“It is not who you are. It does not define you. Each of us has a story where someone took advantage of us, used us, abused us…you, me, and everyone in the world. Yours is a story of overcoming despite what was done to you. Rylan, I’m broken too, but you made me remember I’m so much more than that and so are you.”
Chapter Fifteen
She edged closer to him and placed her arms around him. “I was walking home from school one evening when I learned how dangerous the universe was.”
He wrapped her in his warmth rocking her body back and forth with his. A hush came between them as they lie there.
Rylan sat up bringing Aviana with him. “Let’s get out of here.”
She shook her head. “We’re in the perfect spot. I had my whole life ahead of me when he came out of nowhere. The street wasn’t real busy but I never noticed it to be empty before. There was no one around just him. At first, for some stupid reason, I wasn’t afraid of him. I honestly didn’t think he would hurt me.”
She pushed his body back down and snuggled deeper into his arms.
“Guess I am a little too trusting. He apologized to me before he did it. Said he was desperate and he was sorry but that they would find me and take care of me. Told me he picked me out because out of all the females he watched on the campus, I was the only one who could do what it would take to raise her.”
Aviana laughed, her shoulders shook and her eyes went wild as she thought of the conversation she played in her mind on nights she couldn’t sleep. How had that stranger known she would have a child and it would be a girl?
“Then he…then there was Mckayla and my time to be sorry for myself was up. Now there is me in your life and your time to be sorry for yourself is up.” She took her hand and traced his jawline before bending over to kiss it.
“How can you want me? You saw what he did. I couldn’t fight back, I wanted to but you just don’t stand up one day and defeat a Sudir. You have to learn about them and their weaknesses. It took me years to find out what I needed to defeat him. He broke me in the process.”
“No, he did not.”
“You defeated him, and you stood strong. Don’t let the memory of the hell he put you through be your undoing. You can defeat this.”
“You deserve better.” His arms went around her, clenching for a minute before he put her away from him.
“You know what, you’re right. I deserve a male who will love Mckayla as his own and not look at her as if she is second best. I deserve a male who won’t look at me like used goods.” She stood up, “I guess you’re not the man I thought you were.”
She got up and stomped away. There was no way she was arguing with him. He didn’t want her, so be it. She looked around to find him standing, watching her. Had she just walked around in a circle?
“Let me out, Rylan.”
“No. Mckayla is my child, there is no second best about her. Her smile lights up a room and I love how she trusts me to take care of both of you. You’re not used goods. I love your vitality, the way you’re willing to fight for what’s right. How you stepped up to the plate and did whatever you needed for your daughter. To me, you’re what’s right in this world. I want you, Aviana, but I am not an easy man.”
“I know and I like that about you. I think I would break a male who was ‘easy’. I’m strong now; I’ve had no other choice. One of the things that attracts me to you is your strength. You see me, all of me and I can be who I am with you because you won’t break from it.” She stepped up to him and ran her fingers over his chest.
“Don’t tease, Aviana, because if I claim you, I will never let you go.”
“Who said I want to be free of you?”
He reached out, taking her hand. A cord of red connected them quickly bonding their hands together until all you could see was the red.
“What’s happening?” She stared at her hand looking for answers.
“I don’t know.” He was jerked off his feet being pulled up into the atmosphere. “Aviana.” He screamed her name before he was pulled into a void.
She screamed as her arm felt like it was being pulled out of the socket. A knife in her hand encouraged her to cut the bond between them and save her own life. She wouldn’t do it; there was no way she was going to leave him. She was pulled from the ground following him into the swirling vortex overhead, where they were finally reunited.
“Where are we?” Aviana looked around.
The Land was flat with lots of grass. Close to them was a lake with a slow current for swimming. There was a bar-b-cue pit with some chairs around it and a sand box. It was comfy and reminded her of a place you would go to relax.
“I made this retreat when I was young, a place I could come to escape the Sudir. I would lose myself here, jumping into the pool or playing in the sand pit. Sometimes there would even be food on the grill that I could eat.”
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
“Bringing me to your retreat.”
She walked over to the river bringing him with her, their hands still linked. He helped her into the water before he joined her.
“This place is beautiful. I can see why you enjoy it.”
“I was a boy.”
“And now you’re a fully grown male. I can see why you enjoyed it in both forms.”
“You see me as more than I am.”
“No, Rylan I see you exactly for who you are, faults and all.”
He reached over and kissed her, biting her bottom lip before licking it to make it better.
“Be careful, Aviana, if you keep it up, I will want to keep you.”
“You already want to keep me, Rylan. Admit it.”
He pulled her up in his arms and carried her from the water.
“Last chance, Baby. Scream and run or tell me you don’t want this. Do something because if we go any further I’m going to make you mine.”
She took her free arm and wrapping it around his neck, pulled him down on top of her.
“You talk too much.” She attacked his lips. Moving sensually against them until he opened, her tongue slid against his and all thought of running left her.
