I watch as Orion’s eyes widen with wonder, and he lifts up his arms, letting the water shower down over every inch of his body. I laugh with delight as he turns up his head towards the ceiling and lets the water rain down into his open mouth.
“This is a miracle!” he says with a look of pure delight. “I’ve never seen so much water in one place in my entire life.”
I grab a sponge and squeeze a dollop of shower gel onto it. I lather it up and slowly rub the suds all over my mate’s hard body. He watches me as I wash him, water pouring down over our bodies, with an ecstatic look in his eyes.
“Your wounds have healed,” I say with a wicked grin, as I run my freshly manicured nails across his chest. “I’ll just have to mark you again.”
He locks his eyes on mine, wraps his arms around the small of my back and pulls me into a deep kiss. I pull back, breathing heavily, tasting his mouth and the fresh water on my parted lips. “I’ve been waiting for you too long,” I say in a husky voice. “Take me now.”
Orion doesn’t need any more prompting. He grabs me by my ass and pulls me up around his waist, pressing me against the glass wall. I hear my ass streak against the wet glass as he presses his cock between my legs.
“By Krio,” I say, calling out to his people’s God, barely recognizing my own voice. “I can’t wait anymore. Just fuck me now!”
He licks up my neck and chin and presses his tongue between my lips. I moan into his mouth as he lowers me onto his cock. He thrusts his hips slowly, working his shaft deeper and deeper into me. His body feels like fire against mine, and only the cooling water keeps me from burning into cinders.
My clit throbs with every thrust, and each passing ridge of his cock pushes me closer and closer to an orgasm. I wrap my calves around his waist, dig my nails deep into his back and press myself down on him, taking his whole shaft. I moan wildly as he slams his cock inside me one last time, and we come together in a joyous climax.
He braces himself with one hand against the glass and slumps against me, catching his breath. I look up at him with dreamy eyes and he gives me a light kiss on my forehead.
I let his cock slip out of me and release my legs from around Orion’s waist. “Time to take another shower,” I say laughing lightly. “That’s the problem with shower sex. You always have to take another shower after you are done.”
He laughs with me as he takes the sponge and returns the favor of soaping up my skin. “This is a problem I could get used to having,” he says, winking at me.
I look up at his chiseled face and say, “I’m going to bring water to Kartak you know. No one will ever have to go without water here again once I’ve completed my plans.”
He smiles at me and says, “You are not just a gift to me from the Krio, but to all of Kartak.”
16
Orion
I follow Rhea into a cargo hold in the lower decks of the Astrid. My metal shoes stick to the deck with every step, keeping my body from floating into the air. Rhea called the shoes magboots.
I was astounded when I first learned there was no gravity on the Astrid. The medical bays are located in a portion of the ship that spins to make you ‘stick’ to the floor. I didn’t understand Rhea’s explanation, but I couldn’t ignore the fact that one moment I was held to the deck as I would be on Kartak, but once I passed through a spinning door into a different section of the ship, my body floated into the air as if I weighed less than a batfly’s wings.
Captain Mikael presses a code into the door panel and the cargo bay doors unlock and slowly slide open. He watches me with an intentionally blank expression as I awkwardly follow Rhea inside, trying not to trip over my own feet. If he is amused, he is hiding it well. I must admit, I’d be laughing out loud if I saw a grown man on Kartak walking as I am.
Rhea walks up to a gleaming metal cube in the center of the cargo bay. She positions her eye in front of a scanner and allows the locking mechanism to take a drop of blood from a prick on her finger.
As the second unlocking mechanism activates, the Captain says to me, “If you’d like, I can ask one of the Marine Drill Sergeants to teach you how to maneuver in zero gravity and fight with the magboots on.”
I nod to him as the door slides up into the Chamber. “That would be an excellent way for me to spend the next week while Rhea recuperates,” I say. “I thank you.”
