Ascension Saga, Book 9: Interstellar Brides®: Ascension Saga

by Goodwin, Grace

  That had me stopping in my tracks. The king might be alive? That meant… Holy shit. If it had been him behind the attempted coup, why wait so long to try again?

  Morson looked as stunned as I felt. “Did you know him well?”

  “Oh yes. We grew up chasing each other through the citadel gardens. He was just a few years younger than I. Always a selfish bastard. A bully. I never did understand what the queen saw in him.”

  With my feet like steel welded to the floor and my brain in overdrive, I turned to look for Nix, my mate, the only man in the universe I cared about right now. Well, Morson, too, but not in the same way. Duh. But once he was safely away from this exploding building, he could do whatever the hell he wanted and Nix would still be mine.

  Nix’s gaze bored into mine as he moved closer. Intent. I saw the same anguish I’d been feeling moments before in his gaze. He didn’t want me here. He was only in this room for me. Because I asked it of him. Because he respected me enough to give me what I needed even if it placed me in danger, although I’d probably be handcuffed to my bed if he’d known a bomb was involved.

  I hadn’t understood what it cost him, until now. What letting me be reckless and wild on Earth had cost my sisters and parents. Danger meant nothing to me. Pain meant nothing. Death? Well, I’d prefer not to rush toward my end, but even that held no true cost to me. Until now. Now, I understood.

  Fuck me six ways to Sunday. I was in love. Head over heels, do anything to keep him safe, anything to make him happy, love. With the gorgeous, growly guy moving through the room like a wild animal hunting his prey.

  “Your timing sucks, Des.” I was talking to myself as I moved toward Morson, but I tilted my head at Nix, this time clearly indicating that I’d found our target and to get moving. He didn’t take his eyes off me, but changed direction, heading for the closest exit, which was a good twenty paces away. And Morson was big. If he didn’t cooperate, I’d have a hell of a time getting him out of here before the bomb went off.

  Tick. Tick. Tick.

  “Excuse me?”

  Morson looked down in shock as I looped my small hand under his elbow and tugged him toward me. I offered a brilliant fake smile to the older female with whom he’d been speaking. Who’d shared some interesting intel.

  “Excuse us for a moment?” I said, using my Trinity-diplomat voice. “I really need to speak to Morson about a”—I ran my fingertip down the front of his uniform, over his chest. I could practically hear Nix growling—“a very personal matter.” I tugged at him, my cheeks starting to hurt from my ridiculously big smile. “If I could have a moment of your time before the meeting begins?”

  He blinked, eyes rounded with a mix of suspicion and surprise. He glanced at the elder out of respect and that seemed to be enough to put her at ease.

  If he was working undercover, he was good. I had to give him that. Very, very good. That one glance had preserved the woman’s trust, despite the fact that something unexpected and strange was happening. Mainly, me. Maybe he was nudging information out of her and I’d interrupted. Well, it was break up the gab fest or die.

  Her head tilted to the side like a cobra about to strike, but she nodded. “Of course.”

  Morson allowed me to pull him away, and I moved toward the exit doors a good five steps before he stopped me. Cold.

  Damn my small size. Why wasn’t I six-foot-six and two-hundred-fifty pounds? Then I could just throw him over my shoulder and make a run for it. It wouldn’t be subtle, but it would work.

  “Who are you and what do you want?” While he spoke softly so as not to draw attention, he was rigid and uncooperative. I flicked a glance over my shoulder. Nix was moving closer, but still not close enough to help. Not yet.

  I turned back to find Morson’s gaze drifting over my face, the look in his eyes one I would have equated with desire, if not for the lack of a rise in his pants. These Alerans and their dormant cocks. Made them much more difficult to bullshit or seduce. False flattery and flirting was going to get me nowhere, except over Nix’s knee for a hot, toe-curling spanking.

  Reaching up, I wrapped my hand around his neck, up to the back of his head, and pulled him down so my lips were pressed to his ear. He allowed my bold touch, but it felt wrong. Wrong man. Wrong scent. Wrong face too close to mine.

  Whatever. This was the only way I could talk to him without fear that someone would overhear.

