by Presley Hall
I press my palm against his face, feeling the ridges of his scars beneath my fingertips, and as he leans into my touch, I feel as if my heart might explode.
“I was afraid to fall for you at first,” I admit, biting my bottom lip. “I broke my addiction after we crashed on Nuthora, and falling in love with you felt like a gamble, at first. Like chasing a high I couldn’t ever reach. But now I know better. It wasn’t a gamble at all. It was meant to be.”
Happiness blooms on Ren’s face. “My sweet kira. I’m so glad you conquered your fear. You are the bravest woman I know. I truly believe you could conquer anything.”
Clearly not ready to return to the cave yet, he settles down onto the ground and tugs me down to sit on his lap, leaning his back against a boulder as I straddle him.
I bury my face in the crook of his neck, inhaling his rich scent as I reach down to push his loincloth aside. I find him already hard for me, throbbing against my palm, precum already gathering at his crown as I run my fingers up the ridge of his shaft to the tip.
Fuck, I love this.
I love how ready for me he always is, always hungry for more. He groans as I stroke him lightly, his hand fisting in my hair. Using that grip, which is just tight enough to make sparks of sensation dance over my scalp, he pulls me in for another kiss.
“What do you think, my kira?” he murmurs roughly, a teasing note to his voice. “Should we show the sun and the sand and the wind how much we love each other?”
I chuckle. “Well, you did say you wanted the whole universe to know I’m yours. This little part of Vox seems like a good place to start.”
“Then put me inside you,” he commands, nipping at my lips before kissing me again.
Shifting my weight a little, I rise up on my knees, then guide him between my legs and angle myself over him.
“Gods, yes,” he groans, his hips thrusting upward a little as if he can’t wait another second.
I can’t either.
I could do this forever, never tiring of it.
Nothing has ever felt as good as Ren’s thick cock filling me, and I moan with pleasure as I sink down onto him. The sand scratches at my knees as I clasp his face in my hands, rocking against him as our tongues tangle together, our bodies entwined. I love how he fills me, the hard muscle of his body beneath mine as I ride him, the softness of his hair and the textures of his face, and I moan with pleasure as I feel him throb inside of me.
“I love you,” I whisper, stroking his face as I find my rhythm. Ren’s markings glow brightly, and his arms tighten around me, holding me close to him as our bodies press together.
“I love you, my Felicity.” His cat-like green eyes burn with emotion, heated desire and tenderness blending into one. “My perfect mate.”
It feels as if every worry, every fear I’ve ever had is gone, lost somewhere between Earth and Nuthora and here, chipped away until all that’s left is a new person—someone I never thought I could be. Someone brave and tough and soft and loving all at once, someone capable of flinging herself into the unknown and coming out stronger, better than before.
Someone who isn’t held captive by the mistakes of her past.
The Voxeran sun beats down on us as we move together, making sweat gleam on our skin.
The first fluttering of my climax begins to build deep inside me, and I grind my hips down on Ren, finding the perfect friction on my clit. That node at the base of his cock is a fucking miracle, and I’ve learned the perfect ways that it can bring me pleasure as he buries himself inside me.
When I can’t hold off the rising pleasure any longer, I throw my head back, riding him with wild abandon as I brace my hands against his muscled chest and scream out my release to the sky above us.
He comes right on the heels of my orgasm, his hands hard on my hips as he thrusts up into me, the hot rush of his seed filling me, and I know that I want to do this with him forever.
There has never been anyone more perfect for me.
He’s my other half, my true match.
My rebel.
28
Ivy
There’s a lot to do now that we’ve arrived on Vox. Everyone is settling in, and I have to admit, it’s nice not to constantly be on the move like we were after leaving the village on Nuthora. Not that I hope we’ll stay in this cave forever, but it beats trekking through the forest to make camp at a new site every day.
“Hey, Gemma, can you hand me those extra leather pieces?”
“Sure.” Gemma hands the items over to Sadie, who takes them and adds them to a neat stack she’s created.
The two women are seated on the cave floor next to me, folding clothes and taking stock of our food. Elizabeth is going through what’s left of our medical supplies, one hand occasionally going to her back as she straightens. She looks as if she’s about to pop, her belly curving far out in front of her now, and she grins at us as she tries to stretch.
“I’m glad not to be giving birth on Nuthora,” she says, looking around ruefully. “But I wasn’t exactly hoping to meet my baby for the first time in a cave. At least there’s only one thing that wants to kill us here, and not every single plant and creature.”
“The desert is kind of nice, actually, after being in the forest for so long,” Sadie says with a laugh. “A change of scenery, at least. Though I expect the novelty might wear off before too long.”
“Hopefully Droth will get his throne back sooner rather than later,” Gemma says, shaking out a cloth. “There’s already sand in things, and we just got off of the ship a few days ago. I’d rather not live as either prisoners or rebels forever. A little normalcy would be nice.”
I glance over and see Axen, Zayre, and Strome walking toward us, grinning as if they’ve overheard our conversation.
We all stand up, and Axen wraps his arms around Elizabeth the moment he’s close enough to reach her, kissing her cheek lightly.
“No matter what happens here on Vox,” I hear him murmur softly into her ear. “I’ll protect you and the baby. Just as I promised.”
“I know,” she whispers.
They’re in their own little bubble, lost to the world around them as they murmur to one another. I can’t help but watch them with something that feels almost like awe, and a tiny flicker of jealousy burns in my chest.
