Claimed Page 17

  “Yes?”

  “You were right, Tordax. About everything.” Her eyes shine as she looks up at me, her hands flat against my chest. “You are my mate, and I’m yours. I’m your Irisa. I never believed in destiny or fate, but we’re meant to be together. I know it now, and I think I’ve known it since you took me behind the arena, but I just couldn’t say it out loud before. I wanted to be sure.”

  “Oh gods, Rose…” I reach for her, pulling her against me. I breathe in her scent and close my eyes as her body softens against mine, warm and pressed tightly against me. “You’re certain this is what you want?”

  She lays her hand gently against my cheek, her thumb caressing my cheekbone as her eyes meet mine. “My soul has recognized yours,” she whispers.

  The feeling that passes through me is indescribable.

  I clasp her face in my hands, pressing my lips to hers, and they part for me, letting me taste her, letting me kiss her as deeply as I want. With a groan, I wrap my arms around her, lifting her into my embrace as her legs wrap around my waist. I could never kiss her long enough, and now I don’t have to wonder if I have the time.

  Because she’s mine.

  She’s truly mine, of her own will, without doubt or reservation.

  She said the words, although she didn’t have to, and we are bound.

  “My soul has recognized yours.” I repeat the words I said to her the first day, the words she rejected until just now. And then: “I love you.”

  “And I love you, Tordax,” she says against my lips, kissing me over and over. “Now and always.”

  25

  Rose

  I never thought that I would be so happy to see that damned spaceship.

  Well, half a spaceship now.

  But as soon as our pod docks and I stumble onto the deck, Tordax supporting me, relief washes over me. With all thoughts of returning to earth gone, the ship almost seems like home. Or at least, it will be home until we make it to Kalix.

  The medical bay is full when Tordax takes me there to have my ankle examined and bandaged. The women all gasp as I enter the med bay carried in my mate’s arms, and a flurry of questions breaks out.

  How did I do it? What did the Orkun do to me? How did I escape?

  “Give her some space,” M’Xelni says. “Let me examine her.”

  I can see the respect in the gathered Kalixians’ eyes too. There are murmurs among them, and I can tell from their expressions as I pass that I’ve earned something from them—that they’ll accept me. They’ll be pleased to see me as Tordax’s mate.

  It means something that they want me among them, that they view me as worthy of their commander. It warms my chest, making a slow smile spread across my face.

  And then I realize what it is. Something I’ve always missed.

  A sense of family.

  I’ve never had much of a family, and certainly not at all since my father died. But these people—they can be my family. I have a place here.

  The wound in my ankle, as painful as it is, is superficial for the most part. “You came close to severing your Achilles tendon,” M’Xelni says sternly, and Tordax glares at him, his jaw clenching. “But you’re fine,” the Kalixian male adds quickly. “Just stay off of it for a while. Bed rest for a few days, certainly.”

  An interested gleam lights Tordax’s gorgeous brown eyes.

  “Rest,” M’Xelni reiterates, glancing at Tordax, but my mate clearly isn’t listening. And he makes that apparent the moment we arrive back in our room.

  He carried me all the way there, refusing to let me walk, no matter how much I insisted I could hobble. Without a word, he sets me on the bed and strips away my torn clothing, throwing it into a pile beside the bed.

  “When we get to Kalix,” he murmurs, gently pushing me back onto the pillows, “I’m going to dress you in beautiful things. You’ll never wear clothes like that again.”

  “I thought you wouldn’t want me wearing clothes at all.” I cock a brow teasingly as I look up at him.

  “Well, we’ll have to go out in public occasionally.” He caresses my face with his large fingers, looking into my eyes. “My mate,” he whispers. “My love.”

  “My love,” I echo, reaching up to run my hands through his hair. I touch one of his horns and see him shiver again. I’ve noticed he often does that when I touch the thick, slightly ridged horns that protrude from his head.

  “Does that feel good?” I ask curiously.

