“Von!” I screamed.
His gaze held mine a second longer, even after being stunned by the blow. A growl ripped from his chest and he turned to the major. His pace sped up, and he flew through the air. Sounds of fighting came to me but all I saw was a blur. It lasted forever, it seemed to me, but was probably only a second or two. Major Cosmo was on the ground, unconscious. Von loomed over him, arms raised to the sky as he yelled into the air like a crazed man.
The moment his roar of challenge, of victory, ended, he turned and moved to me in a blink of an eye. He lifted one of the markers that maintained the barrier and tossed it behind him like a stick.
“You are touching my mate,” Von murmured, his voice low and deadly.
The Everian male’s hand slipped from me. I was impressed he hadn’t run away or peed himself. Von was barely breathing hard, his rock-hard chest glistening under the bright light of their sun. He looked good enough to jump on the spot, so sexy I felt hot all over just admiring all that fabulous muscle and power. Mine. He was mine. But he was far from pleased. The look in his eyes alone should have killed the man.
“She was unaccompanied at a challenge,” the man replied.
“Do you wish to challenge me for her? If you do, I will tell you now that you’ll look worse than him.” Von angled his head toward the unmoving major. “Challenge me and I’ll break you.”
“You should keep her under control, Hunter,” the idiot repeated. Why didn’t he just give up?
“Major Cosmo put his hand on her arm. You had your mouth on her flesh. Do you really wish to die today? She is my marked mate.”
The guy’s eyes widened and I swear he went white as a sheet. “You share marks?”
“Yes.”
The man’s attitude changed completely in the blink of an eye and he bowed his head to Von and stepped back. “My apologies.” After bowing to me, he turned and walked away without a backward glance.
“She wasn’t unaccompanied. I was with her,” Katie said.
“Me, too,” Dani added.
“Yet none of you are accompanied by a guard or protector,” Von countered.
A guard? We needed a freaking man to chaperone us? I glanced away, took in the Everians all staring at the three of us girls.
Well, okay. Yeah, maybe we were like little baby bunnies surrounded by a courtyard full of wolves. Maybe this hadn’t been a good idea after all.
“I will attend to Katie and her friend.”
The voice came from behind me and Von glanced over my shoulder. “Bryn, good. See that they are safely escorted back to the Cornerstone.”
Von took a step closer, ignoring everyone and everything around us. “You, mate, are coming with me.” While his gaze hadn’t lost any of the hardness or anger, his hold on my wrist was remarkably gentle and the heat of his touch sent a sizzle of lust through my body.
I quickened my pace to follow him as he pulled me along beside him, the onlookers parting to let us by. As we went, I glanced back at Cosmo, who was slowly coming to, a few of the warriors hovering over him and tending to his wounds. He wasn’t a threat anymore. Von had defeated him easily and I wondered why he’d denied the challenge for so long. “He really never was a threat to you, was he?”
Von glanced back over his shoulder and I saw something close to pity in his gaze. “No. I explained this fact to you last night.”
“Did he know that?”
“Of course.”
“Then why did he challenge you?”
“Pride is a dangerous thing, Lexi. A woman wounded both his pride and his heart when she chose me. We were barely more than boys, but he loved her and she betrayed him. A warrior cannot hate the woman he loves, and so—”
“He hated you instead.” My anger at Cosmo softened into something closer to empathy, sorrow, perhaps even pity.
“Yes. There are things a man can live with, and things he cannot.”
“So now what happens between you?”
“Now he has finally made his strike at me. His honor has been appeased. His rage will fade. Now he will rest. It is over.” He pulled me closer and wrapped his arm around me. “Now, I make you mine.”
Yeah, they were Neanderthals, but I was, in this moment, content to be a cavewoman. Von was dragging me off to his cave, fortunately not by the hair.
