Ascension Saga, Book 8: Interstellar Brides®: Ascension Saga

by Goodwin, Grace

  “Hurry up. I have to get to her.”

  Leo crossed his arms and leaned his hip against the tall bed as Thor just looked at my restraints. “They’re with my father and the queen’s guard. They’re ahead of us by an hour, but they’re well-protected.”

  “How did they get you?” I asked. Thor made no move to release me from the restraints and I wasn’t too eager to beg. That was how I’d gotten in this mess in the first place with Destiny.

  “Our mates stunned us with ion blasters and locked us in the armory,” Leo said.

  I grunted a response. It was amusing, but I was still naked and cuffed to the bed.

  “But you,” Thor began, spinning the blade in his palm, in no apparent hurry to set me free.

  “Stop playing games, Thor.”

  He grinned at me, the fucker. “I think I should take a few moments to appreciate the irony. Payback’s a bitch, isn’t it?”

  I frowned, then remembered. He’d been stunned at his family’s mountain retreat and brought to the palace. Under my command—and the princess’s bidding—he’d been stripped naked and restrained to Faith’s bed. I’d watched them tie him up and I’d walked out the door.

  He’d been there for hours. I hadn’t thought much of it, once we’d left him there. He had been Faith’s to punish and not my concern. Only now did I fully appreciate the torment he must have suffered. “My apologies, Thor. I was only following orders.”

  Leo chuckled. “Trinity did leave orders to set you free.” He glanced at Thor, who shrugged.

  “Did she give a time frame for the deed?” Thor asked.

  “No, I don’t believe she did.” Leo was not helping my mood to improve.

  Yeah, payback was a bitch. “Fine, you’ve both made your point. But it’s your fault I’m here to begin with. You were the fools who decided to keep the truth from our mates in the first place.”

  “You agreed freely,” Thor said.

  I sighed. I had. Damn me straight to eternal hell. “I did. I never said I wasn’t a complete idiot when it comes to my mate. Now will you let me up?”

  Thor grinned. “No begging?”

  I narrowed my eyes, hoping he’d notice I wasn’t amused.

  He sighed. “Fine. Fine.” He had me free quickly, then reached down, grabbed my clothes and tossed them at me.

  “Time to go get our mates,” he said, heading for the door, Leo on his heels.

  I tugged on my shirt. That’s right. Time to get Destiny, keep her safe, then… fuck, I had no idea what. I probably would need to grovel. A lot.

  I’d said I would not beg, but even that was a lie. For Destiny, I would do anything.

  6

  Destiny

  There must have been something about midnight on this planet, because here I was again, sneaking around in the dead of night. Not alone this time, but with my sisters, at least thirty guards, and Captain Turaya hovering over Trinity like she was a piece of glass about to topple from a high shelf, and he needed to be ready to catch her.

  My sister was tougher than that, and after our conversation earlier, when we’d all decided to teach our overprotective, bossy, alpha men a lesson, I knew she needed to be here. I’d left Nix shouting and swearing in our bed and had sent a comm to Faith and Trinity to have a secret girl meeting.

  I got them up to speed. Fast. They’d been pissed as well, for their mates were just as bad as Nix. Although, they hadn’t had to tie up either Leo or Thor. They’d only had to lie and say we were doing girl stuff and talking about periods and other female things.

  Worked like a charm every time.

  While we were pissed, but we weren’t stupid. We’d gone directly to Leo’s dad, gave him a good tongue lashing, and Trinity had ordered him to be ready for us to go to the secret meeting, without our mates. Trinity and Faith had grabbed ion pistols, set them to stun and headed off to visit their stubborn males where they awaited Captain Turaya in the armory.

  Captain Turaya had looked at me in silence as we waited, but I’d just raised my eyebrow and kept my mouth shut. He obviously knew I’d done something to Nix, since my mate was nowhere to be seen, but the captain didn’t ask.

  Smart man.

  Trinity and Faith had returned, both of their mates stunned and left to contemplate their sins frozen and immobile for about an hour, and we’d gone off with at least thirty queen’s guard for protection and the captain for his expertise.