  “Intimate.” He draws in a deep breath, his eyelids fluttering as if it’s a struggle to keep them open. “It feels… sweet.”

  “And this?” I wrap my hand around one, gripping it and watching his muscles tense and his pupils dilate.

  “I want you to do that again in a minute.” He grins at me, his eyes holding that familiar wicked gleam. Then he begins to make his way down my body.

  He takes his time, as if refusing to rush through any part of this.

  His lips caress my neck, his tongue traces my collarbone, and when he reaches my breasts, he cups them in his hands, his fingers stroking the soft flesh. His tongue rasps over my nipples until they’re hard as diamonds under his lips. When I’m whimpering and squirming beneath him, he continues downward, one hand still playing with my breast as the other trails down my waist, and his lips make a slow trail down my stomach. He kisses first one hipbone and then the other, setting his teeth gently into them as he licks the space between them and then gently pushes my thighs apart.

  I moan as his hands slide up the insides of my thighs, his tongue moving between them in long, slow licks, and he groans as he feels the first deep shudders of arousal start to move through me.

  My hips writhe under him as he holds me in place, his tongue circling my clit as he sucks it into his mouth, and he pins me down harder, his lips and tongue moving faster until I’m almost at the peak, moaning and gasping his name.

  Just when I’m on the edge, he pulls back, slowing again before I can reach the brink. He does this twice more, until I’m pleading, begging him to let me come.

  I need it. Fuck. I can feel the orgasm, I’m so close.

  And then I realize what he meant when he asked me to “do that again in a minute.”

  His hands are on the insides of my thighs, pushing my legs farther apart, opening me wide for him. He lifts his head again, looking down at me displayed for his pleasure, and his eyes glint hungrily as I squirm under his grasp. I reach out, grasping his horns, and pull his head back down, my hips arching up desperately.

  I feel him laugh and shudder at the same time from the pleasure of my hands on him, holding him against me. My hands squeeze his horns harder, my fingertips playing over the smooth ridges the same way I would touch his cock, and the effect is immediate.

  Tordax attacks with renewed vigor, tongue and lips licking and caressing as he lets go with one hand and slides two fingers into me, pressing upward to find the spot that always pushes me over the edge.

  He knows me, I realize as my thighs tremble, my back arching as I feel the pleasure reach that perfect, glorious peak.

  He knows the places to touch me, the spots that will make me writhe and scream and beg for more, and now we’ll have all the time in the world for him to find every single one of them. Ones I didn’t even know existed.

  And then I can’t think anymore, because the climax washes over me in a wave, and I grip his horns hard as I buck upward against his mouth, seeking every last bit of pleasure that his fingers and tongue can give me.

  He keeps going until I’m limp and breathless, completely wrung out by ecstasy. Then he rises up, licking his lips as he begins to crawl up my body. But I shake my head before he can move between my legs. I have something else in mind right now.

  My broad-shouldered mate looks down at me, surprised, and I push at his chest, trying to roll him over on his back.

  There’s no chance I could move him if he resisted. He’s so much bigger and more physically powerful than me. But he immediately gets t
he idea and follows my urging happily. I watch as he reclines back on the pillows next to me, his bronzed body a sharp contrast to the crisp white sheets, and a fresh wave of arousal surges through me.

  I straddle him, kissing him softly as his cock nudges between my thighs. He reaches down to guide himself into me, but I push his wrist away.

  “Not yet,” I whisper against his mouth, and he groans, but obeys.

  I shiver with pleasure, with an incredible feeling of power.

  Fuck, he could have me in a second if he wanted, but instead, this muscled barbarian of a man is lying beneath me and letting himself be guided by my directions. It sends a heady thrill through me, and I smile at him as I touch his cheek gently, kissing him once more before moving down his body.

  Tordax has given me unimaginable pleasure, but what I never expected was how much giving him pleasure would turn me on. It’s addicting as hell.

