by Roxie Ray
“Mm. So it has been.” I smiled and closed my eyes, focusing on the way his cock was still throbbing within me. Around him, my cunt was still clenching and releasing as well. “But…you’re still hard.”
“So I am.” Ronan pulled me off of him and placed me back on the bed, then turned me around to face him again. More of his seed gushed from my slit in the absence of his cock. When I looked down, his entire shaft glistened with it—and with my honey, too. “So perhaps…”
He pulled me to him and claimed my lips with a kiss so rough and triumphant, I thought it might bruise my mouth.
I hoped it would.
“Go again?” I asked as the kiss broke.
He stroked my cheek and smiled down at me. “Sometimes, vringna, it is like you can read my mind.”
“I don’t need to read your mind.” I let my lips slide down his body, grazing his skin until they settled at his balls. I kissed them both, then gave them a lick. They were coated in the evidence of our coupling too. They tasted like both of us, mixed together so deliciously I decided then and there to suck him clean. “Your cock gives you away plenty.”
“Mm. Sinful little thing,” Ronan’s breath shuddered through his chest as I licked all the way up his shaft, then wrapped my lips around his tip. “You know I cannot say no to you. Especially not when you are doing…mm. That.”
I popped my lips off of his cock to grin up at him. “If I’m so sinful, maybe you should make an honest woman of me.”
“I will get to that soon enough,” Ronan promised as he took my shoulders in his hands and eased me back onto the pillows of the bed. “But first…I believe you requested that we go again.”
“Fucking, then marriage.” My smile widened as Ronan moved his cock to my cunt again. Looking down at it like this, it was a wonder he could even fit inside me at all, but he’d proven time and again already he was more than capable of navigating a tight fit. “I do love a man who has his priorities straight.”
“You are my only priority, precious one.” Ronan smirked as he sank his cock back into me all over again. “But I suppose my cock told you that as well.”
20
Ronan
We waited for after the birth of our cub to finalize the coronation. While Leonix’s labor had gone smoothly, even though she was nearing an age where bearing cubs might be dangerous, Alora and I were both nervous for our own cub’s delivery. Alora was especially weak for the final months. Weak enough, I feared more than once that I would lose her.
But no matter how dire things looked, my dreams only grew clearer and more visceral with every passing night. Those dreams had gotten me this far. I had faith that they would not fail me now.
A crown placed on my head. A roaring fire in front of me. And at my side, Alora. My mate. My bride. My queen. Our cub wailed, fierce and strong, as my mothers anointed sacred oils. His four arms worked their way out from beneath the blankets. All four of his fists rose, triumphant, against the backdrop of night.
Every time I dreamed of it, I awoke with renewed certainty.
Alora would live. Our cub would live.
We would rule over this planet together and make it into a better place.
Alora gave birth one cold, clear morning. She spent the entire night in labor. More than once, I was called to the birthing suite at her will.
“I’m going to die, Ronan.” There were tears in Alora’s eyes that spilled down her cheeks with every contraction. “Take care of our baby. Our cub. Please.”
“I will,” I assured her. My fingertips smoothed the sweat from her brow and the tears from her face. “And so will you.”
“Ronan, please!” she cried.
“You will live, Alora.” I took my fingers in my hand and brought them to my lips so I could kiss them. “You will live, and you will be my queen. For real this time. For good.”
“Okay, Alora, I need you to start pushing.” Alyse, Nion’s human wife and a skilled healer in her own right, gave Alora a reassuring smile from where she knelt between Alora’s thighs. “Ronan can stay, if you want him to—but it’s time.”
“Please stay,” Alora begged me. She squeezed my hand with a strength I had never known from her before. Inner strength, she had in droves. But physical strength like this…
I chuckled and bent down to kiss her forehead. She was going to break all my fingers at this rate—and if that was what helped her right now, I would let her. Gladly.
“I will stay,” I assured her. “I will stay for as long as you like.”
When it was over, I was glowing with not only pride, but also the smug pleasure of being right. Alyse washed the viscera of the birthing from our cub’s skin before she handed the cub to me, swaddled in purple cloth.
“Four arms,” Alyse said, then whistled low. “No wonder you thought you were going to die.”
“I’m not dead?” Alora blinked, dazed. Her hair was even darker red than usual, damp with sweat. It splayed out on the pillow beneath her like a fiery sunrise.
“No, vringna.” I smiled down at our cub, then placed the small bundle in her arms. “You are not.”
“Meet your son,” Alyse said, grinning. “You’re both whole and healthy. Look—he even has his father’s eyes.”
“I’m…not dead?” Alora looked up at me again, just to confirm.
“You are not dead, my precious one.” I pressed a kiss to her lips. “I fear that, as this planet’s future king, I will not allow you to die.”
“Whatever the king says then, I guess.” Alora let out a tired laugh as she moved the blanket aside to get a better look at our son. “But could the king possibly decree that his queen needs a glass of water?”
“He could,” I said with a smile. “He’ll personally fetch you all the glasses of water you could want.”
