EPILOGUE
I stood knee deep in the mouth of the river, my glittering robe and hood swaying in the cool breeze.
My hands shook at my sides and it had nothing to do with the water or the air.
I slid my foot across the smooth stones beneath me in the riverbed, my slow breaths loud in my ears.
A tall figure waited before me in the waist-deep water, his bare chest gleaming in the glittering rays of dawn, one hand extended.
We had been on Akahzyr for a little over a month, settling in to this new life.
I’d been surprised at how easy the transition had been.
Asher’s people had missed him terribly and honored him for the sacrifice he’d made.
The handful of times we’d traveled into the settlement below the mountain we’d been mobbed by people desperate to extend their gratitude.
News had traveled fast he’d returned with his j’ska mahsi and, as I was the only outsider, every time we left there was no guessing who was his mate.
But they had not been distrustful or cautious.
Quite the opposite. They believed through our bond, I was one of them now.
Yet they also honored my people and planet.
In one of their temples where they set offerings for the dead, Xaria, Asher’s mother, had already placed a small altar for my parents and people.
When she’d brought me there, I stared for over a quarter of an hour at the small offerings those within the city had brought for them.
A slice of one of their intricately baked loaves, a cup of glittering water, a plate of junia berries picked just that morning.
Though I did not understand their goddess, the idea she would now care for my people in the beyond was comforting in a way I had not imagined.
For the first time in twelve cycles, I mourned them as I never had before.
After, we’d made plans to visit Kal and his family on Uhkazar, where they and most of the other survivors from our planet now lived, preferring to stay together.
News had reached us about a week ago that a star cruiser owned by Senator Torion had unexpectedly exploded while traveling through quadrant one toward Silomen, killing the male and everyone aboard.
Federation officials had yet to find a probable cause for the explosion and most likely wouldn’t.
It had taken a day or so before we discovered that Lunastra had been aboard, unable, it seemed, to escape before her master had begun experimenting on the false stone Asher had given him.
And so I grieved the female who had sheltered me as best she could, as I also grieved my family.
Asher and I lived in one opulent wing of Xaria’s homestead, though he’d referred to it as a palace.
It was larger even than Lesephous’ quarters had been on Louxuria, though the rooms felt more comfortable with the distinct lack of gaudy opulence.
Every night we climbed into the large bed and Asher slipped between my thighs, promising me soon we would seal our bond.
Right here. Right now.
“Come, my true mate,” Asher called in Akahzyrian.
I shivered, carefully traversing the river stones as I waded deeper into the water.
The robe floated behind me like a trail of starlight and I pulled at the tie, slipping it off my shoulders to throw onto the bank.
When I turned, his eyes grew molten as they slid down my naked frame.
I crossed the space between us, each step deliberate in the moving water until my hand closed over his and he tugged me into his arms.
“I cleanse my soul in the Waters of Khal,” he rumbled. “I offer myself to you.”
“I cleanse my soul in the Waters of Khal,” I repeated. “I offer myself to you.”
With two hands, I scooped up the water, spilling it over his chest. I repeated the movement over one shoulder, then the other, until he crouched a little so I could reach his brow.
A heart-aching smile drew up his lips as he did the same to me, prickles breaking out across my skin from the water as it slid down my breasts.
When he finished, Asher cupped my face in his hands, lips covering mine.
I wrapped my arms around his neck and he lifted me effortlessly, my legs circling his waist. My tongue slid across the seam of his mouth and he opened for me while he walked us toward the riverbank. He moaned as I sucked on his lower lip, hips bucking up until his cock slid against my backside.
“Not yet,” he murmured, lowering me to my feet.
But his cock bobbed as I stepped away and he seemed to be unable to stop himself from wrapping a hand around it, gripping the base tightly. I might have been torturing him a bit as I leaned over to grab my robe, heat pooling in my belly as he gave himself one strong stroke.
“Fuck, sweetheart.” Asher pulled on his own robe, creamy white and sparkling in the dawn. He tugged up my hood and leaned down so I could do the same for him before we walked hand in hand toward the stone temple in the distance.
There was not a soul in sight, even as we stepped through the large arched entryway.
The entire temple appeared to have been carved from a great stone, with soaring ceilings depicting our universe, benches lining each wall in a circle, and a wide square altar in the center with a silver bowl set upon it.
Behind the altar, set into the wall, stood an ancient stone statue of their goddess, gazing upon us with a fierce serenity.
We circled the altar slowly three times in the direction of the sun on this planet before stopping before it.
Asher picked up the silver bowl reverently, turning to me with an expression on his face I struggled to quantify.
