Claimed (Project Destiny Book 1)

by Lee-Ann Wallace

  “You’re going to turn into a seed?” he asked. He couldn’t keep the amusement from his voice. “I’m not sure that is possible, pavri. Admittedly, our transformations are miraculous, but I don’t think we would have much success turning anyone into a nut.” He didn’t really need her to explain, he was just having a little fun with her and trying to ease some of the tension they’d been feeling for the last three days.

  She let out a gorgeous little growl, which only made him laugh again.

  “No... handsome, going nuts means you are going to go crazy. You are driving me crazy.”

  He suspected handsome wasn’t what she had been about to call him. She had such a colourful language, another thing that amused him, but his need for her was driving him crazy as well, and he had a feeling that was what she was really talking about. They hadn’t had sex since they’d found out she was carrying three embryos. All the species the Morgath chose to mate with could not have any kind of sexual relations while gravid, and he would not risk his sons’ lives. He’d avoided touching her more than necessary or starting anything they wouldn’t be able to finish, but the strain of being so close to her and not being able to sink his cock into her was starting to take its toll.

  “But, pavri, I’m just looking after you like a good Morgath male should. We cherish and coddle our gravid females, and it is doubly important I take care of you because of your injuries,” he told her. Maybe this would waylay where he had a feeling this conversation was going to end up.

  Tina blew out an explosive breath, her frustration biting into him. “Right, I get it. But mental and emotional health are just as important to a pregnant woman as physical health. Besides, I was completely healed five days ago. I want to explore, Sorvar. I want you to show me your world. I want to talk to Bavric and learn about Morgath young and what I can expect during my gestation period.”

  Holy Ninvah, she didn’t ask for much, did she. He would love to show her his world, but her wings weren’t strong enough to fly yet, and he wasn’t sure how the males who hadn’t seen her were going to react to her. The other thing she asked for, learning about his people and her gestation period, was another matter entirely. He loved her, and would give her anything, but he knew his father would not be blinded by love. His father would need to be sure she had committed to staying with him before he let her have what she wanted. Knowledge was power, and if she learned about his people she would have great power over them. She was a medic, after all, and she had the ability to destroy them from the inside.

  “That’s a lot of wants, Tina. Are you sure there aren’t more things you want from me?” He kept his tone light and filled with amusement. She didn’t need to know he couldn’t give her what she wanted.

  Tina stared back at him for a long moment, then pushed up from the couch and walked over to him, a deliberate sway in her hips, and a sultry little grin on her lips.

  Oh, handsome. You have no idea.

  Her whisper filled his mind. Gods, she was beautiful and sexy, dangerously so. All she had to do to light his fire was look at him with those deep green eyes, and he turned to mush in her hands, something he had no intention of ever telling her.

  She straddled his legs, flaring her wings out a little, and settled down on his thighs. “Since you asked, there is something else I want.”

  The need filling her husky voice sent a surge of lust through him and he almost groaned. He stared back at her intently, but he didn’t move from his relaxed position on the couch—he didn’t touch her or grip her hips, he just looked at her. It wasn’t hard to figure out what she wanted, and unfortunately, he was going to have to disappoint her, but his body didn’t care about the safety of the babies, all it cared about was being inside her heated clutching depths. Having her so close to him, bathing with her and seeing her beautiful naked body and sleeping with her held against him was like torture, but he was adamant he would protect his young.

  “Oh, and what could that be, pavri?” There was no amusement this time. His voice rough with the need he could feel swirling inside her as well.

  Tina leaned down and placed her palms flat against his bare chest, her hands warm and soft on him. Gods, he wanted to feel those soft little hands all over him. With her face close to his, she replied in a low husky voice, “I want you, Sorvar. I want to kiss you, and touch you. I want to feel you slide inside me, and I want to come around your cock.”

  Fuck, Tina!