  “My name is Destiny, and this building is going to explode in less than a minute. You need to leave with me. Now.” I grabbed his arm once more and pulled him toward the door.

  He didn’t move. Not one freaking inch.

  “Interesting claim from a beautiful woman,” he countered, not swayed. “How do I know you are speaking the truth? You could have an ambush set up outside those doors.”

  “Don’t be an idiot,” I countered with a wave of my hand. “Move before we’re blown to bits.”

  When he just stared, I took a deep breath and calmed the bitch rising inside. Tried to temper my need to flee. Tick. Tick. Tick. I could hear the bomb as clear as I could hear him.

  “Fine,” I huffed, sounding like an annoyed teenager. “Stay here, get blown up. I’ll tell my sister I tried. She’s the one who told me you were one of the good guys and to save you.”

  His dark brow arched. “Sister?”

  “Trinity.” I slapped him on the shoulder and walked quickly toward the exit. “Not too bright, are you?”

  I reached the doors. Tall. Thick. Made of some alien metal that reminded me of the vault doors in the basement of the cleric’s fortress. I had my palm on the handle when he came up beside me. “Who are you? Truly?”

  Nix moved into place on my right and saved me from responding. I hated to repeat myself. Especially when I’d already told Morson once, and he was just being thick-headed. Perhaps, cautious. I couldn’t blame him in his line of work, but right now there was no time. Nix wrapped his arm around my waist and I leaned into him. Just for a moment.

  It was enough. I was home.

  “We have seconds, Des,” he murmured, his fingers tightening. While his words were calm, he was anything but. “Hurry.”

  Morson glanced at Nix over my head and whispered, “She is truly the third princess?”

  I tugged at the door handle. It didn’t budge. Houston, we have a problem. “Nix, it’s locked. Shit.”

  I lifted my hands and Nix took my place, straining against the door as he applied his entire body weight to the handle.

  “Check my comm,” Nix ordered.

  I did, the screen plainly visible to me once I lifted it from his pocket. “Thirty-two. Thirty-one. Thirty.”

  Nix pushed harder, his entire body straining. I looked around us, searching for windows. Doors. Any possible way to get out of there.

  “Fuck. It’s not moving,” Nix said. His breathing was ragged, his eyes a little wild.

  “You were serious. About the bomb?” Morson looked from me to Nix. “And what are you doing here, Vennix?”

  “Later, Morson. We have to get the fuck out of here.”

  “Twenty-six.” Not that I wanted to interrupt, but we didn’t have time to chat. “We could go back.” The room we’d entered was an option, the window still open.

  “Too far. We’d never make it.” Nix was right. It was on the other side of the building, and we were starting to get some odd looks, and I could hear quiet murmurs. Well, not we, Nix. He was kind of famous on this planet, his face plastered all over the news every time my sister or Faith was broadcast, standing behind them. Watchful. The ever faithful guard. That notoriety was not helpful at the moment.

  “They recognize you, mate. Know you aren’t on their side. They might start shooting any second.” I hissed the words to him as I slid my own weapon free from its holster and stood just behind him, protecting his back. “Get the door open. Shoot the lock.”

  “That won’t work.” Morson shoved Nix aside and pulled an oddly shaped key from his pocket. “The door will absorb the i
on blast. You need a key to get in or out.”

  Nix looked from Morson to the key. He was wondering why he had a key just as I was. But I wasn’t taking the time now to figure it out. “Hurry the fuck up. If my mate dies in here, I’ll kill you myself.”

  Morson grinned.

  Inappropriate. At least I thought so. But Nix grinned back.

  Men.

  Morson inserted the key and the door’s locks clicked open with a very loud series of pops, thunks and sizzling noises, like lightning bolts were moving along the frame.

  I checked the comm. “Twenty. Nineteen.”

  Morson opened the door. Nix tried to shove me through, but I got behind Morson and shoved him. “Trinity said to save your ass, so get out. Now.”

  He had the sense not to argue. Nix held my gaze as I shouted as loudly as I could over my shoulder, “There’s a bomb. Everyone get out!”

