That thought made her think of Lynx. It wasn’t just the lives of those who were being used as incubators that would have been lost had the warriors not arrived when they did. In the hundred years that she had been lying in the compound, locked in place by the toxins of the Covra, the planet had changed, the Denynso compound had shifted, and Lynx had been born. Though she had already lived for many decades by the time that he lived, they were connected from his first moment. It would take until he was an adult and stormed the human settlement with no idea what he was going to find to discover it, but from the minute that he was born, his heart was looking for her. She was his intended mate, the only woman who he would ever love and the person who would help him to fulfill his potential. He knew as soon as he found her and even though it was days upon days before he would even see her eyes or hear her voice, he cared for her and protected her, staying by her side until they finally discovered how they could release them from their lock and bring them back, saving most of them before the birth of the Covra young could destroy them.
If he hadn’t, all of the love that they had shared would have been lost.
The sound of children laughing in the distance brought Rain out of her thoughts and she felt herself smile. These were the children born in the fifteen years that passed between the Nyx 23 crew crashing on the surface of Uoria and the Covra locking them, children who, like she was, were more than one hundred years older than the youth on their faces told, and would likely never understand how truly extraordinary they really were. It had been a blessing that none of the children had been lost when the new generation of Covra began to hatch, though Rain knew in her heart that is was likely only because the Covra didn’t feel that it was worthwhile to put their eggs inside such small hosts, not thinking that their bodies would provide enough sustenance for their young at birth. Whatever the reason, they were all still alive. They had made it through the horrible ordeal and were back beneath the starlight, laughing as they played, seemingly carefree and without any lingering impact. They were blissfully resilient, and for that, Rain was grateful. She knew that many of the families had already decided that they were not going to leave their settlement on Uoria. Though they now had the means that they didn’t in the aftermath of the crash, they had lost their drive to return to Earth. That planet was a memory now and after the long years that they had spent on Uoria, the settlement that they had built together had become their home. This was where they learned more about their strength and capabilities than they had ever known. This was where they had overcome the despair and helplessness and took the remnants of their ship to create their new village. This was where many of them had found each other and fallen in love. This was where their children were born. Rain wondered how many of those people hadn’t told their children about their true origin. If they didn’t intend on leaving Uoria for Earth, there may be no reason to share with them the pain and darkness of the past and instead simply let them live their lives in peace and comfort.
Rain knew that much of that rested on the battle that awaited them on Penthos. If Ryan had his way, Uoria would soon be under his control and there would no longer be a way to protect those children or to keep them from knowing what really existed beyond Uoria. She couldn’t let that happen. She hadn’t been given a choice. When the ship crashed, she was stuck in place with the rest of the survivors. There was nothing that she could do but take one step after the next and try to piece together the life that eventually formed in the settlement. These children would have a choice. She could help to ensure that no matter what their parents chose, when they were adults, they would have the freedom to go where they wanted to go and live the way that they wanted to live.
Gathering the empty bags that she had brought with her, Rain started toward the center of the village. Evening had fallen quickly and the brighter the stars grew above her, the quieter the laughter of the children became as they ventured into their homes for the night. She was nearly to her former home when she saw two people step out onto the street ahead of her.
“Brandon!” she called. “Emmaline!”
The two turned toward her voice and were soon running to her.
“Rain!” Brandon exclaimed as he came close to her. “What’s going on? Where’s Jonah?”
“I can’t explain everything right now,” Rain said, “but I need your help. I need everyone who might be willing.”
“Does this have to do with why Creia and others from the compound are in the Mikana kingdom now?” Emmaline asked.
“Yes,” Rain said. “They’re preparing for the same thing. What we’ve been waiting for, for more than one hundred years. It’s time that we go back to Penthos and finish the fight that we started so long ago.”
Brandon and Emmaline exchanged glances, but she could see the look of steadfast determination already forming in their eyes and knew that they would be there with her when she left the settlement to return to the Mikana kingdom. She told them to gather whoever else they thought would help and to collect any supplies that they could get their hands on, then Rain continued on toward her house. She knew that she only had a few minutes, but she longed to see her bedroom one more time. She didn’t know when she would have the opportunity to see it again, or if she ever would, and wanted to have a few final moments in it to both collect the things still there that might be helpful, and to say goodbye.
The room felt somehow even more still and quiet than the rest of the settlement when she stepped inside. On Earth, it would have been unheard of to simply walk away from a house and have it remain untouched, but here in the settlement there was no other expectation. The rest of the group already had their own homes, each customized to their own needs and desires, and filled with the possessions that they were able to salvage from the crash, as well as what they had found, made, and repurposed from Uoria. There would be no reason for anyone to take over her house. Not yet. Perhaps when the children got older and were ready to separate from their parents, but for now it was sitting just as it had been the day that she last walked away from it.