He nods and waits behind in the cargo bay as I follow Rhea into the metal sanctum. Inside, Rhea waits with apprehension by the Apotheosis Chamber. I step to stand by her side and slide my hand around her back and hug her close to me.
“Are you sure you want to go through with this?” I ask.
“Yes, I do,” she says, looking up at me, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. “Do you think I’m strong enough?”
I kiss her gently on her forehead. “Yes,” I say. “I think you are strong enough to survive anything the universe is willing to throw at you.”
“Thank you,” she says, her voice barely a whisper.
“I just want you to know that you don’t have to do this for me,” I say. “I love you how you are, and you don’t need to step into that Chamber to make me happy.”
She blinks, and a tear falls down her cheek. I brush it away with a light kiss and she turns so that our lips meet. She slowly pulls away and says, “I know. You are a better Prince than Charming himself. But I’m doing this for myself. I know it’s my destiny. I just have to be strong enough to take the step inside.”
“I believe in you,” I say, and I mean it with all my heart.
“Thank you,” she says, and presses a button on the panel next to the Chamber. The glass lid slides out and under the Chamber. She squeezes my hand. I squeeze back and pull her into a tight hug. I tip her head up gently with a finger under her chin and give her a final kiss.
“I will see you again soon,” I say. “I love you.”
“I love you, too,” she says, and then she lays back inside the Chamber.
I press a button on the control panel and the glass lid slides back into place, sealing Rhea into the ancient device. Indicators on the walls activate in a multicolored display, and I hear the gentle hum of the Chamber’s power source activating to full power.
I press my hand against the glass lid and watch as Rhea’s eyes drift closed and she enters into a deep slumber.
I look up from my tablet as I hear a beeping sound emanating from the Apotheosis Chamber, followed by the sound of escaping air from decompression. I drop the tablet to the deck, jump up from my chair and rush over to step up to the Chamber. The glass lid slides out and under it.
My heart pounds in my chest as Rhea’s eyes slowly flutter open. I smile widely and grasp her hand as she begins to awaken.
“Welcome back,” I say, my voice choking with happiness.
Her eyes scan the room around her and settle on mine. Her lips slowly curl into a sleepy smile. “How long have I been out?” she asks.
“Nine days, three hours and…,” I glance at my comms, “forty-two minutes.”
She laughs, but it comes out hoarse. I open a small food box by the Chamber and take out a flask of cold water and help her take a drink.
“That’s a lot better,” she says, as she sits up.
“How are you feeling?” I ask.
She arches her back to stretch out her stiff muscles. “I don’t know exactly,” she says. “I feel… different.”
“I can smell the difference in you,” I say. “You still have the same scent, but it’s more vibrant. Your temperature is higher, too. And….”
“What is it?” she asks.
“You’re fertile,” I say. I watch with a radiant smile as her tired eyes open wide and her face beams with happiness.
“Are you sure?” she asks excitedly.
“I couldn’t be more sure,” I say. “I’ve never experienced this before, but it’s in a lot of our women’s stories. That a man can tell when her fated mate is most fertile.”
She squeezes my hand w
ith one hand and wipes a happy tear from her eye with her other. “I can’t believe it,” she says. “I’m really going to be able to have your child.”
I nod, feeling an unfamiliar stinging sensation in my eye. “I’ll be by your side whenever you want to get started,” I say in jest.
She laughs softly and her sight falls on the cot and pile of clothes by the far wall of the sanctum. “Have you been waiting here for me this whole time?” she asks.
“Mostly,” I say. “I’ve taken some small breaks to train in zero-g combat with your men and for a daily shower.” I have to use the human word for that since there is no equivalent in Tulani.
Her smile widens and she lifts my hand to her mouth to plant a kiss on the back of my hand. “That’s so sweet of you,” she says. “I’m glad you’ve been enjoying our facilities. I hope you found some way to occupy the rest of your time.”
“I’ve been studying your language,” I say.
“Oh, wow. What have you learned so far?” she asks.
