by Bailey Dark
“Neither one of them will be happy about that.”
I shrugged. “I’m the Alpha.”
Cassala conveyed my orders, and soon we were swinging over the Bordash group that had marched to the north of their camp. We opened up the side door, and I reached for Vania's hand as we jumped out into the air. I wanted to feel the tingles of her hand in mind, but I also wanted to make sure she descended with the proper pace. I didn't know how often she had practiced telekinetic float jumps.
Turns out, it wasn’t often, and she almost slammed us into the surface.
I just made all the sand that sprayed up around us look on purpose and for theatrics and rose up out of it like a superhero.
All my soldiers had been instructed to wear their gas masks at all times while on the surface. Luckily, they were pretty slick to the face, high-end technology filters, and not that cumbersome. Easy to fight and breathe in, and sure to protect us from the halanas, if Tarsine tried anything tricky.
I gestured for my soldiers to move back. Then I tapped my forehead. The one thing the gas masks weren't good for was speaking aloud.
“Ready?” Tarsine asked.
“At your Will,” I quipped, and then flung a knife directly toward his throat.
Tarsine ducked out of its path, and I let it roar off into the darkness. I would keep that little guy out there behind him, hoping he would forget about it, to use it later.
As we clashed daggers, more of my Emerona soldiers gathered around, dropping in from the darkness above, gas masked all, like raindrops descending from the storm clouds with the dying sunlight gleaming off their armor and wet boots. They made a half circle around us, the Bordash on the other side of the circle. I could sense Vania like a pinpoint star in the center of my friendly camp. Her brunette curls whipped in the wind, and her green eyes shined behind the gas mask's goggles, a slight betrayal of tear-slicked vision betraying her fear. She gripped herself in a hug, and I wanted to be the one hugging her.
Tarsine was a moment's faster than me, whipping the pressure off his dagger and spinning around so he could thud a blow to my kidney with his fist that was the size of a battle-ax that he followed up with a quick trick of his blade, using it like a whip, so that it lashed my upper left arm and sliced it open. First blood. He really was a monster of a man, a whole head taller than me, and his shoulders broader than I thought possible, giving him the reach on me.
This would not be an easy fight. I needed to end it quickly. I knew I was more telekinetically skilled.
So, I picked him up, and I threw him.
I dashed after him, jumping on him as he swept up the salt in his fist and threw it in my face, I flashed it aside with a jerk of my fingers, and he was gone before I could land, again behind me, pummeling me in the jaw with a punch that jostled the gas mask a bit, and I cursed, nudging it back in place, but spun around to prepare my dagger to protect me, just as he came down hard with his.
He forced me down to my back, hitting me in the mouth with his fist again, crunching the gas mask plastic against my lips so that my head was knocked back and I lost my footing. He then could put his whole weight on his dagger, pinning me down, and I used my mental faculties, though lights were bursting in my brain from that punch to my mouth, to unsheathe my throwing knives, distracting him with the one I already had loose, letting it whizz around and cut quick nips from his neck, his cheek, his hands. I prepped six throwing knives behind him where he couldn’t see them, my eyes starting to see black spots from lack of air with his forearm against my throat, my brain starting to panic. My skill was memorized, holding the knives steady, ready to impale him from behind. His blade was starting to prick my throat as he forced it in tighter and tighter, and I realized with a sudden rush of fear, that he might just be stronger than me, and his eyes blazed with fury, and I put every intention, every emotion I could access, even my love, yes, love, for Vania into my Will and threw him off me, aiming for the floating knives behind his back, and they impaled him.
Then he was thrust further back, as if an explosion had burst in front of him, slamming him into a nearby Bordash speeder, forcing the six slim throwing knives practically all the way through his body, and I stood up, gasping for air with the release of his weight from my chest, and I was following up his retreat by throwing my dagger, lasering it toward him with such precision that it flew fiercely through the air and slammed into his throat just above his collarbone and impaled him to the speeder’s side panel.
