Savage Prince by Alison Aimes
23
Tess woke up to the sinking of the mattress and feather-like kisses against the back of her neck. She’d been so worn out from pleasure, she hadn’t even heard Maxheim leave the bed.
Nighttime shadows stretched across the room—though he’d left a light on for her—and the low vibrations echoing through the room told her they were moving at a rapid pace toward his home.
He’d told her before it would take at least two full rotations to reach his family, as the distance between the Federation sector and Skolov territory was substantial.
They’d barely left the bed, losing themselves in a frenzied tangle of lust and need, and the desire to erase everything ugly with something beautiful. They’d stopped only long enough to sleep for short bursts—or she’d slept. She suspected Maxheim had worked—and to learn that his eldest brother’s offspring had been born and that both mother and baby were healthy and doing well.
Otherwise, she and Maxheim had lost themselves in each other.
It had worked.
But not forever.
She was nervous about meeting his family. Nervous about the future. Heartsick over Mauve’s death. Terrified over the fate of her friends still with Rav.
A nip at the curve of her shoulder startled her.
She jumped. “Hey.”
Maxheim growled low, his fangs scraping the sensitive area. Heat cascaded down her spine to spark low in her belly. “I thought that might get your attention.”
“As if my thoughts could be anywhere else.”
“Good.” His tongue skimmed the shell of her ear, his voice a mix of heat and stern command as his body rubbed against hers. “Ground rules, remember? You focus on one thing omega: me.”
She laughed. It was such an entitled Alpha thing to say. But somehow with him, she now found it sexy—and impossible to resist.
So, she wouldn’t.
She might have the growing sense that what was between them might not be allowed to last, but in the meantime, she’d seize all the moments of joy she could.
Her only caveat to herself: she was going to try hard not to fall too much farther under the spell of the extraordinary male at her back.
Losing him and the tantalizing life he was offering would be hard enough already.
But that pain was for another rotation. Now was for pleasure, because soon enough they’d reach the Skolov compound and reality would intrude.
With a soft sigh, she melted deeper into the bed, lifting her ass to grind into the large bulge pressing into her back. “Yes, Alpha. That feels so good.”
“You’re the one who feels damn good.” He rocked harder against her while his hand slipped between the mattress and her belly to cup her pussy. “And you taste even better.”
Slick pooled between her already sticky thighs.
Her clit throbbed. “Please.”
He growled, the lips against her skin pressing harder as his thumb ghosted over the sensitive bundle of nerves. “I am going to fuck—”
He stilled. Then cursed. “Hells, I can’t believe I once thought I’d gain any control when it came to you.” His hand disappeared. “I didn’t wake you to rut you. I wanted to give you this.”
Without warning, he rolled her over.
Startled, she found herself staring up into intense, red-streaked eyes. Shaded in partial shadows, her dark prince loomed above, bare chested but with his trousers on. Hair tousled, square jaw slightly stubbled, a mouthwatering masculine display of rippling muscle, stunning eyes, and skillful lips.
Gods, he was beautiful. And she wanted him inside her, rutting her, knotting her.
“Here.”
He surprised her again.
Blinking, trying to focus, she dragged her attention to the hand thrust toward her face.
A tiny object shimmered in the center of Maxheim’s palm. Radiant enough that even in the shadowed light, it was easy to see.
He sat back on his haunches. Slipping her legs out from beneath him, she sat upright, pulling the sheet with her as she went.
“It’s gorgeous.” It was a tiny, sparkling ice castle. So realistic it could have been conjured from magic, replete with tiny windows and dramatic sweeping turrets. Like something she might have imagined in a dream.
It was beautiful. Fragile. Easily breakable.
She kept her hands by her side. “Where did you find that?”
A slight frown formed between his eyes. “I made it. It’s a hobby of mine. But this one is special, and I added the finishing touches while you were sleeping.”
“Amazing.” This male never ceased to surprise her.
Her palms twitched with the urge to reach for it, but she fought the impulse.
Instead, she peered closer. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen something so beautiful and well made.”
“Hold out your palm.” His words were a gruff command. “It’s yours now.”
Her hands curled into fists. “I couldn’t. It’s far too delicate and valuable.”
His scowl increased. “That’s why it’s perfect. I want you to have it.”
“Maxheim—”
“Tess,” he growled low again. “Take it.”
