Cecilia's Mate (10 page)

“I’ve
had the time I needed, but in truth, Draven,” she stroked her fingers over his
cheek, “you are who I’ve always wanted and needed. That is my promise to you. I
never had a father who guided me. I had an overbearing mother. I knew the
moment I touched you that I needed you to take control in certain aspects of
our lives. No, I’m not asking for all time, but I am asking that of you when
we’re alone here in our quarters.”

Lowering
his head, he pressed a light kiss to her lips. “You may hope for it only in
here, but I wouldn’t go betting on that. I can’t always temper my dominant
nature, little one. I’ll try for you, always for you, but I make absolutely no
promises. I will give you permission to take me to task should I get a little
too out of hand. But in private, if you wouldn’t mind. No need to let anyone
else see you ripping my head off, even if I deserve it.”

“Always
in private, I promise. As for the other, if it’s something that I need to be
guided in, then I trust you.” She stroked her hand down his chest, then
ventured lower
…

He
pressed another kiss to her lips, his own lips curling into a smile before he
rolled her on top of him again. “And I trust you, little one. Now, I seem to
recall you making a request to taste me. I’m feeling extremely generous right
now, if you’re still interested, that is?”

“I’m
still interested,” she told him with a grin. She wiggled down his body slowly.
“Are you going to hold on to the headboard as well?” she teased, then biting
his nipple lightly while working her way down his body. Draven gave her a smile
and put his arms over his head to hook his fingers around the headboard.

She
let her lips move over his muscular chest and licked here and there. When she
reached his cockhead she allowed her tongue to draw up it from the root of his
cock to the head. She moaned at the taste of their combined orgasm on his dick.
Her mouth closed over the head and she teased him in her mouth with her tongue.

His
low growl only motivated her to do more. Draven shifted his legs slightly to
give her more room but to also press a thigh up between her own legs and
against her clit.

She
gasped on his cock and pulled back so that she could rub against his leg. “Oh
you are so good,” she whispered before she started to work on his cock again,
her tongue running around the head before she took him deeper into her throat.

“Cecilia.”
He said her name harshly. Lifting her gaze, she met his when he lifted his
head. “If you need to come at any point, do so. Don’t wait for me to tell you
to. I damn well may not be able to if you keep this up, little one.” She moaned
and sucked on him just a bit harder, just a bit faster. She began to move her
mouth up and down his cock, running her tongue over the head of the shaft and
dome while she rubbed her clit against his thigh.

Draven
let out a low moan and began to thrust his hips. A low creaking sounded that
had her gaze leaping toward him to see his arms straining on the headboard. His
face was set in harsh lines of concentration as he stared at her.

She
moved on his cock over and over again, determined to take him to the stars just
as he did to her. She moved so that she could nip at the head of his cock and
smiled. “Is that what you need?”

He
didn’t speak, but the growl he let loose told the tale well enough. The black
of his eyes swallowed the outer yellow ring entirely as he stared at her with a
feral look. She had the distinct impression he was barely restraining himself
from pouncing on her.

She
licked up once again, then pulled back from him. “Can you take more or are you
ready to be inside of me again? Do you want to come in my mouth or in my
pussy?” Very blunt words that had her blushing as she said them.

The
headboard creaked again while his gaze raked over her. “Your choice,” he said
through his teeth. His nostrils were flared as he breathed fast and hard, his
entire body slicked with sweat from the restraint he continued to show. She
knew it was all for her, and only her.

“I
love the look on your face when you spill deep inside of me.” Another lick to
his cock, from root to tip. “I love the way that you taste, too. I could become
addicted to your taste, your touch. Everything.”

She
moved up so that she could put her lips to his chin and down his neck. She bit
the edge of his collarbone and winked. Shifting so that she could mount him,
she took him into her body slowly. Her head was back and a low moan escaped
her. “Draven.” She whispered his name as a prayer.

The
room spun around her until she found herself on her back under him. Crouching
over her, he flexed his hips to press his cock deeper into her eager pussy.
“Mine,” he bit out. Then he kissed her, sucking on her tongue between strokes
that mimicked the movement of his body.

She
loved when this part of him came out. When he became so dominant and so close
to that edge of animalistic. She wrapped her legs around his hips and pulled
him closer. If she could she would crawl inside of him and never leave him again.