The months that followed as Alora recovered were a whirlwind. In the mornings, I helped her dress and bathe, then took our son from his nursemaids so they could get some rest. The handmaidens Alora had once called the harpies were much happier and far less vicious now that they had been given a new cub to care for while we slept.
“Have a good day, little Rex,” one cooed down at him as they each bent to kiss his forehead.
“How was he through the night?” I asked. I had never been a father before, but Kloran, Haelian and Leonix had warned me thoroughly that, especially in the beginning, it could be a challenge.
“He was a little moonbeam,” a second harpy informed me with a smirk. “We only got up with him once. Soon, I am sure he will be sleeping through the night.”
Alora blinked at them in confusion, as she always did, as they left.
“I think the only kind words they’ve ever said to anyone are the ones they’ve said about our cub,” she said, shaking her head.
“He has that effect on people.” I dipped my lips to his belly to blow on it. Rex always giggled at that—there was something that delighted him infinitely about the sound of passing gas. “If he can maintain those charms, he will be a good king someday.”
“Like his father,” Alora said, unwinding little Rex’s fists from my hair. “Just like you.”
“I am not king yet,” I reminded her. “The people must crown me first.”
“Are you nervous?”
“Not at all,” I said with confidence. “For as long as you are by my side, I will never be nervous for anything ever again.”
That sentiment proved to be untrue the day of the coronation, though. As we were getting ready, Alora’s communicator buzzed.
Half-dressed, we both froze and stared at it from across the room.
“It’s him,” Alora breathed. “It must be.”
“Go answer it,” I told her.
As she moved across the room to it, I found myself holding my breath.
We had tried to contact Alora’s brother, Knox, almost every day since King Brixta’s death—to no avail. The human troops that remained at the embassy and outpost had received word that the revolution had overthrown Alo
ra’s father and his government. Alora had not cried when news arrived that he had been executed.
But of Knox, there had been no word at all yet.
Not until now.
Alora stepped out into the hall to take Knox’s call. I did not blame her. I knew her relationship with her family had always been tenuous. Knox was the only one still living. The only one she cared about.
And after her fears and sobbing during Rex’s birth, she had been careful about crying in front of either of us.
If she had to cry today, I knew she would do it in private. Later, when she was ready, I would hold her and remind her of all the good she could still do here on Lunaria with her new family. Her new people. Her new planet.
But when Alora returned, though there were tears in her eyes, she was smiling.
“He’s okay,” she said, blowing out a breath it seemed she had been holding. “He couldn’t call because Nyssa, the leader of the rebellion, had him locked up during my father’s trial. But it sounds like he and Nyssa have come to some kind of…understanding.”
“She will let him live?” I admired this Nyssa for that. It was not an easy choice to make.
“More than live. They’ve held an election. Despite all the bad my father has done to the people of the sectors…Knox must have done something right. He won.” Alora shook her head like she could hardly believe it herself. “He called to thank me. I guess, with your coronation today and little Rex here to assure your line…” She shrugged. “We’ve secured the alliance between Lunaria and Earth after all.”
“No, my queen.” I moved to her with Rex balanced on my hip. “You secured it. All of this is because of you. Your hard work. Your strength.”
“I mean, you helped a little.” Alora’s smile broadened as she pinched Rex’s chubby cheek. He blew bubbles at her, then smiled back. “I wouldn’t have this handsome little boy here to love if I was on my own.”
“This handsome boy you speak of…which one of us would that be?” I held Rex up so Alora could judge between the two of us. Rex had his charms, of course, but he had been eating so well of late that I certainly had the better jawline. For now, at least.
“You’re both very handsome,” Alora told us. A little patronizingly, but I would take it. “The baby is cuter, though. Tough luck.”
“I can live with that.” I held Rex up and spun him around until he squealed with delight. Then, with a glance to Alora, I scooped her up into my arms as well.
There were benefits at times to having four arms instead of the customary two.
Holding both my cub and my wife at the same time was certainly one of them.
For a moment, we were wrapped in joy. The universe felt less heavy. Life felt full of promise. Even the room seemed a little brighter. I had no doubt it was because of the sunshine smiles of Alora and the cub she had given me.
Lunaria’s king, queen and prince.
Out of all the ways this could have ended up, I could not imagine a happier one.
“Put me down!” Alora cried out through her laughter. She pounded her little fists against my chest until finally, I placed her back on the floor again. “We need to get ready. You don’t want to miss your own coronation, do you?”
“It is your coronation too, you know,” I reminded her as I relented and placed her back down on solid ground. “And our wedding day as well.”
“We’ve been married since you said those vows to me on the ship here.” Alora wrinkled her nose wickedly. “I’ve always felt so, anyway.”
“As have I. But there has been too much bloodshed of late—on both our planets. A royal wedding is almost as good as a coronation.” I tossed Rex up in the air and caught him. Much like the noise of passing gas, this delighted him to no end. “Are you happy with the color of your gown this time?”
“It’s as purple as your hair.” Alora finished pulling on her skirt and held it in place as she twirled. “I love it. Let me hold Rex so you can tie me up?”
“Do you mean…” I arched an eyebrow and smirked at Alora until she smacked me.
