"Relax,” Acer said with a smirk and slapped his shoulder. “You look a little desperate."
Remi shot him a glare. His nerves threatened to overwhelm him. He took deep breaths and let them go slowly, trying to calm himself. She'd come, just as she'd promised. He'd take her to Dazkara and then they'd return to Lyra Prime to be married. He'd already arranged everything. She couldn't back out now. He hadn't let her out of his sight for the past few months for this reason. He had to marry her. She had to be his.
He'd had her transferred to the academy medical team just so he could stay near her and they could share accommodation. He'd spent each night with her in his arms, had awoken this morning to see her face. Now he needed to see her more than ever.
The door at the end of the dock opened again. He looked up, shoulders tensed, and then relaxed again when he saw it was Jericho and Ambra. He was glad to see them together again. Jericho had been a nightmare since the battle on Varka Two and his integration into the cybernetic body. He'd turned his back on Ambra, convinced that she couldn't love him and that she deserved better, and had ignored everyone when they'd told him that Ambra still loved him. He'd even ignored Ambra. At least now they'd worked things out.
Remi was breaking with tradition at the wedding and borrowing something from Kayla's species’ history. It was called a ‘best man'. From how Kayla had explained it, he'd got the impression that it was someone to support you on the day and someone you were close to. He wanted Jericho to be that man.
"I thought we were seeing the happy couple off,” Jericho said, the smile evident in his voice even if the dark visor of his new face didn't shift to show it. “Ambra was panicking that we'd be late. She stood you up?"
Remi turned his glare on him. “No ... I'm sure she's just late."
"You sure?” Ambra said, hanging off Jericho's arm and grinning. “Maybe she got cold feet—"
"Why would she do that?” he barked.
"I've seen your flying ... it gives me the chills.” She laughed and hid behind the bulky mass of Jericho when Remi tried to grab her.
Remi sighed and then went still when the door opened again, this time behind him. The steady tap of boots on the metal walkway rang in his ears, a step so light that it could only be her.
"She's beautiful.” Her soft voice caressed his ears and warmed his heart.
He turned and looked at Emmanuelle.
"She certainly is,” he whispered, turning her comment about the fighter towards her, and caught her wrist, pulling her close to him. “I thought you were standing me up."
She giggled and stepped out of his embrace. When she twirled on the spot, his attention fell to her clothes.
"I had to change,” she said and ran her hands down her sides and over her hips, following the line of the snug blue flight suit. “Acer gave me it. He said that you didn't fly in a fighter without one."
Her grey gaze fell to his body and a half smile tugged at the corner of her lips. There was a hint of sensuality about the soft curve of it and the way her eyes raked over him.
"They're a little revealing,” she said and took hold of his hand. “I like you in it."
"My thoughts exactly,” he whispered and went to kiss her.
Jericho cleared his throat. Remi shot him another glare and turned back to Emmanuelle. She had moved and was now waiting on the gang plank to the ship.
"Are we flying?” she asked with a wide smile.
He smiled at her. “I don't need a ship to make me fly."
She blushed at his sexual reference. He still couldn't get used to the insane energy transference that happened. It was better than any drug, but there was something that would make him happier than it ever could.
"After you,” he said and ushered her onto the ship, impatient to get going now. “The quicker I meet your parents, the faster I can marry you."
She laughed. “Don't the sons of Lyra know how to take things slow?"
She looked over his shoulder in the direction of his brothers. He looked there too. Balt shrugged. There was a look in Acer's eyes that said slow was torture. He'd seen him around the female engineer from his ship several times now, and it was obvious to him that he liked her. He looked back at Emmanuelle. Perhaps speed was a must when it took so long to get the courage to act on feelings. It seemed that neither he nor Acer could move as swiftly as Balt and Sebastian.
He pushed Emmanuelle onto the ship, waved a quick farewell to his brothers and Jericho and Ambra, and then closed the door. Striding up to the deck, he focused, intent on getting out of the atmosphere and to Dazkara as soon as possible. It would take at least two days to get there and then three to get back to Lyra Prime. He could be married to Emmanuelle within a week. He smiled.
"You alright?” she said close to his elbow.
He nodded, wrapped his arm around her waist and kissed her hard, his tongue tangling with hers as their mouths fused together. When he let her go, she was panting and breathless.
Before she could say anything, he grabbed her waist and settled her down into the co-pilot's chair. He buckled her in and then hopped into his own chair. Her fingers closed over the end of the armrests when he fired the engines up and the roar shook the ship.
"I'll have you home in a heartbeat ... two heartbeats.” He grinned across at her.
She looked petrified.
"Take your time,” she squeaked. “Honestly ... I'd rather make it there and back in one piece."
"Slow?” he said and she nodded. “What was it you said about the sons of Lyra?"
Her eyes widened when he dropped the thrusters and raised the ship out of the dock at break-neck speed. He laughed.
"We don't do slow."