“So damn beautiful. The first time I saw you in that principal’s office it was all I could do to tame my reaction to you. Then I realized Mckayla was your daughter and I watched you with her. I was insanely jealous at first. I wanted that same love and attention from you. Then I got to know Mckayla and I wanted her for my daughter.”
His tongue moved against hers, dueling, stating he was the dominant one here. She played with him, relenting and then sneak attacked him. “Equals,” she shouted, and he gave way before once again asserting dominance in their game.
She gave a small laugh of contentment as they kissed.
“I want you, Aviana. I want to become one with you. Sink into your depths.”
“What are you waiting for?”
He raised his head, his eyes becoming feral. His teeth sunk into her neck as his body became one with her. There was no beginning or ending. It was a complete mental emersion.
She couldn’t feel the edges of her mind anymore; they expanded until she was so totally a part of Rylan she didn’t know where she ended and he began.
“What’s happening?” She sat up in a different place.
“We merged and became one. I think we passed the soul-bonding trial.”
“How’s that possible? We didn’t…you know, have sex.”
“We will, soon.” He looked at her and licked his lips.
She stood noticing there was a faint connection that ran from her to him and back again. They were bonded, the two of them. It was an intensity that made her feel like fireworks were going off in her mid-section. On the other hand, it was soft and cozy making her want to curl up next to him. She could feel what he was feeling and knew what he was thinking.
“We made this place together, Aviana.”
There was a playground to the left where Mckayla could come and play. To the right was
a seating area where they could watch her. There was an outdoor kitchen where they could cook as well as a beautiful house behind it. There was a pond not too far behind them for swimming and a large open space for entertaining.
“We made a home?” Aviana gasped looking at the simplicity of it all.
“And a future. We dreamed together and came up with this. Would you like to live in a place like this?”
She looked up to meet his eyes. “I would love to.”
“When this is all over. When Zuhun is dead, we will start to work on this and more children. You want more children?”
“I do.”
“So do I.”
*~*~*~*
It was the loud sound of Voyager clearing their throat that woke her up. She was wrapped around Rylan while their hands were intertwined.
“What happened?” she sat up looking at him.
“We’re soul-bonded.”
“That’s it? I was expecting more.”
“More?” he laughed. “You’ve been kidnapped and almost cut into thin roast-able parts. You thought they killed Mckayla. You ended up in my nightmare and set me free. We planned a whole house and outside living space. I think we endured enough.”
“I think agreeing on a house was the hardest part of the whole thing.” He gave her an unguarded smile that made her heart flip, diffusing the anxious feeling that was starting to curl up her shoulder blades.
He took her wrist and showed her, they both had a small symbol on them. They looked like upside down crowns and they matched perfectly.
“It means mates in my language.” He placed his wrist over hers. When the symbols aligned, she could feel a charge going through her body.
Reaching over for her, he drew her into his arms giving her a deep kiss.
“Should we still be here?” he asked Voyager. There didn’t seem to be a reason to stick around.
“Everyone leaves when the trial is over.”
“No, I want to leave now!” Rylan was up on his feet grabbing a sword placed near him.
“Do you want to do this again?” Voyager asked, standing calmly before him. “Is this all about what Rylan wants? The young male who has to have all his needs met.”
“Not this time, Voyager. You can taunt me as long as you want, but my mate is tired. She has endured the trial shifting through her memories. This test made her think her daughter was dead. Do you understand the devastation of that thought? It crippled her and still she shook it, rising to the next challenge. Do whatever you want to me just not to her.”
A door appeared beside them.
“You are free to go; you have both passed the trial.”
“I don’t understand. Who was the trial for?” Aviana asked Voyager.
“It was for the both of you for different reasons but one main question. If you could change your past would you or would you endure the pain to become who you are today? Now you both know the answer to that question. You have passed the trial and are soul-bonded. Congratulations.”
Rylan helped Aviana up. They walked through the door. She threw a smile over her shoulder and mouthed the words thank you to Voyager.
Chapter Sixteen
How long had she been out? Carefully, she opened her eyes wincing from the pain of the light touching them. Her body cried from the soreness of muscles that hadn’t moved in a while as she stretched.
“I feel like I’ve been asleep for a week” Aviana said, her mouth feeling like a dark hole of dankness.
“That sounds just about right,” Selma said with a cherry voice.
Aviana sat up feeling her back protest at the movement “Rylan?”
He lie still, not moving.
“Why isn’t he waking up?” She looked at Victor and Selma with darkened eyes.
“He’ll be fine, give him a minute,” Victor spoke as he sat beside Rylan.
His hand went to Rylan’s chest, touching it. He murmured a few words too low for Aviana to hear. Rylan’s body jolted under Victor’s hand like he was being bombarded with electricity.
“Rylan!” Aviana tried to throw herself at him but Selma caught her around the middle and pulled her away.
The passing thought of how tiny Selma was able to do that went through her mind. She tried to break the woman’s hold and get back to Rylan.
