Interra (Awakened Series Book 5)

by Harley Austin

  Fully immersed in the throes of deep passion, Serena was on the precipice of a detonation she now needed badly. Her body rocked wildly under his as Rion suddenly fucked her hard sending her into powerful climax. Serena screamed. Her body racked with ecstatic emotion, she clawed at the sheets, she clawed at Rion, tugging his hair, completely taken and wholly out of control by her detonating release.

  Seeing and feeling Serena so utterly taken by her rapturing desire suddenly ignited something visceral within Rion’s own feelings as well. Rion all at once felt his own powerfully ecstatic sensation rocketing quickly to its peak. He really wanted to bury himself fully, deeply into Serena. He wanted to fuck her, hard, spilling as heavily and as fast as he could into her. Maybe it was sheer force of will, but somehow, Rion pulled away from her. A moment later his thick cock erupted; shooting heavily, spilling seed all over her skin while he rocked himself between them. Serena held him tightly, listening to his deep ecstatic cries.

  “Oh, gods, Serena!” he breathed feeling his cock rapid firing again and again.

  “It’s okay.” She sensed his feelings.

  “I really wanted to; I wanted to—” He grimaced, feeling himself shooting again, still spilling onto her skin. “Gods, I wanted to.”

  “I know. It’s okay.” Her fingers moved through his hair.

  “Ahhhhh!” Rion, exhaled, feeling his jewels emptying until they were dully throbbing once again.

  The sudden powerful release finally subsided. He had come hard; really hard; his glands aching in subtle throbs all over again as he finished. Serena had felt his every emotion. His body was trembling with spent ecstasy; his breathing heavy.

  “Are you okay?” she touched his face. “It feels like you’re hurting.”

  He nodded. “I’ll be okay.” He kissed her deeply, then lifted himself back from her, his tall cock glistening, her breasts and tummy wet with his desire. Rion could already see the glow starting over her skin.

  Rion disposed of the tissues he used to gently clean her skin. He then slipped on some briefs not trusting himself to be snuggling with her in bed unclothed again.

  Both drew warmly into each others arms.

  “That was close,” he sighed heavily with a deep breath. “A little too close.”

  “Rion. Why is making love to me so dangerous? I can feel it within you. The trepidation. I seriously doubt I’d get pregnant right now.”

  “It’s not that. I would love to get you pregnant. It’s because of who you are. A Reborn.”

  “You keep saying that. I’m not a goddess.”

  “No, that’s not true. You are a goddess. You just don’t know it yet. You haven’t been awakened.”

  “Awakened? What is that?”

  “Our genetics, the DNA of the Reborn remain dormant until they come in contact with another Ra, or another newblood, like me.”

  “So—what happens?”

  “Usually, not much, the newblood sleeps while their genetic code is, well, rewritten, we call it becoming ‘awakened’.”

  “That doesn’t exactly sound dangerous.”

  “And you’re not exactly the typical Reborn.”

  “So what am I?”

  “An Invictus—Serena you’re a sun goddess.”

  “I don’t know what that means.”

  “I know you don’t. I don’t completely understand it myself. But these Invicti are different. Evolved somehow, even more than we ourselves are.”

  “Rion, my family is Dominion. We don’t exactly believe in evolution.”

  “You don’t believe in the gods either; but here we are. I hate to break this to you, but some of your church’s own Apostles—are gods.”

  She sat up quickly, her breasts catching more of Rion’s attention than the surprised look on her face. “Get out!”

  Rion nodded with a bit a of smirk. “I’m serious. Remember the plague that was spreading through Bethlehem last year?”

  She nodded. “God sent a light from the Temple that turned night into day. It healed everyone.”

  “Well—not exactly. That light, was what happened when two Invicti awakened. It all but destroyed the temple’s Holy of Holies.”