Some of the other women still seem to be happy that they’re unmated, despite what we’ve seen of the mate bonds so far. They seem to like their independence, and a few are even suspicious of it, seeing it as a sort of metaphysical trap. Something to take away their agency and bind them to an alien forever—and I can’t entirely blame them, considering the fact that we were abducted by our own government and nearly sold as sex slaves to some other alien race.
It’s not exactly the kind of thing that fosters trust or faith in the basic goodness of other people.
Me, though? I definitely want a mate.
Every time I see one of the mated couples gazing into each other’s eyes, I feel that same flicker of jealousy, and it’s only grown as the weeks have passed.
Part of the reason I’ve felt so safe among the Voxeran warriors, despite their size and strength and strangeness, is that I’ve seen in their mate bonds with the human women how protective they are of us. It’s as if they love their mates so much that they would protect anything and anyone their mates care about. Their devotion is absolute and incredible, a love like nothing I’ve ever seen.
I want that for myself.
I want to know what it feels like to be connected to someone by that kind of bond.
Strome walks up next to me, standing close enough that I can feel the heat of his body.
“How do you like Vox, so far?” He grins, showing just a hint of the slightly elongated canines all Voxerans have. “It’s a bit different from Nuthora, that’s for sure.”
“Well, I haven’t gotten to see much of it.” I nudge his shoulder with mine, rolling my eyes. “I’d like to see more though. I always wanted to visit the dese
rt back on Earth, and I never did.”
“Well, there’s plenty of desert here,” the tall Voxeran says with a laugh, running a hand through his dark hair. “So much, in fact, that my people invented a special kind of speeder that can get across the dunes faster than the usual speeder bikes you’ll find in cities. There’s an animal that we Voxerans ride too—this long-haired, horned creature called a yaki, but it doesn’t go nearly as fast.”
“What about the city? Is it big?”
“The capital city is really the only one, so yes. Others are mostly villages, not really cities. A good deal of the planet is uninhabitable, so we congregate in the place where things will grow. The capital is a marvel. It’s meant to look as if it’s sprung up out of the desert, a city made from sand. It’s very beautiful, I think. There are rich jewel mines on Vox, and the palace is full of them.”
He tells me a little more about the city, describing the palace and the living quarters where the warriors were housed before the rebellion.
After a few more minutes, he and the other men are called away to help Droth. The prince is standing in a tight huddle with a few of the rebels who welcomed us when we arrived—ones who, like Ren, weren’t caught and banished after the initial attempt to dethrone Drokar. I know they’re already starting to work on plans for how they might retake the palace and force Droth’s uncle out.
Kaide and the rest of the warriors nod their goodbyes to me and the other women before making their way across the large cave.
As I watch them go, I think about the mate bond again, and my chest tightens.
I’ve gotten to know the Voxeran warriors well during the time we spent on Nuthora, and I never closed myself off to the bond once we knew about it. I’ve tried to stay as open and hopeful as I can, waiting to see if it will strike.
But it hasn’t.
For a while, I thought it might happen with Strome, but I quickly found out that his flirtatiousness is just his nature, not anything to do with a potential connection between us.
If anything, he feels like an older brother to me now, protective and sometimes goofy, teasing me more often than flirting. There’s no lust between us, no pull like I’ve seen with the mated couples.
It’s the same with all the other Voxeran men I met on Nuthora. I like them all a lot, enjoying their company and happy to learn more about them. But that’s it. Nothing more than friendship.
Then I think about Felicity, and a small flicker of hope rises in me again. She found her mate. He was out there after all. He just wasn’t in the first group of Voxerans we came across. Not among the ones we’ve been living with.
Which means…
Maybe my mate is here. On Vox. Waiting for me, and he doesn’t even know it.
I walk to the edge of the cave and look out over the desert, tucking my reddish-brown hair behind my ears as a small gust of wind catches the strands. A sudden giddy rush of hope makes my heart flutter. I haven’t gotten to know the rebels who live in the cave with us very well yet, but maybe my mate is one of them.
Someone daring and brave, maybe, like Ren. A strong, imposing man. Someone handsome and even a little dangerous.
A thrill of excitement ripples through me as I look back over my shoulder, glancing around at the occupants of the cave hopefully, daring to let myself daydream just a little.
Maybe my mate is here on Vox, just waiting on fate.
Waiting for the bond to spark between us.
Her Alien Enemy, Ivy and Kardax’s story, is next. She’s spent so long waiting for the mate bond to spark, but when it does, it’s with the last person she’d ever expect… or want.
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Also by Presley Hall
Fated Mates of the Kalixian Warriors Series
Claimed - Book 1
Stolen - Book 2
Rescued - Book 3
Bound - Book 4
Broken - Book 5
Consumed - Book 6
Damaged - Book 7
Tempted - Book 8
Tamed - Book 9
Pursued - Book 10
Possessed - Book 11
NOTE: Each book in this series can be read as a standalone, but for maximum enjoyment, it’s recommended that you read the series in order.
Voxeran Fated Mates Series
Her Alien Prince - Book 1
Her Alien Savior - Book 2
Her Alien Beast - Book 3
Her Alien Warrior - Book 4
Her Alien Rogue - Book 5
Her Alien Protector - Book 6
Her Alien Rebel - Book 7
Her Alien Enemy - Book 8
NOTE: Each book in this series can be read as a standalone, but for maximum enjoyment, it’s recommended that you read the series in order.
