King of Eon by Anna Hackett ePUB)
Chapter Twelve
He woke to the scent of sweet-smelling skin and silk tickling his nose.
Gayel opened his eyes, then smiled. Alea was half sprawled on top of him, the dark silk of her hair spread over him, one breast pressed to his chest and her arm tossed over his abdomen.
Instantly, he was hard.
Cren. He played with her hair, rubbing it between his fingers. He’d had her numerous times already. They’d dozed, then he’d woken and rolled her under him. Once, she’d woken him, and climbed on top, riding him until they’d both shattered.
The desire hadn’t dimmed. No, the fire felt hotter and brighter than ever.
He shifted a little to look at her. By the warriors. He frowned. There were small bruises and bite marks over her skin. His marks.
He’d never been so…rough, wild.
He stroked a hand down her sleek back. The need had been so strong that all their couplings had been fast, frantic, and wild.
Now the edge was off enough for him to take his time.
He wanted to indulge, explore.
She stirred and he dropped a kiss to her bare shoulder.
Her head whipped around and she looked at him with sleepy eyes.
Captain Rodriguez disarmed. He liked seeing her like this, because in his gut he knew that so few did. He stroked his hands lower, shaping her firm buttocks.
“Sleep well?” he asked.
“When I was actually sleeping. What time is it?”
“It’s still night. We’ve been out for a few hours.”
She rolled onto her side.
His cock throbbed and he skimmed his hand up her body. She arched into his touch.
“I love how you’re made, Alea. Beautiful, strong.” He gently pinched her nipple. “Soft and hard in all the right places.”
He skimmed her jaw, traced her lips. She sucked his finger into her mouth and his gut clenched hard.
He leaned over her and kissed her.
He pushed his tongue between her lips and she moaned. Her hand arrowed between them, short nails scraping over his abs.
When she found his cock, he hissed.
Alea made a humming sound. “I think it’s my turn to explore this hard, glorious body of yours.”
He pushed into her palm. “I’m all yours, shara.”
She sat up, gaze running over him, spending time on his hard, jutting cock.
He groaned.
“Lie back,” she ordered. “Arms above your head. Grip the headboard.”
Heat flashed through him. He was a man who gave orders, not obeyed them.
But for this woman, he was happy to oblige.
Gayel reached back and gripped the carved wood. The muscles in his arms and chest flexed, and he saw hunger ignite on her face.
“You are so damn beautiful.” She straddled him, stroking his chest. “Designed to drive a woman to bad mistakes.”
“This is not a mistake,” he growled. “We are not a mistake.”
She smiled, but he saw the doubts dancing in her eyes. She’d come to him, to his bed, but she still wasn’t convinced.
His jaw clenched. He was the king of the Eon. He’d find a way to convince her.
Alea leaned over him and explored. She ran kisses over his chest, stopping to nibble whenever and wherever she wanted.
Gayel’s fingers clenched on the wood, his breathing turning ragged.
She moved lower, and raked her teeth over the ridges of his abs. He jerked.
“Don’t let go,” she warned. Her finger flicked at his flat nipple. When her hand gripped his cock, he groaned. It took everything he had to hold the headboard. To not spring up and pin her beneath him.
Like the rest of him, she took her time stroking, exploring.
His groans turned guttural. His gaze locked on her, watching her stroke him. Cren. This made the need worse.
Then she lowered her head to his cock. Her mouth closed over him.
“Alea.” It was half plea, half prayer.
She licked and sucked, and Gayel slammed his head back into the pillows, his hips bucking up.
He drove more of his cock into her mouth. She sucked harder. His groans filled the room.
“Shara, now. Please.”
She looked up his body. Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes fever bright.
Then she shifted, crawling up and parting her legs wider.
She rubbed where she was hot and damp over his straining cock. Then she positioned herself, lowering enough so the swollen head of his cock slipped inside her.
Desire had claws. Gayel couldn’t control it any longer.
He reared up, gripped her hips, and thrust her down.
She took his cock, all the way, and cried out. Her cry mingled with his strangled shout.
“Gayel.” She shivered, her hands clenching on his shoulders.
“Move, Alea.” He slid a hand into her dark hair and tugged.
She lifted her hips and rode him.
Watching her move, pleasure on her face, drove him higher. By Eschar’s embrace, she was stunning. His.
He slid his hand down to the small nub between her thighs. She cried out.
“That’s it,” he groaned. “Come for me.”
Her lips parted. She sank down on his cock again, and then she jolted. He watched the shock of pleasure hitting her. She writhed, crying out.
More. Deeper. Filled with a primitive need, Gayel reared up. He spun her onto her hands and knees.
“Need to get deeper.” He palmed her ass and she pushed back against him.
He positioned his cock and sank deep with one thrust.
Her body clenched on him and he groaned her name.
She fell forward, her cheek to the bed. Stretching her arms out to the sides.
Gayel gripped her hips and thrust into her, pistoning into her with an urgency that drove him onward.
“Alea.”
“Come inside me,” she panted.
He thrust hard, his fingers biting into her flesh. She’d have more bruises.
The orgasm hit him in a blinding rush, and he realized she was coming again, too. He groaned, his body shuddering until he felt wrung out.
He heard her gasping breaths. He lay beside her, curling around her and tangling their legs.
“Glad you scaled my balcony,” he said.
She sighed. “Me, too.”
He still felt those walls inside of her. And he was still determined to bring them down. But for now, she was warm and relaxed in his arms, and that was all that mattered.
* * *
A partof her didn’t want to wake up. She was in a comfy bed, she felt slightly achy, but her body was loose and relaxed.
Mostly, Alea knew she had to face reality if she opened her eyes.
She smelled Gayel’s masculine scent, mingling with the scent of sex. Unsurprising, considering that they’d had a lot of it during the night.
