The Royal Mate (Space Wars) (4 page)

Chapter Six

When she woke, Paisley knew that they had slept through the entire night instead of waking. She knew this by the low glow on the screen in the bedroom that simulated windows. They both had to have been far more exhausted than either of them had realized.

She turned to face Markus, smiling when he tightened his arms around her and grumbled. “Markus, I need to use the bathroom. We slept all night. I need to get up and then we’ll get up and make breakfast. Come on, let me go?” It was almost as if he didn’t want to let her go. She had never felt that way before and she liked it. A lot.

He made a low, grumbling sound that might have been words, but she couldn’t decipher what they were. Finally, he loosened his hold on her but not before pressing a kiss to the exposed skin at her shoulder. Flopping onto his back when he released her, he tossed an arm over his eyes and instinctively she knew he’d dozed back off.

When she came back, she just looked down at him. She couldn’t help it. He looked so carefree in those moments, far less guarded and simply relaxed. “I’m going to start breakfast for us. Rest as long as you need,” she told him softly and walked out of the bedroom. She hoped he would join her soon, but she didn’t know how tired he was.

Strong male arms wrapped around her while she stood sipping her first cup of coffee of the morning. “You left me all alone in there,” he said. His voice still held the edge of sleep to it, making it rougher and deeper than ever. “Shame on you, Paisley.”

“I left you alone but I made coffee.” She leaned back against him and closed her eyes. “I could become very used to this, having you wrapping your arms around me and warming me up. I seem to be cold all the time but not when you hold me.” She felt peace and warmth when he held her and she loved it.

“Well, we definitely cannot have you being cold, little one.” Turning her in his arms, he lifted her until she was sitting on the counter. Markus stepped in between her legs and drew her close before wrapping her up in his arms once again. “I’m glad you made coffee. Even with the vid screens, my body feels out of sorts down here. On the destroyer, I can tell you the time without being near a port, monitor, or any timepiece. Yet here I don’t have a clue.”

She wrapped her legs around him and leaned in so she could kiss him again. When they parted, she licked her lips. “Breakfast is finishing in the oven. It’s an egg casserole with potatoes, bacon, eggs, and cheese, lots of cheese.” She had just tossed it together and was waiting for him to wake up to turn up the heat a bit on it. “Did you, at least, sleep well?” she wanted to know.

He took her cup from her to take a sip and nodded when he passed it back over. “I did, much better than I have in too long. Which may be part of the problem? I rarely get that many hours to sleep straight through. Being first officer on a destroyer means I’m the first person to call when there’s an issue or trouble before the commanding officer.”

“Ah, I can understand why that would throw you off. I’m used to sleeping at night but I’m not accustomed to sleeping so soundly or so well. That was because of you.” She loved that, too. Loved that he had given her that ultimate peace.

“Well, it was mutual. You helped me sleep soundly, too.” He leaned closer to give her a quick, hard kiss, then pulled back. “Now I need coffee or I will be asleep on your casserole at the table the moment I sit down.”

“You get coffee and I’m going to turn up the heat.” She let him go, then hopped off of the counter. “Cups are in the cabinet above the maker. If you put anything in your coffee, let me know and I’ll steer you in the right direction.” She preferred hers black.

“Once upon a time, maybe, but I learned early on to drink it black.” After pouring a cup, he leaned a hip to the counter and watched her over the rim. “What are the plans for today, little one? I mean besides you showing me the rest of this place.”

“I have no plans, honestly. I was just going to hang around with this incredibly hot man whom I’ve just recently learned is my soon-to-be soul-bonded mate. That’s pretty cool, don’t you think?”

“That is. He is an extremely lucky man. Does he realize how lucky he is?”

