Kinn by Mina Carter

9

The sun rose,breaking across the morning sky with a soft, warm glow that he would have stopped and admired on any other morning. Earth was, even after what the L’crav had done, a paradise far better than some of the xarthing hellholes where they’d been forced to live. He couldn’t remember any of them, though. They were no longer important so he let them go, tilting his face up to the sun and letting it warm his skin.

Closing his eyes, he let himself slip back into the times he’d spent with his omega. No, not his omega. Serena. Her name was Serena. Whispering her name, he remembered the light of battle in her eyes as she sassed him in the healer’s hall, the feel of her lips under his. The soft smell of her hair when he kissed the top of her head.

He loved her. Not that he’d ever admit those words aloud, but he did. More than his own life. And if giving it up it meant she would live and be happy, that was the only choice he had left.

He tightened his grip on the handle of his blades, the ribbons catching in the breeze and fluttering against his hands. If he closed his eyes, he could almost imagine it was Serena touching him again. He gave himself one last moment to pretend and then opened his eyes and raised his weapons. A warrior did not go out of this world with his eyes closed.

The light was bright enough to make him blink, and when his vision returned, he saw her. She was running toward him, eyes wide and cheeks marked with tears. It wasn’t real. A gift from the gods perhaps, or the last gasp of his sanity as he fell into madness.

He drove the first blade toward his torso but then froze when Serena’s cry reached his ears. “No! You are mine, T’kinn of the H’thor. Don’t you dare try to get out of this now.”

He froze, watching her. This was it. His mind had finally unraveled. Holding his arms out, he offered up his blades to Warr and Jaxx.

“You will have to complete the ritual,” he told them, his throat tight with emotion. “I am… I… specters haunt me.”

“That’s not a specter, my friend.” Jaxx clapped a hand down on his wrist, staying the blade he’d offered to him.

“That is an omega trying to issue you orders.” Warr’s words were laced with horror and outrage, his own weapon already in his hand. “Unacceptable!”

“No. It’s not real. She’s not…” Kinn looked again, trying to see past the tricks his mind was playing.

Serena threw herself at him, putting her own slender body between him and the blades. She looked up, not at him, but at his two companions, and her eyes were pure black. With a feral snarl she lunged at them, her fingers contorted into claws and her lovely face twisted in fury. “Don’t you touch him! Mine!”

He snapped out of his daze to wrap his arms around her, capturing her against his chest. She snarled and sliced at the air over his shoulders, trying to get at Jaxx and Warr.

“Mine!” she snarled again.

He parthed, the sound flowing from him as he buried his nose in her hair. If he’d lost his mind, he no longer cared. She was here. She’d come back to him. He was complete.

Slowly, she calmed down, settling into his embrace. But she kept her eyes on the two warriors behind him.

“You… might want to back up,” he broke his parth to warn them, feeling the tension in her slender body. “She’s with child. I don’t want her stressed.”

She hissed at them and then buried her face against his neck, nipping at his throat. “Mine.”

“Always, little star.” He cradled the back of her head in his hand, holding her gently against him as she settled even deeper into his arms. A soft sound rose from her chest as she started to parth back to him, the sound buzzing against his neck and filling him with desire so raw and primal he wanted to roar.

He looked out and saw the Mother Superior speaking to Lord Tane. Both of them looked pleased, though Tane looked down at the little human with a focus that would have made most of his warriors find somewhere else to be.

Warr cursed and vanished, darting into the still-gawking crowd of warriors who had come to see him off.

Kinn couldn’t find the energy to care where his friend had gone or why he’d left his post. He had all he needed. Answers could wait.

He lifted Serena into his arms, carrying her as he got to his feet. “I’m taking you home now.”

“Yes.” She parthed louder and smiled. “Home.”

Rising to his feet, he cradled her close to his chest as he walked right past his brother warriors, not even seeing them. All his attention was on the tiny female in his arms. His female. His omega.

Serena.

He walked through the citadel, savoring the feeling of her soft weight against him. His heart was full as she stroked gentle fingertips against the back of his neck and slid them through his hair.

