Page 18 of Surrendering Her Heart (Red Planet Fated Mates #10)

17

AVA

“ I need some space,” I mutter, shaking my head.

There is so much to take in I can’t wrap my head around it. Zamis grunts as he places a hand on the small of my back then leads me out of the room. The weight of revelation isn’t left behind, though. It comes right along, an unwelcome guest pressing onto my shoulders.

The base is filled beyond capacity. The halls are bustling and so thick with people, human and Zmaj, that we can’t walk side by side and sometimes I have to turn sideways to squeeze through the crowds.

It feels like everything is closing in. It’s getting hard to breathe. The walls are too close. The air too thick.

“Come,” Zamis says, stepping around and once in front he takes my hand, taking the lead.

I let him take over. My thoughts are spinning too fast to do anything else. I don’t even know where we’re going until I see the exit from the compound ahead. He nods to the Zmaj on duty and they let us pass without a word. We emerge from the tunnel into the hot air, but the open space is exactly what I need.

Leaning my head back, the double suns warm my face, the hot breeze blows my hair back and I take my first, full and deep breath. I hold it, let it out slowly, and take another. When I open my eyes at last, Zamis is at my side and it hits me. He knew.

“You,” I exhale, a long breath out.

“Me?”

I smile and shake my head. I should answer him, but before I do, I give myself a moment more. Letting the air move around and the suns heat soak into my skin.

“Yeah,” I say at last. “How did you know?”

“I know you, Ava,” he says as if that answers the question and maybe it does. In part at least.

We stand in silence, his arm around my waist and mine around his. We stare out across the desert, holding one another in perfect comfort.

“I could have handled it, you know,” I say.

“I do.”

I laugh. “You could disagree.”

“I could,” he agrees. “But why? You are right.”

I let that sit between us enjoying the moment but it tugs at my heart in ways I don’t fully understand.

“I’m not always, you know.”

“I do,” he says, a wry grin on his face. “You are independent, though. And stubborn.”

“I’m not stubborn,” I say, sharper than I really intend. He doesn’t answer, but he meets my glare with his steady, unflinching gaze. I hold his eyes long as I can before I have to fold. “Okay. Maybe a little.”

“Yes, only a little,” he agrees smiling.

“But I’m right.”

“Yes, my treasure. You are right.”

I snort, shaking my head then sigh.

“An invasion, huh?”

“So it would seem,” he says, surprisingly calm.

“You’re not worried?”

“No,” he says, staring across the rolling dunes.

“Why not?”

He frowns, his brow furrowing, which pulls his horns down too. Impulsively I run my hand along his jaw.

“Tajss provides,” he says. “They will come. That seems certain. I do not know how, but I do know we will be okay.”

“That’s a lot of certainty to put out there into the nothing of the future,” I say.

He turns into me, putting both hands on my waist. He bends his knees just enough to lower himself so our foreheads touch and then he curls his tail around the back of my legs.

“The future is not nothing,” he says.

“There’s nothing there yet, that means it’s nothing.”

“No,” he says. “My treasure, in this you are wrong.”

I narrow my eyes and then arch an eyebrow instead of letting anger and stubbornness fully take over.

“Go on…” I say trailing off with an obvious invitation to dig himself into an even deeper hole.

“Ava, you are brilliant. Strong. Beautiful. But you are not from Tajss, though I believe you are of Tajss.”

That leaves me confused so I shake my head.

“What does that mean?”

“When we say Tajss provides, we mean it,” he says. “Not in some mystical manner, or maybe it is. I do not know of such things. What I know is I swore myself to the Order to serve and protect Tajss because I know the planet is aware. We, those of us who are of Tajss, are its children.”

“I’m from a generation ship. My ancestors were from Earth, not Tajss,” I counter.

“Your genetics, yes,” he agrees, a half-smile on his lips. “But is that all you are?”

“You’re getting weird,” I say.

“Perhaps,” he says. “Maybe all this is my own imagining, or that of the Zmaj. Maybe we just project onto the world what we want to see or hope is true. But here is what I do know. I love you. I knew it the very first moment I saw you. My dragon laid its claim and that was it.”

“That sounds kind of creepy, if I’m honest,” I say.

“Knowing your love when you see her?”

“I mean, the way you put it, kind of,” I say.

He laughs.

“Then, I am creepy,” he says. “I speak from my heart, my treasure.”

“And I never want you to do less,” I say, cupping his face in my hands. “I don’t know anything about all this metaphysical stuff. It’s beyond me, but I do know I have fallen for you. The way you are, the way you treat me, the way you let me be me, I like it. A lot. I like you.”

“And I, you… my treasure.”

Then his lips are on mine and there are no more words. Lips moving together we part and whisper and kiss some more until desire is no longer to be held at bay.

