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

by Goodwin, Grace

  “Nix, I’m fine. Put me down.”

  “No.” I kept walking, my stride long as I took the stairs two at a time to the second floor, to the family level of the palace. I turned right onto the corridor that led to Destiny’s suite of rooms. Our rooms.

  Trinity and Faith came out of nowhere, walking toward the medical station. They stopped as we approached. The look on their faces was pure happiness and they opened their mouths to stop me, but Leo joined them. “Not now,” he murmured. “Let Nix deal with his mate.”

  I couldn’t help but grin. Yes, I was going to deal with Destiny.

  “Deal with her?” I heard Trinity ask Leo. “She was hurt!”

  “There was a bomb, mate. A bomb. And she covered Nix with her body. Risked herself to protect him”

  “I would do the same.” Trinity’s defiance was clear, and I felt my own spine stiffen in response. These females were trouble. Every. Single. One of them.

  “Perhaps you need to be reminded who protects who in this mating.” Leo sounded as I felt. Frustrated. Worried that his mate would do something crazy. Reckless. Dangerous.

  For him.

  For me.

  For the males they loved.

  The knowledge of their combined defiance was terrifying and I wondered about the queen. What female raised such fierce daughters?

  Trinity said something in reply, but I was too far down the hall to hear. I opened the door and kicked it shut behind us as I heard her squeal. Not in terror. She was laughing. And I had no doubt she’d be beneath Leo soon. Just as Destiny would soon be submitting to me. To my hands. My mouth. My cock.

  “Nix!”

  I ignored Destiny as I carried her directly to the bathing room and slapped my hand on the wall to turn on the shower tube. It was pre-set to Destiny’s desired water temperature, so I opened the door and carefully lowered my mate to her feet. Now, I tugged the sheet from her, already sodden in parts from the warm spray.

  “Nix!” she sputtered. “What are you doing? You’re acting like a caveman.”

  I didn’t close the door, just watched with satisfaction as the dirt and blood washed away, swirling down the drain. The pod had healed her, but it hadn’t done anything to clean the remnants of the explosion from her. Grabbing the soap, I washed her myself, having her turn so I got all of her.

  “Settle, mate. I will ensure every inch of you is well.”

  She lowered her hands to her sides as I gently but thoroughly cleaned away the horror of those few seconds. My fear settled into a hard lump in the pit of my gut. I wasn’t afraid any longer, but the emotion clogging my throat hurt even more.

  Relief. Despair that this would happen again. Anger at myself for being so weak and needy when it came to her. I was a warrior, not a simpering idiot. But when it came to Destiny…

  Fuck. I wiped the wetness from my cheeks while her back was turned, so she would not see how weak she made me. How desperate and lost I’d be without her.

  “Nix.” So soft, my name on her lips. I was down on one knee before her and she leaned over, pressed her wet lips to mine. Gently. When she pulled back, her own cheeks were streaked with tears. “We’re a mess, aren’t we?”

  Her hair was now an electric shade of purple, a striking contrast to her pale skin. She pulled me under the water, next to her, and stripped me naked. She took her time, washing me as I’d washed her. I leaned my head back against the wall and let her touch me. Let her soothe the pain still swimming in my blood like acid. “Don’t ever do that again, mate.”

  Eyes closed, I felt her lips press to my chest. My neck. Her hands slid around my waist and she leaned her entire body along mine. Skin to skin. Making us one being. One body. Her cheek rested over my heart and I wrapped my arms around her. Squeezed. Couldn’t stop.

  “I need you, Nix. You can’t die. I love you too much.”

  Goddess help me, she was trying to kill me.

  My cock, always hard for her, took control of my mind. I needed her. Now.

  Lifting her in my arms, I turned us until her back was to the wall and entered her in one long, hard thrust.

  She was hot. Wet. Ready.

  “Yes! Fuck me, Nix.” Her legs lifted and hooked at my lower back. “I need you.”

  Never able to deny her, I thrust hard. Fast. Pumping into her with all the fear, worry and relief coursing through me at once. Never had I felt so adrift. Too many emotions swirling inside me like a storm. But she was right here with me. Her body my anchor. Her hands in my hair. My name on her lips. I held onto her. Made her my center. And fucked her. Hard. Deep.