  “Rion I saw those news reports; I watched that video. Billions of believers did. It was an omen. That light showered onto people all over the city for miles. And you’re telling me it wasn’t—”

  “It was, Serena. It was the power of the gods. No doubt. Maybe not in the way Dominion preaches, but it was what it was. We had no idea the Invicti were so, gifted.”

  “So, you think that when I awaken? Something huge like that is going to happen with me?”

  “I don’t know. It could. One of the Invicti was awakened by a halfblood. He had what was, what any of us would have called, a typical awakening. But what you saw in Bethlehem, was what happened when two Invicti awakened each other. I don’t know what’s going to happen if I as a reborn awaken you.”

  “So that’s why? That’s why you haven’t wanted to the two of us to go all the way.”

  He nodded, pulling her close. “It’s our seed, our blood that awakens others. It’s also why we’ve kept our distance from the Humans. They can become halfbloods, Nephilim, half Human and half Ra. But more often than not, our blood is just poison to other people. They never wake up—or it just kills them.”

  Serena lifted herself from him again, a worried look in her eyes. “Will I wake up?”

  Rion smiled. “Angel, you will more than just wake up. Trust me.”

  “What are we going to do? Rion, if we stay together, something is going to happen; like this morning. We might not even be awake when it happens.”

  “I know.” He drew a deep sigh. “We need to go see the elders, Sevrin and Francesca. Maybe they’ll have some ideas about what we should do. Before we end up leveling part of San Antonio,” he grinned.

  Spencer looked out of the window of a building that was only a few blocks away from the Pierson Tower. The obelisk-like lines of the fine downtown building stood far taller than any of the buildings around it. All of the windows within the structure appeared black and utterly opaque. He glared at the topmost floor, as if the open-air outdoor gardens and double-story penthouse apartment existed solely to openly mock him.

  “You spend far too much time brooding about things you cannot control, Spencer.” Amethyst walked up beside him.

  “He’s up there; with her. I know he is.”

  “And what if he is? He’s a Sentinel. A Master no less.”

  “Rion’s no master,” Spencer glared out the window. “Even in a thousand years he still won’t be anywhere close to being a master. He’s just a punk kid with far too much power.”

  Amethyst smirked. “So what are you going to do?”

  “Take back what’s mine.” He shot an angered look at her.

  “Then you should have taken her when you had the chance at SeaWorld last week.”

  “I couldn’t just snatch her in public. The place was already crawling with Dominion.”

  “Too bad. I would have.”

  “Some of us aren’t blessed with your, unique talents.”

  “Hmmm, true.”

  “I’ll find a way.” He stared at the top of the tower in the distance.

  “It feels like you’re obsessed with the woman. She cannot be that attractive.”

  “You have no idea.” Spencer returned his gaze to the upper floor of the tower. “She’s one of them. An Invicti. You can’t possibly know what she feels like. Her touch. That scent. God. She’s—unbelievable.”

  “I can see that,” Amethyst rolled her eyes at the apparently love-sick newblood.

  “Any word yet on who sent the assassin to kill her?”

  “One of the clans, no doubt.”

  Perhaps Spencer wasn’t used to being around other empaths. Perhaps it was his arrogance that he thought he could mask subterfuge from her. In any event, he had not yet realized that she had easily picked up on his attempt at double-agency, working for both
the Wraith and the Seven. His true loyalties were to no one but himself. She would have loved to tell him that playing one against the other would eventually put him out of existence. But—she would simply let him discover that for himself. She hoped she would be around to see it when it happened.

  “Of course, but which one?” she played him.

  “One of the more paranoid ones. Take your pick.”

  “They’re all paranoid.” She smiled.

  “Exactly.”

  “It had to be someone with intimate knowledge of the Sentinels, maybe even someone who knows Rion himself.” She probed.

  “Probably.” He agreed.

  “Spencer, I want you to find out who’s after Serena.”

  He gave her an indignant look. “I don’t take orders from you—or anyone.”

