Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Stellar
Melody Robinette
Copyright 2017 by Melody Robinette
All rights reserved.
This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This story is a work of fiction. Names characters, places and incidents either are the product of my imagination or are used fictitiously and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Cover illustration and jacket design by Natasha Snow
Editing by Kressa Carroll
Available in ebook and paperback
http://www.melodyrobinette.com
Created with Vellum
For the amazing editor of this trilogy.
My work wife.
Kressa. Ew.
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
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One
AURORA
Bed sheets entangled them. Pieces of Halo armor shed as limbs locked around limbs.
After an exhausting last-minute training session with Verity on the top deck, Aurora had collapsed onto her bed, not even bothering to change out of her armor. But then Gray had come in, sat down next to her, and pushed her hair out of her face. She’d reached out to pull him back as he made to leave. Then he’d just sort of…fallen into bed with her. They had never been in bed together up until this point, surprising as that was, and the temptation was just too much.
Now, Aurora tugged at Gray until he hovered over her, both arms caging her head as he dipped down to taste her lips. Her hands encircled him, clawing in frustration at the thick Halo armor that kept her from feeling his skin. She reached around to remove his vest, and he pulled back in surprise.
“Are you sure you—?”
“Shut up, Gray.”
Kind, caring, thoughtful Gray. Aurora was going to have to teach him a thing or two about raw, animal, make-you-forget-about-everything sex.
The good kind.
The explosive kind.
Shrugging the vest off, Gray tossed it aside. Aurora did the same, arching her back as she ran her hands along the underside of Gray’s thinner, but not thin enough, black metal mesh shirt. A tremor ran through him, and he kissed her with more intensity. More fire.
Aurora had been an idiot before, keeping herself from this heightened level of pleasure. Because they were Stellars—literal soul mates—any time they physically touched, especially like this, their very cores purred in appreciation. It filled them both with an overwhelming tingling, sizzling electricity that was nothing short of a full-body orgasm.
Before now, for some incredibly stupid reason, Aurora hadn’t let herself fall for Gray, or, at least, admit she already had. But he’d managed to break through her impenetrable walls and, even though she’d resisted for the longest time, she finally let him in.
Gray’s strong hand traveled from her stomach, under her own chainmail shirt, skimming her ribs and moving up. A small gasp escaped her lips, and she felt him smile against her neck.
Seconds away from ripping off their clothes, Aurora’s ears were met with the unwelcome sound of a door sliding open and an audible throat clear of repugnance. Head swiveling around, her eyes landed on Logan standing in the doorway, looking both furious and disgusted. Her narrowed eyes, once masked by aqua-colored contacts, were now a smoky blue-grey--a mirror image of her deceased sister’s.
“We’re almost to Hiraeth,” Logan said in a dangerously calm voice. “You may want to get your shit together.”
All notions of calmness vanished as Logan slammed the door shut, muttering something about “animals” as she stormed off.
Aurora couldn’t exactly blame her, given that she’d only lost her twin sister a few days ago. She seemed to have already reached the second stage of grief—anger. Aurora hoped she would move on from it pretty soon. An angry Logan wasn’t something to be messed with. Even Brielle, her “kind of” girlfriend, hadn’t been able to reach her.
When Aurora and Gray had in no uncertain terms confessed their love for one another, the other Halos in their little group had seemed more than supportive. Except for Logan.
Luna had been her sister, and she died attempting to save Aurora, though everyone knew her true aim was to spare Gray's life. When one Stellar died…they both did. Luna had loved Gray obsessively. But his heart had been so tangled up in Aurora’s that he hadn’t been able to return Luna's feelings in the way she’d wanted him to.
Evidently, Logan now felt the Stellars should have been more respectful about putting their relationship on display. Aurora did feel minutely guilty about it. But if the raven-haired girl knew just how good it felt to kiss your Stellar, surely she would be more understanding.
As Logan stomped away, Gray's head fell back to face Aurora. They shared a mutua
l glance of guilt shadowed by regret at having been interrupted just as things were heating up.
