Haven 1: Ascend

by Sandra R Neeley

  Finally they came to their door. Quin made no move to enter. He stood back and waited for Vivi to enter their quarters first.

  “What are we waiting for?” she asked him.

  “I want to see how you get in when you are finished with your wanderings without using the palm reader.”

  She smiled slyly, then said, “Missy, open the door for me, please.”

  A click sounded and then the door slid open. They entered, and Kitty bounded in after them. Quin said “Do not allow any other entry, Computer.”

  “Yes, Commander,” the computer answered.

  “Thank you, Missy!” Vivian echoed.

  “You’re welcome, Vivian. Have a good evening,” the computer answered, sounding more like a sentient being than artificial intelligence.

  Quin went to the bedroom and started undressing. It was a moment before he noticed Kitty sitting in the middle of his bed watching him. “Vivi?” Quin called.

  “Hold on. I’m coming,” she answered from the bathroom. Minutes later she walked into the bedroom wearing an emerald green nightgown. It was a simple gown, knee length and made of satin. There were slits on both sides at the knees for ease of movement, and it had tank top style straps and a v-neck. It left her shoulders and arms bare. She was walking in flat, single-strapped shoes that left the tops of her feet bare. She wasn’t concerned about wearing it around Quin. She’d worn less around her house at home with her uncles. It was a very modest gown, and she trusted Quin completely.

  Quin turned to complain about the shraler in their bed and stopped mid-movement. He was speechless. He’d not seen her dressed in anything other than his clothes until this evening, and in her jeans, as she’d called them, he’d thought her stunning. Until now. Now, there was no comparison. He was less than, in comparison to her. She was the noble, and he the lost soul, basking in her very presence, praying for just a glance in his direction. He’d almost forgotten to breathe, taking in all her beauty. And what made her even more beautiful was that she had no clue of the effect she had on him.

  Chapter 22

  Vivian stood in the bathroom, washing her face and brushing her teeth. She noticed the green satin nightgown she’d left hanging on a hook beside their new bathtub. She smiled, slipped her clothes off and ran her hands over the silky garment enjoying the feel of it against her skin. She folded her jeans and t-shirt and left them on the countertop. She left her shoes on the floor under the counter, her socks lying on top of them. Vivian slipped her feet into her flip-flops just as she heard Quin call her name. “Hold on! I’m coming,” she called back.

  When she entered the bedroom, she saw immediately what the problem was. Kitty was sitting in the middle of the bed and wouldn’t allow Quin to get near it. “I’m sorry,” she said to him. “I’ll make him get down.”

  Vivian pulled her blanket off the bed and made a pallet on the floor for Kitty. “Here, you sleep here.”

  Kitty jumped down from the bed and inspected the pallet Vivian had made for him. He looked at her like she’d lost her mind and jumped back on the bed. “No! You sleep down here,” she said, pointing at the pallet. She hadn’t noticed Quin standing there, spellbound. Vivian hurried to the living room, pulled a cushion from the couch and returned to the bedroom with it. She whisked the blanket off the floor, put down the cushion, laid her blanket back on top of it and sat down on the cushion. Kitty jumped off the bed and joined her on the cushion. Vivian petted him, “This is your bed. You sleep here.” She rose from the cushion and used the edge of the blanket to cover Kitty. “Stay,” she told him sharply, pointing her finger at him like a stubborn child.

  Quin stood watching her, still not having said a word. She met his stare, “I'm sorry. I hope you don’t mind I gave him a cushion to sleep on.”

  “What?” Quin asked huskily.

  “The cushion, do you mind that I gave it to Kitty?”

  He shook his head, “You may do anything you want. Give him the whole damn bed if you like,” he answered, still staring at her gown.

  Vivian realized that maybe wearing this gown was not the greatest idea. She’d just wanted to feel normal again. “Maybe I should change,” she said quietly as she walked past Quin.

  “No, please don’t. I don’t mean to make you self conscious. You are just so perfect.”

