Now Mina had seemed to break through the barrier that had been made in her mind. She had broken free of the distance that she had built up in her mind and was ready to connect with him fully again. She lifted her hips, moving them forward so that her hot, wet core slid along his hardened length. Reaching forward, she wrapped her hand around his cock and held it in place so that she could slowly roll her hips against it. The sensation was nearly overwhelming and he dug his fingertips into her hips.
"You're so close," she whispered.
Nylek nodded, biting into his bottom lip to keep himself from toppling over the edge.
"I could just slide inside you right now."
Mina leaned forward, causing the taut peaks of her breasts to brush across his chest, and brought her mouth close to his ear.
"Please," she whispered, the warmth of her breath trailing along the side of his neck.
Nylek turned his head so that he could claim her mouth with his. As they kissed passionately, their tongues tangling, he used one hand to adjust their bodies until the tip of his erection just settled against her opening. He held her hips more tightly and then lifted his just enough that the very tip entered her. They both drew in breaths and he could feel her trembling. Pressing herself back, Mina sat up again. The new angle allowed her to sink down onto him until her hips rested on his. Nylek groaned as their bodies completely melded. They both paused, the sound of their breath, audible in the silence of the room around them, and cherished the feeling of coming together again.
Mina sighed softly and began to move her hips. She rolled them slowly but deliberately, ensuring that their bodies never parted while still guiding his engorged cock to massage her walls. The slow, steady darkness that had settled around them and now sent shadows through the room felt like it was cradling them, protecting them from the world outside as they worshipped one another and gave thanks for the bond between them.
After a few moments of simply treasuring the sensation of being enveloped fully inside her, Nylek pressed a hand to the small of her back to stabilize her, and then sat up to tuck her close into his lap. He leaned forward to rest his mouth to the soft dip at the front of her neck, and then rested his head against the front of her shoulder. Mina wrapped her legs tightly around his hips and her arms encompassed him, one coming around his shoulders and the other cradling his head as he nestled into her neck. Though she was smaller than him, as a Denynso woman she was far larger than the human women who had come to Uoria and found their mates. In that moment, he was blissfully grateful for it. Her size enabled them to wrap their bodies around each other fully, melding to one another in a way that wouldn’t be possible if she were much smaller. She felt strong and lush in his arms, yet sweet and feminine. They remained in this peaceful position for several long seconds. The closeness of their bodies enabled their breaths to synchronize and soon Nylek felt like they were truly one. He tightened his hips to press into her more deeply and she rocked her hips to return the sensation to him. Nylek needed more. He couldn’t be satisfied with just this any longer. He slipped his hand in between them and pressed the pad of his thumb to her peak. He applied gentle pressure and began to create small circles.
Mina's pace increased slightly in response to the touch and he met each rock of her hips with a lift of his own so that he sank more deeply into her with each thrust. Nylek filled her completed, fitting into her body in a beautiful, perfect way that reminded him with each long stroke within her body that she was crafted specifically for him. He had waited for Mina his entire life and had known the moment that he met her that they were intended to be together for the rest of their existence. It was only her. It had always been her, and would only ever be her. Neither could ever love another and their lives would be forever designed around their devotion to each other.
Nylek could hear murmuring coming through her chest and he drove into her until they became louder, faster, and more desperate. Finally, she reached forward and her hand gripped onto his back. He felt her arch, her body squeezing down around him as she cried out. The sound of his name tumbling from her lips with such abandon broke every semblance of control that he had left. Nylek lifted her up with one final, impaling thrust and he felt himself pulse before he poured into her. Each of her tight, hard spasms milked him, drawing him further into her and pulling out the hot streams that filled her.
When they both seemed to have relaxed and calmed enough to move, Nylek embraced her and rolled her onto her back. He came down over her as he continued to slowly stroke into her to extend the delirious pleasure of the aftershocks of his orgasm that rolled through him. He stared down at her, his hand absently brushing along the hair around her forehead, and felt a smile come to his lips. There was nothing that he could say at that moment that would even begin to express everything that he was feeling or the gratitude that he had just to be back with her. Even if they weren’t able to remain together for long, even if he was able to recover enough to get back on the ship and return to Penthos with the others, he had these moments that he could hold on to and think of when he was away. All he could do for now was watch as her eyes fluttered closed and the soft smile on her lips relaxed slightly. When she was fully asleep, he rolled on to his side and allowed himself to fall asleep, feeling as though he were able to really rest for the first time since he had been away from her.
Chapter Eleven
Ellora felt the muscles in her jaw twitch as she opened the door to the war room and looked around at the weapons that her husband had compiled. She didn’t know how long he had been collecting the arsenal or how long he had been planning the war that he had hoped would ensue after the battle, but now it didn’t matter. Gone were her hesitations about the conflict that her children and the rest of Uoria was facing. Gone was the fear and the bitterness that had been controlling and guiding her for the years since she thought he died. This was for Aegeus now. She reached forward and took down one of the largest swords that she could manage. It felt heavy and meaningful in her hands, speaking to her in a way that she couldn’t explain. Behind her she heard Athan come down the steps and into the hidden space.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“What does it look like I’m doing?” she asked.