Gray brushed his lips against Aurora’s forehead, which somehow felt more intimate than anything else they’d been doing.
“Shall we pack?”
She sighed and rolled out from under him. “I have to go look for Soren.”
Gray nodded as he climbed off the bed. “Any idea where he is?”
“A few.”
Aurora’s first instinct had been right. She found him sitting alone on the solitary wooden swing set at the back of the ship. Like mother like son.
Though, their mutual longing for a place to themselves was not the only thing they had in common. Ever since Etheria had disembarked from Alaska, journeying to the earthly angel city known as Hiraeth, Soren had been building up his own walls against everyone else. Including Aurora.
Being a mother had been at the bottom of her checklist of things she wanted to do in her twenties. Battling demons and other evil beings weren't even on there, though, so she couldn’t really complain about the strange turn her life had taken.
But, in Soren's case, Aurora didn’t even know where to begin. She had given him up for adoption the day he was born, not even allowing the nurses to let her hold him for fear she wouldn’t want to let him go. But now, he was back. And he was hers. Not only that, but she was his.
He was half of her. Half Halo. A quarter angel. But he was also half David. Half Horn. A quarter demon. She didn’t know him well enough yet to know which side was more dominant. There were question marks written all over him. Who was he?
And there was still the unaddressed issue brought up by Samuel, that Soren had apparently killed his adopted parents. Aurora hadn’t had the time to ask him for clarification—okay, that was a lie. She hadn’t wanted to. His possible answer scared the hell out of her. So she just avoided it, as she did most problems.
Now, he sat on the swing she'd always favored. Aurora found it incredible how much his looks reflected hers. The heart shape of his face, the sapphire blue of his round eyes, the poutiness of his lips. The only thing he’d inherited from his asshole of a father was his thick, dark brown hair. But it was curly like hers. If she battled the part of her brain that made her see David in her son, she could pretend Soren was actually part hers and part Gray’s.
“Hey.” Her voice sounded like a scream in the silence. She still didn’t know how to adjust her tone so that it was softer, more soothing, more motherly.
Soren didn’t startle. And he didn’t turn to look at her. Actually, he didn’t acknowledge her presence at all. Walking forward, she moved around to stand in front of him, kneeling down. His eyes remained on the ground, refusing to meet hers.
“We’re going to be at Hiraeth soon. Do you want to come with—?”
“I’m not going.” His voice wasn’t stubborn or rude, more like matter of fact.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean I’m not getting off the ship. I’m not going to that city.”
Feeling utterly hopeless and at a loss for words, Aurora rolled up on the balls of her feet, reaching a hand out to the wooden beam, pressing against it to steady herself.
“Soren…”
His eyes met hers now. They were serious, carrying the pain and perception of someone far older than himself. Aurora’s mother had always told her she had an “old soul.” She hadn’t quite understood what that meant at the time. Now she did.
“I don’t belong there,” he added.
A frown tugged at Aurora’s features. “What do you mean? Of course you do. Why would you say that?”
His eyes flashed, and Aurora imagined he was seeing something she couldn’t. Something from the past. “We both know why.”
Sighing deeply, Aurora stood, feeling like a complete failure in more ways than one. With her brother, Daniel, she’d known what to do and say to persuade him to do the things he didn’t want to. But that was the thing. She knew him. She'd been around him for years and knew everything that set him off and everything that calmed him down.
But she didn’t know Soren. She didn't know her own son.
Two
GRAY
Aurora appeared in his doorway only a handful of minutes after having left to find Soren. Earlier, she had been smiling, her cheeks flushed and dimpled. Now, her arms were crossed, and her face was set in a stony frown.
“Where’s Soren?” Gray folded the last of his shirts he never got to wear anymore, thanks to his new wardrobe of Halo armor, and laid it atop of the pile of the rest of his abandoned clothing.
Running a hand through her hair, Aurora collapsed back against the wall. “He said he’s not leaving the ship.” She sounded helpless, a tone Gray had never heard from her before.
