“So the way I see it, you basically had to choose between two sets of orders: Taelon’s and his parents.’ If you have no emotions to sway you and always obey orders, logic would dictate that you wouldn’t obey the second set of orders until you finished obeying the first. So you kinda had no choice but to lie. It was the only way to follow Taelon’s orders.”
What are you doing? Taelon asked her telepathically.
I’m trying to make him feel better. He seems really worried.
He’s Yona. Yona don’t worry. It’s why they make the best guards and are the best men to have at your back in battle. They don’t feel emotion.
Clearly he does. Because look how relieved he seems now.
“I accept the logic of your explanation, Earthling.” He turned to Taelon. “I was obeying your orders.”
The baby shifted in Lisa’s arms and began to suck on her fist.
Ari’k looked down at the infant and blinked. “What is that?”
She fought a laugh. “A baby.”
Taelon grinned. “She’s my daughter.”
Ari’k looked at Taelon. “You sired a child with an Earthling?”
“Yes.”
Ami grinned. “I did, too.” Then she laughed. “Well, I didn’t sire it. He did.” She jerked a hand over her shoulder at Marcus. “But I gave birth to it.”
Ari’k returned his gaze to Taelon. “You have much to communicate to the king and queen.”
Taelon clapped him on the shoulder. “Yes, we do.”
Chapter Seventeen
Taelon caught Ami’s gaze and spoke to her telepathically. I know you’re probably eager to speak to Mother and Father, but could we put it off until tomorrow?
Sure. Marcus probably thinks they’re going to blame him for my wanting to stay here and will appreciate being granted a reprieve.
As soon as they see how much you love each other and you show them their beautiful granddaughter, they’ll forget any animosity they might feel.
He spoke with Ari’k a few more minutes, then followed the others back to the house.
Ari’k elected to stay with the transport.
When the others filed through the back door, Seth rested a hand on Taelon’s arm and detained him.
Lisa looked back, her brows raised in question.
Taelon smiled. “I’ll be there in a minute.”
“Okay.” Her own smile turned wry when the baby wiggled and began to fuss. “I think I need to feed the baby anyway.”
Seth pulled the door closed, shutting them both outside. “I know Lasarans consider it rude to read another’s thoughts without permission, but all gifted ones are under my protection, so I read yours to determine your feelings and intentions regarding Lisa and the child she bore you.”
Taelon wanted to object, but he had secretly peeked into Marcus’s mind a time or two. Earthlings were known for their deceptive propensities. He’d needed to be sure that the love Marcus appeared to bear Ami was as sincere as it appeared. “And?”
“I know you love her. I also know you wish to bond with her and make her your lifemate before you speak with your parents to ensure she will face no scorn for having bred your child outside of… wedlock or bonding, however you choose to put it.”
Taelon sighed. “My parents won’t scorn her. They’ll be too overjoyed to see me alive and know I have a daughter. If I tell them I love Lisa and explain the circumstances—how she came to bear my child outside of a formal bonding—they will welcome her even if we don’t bond first. But…”
Seth arched a brow. “But?”
“Amiriska is right. Our society has very strict rules prohibiting unbonded males and females from touching. I know my parents would likely wish us to wait and have a formal ceremony once we reach Lasara. But I don’t want to have to spend the next thirteen months…”
Seth’s lips twitched. “Keeping your hands to yourself whenever you’re in public?”
“Yes.”
The leader of the Immortal Guardians chuckled. “I don’t blame you. The whole house knows whenever Leah and I make love, and I still can’t keep my hands off her.”
Taelon didn’t know what that meant. Were they loud when they copulated or something?
Seth shook his head. “You’ll see. As far as the bonding goes, if you’d like a formal ceremony, we can hold one tonight like we did for Ami and Marcus.”