“Stop, Aviana. Victor is saving his life. Stop fighting me.” Aviana stopped resisting and watched Victor.
This time she saw the small electrical charge that left Victor’s hand and found its way into Rylan’s chest making his body arch off the bed again.
Rylan gave a loud cough and then a gasp for air as he opened his eyes and caught Victor’s hand.
“Enough.” His voice came out with a wheeze but all Aviana heard was his voice.
He was still alive. She sprang out of Selma’s hands and carefully joined Rylan on the bed.
“How do you feel?” Aviana asked, bending over him.
“Like Victor just hit me.” He groaned and Victor chuckled.
Aviana sagged against his side knowing he would be ok now.
“You gave me a scare.”
“Sorry, crossing back was harder than I thought. We did it.”
“Yeah, we did.” She allowed her body to relax next to his as Victor and Selma walked from the room on quiet feet. “So does this mean everything’s all right now?”
“No. Zuhun is very much alive and a threat to both of us and Mckayla. We need to do everything in our power to stop him or at least hinder him until we are strong enough to kill him. We’re also going to have to deal with the male who fathered Mckayla.”
“No chance of a compromise?”
Rylan turned to his side and pulled Aviana into his arms, not sure what she meant by compromise. So he thought of Zuhun. “His idea of a compromise is me dead at his feet or serving him. Neither works for me. No compromise.”
“What about us, Rylan?”
“We take it one day at a time, Aviana; it’s all we can do.”
He leaned over and kissed her. His tongue slipped into her mouth and captured her breath before breathing it back into her mouth where it mingled, making the two of them one. Her heart pounded and he picked up the pace and pattern of hers before deliberately slowing and teaching her heart how to follow his. They were synchronized.
Her arms wrapped around his neck as the kiss deepened. Breaking the kiss, she wiggled from underneath of him. She placed her hand over her mouth.
“Need to brush my teeth.”
He shook his head as she ran to the bathroom. When he heard the shower turn on he went to his room to do the same.
*~*~*~*
He was waiting on the bed when she finally left the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her, revealing just as much as she hid of her delectable body.
“You do know that I am going to kiss you all the time, even when we wake up before you can brush your teeth.”
“I know,” a reddish hue flushed her cheeks. “It was a week without brushing, not a night.”
He looked so good sitting on her bed. His back was against the head board and one leg was drawn up while the other was stretched out in front of him. A bare chest was before her making her fingers want to explore every muscle and flat surface.
“You might want to put a shirt on.”
“Nope. Here’s a better plan you drop that towel and I’ll drop the pants.”
She shouldn’t do it. Had she told him that she was a virgin before it happened or that there wasn’t enough time for other men after Mckayla was born? Maybe she should just run and not stop.
Of course, she could also drop the towel and find out for herself if she was cut out for love, romance, sex or whatever you wanted to call it.
Nodding, she clutched the towel even as she told herself to drop it. Rylan got up from the bed, his muscles bunching as he stood. With one hand, he went to his jeans and popped the snap on them.
Sexy male.
With a lick of his very kissable lips, his hand found the t
ab of his zipper. Aviana’s eyes were riveted to that hand. Her pink tongue appeared briefly as it licked her lips giving them moisture in a vain attempt to stay hydrated as her body heated up.
The zipper came down with a rasp that was so loud she was sure everyone in the house heard it. His hands pushed down the jeans that sat low on his waist revealing that sexy V at the top of his hips that begged her to lick it. Shoving his jeans all the way down, he kicked them off.
She bit her tongue to keep from swallowing it. His body was marvelous, but all she could see was his thick erection standing proud. She looked at her hand and back to him certain she couldn’t hold it with one hand.
Shaking, she let her towel drop. His indrawn breath made her want to dive after the towel, instead she stood proud. If he didn’t like what he saw there was nothing she could do.
Despite her proud words to herself, she realized she wasn’t meeting his gaze. She lifted her head, an air of defiance around her. What she saw made her heart trip and her breath catch in her throat.
Want and need poured off of him. He held himself rigidly as if he let himself go he would ravish her. There was lust written on his face for her, but there was also pure desire, like he never saw anyone as beautiful as she was.
“Rylan?” she looked at him with pleading eyes.
“You’re even more beautiful than I imagined. I want to touch you, lick you. Dive deep within you. I want to be gentle, but my control is barely existent.”
“Take me. I want you whatever way you need me.”
“You are so perfect.” He strode over and picked her up and gently placed her on the bed.
“Mine. My mate, my love.”
His lips came down on hers halting all protest as he claimed her. He presented himself as the dominant one and kissed her into submission, dragging a sound of pleasure from her.
He crawled over her, moving to her side before he took one of her bronzed nipples in his mouth and sucked.
“Damn,” she cried out as his sucking motion pulled on the sensitive spots located deep within her body.
Rylan's Heart (Alien Mates Book Two) Page 10