Rain let her eyes scan around the room, saving the bed for last. That was where Lynx had first seen her, and where she had been when she first became aware of his presence in her life. It looked so benign now, its white covers pristine and crisp as if just waiting for her to climb inside and go to sleep. In her mind, though, that bed would always be a bitter reminder of the time that she spent locked away from reality, lying in place helplessly as the Covra eggs developed inside her. But that was also the first place where she had heard Lynx’s voice, coming to her through the emptiness. It had been the first place that she had felt the warmth of Lynx’s body and knew the depth of his heart.
She walked around the room and let her fingertips touch each of the possessions there. They all meant so much more to her now than they did. Even when she first settled into this home and filled it with these little mementos of the life that she had had before the ill-fated journey aboard the StarCity, they hadn’t carried the same incredible weight that they did now. Though Rain had been one of the first of the group to accept what was happening and encourage them to try to create a new home, part of her heart had always held onto the hope and belief that they wouldn’t actually live out the rest of their lives on this unknown planet. She didn’t talk about it, but that piece of her refused to admit that they didn’t have the ability to get back to Earth, or that this was the life that she was going to have, that one day it would be her body that they were submitting to the strange ground so far from everything that she had ever known and loved. It wasn’t fear or hopelessness. Instead, it was stubbornness, and through that stubbornness came the creation of the vehicle that she built with Jonah, and the strength to follow Lynx when they left the settlement.
The feeling of these items had changed. Now they were a link to the past rather than a hope for the future. These pieces were who she once was and reminders of not just the potential that was taken from her during that crash, but the life that
was snatched from members of her crew at the crash and in the days and weeks following. In those fifteen years before the final invasion of the Covra, they had added many bodies to the cemetery. These were people who would truly never have the chance to see home again and whose family would never have the opportunity to grieve for them properly. This was final and concrete. Rain knew that she couldn’t allow them to be forgotten or dishonored. No matter what happened to the crew and where the remaining survivors decided to live out their lives, the people who had already been lost deserved justice, and it was up to her to make sure that they got it.
Hastily grabbing everything that she needed from the room, Rain ran back out into the settlement and the rapidly growing group of survivors who had taken up their own bags and weapons, and were ready to follow her.
Chapter Thirteen
Kyven cupped Emerie’s face with both hands and drew her closer to him for a deep kiss. It felt like it had been months since he had been able to feel her skin and taste her lips like this, though he knew that it hadn’t been nearly that long. The time that he was trapped in the clinic on the ship and then in the infirmary had been brutal, with each hour like days stretching between them. Now he was finally able to walk around outside of the infirmary and they had stolen some time to themselves among the protective trees of the fruit orchard. He couldn’t wait another moment to touch her, to hold her, to kiss her lips and reconnect them.
Emerie seemed to melt beneath the familiar feeling of his mouth on hers and the taste of his tongue as it slipped past her lips. He allowed it to massage hers and explore her eagerly. When he ended their kiss, Kyven reached up into the branches of the tree that they were sitting beneath and pulled down a cluster of the sweet fruit. He pulled one from the cluster and held it to her lips.
Emerie closed her lips around the fruit and bit down into it, a gentle moan escaping her lips as the tart-sweet juice washed across her tongue. Some of the richly dark liquid slipped over her bottom lip and Kyven dipped his head forward to catch the drips with his tongue. Emerie took the small fruit from his fingers and brought it to his mouth so that he could take the rest of it in. Emerie took another of the fruits from his hand and crushed it in between her fingers. She trailed the juice down the center of his chest, still exposed after leaving the infirmary without bothering to put a shirt on, and glazed it across one of his nipples.
He let out a long, growling breath as she whisked the cool juice away from his skin with the tip of her tongue. As she swirled her tongue against his chest, seeming to indulge as much in the taste and feeling of his skin as she was the juice itself, Kyven brought his hands to her shirt so that he could gather it at her waist and pull it off over her head as soon as she drew back from him, revealing her breasts to him. He moaned at the sight of the lush curves and dipped his thumb into the juice on her hand so that he could paint one taut pink nipple. Forgoing the delicate tracing of her nipple, he leaned forward and closed his mouth over her breast, his tongue flicking across her skin as he licked away the juice.
Emerie bit down into her bottom lip and she arched her back to press her breast deeper into his mouth. Kyven’s hands smoothed down over her hips to grip them tightly, pulling her closer to him so that he could glide his mouth along her skin to the other breast and repeat his lavish attention there. He felt her hands move to the front of his pants and she worked the narrow ties free. She pushed the sides of the fabric open and his already surging erection sprung free. Her hand wrapped around his shaft eagerly and she let out a sigh of happiness. Her other hand flattened in the center of his chest and she guided him to lie back on the cool grass so that she could straighten his legs. Moving down, she tugged his pants off. Kyven relaxed back and let his eyes close as she used her fingers to trace more lazy patterns along the skin of his chest with juice.