  She couldn’t say things like that to him. He would never be able to hold back when she talked like that. If his cock hadn’t been hard already, it would have been in seconds. As it was, the ache was already hard to ignore. He couldn’t stop himself from touching her. He gripped her hips and pulled her forward, rearranging her over the weapons strapped to his thighs until she settled over the thick bar of his hard cock. Tina moaned, the sweetest little sound he’d ever heard, and swivelled her hips, grinding down on him. He couldn’t control the low growl that rumbled up from his chest at the bolt of pleasure she caused.

  “Yesss,” she hissed.

  “Pavri, we cannot.” Damn, but he wanted to, though.

  She stared down at him. “Why the fuck not?” she snarled.

  So much anger and frustration from his little mate. Sorvar cupped her cheek, stroking her soft skin with gentle fingers. Because of the babies, Tina. It is not safe for us to have sex while you are carrying.

  She let out a deep breath. “Sorvar, humans can have sex right up to and including the day they give birth, but if you’re really worried let’s go see Bavric. If he says we can’t have sex, maybe it’s only intercourse we have to abstain from. There are other ways to enjoy each other without penetration.”

  He stared at her. Did she mean that? Humans had sex all the way through the gestation of their young? What an amazing species they were turning out to be! But that didn’t mean they could have sex—her change might have altered things so that she was just like the other mates. An image of her taking his cock into her mouth rolled through his mind, the memory of what it had felt like to have the hot cavern of her mouth wrapped around him sending a jolt through him.

  He surged up off the couch with her clasped tight to his chest. Tina squeaked and wrapped her legs around his hips, hanging on to him, her little claws digging into his shoulders as he stalked for the door.

  Where are we going, Sorvar?

  To see Bavric.

  Her husky laugh filled his mind. If they couldn’t have sex, they would do other things. He would make her teach him how to pleasure her without being inside her. Maybe he could taste her as well, like she’d tasted him. Just the thought of putting his mouth between her legs sent a blast of need through him so powerful he almost staggered. Tina moaned, the low little sound and her return blast of lust almost driving him to his knees.

  They were halfway across the room when the door chimed. Sorvar growled. Nobody should be at their door, which meant it was likely one of his family.

  “Fuck!” he exploded.

  “Did you order food?” Tina asked.

  “No, I did not.” The door slid open. “Sedric,” he said when his gaze landed on his brother.

  “Sorvar,” his middle brother replied.

  “What do you want?” He gripped Tina, pulling her even tighter against him.

  Sedric looked at Tina, specifically her wings, for a long time before he replied, “There is a communication from the Coalition for your mate. The human female refuses to wait for your mate to return her communication, and she is waiting to see your female with her own eyes.”

  Tina whipped around so fast to look at his brother that she almost unbalanced him. “Did she say who she was?” she asked, and he could hear her excitement in her voice and feel it like little bubbles popping in his chest.

  “She said her name is Emily Barker.” Sinder looked down at his mate, a strange look in his eyes.

  Morgath mouths were not designed to speak Tina’s language. They couldn’t make sounds formed by lips because th
ey didn’t have any. They had their own similar sounds, but the female’s name sounded strange coming from Sedric.

  Tina whipped back around, her eyes wide, bubbles of her excitement bursting madly in his chest. “Let’s go, handsome! I want to talk to Emily. Something has to be up for her to say she was calling on behalf of the Coalition. Last I heard she was working for that stupid prat, Liaison Green.”

  Sedric chuckled and looked at him. “Is she always like this?”

  Sorvar couldn’t stop his own chuckle, amusement chasing away his lingering anger. “Yes.” He could feel Tina’s gaze on him and looked down. He still held her firmly in his arms and smiled wide when she huffed. “You are always like this, pavri. It’s one of the things I love about you.”

  She couldn’t be angry with him for that, could she? He’d already told her he loved her, and he wasn’t embarrassed to say it in front of his family. Nothing about her could ever embarrass him.