Tearing
his mouth from hers, Draven moved his lips down the line of her neck. She could
feel the heat of his tongue after each nip of his teeth. He was thrusting into
her quickly, roughly, even as he nibbled on her throat. A sharper nip had her
arching up toward him before he lowered his body to cover hers.

This
was what she had been craving, what he had been craving. Both of them
completely wild and lost in each other. “Draven.” She panted his name and
curled her toes as she felt her stomach tremble and her pussy clench. “Please.”
She was so close, but she wouldn’t come until he told her that she could.

He
let out another growl. “Mine.” Then he sank his teeth into the spot where her
neck met her shoulder and he held her tight. His hips moved frantically, damp
flesh slapping against damp flesh while he held her tight to keep her from
sliding on the bed. “Come,” he practically snarled.

She
couldn’t deny him anything, especially not when he was biting her as he was.
She loved it when he did that. Her toes curled and her body tensed. She
screamed as she came.

Draven
wasn’t far behind. Another couple hard thrusts of his cock through her folds
and he stiffened in her arms. Her name came off his lips in a strangled sound
before he collapsed over her, pressing her deep into the bedding. “I love when
you lose yourself in me like that. It’s so good,” she whispered against the
side of his neck.

Lifting
off her a little, he looked into her eyes. With unsteady fingers he traced a
path over her cheek and down her neck. “I didn’t hurt you, did I?” he asked in
a husky tone. He rested the palm of his hand over her throat, his thumb rubbing
gently over the spot he’d bitten.

“Goodness
no you didn’t hurt me. I loved it. I want more of that. It felt so good. If we
could do that all the time I think I would probably melt in a puddle at your
feet.”

His
chuckle jostled them around, but her words seemed to relax him. With a kiss to
her cheek he eased them over onto their sides, never once losing the intimate
connection between them. “I think you need to get some sleep, little one. Then
we’ll do this again, and again, and again.”

Chapter
Ten

Pressing
a kiss to her lips, Draven drew back with a smile. “About damn time, Mrs.
Ackermann,” he said softly to Cecilia. With a wink he gave her another kiss,
then stepped back so her brother could give her a hug and his condolences.
Draven rolled his eyes at her over Bracken’s shoulder before leaning over to
hug Sadie.

“It’s
about time you made an honest woman out of me, Mr. Ackermann,” Cece teased him.
“Although you technically already had since you bonded with me. Right?” she
asked, then took another hug from him and the others that were there to
congratulate them.

He
grinned at her again before turning his attention to General Daykin. Draven
shook the man’s hand and smiled over at the man’s wife as she spoke softly to
him. Throwing his head back in a laugh, he nodded. Then he waved Cecilia over.
“You remember General Daykin, and this is his very lovely wife, Adira. You
didn’t get to meet her earlier because she was off dealing with their two
adorable children.”

“Hello,
it’s very nice to meet you,” Cece said with a smile and nodded to the woman.
“I’ve heard about the babies. I saw a glimpse of the little boy once as well.
He was adorable.”

“Thank
you. He looks just like his daddy so of course he’s adorable. He’s a little
general just like his daddy,” the woman said with obvious love in her voice.
“And the little girl, now she’s the one who has everyone wrapped around her
little fingers. She looks at you with those blue eyes and everyone within a
kilometer of her wants to do whatever it is that she might need. Incredible,
really.”

“She
can’t even speak yet and already has my entire crew leaping to do whatever she
wants,” Fintan muttered. “She takes after her mother there,” he said, looking
with love to his wife. Love and more than a little amusement.

“She
has your brother wrapped around her finger, too. Actually, both Adira and
Morgan have Bracken ready to do anything they want,” Draven told Cecilia.

“Babies
have a way of doing that,” Cece said with a grin. “They work their way into
your heart before they’re even born.”

“As
soon as we found out we were having twins the entire ship seemed to go crazy.
Although poor Fin had to rotate my guards around. Seemed I would fall asleep on
my feet, literally as I was walking, and it made them more than a little
nervous.”

“It
was more they were terrified to take their eyes off you,” Fintan said. “I’d put
the fear of every deity known on the many worlds into all of them, that if
anything happened to my wife I’d be coming for them.”