She lowered the sword carefully to the surface of a table and reached for another, working to systematically remove the weapons from the room so that she could bring them up to the house and prepare them for travel.
“Does this mean that you will support Kyven and Maxim now? That you won’t stand in the way of the war?”
Ellora turned and shoved a sheathed blade into Athan’s hands.
“I will never be able to get back the years that were taken from me that I could have spent with my husband and that he could have spent with his family, but I want to destroy whatever took them. If Maxim needs weapons and an army, then I will get them for him.”
Athan nodded and accepted another sword that she handed him before stepping up to the wall and gathering several into his arms. She watched him carry them out of the room and heard his footsteps climbing the stairs back up into her house. Tears of fury were stinging in her eyes, but she didn’t want to give into them. She had already shed enough tears after Aegeus disappeared. The time to cry was over and she didn’t want to give the creatures that had stolen him even a second longer of the satisfaction of her tears. It was her time to fight.
An intense compulsion burst in her chest and she stormed out of the war room and up the stairs. Out of the corner of her eye she saw her husband’s symbol and resolve dried the tears from her eyes and settled the beating of her heart so she felt completely calm and under control. She was determined in a way that she hadn’t felt in so long. No longer was she living in a shadow or surviving just for the sake of Maxim and Kyven. The blood seemed to be running through her veins again and she was thinking clearly for the first time in years.
Without saying a word to Athan, she lowered the weapons that she had brought
up from the war room to her kitchen table and then left the house, starting toward the barely-used hatch that Maxim and Ivy had used to emerge from the Order tunnels when they first arrived back in the kingdom. This was her time, her chance to stand up and show that she had the strength and the ability to protect her home, her family, and her husband, and that had to start with confronting those who put him in the position in the first place: The Order.
There was a time when Ellora would never had even considered entering the tunnels that ran beneath the kingdom and were the stomping ground of those chosen for the Order. She knew that she wasn’t even supposed to know that the organization existed, and once it was known that Aegeus told her of the Order, she wasn’t supposed to know anything of their operations. She had always followed that as closely as she possibly could. It was an honor for Aegeus to have been selected for the Order. Though she didn’t know what the organization did or even why it existed, she knew that it was extremely selective and the fact that he had been chosen to join them was incredibly meaningful. She didn’t want to do anything that would disrespect him or the others, or put the organization at risk.
Now, though, she no longer cared. It didn’t matter to her that she was never supposed to go down into the tunnels or that she didn’t even know what she would find there. If Ivy, a human woman who had been on Uoria only weeks when she arrived at the kingdom, could walk through them and emerge without harm, Ellora was confident that a lifetime in the kingdom and the strength and power of Aegeus in her heart would get her through. As long as she found the leaders of the Order and was able to confront them, she didn’t care what else she discovered in the hidden, unspoken world beneath her feet.
Ellora took a breath and dropped down through the hatch so that she could climb down into the tunnel. The colored lights burst on above her and she felt immediately exposed, but instead of it making her feel vulnerable, it was as though the multicolored glow above her was announcing her arrival. She stalked down the tunnel, not knowing where it was leading. When the path turned or forked, she let her heart guide the way. Suddenly she heard fast footsteps and harried voices in the distance. Above her the light in the ceiling glowed red and she stood her ground, wanting for whoever it was who was coming toward her in the tunnel to find her. She wasn’t going to hide. She wasn’t going to apologize for her presence in the tunnels. It was their turn to explain themselves.
A moment later she could see the darkness ahead of her dissolving away as the lights in the ceiling turned on in sequence, announcing the approach of whoever was in the tunnel with her. She knew that they could see her light now and soon they would be able to see her face. Her fingers twitched and she wished that she had brought one of the swords with her. For now, the small dagger that she had tucked into her boot would have to suffice. The rhythm of her heart quickened, but not out of fear. She was beyond fear. This was excitement, a thrill at getting closer to a truth that had always been kept away from her and dangled just out of reach, though in the back of her mind she had hoped she would discover it.
The footsteps drew closer. They were only yards from her now and she knew that it was only a matter of seconds until they would see her face and know exactly who had invaded their private world. Ahead of her the light in the ceiling turned yellow and then white. Three figures came into view and she felt her stomach twist. They paused, not drawing near enough to trigger the light segment just ahead of her so that a bar of darkness remained like a wall in between her and the men now glaring at her across it.
“Ellora,” one of them said. “What are you doing here?”
“Malcolm,” she said, barely able to get the name past her lips. “You are a part of this?”
“Ellora, you shouldn’t be here,” Malcolm said. “You don’t belong down here.”