  I didn’t like any of the people in the room, knew they were evil, but I couldn’t just let them die. They deserved justice, not death.

  Morson hadn’t gone very far, waiting for us, but took off again when we followed.

  Nix and I sprinted. I heard commotion and heavy footfall behind us, but didn’t take time to worry about the others. They had warning. They could get their own asses out. We bolted through the front doors and dove to the ground at the first loud rumble behind us. I heard it first, diving on top of Nix, covering his body with mine. I didn’t think. Just dove, taking him down, my small frame wrapped around his upper body, protecting his torso and head the best I could. Any NFL linebacker would have been proud of my take down.

  The boom blasted through me like I’d been hit full speed by a semi-truck. My eardrums ruptured and I screamed, covering my ears as heat scorched my back through my uniform and hot blood filled my ears.

  It was all over in less than a second because Nix kept rolling, his big frame covering mine completely as he cradled my face to his chest.

  Another blast rocked the air and moved through the ground beneath us like an earthquake. I clung to Nix, in so much pain I could do nothing else, every sound like a cannon blast inside my skull.

  The rumbling stopped. Fire blazed into the sky behind Nix’s outline where he hovered above me. His large, warm hands were gentle on my face and he turned me so that I looked up at him. His lips were moving, but my ears hurt. I couldn’t hear a word he was saying, but could read his lips. “Destiny, what have you done?”

  My back burned, the uniform sticking to my flesh where the explosion had seared my skin. Contact with the ground under me added to my misery, but I felt the welcoming cold numbness of shock setting in, and I didn’t even try to hold it off. Numb meant bliss at the moment.

  Nothing mattered. Morson didn’t matter. He had been in front of us, far enough away to survive. And if he didn’t, well, we’d tried. I looked Nix over the best I could from my position. Satisfied that he would survive relatively unharmed and with just a ReGen wand pass or two, I smiled with relief. Mission accomplished. I loved him. And I protected the people I loved. The list wasn’t all that long, and Nix had somehow clawed his way to the top. “I love you, Nix.”

  “Goddess damn it, Destiny.”

  That one I knew. I read his lips easily, he’d said it often enough.

  I was still smiling when I lost consciousness.

  2

  Nix

  Six hours. Destiny had been beneath the glass of the ReGen pod for six fucking hours. I knew she’d be fine; the initial scans had proven her injuries to be extensive but, thanks to the ReGen pod technology, not life threatening, but still.

  Fuck!

  I’d missed the explosion cleanup, skipped Morson’s debriefing, the fear and upset of Destiny’s sisters sounded like the chattering of angry birds in the background when we’d arrived at the medical center.

  None of it mattered to me. Someone else could deal with a bunch of dead bodies. Someone else could question the traitors who’d survived, arrest and interrogate them. Make them bleed.

  As upset as Trinity and Faith were over Destiny’s injuries, I had no doubt Leo and Thor could oversee the process just fine without me. They were well motivated, their mates’ pain affecting them in ways they’d never before imagined.

  As seeing Destiny unconscious beneath the glass affected me.

  I couldn’t breathe. I’d never felt terror before. Not facing down a Hive Soldier. Not sneaking through enemy territory or organizing a strike deep in Hive space. Death had seemed like a distant friend, and if he had come calling, so be it.

  There was no escape from this. From her. From the dagger-like strike inside my chest with each beat of my heart.

  She’d sacrificed herself to protect me. Suffered. Burned. Her eardrums blown out. Blood dripping from her gorgeous body to cover me.

  And then? She’d smiled. She’d fucking smiled and looked at me like I was a god. Told me she loved me as she lay dying in my arms. I’d seen that love in her eyes. Pure. Raw. Free of desire or lust or laughter. Deep and true.

  I’d never seen anything like it. Never felt a punch to my gut so powerful.

  Everyone had become a blur around me, the only thing I saw was Destiny. All I heard was the blood pounding through my body as the doctors treated her. I listened to her ragged struggle for each breath. Winced as they peeled the burned pieces of clothing from her open wounds, explaining to me that they would be enclosed by the new skin if they were not removed.

  I died a hundred deaths before they tucked her into a pod and began the healing process.

