Alien General's Fated: SciFi Alien Romance (Brion Brides)

by Voxley, Vi

  Ryden figured the same. The Palians were the only species in the galaxy with the perceptive powers to see behind the Brions' savage image. Even the hive mind had ultimately failed, but perhaps it wasn't fair to blame it. Some Brions believed their own lie. General Faren's own brother had named his ship Fearless, telling them all he'd lost all the teachings the Elders gave them.

  The truth was, there wasn't such a thing as a Brion warrior, at least not the way the galaxy saw them. Even Diego Grothan, the man who was undefeated as his title said, wouldn't die for his pride. The growling, snarling vision of them was all true, Ryden knew that. No one would call the Brions a gentle species.

  Yet most of their enemies—and allies—failed to understand that war was what they truly did best. All of it, including calling for aid when outmatched. There was no honor in being blown to pieces.

  Diego would mock him for it, but Ryden knew he'd have done the same in his place. It meant little compared to the glory that would await him for killing the hive mind.

  Speaking of which, the other general turned to regard him.

  "You slayed the Host," Diego said.

  His voice made it a statement and a question. Ryden nodded.

  "I did," he confirmed it. "Twice, I believe."

  Of anyone, Diego Grothan could appreciate that joke. He glared at Ryden, but he could see the appreciation in the other's eyes.

  "You're going to start pointing that out a lot, aren't you?" he asked, amused. "Imagine that, killing the Clayor hive mind. Twice."

  "Wouldn't you?" Ryden shot back.

  "Of course," said Diego Grothan, seriously this time. "This is a monumental victory for us. And you killed the Koliar too."

  "I wish I didn't have to," Ryden pointed out. "He was a tough enemy. He's been dead for hours, yet he keeps fighting."

  Diego's gaze dropped to Ryden's hands.

  "Urenya will fix that," he said. "She'll consider it a challenge."

  They found the little healer in her med bay, messing around with vials and potions. Ryden couldn't even begin to guess what they were. She took one look at his hands, then sniffed and frowned.

  "Koliars," she said.

  Ryden nodded, confirming her diagnosis. "Do you know what it is?"

  The healer sighed. "If only it were one thing. At first glance, I smell a couple of things for sure. I'll start with those, and you pray that the poison isn't designed to react to antidotes. That should be fun."

  "What's the worst that could happen?" Ryden asked, grinning.

  "Your hands will fall off," Urenya said, answering his smile.

  She got to work while Ryden exchanged a look with Diego, who was standing a short distance away

  "Is she joking?" he asked.

  "I don't think she is," Diego allowed.

  That was fair, Ryden thought. Fighting Koliars always brought that risk. The only comfort he had was that he wasn't dead yet. If the poison was something that could have had the power to kill him, the general suspected Urenya would have detected it.

  Urenya applied some kind of a salve to his hands. It hurt at first, and then it passed on to torturous pain that nearly made him scream. The poison itself hadn't hurt nearly as much as its removal, but Ryden didn't it put it past Stavor to have known that too. He sat and took it like a warrior, never voicing the blinding, searing torture that was going through his hands, but the others could probably read everything from his valor squares anyway.

  And Diego Grothan of all people understood that great warriors weren't immune to pain, but merely in control of it.

  "How did the rounding up go?" Ryden asked to take his mind off his hands.

  "Quickly," Diego said. "I met the Enor on its way back to the hive world. Met with the Palian escort fleet too. It was good you got them out of the system so fast. I heard the Galactic Union wanted to execute the creatures. They have no honor."

  Ryden agreed.

  "Any major deaths I should know about?" he asked, a usual question with Brion warriors who led dangerous lives on ships filled with killers.

  Diego huffed. "Everyone lives," he said. "General Corden achieved major victories in the Eastern Quadrant. Pushed too fast and too far, but broke through the Clayor ranks alone. He's young and rash. That's his problem. Reminds me of someone."

