Cosmos' Promise: Cosmos' Gateway Book 4 (12 page)

“I want more,” she demanded as she gripped his shoulders.

“Who am I to deny you what you want,” Cosmos responded through gritted teeth as he began pumping his hips faster.

“Yes,” Terra cried out as the feelings she had felt before built deep inside her. She wanted to feel that flood of overwhelming pleasure again. “Like that but more as well.”

“Damn,” Cosmos groaned loudly as he rocked faster and harder. “I don’t think I’m going to last long.”

Terra rocked her hips with him, driving him deeper inside her with each move. The sliding of his cock along the nubs of her womanhood sent waves of heat and pleasure rocketing through her. Each movement of his hips hit nerve-endings she hadn’t even been aware of having. She didn’t understand why the females of her species were so reluctant to join with their mates if this was what happened.

Yes, there is pain but it is a pain that is filled with so much pleasure I know I will grow addicted to it
, she thought as her eyes fluttered and closed as she connected with Cosmos and what he was feeling.

That was the last thought she had before her body erupted again with a fierceness that rivaled her first orgasm. She arched forward while her head fell back against the soft pillow, her body frozen as it burst apart. She vaguely heard Cosmos’ loud groan as his body stilled above hers. The flood of heat as his seed filled her pulled out her orgasm, surpassing the first one and drowning her in wave after wave of ecstasy.

“Terra,” Cosmos groaned out as his body pulsed deeply into hers. He let his head fall forward and he pressed a kiss to her exposed neck, his arms wrapped tightly around her body as he held her close. “I love you, my silver-eyed mate.”

Terra opened her eyes, staring at the ceiling as he continued to press hot kisses to her neck and pulse deep inside her. Her eyes shimmered with tears as a multitude of feelings bombarded her. She was open to him, feeling everything he felt combined with her own emotions. The love he felt for her was warm, raw, possessive, and primal. She felt the resolve in him to protect her with every fiber in his being. His mind was fascinating. She could feel his focus was on her yet at the same time, images, calculations, and diagrams of items she could only guess at were flashing through it. It was as if he was going through what weapons he would need to ensure she was kept safe. She could also feel his exhaustion.

“Shush,” she whispered as she ran her hands soothingly through his hair. “I am safe with you. Rest. RITA will protect us both,” she murmured as exhaustion from a night without sleep and the satiation of their love making caught up with her. “Sleep, my mate.”

Chapter 11

Cosmos smiled as he woke. He didn’t open his eyes yet as he wanted to just enjoy the feeling of having Terra wrapped tightly against him. He had woken several hours before and made love to her again, tenderly this time. His whole body felt rested. He rubbed his chin against the top of Terra’s head and released a sigh. A frown creased his brow when another sigh echoed his before the bed dipped beside him. There were two things that registered immediately. First, the sigh did not come from the woman in his arms. Second, the bed was dipping beside him.

His eyes flew open in alarm. When he saw the amused eyes staring down at him, all he wanted to do was pull the covers over his head. Instead, he let out a long groan followed by an even louder curse.

“God damn it, Tilly,” Cosmos growled. “Can’t you give a guy a break?”

Angus’ chuckle from behind Tilly woke Terra, who jerked upright with surprise. Luckily, she kept the sheet tucked around her or Angus would have gotten an eye full of her lush curves. Unfortunately, the covers were dragged down low over his hips. His cheeks flamed with embarrassment when Tilly’s eyes widened in delight.

“Angus,” Cosmos snapped looking at the older man with a raised eyebrow.

“Come on, love,” Angus replied with a deep laugh. “I think Cosmos and Terra need a few moments alone to get decent.”

Tilly sighed again as she rose when Angus put his hand under her arm. “Oh Angus, all of our babies have found their partner.”

“Yes, dear,” Angus said as he slid his arm around his wife’s tiny waist. “Now, how about seeing to your own partner,” he whispered in her ear. “You’ve been so worried about the kids I’m beginning to feel a little neglected.”

Tilly’s eyes lit with amusement as she reached up and pulled Angus’ head down so she could kiss him. “I can’t have that, now can I?” She responded huskily.

“Enough already,” Cosmos groaned out pulling Terra back down into his arms. “How the hell did the girls survive living in a motor home with you two?”