“Dirty thing. And in front of the baby, no less.” She rolled her eyes and tried not to laugh as she took Rex from my arms. “The skirt, my king. If you would be so kind.”
“Of course.”
I set about arranging Alora’s laces. It was a comfortable sort of task—the kind of thing I had never dreamed of being able to do for a wife.
Moons. Barely a year ago, I had never had any hope at all for being married, let alone having a kingdom or cub of my own. Things had changed so much since I first set out with General Kloran to attempt to purchase breeding slaves to save our population.
Now, as I bound Alora into the skirt she would officially become my wife in, I listened to the coos of my cub and felt like I was tying my fate into a neat little knot.
Earth and Lunaria were intertwined with each other for good now. Tonight would seal that forever. With Alora’s brother officially the president of the sectors, my marriage to Alora would complete the alliance that would allow the sectors to restructure themselves into a true democratic nation. The former human members of Brixta’s harem were now free to find love and marriage among the males of Lunaria, and travel between Lunaria and Earth would ensure future females might find mates here as well.
Our population was secure. Our enemies were all vanquished.
The future was looking as bright as the smile of my bride as she turned to me, dressed in purple and ready to be wed.
“I love you, Ronan,” Alora whispered to me through her grin. “This feels…right. This time around.”
“I know what you mean.” I took her by the waist and shoulders, kissing her as our cub wriggled and cooed between us. “I love you too.”
My mothers conducted the purification rituals for Alora and me, just as the old ways demanded. We were bathed in smoke from holy herbs, anointed with sacred oils and chanted at all day long. Rex fell asleep during the meditation portion of the day, which I could hardly fault him for. Several times, I felt Alora nod off against my shoulder too.
They were both so sweet when they slept, and it pleased me to see them sleep so soundly. Even when Mother Mozula rapped Alora on the top of the head with one of her canes, Alora woke with a smile on her lips.
“Do you feel ready?” she asked me as night fell.
“I have been ready for you for a very long time,” I told her. “How do you feel?”
“Like I’m getting a goose-egg on my head from your mother’s discipline system.”
“I am sorry about that. Truly.” I kissed the little bump atop Alora’s head. “Do you want me to say something to her? You have certainly been through enough already.”
“No, it’s fine.” Alora laughed. “To be fair, I did fall asleep while we were supposed to be meditating on the responsibility of our stations…”
“So we have finally found one thing that you are not so good at.” I placed my next kiss on the tip of her nose. “It will grow on you. I promise. You will only have to do it on holy holidays moving forward anyway—and even then, only if you wish.”
“I’m sure I’ll manage,” Alora assured me. “How hard can clearing your mind for hours on end really be?”
“An excellent point.” I smirked at her. She could do anything she set her mind to. I knew she could. “And how are you feeling about tonight, precious one?”
“This is only the second time I’m doing this,” Alora said with a laugh. “I’m just glad I’m doing it right this time.”
The fire that night was a bright one. Even brighter than it had been in my dreams. Alora and I made our way from the palace to the sacred caves outside the city barefoot. As the cobblestones of the streets turned to lush grass, then to rocks, I scooped Alora up in my arms so the rough gravel would not harm her small, soft feet.
“Put me down,” she hissed, quiet enough that no one could hear. It was some feat not to be heard in that moment. Thousands of Lunarians were walking with us, carrying torches and
ringing tiny bells. “They’re going to think I’m useless, Ronan! I can walk for myself.”
“On these rocks?” I laughed. “I have a soldier’s feet, vringna. You have a queen’s. Your soles are too soft for this rocky ground. Besides, this will make for a romantic image for the artists to paint later on, will it not?”
“I suppose,” Alora relented. “But only because I like the idea of seeing us immortalized in art.”
“You are a beautiful thing, precious one. You will inspire more art than you can even imagine.”
Those were not just words. I had no doubt that she would.
When we reached the flames of the bonfire before the sacred caves, I placed Alora back on her feet atop soft dirt. Mother Yeta brought our cub to her. Rex was swaddled in the same purple cloth Alora’s dress was made from. When she took him into her arms, he immediately smiled and reached up to touch her face with all four of his hands.
My heart swelled as I saw the way he looked at her—and the way she looked at him in return. Like they were each other’s universes. Mother and cub.
Mother Jara brought the crowns. One for me, a heavy gilded thing shaped like wild vines. One for Alora, a smaller matching circlet. And finally, a tiny one for Rex. I doubted he would allow it to stay on his head for long, but I trusted that between Alora and me, we could keep it in place for the crowning ceremony, at least.
Finally, Mother Mozula crept forward on her canes. Dangling from a hook on the grip of one was a bracelet—far daintier and more delicate than the one I had broken from Alora’s wrist after Brixta’s death.
“Is that…?” Alora asked, her voice hushed and full of awe.
“It is,” Mother Mozula answered for me. She stretched her cane out, offering me the bracelet. “Your wedding bracelet. It belonged to Ronan’s mother, once upon a time. Now…it is for you, pretty human. May you wear it well.”
I took the bracelet in my hands and opened its clasp. It was strange, how much a little piece of metal could mean to me.
My mother, moons rest her soul, had worn this to her dying day.
