Page 16

Aruan

T he primal way I’ve marked Elsie fills me with possessive satisfaction, even as despondency sneaks in to foil the elation.

Because she’s not happy.

Her discord slices through my ribs like a blade.

She didn’t want me to fill her sweet pussy to the brim with my cum, yet I did it. Even now, as we stand facing each other naked, it drips down the insides of her thighs.

I step closer, plastering our bodies together. A primitive urge born from the basest of instincts compels me to gather the wasted seed and push it back in, my fingers slick in her tight, wet pussy.

Instantly, I feel the coldness inside her melt away, the dying embers of her arousal sparking back to life as I pump it all back, making her take every drop… and then my cock.

I wasn’t planning on claiming her again so soon, not after taking her hard enough to leave her raw, but in this, my body has a mind of its own.

I spread her out right there on the floor, cushioning her head with one hand while I fuck my cum into her sleek, hot pussy.

If I could plug and seal that pretty hole until she conceives, I’d do it.

Instead, I settle for fucking her like an animal, savage and without restraint.

I’m propped up on one hand, carrying my weight with my arm as I stare at the ecstasy twisting her beautiful features.

Biting her lip, she refuses to give me sounds, but her expression tells me everything.

She both loves and hates this.

Her body wants me, but her mind doesn’t. As for her heart, I’m not sure she’ll ever open that part of herself to me.

Because she didn’t choose me. Nature made that choice for her. For us.

Leaning down, I kiss her to take the sting out of the bitter reality. And then I coax another orgasm from her spent body by removing my hand from the back of her head and wedging it between us to stroke her clit.

She surrenders her pleasure, drowning me in her tormented defeat as we come together.

I’m buried to the hilt inside her, yet the ever-growing gorge between us runs a little deeper and stretches a bit wider.

Trying to ignore it, I cup her hip and chase after her lips again, but instead of kissing me, she pushes on my shoulders.

I do what she wants—get off her—and let her sit up.

She flinches either with discomfort or regret. Or maybe with both.

I take her hand and pull her to her feet. “I’m calling Vitai.”

“I’m not injured,” she says with a bite in her tone.

I’m far from reassured. I’d like to have Vitai do a full-body healing session, but I don’t want to force more on her than I already have. I wasn’t going to take things so far, not again. With her, I simply can’t help myself.

We have another bath. At the rate we’re going, we’ll end up with permanently wrinkled skin. She allows me to wash her and kiss her even though her mind is clearly somewhere else and her body is too wrung out to come alive under my hands again.

When I offer to dry her, she tells me she’d like to relax in the water for a bit longer, which is just another way of saying she needs distance from me.

I open my mouth and close it again. This isn’t the moment to talk about what happened, or rather, what could happen.

I’m guessing that life-altering possibility has a lot to do with her withdrawal from me.

For the first time in my life, I’m at a loss for what to do. If I stay, my presence may upset her more than she already is. If I go, she may feel abandoned when she decides she needs me.

After a moment’s deliberation, I add more healing salts to the water and leave her in peace.

I don’t go far—just to the bedroom, where I dress in the formal attire official business meetings require.

My father is tasked with enforcing our laws and the necessary judgments and punishments that go with that responsibility.

My mother is in charge of diplomatic relations.

Kian oversees Lona’s trade, and Vitai is tasked with health and sanitary regulations.

Gaia is saddled with our charities. My duties include overseeing all of theirs and making sure the system runs smoothly.

The other royals are allocated obligations within those areas and report back to my immediate family.

When my father is inundated with disputes to settle, I lighten his burden by taking over some of the cases.

It’s a never-ending job that keeps me busy from sunrise to sunset, leaving little time for anything else.

But my father has taken on a great deal of the work himself lately, thereby giving me time to seal the bond with my mate.

It’s one of the only two occasions in a royal’s life that he’s granted that much spare time.

The other is when his mate is pregnant. We take our responsibility in supporting and protecting our women seriously, especially when they’re growing a baby inside them and are therefore more vulnerable.

There are a lot of assignments waiting for me, enough to keep me busy for many moon cycles to come, yet that’s not what I’m focused on. My thoughts remain with the woman in the other room, a woman who belongs to me yet has a hard time accepting that fact.