Taelon considered it. “I appreciate the offer but would rather it just be the two of us. A formal bonding ceremony would involve gathering Lisa’s close relatives together so that I might profess my love for her in front of them and ask their permission—should she agree—to bind my life to hers. She has no close relatives, so I would instead prefer to make my vows to her in private.”
Seth nodded. “If you wish her to feel married to you in the Earth sense, you’ll need a ring. Consult Ami, and once you’ve made your choice, we can have one here within the hour.”
“Thank you.”
“There is something else I wished to mention to you privately.” He hesitated a moment, as though searching for the right words. “Earth women are usually advised to abstain from sexual activity for at least a month after they give birth.”
His heart sank.
Seth’s lips twitched. “However, because I healed her, Lisa is completely recovered and may engage in sexual relations as soon as you both wish it.” He held up a hand. “Most Earth women also resume ovulation between forty-five and ninety-four days after childbirth. That won’t be the case for Lisa. My healing touch tells me she will likely ovulate two weeks from now. I don’t know about Lasaran males, but the sperm of human males can survive for up to five days inside an Earth woman, so if you wish to prevent pregnancy, you need to either cease sexual relations nine days from now or use protection to prevent conception.”
Taelon considered it. “We’ve a long voyage ahead of us. If she gets pregnant soon, she’ll end up giving birth on the ship.”
“Such was my concern.”
“There is a serum that can render our sperm inactive. Some of our bonded men opt to use it if their lifemates can become pregnant but always miscarry to spare the women that grief. I will speak to Lisa about using it.” Taelon extended his hand. “Thank you for informing me.”
Seth clasped his arm. “You’re welcome.”
Lisa sighed as warm water cascaded down over her. David’s house had the best showers. The only thing that would make it better would be if Taelon joined her.
A knock sounded on the door.
Heart leaping, she turned and wiped fog from the glass shower wall.
Taelon poked his head inside. “I asked Amiriska to purchase you some new clothes. I’ll leave them here.” He leaned in far enough to hang a clothing bag on a hook. After casting her bare body—exposed by the glass shower—a longing look, he started to back out of the room.
“Want to join me?” she asked.
“More than anything,” he replied, voice husky, “but the baby is fussing.”
“Oh. Okay.”
The longing look he tossed her before closing the door went a long way toward alleviating her disappointment.
Not wanting him to have to deal with a fussy newborn by himself—parenthood had been thrust upon them awfully quickly—she finished the shower, quickly dried off, and unzipped the garment bag to see what he’d brought her.
“Hmm.” It was a dress. Pretty yet casual. But she was more accustomed to wearing pants and was pretty sure the baby would find a way to stain the pristine white fabric.
Lisa shrugged. She’d worn leggings and long maternity tunics almost every day since she and Taelon had met. Maybe he just thought she was more comfortable in dresses.
She drew it out of the bag along with a lacy bra, matching bikini panties, and casual white shoes with low heels. The panties were pretty and perfect. The bra was pretty, too, but it barely concealed her breasts, which were uncomfortably large and heavy now that she was breastfeeding their little one.
She frowned. They were
going to have to choose a name for the baby soon. They’d been so busy and distracted that they hadn’t had time to discuss it yet.
The dress ended up being a little longer than her maternity tunics and fit surprisingly well, hugging her breasts and slender torso before flaring into a loose skirt that reached her knees. The shoes were a tad loose but very comfy.
Eager to join Taelon, she dragged a brush through her wet hair, then headed into the bedroom.
She stopped two steps in and stared. The room was dimly lit with dozens of flickering white candles. A sweet fragrance arose from white rose petals sprinkled over the wood floor. Large potted roses trimmed into trees and bursting with blossoms bracketed the bed.
Across the room, Taelon faced her in a black suit and tie, so damn handsome she forgot to breathe. “Where’s the baby?”
“Amiriska is watching her.”
Her heart fluttered. “Why?” To give them time alone so they could finally make love? If so, he had really set the scene well.
