Claimed (Project Destiny Book 1)

by Lee-Ann Wallace

  “What other problem?” Sedric looked at him, and Sorvar could almost hear what his response was going to be when he found out.

  “Tina suggested Bavric monitor us while we have sex to make sure we don’t hurt the babies. We were discussing logistics when Father arrived,” he replied.

  Sedric nodded as if what he’d said made perfect sense. “That seems logical. So when are you going to get started? I can help Bavric, and he can start teaching me about Tina’s changed physiology and how it differs from before her change.”

  He turned to look at Bavric who was standing quietly on the other side of the room. Sorvar realised in all of their scheming and plotting they had not asked his family’s medic if he would take Sedric as his student and earn the wrath of their father—not to mention what would happen if their father found out Sedric was relaying information to Tina and teaching her everything Bavric taught him.

  “Bavric, this is all dependent on you. It will be your life in danger as well if we go ahead with this. I can offer you my protection for helping us, but there will be many who will see what you do as disloyalty.” Sorvar would kill them if they hurt his friend, but Bavric would still be dead.

  A flash of something twisted his stomach into a knot as heat crept into his cheeks. Sorvar looked at Tina to see her cheeks stained pink.

  Pavri?

  She lifted her gaze to meet his, and his breath caught at the emotion he saw in her eyes. We can’t ask Bavric to do this, Sorvar. We need him to help with the delivery and everything that comes after. I have no idea how to look after eggs or how to make sure the hatchlings are healthy.

  Before Sorvar could respond to Tina, Bavric said, “I understand the risks, my Prince. I feel strongly that King Nardoc has reacted emotionally instead of with the calm logic we know him for. It is also my belief, if we are to ever become a member of the Coalition, we need to choose mates from different species than the ones we do now, and we need to treat these new species with the utmost care and respect, just as we do with the females we already take.”

  “Bavric, you are not just my medic, you are also my friend. I will not see you killed because you feel honour bound to help.” Sorvar stared at his friend, wanting him to know how serious he was.

  Bavric’s wings rustled behind him. “I do not feel honour bound. Prince Sedric is not the only male who wants a human female as a mate. The more we can learn about them, the easier we can make the transitions and breeding process, and I am just as eager to learn about the humans as Tina is to learn about us.”

  Sorvar stared back at Bavric, trying to gauge whether his friend was being honest. When he was satisfied he gave a brisk nod and turned to Tina. “Are you ready to do this, pavri?”

  She whipped around from looking at Bavric to gaze back at him with eyes blown so wide, he almost laughed, but he couldn’t stop the grin that spread across his face.

  “Now? You want to do this now?”

  Is there any reason to wait? You were as desperate as I only a short while ago, pavri. Has that changed? Desperate was a mild description of what he had felt. Starving was far better and he could feel that same need starting to build in his gut.

  Sorvar, I swear to God, if you keep laughing at me, I’ll never sleep with you again.

  Even in his head, her voice held a distinct growl, and instead of making him contrite or whatever else she was intending to make him feel, Sorvar laughed. He swept forward, scooped her up, and planted her backside on the Medical bed.

  She let out a little sound of shock and gripped his upper arms with her soft little hands.

  Sorvar, I don’t think I can do this.

  He lifted her face up to him with a gentle finger under her chin. Do you trust me, Tina?

  She looked up at him, her gaze roving over his face. “Yes,” she whispered, “I do trust you.”

  A surge a satisfaction swelled inside him, drowning out the rising need for a moment, and he pressed a gentle kiss to her pouting lips. “I promise, you won’t even know they’re here,” he said.

  Her eyes flared wide before a husky chuckle accompanied her sweet emotion filling him. “A little sure of yourself there, handsome, aren’t you?”

  He grinned down at her, then turned to Bavric. “Do you want to put the sensors on Tina? I don’t want to have to stop once we start.”