* * *
Von
It was very difficult to remain calm with Lexi after the fight. My focus and anger had been solely on Cosmo, ending our long-term feud once and for all. But then I’d heard her. My Lexi. Just one word and I knew she was in trouble. Cosmo was a fighter, not as good as me, but still skilled and powerful. I shouldn’t have looked away, but nothing would deter me from my mate. Not when she was in trouble. I knew something was wrong when I heard the tone of her voice. Cosmo had taken advantage of my distraction and landed a solid punch. I’d seen spots from it, but there was no way I would be taken down when Lexi needed me.
And that Hunter’s hand on her body? His lips caressing her skin? The asshole was lucky to still have his face attached to his skull.
My need to claim her…finally claim her, was greater than the need to track him down and beat him into a pulp. That fool would sleep alone tonight.
But Lexi was mine.
Sliding my hand down, I tangled our fingers together as I led her to my room. I slowed when I realized she was practically running, but did not stop until we were behind the closed and locked door.
My cock was hard, a result of the fight, but also knowing the last impediment in the way of making Lexi mine was gone.
She stood before me, her breathing ragged, her eyes wide and a tad tentative, but not fearful. The dress she wore was short, falling to her knees, the color a soft pink. It was a perfect match color of the blush on her cheeks, of her innocence. The dress covered her breasts and had short sleeves, but I could see every curve. I remembered every decadent inch of her. She licked her lips when she saw the outline of my cock where it pressed against my uniform pants.
“Do you want to be mine? Forever, Lexi. This is forever.”
Her eyes met mine and she nodded, but that wasn’t enough. Not this time.
“Say it.” I wanted to hear the words, to know she wanted to be mine. After this there would be no going back. I wanted to be absolutely certain she wanted me as much as I wanted her. Forever.
“I…I want you to be mine forever.”
“There’s no going back, Lexi.” I needed to say it, give her one final chance to back out, because once I touched her, I wouldn’t want to stop.
“I don’t want to go back. I want to be yours.”
“I may not have claimed all of you—yet—but you’re already mine.” I took a step toward her. Heat flared in her eyes and I watched as her nipples tightened.
“Yes.”
“Then the only thing standing between us now is your punishment.”
She frowned and took a step back, bumped into the door. “Punishment?”
I growled, thinking of that Hunter’s hand on her, of her walking to the challenge field unprotected.
“Punishment,” I repeated, stalking toward her. “For your deliberate disobedience and disregard for your safety.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know. I didn’t understand.”
“I know, mate.” I walked to her and cupped her cheek in my hand, my body still vibrating with the need to fight, or fuck. Maybe both. I itched to get her over my lap, to see her pale ass quiver beneath the strike of my palm, to see my handprint bloom a bright pink on her soft skin. “But you should have listened to me. You are on a strange world. You do not know our culture or customs. I told you to remain in your suite because I needed to know you were safe.”
She leaned into my touch, which soothed my wildness, helped calm my racing heart. She was here. She was safe. And she was mine forever.
“I wanted to see you fight, to know that you weren’t hurt. I was so afraid you were hurt. I just…I needed to see you.”
Her gaze
darted away and I knew there was something she hid from me. “Lexi?”
“I… I saw you in a dream. I saw everything that happened. How you rescued those women and children. I saw the Hive creatures and how you…disappeared and sliced open their spines. I saw how brave you are and I felt you get shot when you transported. My shoulder was on fire.” Her gaze drifted to my chest and shoulder, clearly looking for an injury that was no longer there. That blaster wound had been healed quickly with a ReGen wand after we returned from the mission.
She’d been sharing my mind as I fought the Hive on that ship? She felt my pain when their weapons struck me?
By the Divine, I wanted to protect her, not drag her into battle with me. “No.” I leaned forward until our foreheads touched. “I don’t want that for you.”
She lifted her gaze and the tenderness I saw there, the love, made my knees weak. I’d expected to win her heart by conquering her body, by giving her so much pleasure that she’d never want the touch of another.