“Most
of them still jump three feet into the air, shrieking like little girls to this
day,” Bracken said. He wrapped an arm around Cecilia’s shoulders and pressed a
kiss to her temple. Sadie was on his other side tucked in close to him. “You
should see them when Adira hands them one of the babies to watch. Hours of
entertainment can be had on Fintan’s ship, and that’s only watching the
guards.”

“Seriously?”
At his nod, she grinned. “I would love to come on board then and watch that. I
think it would be a great deal of fun. Then again, think about it. If Sadie
were to get pregnant, Bracken would be the same way and you darn well know it.”

“Never,”
Bracken said.

Draven
snorted at that, as did Fintan. Both the other women stared at him in
disbelief. “He’d be much worse,” Draven said. “I’m fairly certain he’s been
taking notes of what the general’s been doing, and refining everything so that
when it happens he can send out formal memos that everyone will need to sign—in
triplicate. I’m pretty sure we’ll have a mutiny before they even formally
announce that they’re pregnant.”

Cece
snorted. “You are too funny. But I can see Sadie setting Bracken straight. We
both know that she won’t let him give the men trouble.”

“I
say good luck to her,” Draven muttered. Hugging her closer, he rested his
forehead to hers for a moment.

“I
think the dining staff are ready if we are to move this party over,” Bracken
said a moment later. “Time for food, drinks, and the rest of the crew to have
some fun too. They’ve been anxiously awaiting this day since you two announced
it.”

“We’ll
be able to get ourselves some food and dessert and then retire quickly, right?”
Cece asked Draven. “How fast can we get out of the dining hall?” Then she
added, “So that we can start our own private celebrations?”

“Really?
You had to ask him that where I could hear?” Bracken groaned. “Sadie, love, I
think I’ve been traumatized.”

Snickering,
Draven shook his head. “Much faster now that you’ve apparently traumatized your
brother. He’ll be otherwise occupied looking for sympathy from others for a
time. We’ll go do the toast, have something to eat, try and pry the twins away
from whomever has them for a few moments, and then we’ll leave the crew to the
celebration.”

Cecilia
was all smiles now. She couldn’t believe just how happy she was. “Now then,
enough time to chit-chat, darling. We should go and find the babies and have
some food.” Already her brother and sister-in-law were walking away and that
had her grinning as she moved along with Draven.

He
brushed a kiss to her temple as they walked. “You look beautiful today,” he
said softly. “You always do look amazing, but I don’t remember seeing this
dress among the many Sadie brought on board for you.”

“Adira
brought it over for me, actually. She said that her people had customs, that
there was always something old, new, borrowed and blue. So she gave me this
dress,” she said with a grin. “It’s just a bit risqué and you know it.”

“It
is, and it’s lovely. But it’s the woman wearing the dress that truly makes it
amazing,” he told her. Holding her in front of him as they rode the lift up a
few floors, Draven nuzzled at her neck. “I’m more interested in getting it off
of you,” he said in a low voice. Not low enough, given the look Bracken shot
his way.

She
had to laugh. Shaking her head, she said, “You do realize that my brother is
going to have you on the worst duties that he can possibly find for you, right?
Especially if you keep that up.” She leaned in closer to him and whispered, “By
the way, no panties.”

His
low growl had her squirming. “It’ll all be worth it. Especially now that you’ve
told me that part.” He nibbled on her earlobe as he hugged her closer to his
body. “Nothing he could come up with can possibly take away the joy I feel at
knowing you are mine in all ways, Cecilia.”

“All
ways, Draven. For now and for the rest of time I am yours.” She had things that
they both had to get through on their home world, but that was a million miles
away. Right now all that mattered was having him there with her, having him as
her husband. Later they would deal with her monster of a mother, with her farce
of an engagement before she fled. For now this time was all theirs.

“All
right, enough of that, you two,” Bracken said. “Let’s go eat, drink, and all
that other stuff. Time to celebrate the two of you getting married.” He waved
them out of the lift behind Fintan and Adira.

Chuckling
softly, Draven put his hands on her hips and gave her a little push forward.
“Someone missed his nap time, I think,” he whispered loudly.