She walked to him and stroked her hand over his cheek. “Something tells me he knows just how lucky he is. The universe didn’t make a mistake with us, Markus. Our signing our contract last night was just another step in proving that. This feeling I have for you, this bond that I already feel, shows me it’s exactly right.” He took another drink from his cup, then set it aside and put his hands on her hips. Gently he tugged her in closer until he could rest his hands on her ass, pulling her up against him while lowering his head. She threaded her fingers through his hair and let her head fall back with a low, throaty moan. “Markus, what are you doing to me?” She felt her nipples pucker and her pussy drip with need. “Please.”

“I am misbehaving,” he said. His lips curved up slightly. A slow kiss had her swaying into him. When he lifted her up, she had no option but to wrap her arms and legs around him or tumble backward. Markus kept the kiss lazy but it still destroyed her and melted her bones.

She shuddered, her toes curled, and her fingers tightened on him. “I like when you misbehave.” They didn’t have a lot of time for this but good heavens she wanted to be able to do more. She wanted to get naked with him right now. “Food, have to eat and then show you around, right?” If he had a better idea, like being naked, she was so ready for that. Markus began to nibble on her neck, distracting her and making her thoughts scatter. “Do you have any ideas on how we could spend today?”

“I would really like to complete our bond. I want to know how it feels. If it’s already this viable, this tangent, I want to know what it will feel like when we finally are able to come together. I want to make love with you, Markus. I want to know what everything is between us.”

He smiled against her skin. Then he bit her. Not hard, but it was enough to make her pussy contract in need. He pressed a kiss to the spot next and lifted his head to look at her. “I think the alert is going off for breakfast, little one.”

She hesitated only a moment before she pulled back from him, then smiled. “Gracious, you are dangerous.” Which was the truth. She moved away from him to grab the holders so that she could pull the breakfast out. “Will you grab the plates, please?” she asked as she put the hot dish onto the top of the heating unit.

He did as she’d asked, passing them to her one at a time to put some of the casserole on them. Markus took them to the table and set them in their spots toward one end and close together. He then went back to get his cup, pausing to refill it and hers. At the table, he held her chair for her and shrugged at her look, saying nothing.

Once they were seated, she rubbed her knee to his and grinned. “Dig in.” She wanted to see how he liked the food before she started. She knew the recipe and knew it would be good but she was worried that he wouldn’t like it. “I just need to know if it’s good or not,” she explained.

Picking up his utensil, he cut off a piece and scooped it up. “You know, it always makes me nervous when the cook does not try the meal but waits for her prey to taste it first.” He slipped the bite into his mouth and began to chew.

She laughed and shook her head. “I would never, ever harm you. Even unintentionally I don’t think that I could do it.” Once he started to eat she began as well. “So, tell me. What do you think?”

“It’s delicious. Quit worrying, little one.” He took another bite before he looked to her. “You know what you are doing in here, obviously, Paisley. Why are you so worried?”

She mulled over his question before she answered. Taking a deep breath, she said, “I was in a previous relationship. It was nothing like this. It felt wrong on every level. He berated me for everything, so I guess that I’m just so programmed to wait for someone to give me grief that I worry. I’m like this at times at the school as well around the headmaster. He’s a cruel man and he’s known for making examples of teachers, and sadly he has a hard-on hate for me because of who my mom is.”

“Paisley.” The way he said her name and covered her hand with his to give it a squeeze had her blinking rapidly to fight back emotions. “I am not like either one of those men. If I have issue with something, I will discuss it with you. I can’t promise to always be fully rational about whatever it might be, but I would never put blame on someone who didn’t deserve it. You also know I don’t hate you, and I realize that it will take time for you to adjust, but know that you can talk to me about anything from your past. It’s better to know what is going on than to be shocked when something suddenly comes up. Although I wouldn’t make a habit of talking about your previous relationship. Already I want to punch a wall.”

“I’m sorry.” She ran her hand over his hand, then leaned in so that she could kiss his cheek. “He wasn’t a man the way that one should be. No more mentions of him, I promise. And I do have a good life. I love teaching and spending time with the little ones, so when we get out of this bunker it’s going to be an adjustment when you go back to your duties.” She pulled back to look at him. “But I’m not going to be left home while you go and save our galaxy. I plan on being right there at your side, giving you a hard time from time to time.”