  No, there would be no stopping once he started. Already he could feel the need to have her boiling inside him and thickening his cock, and he could feel Tina’s arousal as well. She might say she couldn’t have sex in front of Bavric, but her body was telling a different story.

  Sorvar stepped aside so Bavric could apply the sensors and turned to see Sedric right behind the medic. He watched, his amusement and need both rising bit by bit, as Bavric slowly stripped Tina of every piece of clothing she was wearing, much to her frustration and embarrassment, and pressed the small squares to her body.

  His focus was glued to Tina’s naked form, and he barely noticed Bavric and Sedric moving away. He stroked up her body with his gaze, lingering on the juncture of her thighs, remembering what it had felt like to have his fingers and then his cock in her tight sheath. Then his gaze moved to her blushing scales that he wanted to run his hands over and feel as he gripped her waist and fucked her from behind, then up to the swell of her soft rosy-tipped breasts and to her face.

  Tina’s green-eyed gaze met his, heat blazing from her eyes as her lust swirled in his gut, inflaming his own. Gods, he wanted to be in her, wanted to feel her wrapped around him as he thrust into her tight heat.

  “Sorvar.” Her voice drifted across his skin in a breathy caress, the emotion in her voice telling him more than the words she had the courage to say ever could.

  He reached for her, stepping forward so he could run his hands up her arms, to her shoulders and into her hair. Her skin felt like the softest flower petals, her warmth sucked him in and made him want to feel all of her pressed against him. His cock was already hard, pushing uncomfortably at his pants, aching with the need to be inside her, to fill her with his seed.

  Sorvar pulled Tina forward, never releasing her gaze, showing her with his eyes what she did to him, how much he wanted her, until he slammed his mouth down on hers and devoured her. Her warm bare skin pressed against his, a delicious contrast to the cooler air of the Medical room, her soft breasts cushioned against his chest. Tina’s low moan spurred him on, encouraged him to explore the soft recesses of her mouth, to taste every inch of her.

  He wanted to feel more of her, he wanted to feel her heat pressed against him. He gripped Tina around the waist and lifted her onto the Medical bed in one smooth motion, settling her down right on the edge so he could step between her spread legs and press against the heat at her centre, never losing contact with her mouth.

  Her low whimper and the bolt of need that flashed through him at the simple touch were followed by her desperate plea in his mind.

  Sorvar, please.

  Please what, pavri?

  She wiggled against him, grasping his shoulders with her little hands, digging her claws in just enough that he felt a tiny sting.

  Fuck me, Sorvar. I need to feel you inside me.

  He grunted at the desperate need he could hear in her tone, his cock jerking like it had a mind of its own, and he wanted to give her exactly what she’d asked for.

  I don’t think you’re ready, pavri. I don’t want to hurt you.

  She let out a little sob. I am. God, Sorvar. I am. Just fuck me already.

  A flash of amusement shot through him at her demand, but he refused to hurt her even a little. She might be as desperate as he was feeling, but he would never put his pleasure over hers.

  Sorvar ran his hand down her waist, stroking the scales he was so fascinated by and on to where he was desperate to be. He couldn’t stop a low groan from rumbling through his chest when his fingers encountered the hot slick heat of her sheath.

  Gods, she was right. She was ready. She was so wet that he easily slid a finger
in, then two, followed by three as she moaned and quivered around his fingers.

  Sorvar!

  A low growl rumbled up his chest. His cock felt like it was about to explode, throbbing, so hard and heavy it was almost painful. It took him what felt like forever to undo his clothing, but then Tina was wrapping her legs around his hips and he was sinking into her tightness in one long thrust. They groaned in unison as their bodies joined, her wet heat engulfing him, spurring him to grip one lush thigh in his hand and wrap the other around the back of her neck.

  One thrust and Sorvar was overwhelmed, his tight control snapping. Tina cried out, the sweetest sound he’d ever heard as he powered into her, a haze of pleasure and intense sensation wrapping around him and dragging him down into a place where finding that moment of bliss, that shared pinnacle of pleasure, was the only thing that mattered.