I had not expected her to see everything. In that moment I became truly vulnerable, standing before her, awaiting judgment.
I hunted. I killed. That side of me was part of my nature, part of my reason for being. Yes, I served the Coalition Fleet and my people, did things no one else could do. But that did not mean the reality of my life would be any easier for her to bear. I had foolishly assumed I could keep her from knowing the darkness in me. She was goodness and life, innocence and warmth. If she turned from me now, I wasn’t sure I could survive the loss.
“Lexi.” Her name. It was the only word I had, and a lifetime of longing, of loneliness, went into it.
“It’s true. I wanted to see the challenge, to see you beat the major.” She lifted her hands to my face, holding my jaw, keeping me close, so close our breaths mingled in the small space between us. “But in reality, I couldn’t bear to wait until later to see you. I felt you get hurt and I…I needed to know you were okay. I’m yours, Von. But you’re mine, too.”
Lexi went up on her tiptoes and kissed me, the first time she’d initiated our contact, the first time she’d made love to me. With a soft moan, I wrapped my arms around her and crushed her to me as she molded her body to mine.
Yes. This was what I needed. My mate, warm and responsive in my arms, offering me solace and acceptance, offering me everything.
Forcing myself to end the kiss, I took her wrist and led her to the bed, felt the thrum of her rapid pulse.
“That wasn’t a dream, but a nightmare. Somehow you were with me on our mission. I didn’t want that for you, but it seems marked mates can’t keep much of anything from each other.”
I sat on the edge of my bed and pulled her to stand between my parted knees. She was at just the right height for me to take a hard nipple into my mouth.
“After the dr…nightmare, I have complete faith in your abilities. I’m sorry I didn’t understand about today. I didn’t mean to place myself in danger, but you can’t hide me away to keep me safe.”
“Yes, I can,” I countered, moving my hands to her narrow waist.
“No, Von. Maybe you don’t understand what it means to have a mate. I will worry about you. I will be afraid for you, no matter how skilled you are in battle. And I was with my friends. I assumed the only person who might be in danger at the challenge was you.”
“You doubt my abilities,” I grumbled.
“No. I’m in love with you. You’re mine. You worry about me, I worry about you. That’s how it works.”
“Yes, but your worries were unfounded,” I added, thinking of how weak Cosmo was. “Cosmo was no threat to me.”
“I understand that now. But I wanted to see you and make sure you were all right. I didn’t know the others would get all handsy.”
“You are an unclaimed female. You are beautiful. You were alone.” I covered her lips with my fingers when she opened her mouth to protest. “Before you say Katie and Dani were with you, they, too, are unclaimed and unprotected. The company of another unmated female does not shield you from the advances or seductions of eager potential mates.”
“Yes, I understand now.”
“So you will be spanked for not listening to me.”
She tried to step back but I held fast.
“I will not,” she said, her voice very adamant.
I slid my hands down her legs over her dress until I reached the hem, then changed directions and worked my way back up, this time on her bare skin. Higher and higher I went until I cupped her bottom. Her bare bottom.
“You went to a challenge with your pussy bare?” I barked.
This pussy was mine.
“I… I did it for you, so after—”
Her words cooled my anger, but made my balls ache.
Pushing the dress up, I lifted it over her head, dropped it to the floor with all the haste of an eager lover.
My breath hissed out as I looked my fill. Pale skin, upturned breasts, tight nipples, slightly rounded belly, flared hips, perfect pussy.
“After, what? What did you hope would occur?”
“I hoped you would claim me, make me yours.” Her voice got quiet, perhaps even shy. She had not yet learned to tell me exactly what she needed, but she would, in time. Someday I hoped to return home to find her sprawled naked in my bed with her legs open wide. She would smile and lift her breasts, and beg me to make her scream.