“We both know that what the future holds is still unknown. If I’m allowed to return to my duties, it will be an adjustment for everyone. Right now my biggest concern is the survival of both races, Craegin and Imarian. Until the threats are taken out of play, we won’t be leaving this bunker to do anything.”

“Well, there is that, I suppose. All I know is I have everything I need here in this bunker. We have plenty of food, things to do, and we have each other. That’s all that’s needed, right? Now, after you’ve finished eating, we’ll clean up and then I’ll show you around everywhere. Oh, and the best part of being in this bunker with only you and no guards? The fact that we can walk around naked all the time if we wanted to.”

His utensil stopped halfway to his mouth, and suddenly she was pinned by his heated regard. Slowly he slipped the bite into his mouth, started to chew, then nodded. “You had better eat quickly, little one. You’ve mentioned being naked often enough that I’m starting to believe you should have been naked last night.”

“I’m starting to believe it, too,” she told him with a wink. She began to eat much faster now, determined to finish before he did. “So I think,” she said finally, “after we have done up our dishes, I’ll get naked and run toward the spa area so that you can see if you can find me?”

“Considering you have not yet shown me more than the immediate common areas and bedrooms, if you plan to dash off leaving me behind you might think about leaving me some clues. Or you could end up really bored while I stumble around.”

“I could leave my clothes as a trail for you,” she said happily. “I like that idea. Oh, and before you ask, there’s also a map along the way. It’s on the wall just outside of the gym. It’s all there but the levels are flipped. So what shows as the first floor is actually the fifth floor, which holds the pool area. Does that help?”

“It does if I can find the gym area. Leave the trail for me, little one.” Finishing his food, he licked the utensil, then lifted his cup to finish drinking the coffee. Once he was done, he stood with his dishes in hand and went to the sink.

“You do dishes,” she decided suddenly and with a laugh. “I’ll leave a trail for you that gets you to the gym area and you already know that where I’m going is the fifth floor, so…” she trailed off and gave him a fast kiss to his cheek. “Come find me,” she whispered, then nipped his ear with her teeth and took off running.

Chapter Seven

“Wench!” he called after her. All he got in return was a carefree laugh. He would make her pay for that and her teasing. Scraping their plates off, he stuck them into the sanitizer and wiped down the counters and table. When he finished, he dried his hands, then set off to track her down. He picked up each item of her clothing as he went. She was thoughtful enough to have left one piece by the map she had mentioned earlier. Markus took a moment to familiarize himself with the layout before continuing on his hunt for Paisley.

He could hear her laughter, hear her calling for him, and knew that he was getting closer. “You are so close.” That was louder than what her laughter had been earlier, so he knew he was very close now. “Just a little bit further and you’ll find me. You should already start to smell the water.”

“You are in trouble, little one.” Pausing, he scooped up another article of clothing and added it to the pile in his hands. He knew exactly where he was given he now had the map in his head. A moment later he stepped into the spa area and quickly scanned the space to see what all was there and find Paisley. Setting her clothing down on a shelf, he tugged at the ties holding up his pants and slipped out of them.

She was in the pool, treading water and watching him with her far too innocent eyes. They were a deep chocolate brown with a ring of gold around them. He could drown in her eyes, especially when paired with her freckles, her dark red hair, and the innocence that all but radiated from her. “Come on, Markus, join me?” She had need in her voice; it was clear that she was desperate for him.

At the pool’s edge, he crossed his arms over his chest and stared at her. She looked like a water nymph he had once read about in a book when he was a kid. It had been a story his mother had read. The moral for the story had been to not allow something pretty, or too good to be true, to lead you into danger and doom. In this case, Markus planned on ignoring the sage advice the story told, and with that in mind, he dove into the water, swimming under the surface in her direction.