  It was a sign, in a way, Ryden figured. The Brion generals had a peculiar chain of command between themselves in the sense that no one was in charge of anyone. They all obeyed the Elders , but other than that, carved their own way. But like with any group, there were leaders, even if they weren't official.

  Ryden was a young general, while Diego Grothan had led his army and the Triumphant for long years now. And the title he carried, Grothan, signaled that he'd never lost in his life. Most of the warriors had to give up that call sign while they were still in the academy, but Diego had managed to hold on to it. So for him to joke with Ryden meant that he was accepted, and respected enough.

  His approval wasn't something Ryden actively sought, but it wasn't nothing either. While Urenya was busy either healing or torturing him, Ryden thought of how different a man he was now from the hothead that verbally attacked Eleya on Briolina. Even then, the High Senator had seen through him, knowing he was the man for the job. She'd been right, luckily for all of them.

  "Try to move your hand," Urenya said, cutting into his pondering.

  Ryden gave a few testing swings. The valor squares on his neck pulsed all the emotions he'd rather have died than voiced out loud. Instead of roaring in pain, he glared at Urenya, a smirk on his lips.

  "You did that on purpose," he said.

  "Naturally," the healer said. "Now show me where it hurts and where it hurts so badly you think it's going to burst into flames."

  Ryden pointed.

  "Price of victory," Diego said, coming closer. "I do not envy you. Then again, I wouldn't have jumped right onto a Koliar blade either. Did they teach you nothing in the academy? We let all sorts into the armies these days."

  It took almost an hour for Urenya to finish, but when she had, his hands were as good as new. Ryden drew the spear to test it out and found the easy rhythm at once, not hindered in any way by the injury as he'd expected.

  "It's true what they say," he said, nodding his thanks to Urenya. "You're the best at what you do."

  After a short pause, he added, "Of course you have to be, to fix him up all the time."

  He left the Triumphant soon after with Aria in his arms where she belonged. And when his gesha called his ship home, Ryden finally knew he'd won.

  CHAPTER FIFTY

  Aria

  It was as if the ship had heard her.

  Going back to the Conqueror after talking to Isolde felt entirely different. After Aria had made up her mind about staying with Ryden, even his ship seemed to welcome her. And it wasn't merely the fact that like Diego Grothan, Ryden had also ordered the hallways to be more lighted so that she wouldn't have to stumble around.

  Funny how little things like that make all the difference.

  And Aria didn't even bother to hide her joy over the fact that the healer had managed to save his hands from the poison. At first, the sight of his hands wrapped in the bandages scared her, and made Aria think that something had gone terribly wrong. But Ryden had explained that it was only a precaution, meant to protect her until he could shower and wash the last trace of the poison from his body.

  Aria found that to be acceptable, although with one condition: after Ryden had made sure that there was no poison on his body anymore, she could join him in the shower. The general's eyes lit up at her suggestion, now that they were finally free to enjoy their new bond.

  As soon as they stepped out of the fighter, officers approached to ask about matters concerning the repairs and offering reports. Seeing the look on Ryden's face, they all backed away. Aria assumed they knew what a man wanted when he'd only just found his fated. She for sure did. The fire that burned behind Ryden's raging, stormy eyes was hers now and hers alone
.

  Although the healer had assured Ryden that nothing remained on his body, taking it as a personal insult that he'd have to ask, the general took no chances with her. That was one cautionary measure that Aria was willing to allow, even if her body hungered for her gerion in a way that bordered on desperation.

  It was the relief and the final sense of victory that did her in. As Ryden led her into his—their—bedroom, Aria walked over to the screen and looked at the world she was about to leave behind. She hadn't realized how badly fear had her in its grips.

  Fearing for her life and Ilotra, that Ryden would die, and that she wouldn't be able to go with him. All of it had fallen away. Even the fear that she might get everyone aboard the Conqueror killed was gone now with the Triumphant's comforting shadow beside them.

  Far below her, Ilotra turned slowly. If Aria was being completely honest, that was the only thing she was going to miss. The moon-fortress itself, with its twists and turns and the little spaces only a few people knew about. It had been a home for a while, but nothing like what she felt now.