“Why?”
She threw her hands up in frustration. “I have no clue. Because his dad is an evil Horn? He just said he doesn’t belong there.”
“You want me to try to talk to him?” Gray had spoken to a plethora of stubbornly quiet children after pulling them from a car or building. Usually, they acted this way because they were afraid. Anger and hostility were their defense mechanisms.
Aurora shrugged. “I’m not sure what good it will do since he won’t even talk to me, but you can give it a try I guess.”
Gray left Aurora to pack and traveled up the familiar path from their room to the wooden swing set. This had been where Aurora had sought her own solitude not long ago. And now, it seemed, her son was unknowingly following in his mother’s footsteps.
Shoving his hands in his pockets, Gray leaned into the wind, looking out to the left of the ship. In the distance, he could see what looked like a metropolis set atop a towering, flat cliff. When he was younger, he’d had a brief fascination with Ireland, the Cliffs of Moher in particular. His uncle Joe had taken to watching the Travel Channel when he wasn’t at the firehouse, and Gray happened to be in the living room when a special on Ireland aired, presumably around St. Patrick’s Day.
The Cliffs of Moher looked like a place out of a fairy tale. A dark fairy tale. The flat top was covered in green grass, which broke off abruptly, contrasting with the dark and sharp, jagged rock right beneath it. Hiraeth, the Halo city, looked a little bit like that. Tall cliffs on all sides with a flat land of green on top. Except, the grass was also covered by a city made of the same material from which Etheria was sculpted—pearlescent, marble-like stone mingled with brilliantly colored glass the shining gray of graphite. A thin layer of clouds topped the pointed tops of the buildings like whipped cream.
They were still far away, but Gray could see that four other ships had already arrived, docked along a pier jutting out from the cliff. The other ships were similar to Etheria in color, though each had their own unique design and shape; one was cubical with square windows and building-block smoke stacks, another was sharp like a knife with blade-like spikes stabbing through the fog settled around the base of the cliff.
Gray almost dreaded leaving the comforts of Etheria. For some reason, the ship opened Aurora up in a way nothing else could. And he would be lying if he said he didn’t fear what would happen the second they disembarked.
Like last time.
One minute they’d been holding hands, walking down the ramp leading from Etheria to Arx Isle, the next minute they were on solid ground, and she was suddenly hyper-aware of the fact that she was no longer all on her own. And, for some reason, she didn’t like that.
But ever since Soren had come back into her life, Aurora had been acting differently--make out sessions in their staterooms aside. She let herself smile more, genuinely, rather than smirking in sarcasm. She stood closer. Unlike before, when it was evident she was consciously keeping a foot of distance between the two of them. She even reached for Gray now, holding out her hand for him to take.
Gray couldn't help but think he might be dreaming. Or perhaps the Light was rewarding him for some reason. Either way, he was okay with it.
When Gray made it to the end
of the ship to the wooden swing set, Soren was in the same spot his mother always was. But, while Aurora always looked strong and resolute in her solitude, Soren looked lost and lonely.
Gray didn’t say anything at first to the young boy as he walked into his peripheral vision but merely strolled casually to sit on the swing beside him. Soren’s eyes cut slowly over to him.
Gray spoke in an unceremonious voice. “I noticed you brought a Harry Potter book with you here.”
Soren regarded him and turned back to face the ocean.
“I always liked those stories,” Gray continued in the low, melodic tone he always used when speaking to frightened children. “Who’s your favorite character?”
Soren looked at the ground, kicking his feet a bit more, so his swing rose higher. At first, Gray thought he wasn’t going to answer. Then he said, “Snape.”
Gray had been expecting one of the three primary characters, or perhaps an animal. Not the guy who basically tortured Harry throughout the series. But the more he thought about it, the more similarities he saw between Soren and the dark potions master. “The double-agent?” Gray said. “Or have you read to the end?”
“Yes, of course I have.”
Soren said this as if he were the one speaking to a young child rather than the other way around.
Stellar (The Halo Series Book 3) Page 1
