Jacob & Phaedra's Story (Uoria Mates IV Book 2)

by Ruth Anne Scott

  I held Bannack as tightly as I could, letting my tremors embrace him as he continued to pulse within my body. I sobbed for breath and clung to him, burying my fingers in his hair and rocking my hips subtly as I rode out the last waves of my climax. His mouth slowly trailed down onto my breast and suckled at one nipple, then the other, before lifting up to cover mine.

  We kissed languidly as our bodies cooled and then he parted our lips to nuzzle his nose against mine.

  "Come home with me."

  Chapter Ten

  Bannack kept his eyes closed as he asked the question, part of him worried that Loralia wouldn’t be as willing to go back above ground, and that he might have to try to get used to living down in her world. When she didn't answer, he opened his eyes to look at her. He saw her eyes widen and he smiled.

  "They change color after we've found our mate," he explained, knowing that the orange of his eyes had surprised her.

  As much as it had worried him that he was going to have to learn about an entirely new species in order to be with her, he realized that it felt completely natural to explain the Denynso to her and let her explain her kind to him. He enjoyed discovering the new things about her and looked forward to each new detail that he would uncover in their lives together. She still hadn't answered his question and he looked directly into her eyes, trying to make the connection that the Denynso were able to make with their mates. He didn't hear anything.

  Tilting his head quizzically at her, he tried harder to make the connection.

  "What?" she asked.

  "What are you thinking right now?"

  "What do you mean?"

  "What are you thinking right now?" he repeated.

  "That that was incredible," she admitted, "and wondering how long it will be until we can do it again."

  He laughed softly.

  "Soon," he told her.

  "Why did you want to know what I was thinking?"

  "When my kind find our mates and bond, our minds connect. We're able to reach each other's thoughts and communicate just by thinking. I can't hear your thoughts."

  "So I'm not your mate?"

  Loralia sounded devastated and confused, and Bannack felt her start to pull away from him. He held her tighter and pulled her against him again.

  "No, no. You are. If you weren't, my eyes wouldn't have changed. We just can't read each other's thoughts."

  "Could it be because I'm not a Denynso?"

  "The human women are able to communicate with their mates."

  Bannack worried that she was going to be upset, but she smiled at him.

  "I guess you are just going to have to settle for trusting and loving me."

  "I do," he replied.

  "Which one?"

  The smile had faded from her lips and she was looking at him in a way that felt like she was looking into his soul.

  "Both. I trust you," he leaned forward and touched a kiss to the middle of her chest, "and I love you."

  "I love you, too."

  Their mouths met again and he drew her as close to his body as he could. He was still buried deep within her and he felt himself hardening again. Loralia began to roll her hips slowly, and he carefully turned her, resting her on her back and coming down on top of her.

  Two days later Bannack stood in the row of warriors in the meeting hall, his eyes fixed on Creia even though his thoughts were focused on the table behind him. He knew Loralia was sitting there among the human women, gazing at his back. Even though he still couldn't listen to her thoughts or communicate with her with his mind, he could feel her. He could sense her presence and it was at once empowering and soothing. With her near him he was calm and in control, but felt stronger and more powerful than he ever had.

  "Many times we have come to this room to honor the courage and bravery of our warriors," Creia said from his platform, "but tonight it is for a different reason. Our men have walked into battle without fear and have come back victorious. They have always protected our home and our kind, and have offered up their lives to ensure we can live comfortably. Tonight they prepare for a challenge that none have faced. Tomorrow these warriors will leave the compound and be the first Denynso to venture out onto Uoria. We don't know what adversities they may encounter or what threats they will find. Tonight we feast for tomorrow we watch them walk toward something even more frightening than the risk of death: the unknown. I know that each of them is prepared and that they will show the same strength, determination, and mastery that they have in everything else that they have done."

  Bannack's spine straightened even further at his king's words. He dreaded leaving Loralia after having just found her, but now more than ever he understood the need for their journey. He had promised her that he would keep her safe, and he intended to do everything in his power to ensure that he kept that promise.

  (To be continued in Part III…)

  Book 3 – The Alien’s Surprise

  Chapter One

  "I think that's going to be enough, Babe," Ty said, taking another loaf of bread from Samira's hand and shoving it down into the bag sitting on the counter, "There's going to be food on the trail."

  "Can you be absolutely sure of that?" Samira asked, her eyes sparkling with the tears that she was fighting to hold back, "You have no idea what's out there. Can you be absolutely positive that when you walk out of this compound that you are actually going to be able to find enough food to keep you going while you are away?"

  Ty looked at his mate rushing around his bakery, gathering the loaves of bread she had baked for him, and felt his heart constrict. The truth was that he really didn't have any idea what it was going to be like when he and the Denynso warriors left the compound to go explore Uoria and find out what types of species, plants, and land existed outside of the small area of land that they had always occupied. Their kind had never left the compound and had existed completely within their small area of the planet without really considering what might be going on outside their boundaries. When they fought the wars that made them famous around the galaxy as the most fearsome and aggressive warriors in existence, it was against species that came to their planet and infiltrated their space.