  “I’m not giving you any.” She smiled pleasantly, nodding his attention to someone behind him. “He is—”

  Spencer looked over his shoulder to see the tall, tanned, smartly dressed, model-built executive, his dark Ray Bans covering part of his exceptionally handsome features. A slight dimpled smile appearing on his thin masculine lips.

  “Nereus—” fell from his Spencer’s lips, his eyes drawing wider. The color draining from his face.

  The mage lifted his arm to straighten a cufflink. “You want Steele?”

  Spencer swallowed hard, and then nodded.

  “Then bring me the girl. Do what you want with him.”

  “I need a weapon.” Spencer managed to say.

  “Of course.”

  21

  W ant to take a little trip?” Rion asked, walking up to Serena when she finally dismounted the treadmill. Downstairs from the main apartment was Rion’s office, one that included a full gym. Dressed for lifting in stretch shorts and a deep-cut, snug cotton tank, Rion had just finished talking with Sevrin over the continuum. He had rounded out an upper body workout with a heavy set of bar curls while Serena grabbed a nice long run. With her hair up in a pony tail, a pink workout top, black yoga shorts and matching running shoes, sweat was all but pouring off her skin in large droplets. She swung a towel around her neck and then wiped her face.

  “With you—sure.” She caught her breath after the brisk run.

  “With me,” he assured her. “I’m not letting you out of my sight.” He moved up to her taking in her scent. Far from unappealing in her workout glow, Rion hovered next to her for a moment, his face close to her neck and then shoulder.

  “What are you doing?” she grinned.

  “I love your scent.”

  “I probably don’t smell all that good at the moment.”

  “Ohhh—I beg to differ. I should probably keep my distance from you until you’ve had a shower. Or you might not make it to the shower.” He flashed his eyebrows at her. She watched him draw a sensuous breath and then force himself to take a few steps away from her. To her, Rion always smelled really nice; sometimes too nice. She wondered what her scent was like to him?

  “Where are we going?” she asked.

  He followed her up the stairs, savoring her pheromone trail that was already beginning to lift more than just his mood.

  “Seattle. I want you to meet more of my family.”

  “When do we leave?” They topped the stairs.

  “In a little more than an hour, as soon as it gets dark.”

  “Are we driving all the way to Seattle?”

  “No. I thought we’d fly. It’ll be fun.”

  “First class?” She began walking toward the shower.

  “Oh, we’ll definitely be flying first-class. Trust me.” He watched her and her tiny shorts sashay into the bedroom.

  * * * * *

  Both freshly showered and dressed, Serena followed Rion into the elevator. They dropped several floors until the doors opened to a huge open expanse of the building five or six stories tall. In the center of the huge room sat a sleek glimmering jet, neatly parked and finely illuminated within the hangar’s subdued lighting.

  Serena blinked for a moment. “You have a plane? In the building?”

  Rion nodded. “It’s one of my rebuilds. Do you like it?” Rion seemed rather pleased with himself as they both began walking toward the sleek bird.

  “You said you rebuilt vessels!”

  “It is a vessel. A small one.”

  “I thought you were talking about a boat.”

  “I knew you would think that. I was being a little evasive.”

  “A little?” She bumped her shoulder into his.

  Serena was suddenly struck by the size of the hangar area and the size of the ‘vessel’ as the two of them strode up to the plane. The design reminded her of private jets she had seen in magazines, but this one was much more streamlined, with clean lines and a gold-looking seamless metal hull and huge powerful looking rear-mounted engines. It didn’t appear to have much for wings, however.

  “Does it really fly?”

  Rion nodded. “Ohhh, it flies alright,” he boasted, proud of his latest creation. “Like a dream.” He led her around the heavy landing gear while an underbelly hatch lowered, extending a gently sloping ramp as they approached. The plane was quite a bit larger than Serena realized now that she was up close and walking stooped beneath it.

  “After you,” Rion offered, letting Serena go up the ramp ahead of him.