  “Mine.”

  “So hot,” she moaned as I thrust, grabbing her ass, lifting her hips so I could go deeper. “…so hot when you go caveman.”

  That was not the first time she’d used that word. I would ask for clarification later. If my mate preferred a caveman, I would act as a man in a cave for her.

  Too fast, it was over. Both of us riding the edge before we’d begun. I rinsed my seed from both of us and turned off the water. Holding her close, I activated the drying feature. As warm air circulated and dried us from head to toe, my fear for her life swam back to the surface, turned to anger.

  How dare she place her life at risk for me? I was nothing. A soldier. A warrior. She was everything.

  When the dryer setting turned off, I opened the door.

  Her gaze raked over my body, took in my still hard cock, then moved higher so her dark eyes met mine.

  “You’re mad.”

  I laughed, which was ironic because I wasn’t amused at all.

  “You are well?” I asked a third time. “The doctor said your skin might be sensitive for a few days.

  She nodded. “Perhaps you could take a nibble and we can test it.”

  “I want to hear you say it, mate. Are you well? Are you in pain?”

  “I am fine.”

  I nodded once, then took hold of her hand and tugged her out of the bathing room and to the bed. I picked up the restraints she’d put on me earlier, to keep me from following her into danger, dangled them between us.

  “I should tie you down, mate. Then you couldn’t be hurt. Wouldn’t be able to do stupid things like get blown up.”

  “Nix,” she began, but I tossed the restraints onto the bed, picked her up and had her over my lap, ass up, in two seconds flat. Now, when she called out my name, I followed it with a nice hard spank on her ass.

  She bucked and wriggled and I hooked her ankles with mine. When her hands went back to cover her ass, I gripped them together in one of mine.

  “You said you love me.” Spank. “You shield me with your body.”

  “I didn’t want you to be hurt!” she cried.

  Spank.

  “If you love me, Destiny, you will let me protect you. You are my life and I will protect you.”

  Spank.

  “And you are mine,” she said. Her muscles went lax over my lap and she moaned. I could smell her arousal, calling me. Mocking my attempts at a punishment. Goddess damn it. She liked this.

  I spanked her twice more, but without any intensity. I rubbed her reddened cheeks, my thumb dipping between the lush swells to find her pussy nearly dripping.

  “Mate,” I groaned, sliding two fingers deep. “You like my palm on your ass.” She clenched her inner muscles around me, bit my leg. Not hard enough to hurt, but to let me know she wanted to devour me. That the wildness in her rose to meet my own.

  “Yes,” she replied breathlessly. “It burns. So hot.”

  That was it. I needed to be balls deep. Now. Right fucking now.

  I scooped her up, tossed her into the center of the bed, then crawled over her, my forearms planted on either side of her head. Settling between her parted thighs, my cock was right at her entrance. I looked down at her, met her dark gaze.

  Our breaths mingled. Her soft skin touched mine. Her heat seeped into me. Her heartbeat thrummed in time to mine.

  “Mine.”

  Lifting her hips, she
took an inch of me into her. I hissed. She gasped.

  “Mine,” she repeated. “Can we both agree to never go near a bomb again so we can move on to the super-hot make-up sex?”

  I groaned again, settling my forehead against hers. “Can we both agree to never go near any kind of danger ever again?”

  While I was too close to see much more than a blur of her face, I couldn’t miss her smile.

  “No danger. Ever. We shall stay here in bed forever.” Every word was a lie, and neither of us cared. Her inner walls clenched about my tip.

  “Liar.”

  “We shall stay in this bed forever.” She nibbled on my lip, her hands reaching down to smack me on the ass. Damn, the burn went straight to my balls and I moved deeper inside her. Another inch. “And fuck.”

  I groaned, her sex talk making my mind go blank. My body took over, my hips thrusting into her of their own accord. I wanted more of her heat, more of that wet, snug fit. I was home with her. Inside her.

  “Yes. Bed. Fuck. Forever.”