  This was what he’d been missing for the last week. This was what he’d been desperate for. Tina’s slick silky heat wrapped around him. Feeling her connected to him, whimpering for him as she took everything he had to give and then some.

  She clung to him, her little claws digging in and spurring him on. Her sweet cries and deep moans incensed him and drove him to thrust harder, to slam into her and push her towards the peak they both desperately needed.

  She stiffened for a brief second, every muscle in her body taut as her sheath gripped him so tightly that he grunted with effort, then she exploded for him, her tight heat spasming around him.

  Oh God! she cried in his mind as her intense pleasure swamped him and pulled him along with her.

  He gripped her tightly and slammed into her as everything in his body froze for one blissful moment before he groaned into her mouth, then locked his lips with hers.

  Fuck, Tina! Sorvar groaned as he emptied jet after jet of release into her waiting depths, his hips pressing tightly to hers with each wave of spine tingling pleasure.

  He pulled her against him, wrapping both arms around her, one arm around her shoulders and one around her back under her wings, burying his face in the soft fall of her hair and just stood, relishing being with the female he loved, savouring what the gods had given him.

  I love you, pavri. You are more perfect than I could have ever imagined.

  He didn’t expect her to tell him she loved him back, not yet. It was too soon, but the welter of her emotion that flooded through him almost staggered him. If what she felt for him wasn’t love, then he didn’t know what love was, but he wouldn’t push her. He’d let her tell him in her own time.

  So, it looks like sex is on the menu, handsome.

  Her voice filtered through his mind, and he knew she was using humour as a cover for what she was feeling. It was a tactic he’d recognised fairly quickly. Whenever things became emotionally heavy, Tina escaped behind her humour and avoided discussing how she felt. He knew it made her uncomfortable—he’d learned more about her childhood over the last week, and he understood why she struggled to trust and love, but he wouldn’t let her hide forever.

  The day would come when he would make her look at what she felt for him and make her realise she did indeed love him. Then she would be telling him, whispering it in the dark if she had to, but he would hear the words from her mouth. He needed to hear her say it.

  Yes, pavri, it does. Would you like it before or after every meal? In the mornings or the evenings? On the bed, in the bath, or maybe... a burst of amusement shot through him... maybe you’d prefer it all over the palace where anyone might catch us?

  A little snort and her low husky chuckle was his answer. Her amusement bubbled inside him, warm, tickling his chest and making a silly grin spread across his lips. He turned to Bavric and Sedric, Tina still wrapped in his arms, to find the males conversing quietly while Bavric pointed things out on the screen of the console. Neither male was paying any attention to them at all.

  At least they’d sorted out one of their problems. Now they just had to figure out the rest.

  * * * *

  Two months and two Morgath weeks later, Sorvar still hadn’t let Tina live down the fact that she’d been so engrossed in sex she’d forgotten Bavric and Sedric where there. She’d let him have his amusement at her expense, and she’d even let Sedric tease her about it too. After all, she had her own giggle when she told Sedric about Sorvar’s reaction when Bavric cleared them to have sex. They hadn’t left his rooms for three days.

  They’d seen a lot of Sedric since the communication with Emily. They’d shared meals with him and talked into the wee hours of the morning. He had an endless supply of questions to ask her about the women of Earth and her planet. He sucked up everything she told him like a sponge. He knew more about her and Sorvar’s transformations than she did.

  Bavric and Sedric had poured over the results of her and Sorvar’s tests. The only conclusion they could come to for the reason behind all the strange changes they had undergone were due to Tina’s human DNA. They were the walking, talking proof that when Morgath and Human DNA combined, something truly amazing happened.

  Sedric, much to his father’s disgust, had followed through with her encouragement on his decision to pursue a lifelong desire to become a medic. He had spent the last two months studying with Bavric. Tina had become fast friends with him, and Sorvar often found them in their living area going over scans and test results. Tina left most of the teaching up to Bavric. She didn’t know anything about Morgathian physiology yet. She taught Sedric, and Bavric through him, everything she could about humans and they taught her the stages of embryonic development and how her altered reproductive organs worked.

