Unsure who he was talking to, Poppy was happy and surprised to see Val peek around his shoulder.
Standing up carefully, Poppy crossed the room and threw her arms around the other woman.
“Val!”
Hugging her back just as hard, Valerie laughed for a minute, overcome with emotion. It seemed like the better option than crying.
“Poppy, did you hear about the other brides?” Letting go of Poppy long enough to reach behind her and tug Thorne into the room, she gave her a sad questioning glance.
“Yes I did. Right now I’m just glad they survived.” Poppy let out a relieved sigh and noted that Val had changed clothes.
Turning to Wheaton, she raised her eyebrow. “How long was I out?”
He took a moment to brush some hair out of Poppy’s face. “A few hours. Rodin was monitoring you and everything seemed fine so we didn’t want to rush you to wake.”
Poppy turned as more entered the room, hoping to see some of her new bride friends. She was surprised to see Behyr tug Hannah into the room.
“Poppy, it is so good to see you awake and on your feet,” Behyr said. Giving her a hug, he didn’t flinch when Wheaton rumbled.
Scanning her group of friends, she remembered something. “Hey, where were you and Hannah this morning if you weren’t at the Council meetings?”
Everyone grew silent and looked at the pair in question.
“Well—” Wheaton started, only to have Hannah interrupt him.
“Wheaton and I made it official this morning.”
When Val gasped and Behyr smiled, Poppy was even more confused.
“Huh?” Somebody better start talking now, she thought.
“Hannah and I officially dissolved our trial period this morning,” Wheaton said while he tugged on one of the curls that had escaped Poppy’s messy bun.
“Thank god!” she shouted and flung herself into his arms.
Making a scene by peppering kisses all over Wheaton’s blushing face, she eventually let go of him and scooted around to a very happy Behyr, who was holding Hannah’s hand.
“And I can see I’m not the only one happy.”
“Hannah, I don’t really know what to say other than thank you…and I’m sorry for calling you a twatwaffle.”
Val let out a burst of laughter behind her and Poppy turned to her.
“No really. I’m sorry,” Poppy repeated as Val covered her mouth to try to hold in her laughter while the men were trying to figure out what a “twatwaffle” was.
“Um, Poppy? You never called me that,” Hannah said with embarrassment clear on her face.
Smiling widely and winking at the red-faced woman, Poppy said, “Well, not out loud I didn’t. I’m apologizing for all the things I called you in my head…except for when I found out you kissed Wheaton.” When she tacked that on, Behyr tugged Hannah closer to his side and flashed his teeth at Wheaton.
Val walked toward everyone with shooing motions. “Okay, okay, everyone is best friends forever and blah blah blah. Why don’t we get out of the med center and give Rodin and Tamin some time to focus on the others without us taking up space?” Valerie had resorted to using her “liaison” voice to usher them out of the room.
"Just a moment.” Wheaton stopped everyone as they were walking toward the door. “With all of our friends here, I believe now may be the best time to do this.” Standing in front of Poppy, he dropped to one knee.
“What are you doing, Wheaton?” Poppy was sure she was either still slightly loopy from their ordeal or not totally awake yet.
“I have watched many movies with you that have had this particular scene in them.” Clearing his throat, he grinned up at her.
“Poppy, you are my perfect match. I almost lost you today and I did not realize until that happened how you have become more important to me. More than anything else in the universe. You are constantly in my thoughts when we are apart. You are the first thing I think of in the morning and are my last thought before I fall asleep. I cannot imagine my life without you. You are my little flower and I would be the luckiest warrior in the galaxy if you would marry me.”
Finishing his speech, he pulled a ring out of his pocket and held it up to her finger, preparing to slip it on.
“Oh, Wheaton…yes. Yes!” Helping him slide the ring on her finger, Poppy leaned down to kiss him while he was on his knees. They continued to kiss as their friends cheered. The steady rumble in his chest indicated that they needed to stop before things got out of hand. When they parted, everyone came forward to hug Poppy and exchange slaps on the back between the men.