He noticed that she did not move from where she was treading water. It made his heart swell that she trusted him that much, to remain just where she was, not knowing if he was going to dunk her or not. When he surfaced, she had that grin on her face, the one that made him want to do very, very bad things to her. “I see you found me.”

Wiping a hand over his face to get rid of the water, he eased closer to her. “I did, the trail to the map was extremely helpful.” With care, he leaned in enough to press a kiss to her lips. “You were wearing an awful lot of clothing. Some that I don’t recall actually seeing on your body this morning. Did you by chance grab a few extra pieces to help with the trail?”

“Maybe I did.” She moved in closer to him, and he wrapped his arms around her. “I wanted to make sure that you could find me. So…” she trailed off and wrapped her legs around his hips.

Markus quickly adjusted his movements to keep them both above water and started to work them toward the shallow end. He didn’t want them ending up under the water and that would be much easier with his feet on solid ground. “Thank you for doing that, little one. Even though it was not entirely selfless, was it?” he teased.

“No, not in the least. I wanted you to find me. Heck, I needed you to find me. I needed to feel your body on mine.” Her hands were moving over his shoulders but he noticed that she was not going lower. “Touch me, Markus? Let’s get out of the pool and into the hot springs or even dry off?”

“Let’s dry off. I don’t want either of us to drown before we can complete the bond. Can you hold out until we get to our bed?”

“I can wait. I just wanted you to be able to find your way to the gym and pool in case you needed it after you left me exhausted and sleeping.” The little minx was teasing him. “Think you can hold onto your needs long enough for us to make it to our bed?”

“I definitely can wait since I know what the reward is. You,” he told her. Cupping her face, he pressed a kiss to her lips. Then he worked at getting them to the edge of the pool so that they could get out. While he could hold on for a little while, he was at the end of his rope.

Once they were at the edge, she moved away from him and passed him a towel before taking one herself. They watched each other drying off. He wondered what she thought of his tattoos and scars but then chose to ignore it and instead looked her over. She turned and glanced over her shoulder at him. “I had this inked onto my back when I graduated. What do you think?”

Moving closer to her, he trailed his fingertips down her spine before tracing a wing of the design. “It’s beautiful and befitting the one who wears it.” He dropped a light kiss to her shoulder as he wrapped an arm around her waist to hug her to him.

Her lips curved, and that smile was enough to make his cock hard. He did appreciate the ink on her body. The angel wings that spread from shoulder to shoulder with the DNA strand running down her spine took time and pain, two things that not a great deal of Craegin women would have done. “Come on. I’ll show you the shortcut now.” She tugged his hand and pulled him toward the wall. He wasn’t sure where they were going but she obviously knew the place inside and out, so he was trusting her. When her hand slapped on the wall and the concrete parted he had to admit it was pretty cool, as was the elevator that was inside of it. “This leads to each floor and ends in the master suite that you and I occupy. It would be a way out if we ever needed it,” she said.

He followed her into the elevator and watched her key it to their floor. It was a slightly different system than on the destroyers, a little more simple, but other than that easy enough to operate from what he could tell. The ride was short and, like she had said, put them right in the master suite. He scooped her up when the doors fully opened. He headed straight for the bed to toss her onto it, quickly following her down.

She reached up and pulled him closer to her body. “I want everything with you, Markus. I want the full bond. I don’t know what I’m doing to make that happen but I hope you know how?”

“We make love, Paisley. There is nothing else needed. The bond works itself out as we move along.” He ran a hand up her side to brush his thumb over the curve of her breast. “Do whatever feels right, and let nature and the universe worry about the rest.”

“Everything with you feels right.” She had arched up into his hand and he could not deny that she was right. Everything between them did feel right. It felt fucking perfect. When she leaned in closer to him and brushed her lips over his chest, Markus felt his balls contract and had to bite back the moan that he was sure she was waiting for.