When I’ve pulled on my boots, I hover for a moment, torn between going to her and giving her the space she demanded. The decision is made for me when the wall at the entrance lights up, announcing a visitor.

I know who it is by the distinct pulsing rhythm of the light even before I walk to the archway.

Behind me, the almost-silent footsteps of bare feet fall on the floor. Only my enhanced hearing allows me to discern the sound.

I look over my shoulder to find Elsie standing in the archway of the bedroom with a bath sheet wrapped around her naked body. She tries to hide her feelings from me by keeping her expression neutral, but her hurt reaches me through the vague connection of our incomplete bond.

She’s upset—not as much with me as with herself.

“It wasn’t your fault,” I say gruffly. “You couldn’t have stopped what happened even if you’d wanted to.”

She studies me from underneath those long, russet lashes. “Could you ?”

My jaw locks around the denial. I’ve always owned my actions. That’s not going to change now. I don’t regret coming inside her, and I won’t blame it on the mating heat.

She sucks her bottom lip into her mouth, working it between her teeth for a while before pushing out a heavy question. “What if…?”

My reply is decisive. “Then we’ll handle it.”

She nods but not in an affirmative way. She looks so frail and delicate standing there half-naked, drowning in a bath sheet, that a chilling fear eats into my gut.

Now that it’s a real possibility, the idea of Elsie in childbirth terrifies me.

After what she’s been through on Earth, coming so close to dying over and over again, I’m worried she may not be strong enough, that her body may relapse under the strain of growing a baby inside her.

I’ll have to keep Vitai on standby for the full moon cycles of her gestation period. And I’ll find out what happened to make her so sick in that other world, so I can make sure it never happens again.

I’ll keep Elsie and any child she may conceive safe if it’s the last thing I do.

In my peripheral vision, the pulsing of the light becomes insistent. Turning away from Elsie more to prevent her from reading my concern than to address the matter that demands my attention, I lift the seal I’ve put in place and let the archway appear.

My mother stands at the threshold, supported by my father on one side and Vitai on the other. Her guards form a close-knit half-circle at her back. She looks a little better, but she’s still pale.

Seeing her with those thoughts still churning in my head brings back all the old anger and accusations.

My mother lied to me. She told me my mate was dead, and I believed her.

That fact alone has always made her the main suspect in the wrong that was committed when Elsie was banished to Earth.

However, now that the Phaelix’s slave trading has been blown wide open, I have to admit that my mother isn’t the only one capable of sending someone to that other world.

Although… the slave trading started a lot later than Elsie’s disappearance, which logically still leaves my mother as the most probable guilty party.

“Mother. I was just about to come see you.”

Her eyes flare as she focuses on something behind me, or I should say, on someone.

I know what she sees—Elsie covered in nothing but a bath sheet with that look on her face. It’s a look only a well-fucked woman wears.

“You’ve mated,” my mother whisper-exclaims.

Almost immediately, a frown pleats her brow.

The tangible harmony that exists between mated couples is impossible to miss, yet the disagreeable atmosphere in the room is palpable.

My mother’s questioning eyes rest on my face.

She’s wondering why, if we’ve mated, that harmony is absent with Elsie and me.

But she wipes her doubtful expression away quickly before schooling her features.

Holding my gaze with a tilt of her chin, she says, “I need to talk to you.”

“By all means.” I step aside. “Let’s not do it in the hallway where the walls have ears.” My smile is cool. “Come in.”

“Alone,” she says in a firm tone.

“What I have to say concerns Elsie too.”

“Aruan,” my father says. “What you want to say will have to wait. You will speak with your mother first.” He stresses, “And you’ll do it as she requests—alone.”

Maybe it’s better like this. Elsie’s emotions are still too raw. It’s best to give her more time to deal with everything before throwing the wrong that’s been done to her in her face. Nothing can change what she’s suffered. However, I’d be cursed if I don’t make it right.

“As you wish,” I say, my manner cold even as red-hot fury sizzles inside me.

My mother turns and heads down the hallway. “My quarters.”