Wheaton kept a tight grip on Poppy’s hand as they walked back to their original apartment. Poppy yawned when they reached their door.
“I know I slept for a while but I can’t seem to stay awake.”
“You have had a very busy day,” Wheaton pointed out as they walked into their rooms.
Poppy kicked off her shoes and raced toward the bedroom. She tossed a sassy grin at Wheaton over her shoulder and said, “But I’m never too tired to have some attention from a particular warrior.” She giggled when she was lifted and bounced in his arms. “So, you and Hannah dissolved your trial period?” Kissing his neck, she felt him nod.
“Why didn’t you tell me that’s what you were doing this morning?” she asked.
She caught him smiling.
“We wanted to surprise both you and Behyr.” With a grim look, he added, “If I had known what Demascus had planned, then we would have done things differently.”
“Hey now, don’t think like that. I’m safe and the baby is safe. There’s no point in thinking of how we could have changed things.” Tapping her finger against his chin, she caught her breath when Wheaton nipped her fingers.
“I want you undressed,” Wheaton muttered, his voice now gruff with need. Leaning forward for a quick, hard kiss before he set her on her feet, he whispered against her lips, “Right now.”
“Ditto.” Poppy had already started tugging her shirt over her head the minute her toes touched the floor. Wiggling out of her pants, Poppy glanced up to find a nearly naked Wheaton. She smiled.
“What?” Wheaton said, catching her grin.
“Nothing. I just like looking at you.”
“I love you looking at me. I love looking at you also,” he replied with a smile. Slowly advancing on her, he reached for her hips and tugged her nude body to his own. With his chest rumbling softly, he leaned down and rubbed it against her hardened nipples.
Poppy tipped her head back and let out a groan. “I love the feel of your body too.”
Wheaton bent his knees to grip her ass to lift her up. Poppy wrapped her legs around his waist and swayed forward to nip at his chest.
“Biting now, are we?” he mused. He nibbled at the spot where her shoulder met her neck.
Wheaton turned so her back was to the bed and walked until his legs touched the edge. Laying her down, he stretched out on top of her.
“I want to hold you close for a moment. No clothes. No talking. Just us,” he said while staring into her eyes.
Poppy reached her hand up to trace the area around his green eyes and smiled into his serious face.
“This is a good place, isn’t it?” Poppy asked.
Taking her hand in his own, he kissed her knuckles. “It’s the perfect place.”
After a few moments of silence, Wheaton reached for her mouth with his own. Kissing had never been such a turn-on before. Deep and intense, she felt invigorated and yet out of breath while time seemed to stand still. Long, drugging kisses soon made her squirm under his strong, hard body. Running her hands down his back, she let her nails drag against his skin and was rewarded when he pushed even harder into her body. Wheaton shifted his weight so he settled into the cradle of her body and Poppy felt her legs open helplessly against him. Her body seemed to be on fire and the only thing he had done so far was kiss her.
He ran the tip of his tongue from her collarbone to her nipples, circling
each in turn before he gave a hard suck to the tips. Bringing one hand to her chest, he squeezed and plumped each breast that he wasn’t worshiping with his mouth. Once her nipples were almost too sore to get any more attention, Wheaton moved even farther down her body.
At her stomach, he stopped and scattered kisses over the area housing his baby. Seeing his eyes water with tears, she reached down to his face and cradled his cheek.
“I love you,” Poppy couldn’t help but whisper again.
Clearing his throat, he took a moment to calm his emotions. “I love you. Both of you.” Wheaton kissed her stomach before moving lower. Widening her legs with his shoulders, he raised them until they were hooked over his shoulders. With her legs draped over his back, he began nosing into her folds. Poppy’s head dropped back to the pillow. His tongue and teeth teased her nether lips before swiping at her fully.