Squeezing her breast gently, he nipped at her earlobe to distract her. When she pulled back with a breathy sound, he lowered his mouth to her throat and slowly worked lower, over her collarbone, then down her breastbone. Reaching the valley between her breasts, he paused to inhale her scent, then turned his face into a breast and bit lightly.

She tightened her hands on his hair and tugged what little hair he had. He growled in reaction. “Oh, that feels perfect. More.” She wrapped her leg around him and tugged at his ass, almost like she was determined to pull him into her body and hold him there.

“Behave,” he said in warning. Not that he believed even a little that she would behave herself. Paisley was a woman who seemed to know what she wanted. While she did not always act immediately on her wants, when she forgot herself she was exactly who she was always meant to be. He had to make sure she forgot to ever hesitate with him and only acted. Scraping his teeth to her breast, he flicked her nipple with his tongue, toying with the tight bud.

“I don't want to behave. I want to be with you. I want to have you inside of me.” She was breathless now. “I feel the bond between us all but vibrating right now. Can’t you feel it?” She turned her chocolate-colored eyes to him.

“I can feel it, little one.” Markus nuzzled at first one breast, then the other.

She shivered under him and scraped her nails over his back. Damn woman knew just what it took to make him want more. “Please,” she whispered against his ear an instant before her teeth closed over the lobe.

“I’m going to make you want to the point of insanity before I take you hard, deep, and fully. I plan to brand you as mine forever, Paisley. To make sure that you can’t move without remembering our first time. To make you crave more.”

“I think I’m already there,” she admitted to him bluntly, a shiver racing over her skin as her eyes closing slightly. It was when her lips parted just a tease and her tongue peeked out that he sought to drive her crazier.

He went lower, dragging his mouth over her skin. Occasionally he paused to lick or nibble at her, causing her to squirm on the bedding. Even when she tugged at his hair to draw him back up, he resisted. Markus had a goal in mind and nothing would deter him. Reaching the spot moments later, he stroked her legs over his shoulders and brushed his lips to her pussy before using his fingers to spread the damp folds to bare her to his sight and mouth.

“Holy mother.” She whimpered those two words. He could feel the need from how tense her legs went and nearly laughed when her toes literally curled. “Markus. More, please.” She was begging him and those words were music to his ears. He loved the sound of her pleas and moans.

Blowing out a breath over her dampness, he quickly moved an arm around her waist to keep her from launching from the bed. A quick flick from his tongue to her clitoris earned him a keening sound. She was close to the edge, and it wouldn’t take much to send her over. Not wanting this to be over too quickly, he turned his attention lower and, using his tongue, began to stroke her opening in slow licks.

“Yes, right there,” she whispered, letting her nails stroke over his scalp now. “You are so good at this. Yes. More. You are so good. Give me more. Just like that. I need more.”

For a time, he continued to tease her. Sliding a finger into her sheath, Markus began to slowly pump it in and out while he licked her folds. He was purposefully avoiding her clitoris. He already knew she was hypersensitive there, so that would be the last part he attended to and only when he wanted her to fracture.

“Markus, please.” She was in desperate need and he damn well knew it. “Give me more. I need more.” She was ready. She was about to come apart in his arms and their bond was growing wider and larger without him even being inside of her.

He blew a light breath over her clit and watched her skin ripple in reaction. Had he blown a little harder he might have sent her over the edge. While he liked playing with her and planned to do more later, Markus knew better than to torture her. With that in mind, he put his mouth over her clit and sucked, flicking the tight bud with the end of his tongue.

He felt her body arch up and against him, heard her moan as her legs tugged him closer. “Markus, please. Now. Inside me. I can’t wait.” She was panting now, eager for more.

“Come now. You need to have the edge taken off,” he told her. Otherwise she would come too quickly, and he wanted to take his time with her. Returning his mouth to her clit, he lightly scraped his teeth to the engorged bud and tugged.

He was satisfied only a few moments later when he heard her screaming his name. Her juices flooded from her as her body clenched his fingers. She sobbed in her orgasm, which had him licking her even more to gather up all of her moisture and need.