Hands trembling, she did as he commanded. Excitement and nerves raced through her in equal measure. It was heavier than she’d expected. And far less cold.
“I . . .” She swallowed hard. “It’s so beautiful. I-I can’t believe it’s mine.”
He studied her for a heartbeat, his scowl only deepening. But when he spoke, his voice was gentle. “Has no one given you a gift before?”
Throat too full, she shook her head.
“Hells.” He yanked her to him. “You’re fucking killing me.”
“Watch my gift!” Frantic, she clutched it protectively to her chest.
Chuckling, he pressed kisses to her forehead, nose, and mouth. “They’ll be plenty more. I’m going to give you a thousand such gifts. One for every rotation missed.”
She shook her head. “This is all I need.” She pushed at his chest with one hand. “Now, let me look closer.”
With a sigh, he pulled back.
She held it up to her face. She studied the intricate details once more. “I love it.”
“I’m glad. I choose this one especially for you. It’s made from Lalel flame crystal, a native Abzalian material found in our mountains.” His excitement was endearing and contagious. Yet another fact of this male she hadn’t expected.
“Let me show you the best thing about it.” He hummed low.
The tiny miniature in her hand glowed, a beautiful shimmering silver illumination that lit up the room around them.
She gasped. “I can’t believe it. It’s even more stunning like this.”
“Best of all, it will always light your way.”
Her breathing hitched. The full magnitude of what he’d done hit her.
“Maxheim.” Emotions crowded at the back of her throat.
Out of nowhere, her gift surged. But its essence was neither violent nor dark. Like with Mauve, it rippled with peaceful golden tendrils that snaked toward the male showing her a way of life she’d never believed possible.
He covered her hand with his own. “I will always find a way to light your way and keep you from the dark.”
Her breath hitched, then emerged as a single sob.
The lines at his eyes tightened. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. The exact opposite, in fact.”
His scowl deepened as if he didn’t believe her. “I’m going to find Byrel, I promise you. My soldiers are already combing through the records not damaged by the death squad for any clues to where he might be, or who his employer is.” He barely paused to take a breath, his grip on her hand tightening. “And I’m also looking into the death squad angle to see if we can dig anything up that way.”
She didn’t know when he’d had the time. Likely while she’d been sleeping.
“We have the faces of the two death squad soldiers I took out back at the auction, so I’m looking through facial recognition to try to get a hit. If I can get an identity, I can trace them back to who they work for. That intel will not only give us another player in this mess but also another lead to Byrel’s employer since he’s the one funding the death squad.” He growled low. “There will be no trading your life for theirs. I’ll find those bastards on my own.”
He was so determined. So fierce.
She’d told herself not to fall further under his spell, but it was too late.
“Thank you.” She took a deep breath. “Not just for the gift, but for everything you’re doing. I never thought I’d be one of the lucky ones. But that’s what it feels like.” She clutched her treasure closer. “That’s what it feels like to be yours, and I’m so glad you found me at the auction that rotation.” Her voice wobbled, but she pushed on. “So glad you claimed me. I didn’t know it at the time, but it was the best thing that ever happened to me.”
“Tess, baby?” His voice was low. Soft.
“Yes?”
“Put down the gift.”
Eyes blurry, she looked up at him, confused.
“I’m about to fuck those tears right out of you and I don’t want you thinking of anything but me when I do.”
She moaned. Her gift surged once more.
The glittering castle was plucked from her hand and placed on the high shelf. Then, before she’d even blinked, Maxheim was shoving down his pants and returning to her. The mattress dipped beneath his weight as his knees hit the bed and he prowled forward, cock bobbing and stretched toward her. His body so perfect it was art in motion. His gaze blood red and locked on her.
Rising to meet him, she raised her arms and reached for him. “Touch me.”
His mouth claimed hers. His arms wrapped around her.
The depth of his need slammed into her.
A match to her own.
Her spine hit the mattress with a bounce. He followed right behind, his mouth still on hers.
His hands were everywhere. Making her feel so good.
When they finally broke apart to draw breath, he demanded. “Tell me.”
She knew exactly what he wanted to hear. “I choose this. I choose you.”
“Damned right.” His mouth dipped, his teeth toying with her nipples. “So fucking sweet, and all mine.”
She cried out. The pleasure was intense.
He licked his way down her belly. Nipping. kissing. Making her burn.
“Spread those legs, beautiful.”