  Vivian watched him, looking for anything to indicate that he was not telling her the truth. “Are you sure? I can change. It’s just a nightgown. I can put one of your shirts on again, if you prefer.”

  Quin repeated her words, “Just a nightgown? Is this what most women on Earth sleep in?”

  “Yes, it’s pretty common.”

  Quin shook his head, “Please, don’t change. It is beautiful. You — are beautiful.”

  Vivian nodded, but made no move at all. She was a bit nervous now, and she still hadn’t gotten her answers. “Are we still going to talk?”

  “We are.” He looked around and said, “Since Kitty is sleeping on part of our sofa, why don’t we just sit here and talk. Is that alright?” he asked, indicating the bed.

  Vivian nodded and climbed onto the bed, while Quin finished removing his clothes. He stripped down to his undergarment and slid into bed as well, pulling one of the blankets across his lap to hide his obvious arousal while she was distracted moving back to make room for him to sit across from her.

  When finally she turned back to him he took her hand in his, “What did you want to ask Bart?”

  She lifted one shoulder, and a shy smile came to her lips, “I’m not sure where to start.”

  “Do not be afraid to ask me anything, Vivi. I will never keep secrets from you. I will never judge you. Anything you want to know, anything you need. I am here.”

  “Okay. Earlier, Bart explained what Ehlealah means. I thought you believed me to be someone named Ehlealah and worried that you’d be angry when you found out that I wasn’t her. So he told me what it meant. I asked what Sirena meant, but he didn’t have time to tell me.”

  Quin nodded, “I heard him speaking with you.”

  “Then when Kol brought me my clothes, I asked him what Sirena meant.”

  “And did he tell you?”

  “He said that you are to be the Sovereign of your people. Your Ehlealah will be your Sovereigna. And since you think I’m your Ehlealah, everyone is already referring to me as Sirena, which is kinda like Princess, from what I gather.”

  “That is correct, except for one thing.”

  Vivian was anxious suddenly, was he going to tell her that she wasn’t his Ehlealah? She’d not considered it before, but she really didn’t want him to tell her she’d misunderstood. “What’s the one thing?” she asked, holding her breath.

  “I do not think you are my Ehlealah.”

  Her stomach dropped. She needed to be near him. He made her feel safe. But if she wasn’t his Ehlealah… Her thoughts were interrupted when he said, “I have no doubt at all that you are my Ehlealah. I do not think it, I know it.”

  Vivian’s relief was instantaneous. She smiled, looking down at her legs folded under her on his bed.

  “Do you understand, Vivi?” he asked.

  “Yes,” she whispered.

  “Is that all you wanted to talk about?” he asked.

  She didn’t look up at him, but she said, “I told Kol that I can’t stand beside you when you are Sovereign.”

  Quin stood from the bed suddenly, “What?! That is ridiculous. Of course you will stand beside me. There is no other that I would ever accept! Vivi, do not speak of such foolishness. You will stand with me.”

  She shook her head, “I’m not strong enough. I’m just a girl from Earth. I’m the alien here, and I don’t know the first thing about being a Sirena. I don’t even know how I got here, Quin.”

  “I do. I know how you got here.”

  Vivian’s head snapped up, she pinned him with a stare, “Tell me.”

  Quin sighed, he said, “You must understand, before I answer your questions. You must understand
that leaving is not an option. I cannot allow you to leave, Vivi. No matter your response to what I’m about to tell you. Leaving is not an option.”

  She watched him, his expression, his mannerisms, “Am I a prisoner here?”

  “No! Never that. But I need you here. I am a selfish male, Vivi. I cannot allow you to leave me. I pretend that it is because I cannot protect you if you are not with me. And that is partially true, but the whole of it is, I am a weak male, a selfish male. I cannot imagine facing a day without you. You make me feel, after so many years of not feeling anything at all. I cannot consider going back to that. I need you to understand that before I tell you of how you came to be here.”

  Vivian was watching him, a pained expression on her face, “But I have a family back home.”