I stared at Tarsine’s body as he gave his last jagged breath, blood flowing freely, spittle and bubbles frothing, my dagger so sharp that his body was slipping through it. The small knives had sunk in so far they would be difficult to retrieve. Most remarkable was how sunken in his chest was from the brutal blow of wind that came from Vania’s telekinetic driving force, that only I suspected. His chest was sunken in, concave, crushed. Everyone else would think that thrust came from me… and it could have, I think… I think I was strong enough to crush a man’s chest with my mind…
I wiped my mouth and found it was bleeding. The crowd was hushed as we watched Tarsine die. The lightning was crackling in the distance, the storm was moving on.
“I’m sorry,” Vania whispered, coming up from behind me and taking my hand. “I only meant to help with the push you had already given him.”
“Well, it looks like you hit him with a spaceship.”
The Bordash were looking at their leader, stunned as if they were waiting for him to get back up, but then Rotcher, Tarsine's second, threw down his blade and lifted his hands. The Curans swarmed, knives ready, taking POWs.
I pulled Vania in close, wincing at the pain in my arm and the way a kiss to her forehead through the thin gas mask material rattled the blows I had taken to my jaw. It is over. I won… I took a deep breath and let go of Vania. One of the Seawards came up to ask her a question, but I pulled her back to me. “I’m going to check on things with Xane and Aimer. That’s the big cruiser just there.” I pointed a little ways to the north, towards the flagship battleship of Emerona’s navy. “Come join me soon.” She nodded and went back to her conversation, squeezing my hand as I let it go.
I floated up to the cruiser quickly, giving a slight wave as all the Curan soldiers cheered beneath me. I breathed in deeply through the gas mask as the clearer, cooler air above the salt lands greeted my nose. The storm clouds were hanging low, though the lightning had retreated and was hanging out higher, still rumbling and grumbling above us, but no longer roaring discomfort. Some of the clouds in the north had even broken away and there were stars shining through. They would light our path back home.
I landed on the open gangway and nodded to the guards. They saluted with smiles. I stripped off the gas mask and handed it over to them with a return salute.
Aimer walked up to me as I entered the bridge. She grinned and pointed to the blood on my left arm. I forced a smile back that split my broken lip and made it bleed more. I scrubbed it away on my sleeve. I grimaced, but I was just so happy to see her…
“Looks like at least one knife got too close.”
I rubbed my jaw. “At least one knife and a few too many fists.” I shrugged. “Least I won.”
“There is that, sir.”
I pointed to the screens above our heads that indicated the location of our aircraft. “How far off are the POW haulers?”
“A few hours.”
“Make sure Rotcher has a private cell, far away from any of his soldiers.”
“Yes, Alpha.”
“Any update from King Kajo?”
“The battle against the Delks was short and sweet. It seems the Delk Clan chief’s younger brother, Braven, really just wanted to join Kajo’s army, and was trying to work out a truce by encouraging his older brother to go to battle against you. The truce that was called was a way to maneuver closer connections with the Empire.”
“Interesting…”
“You are requested in Capital City for the ceremony to gift the Bor
dash southern lands to you, and also, to bind you and your Destin together, if that is your choosing…”
“What do you mean?”
“Clearly, Vania is your Destin. That’s what that connection is between you two. That’s the only explanation. It will only get stronger and stronger. I’m happy for you, Alpha Jase. I think Kajo is ready to have someone to talk to about the weirdness of Earthling women. Something about kitten videos, chocolate, and Taco Tuesdays? I don’t know what that means.”
“Oh, you’ll understand soon, Aimer,” Vania said as she came up to us. She grabbed my ass as she kissed my cheek. “Daphne and I will have you over for our next Taco Tuesday.”
Aimer nodded with a smile and then slipped away. I marveled at my Destin’s beauty as she rubbed at the marks the gas mask had made on my face.
“You were brilliant, Jase…”
I shrugged. “We make a good pair.”
“For how long…?”
“What do you mean?”
“For how long? What happens now?” She asked so tentatively, and yet so boldly at the same time.
“Let’s have a longer discussion about that,” I said, “but Aimer just assured me, Earthling, that you’re my Destin… So you’re with me forever.”
