Ascension Saga (Interstellar Brides): Book 1

Cassander said nothing but took my hand with a gentle tug. I gave up, let him lead me i

nto the bedroom. Oh, there was a big bed all right. Huge. White blankets and fluffy pillows all turned down, ready for entry. I felt like I was a virgin sacrifice as he closed the door behind us. Locked it.

“Wine, my lady?” he asked, going to a table and pouring a dark liquid into two glasses.

“Can’t hurt,” I said on a sigh, holding my hand out. I took a sip. Fruity wine burst on my tongue. It wasn’t grapes that had been fermented, but something else. Still, it tasted good and I needed some liquid courage. And to loosen up.

I took another gulp as Cassander shrugged out of his jacket. Beneath, he wore a white shirt that was trim to his body. As if it was the most natural thing in the world, he unbuttoned the shirt and slid it down his shoulders and back. He was pure muscle. Step one in his seduction plan, wine. Step two, strip tease.

And I still didn’t want him. Shit. I didn’t feel all too teased, so I had to hope he had toys in his arsenal, maybe in the bedside table, or a really wicked tongue. I took another gulp of wine, stared at the defined masses of muscle moving under his skin. He was built. Nice arms. Really nice backside. The way my pussy was pulsing and my breasts ached, I should have been all over him. I should just take off my clothes, lay down on the bed, close my eyes and let this man work some kind of magic on me.

He turned, his wine in hand and a sympathetic look on his face. Sympathy, and lust. So, I was what? I new notch on his belt? Oh, look at the famous consort who got to fuck the future queen? He didn’t know that, but I did. And I was not feeling this.

I glanced at the bed again and tried to imagine him pounding into me as I held onto the headboard. Or… put my head under a pillow? Kept my eyes closed? Turned off the lights?

I set the wine glass down on the bedside table, shaking my head. No, this wasn’t going to work. There was no way in hell I’d let this guy go down on me, no matter how skilled his tongue. It would take four days of foreplay to get my mind as ready as my body for sex. And even then, the idea of him grunting and sweating and pumping into me just made me want to gag. No. Casual sex wasn’t my thing. Never had been. So, this stupid alien body was just going to have to shut up and deal for a while.

Yeah, my girl parts were eager for a big cock. But, they didn’t rule me and they were going to have to be a little more discriminate than an alien prostitute. They’d just have to chill the fuck out.

“Look, Cassander, I’m sure you’re really great at your job. Total stud and all, but I can’t do this. I’ll be sure to give you a great review, but sometimes a girl’s just got to say no.”

He looked appalled. Shocked. Like I’d hit him with a stun gun kind of amazed. Had no one turned him down before? God, his ego must be huge.

“But, my lady—”

His wrist chimed. Glancing at it, he stiffened impossibly further.

“What’s the matter?” I asked, looking from his wary eyes to his wrist.

“There’s, um… a threat. A warning has been sent.”

I stilled, my heart leaping into my throat. He might want to bang me, but right now he was the guy who knew his way around Alera. He had a wrist thingie that sent him stuff like those fancy mini-computer watches on Earth. If he said there was a threat, I believed him. I was the visitor here and had to trust him, at least in this.

“Let’s go in the other room with the guards.” He held his arm out signaling me to precede him. “I need to give them this update.” I walked toward the door, but didn’t make it two steps before the room’s window shattered. I scrunched my shoulders up and ducked down near the door, my hands instinctively going to my head. A dark figure swung in. Covered heat to toe in black, he hung from a wire Mission Impossible style.

Holy shit.

“Run, my la—“ A blast hit Cassander in the chest and he crumpled mid-word as I scrambled to open the door. His second blast hit the door above my head and I crawled on all fours into the hallway as Cassander bellowed behind me. I heard a scuffle. Another shot. I slammed the door, screaming for my sisters.

“We’re under attack! Run!”

That’s when I saw Faith crouched down behind her chair, a dead guard on the ground next to her. Destiny was screaming obscenities around the corner, out of sight.

“Faith? What are you doing?”

Faith turned to me, her eyes round with fear. “You know I don’t kill things.”

I closed the distance as the sound of several shots were fired in the living room area. The explosion of glass made Faith cringe and she peeked around the corner. “Ouch. That was a nice table.”

“Seriously?” I pulled her back, out of my way, and took a quick glance around the corner. One guard was still alive. One. But he was hurt. Bad. Blood was pooling under his head on the nice, thick cream-colored carpet, but he was still breathing. And my sister, Destiny, was bleeding, circling, looking for an opportunity to get in a killing blow to one of the bad guys. It wasn’t the guy who came through the window after me, so that meant there was more than one. She leapt forward, locked in hand-to-hand combat, moving so fast I couldn’t keep track of her motions.

Faith peeked up over the chair next to me. “Jesus, our sister is scary.”

“Shut up and get in there.” I hadn’t forgotten about the attacker in the bedroom. And I had no idea if Cassander was dead or alive.

“What? No way.”

“There’s another one coming from the bedroom,” I hissed. Pushing to get her moving, I scrambled around the dead guard on the floor and took his weapon as we positioned ourselves on the other side of the chair. “You keep track of Destiny. I’ll watch the hall.”