  Interior lights slowly glowed to life as Serena emerged into the interior. The inside was nothing like the commercial planes she had flown in before. This plane’s main cabin was tall, spacious, and inviting; she didn’t need to duck her head anywhere. Comfortable couches bordered both sides of the room and some kind of woven reed fabric lined the semi-curved walls creating a very Asian feel to the decor.

  There were enough seats and even some tables and chairs for perhaps a dozen people, but the spacious cabin could have easily held double that many. The Asian decor of the room held dark wood accents, fine paper shaded lamps and woven-reed wall coverings. The floor throughout the room was a smooth bamboo wood. There was a very faint hint of some sweet incense in the air. She could certainly get used to traveling in something like this! Rion showed her around the interior and also a kind of wet bar galley.

  A set of ornately carved wood-paneled doors slid quickly and quietly open and led directly into a small but roomy Asian decor cockpit. The most forward room of the plane narrowed as expected and ended in two well padded pilot chairs that looked out through a seamless curved front windshield and two other chairs that faced widescreen glass-looking consoles on either side. But this cockpit didn’t look anything like Serena was expecting. Absent were the copious number of buttons, knobs, dials and switches she had seen in the photos of other modern aircraft. This looked much more like the interior of a nice luxury car than an aircraft cockpit.

  “Where’s the pilot?” Serena asked.

  “You’re looking at him,” he smiled. “Have a seat.”

  She should have known. Serena took a chair and buckled her seat belt after watching Rion do the same. He tapped a small panel on his chair that quickly glowed to life with strange looking characters that reminded her of old Hebrew, but she really couldn’t make out any words. Both of their chairs slid smoothly forward. With butterflies in her stomach, Serena felt like she had just been buckled into a lavish new ride at a theme park. A few semi-transparent holographic screens glowed to life in front of both of them. Serena felt the plane begin to hum slightly as the cockpit lights dimmed. Rion looked over at Serena and smiled. He loved the feel of raw Reflex igniting.

  Serena sat a little nervously as the plane lifted smoothly from the floor of the hangar. She watched a screen that show their plane now floating off the floor, its landing gear retracting smoothly.

  Although Rion’s mind had already merged with the vessel’s systems, he still liked the feel of actually piloting a vessel. His fingers moved across the chair’s arm panel. The plane’s powerful engines hummed to life a lot more quietly than Serena was expecting. Their jet moved over the ha
ngar’s stone floor toward the wall of the building, and then slowly exited out through the wall as if it wasn’t even there. They were already hundreds of feet in the air with the city brightly lit below.

  Rion smiled, watching Serena’s hands and fingers gripping the armrests of her chair tightly.

  “Were not going to fall, Angel,” he assured her.

  Their plane now elegantly wove in and around the other tall buildings as Rion gave Serena a kind of areal view of the city streets not all that far below them.

  “It doesn’t even feel like we’re moving.”

  “Inertial dampening. It’s part of the vessel’s gravatics.”

  “Can people see us?”

  “Not at night. Well, probably not too many will notice anyway.”

  Soon they’d cleared the buildings of the city and Rion softly accelerated them skyward as the ground fled below. All Serena could see through the windshield now was a starry night sky.

  The holo-panels in front of them were alive with changing characters, moving displays, and graphs and terrain. Serena watched him check a few settings. It wasn’t long before Rion brought the plane level with the horizon.

  Although Serena couldn’t read the characters rolling across Rion’s various panels, she could see the graphics and artificial horizons represented. The images easily made sense to her. Interestingly, Rion was really not doing that much at the controls. The plane had no control wheel or rudder pedals. It was like he was driving a car more than flying a plane. Perhaps in his culture, more advanced actually meant easier it is to use. That made sense to Serena. That was why Rion’s people were so amazing to Humans, to the other races. There was a simple culture to the way they approached their knowledge. They had a way of making the complex seem so simple; almost effortless. That way of thinking, that kind of culture, really appealed to Serena. It was—elegant. That is how she would describe what she had seen in Rion and how he seemed to approach life. Elegantly.

  “How high are we?” she asked.