Chapter 7
Tira was self-aware enough to know that she didn’t have the qualities necessary to be a mother, but she enjoyed being an honorary aunt. At the same time, she felt she could perform the role better than she had so far. Cord’s unexpected appearance on the planetoid had proven that.
She adored the boy, and she always enjoyed her time with him, which was why she couldn’t believe she had forgotten such an important milestone. As his only blood relation—apart from her sister, but no one counted her—she should have been the first to offer him blessings on his birthday.
Well, right after his parents, of course.
Isla had come a long way from the frightened, timid orphan who had arrived on Xenthian. Now, she was bold, confident, and a staunch defender of the innocent. As Cord’s adoptive mother, there was no fiercer protector in the galaxy.
Maybe some of that had been a result of her conversion, but Tira didn’t think so. Isla had always had it in her. She’d just needed someone to show her. Someone to bring out those qualities.
Enter the Cadell brothers.
The day they had barged into the citadel without any sense of honor or even respect, she had wanted nothing more than to dump them into a dungeon cell and throw away the key. Their demands that the king—and by extension Tira—hand over Isla to face charges for her mother’s murder had infuriated her.
Especially when no one, not even the Krytos, had thought her truly guilty of the crime.
Sure, they had eventually come around. They had even helped Isla clear her name and bring the real villains to justice. As far as Tira knew, they were devoted mates to the female, and doting fathers to Cord, surrounding them both with love and protection.
Tira still disliked them on pure principle.
“You’re still thinking about it, aren’t you?”
Startled out of her thoughts, Tira blinked, surprised to see that the shuttle had already come to a stop outside of her quarters.
“I don’t know what you mean.”
Vadis chuckled as the door opened for them to exit. “That’s not a no.”
“Okay, fine.” She saw no reason to deny the truth. “I was thinking about Cord.”
Remorse she understood, but guilt had always seemed like a useless emotion. Yet, it had invaded her, and she couldn’t shake it.
She hadn’t been very involved in Cord’s life since he’d left Xenthian. Partly, that had been for his own wellbeing.
As an elder, her uncle had abused his power to bring untold tragedy to the planet. To this day, she couldn’t say exactly how many people he had murdered, but she guessed it to be far more than the official count.
Of course, Cord was only a child, and no one held him responsible for the sins of his father. They still felt uneasy around him, though. Some even feared him. Which was why it had been decided the best thing for him was to leave the planet with Isla and her mates.
Sadly, that hadn’t been the only reason for Tira’s continued distance, and the other part of it was far less noble. She was selfish. Too involved with her own matters to reach out to the boy. It really was no excuse, either. No matter how busy she became with her duties, she could have spared five minutes.
It had been a choice to limit contact, and it had been the wrong one.
“Don’t worry, Captain,” Vadis told her as they stepped through the front door of her bungalow. “You’ll find a way to make it up to him.”
It was exactly the right thing to say. If he had tried to convince her that she had done nothing wrong, she would have dismissed him. She couldn’t deny that her inaction had been a mistake, and now she needed to take responsibility and make things right.
“That, I will,” she vowed.
Vadis gently cuffed the side of her head with a grin. “That’s the spirit.”
When he started to walk away, she stepped in front of him to block his path with a hand to his chest and pushed up on her toes for a chaste kiss. “Thank you, Vadis Kesski. You are a most unusual male.”
One side of his mouth quirked into a crooked grin. “Is that good or bad?”
He had asked her that before, but this time, she didn’t hesitate. This time, she knew the answer. “It is a very good thing indeed.”
A low growl vibrated his chest, and he reached for her. Just before he made contact, however, he seemed to think better of it and lowered his hand.
He had been so patient and understanding with her. He had allowed her to set the pace, to approach their relationship as slowly as she needed. Instead of just empty words, he had proved himself at every turn by respecting the limits she had set and never crossing those imposed boundaries.
In the beginning, before she had been sure, those restrictions had been necessary. Now, she didn’t want to play it safe. She no longer wanted to be alone and keep everyone at arm’s length. By the ancestors, she didn’t even know what she had been trying to protect herself from, but she didn’t want to wait another moment to start her life with him.