  I kiss his neck, noting where he gasps a little as my lips brush over his skin, then lick along his collarbone, moving down the muscled expanse of his chest. He’s smooth there, the skin stretched taut over bulging muscle, and I can smell the sweet scent of the oil he uses, like an herbal cologne. I lick my way downward, tasting the salt of his sweat and the sweetness of his skin, and I hear him gasp as I flick my tongue over his nipple, my hand running down his side.

  I run my lips over the ink of his tattoos and every scar that I see, trace every ridge and valley of muscle. Tordax looks down at me pleadingly, his breath coming faster, but I don’t increase my pace. I want to learn him the way he has learned me, memorize him, and I feel him groan as my lips reach his stomach, my hair falling over his skin and dragging down his body. His hips arch upward, his fingers tangling in the sheets as he waits for me to move just a little farther down. My breath ghosts over the smooth flesh of his abdomen, and a moan escapes from him as I graze my teeth over his hipbone.

  When I finally reach my destination, he’s rock hard, his cock throbbing as I wrap my hand around the hot, swollen flesh and squeeze lightly.

  “Gods, woman,” Tordax groans, arching his back as he thrusts upward into my hand. “Are you going to make me beg?”

  “Maybe,” I say lightly, heat burning in my low belly as I run my tongue over the tip of his cock. The sound he makes is nearly animalistic, a guttural noise from deep in his throat. “What do you want me to do?” I lazily run my tongue around him again, down his shaft and back up again, rubbing him against my lips.

  “I want…” He grunts as I slide my other hand between his legs, cupping his balls gently as I lick just beneath the tip of his shaft. “I need…”

  “This?” I wrap my lips around the broad, rounded head of him at last, sliding my mouth down just an inch, tightening the suction around him as he gasps.

  “Gods! Yes!” he exclaims, his fingers tightening. “More… krax, Rose… please…” He’s gasping, his body straining with the need for more after the lengthy attention he gave me, and then my teasing of him.

  So I stop torturing him, my hand tightening around his shaft as I slide my mouth downward, taking every inch of him into my mouth that I can. I hear him pant and groan as I move faster, swirling my tongue around as I swallow his cock as far back into my throat as I can manage, choking a little as his hips thrust up.

  “Sorry,” he gasps, trying to still the spasming of his body. “It’s just… oh gods, that’s so good.”

  He moans as I slide down again. I find the rhythm he likes, my mouth and hand moving in tandem as I savor the taste of him, the feeling of him hard and straining in my mouth. I look upward, enjoying the sight of his face contorted with pleasure, amazed that I can make him beg like this, that I can give him the same kind of ecstasy he gives me.

  At last he reaches down, stroking my hair and then reaching to pull me upward. “No more, Rose,” he gasps. “I want to be inside of you, and if you keep that up…”

  I grin, moving up his body to sit astride him once more. This time it’s me that reaches between us, guiding the swollen tip of his cock between my legs and pressing him against me, letting him feel how wet I am, how much I want him.

  “Like this?” I ask, moving downward so that an inch of him slides inside of me. We both gasp with pleasure at the sensation.

  “Yes, oh… gods, Rose…”

  He groans, reaching up to tangle his fingers in my hair, pulling my mouth down to his. I slide down another inch as I kiss him, tangling my tongue with his as I move downward just a little more, and I feel the rumble of his laughter as he grabs my hips, flipping me onto my back with one quick motion.

  His eyes gleam down at me.

  “No more teasing,” he growls. And then, with one hard motion, he thrusts himself inside of me, eliciting a gasp from me as I dig my nails into his shoulders. I know by now that my body can take him, but his size still feels as shocking as the first time we had sex. My eyes flutter closed with his first deep drive, my legs wrapping around him as I moan.

  “Look at me,” he whispers, his hand on my face as he thrusts into me again and again with long, slow strokes, his muscles hard under my hands as he holds himself back.

  I open my eyes obediently, gazing up into his, and I’m shocked at what I see there.