He breaks the kiss, without a word, taking my hand we rush back into the outpost. We fight our way through the pressing crowds. He seems to know where we’re going and I follow, willing and excited.

When he pulls me into a dark room our hands are all over each other before the lights come on. The door locks and then the lights come up and out of the corner of my eye I see a waiting bed. My heart speeds up and I giggle.

“Had this planned did you?”

“It is good to be prepared,” he says with a chuckle of his own.

“Well done,” I say, wrapping my arms around his neck.

We wrap into each other as we move towards the bed, shedding clothing along the way. It doesn’t take long at all before I’m on the bed, he’s pulling my legs apart and then kissing his way up my thigh.

His lips are a faint sensation brushing against my skin. Light, fleeting, like the whisper of a spider’s silk drifting on a breeze. The feeling dances along my leg, barely there, yet impossible to ignore.

My nerves spark at the delicate touch, anticipation prickling beneath the surface. It isn’t solid, not firm like a hand, but softer, teasing. Like the edge of a feather tracing slow, aimless patterns, leaving behind a trail of awareness that lingers even after it’s gone as he makes his way up from my knee to my pussy.

His breath is warm, exhaling over my wetness. His tongue is rough, but gentle as he grazes across my lips. I shudder, need and anxiousness warring. Expecting him to dive in, tensing in anticipation, but he moves on. Kissing his way down the inside of my other leg.

His hands roam over my body while I twine mine in his hair. He continues working his way up one leg and down the other. Each time coming closer, doing more, but not going in until I am absolutely relaxed.

He comes back to my center, but this time he stays, focusing. His tongue teases the outside, moistening, lapping at my folds while barely parting them. I moan and groan under his gentle ministrations. I’ve never felt anything better.

Slowly his tongue pierces, pushing in, tasting and testing my reaction. When I stiffen, he pauses, waiting, only moving forward when he senses me relaxing.

His tongue pushes deep, coming up, slow, excruciatingly slowly until it brushes my clit and the world explodes.

Stars dance in my head. I’m floating in nothing yet grounded in his arms. Pleasure, more intense than I’ve ever experienced crashes like waves, coming again and again without end. As one passes through, another is right behind it.

I buck and thrash, but he doesn’t stop. He keeps going and so does the volcanic release of an orgasm the likes of which I don’t know that any human was ever meant to experience.

When the last wave has left me a shuddering mess, with muscles so loose I can barely lift my head to look down at him, I’m breathless.

“Good?” he asks, a half-smile on his face.

I widen my eyes, shake my head, and grab his horns, tugging him up and closer. I don’t care that he’s a mess, I kiss him with all that I am, but I’m very, very aware of his hard, throbbing cock pushing against my wet, ready, and waiting entrance.

As we kiss his dick slides in easily, despite the ridges that I thought might be harder to take. I gasp, not in surprise, but in satisfaction and relief as his cock stretches my walls.

We entwine together. His hands, his lips, and his tail explore. I run my hands over his shoulders, digging in my nails as he thrusts deep. We gasp, moan, and groan together. Building until at last we explode and this time it’s messier than ever.

He arches back, his wings snapping open and he calls out my name in a long, low moan as he holds the position and then I’m falling into my own orgasm too. His come fills me and overflows, making a mess.

At last we finish together and lie in the bed, holding one another. We shift around until my head is on his chest and I have one leg hooked over his.

We nuzzle and cuddle, basking in the joy of the afterglow. All our problems and worries are left behind. They don’t belong here with us.

“You’re an amazing lover,” I murmur.

“I am yours,” he says.

“Hmm,” I murmur, as we kiss.

Shifting to be closer, my leg comes up against his rock hard, alien cock. I look down in surprise.

“You’re hard again?”

“Again? It is my secondary,” he says, smiling. “If you’re ready?”

“Oh, uh, wow,” I say, blinking as I assess myself.

My pussy feels more than well fucked, but I mean.. more is more, right? Deciding I might as well push my own limits, I push up and swing myself over him. Reaching between my legs I grab onto his cock and guide the tip into my pussy.

Moving slow, I settle myself down, pausing at each ridge, letting it stretch and fill but being careful to not hurt myself. It takes a few moments before I’m fully seated. Once I am, I rise up, using both hands to toss my hair back and thrusting my chest forward as I rock my hips.

“Fuck, that feels good,” I murmur.

He growls in response, his hands kneading my tits. He rocks his hips gently, not fully retreating but causing his cock to move inside.

We work that position for a while, letting the pleasure build slowly. Neither of us in a rush. We have time and are going to enjoy it.

Slowly we move more. Building until we’re back to the wild abandon of the last time.

“Oh, oh, oh!” I cry out as we climax together yet again.

Laughing, I slip off of him and lie down because I don’t have the strength to hold myself up any longer. His arm and tail curls around and, cuddled together, we fall asleep.