He was a part of her she couldn’t deny. Her past might be filled with deceit and darkness, but with Vadis by her side, she saw only light in her future. She wanted him—heart, body, and soul—and she had never been more certain of anything.
“Don’t stop.” Catching his hand, she brought it to her cheek and nuzzled against his palm. “I’m ready.”
Vadis swallowed audibly. “Daka?”
Leaning into him, she swiveled her hips against his trapped erection, leaving no doubt as to her intentions. “I’m ready,” she repeated. “Make me yours.”
Locking his arms around her waist, Vadis hauled her up from the floor and slanted their mouths together in a blistering kiss that stole her breath. “Mine,” he murmured against her lips. “All mine.”
“As you are mine.”
Her patience waned as a firestorm of longing built inside her. She needed him like she needed air, and she had no tolerance for slow and gentle seduction. With only a thought, she teleported them to her temporary bedroom, dropping them both onto the mattress…sans their clothing.
“Damn,” Vadis groaned, squeezing his eyes closed and shaking his head. “A little warning next time, Captain.”
In response, she wrapped her arms around his neck and dragged him close to scrape her blunt teeth down the side of his neck. “You can scold me later.”
“Deal.”
With a cocky smirk, he captured her mouth again as he settled on top of her, trapping her against the mattress.
Moaning, she opened readily, arching into him as he thrust his tongue between her lips. Of course, she could have freed herself in an instant, but she didn’t. Not when she was exactly where she wanted to be.
He wasn’t sweet or gentle. He didn’t cajole or tease. He took what he wanted, claiming her mouth in a hard, demanding kiss filled with dominance and possession. He consumed her, overwhelmed her, and every confident stroke of his tongue felt like a mimicry of things to come.
Stars, she wanted him, needed him with an intensity that seared her veins and made her head spin. She couldn’t think, couldn’t speak. Her skin felt too tight, too hot, and every touch sent a pulse of desire straight to her clenching pussy.
Fisting her hands in his long hair, she tugged sharply, wordlessly demanding more as she writhed beneath him, but Vadis wouldn’t be hurried. In fact, he seemed to relish in his relentless assault on her senses.
Clearly determined to drive her out of her mind, he broke the kiss and trailed his lips down her neck in leisurely, teasing strokes. The stubble on his jaw scraped against her sensitive skin, pushing her arousal higher as he nibbled his way down her body, ending in the shallow valley of her navel. Moaning, she arched into him and pushed on his shoulders, trying to direct him to where she needed his mouth most.
Instead of dipping his head those last few inches, however, he gripped her by the hips and pinned her to the mattress, stilling her movements.
“Vadis!”
Chuckling quietly, he reversed his trek, sliding back up her body to nuzzle her breast before sucking her erect nipple between his lips. He tugged and teased, worrying the tight bud with his teeth and stoking the embers of pleasure that burned throughout her.
Her pussy throbbed and clenched with every hard pull, the bite of pain only pushing her need higher. Easily breaking his hold, she bowed up from the bed and locked her legs around his hips, shivering when his thick cock slid along the crease of her thigh.
“Now.”
“So impatient,” he murmured as he dragged his lips up her sternum to tease her throat again.
“I will not deny it.” The growl in her voice startled her, but not enough for her to care. She was far past the point of civility. “I need you.”
Lifting his head, he pierced her with those haunting eyes. Whatever he found in her expression must have convinced him, because his irises darkened to a deep crimson, and he shuddered hard as he fell into the cradle of her thighs.
The head of his cock pressed heavily against her entrance, rigid and throbbing, coaxing her tight muscles to relax. Their gazes met and held, and a feral growl rumbled through his chest as he thrust forward, plunging deep into her clenching core.
Tira cried out, her muscles tensing as she arched up to meet him. There was no slow buildup. No more languid teasing. Hooking his elbow beneath her knee, he opened her wider, changing the angle as he drove into her hard and fast.
His groan vibrated against her chest as he gave over to his need, snapping his hips and driving into her with a palpable desperation. Over and over, he impaled her, filling her, stretching her wider with every inward stroke. Growls and snarls erupted from his mouth, mingling with her own moans and whimpers to create an erotic symphony that echoed through the room.