Angus laughed as he turned his wife toward the bedroom door. “We never said it was easy. Get dressed, Cosmos. You and I need to talk. You have one very unhappy father pacing back and forth and threatening dire consequences if RITA2 doesn’t open up the Gateway for him. I think we need to plan how to deal with him.”

“Deal with him,” Tilly snorted. “I’ll show that overbearing pompous windbag how I deal with anyone who threatens to kill one of my kids. I’ll…”

Cosmos sighed in disbelief. “How the hell did you guys get here? I thought I told RITA not to let anyone into the warehouse.”

“I had to let her in, sweetheart,” RITA responded cheerfully. “She threatened to cut access to DAR if I didn’t
and
she promised to work on a hologram program for me and my sis. How could I refuse? I did tell Dumbass that he could take a long hike off a short bridge. Well, I didn’t but RITA2 did.”

Terra giggled as she rolled over to look at Cosmos. “Good morning,” she whispered brushing a kiss across his pursed lips. “I like waking up next to you,” she added in a surprised tone.

Cosmos looked up into her shining eyes and couldn’t stop the smile that curved his lips. “Why do you sound so surprised?” He asked curiously.

“I am trying to understand why the females of my world are told that such things are not to be enjoyed,” Terra admitted with a puzzled frown. “I mean, it is amazing!”

Cosmos shook his head and chuckled. “I think it is pretty amazing too,” he said huskily as he pulled her down to kiss her again.

“Oh!” A voice came from the doorway.

Cosmos let his head fall back to the pillow before he turned his head and glared at the doorway. Tink was standing in the center of it looking wide-eyed at Cosmos and Terra. She wasn’t the only one. J’kar was glaring at Cosmos with a savage look.

“Mom said to tell you to put a move on. Teriff and Tresa are coming,” Tink said brightly. Her eyes danced with merriment as she saw Cosmos wrap his arms protectively around Terra. “Don’t worry about Teriff. He’ll just blow out a lot of hot air. J’kar can tell you he didn’t like me at first either. Isn’t that right, honey?” Tink added looking up at the dark face of her mate.

“No, but that was different,” J’kar growled out looking at Cosmos with a frown.

“Knock it off,” Tink said turning and putting her hands on J’kar’s chest and pushing him back. “He loves her. Just like you love me. Remember, you aren’t supposed to get me upset – I’m pregnant.”

Cosmos looked at the petite, rounded figure of his best friend. She barely came up to the Prime warrior’s chest but she was backing him up as if she were twice his size. He opened his mouth to ask her to close the door behind her but she must have known as she grabbed the doorknob and pulled it with her as they exited his bedroom.

Terra let her forehead drop down and rest against Cosmos. “I like her,” she said with a grin before the smile died. “I will not let my father send me back to that place.”

“I won’t let him send you away from me,” Cosmos promised. “You belong to me now.”

The smile that had died returned briefly. “I like that. You belong to me as well.”

“Let’s get a shower and dressed before anyone else shows up. RITA, you and I need to have a serious talk when this is over about following orders!” Cosmos called out as he rolled out of bed and scooped Terra in his arms.

“I’ve turned my sensors for your room off so you two can have some privacy. Mums the word, darling,” RITA replied with a laugh. “Besides, Tilly is scarier than you are any day.”

Cosmos snorted as he walked into his bathroom and gave the command for the water to turn on in the shower. He gently set Terra down before opening the glass doors. He stepped in and reached for her hand as she stepped in behind him.

“Can I wash you?” He asked as he brushed her hair back away from her face.

“If you do we may not get out of the shower,” Terra said with a shake of her head. “Then, we will have all of them in here with us knowing Tilly and my father. That is not something I would appreciate.”

“Me either,” Cosmos admitted.

A shudder escaped him at the idea of having to deal with two such powerful personalities while not wearing a stitch of clothing. With a rueful shake of his head, he reached for the shampoo. He was ready to kick them all the hell out of his warehouse, lock it down, disable RITA and say to hell with everything and everyone but the beautiful nymph in the shower with him.

Life was bloody not fair sometimes,
he thought with regret as he watched the soap bubbles run down his mate’s spine to the curve of her ass.