She smiled and grabbed me into a hug.
I brushed her hair and spun her up into the air, twirling her high, catching her on the fall just as she was about to hit the ground, and she trusted me entirely to catch her before she hit the ground.
I kissed her hard, feeling the release of the duel and the relief of still having my throne. Even more than that, I had won something else… “You’re absolutely everything I thought I could never have…”
“I love you…” She blushed furiously as she said it. Then she grabbed my hand and led me to the exit of the cruiser. “Let’s go look at the stars, now that they are finally out…”
I followed her away from my troops to drop back down to the salt lands below. I would follow her anywhere.
Eighteen
Vania
I held Jase’s hand as we floated down to the salt sands again, from Xane’s battleship. I knew we wouldn’t have much time before they looked for him again. Not to mention, he was bleeding and probably stressed about all the orders he needed to make.
“Is this okay? Can you spare a little time?”
“Hold on, let me think. But, would you walk a little bit ahead of me for a second?”
I furrowed my brow but did as he asked and walked ahead of him a few paces, checking back over my shoulder to see if he followed. Instead, what I saw was him exaggerating the look as he studied my ass as I walked away.
I laughed and jumped into his arms, floating to make the jump effectively, surprised by my Will, and he grabbed me quickly, and pulled me away, running in the opposite direction of all his troops. We kicked up sand as we ran, heading toward the river’s mouth. We ducked down into a little grassy area just off the beach, far from the lights of the hundreds of Emerona aircraft in the air, hidden from Tarsine’s demolished camp, mainly out of hearing of the commands being given to the Bordash POWs as they were rounded up by Curan soldiers. The grassy area was lit occasionally by the rolling flash of a lighthouse on a hill to the east, but that was charming. It had the slow filtered lens of a beacon seeking to deliver hope, not the cautionary flash of a warden seeking his prey.
Jase led me into the grassy meadow, the flowers licking at our sandy boots, the oasis a reprieve from the salt dunes. He spun me around into his arms and held me tight, looking deeply into my eyes and nuzzled my nose with his.
“Aimer says you’re my Destin.”
“Yes, so you said. How do you feel about that?”
“Well, I didn’t expect to have one of those… I didn’t really expect to have anybody to share my life with… Being the Alpha is pretty lonely. But… You match me, Vania. Somehow… There’s the same fire within you that burns within me. I can feel you, you can feel it. The ring feels it.”
“I know. I know that’s true.”
“Then… Then, you’ll be my Destin? You’ll be with me forever?”
My heart was thumping so wildly, my heartbeat in my ears made it difficult to hear him, his face in front of mine was blurry, my knees felt weak, and I moved to sit down in the grass. He let me lead him there. Was this a marriage proposal? Things worked a little differently on Earth… Then, in the last six months, I had left the planet, nearly been killed, become a warrior, killed others, battled with my mind, and found my soul-mate. I was just on a different yellow brick road, that was all.
“Yes, Jase. I will be with you forever.”
Jase leaned into me, took my head between his hands and kissed me so sweetly on the lips, then moved my head gently and kissed my cheeks, then my eyelids, then my forehead, moving down to my jawline, tracing it with his lips. He moved his fingertips down my neck and traced the hem of my shirt with his gentle touch, the tugged at it, laughing at me with his eyes.
The stars shone on us as we quickly slipped out of our clothes, knowing we didn’t have much time, but knowing we wanted to see the starlight, and not just the raindrops, on each other’s skin…
We wanted to taste each part of each other, we wanted to touch and feel, and hold and be still with each other.
I pushed him back into the soft grasses, mounting him again, this time very different from suspended in the telekinetic hold. I was able to be much more in control. Only, he wanted the control, this time, and he flipped me over on my back, moving his hands ravenously over my neck to my breasts, pinching my nipples, following his fingertips with his lips, his tongue, his teeth, until I was arching my back and begging that he enter me. H
He pivoted into me, pulling my hips back into him, so he could look straight at me, tap his dick against my wet pussy, as he rubbed and fondled my breasts, first one and then the other. His fingertips wove a story of love into my skin, the most amazing story, as he teased me with his dick… I was hungry for it, I was hungry for him… It was the roar of desire in my soul that almost tore tears from my chest, so powerful and untamable, a feeling I had never had before like I wanted to wrap him in my desire entirely and keep him safe and strong and unleashed at the same time.
