Chapter Thirty
Jax
I couldn’t stop touching her, reassuring myself that she was actually here with me and not dead at the bottom of the ocean. I’d never known devastation so profound and soul crushing as I had watching her give up in that vault.
“Where’s Oontash?” she asked when we were aboard Lorac.
“She’s in a healing pod,” Brahn said, walking out of a connecting corridor. “I think she’ll make it, but your ship hasn’t quite learned how to communicate with anyone but you.”
“I’ll work on that,” Thanh said wryly.
“Let’s get out of here,” I said.
“Then let me go.”
“Never.”
I pressed my mouth to hers, relishing every slide of my lips and tongue. It wasn’t until she pressed her delicate hands to my chest and gave me a little shove that I could peel my hands off her.
We were able to get off Daedalus Five without any problems but once we were out of the atmosphere, there were proximity alarms going off one after another.
“We’ve got —” I started to say.
“I see them, hang on!”
Thanh was standing on the platform, connected to Lorac, and relaxed as if she hadn't been close to drowning in front of me. My hands flexed, far too empty without her against me. I kept telling myself she was safe, it was alright, but I couldn’t shake the memory of her under water, eyes closed.
“Jax,” she said, eyeing me, “everything is alright.”
“Yeah…Okay,” I pulled in a long breath, hoping it would steady me and focused on the scans in front of me.
Thanh guided us through the floating debris, which was colliding and spinning through space, half of it being pulled into Daedalus’ orbit and the other half propelled by the few ships that were slowly making their way through the field.
“Any sign of Narrou or the Titus fleet?” Brahn asked.
“Not yet.”
I was sending out a wide arc of scans but there was interference. I narrowed the scans but to no effect, so I took a look at the interference. The Justinian and Octavian fleets had been massacred, that much was clear from the sea of destroyed ships and floating bodies. The residual radiation on the debris turned out to be the interference but it was a type I didn’t recognize. None of my Mother’s weapons had this kind of radiation, so where did it come from?
We cleared the debris field quickly and then my scans started to clear. I finally found Narrou’s unique energy in the midst of the Titus fleet. On the edges of the fleet, in a formation that looked suspiciously like they were surrounding Titus, were ships that were showing some of that unique radiation.
“Your people, I presume?” I asked Brahn.
His lips quirked up.
“I guess more than a few ships answered my call,” he said. “They’re waiting to hear if I have the engine.”
“And then?” I asked.
“We will leave you in peace.”
“You better.”
I held my breath as we approached the ring of silver, oblong shaped ships. Most were small like the one Brahn had used to pursue us. A few others were enormous, with curving wings and nacelles that glowed green. They let us pass without more than a cursory scan that Thanh chuckled at.
“I’m not sure they know what to make of us,” she said. “Their scans are rather invasive.”
“We are a curious species,” Brahn replied, “endlessly seeking knowledge. They mean Lorac no harm.”
“Jax! Thanh! Are you alright?” my father’s voice came over the coms.
“Thanh took a hit and was knocked back, almost drowned, she needs a look over.”
“Jax! No, I don’t,” she scowled at me. “Oontash is in much worse shape.”
“And is in a healing pod. You’re getting examined and that’s the end of it.”
“Wanna bet?” she muttered.
We docked alongside Narrou again, the umbilical stretching out between the ships. When the connections between Thanh and Lorac released, she limped down from the platform, hands on her hips as she glared at me.
“What the hell is that? I’m fine.”
“You’re in pain, I can see it. I want him to just make sure there’s no injuries from when you got hit.”
Her lips pressed together and she looked down.
“Fine, but I want you there the whole time.”
“Princess, nothing could tear me away.”
Thanh groused the entire exam but she did it, gripping my hand tightly. Father pronounced that she had some bruising on her ribs and her low back, and gave her a hypo for the pain. When he left us alone in the infirmary to go check on Oontash, I stepped between her legs as she sat on the exam table and pulled her to me, my hand on the back of her head.
There were a million things I wanted to say and do, but all of them paled in comparison to just holding her. Thanh grabbed handfuls of my wet shirt, snuggling into me. We both needed a shower to wash the salt water off, and some dry clothes, not to mention a debrief with Mother, but I didn’t want to move.
“Did you mean it?” I whispered after a few minutes.
She nodded against my chest.
“I love you,” she said again.
A vice released my heart with her declaration and I skated my lips against the top of her head. I didn’t really think she’d say it without meaning it, but everything had been so intense at the vault I needed to hear it when things were calm.
“How did you get the door open?” she asked.
I didn’t want to give the bastard credit. I didn’t even want to mention Sherrod’s name after what he’d done to us all. But it was because of him that I was holding Thanh, alive and well in my arms right now, as much as I hated to admit it.
“Sherrod got the door open. Said that he owed me.”
She snorted and shook her head against my chest.
“Son of a bitch thinks that’s the end of it?”
“No, but I think he knew I couldn’t live without you.”
Her head snapped up and she took my face between her hands.
“Don’t you ever sacrifice yourself like that again, you hear me?”
“Thanh —”
“Knowing that you wouldn’t leave, that you were going to die there with me? It was worse than knowing I was going to drown, it felt like someone was carving me up inside. So please, never again, Jax.”
“Never again,” I brushed my lips against her forehead and cradled her against me. “For either of us.”
“Damn right.”
I closed my eyes, letting myself sink into the knowledge that I could finally let my feelings for her show, that I could express them openly. No more hiding them for fear of her running away, no more denying them. She was mine and I was hers and anything else, we’d figure out together.