  And so I sat. Touched the glass. Willed her to breathe. Willed her skin to heal. I would have peeled the flesh from my own bones to provide for her, but the doctors assured me that was unnecessary. She was young. Strong. Her body resilient. She would heal.

  They promised me and I had to believe them. The alternative was not acceptable.

  I hovered near her, a ghost of a male, and realized this is what I would become without her. Nothing more than a shell. Empty. Lost.

  So I willed her to open her eyes and smile at me again. Waited as the seconds ticked down, just like the bomb that put her here. Three, two, one. A beep sounded, the blue glow that filled the unit went out and the seal broke on the lid, the hiss of air like an electric jolt to my body as the lid slowly lifted.

  I stood. Stared at my sleeping mate. Waited. They’d cut the clothes from Destiny’s body, careful to remove the fibers that had been caught in her burned skin. She was naked beneath a thin sheet that covered her.

  The doctor returned, probably alerted by the pod somehow, and checked his gadgets and the pod’s readouts. I stared at the man. I knew I probably looked half feral, but that was how I felt. “She is healed?”

  His face was serious, lips thin and taut, and I was grateful that he did not try to jest or put me at ease in that odd way medical professionals had, as if they were uncomfortable unless they were trying to ease another’s pain.

  I didn’t care about being in pain; I cared about my mate.

  “Yes. The pod took care of her injuries. She might be sensitive to touch for a few days as the newly regenerated skin adjusts, but she is fine.”

  My knees would have collapsed, so I leaned on the edge of the strange pod’s bed and locked them under me. “Inform the princesses.”

  “Of course. Of course.” He turned on his heel and hurried away, leaving me alone with the only person in the universe I cared about at the moment.

  Carefully, I lifted the sheet and inspected her skin. It appeared normal. Healed. At least what I could see of it.

  “Destiny, wake up,” I said, my voice rough with unspoken emotion.

  After a few seconds, her fingers twitched and her eyes opened. She blinked a few times, and I knew the second she focused on me. A brilliant smile spread across her face. That smile. Goddess, I would kill for that smile.

  “Nix! Are you all right? Not hurt?”

  “Thanks to you mate.” I sounded angry, I could hear the rumble in my voice.
Instead of cringing from me in fright, she smiled brighter. Stubborn female.

  She lifted her hand to my face, cupped my cheek, and I leaned into the delicate touch. I needed to feel her.

  “And you? How do you feel?” I asked. I had to be sure before I touched her, before I did anything. “Are you still in pain? The doctor assured me all your burns have healed.”

  It was then she realized where she was and sat up. The sheet slipped and she tugged it up to cover herself. She looked down, as if she could see herself through the covering. One hand reached behind her, touched her back, then her ear.

  “I’m… I’m fine.”

  I knew she was, for the pod had analyzed and checked off completed diagnostics on specific parts of her body. The advanced healing system made sure injuries were healed and finalized before moving onto the next. I’d spent many hours in a ReGen pod myself, during the war. Taken them for granted.

  Never again.

  I was relieved she was whole, but I’d had hours to calm myself to that. Now, now I was furious.

  “Good,” I said evenly, reaching into the pod and scooping her up, sheet and all.

  “Nix!” she cried as her arms went around my neck. Her body was warm and soft in my hold. I felt her breathing, her heartbeat against my own. Thank fuck she was alive and mine. Mine.

  But that didn’t lessen my determination to set her straight. My mate would not behave in such a way again. In a few minutes, I would ensure it.

  “I can walk,” she commented, trying to wiggle out of my hold.

  I was having none of it, so mid-pace, I shifted her, tossed her over my shoulder.

  “Nix!” she cried again, pummeling my back with her fists. The sheet was twisted, so I wrapped it over her back—her bare ass was mine to see, mine to spank, mine to fuck—and gripped her thighs.

  “Settle, mate.”

  She must have heard the tone of those two words, for she fell silent. For all of twenty seconds.

  “Where are you taking me?”

  “Fortunately, the palace medical team has a ReGen pod and you were brought here directly after the explosion.” I thought of her beneath me, unconscious, bleeding. “You are well?” I asked her again.