Taelon slowly strode toward her, as gorgeous and graceful as a panther. “So I could do this.” He knelt before her.
Oh shit. Her pulse picked up with cautious excitement.
“I love you, Lisa.” He clasped her hands in his and pressed a kiss to the back of first one, then the other. “In the brief time we’ve known each other, you have come to affect me in the most profound of ways.” He squeezed her fingers. “You hold my heart in these small hands.”
Her own heart began to pound.
“I can no longer imagine you not being by my side. Nor can I imagine waking without you in my arms. I wish to spend the rest of my days with you. The rest of my nights as well. I want your face to be the last thing I see before I fall asleep at night and the first thing I see when I wake in the morning. I wish to love you and protect you, cherish you and laugh with you until I’m so old I can no longer draw breath. I wish to bind our lives together forever.”
Tears burned the backs of her eyes. “Taelon…”
He reached into a pants pocket and withdrew a velvety black box, then placed it in their clasped hands. “Will you marry me?”
She clutched the box. “You want to bond with me? You want me to be your lifemate?”
“Very much so.”
Lisa couldn’t imagine not having him at her side either. Nor did she want to. She loved him. “Yes,” she said with a smile. “I’ll marry you.”
He surged to his feet and dragged her into a rough embrace. “Thank you.”
She held him tight. “I love you so much, Taelon.”
He drew back enough to press a tender kiss to her lips. “I love you more than I ever knew I could love another.” Stepping back, he opened the black box.
A thick silver band rested inside, dark symbols etched into its shiny surface.
A look of uncertainty flickered across his handsome features as he removed the ring and tossed the box aside. “The commercials I’ve seen on your television indicate that women of Earth prefer gold and diamonds. But I wanted you to have a ring like Amiriska’s that would better represent our bond. Riska said gold is weak and malleable, but silver is strong like the love I bear you.”
She smiled. “And the love I bear you.”
He drew a finger over the ring’s surface. “Riska also said these symbols are from Earth’s Hebrew language, taken from the scripture of Ruth. They mean Where you go, I will follow. If you change your mind, Lisa, and wish to remain here on Earth, I will stay with you. Your home will be my home. Your people will be my people. And I will make a life here with you and our daughter.” He slid the ring onto her finger. It fit perfectly. “If you choose instead to go to Lasara, my home will be your home. My people will be your people. And my family will be your family.” He kissed the ring on her finger. “As long as we’re together, I know we’ll be happy.”
Rising onto her toes, she pressed a kiss to his lips. “I haven’t changed my mind, Taelon. We’re going to Lasara.” She kissed him again. Only one worry pecked at her happiness. “But aren’t you concerned about my shorter lifespan?”
Taelon had shocked the hell out of her by confessing he was eighty years old and Ami was fifty. Taelon looked no more than thirty, and Ami looked like she was in her early twenties. Their parents were three or four hundred years old and just beginning to acquire a few gray hairs.
Lisa had no hope of living that long and worried about what it would be like to grow old while he remained young.
But Taelon shook his head. “The Sectas can lengthen your lifespan so it will mimic a Lasaran’s.”
She stared at him. “Really?”
He nodded. “They are very advanced medically.” The fact that he didn’t seem at all concerned about it compelled her to believe him.
“I can live hundreds of years?”
“Yes.”
“With you?”
“Yes.”
“On Lasara.” A utopian planet with no war or famine.
Unease entered his expression. “Do you… consider that a bad thing?”
“Hell no.” She rose onto her toes and pressed a kiss to his tempting lips. “I think it’s the best thing ever.” She kissed him again. “And the ring is perfect.” A perfect representation of their bond, as he’d said. “You’re perfect.” She kissed him again, longer and deeper, desire swiftly rising as he slid his arms around her and pressed her against him. “Now take off your clothes and get in that bed so we can bond physically, too.”
He grinned. “Drek yes.”