Emerie followed the patterns with her tongue as she made her way from his chest down his belly. There was nothing rushed or frantic in her movements. Just as he had craved her and ached just to be close to her, Emerie seemed to be luxuriating in her ability to touch Kyven, and enjoying every moment of their skin connecting. He lifted his hips up toward her, but she seemed to purposely avoid touching his cock. Instead, she tilted her head to create a trail of kisses down the deep muscular V at the front of his hips. Her mouth glided along one inner thigh and Kyven felt his skin trembling in response to the touch. She continued the delightful torment up the other thigh and along the juncture of his leg and hip until she reached his belly again.
Kyven’s breath had become rough and ragged and his hands were gripping at the grass beside him. Emerie adjusted her body so that she straddled his legs and leaned forward. Her breasts grazed across his erection, tempting it to rise up toward her. As she continued to stroke along his cock with her warm, soft breasts, she licked from his belly up to his chest, and then flicked her tongue across his nipple again. Lifting up to this position had caused Kyven’s erection to slide across her stomach and he could feel it gliding easily with the warm drops of fluid that were slipping out and onto her skin. Emerie slid against him again and he reached up to tuck his hand at the back of her head, guiding her back down his body.
Emerie rose up on her knees to slip out of her skirt before she leaned back down and took Kyven’s erection into her mouth. A loud groan tore from his chest as he felt a deep need within him fulfilled by the warm, soft embrace of her lips and tongue. She glided her mouth down until she fully enveloped him and the tip dipped down into her throat.
Kyven clutched at her hair and used it to gently guide her into a smooth, fast rhythm. The sensation that she created was nearly overwhelming and he lifted his hips to thrust into her mouth. Soon he knew that he wasn’t going to be able to hold off much longer. He grasped her by her arms and pulled her up his body, positioning her thighs on either side of him. He reached down with one hand and held his shaft so that he could position his tip at her opening. Emerie released her thighs and settled down onto his hips, taking him fully inside her in one slow glide.
Kyven watched her back arch and heard Emerie let out a moan of pleasure. When she finally held him completely, he grabbed her hips and led her to roll them so that they stay connected even while he massaged her walls and nurtured her to a shattering climax. She screamed out as her body drew him deeper and within seconds he felt the rush of dizzying sensation surge through him and his cock throbbed inside her. Kyven thrust up into her until his climax eased, and Emerie finally fell forward, her sweaty body trembling against his.
Their breath slowed and her shaking quieted as he cradled her against his chest, but Kyven stayed inside her, the feeling of her body holding him and them being melded into one was comforting and intimate. He ran his hands down her back and tenderly kissed her shoulder, closing his eyes so that he could lose himself in the feeling, smell, taste, and sound of her.
“Thank you,” Emerie whispered, the word sounding almost like an exhalation of breath.
Kyven laughed softly.
“For what?” he asked.
She lifted her head and looked into his eyes.
“For coming back to me.”
“Did I ever leave?” he asked.
“You almost did,” she said. “That beast could have killed you with little more than one more swipe. A single bite. Slashing just a little to either side.”
Her breath caught in her throat and she looked down, shaking her head slowly as if to will away the tears that Kyven could hear forming in her voice. He sat up, gathering her into his lap and rested his hands on either side of her face so that he could look at her, wanting her to see the sincerity and life in his eyes.
“I am right here, Emerie,” he said. “I never went anywhere, and I’m not going to. I was injured, yes. The Meldor was horrible, I’m not going to pretend that it wasn’t. But I survived. I’m alright now. I’ve healed and I will continue to heal until it will be like nothing happened. If anything, this will only make me stronger.” She tried to glance down again and he
kept his hands steady to prevent her from looking away. “I love you,” he said. “With everything in me, I love you.”
“I love you, too,” Emerie said.
Relief came over her face and Emerie kissed him softly.
“You know that this will all be over soon,” he said, hoping that she would believe him, even if he wasn’t completely sure of this himself. “This will all be over and we’ll have a life waiting for us.”
Emerie nodded.
“I know,” she said quietly.
“And when that happens, we’ll decide together what we’re going to do.”
“What do you mean?” she asked, sounding concerned.
“This isn’t your world, Emerie,” he said. “You are here by chance and by force. You never meant to not return to Earth and live out your life there after your mission, and I wouldn’t blame you if you wanted to leave Uoria and not have to see it again. I can imagine that you want to get back to Earth.”
Emerie shook her head.
“I don’t know that for sure,” she said.
“You don’t?” Kyven asked. “You don’t want to go back to Earth?”
“No,” Emerie said. “I mean…yes, I have thought about going back at some point to see it again, but I can’t tell you for sure that that is where I want to stay. They still don’t know what happened to us and I can honestly say that I have no idea how they would respond to finding out that we are still alive. If it was me, I’m not sure what I would do or think. Going back to Earth would give me some closure. I’d like to see that everything has moved on alright without me. I’d like to pay my respects to my family and see that someone else is living in my home. I feel like I need that in order to be able to really say goodbye to the life that I had before I boarded the StarCity. But I don’t know what’s going to come after that. I don’t really want to think about it.”
The Alien's Lair (Uoria Mates IV Book 9) Page 9