She squealed when he pushed forwards on the controls and they shot into the atmosphere. Before he could blink they were through it and heading out into the infinite darkness of space. He punched the coordinates in for Dazkara and then looked across at her. Her skin was as pale as her hair.
The computer announced that at their current speed the Dazkara system was a day away.
"I'll marry you before the week is out,” he said and released the controls, letting them ease back into their auto-pilot position. “I've gone slow enough."
Emmanuelle wondered if a handful of months before getting married could be considered slow. She closed her eyes when the ship slowed, rocked and then dropped into sub-space. When she opened them again, stars were streaking past in a constant dizzying line. Perhaps this was slow for a son of Lyra. She'd made him wait and it only seemed to have increased his desire to wed her. Seeing his rush to marry her now that he could fly her to Dazkara and fulfil her stipulation was beautiful. She'd never felt so loved before.
"So what are your parents like?” he said, leaning back into the chair with such a cocksure air that it only made what she was about to say all the sweeter.
She turned to face him, smiled broadly and then said, “They hate Lyrans."
His face dropped.
"Seriously?” he said with a hopeful look. If he thought she was joking, he was in for a shock when he met her family. “So why did you join the imperial army? Don't they hold it against you?"
"They do, but I don't really care what they think."
"So why are we going to meet them?” He reached out for the controls, as though he was going to turn the ship around.
She placed her hand on his nearest one and took it away from the controls. It was his cybernetic arm. She stroked the strange rubbery skin and smiled at the way his fingers flexed, slowly closing around hers and holding her hand.
"It's tradition on Dazkara for the future groom to ask for a daughter's hand from her mother.” Her eyes met his. Her smile turned mischievous. “Think of it as challenge number two ... convince my mother that a Lyran is worthy of her only daughter."
"Only daughter?” His cheeks paled and his eyes widened. “This isn't going to be easy, is it?"
She shook her head. “No one says no to a son of Lyra though."
&nb
sp; His lips curved into a wicked grin. “No one."
Unbuckling the safety harness, she looked around the bridge and then over her shoulder at the exit. A day to her home world. Remi was going to need a stern stomach to face her mother and win. If he thought battling Varkans was dangerous, he was in for a shock. Dazkaran mothers could be deadly when it came to a suitor they didn't approve of. It was cruel to take Remi there to ask for her hand, but it would prove just how much he loved her and how much he wanted to marry her. She didn't care if her mother said no. As long as Remi stood up to her, even if it was only for a few minutes, she'd marry him. She'd be a fool not to. A son of Lyra was chasing her. Remi was chasing her. It was more than she'd ever dreamed of. She'd fallen for him the moment he'd come into her office.
She stood and pulled on his hand, convincing him to follow her. His grin turned sensual when she led him towards the door. She licked her lips and smiled back at him.
"I think I need to give you a graduation present, Lieutenant Lyra IV."
He slid his arm around her waist and pulled her flush against him. His lips were dangerously close to hers, setting her twin hearts thundering with anticipation.
"Call me Remi,” he whispered against her mouth and then claimed her lips, kissing her so slow that they tingled and ached for more. Her whole body followed them.
"Remi,” she breathed into his mouth, her fingers twirling his dark hair around them, keeping him close. “I love you so much."
He smiled against her lips and then whispered, “I know."
She frowned and shoved him in the chest. He chuckled, his rich deep brown eyes twinkling with his smile.
"I love you too.” He scooped her up into his arms and looked down at her. “I'm going to marry you."
There was such sweet determination in those words and she honestly believed that nothing would stop him from achieving his desire.
"No one, not even your mother or the entire population of Dazkara, is going to stop me. Even if it takes the whole of the Lyran Imperial Army fleet to convince them, I won't give up until you're mine."
When he said it like that, with such fire in his eyes, she couldn't wait to get to her home world and watch the calamity unfold, sure that he would be the victor.
"Remi?” she said with a sly smile.
He frowned down at her, his eyes darkening with hunger.
"Shut up and kiss me."
He flashed a grin full of white teeth at her and then dipped his head and kissed her so deep that her head spun and her hair flew up, floating and twisting in mid air.
In a week they'd be married.
She didn't care what her parents said, just as he didn't care what his thought.
No one was going to stop her.
No one was going to stop them.
The End
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About the Author
Felicity Heaton is a great believer in love at first sight and the romantic ideal. Having grown up reading extensively, she developed a deep love of classical literature, ranking Jane Eyre, North & South, and Persuasion amongst her all time favourite reads. The most romantic moment of her life was when her husband got down on bended knee on the steps of Sacré Coeur, Paris, at night in front of several hundred spectators and proposed. She was too drunk on love, and subsequently champagne, to care about the audience. All she could see was the man that she loved. A writer of emotion and life, she always strives to touch a chord of familiarity in her readers and give them characters they can love and a read to remember.
To see her other novels, visit:
www.felicityheaton.co.uk
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Sons of Lyra: Fight For Love [Sons of Lyra Series] Page 5