  “Can we go now? Emily is waiting, and she’ll start thinking you’ve done something...”

  A surge of something he didn’t recognise flooded him and Tina buried her face in his chest. He couldn’t help her, comfort her, if he didn’t know what she was feeling. He would do anything to make her happy, and the prospect of talking to this Emily Barker had excited her. What had happened to chase that away?

  He squeezed her tight. “We’ll go now, pavri. Sedric, can you fly ahead and let Emily know we are on our way?”

  “That won’t be necessary. I had communications reroute the stream to the palace comm room,” Sedric replied.

  Sorvar grunted, stepping from their room. Palace communications wasn’t that far from his family’s private quarters. He followed Sedric down the hall, Tina looking around. Her curiosity fizzled inside him. He was such an ass for having kept her in his quarters for a week. She was right, she should be out exploring her new home and learning about the species that was now hers. Not their Medical information, but about their culture, their festivals and gods, and their economy. She should learn about their history and about their continued attempts to join the Coalition. Those were all the things he should be teaching her, not keeping her locked in his quarters because of worry over how the other males would react to her.

  They reached the comm room, and he set Tina down on her feet, holding onto her until she was steady. The face of the female they were there to speak to filled the screen that stretched across most of one wall of the small room. Well, it was small compared to most of the rooms in the palace. A male Sorvar didn’t know sat behind the console, monitoring the channel the stream came in through.

  Tina squealed the minute she locked her gaze on the screen and rushed over to stand in front of it. “Can she hear me?” she asked.

  The female on the screen stared back, her eyes so wide that Sorvar had to bite back a chuckle. She wasn’t what he had expected at all. She bore no resemblance to Tina at all. This female had yellow hair and blue eyes, and her face, although nice, wasn’t anywhere near as beautiful as Tina’s, but maybe he was biased. Her mouth was moving, but no sound came through until suddenly the blast of her voice filled the room.

  “—Jeez, Tina. What the hell happened to you? Nobody said anything about wings!”

  The female’s strange accent surprised Sorvar. She spoke the same language as Tina, but she sounded very different.

  Tina laughed, the husky laugh that went straight to his cock. “Emily! Oh, god, it’s so nice to see you. Sedric said you called on behalf of the Coalition. What’s going on?”

  “Shouldn’t that be my line? How the hell did you end up mated to a Morgath? I thought your assignment was on Urkelaron Station.”

  An indelicate sound came from Tina that made Sorvar bite back a chuckle. “Yeah right,” she said. “The only position Green offered me was on Deranti. He never told me how often the station was raided. If he did, I would have told him to shove his position where the sun don’t shine.” She turned to him and beckoned him over.

  Sorvar didn’t hesitate to join her in front of the screen and almost laughed again when Emily’s mouth fell open.

  “Ohhh myyy,” the human female said, her tone dripping with appreciation.

  This time, he did laugh and received an elbow in the ribs from Tina, which just made him laugh harder. Tina’s annoyance surged inside him, and he wrapped his hand around the back of her neck, pulling her against him.

  Pavri, I have no interest in any other female but you. Only you make me so hard that all I can think of is being inside you.

  He knew when she accepted his attempt to placate her. She relaxed against him and turned back to the screen.

  “This is Sorvar, and he is the reason I’m on Morgath. Eyes off, Emily, he’s mine,” Tina said to her friend.

  He chuckled, squeezing Tina, delighted at her show of possessiveness. The female on the screen laughed as well.

  “Oh, don’t worry, I’m not after your mate. I ah... have one of my own now, too. Anyway, that’s not why I contacted you. I better get down to business, while we still have a connection.”

  A surge of curiosity bubbled through him from Tina, but all she said was, “Right, so what’s happening? Does this have something to do with why you called on behalf of the Coalition?”