Their hands flew into action, their lips clinging and tasting. She tugged off his tie and jacket. He tugged off her dress. She wrestled with his dress shirt. He yanked it open impatiently, sending buttons scattering across the floor.
His tongued parted her lips and plunged inside to stroke hers as he yanked her to him. Both moaned at the feel of warm flesh against flesh.
“You’re so small,” he murmured.
She laughed. “There’s no big belly between us now.” To prove it, she pressed her flat stomach to his muscled abs, rubbed her hips against the erection his pants constrained.
Groaning, he slid a hand down to palm her ass and press her tighter against him.
She rose onto her toes, fitting them together better.
He rocked his hips against hers.
Heat shot through her.
He trailed a path of kisses down her neck, delivered a love bite she felt all the way to her core. One of his large hands clasped her breast. Squeezed. Drew a thumb across the hardened peak.
She moaned as sensation shot through her. “I think my breasts are more sensitive now. I could practically come just from you touching them.”
He unfastened her bra and let it fall to the floor, then backed away enough to stare down at her bare breasts. “You’re so beautiful.”
When he started to dip his head and take one taut tip in his mouth, she stopped him.
“Wait.” Color rose in her cheeks and embarrassment threatened to dampen her desire. “Don’t suck them. It… it might make my milk come.”
“Right.” Then his lips were on hers again, making her forget everything but the way he made her feel.
And ohhhhhh the things he made her feel.
Lisa lifted a leg and wrapped it around him, rubbing her core against the long, hard ridge in his pants.
Taelon responded with a groan. Lowering both hands to her ass, he lifted her so she could wrap both legs around him.
“Yes,” she breathed.
He carried her to the bed, every step creating delicious friction.
Lisa didn’t know if it was hormones or just Taelon himself, but she was already so close to coming she could practically scream.
He lowered her to the edge of the bed, pushed her back to lie on it with her legs dangling off the edge of the high mattress. A quick yank ripped the panties right off her.
“That’s so hot,” she murmured, watching him with heavy-lidded eyes.
Then he bent, slipped her shoes
off, drew her legs over his shoulders, and lowered his face to her center.
Lisa cried out at the first brush of his tongue on her clit. Throwing her hands out to the side, she fisted the covers and held on tight as he licked and stroked the little bundle of nerves, nipping and sucking and driving her wild.
He slid a long finger inside her. “You’re so wet for me,” he growled. “So tight.”
Even that—his voice, deeper and rough with desire—thrilled her.
He slid a second finger inside her, stroking her in tandem with the licks and nips and sucks on the most sensitive part of her.
Unable to bear any more, she threw her head back and screamed his name as ecstasy crashed through her.
Taelon damn near climaxed himself when Lisa tensed beneath his onslaught and screamed his name. The muscles of her warm, wet sheath clenched and unclenched around his fingers. He continued to stroke her, extending her release until she collapsed, every muscle relaxing.
While she fought to calm her breathing, he straightened and kicked off his shoes, pulled off his socks.
When he reached for the waistband of his pants, Lisa sat up and brushed his hands aside.
Taelon stared down at her as she unbuttoned the material. “You’re so beautiful,” he breathed. Her skin was flushed from pleasure, her lips full from his kisses. Her damp hair was delightfully disheveled, and her eyes…
Her eyes were full of love as they met his.
She drew the zipper down, freeing his hard length.
The pants dropped to his ankles. Taelon quickly kicked them away, then moaned when she closed her small hands around him.
“You’re so big,” she murmured.
He clenched his hands into fists as she drew a thumb around and over the tip, collecting the bead of moisture that emerged.
She drew one finger along the sensitive ridges that ran along to top of his shaft. “I think this is going to feel really good when you’re inside me.”
“I want to be inside you right now,” he told her, his voice guttural with need.
“I want that, too.” Scooting back on the bed until her head reached the pillows, she parted her thighs.
The Lasaran (Aldebarian Alliance Book 1) Page 27