  The guard would offer substantial protection, but my sisters and I had our own agenda. Trinity’s citadel-given power was really quite handy. Turned out, she could see auras now.

  Auras.

  One look, and she knew if someone was good or evil, truthful or lying, sick or well.

  Nice trick. And as she looked through the scope at the people entering the building where the meeting was to be held—per Elder Amandine’s letter—the captain right next to her listing off names of every one, Faith was keeping the list. A large monitor of some kind was set up next to them. Captain Turaya aimed his scope, a mark appeared on his target, and Trinity stood beside him, looking at them through a scope of her own, calling off the status of each. I watched the monitor closely, trying to commit each face to memory. They would all die. Every single one of them. They’d betrayed my family, killed Trinity’s father, tried to kill our mother and kidnapped Mom, dragging her from her own bed—screaming.

  “Lord Vangar.” The captain’s voice was matter of fact. As was Trinity’s answer.

  “Evil.”

  Faith was scribbling names down as fast as she could. She sat closest to the door, saying that while I’d done years of martial arts, she was the new Kung Fu bad ass fighting princess and I just had to deal. The citadel had made her a skilled combatant in hand-to-hand fights. Which was pretty cool, considering she’d always hated my self-defense workouts.

  I let her have her way, my blaster and knives loose in the holder I’d stolen from Nix. Faith had offered to make me a new one with the S-Gen machines when she made my black uniform, but I was feeling sentimental and stupid and I wanted a piece of Nix with me. Armed as I was, Faith wouldn’t need to fight. Anyone came through that door, they’d be dead before they took their second step.

  “Cleric Fergia.”

  “More evil.”

  “Optimus Officer Morson.”

  “Good. Don’t kill him,” Trinity ordered.

  I looked up at that one. Good? “If this Morson is a good guy, what the hell is he doing here?” I asked, inspecting him on the screen. Long, blond hair. Gorgeous. But it seemed all of these damn Aleran males were too good-looking for their own good. Still, he would be easy to pick out in a crowd.

  Faith shrugged and we both looked at the Captain. He didn’t turn away from his scope.

  “Don’t know. Investigating a crime? Spying? Same as we are? That is the job of the Optimus Unit.”

  Oh, yeah. I’d forgotten about that, seeing how I was convinced they were holding my mother prisoner within the unit’s walls, in the infamous Cell Level C. “They’re like the Aleran FBI and judicial system all in one.”

  “Not sure that’s the best arrangement,” Trinity mused. I didn’t much care. Not until we had Mom back.

  But talking to my sisters earlier did make me feel better about one thing. My bat-like hearing. Knowing that I wasn’t going crazy, that the citadel had made that change in my biology, set my mind at ease. It was a weapon. Without doubt. And a perk. It was my super-ears that allowed me to hear Nix’s plans to betray me at his very first opportunity.

  Oh, I wasn’t really angry. Okay, I was, but it wasn’t like he cheated on me with another woman or went around telling everyone I was a homicidal bitch. No, he just tried to coddle and protect me, treat me like a delicate piece of china. And I was not having it. This was my planet. My mother. My sisters. My mate. My future.

  My war.

  He could fight beside me, with my sisters, but not without me. And he obviously needed a little help getting that fact through his thick skull. Which
was why he was tied to the bed—to think about the errors of his ways—and Trinity and Faith had stunned Leo and Thor and locked them inside the armory back at the palace. They left a guard with orders to set them free an hour after we left, if the stun had worn off by then. Which meant our three sexy mates would arrive any minute now. No doubt furious. Furious, but here. We could use them, and their expertise, but they’d needed to learn. We wouldn’t be subdued. Or outmaneuvered.

  The thought made me smile.

  “Lady Tabitha.”

  “Wow, really evil.”

  Faith went back to scribbling and I checked the time. Again.

  Served Nix, Thor and Leo right if they were livid, stubborn cavemen. All three of them. “Our mates should be here any minute.”

  Faith snorted. Trinity cursed. Captain Turaya chuckled with a bit too much glee. “I tried to warn them.”