Tap, tap, tap…
Then he entered and slammed into me.
I reared up into a sitting position and grabbed at his chest, raking my fingernails down it, afraid I was clawing so much into his skin I was pull off the beautiful ink of his tattoos. Then he pushed me back down, choking me with one hand while he held my hip with his other, and slammed into me again. I screamed as much as I could through the chokehold, my eyes wide, gasping, loving it, getting incredibly close, his huge dick hitting my g-spot, rubbing in just the right place.
His wild blonde hair blew in the night wind and the stars framed his head like a halo, different than the bat cave, glorious and beautiful, my Alpha, my Alpha, my Alpha…
He thrust in and out, his skin gleaming in the starlight, my Alpha Warlord astride me, slamming into me, glorifying in his conquest, maintaining his throne, and finding a new one. He would be able to ride me, and I could ride him forever…
He grabbed my hips, releasing me to breathe right before I passed out and I saw dots in the sky, and the stars blinked the daydream of my life at me and I clawed at his shoulders as he pulled me in tighter, his breath hot, sweat slicking his chest.
“Oh my God, Jase…”
“You’re so fucking tight…”
“Harder. Cum hard into me. Keep going…. Keep going… Keep going… Play with me…” Our mental connection was exhilarating. It was as if the tingles I had been feeling every time we touched through my body was now accessible in my mind as if my mind was trembling and thrilling with the telepathy.
He released one of my hips and used his thumb to gently rub my clit, and I arched my back and moaned, kneading my fingers into his strong forearms. His tattoos stretched, a glorious mythos I wanted to hear from his lips, up to his arms and ac
ross his chest, glowing in the occasional flash of the lighthouse.
My Alpha took my legs and put them up over his shoulders. He moved my hand to play with my clit and pulled back, moving in and out just ever so gently, just the tip, teasing me, tempting me, making me curse. I knew what was coming. He was going to thrust even harder into me… I wet my lips. I wanted it…
“I want it… I want it now.”
“I’m yours.”
He slammed into me, and I screamed. The passion was blinding. I grabbed onto the grasses around us for support as he raged into me, slamming in and out over and over, taking control of my body and I reveled in his speed and strength, at the same time being consumed by the mesmerizing glory of our bodies melding into a machine of pleasure. My pussy grew tighter and tighter, and his breath became shorter and shorter.
“I’m going to cum!”
“Cum into me! Now!”
He grabbed me hard and shook as though an earthquake was capsizing his soul, fingers digging into my body and he collapsed onto me as my orgasm ricocheted, and I couldn’t release him and I couldn’t feel anything but the soft cushion of grass and the blanket of stars above and his strong hands holding me and the sweet breeze chilling our skin and shudder after shudder rocking me as he slowly, slowly pulled out and lay on top of me, sweat-slicked, sliding off to lay beside me, breathing heavily, kissing my shoulders, kissing my neck, kissing my face, as I tried to focus on his lips, and brought my hand to his face and memorized every aspect of his face.
“I’m yours…”
“You’re mine. I’m yours.”
We collapsed together on the cushion of grass, listening to the little river lap at its banks. The occasional bark of an order, thunder of an aircraft, and the roar of a world my Alpha ruled was just beyond these bluffs. A world we needed to get back to…
Jase pulled himself up and teased my nipple with his teeth until I laughed and pushed him off. “They will be looking for you.”
“Yes, but they will be looking for you, too.” His gaze turned serious, suddenly. “Look, I doubt it will come up, but don’t tell anyone that you are the one that flattened Tarsine’s chest. I know why you did it, but… you really shouldn’t have interfered in that duel, and, in the future, you must know, on Farian, duels are meant for the two people fighting them: no interference from the outside.”