Finally, they were in their rooms, in their bed chamber. Dimly he was aware they had been cleaned and the ruined furniture replaced. Pausing at the side of the bed, he looked down at her, memorizing her beautiful face.

“If this is madness,” he admitted in a low voice, “I don’t care.”

To his delight, she laughed. It was a bright, airy sound like silver bells and sunlight. “I came back. I think that makes me mad, too. But when I heard…”

She touched his face. “You would have done that? For me?”

“Whatever it takes to protect you. Always.”

Serena uttered a tiny sigh. “Don’t you ever do that again. I have no idea how to raise a baby, never mind one that’s half alien, so here’s the deal. We don’t leave. Either of us. Ever.”

“Ever,” he agreed. “Though you have to stop giving me orders, little star. That is not how it works.”

Her eyes narrowed. “I’ll stop… when we’re in public.”

He tried to hold it back, but a growl escaped the back of his throat. “I am alpha—”

She put her fingertips over his lips. “And I am your omega. Without each other we are nothing. Are we?”

The light of battle was back in her eyes, the sassiness back in her voice, and the sense of relief that washed over him was so complete his knees almost gave out there and then. He covered by sinking to the bed with her in his arms.

“I will allow your orders,” he admitted, hiding his smile. “But only in the bedchamber.”

“Good.” She nodded sagely, but he’d lost her attention. Her gaze slid sideways to the mounds of soft blankets on the end of the bed. He didn’t recognize any of them. They’d obviously been placed here by whoever had cleaned up their quarters, but he could kiss whoever it was when she wriggled free of his hold and leaped on them with a soft squeak of delight.

Then, he watched in delight as she made a nest.

When she had everything arranged to her liking, she stripped out of her clothes and settled into the middle of it, gesturing with her fingers for him to join her. She was almost playful as she coaxed him to her, the scent of her arousal nearly as intoxicating as her smile. It was the first time she’d built a nest large enough for both of them.

He didn’t hesitate, taking only as long as he needed to shred his clothes. Naked and hungry, he prowled over to her, not stopping until she was under him, her soft body already writhing against his as he found her lips and sealed them with a kiss.

“Finally, you welcome me to your nest, little star,” he murmured, parting her thighs with a hard knee. Mindful of her condition, he was careful to keep his weight off her. “I am the luckiest male alive.”

“And don’t you forget it.” His beautiful omega wrapped one leg around his waist, her nails digging into his shoulders as she pulled him closer. She tore her mouth from his to nuzzle the side of his neck.

“I need you, Kinn. Please. Make me yours again.” She parthed and nipped his neck, sending a jolt of pure lust through him. “And then I can make you mine.”

He should have gone slower. Brought her to orgasm before he took what he needed, but he couldn’t wait. Not when her mouth was at his throat and her words rang in his ears.

“Mine,” he growled, arching his back so his cock rubbed along the slit of her slick folds. “Say it, Serena.”

“Yours.” This time it was different. Better. It was more than a surrender. It was a joining. He groaned her name and slid into her, forcing himself to move slowly to give her time to adjust.

She arched, keened, and then bit him. Pain and pleasure exploded inside him and he drove himself deep. She rose to meet him, their lovemaking wilder and fiercer than anything he’d ever experienced before. Slow wasn’t an option. It hadn’t been the instant her little blunt teeth broke his skin.

They moved together, each stroke and slide driving the heat and need between them higher. He wasn’t going to last. Neither of them were. Their need for each other was too great. Sensing her tense beneath him, he pulled back to look into her eyes and saw the need and love there.

“Mine. My little star,” he murmured and thrust her over the edge into pleasure.

She screamed his name, and that was all it took.

Kinn threw back his head and roared, her name blending with his as they joined not just their bodies but their hearts as well.

His knot formed, tying them together in bliss as he emptied himself inside her.

She licked his neck and then turned her head to kiss him again, letting him taste his blood on her lips.

“Mine,” her snarl was as deep and fierce as any alpha’s.

“Yes, you are.” He kissed her again. “And I am yours. Always.”