“Yes, I should be here,” she said angrily. “I should have come down here long ago. How dare you keep this from me? How dare you not tell me?”
“I don’t understand,” Malcolm said. “Tell you what? You of anyone should know that I wasn’t allowed to say anything to you about the Order or that I was a part of it. The only person who was permitted to let you know that he was a member was Aegeus.”
“Don’t you dare say his name,” Ellora spat. “You are never allowed to say his name.”
“I don’t understand,” Malcolm repeated. “Why are you so angry? Why did you come down here?”
“Why am I so angry?” Ellora asked. “My husband was bound to serve an organization whose origin he didn’t know and whose purpose he didn’t fully understand. He discovered extensive corruption among the hierarchy that was meant to be the most honorable and powerful of all Mikana, and when he fought against them, he was taken from me, from our children. I have suffered for years wondering what happened to him and trying to explain to boys who were rapidly turning into men why their father was just gone. I came down here to confront them, these creatures who claimed lives for themselves that never belonged to them, used them, and then tossed them away. I came down here to see what could possibly be so important that it would justify how grotesque the Order really is. Then I find that my brother has been a part of it all along.”
“I couldn’t tell you, Ellora,” Malcolm said.
“Is that why you stopped talking to us? I married Aegeus and you just left my life. It was like you never even existed.”
“It was just too hard,” Malcolm said. “I hated having to lie to you. I knew Aegeus and it was too difficult to balance being in the same family and being in the Order together.”
“So, you chose the Order,” Ellora said accusingly.
“I had no choice. You don’t understand.”
“You don’t understand,” Ellora said. “Not telling your only sister who you really are isn’t hard. What’s hard is losing the love of your life. What’s hard is raising two boys alone and hoping every moment that they wouldn’t realize that they didn’t have any masculine influence and lose all of what of their father was within them. You could have been there for them, Malcolm. You could have been there for Maxim and for Kyven, helped them deal with the loss of their father.”
“You did fine on your own,” Malcolm told her.
The comment was meant to be encouraging, but it only enraged her further.
“I shouldn’t have had to!” she screamed. “I never should have had to.”
“You don’t understand,” Malcolm said again.
“Then tell me,” she said. “Explain to me what could possibly be so important about the Order that you could turn a blind eye to corruption, violence, and death.”
Malcolm opened his mouth as if to respond, but no words came out. Instead, his eyes widened and seemed to focus on something over Ellora’s shoulder. She began to turn, but she felt a hand clamp around her wrist and another clasp the back of her neck.
“What do you think you’re doing down here?” a voice hissed into her ear.
Ellora fought out of the grip on her neck and turned, finding a man with a dark red mask standing close behind her.
Chapter Twelve
“I’m so sorry that I missed that,” Ciyrs said in his mind, transmitting the message to Elianna in his thoughts.
His mate was on the ship with the others while he had taken the vehicle that Oro and Jonah had brought from Uoria so that he would be able to take care of the wounded and the pregnant women during the journey. The strange car was traveling far more quickly than he had anticipated it moving, and they found themselves ahead of even the large transport vessel from the University. Being away from Elianna during this journey was difficult for him even though it was only for a few hours. He hated that they weren’t near each other and that he had no idea what she was going through. Now she was communicating with him through their thoughts, giving him a harsh reminder that she was far away from him and that if something did happen, he wouldn’t be able to protect her.
“It was so beautiful,” Elianna said. “It was so unexpected.
We got onboard and I think we all just kind of expected that we were going to spend the next few hours getting some sleep. At least the rest of them were, I knew that I was going to have to be in the infirmary with the injured.”
“The injured?” Ciyrs asked.
He didn’t know what she was talking about. The whole reason that they were in separate vehicles was that Pyra decided the most wounded and the pregnant women should travel in the faster vehicle with Oro and Ciyrs rather than trying to make it all the way to the transportation bay to travel in the larger ship. He knew that she was going to be offering support to those who were in better condition, but he hadn’t thought that any of them were bad enough off that she would need to be in the infirmary throughout the entire journey. The thought made him uncomfortable, as though he was failing even further in his responsibilities.
“Pyra brought the hybrid survivors from the battle.”
“What battle?”
“We encountered the hybrids and the Valdicians,” she said. “There were injuries and we saw them dragging away some of the hybrids. All we could think was that they would be put through the same things as the ones that we rescued from the breeding facilities. They brought them to the ship and I’ve been working on healing them.”
Ciyrs drew in a breath and reached into his bag for one of the bottles of water that he had brought with him from the emergency chambers. He longed for a sip of something cold after days of the warm, still water from the basement. He shook his head, needing to get the thoughts of the wounded who were now on the ship out of his mind. There was nothing that he could do about it right now and he had to trust in his mate that she would be able to use the skills that he had given her through his first healing with her and the methods that he had taught her to stabilize and heal them as well as possible until he could get there to help her.
The Alien's Glimpse (Uoria Mates IV Book 5) Page 8