  No man has ever looked at me like this in bed, or anywhere for that matter.

  As if he’s overcome with emotion, with the intimacy of what we’re doing.

  It’s never felt like this, as if we’re becoming one with every motion of his body inside mine, every thrust that buries him inside of me. He slides into me again, hard, and holds himself there, looking down into my eyes as he shudders.

  “I want you to come with me.” His words are rough, his hips rocking against me. “I’m close…”

  “I am too,” I gasp, wrapping my arms around his neck as I cling to him, matching every movement of his hips with my own. I’m hovering on the brink, and I tangle one hand in his hair, my fingers curling around the back of one of his horns as I hold his mouth against mine, my lips pressed tight to his as I arch my back.

  And then I feel it. Like I’m flying apart and being rebuilt at the same time.

  I moan against his lips, my legs tightening around him as I begin to shudder with the first wave of that incredible pleasure, magnified a hundred times by the fullness of his body inside of mine.

  He stiffens, his cock hardening even more inside of me, and I feel him moan my name against my lips, his body convulsing against mine as we both come at once, pressed together from forehead to hips as he buries himself inside of me as deeply as he can go, gasping with pleasure.

  When the last shivers of our climax have passed, he rolls off of me, pulling me tightly against his chest as he lies back, sweaty and panting. I’m breathless too, my body instinctively curling against his, and I press my mouth against his shoulder, my eyes closing.

  “Irisa…”

  His whisper is full of so much meaning that it makes tears prick my eyes as emotion swells inside me.

  “I love you, Tordax.”

  I wrap my arms around him, breathing in the scent of him, now mixed with the scent of my own skin. Every part of us is joined together, my body against his, my fingers twined with his, my hair tangled with his, and I’ve never known what it meant to be so intimately connected to another person.

  “My Rose,” he whispers under his breath. “I love you. Now and forever. More and more each day.”

  Yes.

  My soul seems to reach out toward his, answering his vow with a single word. I don’t know how I ever thought that I could leave this incredible, wonderful man. But I know now what my choice is.

  It’s him, forever.

  No matter what comes.

  26

  Tordax

  Once we’re a week out from Kalix, I feel as if I can relax marginally.

  There have been no other signs of the Orkun, and the repairs to the fractured ship were manageable, although difficult.

  I can almost feel us drawing closer to home,
and all I can think about is bringing Rose there, stepping onto land with her, showing her our capital city of Jocia, and making a home with her. She’s reassured me over and over that she’s happy to be here with me, that she no longer wants to return to Terra, but I know I won’t feel fully secure until she’s seen Kalix and hopefully loves it as much as I do. It will be strange to her at first, but I have faith that she’ll be able to adapt. She’s the strongest, most resilient female I have ever known, and I know she will thrive wherever she goes.

  And more than anything else, I hope that perhaps I’ll have time to stay there with her for a while before we have to leave again, that maybe the fighting can stop, if only briefly. That perhaps Khrelan will see the potential for the future of our species, and we can seek that out instead of revenge, for a time at least.

  I’m on the control deck when Malav walks in. “Ah, finally returned to your commander’s duties, I see.” He winks at me. “I thought perhaps you might never emerge again.”

  I roll my eyes. “I’m still your leader, you know.”

  “But now you have someone else to answer to, eh?” He elbows me lightly. “She’s truly turned your head, brother.”

  “I hope it’ll be your turn sooner rather than later,” I reply dryly. “And then you’ll understand.”

  Malav’s expression turns more serious, and he leans back against the console, facing me. “We’ll reach Kalix soon,” he says thoughtfully. “I know you’re excited about this, Tordax. I am as well. This could be an important development for our people—it could mean a new future for us. But you should be cautious when you tell Khrelan and the elders about Rose, and what you’ve discovered. Some of them are… traditional. They may not like the idea that we’ve begun to mate outside of our species. They may not wish to accept her.”