  That was all I could say once her legs wrapped around my hips, her heels in my ass as she pulled me in deeper.

  Our mouths met and we kissed and fucked, hot and heavy. This wasn’t going to be fast and furious like we had been when the Ardor and Awakening were upon us. This was going to be fast, and it was going to be furious, but it was proof that we were alive, that we were whole, that we were together. That we loved each other.

  I couldn’t hold back. Could only fuck her harder, deeper, to match her begging, her cries of pleasure. She would come first. I could feel my orgasm tingle at the base of my spine, knew I was close when my balls grew tight, heavy with cum.

  Reaching between us, I found her hard little clit and brushed my thumb over it. One, two gentle brushes and she clenched down, gushed all over my cock as she screamed my name.

  Yes! This. Fuck, this was heaven. The feeling of my mate’s pussy as she took her pleasure. To know I was the one who had her heart as well as her body.

  I didn’t hold back, just gave over to the pleasure I found in her in return. Shouted as I filled her with my seed, marked her and someday, from a moment just like this, would make our child.

  When it was over, I started again, the ride far from over. But slowly this time. Hands clasped. Lips melded together as we moved. Climbing to the peak again.

  I had no idea how long it took us to recover our breaths, for me to slide off her and tuck her into me, her head on my shoulder. I had no idea how the covers ended up over us. I was mindless, boneless, sated. Happy. And Destiny was asleep in my arms, where she belonged. Where she was safe.

  I must have dozed as well, for a knock on the door startled me. My mate tensed in my hold. “Come back later!” she shouted, clearly annoyed, the demanding fighter back again.

  I kissed the top of her head and she snuggled into me, throwing her thigh over mine. Claiming her territory. Which was just fine with me. Until she went stiff as a board…

  “Destiny. Marie. Jones. Open this door right now. I assume, since you two have quieted down, that play time is over.”

  Destiny bolted upright, tugging the sheet up to her chest. “Mom!”

  I didn’t have time to process that one word before the door opened and Queen Celene walked in.

  Holy shit.

  The woman before me truly was the queen. I recognized her at once. I’d seen vids of her when she was younger, but her resemblance to Trinity was obvious in every line on her face. Her golden hair. Her eyes. Even the way she moved.

  Goddess damn it. I was meeting the queen. My mate’s beloved mother. Naked.

  The fucking queen.

  And she was the queen who’d obviously heard me fucking her daughter.

  “Mate, we need a new room,” I said to Destiny. “I’m sick and tired of people finding me naked in your bed.”

  “At least you’re not handcuffed this time,” she muttered, a huge smile lighting up her face as she stumbled off the bed, dragging the sheet with her as she ran into her mother’s arms.

  Me? I was left naked, again, in Destiny’s bed.

  I would not meet my queen naked, on my back.

  Stripping the bottom sheet off the bed in one vicious tug, I wrapped it around my waist and looked out from behind the canopy to find my mate wrapped in the queen’s embrace. Sobbing.

  The sight made me stop in my tracks.

  The queen looked over Destiny’s shoulder at me and I knelt, bowing my head. “My Queen. I am Captain Vennix Bryndar. It is an honor to meet you at last.”

  “You are my daughter’s mate?”

  “Nix is mine, Mom.” Destiny’s laugh struggled past the sobs and she turned, wiping her cheeks to smile at me. “He’s totally mine and I’m not giving him back.”

  The queen looked down her regal nose at me, assessing my worth. I stayed down on one knee, but I held her gaze. I was a warrior. And Destiny was mine.

  “Very well.” She bent her head to me and I rose. “If Destiny chooses you, I respect her choice.”

  Destiny’s smile widened as her gaze traveled over my bare chest. “He’s hot. Seriously. How could I say no to that?”

  I had never, not in my entire life, been embarrassed. Never felt my cheeks heat, turn red. Until that moment. My face was on fire as the queen’s gaze meandered down my bare chest to my waist and back to my face, her look assessing. “Indeed.”

  Thank the goddess she turned away quickly, hiding a grin. Destiny didn’t even try to hide her amusement.

  I’d spank her ass for that later.