  “I know you did, which is the only reason you’re standing here next to us and not locked in the vault with your son.” I’d overheard him argue on our behalf, tell our stubborn mates they were making a mistake. He’d been wrong about one thing, though. I was not going to torment myself with abstinence to punish Nix. Oh, no. I would fuck his brains out, take him hot and raw and dirty, and then he’d get the cold shoulder until he apologized. Over and over. Maybe on his knees.

  Maybe with his mouth on my pussy. That idea sounded damn appealing right now.

  Which was shocking, considering I’d just finished my Ardor.

  I didn’t smell like him anymore, and that was oddly disappointing.

  “Jesus, I have it bad,” I muttered to myself.

  Faith snorted again, not looking up from her notepad. “We all do. They’re fucking irresistible.”

  “Did you just drop an F-bomb, twin?” I asked.

  “When it comes to our mates, I’m sure it won’t be the last.” Trinity’s dry response made me laugh.

  “Captain Yanlon.”

  “He’s neutral. He’s probably just playing the odds.”

  “Then he dies,” I said.

  “You are a bloodthirsty bitch, aren’t you?” Faith asked.

  “When it comes to someone hurting Mom, or trying to kill my sisters, then yes. I am.”

  “Agreed. He dies.” Trinity’s voice had gone cold, the voice of a queen authorizing execution. When it came to our family, none of us were feeling particularly forgiving. Thank god. I did not want to have to argue with my sisters. Stressing about my impending confrontation with Nix was already setting an entire hive of bees loose in my gut.

  “I can’t do anything from up here just watching. It’s like watching the red carpet at the Oscars. I’m going in,” I said.

  “No! That wasn’t the plan,” Faith said.

  True. But things had changed. “There weren’t supposed to be any good guys in that meeting either. We need to know what they’re saying. I can crouch outside a window, or on the roof, and hear every word.”

  “Seriously? Your hearing is that good?” Faith asked.

  “This spot is too far away, but I’m a regular vampire now.”

  “Fine. Go but stay out of sight,” Trinity said. “We’ll comm you if there are any more good guys down there.”

  “Sounds good.” I’d listen for her, but I had a feeling whoever this Morson guy was, he was flying solo. Suicidal, if you asked me. Which, obviously, not one male on this entire fucking planet would do. Neanderthals. All of them.

  “Find out what you can,” Trinity said. “I don’t want to take down anyone who might be on our side.”

  “Agreed.” I stood and rolled my shoulders to get the kinks out. I was wearing my usual night climbing gear, tight black pants, tight black shirt, black gloves, hat. Faith had been kind enough to do her S-Gen machine magic and make me what I’d wanted. I was a regular goth nightmare, complete with weapons stacked on top of weapons. I had enough knives on me to take out a football team. “I’m out. Tell your snipers not to shoot me, Captain.”

  “They can hear you through your comms unit. Just tell them where you’re going.”

  “Got it.” I left them behind and exited the residential building as quickly as possible. When I hit the street, I looked up at the darkened window six stories above me. I knew they were still there, watching. I whispered as I moved, telling the snipers where I was going. North wall. Up the tree. Onto the roof. I didn’t get shot, so I figured that was good enough. I was also safely hidden, completely away from any danger. The captain had to agree if he let me go alone.

  I made my way to the center and turned on my magical ears, zeroed in on the sound of talking. Movement. People.

  Adjusting my position twenty feet to my right, I laid down flat on the roof and set my ear to the freezing cold shingles. They were odd, like clay, and I was shivering in a matter of seconds as the rooftop sucked all the warmth right out of me like cold cement would have.

  “Mom needs to move the capital somewhere else. It’s too fucking cold here.” I was whispering that to my sisters, but I knew everyone on the channel would be able to hear me. I didn’t care. It was the truth. I fucking hated the cold.

  “Then you should not be out in it, mate.” That ice-cold voice came from right next to me and I froze. Holy shit. I startled and bit my lip to stifle a scream.

  “What are you, a ghost or something?” I hadn’t heard my mate’s approach. Not a whisper of breath. No scrape of his shoe on the roof. Nothing, and I had epic hearing. It was like he’d poofed into existence next to me.

  He didn’t answer, simply wrapped himself around me to warm me, careful not to break my contact with the roof. I melted into him. I had no problem accepting the heat he offered. No problem at all.