  It was one of these battles that had made them realize the desperate need to get outside of their compound and explore. In that battle, the final and brutal clash with their long-time enemies the KIimnu, they discovered that there was an entire realm right beneath their feet, a mirror of the land that existed above it, that had been home to a species that they had never even known was there. The idea that a species of creatures had lived right under their compound as long as they had been there without any of the Denynso, not even the king, even knowing that they were there was terrifying, and they realized that they would never be able to protect themselves or their families properly if they didn't know what was going on on the rest of the planet.

  Now the warriors along with Ty, the nurturer and baker of the tribe, and Ciyrs, the healer, would be leaving the next morning on a quest that would take them into the furthest unknown regions of the planet so that they may make contact with other creatures and find out what else grew and existed on their planet. It was a frightening prospect, one that could be extremely beneficial to the Denynso and the humans that had come to live with them, or one that could put their entire clan, compound, and existence in danger.

  Ty watched Samira draw a small paper-wrapped package out from under the counter and place it in front of her. His heart squeezed even harder as he looked at her, her shoulders trembling as she couldn't hold back the tears any longer. He knew that his mate, this beautiful human woman that had been the biggest surprise in his life and the greatest thing that ever happened to him when she appeared just weeks before, was worried about him and his safety as he embarked on this journey. If he gave himself the time to really think about it, he would probably be worried about it, too.

  He needed to do this, though. It was only recently, and through the support and love that Samira poured ou
t to him from the moment that she met him was the reason he had been able to fully embrace who he was and the power that he had within him. His entire life the large, imposing Denynso man had focused entirely on taking care of the clan. He was the one who made sure that they had the food that they needed and that they recovered after battles. He was not a warrior. He had not been born to be one. A treasured, unique power he had inherited from his father and that he had hidden deep within him from the time he was a child, had proven that he was more than just a nurturer. Through uncovering and embracing that power he was able to step into the role of a warrior and join the ranks of the others as they marched into the final showdown with the Klimnu. It was his ability to move and control objects with his thoughts that had enabled him to be a powerful and unexpected force against the slimy, disgusting creatures that had been the bane of the existence of his kind for generations.

  Now he needed to offer that same support and help to the warriors as they went out into the world to try to understand it better, and find more ways that they could not only improve the life they had, but to also protect themselves into the future. Samira had completely changed everything for him, and he was unwilling to let her be in danger if there was anything he could do to change it. They already planned on going back to Earth after the quest to marry the way that humans did, further solidifying the bond that had connected them as lifelong mates within the Denynso tribe. He couldn't in good conscious let himself do that if he didn't know that he could bring his wife and the potential future mother of his children back to a place that was safe.

  "What's that?" he asked softly, trying to calm her with his voice.

  "I made it for you," she said, sliding the package closer to him, "I've been working on it since right after we bonded. I just finished it last night."

  Ty released the twine she had tied into a bow on the top of the package and unwrapped the thick brown paper. Inside was a complex-looking box comprised of gears and metal components. A small dip in the top caught his attention. He ran his finger across it and looked up at Samira.

  "What is it?" he asked.

  Samira smiled now, the expression a welcome break from the tears that streamed down her face and made her large eyes look deep and sad. She reached into her pocket and withdrew something, clutching it tightly in her hand. Taking a deep breath, she turned her hand over and opened her palm, holding it out toward him. Nestled in the middle of her palm was a gold ring, the metal antiqued and the design complex and beautiful. A series of prongs in the center held a dark red gem.

  "I know that you probably don't know this because there's no reason that you should, but on Earth when people get engaged the girl usually wears a ring. It is just part of the whole ritual. Then both of them wear bands when they actually get married. Well, this was my great-grandmother's engagement ring and it was passed down through the family to me. I thought that since we are doing things a little differently than other human women are, that maybe I could give you an engagement ring instead."

  Feeling tears starting to prick painfully in his own eyes, Ty took the ring from her palm and looked at it closely. Even though Samira was taller and larger than all of the other human women except for Zuri, the ring was still too small even to fit on Ty's pinky. She giggled when he tried to push it down toward the first knuckle of his pinky.

  "No. It's not for you to wear," she said, "Let me show you."

  She took the ring from him and nestled it down into the dip on the top of the metal box she had given him. As soon as it settled into place, the gears started to turn and Ty heard her voice coming through to him, telling him that she loved him and missed him and couldn't wait to have him home.

  "This is incredible," he said when her voice stopped.

  He was in such awe of her. He knew that Samira was incredibly brilliant and that it was the reason she had come to Uoria in the first place, as a way to expand her knowledge and to help the Denynso healer Ciyrs create healing ointments for the warriors, but it still stunned him. She was so young, and yet her beautiful, graceful hands were able to create something like this.

  "If you push the button on the bottom, there are a few more of the voice discs that you can play. Just take out the ring, twist this top panel counter clockwise until it releases, lift it up, remove the disc that is in there, put in a different one, twist the panel back into place, and then put the ring back in and it will play just like that."