“I want to make you happy, every day of our life. You’re my home, my mate, my life. I’d do anything for you,” I whispered, pulling back enough so I could look her in the eyes.
“Just love me, Jax, that’s all I need, all I want. Just love me.”
“For the rest of my life…princess,” I grinned against her mouth.
“Princess…or Mistress?”
“Both.”
I crushed her mouth with mine, devouring her as if I could take pieces of her soul into mine and keep them safe. My arms confined her within their protection, silently vowing to never let her be that close to death again. If we hadn’t been interrupted, I would’ve been sorely tempted to take her right there in the infirmary.
“If I could have a few minutes of your time,” Brahn said with a playful smirk.
We followed him to the command deck where Mother and Father were waiting. Brahn had a rectangular case that I assumed held the engine and he was back in his uniform, hair combed and straightened, bronze skin shining.
He handed me a thin, half-moon shaped coin with an hourglass on one side and a sword going through a shield on the other.
“This grants you one boon from me and my cohort. You have my gratitude for what you’ve done in returning the engine to my people.”
“You said that ‘it’s still alive’ in the vault, what did you mean by that?” Thanh asked.
His smile slipped and he ran his long fingers along the box.
“It’s a part of our history that is shameful, and we do not share it with outsiders. Just know that you have done more than return a mere relic to us, you’ve helped give my people peace. For that, I am in your debt.”
He gave us all a shallow bow and turned toward the docking bay where his small shuttle was waiting.
“I know the two of you likely want some time to change and eat,” Mother said, “but I need to let you know that I have decided to put forth my name for the Augustine throne.”
“After this job, I don’t see how they could deny you. It might have been my crew, but it was within your Federation,” I said with a grin. “You’ll make an amazing Queen to the Federation.”
“Thank you, son.” She kissed my cheeks and then gave me an assessing look. “And have you made a decision about your future? Will you take my place as head of Titus?”
I glanced at Thanh with that question in my eyes. She knew this was a possibility, I’d told her as much when I laid out the mission parameters Zephyr had given us. But it was one thing to have an abstract future described to you, it was quite another to be faced with it. Especially after we’d only just accepted our feelings for one another.
Thanh looked between all of us and finally looked up at me, her smile bright.
“I think I’d look amazing in a crown.”
Relief almost knocked me off me on my ass and I let out a deep laugh as I swept her off her feet and held her.
“Thank you,” I whispered in her ear.
“I’m not doing this for you,” she said playfully. “I’ve always wanted minions to do my bidding.”
We both giggled and I planted a hot, quick kiss to her mouth.
“We will figure out all the details of the transfer later,” Mother said, eyes sparkling as she looked at us, “but let me be the first to welcome you, King Jax and Queen Thanh.”
We embraced my parents, and Narrou held up tendrils for us to grasp, sending their joy through the physical connection.
“We should celebrate!” my father proclaimed. “I have a bottle of Oa’shun sparkling wine I’ve been saving for a special occasion.”
“That sounds lovely, dear, but if I’m reading the room correctly, I think our new Titusian king and queen are wanting some time alone.”
“Oh…oh, yes of course. Congratulations again, you two.”
“And on that note,” I slung Thanh over my shoulder, “good night, Mother, Da.”
“Jax!” she squealed as I walked toward our quarters.
The whole walk she made giggling attempts to wiggle off, but it wasn’t until we were inside that I brought her off my shoulder. Instead of setting her on her feet, I held her by her full ass as she wound her legs around me.
“I don’t think I’m going to be able to let you out of my sight for a very long time,” I said, kissing my way down her throat as I walked to the bedroom.
“I’m alright with that,” she breathed, grinding against my very extruded, very hard cock. “And I just remembered, I made you a promise about tonight.”
My heart jumped and precum leaked copiously from my dick.
“You did,” I said with a smile. “Are you up for it?”
“Are you?”
“I’m always up for it with you.”
She snorted and kissed me.
“I didn’t mean your dick.”
“I know what you meant, and the answer is still the same. I’ll never get enough of you, your body, your mind. I want you in every way imaginable and for all the rest of my days.”
“I never thought I’d say this,” she admitted, her fingers running down my jaw and throat, “but I feel the same way. I never want to leave you, I want to experience whatever life has for us together and that scares me.”
“Why?”
“Because what if I piss you off really bad?”
“You already have, for years, and for some reason, I didn’t run away.”
“That isn’t exactly the kind of relationship I want.”
I chuckled, stripping off her damp shirt with one hand.
“I know,” I spread kisses across the tops of her breasts, “me either. But I’m saying, if I haven’t run yet, I won’t. I’ve been in love with you for months, I just didn’t want to admit it.”
“Wait, what?” She pulled my head up by one of my horns, eyes wide. “You what now?”
“My mating instincts woke up around the time of the Battle of Sanctuary. I’ve been fighting them ever since but the last few months in particular they’ve been growing. I realize now that I’ve been falling in love with you since Sanctuary, maybe even before. So you see, I’ve seen your worst, your most brutal and angry side, and it never chased me off.”
Her dark eyes lit up with unshed tears, and she shook her head in wonder.
“I don’t deserve you, Jax.”
“Yes you do. You deserve everything. I love you, utterly and completely.”
“I love you too.”
She let out a light, full laugh and then kissed me with gusto.
“I love you,” she repeated, staring at me with the brightest smile I’d ever seen.
“Now, about that scene.”
“Oh I have some very, very good ideas.”
“I thought you might.”