Wheaton adjusted himself to bring his arms up around her legs. He managed to hold them wide enough to make a meal out of her. Panting and twisting on the sheets, Poppy couldn’t seem to stop her body from simultaneously fighting and reveling in what Wheaton was doing. Her wonderful warrior was giving her no chance to catch her breath or move away from his mouth. His taking turns sucking and giving pointed licks straight to her clit had her panting. Getting to the point where she was sure she was going to pop his head off with her legs, she realized she needed to loosen not only the grip she had on his hair, but also her legs.
When he moved a finger to her opening to circle the entrance that had been treated to a tongue bath, she gripped the silky strands of his hair even harder. So what if she plucked him bald? She couldn’t help herself.
When the telltale tremors started in her belly and moved to the rest of her limbs, she heard a voice she recognized as her own shout out. Not the standard “Oh god” or even Wheaton’s name, she instead went with the “oooooooohhhh” that was all her brain could think to form as she was taken over with chills.
As Wheaton gave one final lick to her now too-sensitive clit and spread her juices around her opening to ease his way, he leaned up onto his knees and positioned his cock right where she wanted it. “Are you ready for me, little flower?” he asked, wiping his mouth.
“Fuck yes,” Poppy whispered, getting an eyeful of what he was preparing to plunge into her. “Have I told you how much I love your body?” she asked huskily, running one hand down his abs and smoothing her finger down his member that was poised at her body.
“You can tell me more. Later. Right now I want you too much to talk.” With that he leaned his weight forward and allowed his cock to fill her one inch at a time.
Once he was fully inside her, their eyes locked as if they each understood how perfect this particular moment was.
“I will never get enough of you, my little flower.”
“Ditto,” Poppy said softly with a smile that turned to a gasp. She arched her back as he started thrusting.
Still on his knees, he kept hold of her legs while he pumped into her over and over again. Not being able to reach his body easily, Poppy reclined and gripped her hands into the sheets under their straining bodies. As her knuckles tightened on the fabric, she knew she was close again. Wheaton’s clenched jaw was now coated with beads of sweat. Letting go of the sheets, Poppy reached down between her legs to finger her still-hard clit. Wheaton must have felt her move, because when his eyes saw her hand, he groaned and started thrusting even harder into the cradle of her hips.
“Let me.” He pushed her hand away and pinched her clit with a sharp flick of his fingers. As if he had his own personal switch to her body, she immediately detonated. Under her straining, open legs, she felt his thighs tighten as he pumped hard into her sheath. Groaning out loud, his body stayed tense for a few more moments while Poppy tried to catch her breath.
“I will never get tired of this.” His voice was hoarse with passion, and Poppy smiled at him through sleepy but satisfied eyes.
“That’s a good thing.” Reaching up to tug Wheaton down, she cuddled him a second before turning over to wiggle back into the curve of his body. As they lay there, damp with the passion they were unable to control, she traced the muscle on the forearm that was around her waist.
“What happens now?” she asked quietly.
“We will be happy, Poppy.”
Smacking his arm, she said, “I know that, you goof. I meant, what happens with everything else?”
Pulling her back into place, he settled his chin on the top of her head. “We will try to have Demascus brought before the Council to face charges. We wait for our baby to be born. We keep you safe.” As if those were the easiest things to do, he didn’t pause with his answer.
“What about calling more brides? That’s been ruined for so many warriors.” Poppy couldn’t help but feel bad for the men who wouldn’t have a chance to find their mates. She’d made friends with some of them and couldn’t imagine them being alone until they fixed whatever Demascus had done to the computer system.
“Actually, before Demascus installed the virus, we had already pulled fifty more matches from the system.” Leaning down to kiss her hair, he paused. “Depending on what he was able to upload it could take some time for us to fix the damage that he has done. The virus he installed has managed to infiltrate so many parts of the system. Our first step will be to see how far it was able to reach before we can estimate the length of time we will be without new bridal matches. One of the system engineers believes that Demascus may have uploaded the virus earlier than expected. We will not know for sure, but he may have been the cause of the system matching me with Hannah. We suspect he may have infected the system first to set up false matches and cause the Council to doubt our alliance with Earth. When that did not work, he went to more extreme measures.”