  “Get dressed, both of you. I have summoned the others as well. Meet me in the queen’s solar at once.” The regal queen was back, all amusement gone.

  “But where have you been? What happened to you? Who kidnapped you? How did you get away?” Destiny fired off the questions so quickly no one would have been able to answer. The queen didn’t even try.

  “Get dressed. You know I hate to repeat myself. I will tell all of you, together.”

  “Okay.” Destiny was still smiling, practically glowing with happiness as her mother turned and walked out of our rooms. When she turned that radiant smile on me, my cock responded. My heart leapt. My entire body on fire for her. Beautiful. She was so fucking beautiful. “That’s my mom.”

  “I figured that out on my own.” I smiled as she walked toward me, as she pushed me backward toward the bed. When my knees hit the edge, I sat, unprepared for the seductress who pulled the sheet from my hips and climbed, naked, onto my lap. She took my cock in her small hand and positioned it at the entrance to her warm, wet core.

  “You’re mine, Nix. I meant what I said. I’m not giving you up.” She slid down, taking me deep. Claiming me in the most primitive of ways.

  “Your mother is waiting.” Fuck. I grabbed her hips, arched up into her. Deeper. Harder. She arched her back and I leaned forward, taking her nipple into my mouth just so I could hear her moan my name, feel the harsh tug of her hands in my hair.

  “She can wait ten minutes. I need you.”

  I need you.

  I gave up arguing. Celene Herakles was my queen, but Destiny was mine. If she needed me, who was I to argue?

  3

  Destiny, The Queen’s Solar

  “I can’t believe you just walked into the palace like you own the place,” I said, for the first time taking my seat at the big table in the queen’s suite used for group powwows. The queen’s solar. Such a fancy name for a living room with comfy chairs, couches and a huge oblong table in the center surrounded by twelve high-backed chairs. The table could easily squeeze in half a dozen more.

  After Mom had completely stunned me—and Nix, and I managed to tear myself away from my mate's hard body—it had taken about an hour for the four of us, Mom, Trinity, Faith and myself, to stop hugging and crying once we were all in the same room.

  Between sobbing and holding on to each other like we might be separated again, we’d managed to confirm to our mother how we’d arrived on Alera. A
nd that our Ardors had passed. And that Trinity had been acting as ruler. And where we’d been and what we’d been up to, Trinity at the palace, Faith in the Jax household, and me with the clerics. And all three of us had found and fallen in love with our mates. And. And. And. There were a lot of ands to fill the time.

  All three of our mates had stayed in the room with us, Leo’s father a stoic guardian at the door, watching over all of us like he’d just won the lottery. The men had remained silent, probably equal parts content that the hunt for Mom was over and equal parts horrified at what four females sounded like when we were finally together and all talking at once.

  To me, it felt like I was finally home. All I needed now was for Dad to walk through the door, hug Mom and plant a big fat kiss on her lips—just like I’d seen him do a thousand times before. Earth. Alera. I didn’t care where we were, as long as we were all together. A family. Plus Nix.

  He was mine now, too.

  I patted the seat next to me at the large table, but there was no need. He was already making a beeline for me now that I’d stopped moving. It was time to get down to business and finally solve the mystery of who took Mom and who was trying to kill all of us.

  I was thrilled—over the moon—that Mom was safe, whole and alive, but the threat was still out there. Knowing that made my muscles tight and my jaw clench. I wanted to know who was behind this… and I wanted them dead.

  Our mother looked lovely. I wasn’t used to seeing her in long, flowy dresses that were the popular style on Alera—she’d been a jeans and blouse kind of dresser on Earth—but it only accentuated the fact that she really was Queen of Alera. Growing up, we’d known, but now…

  She looked like a queen. She talked like a queen. A badass, regal, no-nonsense queen wearing an ion blaster on her hip. Which was really fucking weird, since I’d seen her cleaning toilets, doing laundry, and covered in flour while baking cookies for school fundraisers. The whole situation was surreal.

  Queen of the whole damn planet.

  As if she could sense my thoughts, she moved to the head of the table and met my gaze, pinning me in place. I’d seen that look before, too. She was happy. And happy usually meant we were in for some serious mischief from her.