  Tina didn’t like mysteries, and learning about the whole process had helped her come to terms with the fact that she was going to lay eggs.

  Something she decided was going to happen soon. As in today soon. She pushed her hugely expanded belly up off the couch and waddled for the door to her and Sorvar’s apartment. It was quite a hike to Medical, and she no longer had the ability to move fast. Any woman who was carting around three babies was slow.

  She’d woken up that morning and known something was different. She could feel it. Her back ached all night, and she hadn’t been able to get comfortable. Sorvar wanted to stay with her all day, worried something was wrong, but she’d sent him off to his new lab to play with his technology.

  He made her promise to contact him on the small communications device he’d built especially for her if anything happened. And she planned to do that. When she was safely tucked into Medical, she’d let him know the eggs were on their way. She didn’t want to stress him out. It would be hours before the first egg arrived.

  Tina was halfway down the corridor outside their private apartments when the first contraction hit. The shock was almost worse than the pain. Oh god. Contractions. Bavric thought she might be lucky enough not to have them. Some of the other mates had laid their eggs with only one contraction, but obviously she wasn’t going to be that lucky.

  She huffed out a breath and tried to stop her heart from racing. Panicking would get her nowhere. She had to stay calm.

  Each time a contraction hit, Tina leaned against the wall, and stumbled on between them until a deep, growling voice asked, “What is wrong with you, human?”

  A low groan rumbled up from her chest as she clutched her huge belly and leaned against the wall. She chose to ignore her asswipe of a brother-in-law, Sinder, who like his father detested her and all humans with a passion. Neither of them had warmed to her in the three months she had been there. How they could when they refused to even acknowledge her was neither here nor there.

  Sorvar’s father hadn’t changed his order, either. This was the first time she’d been out of Sorvar’s apartments other than one short visit to Medical.

  Tina gritted her teeth. He knew her name, she knew he did. If Sinder couldn’t use it, she wasn’t going to answer him, and if he didn’t like being ignored he could go to hell. Trudging on, she only made it a handful of steps before another contraction hi
t.

  Oh, shit. That wasn’t good. That was far too close together. She took a few deep breaths trying to calm her racing heart. Maybe she should have called Sorvar after all.

  Pavri, is everything all right?

  Sorvar’s voice in her head startled her and made her gasp.

  God, Sorvar. Don’t do that to me! I almost had a heart attack, and yes everything is—

  An impatient huff from behind her cut her off. “Tina, what is wrong with you?”

  Was that concern she could hear in Sinder’s voice? Oh, how sweet. He was still an asshole, though.

  “I’m in labour,” she snapped, then moaned as another contraction tightened her belly.

  Tina, damn it. What’s wrong? Sorvar demanded.

  “You are about to lay your eggs?” Sinder’s wings rustled, but Tina couldn’t tell if it was from anger, or excitement, or something else.

  God, why did they have to ask so many questions?

  “Yes,” she gasped as the contraction faded.

  “Where is Sorvar? Why are you not in Medical?” he demanded.

  Yes, why wasn’t she in Medical? Oh, wait. Because he wouldn’t shut up and let her walk.

  Pavri, answer me! Another growl, this one with more than a hint of worry.

  “I was going to call Sorvar when I reached Medical. I thought I’d have plenty of time. Human births last for hours,” Tina replied to Sinder.

  A low growl was all the warning she received before Sinder scooped her up and started walking down the corridor.

  “Sinder, put me down!” she demanded.

  Ugh, he was touching her wings. She hated it when people touched her wings. For some reason, they were far more sensitive than a male’s, and every touch felt highly erotic. The only person she allowed anywhere near her wings was Sorvar.

  “No. You should know better, Tina. You are a medic. You should have known your laying would be different from a human birth.”

  I’m coming to get you, Tina.