  Quin took his seat on the bed again, taking her hands in his. He shook his head sadly, “How long do you think you’ve been away from them?” he asked.

  “Maybe a year, maybe a little more or a little less.”

  “What is the last thing you remember from your home?”

  She thought about it, “I remember bathing my nephew,” she said smiling.

  Quin nodded, “You’d had a large fire, cooking treats and singing that night, yes?”

  She thought about it, “Yes! Yes, you’re right!”

  “You went out to extinguish the embers left of the fire. You were taken from there, while your uncles looked on, trying in vain to stop them. They searched for many years, never giving up.”

  Vivian listened to Quin’s words, not looking away from his face as he told her the story of her abduction. Of her uncles searching for her. He switched to when he found her on the brothel ship. He did not go into detail about the conditions she lived in, just that the moment he saw her he knew she was his. He explained about her fear of the healing chamber. He explained about Malm insisting that she be turned over to him personally. He told her of Malm using the Consortium to try to leverage him into giving her to him and how that resulted in an ambassador being sent to counsel the other women from the ship as a compromise.

  All the while she listened, her lip trembling. When finally he stopped talking, she whispered, “How do you know these things?”

  “Bart told me. He is the ambassador they sent to help with the trauma you all endured. I asked for him specifically because he is of Earth and because he seemed to know of you. He knew your name before even I did.”

  Her brow wrinkled in confusion, “How could he know my name?”

  Quin swallowed, took a deep breath, held more tightly to her hands, then he said, “His full name is Ambassador Victor Bartholomew.”

  It took a moment for it to sink in, then she said, “My name is Vivian Bartholomew Stevenson.”

  “I know.”

  “Is he related somehow?” she asked, still trembling.

  “He is.”

  “How is he related? I don’t remember a Victor Bartholomew.”

  “He is the son of your nephew. Samuel is his father.”

  Vivian’s tears spilled over. Her entire body was trembling; her shraler jumped up on the bed and snuggled up to her back. “No. It’s not possible. He can’t be. It hasn’t been that long,” she sobbed.

  She was crying, clinging to Quin’s hands, looking into his eyes, begging him with her own to tell her it was a cruel joke. But all she saw there was sadness and honesty.

  He pulled her to him, pressing her against his chest, holding her tight. “I’m sorry, my Vivi. I’m so sorry.”

  “How long?” she managed to get out. “How long was I missing?”

  Quin held her tighter, pressed his lips to her hair as he whispered, “More than eighty years.”

  Vivian lost all control, realizing that all she loved were dead. They were all gone, never having known what became of her.

  Vivian crawled the rest of the way into Quin’s lap and cried until she was exhausted. All the while he spoke to her softly, telling her that they never stopped searching. That Samuel was still alive and had carried on after her uncles could no longer and even after they’d passed. And that Bart now carried on in their stead. He whispered, “They found you, my Vivi. They finally found you.”

  When her tears had subsided, she asked, “Why don’t I remember all those years?”

  “I do not know. But I will find your answers. I promise.”

  “I want to speak with Bart,” she said, a hiccup still in her voice.

  “Of course, my little one. You may speak with anyone you wish except Malm. I will not allow him near you,” he said on a snarl. Then, “Do you have memory of a male named Malm?”

  Vivian thought about it, “No. I don’t think so. But I don’t remember a lot, apparently.” She started crying again.

  “Shh, I have you, Ehlealah,” Quin said as he gently laid back with her in his arms. “I have you, and I will never allow you to come to harm. I promise, I will not fail you.”

  She nodded and curled into him as he rearranged her for more comfort.

  Kitty shifted and moved up behind her, curling against her side, his chin resting on her shoulder. Quin eyed the shraler eying him right back. “Tonight only,” he said to the creature, “do not get used to sleeping in this bed.”

  Vivian giggled a bit, which made Quin smile. “Only you could convince me to take a shraler into my home. Into our very bed, even!” he teased her, hoping she’d giggle again, anything at all to distract her from her pain.

  She’d stopped crying, but was sniffling still. “Our bed?” she asked.