  “Yes. The Chancellor has appointed me as The Liaison for Human Females of the Coalition. He heard about the poor treatment some of us had received, and he wanted us to have our own advocate. That means I am responsible for every human female in space, including you, even though you aren’t in Coalition space anymore. Your base species is still human. Now, don’t get cranky at me, but are you happy there, Tina? If you aren’t, we will organise to extract you.”

  Sorvar wanted to roar in denial, but he knew it would be a requirement of Emily’s position to ask. He ground his teeth together, and only just managed to stop himself from digging his fingers into Tina. Even if Tina said she wasn’t happy, he would never let her go, and he’d kill anybody who tried to take her. He would do everything he could to make sure she was happy here with him.

  Tina, however, shocked him to his core when she replied, “It’s okay, Emily. We had a bit of a rocky start, and not everyone is happy I’m here, but I won’t leave Sorvar. He’s my mate, we belong together now, and with the babies on the way, it’s important I stay here where the medics are knowledgeable about my situation.”

  He let out a breath he hadn’t realised he’d been holding, and tension eased out of his shoulders. Sorvar pulled Tina closer and squeezed her, hoping she’d understand how grateful he was to hear her say they belonged together.

  I love you, pavri, but you know I’d never let you go. Not now, not after you’ve shown me how wonderful you are.

  She melted against his side, and although she didn’t say anything, a surge of warmth from her filled him up.

  Emily let out her own breath and murmured, “That’s good. Drenvah will be thrilled.” Then a little louder she said, “Right, as you are the first human on Morgath I am authorised to make you the Earth Ambassador to Morgath. Congratulations on your new role, but don’t celebrate all at once—Liaison Green is in the process of appealing the Chancellor’s decision to appoint me, and if he succeeds, they will overturn any appointments I make.”

  Tina choked and gasped. “Ambassador? What the hell, Emily? I’m a medic, not a politician! I don’t know how to be an ambassador.”

  The Liaison waved away Tina’s concern. “It’s fine, I’ll send you the official ambassadorial guide book. The other thing you need to be aware of is, I’ve heard some whispers about the Alliance’s... dissatisfaction with us women mating with other species. It’s the whole reason they kept us out of space for so long, and now their worst nightmare has come true. Don’t be surprised if they attempt to negotiate your return. Now before I go, is there anything you need? I can have a delivery sent from Earth if you want anything.”

  Sorvar shifted, his wings flaring out before he snapped them back in. Tina wasn’t going to be going an
ywhere. There would be no negotiations. He shoved a hand through his hair, making a mess of Tina’s careful braid. He should be the one taking care of Tina’s needs, yet he hadn’t done anything in the last week about organising her new clothes and footwear suited to her clawed feet. He’d have to remedy that situation at once. After he took her to see Bavric.

  “No, thank you. I’m fine for now, although, any information you have about humans mating with other species would be helpful or someone to compare notes with. I want to know if it’s only us that has had unexpected complications or if it is all the humans who have mated that are seeing odd results. Oh, and to be able to get in contact with some of the other human women. You’re the first human female I’ve spoken to since we arrived at The Fortress.”

  Emily smiled. “Of course. I’ll send through anything I can find. It will take a bit of digging to find someone if there is anyone, but the Chancellor might be able to help, and Myra’s been in contact. I’m sure she’d love to hear from you. I’ll let her know where you are—”

  The image cut off suddenly, the screen fading to black.

  “I’m sorry, Prince Sorvar. The connection cut off,” the male at the console said.

  Sorvar turned to look at the male and bit back a growl. It wasn’t the male’s fault, but he could feel Tina’s disappointment inside him. He couldn’t keep his displeasure from his voice, though, when he said, “It’s fine.”

  He scooped Tina up in his arms and started for the door.

  “Where are we going now?” Tina asked, her disappointment washing away and a flutter of curiosity taking its place.

  “To see Bavric. I believe we have questions for him.”

  Tina’s lust hit him, almost staggered him as he walked out the door, but she didn’t say a word.