But as Asher dipped two fingers into the golden liquid the priests had gathered from a fount beneath this very temple and he brushed them between my brows, down my nose, and over my lips, I realized what the look was.
Love. He was looking at me with love.
Those two fingers dragged over my chin, down my throat to my collarbones.
He gathered more gold as I opened my robe, continuing the line down to my chest. Another mark across my wrists before he painted a swirl on my belly.
A mark of their goddess Vaylara and her blood they believed had made the world.
I took the bowl from him next, drawing a golden line across his brow, then one beneath both eyes that trailed down his throat and over his chest. They covered his Quinzyr markings—the healers here had offered to remove them when we first arrived, but he’d declined.
Those markings were a part of him now, the way his planet was.
Then I painted a similar swirl to mine on his chest, before marking two lines across either hipbone.
His cock jumped with each touch, smearing the paint across my stomach, we stood so close.
Those silver eyes burned as he watched my progression and the moment I’d made the final mark, he took the bowl from me, bringing it to his lips.
He then offered it to me and I did the same, bracing myself.
But the liquid was light and refreshing with just a hint of sweetness. Warmth trickled through my veins.
That warmth spread out across my limbs, pooling in my core.
My eyes widened and I moaned, pressing my thighs together.
It was not the drugging headiness of lagneia.
The priestesses had said the goddess’ tears elicited a different response for each person depending on what they needed.
But it didn’t take me long to understand what it was his goddess was giving us.
Need sparkled at the tip of Asher’s cock, which pulsed in time with our hearts, and I couldn’t resist dragging my gold-covered hand over it before bringing it to my lips. The taste of him mingled with the liquid made my eyes roll back.
Two hands wrapped around my waist, depositing me onto the stone altar so quickly my head spun before his mouth descended on my sex.
Asher spread my thighs wide apart, tongue diving into me over and over, nose nudging my clit.
I cried out his name, clutching at his long hair and writhing against him.
My release spilled out of me and his rumbling approval only prolonged the pleasure as he drew back, face dripping with the paint and my orgasm.
He swiped a hand over his mouth, dropped it to his waiting cock and coated himself in my wetness.
Those silver eyes fluttered, his mouth tipping open as he bucked into his fist, unable to stop himself from fucking his hand for a moment as he stared down at me.
“I’ve dreamed of you like this, Juniper,” he panted, free hand tugging my hips closer to the edge. “Dreamed of you taking my cock on this altar. Your cries echoing through the air, those pretty fucking lips screaming my name.”
“My blood on your tongue,” I supplied for him.
He nodded, lining himself up with me. “And my blood on yours.”
Without hesitation he thrust into me, hips slapping against mine as need overtook us both.
I rose up onto my elbows, then my hands, and he leaned forward, wrapping an arm around my back while I clung to his chest. He all but picked me up off the stone, bouncing me on his cock.
I cried out his name, head tipping back as I stared unseeingly at the intricately carved ceiling.
But then his free hand grasped my face, pulling it to him so he could steal the breath from my lungs.
His pace slowed while he set me on the altar, hips churning. I whimpered, brows furrowing. I wanted more, needed more. Fingertips slid against my skin, pushing back my hair as his mouth pressed against the juncture of my shoulder and neck, licking and sucking until I knew there would be a bruise.
“I am yours,” he vowed in Akahzyrian.
“I am yours,” I echoed.
Sharp teeth broke the surface of my skin.
I gasped, head tilting to the side, my orgasm sudden and bright as it raced through my limbs.
He groaned around me, lapping at the wound as his mouth closed over it.
I gave a loud, keening whimper while I writhed within his grasp, each pass of his tongue on the wound another shimmer of pleasure, building higher and higher.
His hand cupped the back of my head, guiding me toward his neck.
It was instinct to find the curve of his shoulder, the bond guiding me as I pressed a kiss to the spot, sliding my tongue across the muscle.
I closed my mouth over it, my teeth biting easily through his flesh.
Hot blood spilled over my lips and he groaned, his hips jerking wildly as I lapped at the wound, heat circling my chest, joy sparking across my skin.
The bond setting into place.
As he pulled back with my blood smeared across his mouth, he watched his release spill from between my thighs and onto the dark stones, eyes bright in the darkness.
But it would not be the last time he took me, not when he licked his lips and his cock jumped between his hips.
Before I could catch my breath, he plunged into me again, our cries mingling in the air.
And with each breath I heard his voice in my mind.
I love you, June.
Welcome home.
Because it was true, I had finally found my home—here, in his arms.