  That was definitely not how Aria imagined that she'd use her talents, but if there was anyone who would appreciate her designs, it was the Brions. She had not seen the future coming, but Aria was intent to make the best of what the fate was giving her.

  Didn't the Brions guard the Union's harvest worlds as well as being the guardians of its borders? She could help with that. Aria wasn't sure that after seeing true war on Ilotra she'd have an appetite for more weapons, but she could come up with more solutions for the protection of the worlds the galaxy desperately needed.

  How had Isolde described it? Sense. The world started to make sense to Aria, her purpose in place as well as her heart.

  She yelped when strong arms closed around her. Damn Brions and their sneaking skills, even if Aria couldn't raise a single word of protest when the general lifted her into his arms and walked with her to the shower.

  The warm water poured over her precious gown, but Aria no longer cared. Her world was Ryden and nothing else. She wrapped her arms around the general's thick neck, pulling herself up to kiss him hard and deep, and she felt Ryden suck her tongue into his mouth.

  Her hands roamed over his magnificent body as soon as he put her down, unable to wait any longer. She wanted to marvel at the body that was hers now. Aria took a step back and had to bite her lip as she watched the water pour over the general's chiseled abs, the droplets clinging to his tanned, smooth skin.

  Without realizing, she reached out her hand to run it over his chest, feeling nothing but unyielding flesh under her fingertips, not even an ounce of fat on his body.

  Ryden was watching her with a hunger that Aria was quickly becoming addicted to. He only allowed her a second to admire his perfect body before closing the space separating them and ripping her gown apart. Aria whimpered, the motion pulling her closer to Ryden, letting him tear it off her. Her long hair fell over her shoulders when the general pulled her gems loose and she finally stood naked before him.

  "I will never tire of this sight," Ryden told her over the rush of water raining down on them, and he pulled her into his embrace. "All of you, mine."

  Aria purred, feeling the general's hands grope her ass, pulling her up, grinding them together. The oils he'd been using to wash had made his skin so slippery Aria could practically glide on him. She gasped when Ryden flipped her around with a quick move, pushing her up against the shower wall. The coldness was in sharp contrast to the hot water and an even hotter body at her back, but Aria only had a second to enjoy that.

  In the next, she forgot everything but how to moan. Ryden knelt behind her, pushing her cheeks and apart and pressing his tongue into her. Aria writhed against him, aching for more friction, more of his amazing tongue between her legs, lapping and licking into her.

  The general's hands were sliding up and down on her legs, caressing her skin in one move, dragging his nails over her delicate skin the next. Every motion was ravenous, telling her a tale of passion as great as her own, but Ryden had patience to make sure she was sated.

  It felt unreal, not only in how good it was, but the whole thing by itself. Aria moaned, squeezing her eyes shut when Ryden pushed a finger inside and then a second one, wiggling them inside her until she was squealing in pleasure.

  Her mind was refusing to contemplate the fact that one of the most feared men in the galaxy was kneeling between her thighs, eating her pussy. That the general would apply the same care and devotion he had for war to pleasuring her, going slowly and surely, making sure that Aria was enjoying everything he did.

  She didn't see how she couldn't, but perhaps Brion women were built differently. Her knees buckled only a minute after Ryden had started his delicious torment of her pussy, moving on to her clit.

  She turned around to give him better access, but the sight of him nearly made her cum from that alone. Ryden's green eyes were feral in their intensity when looking up at her, and then they fluttered closed in pleasure as he sucked her clit between his wet lips.

  Aria moaned, sliding her hands into his short hair, pulling him closer. Her hips arched from the wall, riding Ryden's mouth and his tongue, pushing herself down on the fingers working her pussy open.

  Her gaze drifted to his cock, hard and thick and huge between his thighs, throbbing against her legs.

  "I..." she began, but Ryden chose that moment to circle her clit with his tongue, flicking it over her most sensitive parts, sending a wave of ecstasy running down her spine. "I want to suck you. Let me, I need..."