I feel my heartbeat quickening in my chest and a strange fluttering of nervousness in my belly. I feel like I’ve been waiting an eternity for this moment. Keeping her hand in mine, I kneel down to one knee, look up into my mate’s beautiful eyes and ask her in the human tongue, “Princess Rhea, will you marry me?”
Her eyes open wide, gleaming, and she smiles brightly. She jumps up from the Chamber and throws herself into my arms and I stand up, holding her against me by her waist. “Oh, yes!” she exclaims, as she rains kisses down on my face. “Yes, yes, yes!”
“I love you, Rhea,” I say, exhausting my current knowledge of her language.
“I love you, too, my blue prince!” she says. “Now take me to your cot and let’s make a baby!”
17
Rhea
I am planning the last details of my wedding when I hear a signal at the door. I buzz them in and the door slides open. Orion walks in followed by Captain Mikael. I recognize a grim, determined look on Orion’s face, so I know this is about something important.
I clear the table of my wedding planning materials and gesture for them to take a seat. “Gentlemen,” I say. “You both look like you are about to march off to war, so why don’t we just get straight to it. What news do you have for me?”
Orion gestures to the Captain for him to proceed. The Captain nods and says, “Our intelligence operation has finally followed up on our most credible lead to Kole’s whereabouts. We have been informed that he is hiding in Skull Town. It’s a large trading outpost in the Red Gorge.”
“Skull Town?” I ask.
“It’s very obvious why it’s named that once you see it from the opposite side of the Red Gorge,” Orion says. “The town is a series of caverns dug into the side of the Gorge. The way the town was carved out makes it look like a giant skull from a distance.”
I shake my head. Just when you think you’ve gotten to know Kartak, it’ll throw something new at you. “Do we know why he’s chosen to hide in Skull Town?” I ask the Captain.
“Yes,” he answers. “Our source for this information is a human smuggler who’s been operating out of Skull Town. He received word of our reward, so he informed us after Kole approached him asking for transportation off Kartak.”
“Excellent,” I say. “We need to prepare to move on him immediately before he gets spooked. Kole seems to have a knack for getting away from certain death and I don’t mean to let him escape me again.”
“There’s one catch,” Mikael said. “The smuggler is willing to set up a meeting with Kole to discuss payment for transportation off Kartak. But he’s asking for an additional bonus.”
“Then pay it,” I say. “Money is not a concern here.”
“He doesn’t want money,” the Captain says. “He wants you to allow him to transport 110 cubic meters of cargo off Kartak and into the Empire once a month without inspection or taxes.”
I look between Mikael and Orion, but I know I’m the one that has to make this decision. A smuggler can fit a lot of goods and people in that much space, and as the ruler of a Mercantile House, the right to control trade and passage to Kartak is my most valuable privilege. But I don’t have a choice. I can’t allow Kole to run loose after all that he’s done.
“Very well,” I say. “Tell him I will accept his offer.”
“Yes, your Royal Highness,” Mikael says.
“And I want you to take us down to the surface personally,” I say. “In a small enough vessel so we can avoid detection.”
Orion smiles proudly, which is in contrast to the look of concern on the Captain’s face.
“You wish to be there when we capture him?” he stammers. “There is a lot of uncertainty in this operation. It’ll be much safer if you coordinate it from the Astrid.”
“I don’t plan to observe him being captured, Captain,” I say. “I will be the one to capture him, with Orion by my side.”
I pull my wide-brimmed hat low over my eyes and tighten the scarf covering my face. Mirrored goggles cover my eyes, hiding my human features from any suspicious eyes. I nod to Orion and follow him through the swinging saloon doors.
The small cavern is packed with alien patrons and dimly lit by glowing crystals jutting out of the smooth rock walls. The smell of sweet, fermented algae hangs heavy in the air. A squat lizardman plays a chaotic beat on a set of leather drums.
With my newly enhanced vision, I easily spot Kole trying to disappear into the shadows of a corner booth. As we walk towards him, I smell the stink of fear on him through his boozy aura. He looks up nervously, clutching his drink with a white-knuckled grip, as we approach his booth.
