CHAPTER 10
Naraq
I woke sometime in the night in an empty bed and an overwhelming sadness pressing against my chest, Alexa’s sadness. We were fully bonded now, so I experienced everything she did.
Not bothering with clothes, I wrapped the blanket from the bed around my waist and followed Alexa’s thoughts into the Bonding Room. She stared at the stars and Neptune’s moon slowly rotating.
“Your species is dying, Naraq. You left that part out.”
“Our species,” I corrected, wrapping us both in the blanket.
“I feel their desperation. We need to return.”
I kissed the back of her head. “Now you know.”
“My true father didn’t stay because he couldn’t abandon his people, and my mother refused to go because I would be born half-Sanctarian. He returned to give them hope, to change their minds with the plan that they would be together, but no one would listen until it was too late…until you.”
“Right.”
“What made you accept what the previous ruler refused?”
“The suffering increased. If you love your people, you do what’s right for them.”
“You’re friends with my father?”
“I am.”
“What’s he like?”
“Stubborn and brilliant.”
“You admire him?”
“I do. He shared his blood with me before I left Sanctum to give me the antibodies I would need to walk among your people.”
“You shared his life-force?”
“No, that’s only meant for a companion.”
“I see him in your memories.”
“We spoke at length before I left. He’s the reason I came.”
“Someone from your family always ruled?”
“Yes. I’m the oldest male in my family, so I was next in line.”
“But you didn’t want the responsibility? I feel it in my spirit. Why, Naraq?”
“The survival of an entire species weighs on my shoulders. What if I fail?”
“I found my mother crying alone many times. She always offered a believable reason, but even in my childish heart I knew it wasn’t the truth. My heart broke for one, but yours broke for many. Now, I understand.”
“The bond of companions is unbreakable even by distance. It wasn’t your fault.”
“She suffered so much,” Alexa sighed.
“Was your mother happy with her human husband?”
Alexa sniffled. “From what I remember, yes. He was a good man and a good father. Sometimes, he’d wrap my mother in a hug when she cried and hold her.”
“Love comes in many forms. I’m sure she loved him in her way.”
“It seems unfair to everyone involved.”
“Sacrifice rarely plays by the rules, Alexa.”
“You didn’t know me, had no clue if I even lived, but you came anyway.”
“I had no choice.”
“And yet all you’ve met is resistance and doubt.”
“Not all.”
She turned in my arms and nestled against my chest. “How do you live with it?”
“I live with hope, and now I live with you.”
“I need to speak with all the people of Earth, Naraq. They should know everything.”
“Your leaders know.”
“But they can’t feel what I feel.”
“And they never will. You can talk all day long, but it won’t make a difference.”
“You’re wrong.”
“Just as it was difficult for those who joined me on this ship, it is difficult for humans. Fear is a powerful motivator, Alexa, and I can’t fight that. I’ve negotiated all I can, and you’ve made your speech, so we wait.”
“We can’t wait forever, Naraq.”
“And we aren’t. I’ve already set the limit. We will return with what we have accomplished and hope for the best.”
“I need to check on my grandfather.”
“You can check on him from here.”
“Am I your captive, Ruler Supreme?”
“Never, but you’re my companion. There are many things I need to check on, but I’d like another day with you before we return. Think that’s possible?”
Alexa chuckled against my chest. “Totally possible, but only if you teach me how to channel power from turquoise like you did.”
“You wish to learn from me?”
“I do.”
“All stones have energy, and you already have the knowledge from my mind.”
“I felt it, but don’t know how to project it.”
ALEXA
My gaze instantly slithered over his body when the blanket fell away and dropped on the floor. Hard planes and ridges covered him, and his skin glistened like liquid silver in starlight.
“All stones contain different frequencies. Some are lower than higher, but it’s there if you know how to identify it. As Sanctarians, we can hear it.
“I don’t hear anything,” I murmured, trying to tear my eyes from his form.
“Look at me, Alexa, before we bond again.”
I chuckled, lifting my eyes. “You’re distracting.”
“So are you, but you wanted to learn.”
“Right.”
“When you were in the mine, what did you feel?”
“Energy.”
“And what did you feel the first time I touched you?”
“The same energy.”
“And what did you do with it?”
“Nothing. It dissipated both times.”
“You can channel it.”
“How?”
“Focus on it and bend it to your will. Now that we’ve bonded, you should be able to do it. This entire ship is powered by stones and solar energy, so use it.”
Unsure and nervous, I glanced around me.
“Think about us and what happened in this room.”
My eyes closed, picturing Naraq naked and the sensual bonding between us, licking my lips at the images sliding through my mind, my body temperature increasing by the second.
“That’s it,” he whispered in my ear, maneuvering behind me and wrapping his arms around my waist.
When he cupped my breast, I sighed, and that’s when it happened. Turquoise light filled the room and ascended the walls, and the veins beneath my skin raced with blue light.
“Now, release it, Alexa,” he said with a kiss on my neck. “Let is flow from your hands.”
I inhaled a deep breath before it burst from my chest in a blinding light at the wall, but the ship absorbed it. Light rippled along the hull in a wave until it disappeared into the ceiling.
A laugh tumbled out as I turned and faced Naraq. “I did it,” I shouted, jumping into his arms and locking my legs around his waist.
A slow smile spread across his face before he whipped around. “I think we need another bonding session.”
“Are we floating again?”
“Bed, and for at least two hours.”
“Two hours!” I chuckled. “Are you exaggerating?”
“Sanctarian males and stamina are synonymous.”
I leaned forward and lightly kissed his neck before trailing my tongue up to his earlobe and nipping it. “Well, a half-human needs lots of stimulation.”
Naraq growled before tossing me on the bed and crawling over me. “Whatever my companion wants, she gets.”