“What an asshole. I hope they can get it all sorted out. I feel so bad for all the warriors still waiting for their chances at getting a bride.” Closing her eyes, she suddenly felt everything catch up with her. Yawning widely, Poppy snuggled closer and murmured, “Night, babe.”
Feeling him nuzzle her ear, Poppy smiled when she heard him whisper, “Sleep well, little flower.”
Epilogue
“E.T. phone home… E.T. phone home.”
“That’s still not funny, Pixie.” Poppy stuck her tongue out at the video monitor that showed her sister’s smiling face.
“Oh c’mon, it is totally funny.” Wiggling her eyebrows back at Poppy, she gave her a pointed look. “How is my future alien niece or nephew? And tell me again why Wheaton didn’t want to know the sex of the baby?”
“He or she is perfectly fine and you can blame it on watching too many movies. Apparently he wants the full ‘surprise’ experience. Tamin and Rodin have been sworn to secrecy to anyone and everyone who tries to weasel it out of them.” She rubbed her stomach and leaned back so Pixie could get a glimpse of her rounded belly. She smiled. “By the way, it is so nice to see your ugly mug again. I was getting really tired of just hearing your voice.”
Pixie grinned back. “I know. Being able to see and talk to you makes a big difference. Almost like we aren’t too far apart. Oh and let me see that ring now!”
Waving her hand in front of the screen, Poppy showed Pixie the ring Wheaton had put there not too long ago. After Pixie’s appropriate “oohs” and “aahhs” Poppy laughed at her sister and gestured for them to move on.
“So, what’s been happening in your neck of the woods?” Poppy asked. Keeping one hand on her stomach, she realized it had become a habit to rub her baby belly. It weirded her out when other people touched her stomach but she was always comforted when she was able to massage the rounded-out area.
“Well…a lot actually,” Pixie answered. The seriousness on Pixie’s face caused Poppy to worry for a moment.
While Squadron One had gone to the Phaeton Prime for a few short weeks, they were currently zooming back to Earth to relieve Squadron Two due to ship malfunctions. The planet had been beautiful but Poppy was rel
ieved they were going back home for a while. Hoping that the timeline matched up, she was crossing her fingers Pixie would be able to visit her for the birth of the baby. Thinking back to her time on the planet, she realized it had been rushed but wonderful. It was a beautiful place that Poppy had been enthralled with. She had even managed to get Wheaton to capture some images on a camera-like object so she could show Pixie.
When it had been time for Squadron One to move back into orbit around Earth, Poppy had talked Wheaton into moving back into their apartments. She figured that when the baby was still an infant, they could handle sharing the small space and one bedroom but once the baby got older, they would need to broach the problem of setting up a nursery.
“Hey, you still with me?” Pixie waved at the monitor to catch Poppy’s attention.
“Sorry, baby brain has settled in. So what’s so important that we had to wait for video chat for you to talk to me about?”
“I’m just going to start at the beginning and I don’t want you to get mad, okay?” Pixie began.
Oh dear. With that start, Poppy braced herself, wishing Wheaton hadn’t been called down to the sparring room, so he could be there. She found his mere presence had gone a long way in soothing her lately. The baby also loved being around him, because the little bugger usually calmed down and took it easy on her bladder when Wheaton caressed the skin stretched over her growing stomach.
“I broke up with Brian,” Pixie informed her baldly.
Poppy searched Pixie’s face for signs of sadness but amazingly didn’t see any. “Ummm, okay…why?” She thought about the man her sister had wanted to marry, and wondered what had happened.
“Well, here’s the kicker. Remember Brenda?”
At Poppy’s nod, Pixie nodded too. “He was fucking her. He. Was. Fucking. Her.”
“No!” Poppy was truly shocked.
“Yes! Not only that but the woman who I thought was a friend and assistant was messing with my work to make me busier so she could get me out of the way so they could meet!” Pixie spoke as if she could truly murder someone.
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