  "Oh, just like that, huh?" Ty asked.

  Samira laughed and looked down shyly. She often forgot how smart she was and that other people weren't able to understand the things that she did with almost no effort.

  "If I were you, I'd listen to those discs by yourself the first time. There are a couple of them that may not be… appropriate for the other warriors to hear."

  "Oh, really?" Ty said, lowering the box back onto the surface of the counter and walking around to Samira.

  He slipped his arms around her waist and started guiding her backwards toward the door to their house, taking off his bag and putting it on the counter as they went.

  Chapter Two

  "The way I see it, this trip can't be any more difficult than going all the way to Earth to find you and getting into it with Samira's stepfather," Ero said, cuddling closer to Zuri.

  "At least when you went to Earth, you knew what you were getting yourself into," she said, wrapping an arm around his waist and tugging him closer.

  "No, I didn't," Ero protested, "I didn't know anything about Earth other than that you were there. None of us had ever been there. In fact, none of us had ever been in a spaceship. I was so worried about not ever seeing you again that it didn't really matter to me that I was going to a completely different planet that I didn't know what it looked like or how I would make my way around. I hadn’t met too many humans in my life, and most of the ones that I had were not exactly pleasant."

  "Were you scared?"

  Ero thought about the question carefully. He didn't really know how to answer. He was being totally honest when he said that it didn't matter to him when he climbed on that ship that he was going all the way to Earth to find her, but when he thought back on it he knew that it wasn't so much that it didn't frighten him, but that it didn't matter to him that he was frightened. It had been his fault that Zuri had left Uoria only twenty-four hours after she had arrived with the intention of being the first professor to come to the planet to be a part of the exchange program the king, Creia, had planned with the university on Earth. He had hurt her so badly with a comment that he made about her to the other warriors that she had left, even after they had bonded for the first time. It was his responsibility to go after her and convince her that he loved her and needed her to come back to Uoria with him to be his mate. It still seemed like an unimaginable gift that she actually had.

  "I know that you don’t want me to go, but isn't this exactly what you wanted to do when you came here?" he asked.

  Zuri gave a huff as if he had put voice to something that she had been trying to avoid.

  "I don't think that's really applicable."

  Ero laughed.

  "Really?" he said, tickling her playfully, "You don't think it's the same thing that you wanted to know everything you could about the Denynso and to teach us about humans so you came to be a part of the exchange program? Actually, you know what? You're right. It's not the same. You came all the way from another planet to find out more about Uoria and the Denynso. I'm just leaving the compound."

  "It's not the same thing. There have been scientists coming to Uoria to study for years. I at least had some kind of idea of what I was getting myself into when I came here. I knew I was coming to a specific compound to interact with a certain species. I definitely didn't have all of the information or know exactly what the Denynso were like, but at least I had a few reference points. You have absolutely no clue what you are walking into. You are literally just going out and wandering around on a planet that not a single member of your kind has eve
r walked around on, essentially just hoping that whatever you find is not going to kill you. I’m sorry if I don't find that terribly comforting."

  Ero lifted up on his elbow and gazed down into Zuri's face. Her thick blond hair rippled around her lovely, round face, still flushed, and her bare shoulders. Large blue eyes gazed up at him and he had to take a moment just to look at her. His mate was truly the most beautiful woman he had ever seen and part of him still couldn't believe that she was really his.

  "This is something that I have to do, my love."

  "But why?"

  "Well, not only is it my responsibility and my duty as a warrior of the Denynso, but I have been thinking a lot about the future and what it might hold for us. I don't want to get to that point knowing that I didn't do absolutely everything that I could to make sure that our future is safe and happy as possible."

  "What point?" Zuri asked.

  Her voice had become soft and when he looked into her eyes he knew that she knew what he was thinking about, but needed to hear him say it. Ero rested his hand on Zuri's stomach and rubbed it gently, looking down to watch his palm follow the curves of her belly and the swell of her hipbones.

  "When we will have a little one of our own. Seeing Pyra and Eden get ready for their baby has made me think about how wonderful it would be to see you carrying our child, and to get to be a father. I didn’t have a chance to have a good relationship with my father growing up to really make any memories with him, and I know that I want to be able to do that for someone."

  Even though his parents had died when Ero was very young, talking about them and the relationship with them that he had missed out on throughout his life brought the same deep sadness that it always had. He had always been the orphan of the Denynso, but also the smallest among the warriors. These factors had combined to give him a bitter, angry attitude and a propensity for distrust and violence as he got older. The other warriors had never missed the opportunity to tease and bully him about his size, and it was this bullying that had pushed him to the cruel comments he had made about Zuri. It had been the horrible moment when he realized what he did to her that it finally occurred to him truly how deeply the teasing had impacted him. When he saw the painful look in her eyes he saw all of the hurt that he had experienced and knew that he had just done the exact same thing to her that the warriors had done to him all those years.