When she didn’t move fast enough, he took his big hands and spread her himself. Inhaling deep, his eyes feral and hungry, his nostrils flared as his fangs flashed and he breathed her in.
The intensity of his desire left her breathless.
No one ever made her feel like this. So safe and so reckless.
So cared for and so free.
Threading her fingers through his hair, she groaned as he speared her with his tongue and drove her wild.
Primed and ready, her body was already tightening, spiraling toward climax, when he gripped her hips and held her down, devouring her with the flat of his tongue as he worked her clit and gave no quarter.
Her climax ripped through her, violent and fierce. “Maxheim.” His name was a plea and a prayer. “Come inside me, please.”
With a growl, he surged upward. She was still coming as he gripped his dick and stroked it once, twice, before slamming inside her. “Mine.”
She threw back her head. Moaned low.
Even prepared, she still felt stretched beyond reason. She panted as she struggled to accommodate him.
“No one is taking you from me.” His proprietary words sent him sinking another few inches deeper.
His hands slid beneath her bottom, kneading as he worked her up and down his cock, their slick bodies moving in perfect rhythm.
She moaned, the pleasure immense, the throbbing at her wrists and throat only adding to the burning need building inside her.
Her hands cradled his jaw. “So good.”
He pressed his forehead to hers. Rocked in and out. “What’s between us, baby. It’s the kind of light that will never dim.”
And right there, without even expecting it, she toppled the rest of the way over into love.
She couldn’t help herself. She’d tried to resist it.
She knew it was likely the worst idea in the galaxy, but there was no stopping herself from careening right over the edge.
She’d been hurt so many times, the trust inside her little more than a few frayed pieces of tinsel and cord, stitched into an equally ragged, worn down heart, but it didn’t matter.
Those few stubborn strands that were left reached toward Maxheim nonetheless, stretching toward his light and his steady patience and his powerful will and all the extraordinary parts of him that made it impossible for her to do anything but fall madly, deeply, wildly, stupidly in love.
“Tess.” Her name on his lips was a low rumble of need and awe. “Omega.”
He felt it too, the tie between them strengthening as it burrowed deeper into her soul and his.
He planted himself deeper inside her, his cock plowing past any resistance. Her channel squeezed him tight.
They moaned as one.
He thrust faster. Never breaking eye contact as he fucked her hard.
He was so fierce and powerful, but he treated her soul with such gentleness.
Who could not fall for a male like that?
“Do it. Please, Maxheim.” She begged him, just as he said she would. “Bite me. Make me yours in every way.”
He stilled. His chest heaved, his gaze suddenly wild and a little desperate. “Repeat that.”
Her lips titled upward. Even now, he was bossy and commanding. But she wouldn’t have it any other way. And she wanted this more than she’d ever wanted her freedom.
“Bite me, please.” She bared her neck. “I belong to you. Just as you do me.”
His roar echoed through the room, a primitive claim of victory and possession.
The omega in her went wild, slick rushing through her channel.
Before her next breath, he pulled himself out, flipped her, and slid his hand beneath her belly. “Present.”
It was a ferocious command. Her clit throbbed with need.
She scrambled to her hands and knees.
“Wider.”
She spread her legs as he palmed her neck, tilting her head to the side. Still on his knees behind her, he drove his cock deep.
They groaned as one.
“Mine.” He roared the claim once more. “Until the end.” He bent forward, his hard chest against her spine, his breath a caress against her neck. “Because there is no one braver, stronger, or kinder in the galaxy than you, Tess.” He paused. “I could not be prouder to call you my fated mate.”
Awe whispered through her. From slave to princess, from hunted to treasured, from killer to adored lover. She could scarcely believe this had become her life, but it was true.
She only hoped it could last.
Fangs sank into the meat at her throat and shoulder.
She moaned as white-hot pleasure slammed into her. The hand beneath her hips was her only mooring as the force of his thrusts slapped against her bottom and the pleasure dragged her under.
It was a rapture like nothing she’d known before, ricocheting from her core to her toes and back again, as her body shuddered under the dual possession of his fangs and his cock.
He sucked. Thrust. And she took it all. Writhed beneath the beauty of it.
She was breaking apart. And being built back together.
Flung into space and beyond. Set free in a way she had never expected.
She was cared for. Safe.
Claimed.
“Mine.” He growled the word over and over, a chant against her skin that mixed with her screams as her climax set him off and he came, filling her with his cum.