Orion slides in next to him, boxing him in against the wall, and I take the seat across from him.
“Finally,” he says, his breath stinking of cheap alcohol. “I’m tired of this fucking sandy planet.”
I draw my small plasma pistol under the table and pull my goggles down from my face. His eyes widen in recognition and he tries to lunge out across the table at me, but Orion’s fist smashes into his side, doubling him over the table. He gasps for breath as I take off my hat and unwrap the scarf from around my face.
“Hello, Kole,” I say. “It’s nice to see you found a hiding place that’s such a perfect match for you: dark, grimy and stinking of stale booze.”
“I should have sold you into slavery before we ever came to Kartak,” he wheezes between gasping breaths. “You goddamned, presumptuous peasant.”
I hold out my hand to stop Orion from smashing in his mouth before he finishes his sentence. “I came here to make you an offer in-person,” I say. “An offer you most certainly don’t deserve.”
He glares at me with watery eyes, so I know I’ve got his attention.
“You can come with me willingly,” I offer, “and I will give you a fair trial broadcast to the Mercantile Empire. I will offer you counsel, and yes, even the choice of trial by combat. Or you can resist your arrest and die by my hands. The hands of a mere commoner who bought her way into your exclusive club.”
He looks at me, and his eyes twitch towards Orion. I can see the gears in his head turning. The smell of his fear is overwhelmed by that of anger. He lurches his left arm out and a laser torch pops into his palm from where it was hidden inside his sleeve.
I twist my body out of the way of his weapon as a beam of white-hot energy cuts through my stone seat, and I fire my plasma gun under the table into his belly, burning a charred hole through his core.
He blinks at me dumbly, his mouth gasping open for breath, before he collapses, his face smashing into his clay cup.
Orion grunts approvingly as I stand up, put my hat back on my head, and walk out of the saloon with my arm wrapped around my mate, as the undisputed Keeper of the Trade Franchise with Kartak.
My stomach feels like it’s doing flips as I wait outside the ornately carved chapel doors. Leo, the King of the Tulani Clan, stands beside me, looking quite the stunning site in a black woolen tuxedo. Astrid is fussin
g over me, making sure every piece of my ornately sewn wedding gown is perfectly arranged. My hair is braided in the style of a halo framing my head, studded with diamond pins.
Astrid is wearing a silk pink dress, draped over her pregnant belly. Her son, Liam, is running around in circles dressed in a miniature black tux that matches his dad’s, balancing our wedding bands on the pillow gifted to me by the Blind Witch.
She beams at me and makes a final adjustment to my neckline. “There,” she says, “that’s perfect. You gotta’ show off them boobs for your wedding.”
I laugh nervously.
“Are you ready for your big moment, Princess?” she asks.
“I think so,” I say.
“Good,” she says. “Because if you have cold feet, you can’t really run far on a spaceship.”
I take in a deep breath and try to settle my stomach. “No, I’m fine. I’m just nervous. I’ve been imagining this day my whole life.”
“Not exactly how you must have imagined it when you were a little girl, right?” she laughs. “Marrying a giant blue guy with a purple cock?”
Leo looks away, trying to keep himself from laughing. “Oh, Peter,” I say, trying to stifle a laugh. “Don’t make me laugh right now.”
“Okay,” she says. “You are right. We’ve got less than a minute before the march. It’s a good thing you look perfect.”
“Thanks, Astrid,” I say. “You’re too sweet. I can’t believe this is really happening.”
“Well, believe it darling,” she says, smiling warmly. “You deserve it. Now get ready to finally have your fairy tale ending.”
She intercepts little Liam in his circuit around us and pulls him in front of her. “Come here, you little rascal,” she says, as she turns him around to face her. “You remember your cues, right?”
Renegade Orion: A Scifi Alien Shifter Romance (Shifter Kings of Kartak Book 2) Page 11
