Sliding down slowly, I took him deep, but I took my time. I sensed that this would be our last time together before returning to Alera, and I was on the verge of tears.
For the first time in my life, I truly wanted something for myself. No, not wanted, needed. Craved. Leo was mine. How or when he’d become my anchor, I didn’t know. The thought of not being able to touch him, talk to him, or walk into his arms and know he would wrap me up in safety and heat had me on the edge of panic.
Yes, I was strong. Yes, I’d been groomed my entire life to do what would come next, challenge the old guard on Alera and reclaim my mother’s throne.
But she was supposed to be with me. In all of my childhood imaginings, I’d never once envisioned the situation my sisters and I were currently in. My mother missing. Me, nerdy, book-worm, uptight me responsible for billions of lives, the future of an entire planet. Without her there to guide me. My sisters out there somewhere, risking their lives in secret while I stepped up to the plate and revealed my identity, and my existence, to the entire population. As I faced an entire planet, and my mother’s enemies, alone.
A single tear slipped down my cheek as I took him inside me. His eyes were closed, but somehow, he knew, his eyes opening and finding the telltale sign of my stress and sadness before it had even fallen to his chest.
“Trinity.” His cock was inside my body, but he was wiggling his way into my soul. One word. Just my name, and I lowered my forehead to his chest, kissing where I knew his heart beat. For m
e. In all this insanity, he felt like a miracle, too good to be real. I was going to place him in danger. Again. Ask him to risk his life for me, again. It was wrong of me to ask, but I couldn’t let him go.
“I need you, Leo.”
He sat up and pulled me to his chest, our bodies still connected, his arms locking me to him, and held me close. “I am yours, mate. Anything you need, I am yours.”
Lifting my head from his chest, I looked into his eyes and spoke what truth I could. “I need you.”
“I’m right here.” Leo lowered his head, kissed me. Not hard or fast. There was no dominance or demand in the kiss. It was reverent. Love. It was love. And I’d never felt it before. Not like this.
I shifted my hips, riding him gently, touching his shoulder, wrapping one hand in his hair to hold his lips to mine. And I loved him back with my mouth. My body. And it hurt. God, did it hurt. The pain in my chest foreign, the shaking of my hands, my body, this feeling of weakness, it was all new, and I realized I had never made love before.
We’d fucked. We’d played. He had fed my Ardor with his strength and taken my body places I didn’t know I could go. We’d teased and pleasured one another. But this?
This hurt. This twisted my insides in a slow vise. This was going to kill me, and I didn’t want to stop.
We rocked together, every movement small. Gentle. But no less erotic. I hugged him to me as I came and he followed me over. My face pressed to the side of his neck, his name like a prayer on my lips as my pussy milked him of his seed. We were wrapped around each other, clinging, touching everywhere we could. His energy eased into me, the heat of him to finally ease my Ardor and be a balm to my aching heart. I loved him. The emotion was ridiculous and unreasonable. I’d only known him a few days. But I loved him, and I didn’t dare tell him. Not when I could die tomorrow.
If something happened to me, if the assassin, Nix, from this elite killing unit, came for me, it would be far better for Leo to mourn a princess he’d helped through her Ardor, a friend and lover, than a woman who’d loved him with her entire heart and soul.
7
Trinity
An hour later, we were dressed and in Commander Karter’s office. Leo and me, Prime Nial, Jessica and Ander. I had to hope the two of us didn’t look like we’d spent every available moment wrapped up in each other, but then, Jessica was glowing, too. Looked like Prime Nial and Ander were taking full advantage of their battleship detour as well. Her lips were swollen and her skin was flushed. Unlike me, she seemed to have a constant smile on her face when she was around her mates.
All I could think about was the fact that I was going to get Leo killed. And he wouldn’t even hate me for it. But I would hate myself. Then again, I was going to be the ruling regent very soon. Surely, I could protect him somehow.
“Thank you for allowing us safe passage on your ship, Commander,” Prime Nial said.
The hulking Prillon leader smiled, bowed slightly to Nial. His coloring was similar to Nial’s and Ander’s. A caramel tone of skin and eyes. His hair was a rich brown. The Prillon warriors didn’t look human. There was no mistaking the sharper angles of their cheekbones, of their noses. And their coloring ranged from palest gold, to deep brown to a gorgeous copper. I’d never seen so many gorgeous men in one place in my life.
Commander Karter was one of them. He was, perhaps, a decade older than Prime Nial and had the confident, no bullshit bearing of a military man. “My ship is available to you anytime. It is an honor, Princess Trinity, to have you on board as well.”
I reached out to shake his hand.
“Ah, an Earth greeting.” He gave it a firm squeeze. “One of my former captains is an Earthling. She is mated to a very large Atlan. I think you two would make fast friends—you and Sarah, not her beast. Warlord Dax took his new mate to Atlan. I’m sure she would be thrilled to have you in her home, once all of this is over.”
I smiled, glad he and everyone we’d met—aside from the assassins—were all very nice. “Thanks.” I wasn’t sure where he was going with this, other than just trying to give me another Earth-female friend out here in space. But Atlan was a long way from Alera, from what I understood. But then again, that’s what transport technology was for. And I was going to rule an entire freaking planet… “I’d love to visit her someday. Thank you. Maybe Lady Deston would like to accompany me?”
“Hell yeah. I’d love to do a girl’s weekend.” Her smile was radiant, especially when Ander’s blank face turned to a scowl. “Maybe we could binge on my shows.”
For a moment, life felt normal again. Surrounded by alien warriors, on a battleship, talking about binge-watching TV. “What do you watch?”
She rubbed her hands together and recited a list of police procedurals and crime dramas. Me? I wanted dragons, Jedi Knights or hot Tolkien elves. Well, just one elf, anyway. That silver-haired badass and his bow were hot, hot, hot—
“I am grateful for your kind offer to Trinity, but we are here for a reason, Commander Karter. Lady Deston. And that reason has nothing to do with play,” Leo stated. “My mate is being hunted by one of the Fleet’s deadliest assassins. Now that her Ardor has cooled, I am looking forward to eliminating that threat. With my bare hands.”