I totally agree with you on that one,
Terra replied wistfully.

*.*.*

“She stays!” Cosmos growled out rising from the table and slamming his palms flat against the table. “She’s mine and no one, including you, is going to take her away from me.”

“We’ll see about that,” Teriff snarled as he rose as well to face off across the table from where Cosmos and Terra were sitting.

Tilly and Angus sat on one end while J’kar and Tink sat on the other. Tresa sat quietly in the chair next to Teriff. She laid a hand on Teriff’s forearm while Terra tried to calm Cosmos. They had been arguing for the last forty-five minutes. Teriff wanted to take Terra home. He promised he would not send her back to the fortress. In fact, all the women who had been held there, save Lady Mey ‘Toc Keila, three warriors and those taken, had been moved to the palace. Gant, Brawn and Bullet had vowed to keep the women safe, even from members of their own clans. Derik, Core and Hendrik were still in pursuit of one of the vessels that had departed. The vessels had split up. According to the readings they were able to get from DAR before the vessels departed, one had eight women aboard while the other only had one. The decision was made to rescue as many as they could. That meant following the transport containing the eight women.

Mak remained back at the palace at Tansy’s side as she was still unconscious and Borj was overseeing everything at the palace while Teriff was gone. Borj refused to let his pregnant mate out of his sight. Hannah sat by Tansy’s side, keeping watch over her sister during the short periods of time Mak disappeared to take care of business. None of them talked about Mak’s demand for Right of Justice against the men who had harmed Tansy. The healers had healed the man named Craig that Teriff brought back. Mak had dealt justice out this morning to him in the arena. Now, his middle son searched for the man named Drew who had betrayed Tansy and killed her first mate. These were just a few of the reasons Teriff did not want his precious daughter anywhere near a world where men were responsible for so much pain.

“You think human males are such savages but what the hell do you call locking your own daughter up in a prison? What about those men who attacked it? What the hell do you think they would have done to Terra if they had gotten their hands on her?” Cosmos fired back. “I’ll see you in hell before I let you put her in another place like that.”

“I…,” Teriff began before Tresa spoke up in a stern voice.

“Teriff, sit down,” she ordered.

Teriff looked down in shocked surprise at the tight expression on his mate’s face. He sat down more out of surprise at her speaking to him in such a tone than because she ordered him to sit. He drew in a deep breath and looked at the faces around the table. Tresa, Tilly, Terra, and Tink all looked at him with a stubborn expression that did not bode well for him. Even Angus had a look of disappointment on his face as he stared back at him. Teriff flushed before looking at his oldest son’s face. J’kar looked like he was torn between wanting to support the need to take Terra back and the knowledge that if he did, Tink would not be happy. From the grimace on J’kar’s face, Tink must have shared her opinion with her mate.

“Tresa,” Teriff began, turning to look at his lovely mate.

“No! You listen,” Tresa interrupted him before taking a deep breath to calm herself. “Cosmos is Terra’s mate,” she began gently. “He has proven that he can protect her. He is right. You should never have sent Terra to the Isle of the Chosen but I am glad that you did,” she paused when she heard the other women gasp. Tresa shook her head as she glanced from her mate’s stunned face to those of the others sitting around the table.

“If he had not sent her there, the other women would still be there. The fortress was needed long ago but not now. It took an incident like this to prove that women should not be taken from their clans and housed like they were animals. The time has passed when it was necessary to treat us like we are property. Terra has the right to accept the mate the Gods have given her. The mating rite is complete. She and Cosmos are bound. There will be no more talk of taking her away,” Tresa said firmly looking back into the eyes of her mate. “Would you deny her what you and our sons have?”

Teriff swallowed down the protest as he listened to his mate’s words. With a sigh of resignation, he shook his head. “No, I would not deny her,” he admitted reluctantly before turning to glare at Cosmos who had sunk down into his chair as well. “You better keep her safe – and happy!”

Cosmos nodded in relief as he gripped Terra’s hand tightly between both of his. “I promise I will keep her safe, do everything I can to make her happy, and love her with every fiber of my being,” he vowed.

“One more thing,” Teriff said gruffly looking at Tilly instead of Cosmos this time.

“What?” Tilly asked startled as the heated silver gaze turned on her. “What did I do?”