Their shared frenzy went on forever, until his knot swelled and movement became impossible.
Breathing hard, they sank into the mattress, his arms still wrapped tight around her, his knot keeping them locked tight.
His lips pressed to the back of her neck, and then the bite marks. “Mine.”
The magnitude of what they’d done vibrated between them.
Lifting her hair, his tongue traced a line across the hollow of her throat, and she didn’t have to see his triumphant expression to know the fated-mate marks had deepened and thickened.
The foolish organ inside her chest pounded against her ribs. “Yours.” Her fingers traced the strong, scarred hand that lay against her belly. “Just as you are mine.”
He growled low and swelled inside her. “Yes. Yours.”
That’s what she hadn’t understood before. That’s what he’d had to show her to make her believe. He wasn’t just intent on taking. He intended to give as well. More than she’d ever thought possible.
She was his. And he was hers.
She could never regret what they’d just done.
She could only hope it wouldn’t cause them more pain in the end.
Because neither Rav nor the Brotherhood would care that she was now his. In fact, that situation might only make things worse.
“I can’t believe I thought there was a time when all you did was work.” A deep voice boomed from right outside the bedroom, sending her jumping.
Maxheim didn’t flinch, but he did look pissed. “What in the hells? Damien?”
“And Alexi,” came another voice. “Which you should have scented ages ago—along with the fact that your shuttle’s been docked for at least fifteen minutes—but I guess that crazy, freakish focus of yours applies to fucking as much as it does to work.”
“Shut up, Alexi,” hissed the first deep voice. The one she now knew was Damien. “You must really have a death wish. That’s crude and Maxheim is going to kick your ass. You don’t even know his omega yet.”
“You shut up,” responded the even lower voice, sounding not the least bit troubled or afraid. “She’s got to get used to the family sometime.”
Maxheim pressed his mouth to her ear. “You really don’t need to get used to them. I can kill them if you need me to.”
Despite the craziness of it all, she smiled.
“We heard that,” said Damien. “But death threats will have to wait.” He paused. “My men just finished exchanging fire on the outer perimeter of our territory with an unmarked shuttle that I suspect was filled with the death squad killers who just came from the compound.”
Oh, gods. She stiffened in Maxheim’s hold. It was as she’d feared. She’d brought death and destruction to his family’s home. “I don’t understand why they’re looking for me,” she whispered the words to Maxheim.
But the answer came from beyond the door. “Bait.”
“Shut up, both of you.” Maxheim stroked a hand down her spine, attempting to soothe, but she sensed his tension beneath. “It’s going to be fine.”
“Yes, it will be,” Alexi agreed, and for a moment, she felt better. Until he added, “But first we need to deal with Prendel and Kuril. The Brotherhood Council heads have come for a special emergency visit.” He paused. “They keep insisting we know more than we’re letting on.”
Maxheim cursed. “Because we do. But how in the hells do they know that?”
Knot gone, likely thanks to his brothers’ news, he pulled out. She immediately missed him inside her, but there was no time for lament.
Drawing her from the bed, he shoved her clothes into her hands and spoke to his brothers. “I’m coming, but I will need to secure Tess somewhere safe.”
“We’re already on it. Guards are waiting outside to take her to Nikolai’s bedroom where Dahlia, the baby, and Anya are stashed away.” Damien paused, sounding almost gleeful. “A safe, secure room in case it comes to war and things get bloody.”
That did not sound promising.
“Damien,” barked Maxheim. “Shut up.”
“What? What did I say?”
Heart pounding, she scrambled into the dress Maxheim handed her. It was a little big, but the ties at the shoulders and along the back made it workable. She laced up as quickly as possible.
“Thanks for the intel, but I’ve got it from here.” Maxheim shook his head, clearly annoyed with his brother’s zeal. “Go back to Nikolai. I’ll meet you as soon as I can.”
“Alpha,” she kept still as he rushed around her getting ready, “this is too dangerous for you and your family. I—”
He cut her off and gripped her hands. “This is happening. And while it’s not how I imagined family introductions going, I’m getting used to my plans going to shit around you.”
He grabbed her, pressing a ferocious kiss to her mouth. “Mine.”
Then he was spinning her around and she barely had time to grab her precious gift from the top shelf before he bundled her in a heavy fur cloak and dragged her out the door.