of his head. He barks out orders to the formation of Red Masks standing at ready and they surround us as our group slowly moves forward.

  Marketh zips back to us and circles around Lexi and I. “Omethingsay isyay offyay,” he says.

  Lexi nods her head at Marketh and looks to me. She smirks at the confusion on my face and says, “I taught him Pig Latin.”

  “Oh…” I drawl out and think on what he said. My Pig Latin is a bit rusty, but I’m pretty sure he just said something is off.