  The general didn't let her finish that sentence. He stood, coming up to kiss her deeply, his mouth demanding entrance. Aria could taste herself on his tongue and what might have bothered her before excited her now. It was so clear to her how much Ryden loved her taste, loved going down on her, it almost didn't matter what he did.

  "That leaves us with an interesting dilemma," the general whispered against her lips, "because I'm not done tasting you."

  Aria shuddered despite the heat around her, grinding herself against Ryden's hot, divine body. Every inch of it was firm and solid; even his ass was hard under her fingers. His huge cock was rubbing against her belly, so big and hard that Aria almost considered begging for it right then and there.

  "Luckily I have a solution," Ryden said.

  Before Aria could realize what was happening, the general had lifted her into his arms and flipped her around. It left her hanging upside down with her mouth against Ryden's cock and her pussy spread wide right before his hungry mouth.

  Aria whimpered, feeling the general press his face down to lick between her legs, taking good long swipes. She shuddered hard when his tongue dipped into her ass, the sensation weird, but not unpleasant. Possibly something to explore on some night to come, but right then they were both too desperate for each other to bother with that.

  Almost driven out of her mind with pleasure, Aria took Ryden's cock between her lips, sucking on its head. She had been wondering if it was hard to hold her up like that, but judging by the sharp twitch of Ryden's hips and the grunt from above her, he couldn't have cared less.

  His hips thrust at a slow pace, pushing his cock into Aria's mouth, deeper and faster as she adjusted. She moaned around his shaft, barely able to fit even half of it down her throat. Aria could have done it forever, if only to hear Ryden breathe heavily, his tongue losing its rhythm on her clit every time she took him deep. She kept a steady pace with her hand, pushing her head between his thighs to lick at his balls.

  Ryden nearly dropped her, a deep growl rolling over his lips. Aria repeated the motion with glee, licking the general's balls again, sucking them into her mouth, all while keeping the pace relentless, merciless. It was her turn now to show him she could please him too, and by the fact he was breathing erratically and groping her, Aria was succeeding.

  The world turned upside down when Ryden helped her on her own two feet again. He gave her a second to adjust to being upright before kis
sing her wildly, his hands in her long hair, pulling her almost painfully closer to him. Aria didn't mind one bit, helping along as much as she could until there was no air between them, nothing but heat and lust and kisses that left her lips red and swollen.

  Ryden carried her to the bed like a bride on her wedding night. Aria would have pointed out that she had two functioning legs, but the truth was that she loved it. The ease with which the general simply scooped her into his arms as though she weighed as little as a feather turned her on like nothing else.

  The power was evident under his skin, the muscles playing with every move he made, flexing when he wasn't even exerting himself. As soon as he set Aria down on the bed, uncaring that their wet skin made the sheets damp under their hot bodies, she moved closer to him, tracing his abs with her tongue while he played with her tits.

  He pushed her back, nudging her legs apart.

  "Touch yourself," he ordered, kneeling between her spread legs, his eyes clouded by dark desire. "I want to see you prepare your pussy for me."

  Aria obeyed. She slipped her hand between her thighs, pushing two fingers in. They went easily, her pussy already wet and open from his teasing before. Her other hand went to her tits without thinking, playing with her nipples, pulling, circling them.

  Ryden was watching her, unblinking. His right hand was wrapped around his thick cock, stroking with ferocious speed. Aria's eyes were fixed on it, her mouth watering, wanting, needing that cock to fuck her and soon. She added a third finger and moaned, her hand working faster as Ryden picked up speed too.

  The general bent to lick her tits, his tongue rolling over her flesh, sucking on her nipples. Aria moaned, never faltering in her rhythm. She was getting close, but it was nowhere as good as when Ryden was doing it.

  "Please," she begged. "I want you. Touch me, please, fuck me..."

  Ryden smiled, a wicked grin on his lips. He pulled her hand out, replacing her fingers with his own. Aria's back arched, moaning his name. It felt amazing, divine to be touched by him, her pussy reacting to every flick of his fingers, nearing the edge with dizzying speed.