The world tilted, time stood still, and everything else faded except for Vadis. In that moment, nothing else existed. Nothing else mattered. Clutching his shoulders, she rocked against him, chanting his name as she chased the orgasm that hovered just beyond her reach.
So, when he retreated without warning and sat back on his heels, she let loose a feral growl of her own. Before she could offer words of protest, however, he flipped her over on the mattress, jerked her hips into the air, and drove back inside her.
Strung tight, half-craze with need, she dug her hands into the comforter and shoved back, pushing herself onto his stiff length, meeting him thrust for punishing thrust.
The new angle pulled him deeper into her channel, and when the spongy crown hit just the right spot, it drew a shaky moan from her lips. Damn, he was big. He thick length filled her completely, stretching her inner walls and creating a delicious pressure that continued to build as his pace increased.
With one hand still braced on the bed, she reached between her thighs with the other, searching for her swollen clit. Blanketing her back, Vadis batted her hand away, nipping at the back of her neck as he replaced it with his own. The first brush of his calloused fingers against the slick nub sent sparks of electricity coursing through her. The second stroke had her screaming into the comforter.
When the third came, she shattered into millions of sparkling pieces.
Rolled beneath a wave of blinding pleasure, she shuddered and quaked, every muscle in her body tightening as she rode out her orgasm.
She was still vibrating from aftershocks when Vadis hauled her up from the bed, turned her again, and pulled her across his lap. With his knee, he parted her thighs, urging her to straddle his hips as his heavy erection throbbed between them.
“Again.”
A strangled moan ripped from her throat, and that one word was all it took for her core to tighten, slickening once more with desire, aching to be stretched and filled.
With one arm around her waist and the other hooked behind her knee, he positioned her over the head of his cock and thrust upward, seating himself in one, swift plunge. Fully sheathed, he paused, shuddering as his thick length pulsed inside her.
“Mine,” he groaned. “You are mine.”
“And you are mine.”
Nothing and no one would ever change that.
“Mine,” he repeated, and he sounded more animal than man.
He stroked into her in a slow, measured rhythm, growling as his length slid between the folds of her slick pussy.
“More,” she demanded, feeling her orgasm building once more. “More, Vadis.”
Her head spun, instincts driving her harder, faster, pushing her closer to the edge of no return. Perspiration dampened her skin, and her inner walls clenched in waves, pulling him deeper into her throbbing pussy.
Needing no further encouragement, he slid a hand down her stomach, pausing at the top of her cleft before forcing it between her trembling thighs. He found her clit easily, pressing his thumb against the bundle of nerves and drawing fast, tight circles.
“That’s it,” he encouraged when she cried out and bucked against him. “Come for me, daka. Come for me again.”
As her cries grew in volume, his tempo increased in urgency, his hips pistoning with a ferocity she felt in every nerve of her body. Waves of ecstasy crashed over her, flooding her with pleasure, and when his canines pierced the crook of her neck, she couldn’t hold back any longer.
Teetering on the pinnacle of release, she fisted both hands in his hair and pulled him closer, holding his mouth tightly against the side of her throat. On the next hard thrust, her entire being came undone. Calling his name on a gasping sob, she threw her head back and tumbled weightlessly into the void.
Vadis followed quickly, shuddering through his own climax with a roar that shook the walls. Eyes closed, muscles strained, he gripped her tight, burying himself to the hilt as he spilled himself into her clenching depths.
Tira clung to him as she struggled to catch her breath and come down from what had easily been the most intense experience of her life. Not just the physical aspects of their coupling, but the soul-altering intimacy they had shared.
She had felt every emotion and unspoken word as powerfully as she had each one of his forceful thrusts. He had touched not just her body, but her heart as well. As a result, she knew she had been fundamentally and irrevocably changed.
Instead of fear or anxiety, however, she felt only a deep sense of contentment. She had spent her entire life striving for perfection, and working hard to ensure the mask she presented to the world had no cracks.
But Vadis didn’t care if she made mistakes. His affection and devotion weren’t dependent on unachievable expectations. With him, she didn’t have to fear failure. She didn’t have to worry about letting him down. She just had to be herself, because even if she did fall from grace, he would be right there to catch her.
And that, she imagined, was the true gift of having a mate.