  He remained silent, and as soon as my shivering stopped, I focused on the conversations I could hear coming up from below. The meeting hadn’t started yet. There were multiple smaller groups talking about mundane things. Who had more money. Whose children were excelling. The weather.

  Jesus. Really? It was freezing ass cold. End. Of. Discussion.

  I rolled my eyes and lifted my ear from the roof, the side of my face feeling like a solid block of ice. “I need to get closer. I don’t know whose voice is whose. I need to get inside.” Morson was in there. And per Trinity’s aura reading, he was one of the good ones. I needed to figure out what he was up to. Maybe help him if I could. Hell, maybe he knew something that could help us.

  “No.”

  I turned in his arms and looked up at my gorgeous, sexy, stubborn mate. “You can come with me, or I can go in alone. Those are the options.”

  He didn’t like my tone or my words. “It’s too dangerous.”

  The sigh was real. “Fine.” I pulled out of his arms and wiggled my way to the edge of the roof. “Snipers, if Nix tries to stop me, shoot him. Don’t kill him, but shoot him.”

  “Destiny. Are you out of your fucking mind?” he hissed.

  “What happened to I want every stubborn, willful inch of you? Huh? Were those just words? Or did you actually mean them?”

  “You know I love you.”

  “Yes. And I love you.” I crouched for the leap to the nearby tree. Jumped. Landed perfectly. We were on the opposite side of the building from all the arrivals, shrouded in darkness. No one would hear us, or see us, unless they were looking. “God I’m good.”

  “Destiny, no.”

  I stopped, looked at him over my shoulder where he was crouched by the edge of the roof, gave him one more chance. “Are you in, or are you out? I’ll love you either way, but I’m not staying out of this fight.”

  “You’re mine.” It was a vow.

  “That is not an answer, Nix,” I said, confused.

  “I’m in. I’m always in. But next time, you will be restrained to the bed.”

  I heard a muffled laugh through our comms units, but ignored it. “You’re not leaving me behind.”

  “Oh, no. I’ll be right there with you, I promise. The whole time I’m fucking you.”

  My smile was
so big my face actually hurt. I was relieved. Thrilled even. A little kink would be fun. Later. “Good. Let’s go.” I jumped to the ground, landing in a crouch. Nix was on the ground next to me in seconds. Impressive.

  I kissed him, hard and fast. I loved him more in this moment than I ever had before.

  “You will look at me like that when you are riding my cock, mate.”

  “No problem.”

  “And you will not get yourself killed. Do you understand me?”

  I didn’t make promises I knew I couldn’t keep. I knew better than that. So I kissed him again instead. “I need to get inside.”

  “That’s what I said,” he told me, running his knuckles down my cheek.

  I rolled my eyes at him. “Let’s go.”

  * * *

  Nix

  I could feel the eyes of at least two snipers on me, the hair on the back of my neck standing at alarm. I’d been hunted before, but never on the orders of a female I loved to distraction. My mate was going to be the death of me, but when she’d restrained me to the fucking bed, closed the door to our bedroom suite and walked away, I realized exactly how big of a mistake I’d made.

  Huge.

  I never wanted to see that look in her eyes again.

  Disappointment. Resignation. Pain.

  And I never wanted to have Thor find me like that ever again. Fuck, no.

  Captain Turaya had tried to warn all three of us. He was older, mated for decades, and far wiser than we had been. I should have listened. Destiny was strong enough to walk away from me, and that scared me more than anything ever had. More than Hive Scouts. More than the Hive Integration units. More than being hunted by enemy assassins. More than death.

  If I tried to control her, she would leave me behind. Which meant I would have to rearrange my thinking and fight my instincts every day for the rest of my life.

  I leaped to the ground after her, amazed at her agility and confidence. I’d never really seen her like this. The first night we’d met in the elder’s office—the first night in the Jax-provided suite didn’t count—I’d been too distracted by my newly awakened cock to appreciate exactly how light on her feet she’d been when she escaped me, or how quick and nimble she’d been climbing the vines to the old woman’s office. She moved silently, her skill well-practiced. The knives lining her body testament to the threat she posed to her enemies.