“You’re so beautiful, mate. Perfect,” I murmured as I nuzzled her breast. Her fingers rose to tangle in my hair and hold me to her. The gesture soothed me as nothing else could. The scent of her welcoming heat drifted to me, the sweetness of her skin a balm to my senses. But it was her touch, filled with such love and trust, that unmade me. I would do anything for this woman. Fight. Kill. Beg. Steal. Break my vows to the other Hunters and the Fleet. I would lie down and die in her place with no question, and the intensity of the feeling running through me made me tremble.
“So you’re not going to spank me?”
I lifted my hand and brought it down on the fleshy part of her ass.
She startled and gripped my shoulders.
“I am,” I replied. The swat hadn’t been hard, more to get her attention focused on what she’d done. Mine, too. Just looking at her body, knowing her taste, had me redirecting my thoughts.
“But—”
I spanked her other ass cheek.
“Von!”
I soothed the heated flesh, then slid my fingers down between her thighs.
“Soaked. Just as I thought.”
Her hips curled toward me, probably against her mind’s wishes. Her body knew what it wanted and it wanted to be dominated, adored, it wanted to feel a small bite of pain with its pleasure.
“You like the sting. It makes you wet.”
She shook her head.
Spank.
“You do. Your pussy’s dripping.”
Spank. Spank.
“Von,” she said again, this time with breathless anticipation.
“You don’t want a weak mate. You like knowing I will watch out for you, protect you. Keep you in line. I will always take care of you, whether it’s to lick your pussy or spank your ass for stirring up trouble.”
That earned me a bit of laughter, the sound full of happiness and breathless anticipation. “If you’re done playing with my ass, I’d rather you lick my pussy.”
A groan escaped and I narrowed my eyes at her. “You are a very naughty girl.”
Spank.
Spank.
Lifting her up, I turned and tossed her onto the bed. She bounced once before coming up onto her elbows, legs parted slightly. She stared up at me completely unaware of her allure. Stunning. Hair wild about her head, her cheeks flushed, her eyes passionate and full of challenge.
I hadn’t even claimed her yet. How full of fire and passion would she be once she knew her own limits, when she was comfortable with our bodies, with giving and receiving pleasure.
I opened my pants then and my cock sprang free. A si
gh escaped, the pressure gone, but not the need. “I’m weak around you. My cock, it’s always hard.”
I gripped the base and stroked up and down, easing some of the tension coiling in me. My thumb slipped over the drop of fluid that slid from the tip.
“Look at me, Lexi. Look at me and tell me who has all the power.”
Slyly, she glanced down at my cock, at my straining muscles, the tremors rocking my body with desire.
“I think I do,” she replied.
“You’re right, mate.” I squeezed my cock. “This? It’s for you. Only for you. Me? I’m all yours. Only yours. Forever.”
Lexi came up onto her knees before me on the raised bed and our bodies aligned, chest to chest, thigh to thigh. I loosened my hold, then let go completely when she put her hand over mine and took over stroking me. It was hard to keep my knees from buckling at the feel of her small grip.
“Harder.”
Her eyes drifted down my body.
“I’m weak for you. Powerless.”
“Von,” she whispered.
“Will you take me as your marked mate, let me claim you, body and mind?” I could hear the tinge of vulnerability in my voice. A simple “no” from her would finish me. I’d be nothing.
Perhaps she saw my weakness. With her free hand, she touched my mark on the side of my chest. So very softly. “Heart, too.”
Heart? Yes.
I felt the mark heat and she gasped. Yes, she gasped when she touched me.
“Feel that, do you?” I asked, touching her in the identical place, on the identical mark she bore. “This mark made you mine from birth. I’ve always been yours. Always.”
Lexi looked at me, released her hold, lowered herself to the bed so her head was on the pillows. As I watched, she parted her legs, bent her knees. One hand went to her breast and cupped it like an offering. It was my fantasy come to life.
“I’m yours. Claim me. Claim my pussy. Fill me with your seed.”
Chapter Seventeen
Lexi
His Virgin Bride (Interstellar Brides: The Virgins Book 1) Page 14