  “Our bed,” he repeated. “I’ve already told you — everything I have is yours. Did you not listen, Ehlealah?”

  She nodded against his chest, “I did.”

  Quin lay there, his mate in his arms, knowing no matter what else was needed from him this night, nothing would tear him from their bed. And nothing would ever tear him from her.

  Chapter 23

  Quin spent the night with Vivian in his arms. He’d settled them both in bed, pulling the blankets up and snuggling them warmly together. Vivian, to his delight, had held him back and slept with her head on his chest. When he woke in the morning, she was still snuggled against him. He brushed the hair from her face, smiling to himself as he looked down into her sleeping face. Quin lowered his face to Vivian’s, rubbing his nose against her. He kissed the tip of her nose, and she stirred slightly. He pressed his lips to her forehead, once, twice. Then pulled back just enough to look at her again. Her eyes were open and watching him.

  “Good morning,” she said softly.

  “Good morning. How did you sleep?”

  Vivian nodded gently — she was engrossed in watching his lips, so close to hers. Without thinking, she pushed up the couple of inches required to press her lips against his.

  Quin caught his breath, hesitated only for a split second, before pressing his own lips against hers.

  Both their hearts were pounding. Vivian pulled back and looked at Quin, waiting for any kind of response. He lifted a hand, running his thumb across her bottom lip, then leaned forward and rubbed his nose against hers again, before pressing his lips to hers, allowing the tip of his tongue to slip out to taste her and tease the seam of her own lips. Quin leaned forward, rolling her gently to her back, while he licked at her lips.

  Vivian had never been kissed like this. Her first experience had been at the hands of her captors. She didn’t know what it was like to get pleasure from a lover. Sex to her was nothing but pain. But this, this was different. Quin’s lips left hers and traveled to her jawline. He kissed a line from her chin to the back of her jaw and down her neck to her collarbone. His weight settled on her upper body, his legs tangling with hers. Her breath caught, her body stiffening, and she clutched at his upper arms.

  Quin felt her stiffen, so he pulled his weight from her and rolled onto his back, pulling her with him before allowing his hands to rest on either side of his head, in plain view. Vivian realized that Quin had put her in control by changing his position. The m
omentary panic she’d felt was gone. Her upper body was now lying on his, one of her legs across one of his thighs. He lay there, stroking her hair, pushing it behind one of her ears. She looked down into his eyes. Quin said, “You are safe, Vivi. You are always safe with me. Nothing will ever happen that you don’t want. You are in control here. Do you understand?”

  Vivian nodded. She made no move to touch him any further, but neither did she move away from him.

  Quin was content for the moment just to be near her. He knew it wouldn’t happen overnight, and he loved the fact that she allowed him to kiss her, to hold her. To sleep with her in his arms was more than he expected at this point. He could still taste her kisses on his lips. He couldn’t help it. His tongue slipped out, tasting where her lips had been pressed against his again.

  Vivian was torn. She was experiencing so many different emotions, she wasn’t sure which to act on. She felt apprehension, anxiety. But she also felt excitement and anticipation. She loved the feeling of safety, of intimacy that being in Quin’s arms gave her. But she also loved the tingle she felt when his lips were pressed to hers. Vivian watched his lips part and his tongue peek out to lick over them quickly. Vivian subconsciously bit her bottom lip, and her hips ever so slightly pressed forward. She was not even aware of either response to him licking his lips. Their eyes were locked onto one another's.

  Quin felt her mons press against his hip. It almost killed him not to respond, but he didn’t. He couldn’t. He knew Vivian had to find her way to him. If he pressed her before she was ready, she may pull back altogether. He lay still, waiting for her next move.

  She stared at him. Obviously unable or unwilling to express herself. Either that or she was as unsure of what to do next as he was.

  “What is it, Vivi?” Quin asked, huskily.

  Vivian reached out a hand, the fingertips of her right hand touching his lips. “I…” she stopped, unsure of herself.

  Quin waited, but she didn't try to speak again. He prompted her, “You?”