Alea opened her eyes.
The bed beside her was empty. For a second, she wondered if she dreamed it all.
No. There he was.
He was standing at the window, the curtains dancing in the breeze. It was still early, the room filled with murky, silver light.
He was naked, and she drank in the expanse of muscled back and that gorgeous ass.
He was delicious, so potently masculine. Even now, achy and tired from everything they’d done, she wanted him.
Sensing her, he turned.
“Good morning.” His voice was a deep rumble.
“Hi.” She sat up.
He strode toward her. “I don’t want you to regret this.”
“I don’t, Gayel.” She sighed. “I just need time to process.” She had no idea where they went from here.
His hand cupped her cheek. The purple strands in his eyes glowed.
Then his other hand touched her shoulder, her breast.
She realized he was touching the smudges of bruises and marks he’d left on her.
“I should be sorry,” he said.
“You don’t sound sorry.”
“I’m not.” He scooped her up.
“Gayel.” He strode across to the balcony. “Where are you taking me?”
“You’ll see.”
When he stepped outside, she squeaked. “Gayel. We’re naked.”
That’s when she realized that they weren’t on the main balcony. This was a smaller one off his bedroom. Private. It was surrounded by walls covered in green vines.
A small hot tub burbled quietly.
“Oh.”
He stepped into the tub and sat down. The water was warm and soothing.
Alea swallowed a moan. It felt so good.
He sat on the ledge and settled her on his lap. She leaned back against him. She was a Space Corps officer; he was an alien king. One who needed to marry for the sake of his Empire. It left a sick feeling rolling through her. She didn’t see how they’d make that work.
She had no answers, but for now, she’d soak up simply being with him.
“Moments like this are rare,” he said.
She’d already seen how many demands he had on his time. When did he get a chance to just be Gayel? The man? Did he ever let his guard down and do something that pleased him?
“For me, too,” she said. “On a starship, there’s always a crisis to deal with. And since I took over Space Corps Headquarters security, my workload hasn’t lessened.”
“Do you like your work?”
“I am my work.” Enlisting in Space Corps had saved her life. Otherwise, she might’ve ended up like her parents, or her aunt. She bit her lip. “I’d be nothing without it.”
His hands flexed on her skin. “You’re more than your work and duty, Alea.”
She stayed quiet.
“Do you think all I am is a king?”
She swiveled. “No!”
“Then—”
“You’re a son, a brother, and an uncle.”
He stilled, cupping her jaw. “And you don’t have that.”
His face was so aristocratic, so handsome.
“No.”
“Through no fault of your own. You’re still Alea, not just Captain Rodriguez.” He cupped her breasts. “A passionate, beautiful woman.”
She stared at him. He saw more in her. “Gayel—”
“I want time with you.”
She closed her eyes. “My job is to bring you your potential brides, not sleep with you.”
She saw anger flare.
“Sleep with me? That’s not all this is.”
“Gayel—”
“There’s more to us and you know it.” His kiss was fierce, hard on her lips.
He gripped her and rose. Dripping wet, he carried her back inside. His mouth hit hers again—hot, a little angry.
She was so weak. She kissed him back instantly.
Alea wanted him so damn badly. He set her down beside the bed.
Suddenly, there was a sound of a door opening.
“Gayel?” His sister called from the sitting chamber.
Alea froze. Oh, God. They were both very wet and very naked.
With a muttered curse, Gayel snatched a blanket off the bed and wrapped it around both of them.
“I have a—oh.” Adlyn stumbled to a halt in the doorway.
God. Alea dropped her face to Gayel’s chest.
“Adlyn, I require you to knock,” Gayel said.
“Right. Sure.” He sister’s voice was full of amusement. “I’ll remember for next time. Hi, Alea.”
“Adlyn.”
The woman was smiling. But a second later, it dissolved. “I am sorry to interrupt, but we have an emergency call from the Rengard.” The female warrior scowled. “It’s about the Kantos.”
Alea sucked in a breath and her gaze met Gayel’s.
“Give us a minute,” he said. “We’ll meet you in the main hall.”
His sister nodded and left.
Alea had no time to deal with getting caught by his sister.
Gayel strode to his closet, and Alea pulled on the previous day’s clothes. She did what she could with her tangled hair.
Not long afterward, she strode down the corridor beside Gayel. She sensed the tension growing in him.
This must be what it felt like to be king. A rare moment to be yourself, before you were pulled back into shouldering all the responsibility.
They entered the great hall. At the far end, a screen was lit up with Malax on screen.
“Malax,” Gayel said.
“Gayel.”
“What have you got?”
“Well, the Oronis were right. There is a substantial Kantos fleet moving deeper into Eon space.”
Alea gasped. “How?”
“They were cloaked. Now they aren’t.” The war commander stared straight at his king. “We don’t know what tech they’ve used, but there are a lot of them. A formidable force.”
Gayel put his hands on his hips. “Cren.”
“Gayel, they’re converging on Orzon.”
Alea saw his eyes flare, a muscle ticking in his jaw.
“What’s Orzon?” Alea asked.
“A small planet in Eon space. It’s where our young warriors are trained.”
Her insides went cold. “No.”
“Yes. And there’s also a large civilian population there. Scientists, communities, trainers, schools.”
Malax leaned forward. “They’re amassing what looks to be their entire fleet, Gayel.”
Gayel straightened. “Then we do the same. All Eon warships to Orzon. We will protect what’s ours. Our young, our people, our warriors, our planet.” He looked at Alea. “Our allies.”
She nodded. “We’re with you.” She looked back at the screen. “I’ll contact Space Corps.”
“Alert all our ships and warriors,” Gayel ordered. “Get to Orzon. This is war.”