Ascension Saga (Interstellar Brides): Book 9

My mind went back to that moment when Destiny and I had first met, when my body had awakened for her, a stranger in the dark. Me, buried balls deep in her wet core, Destiny’s back pressed to the wall in the cleric’s office. My hand over her mouth as she came all over my cock, holding in her cries of pleasure so the elder would not know of our presence.

It was my turn to blush. All this time, we’d thought she hadn’t known of our presence. It would appear we had not been nearly as stealthy as we had thought. I rubbed the back of my neck and looked away. It was one thing for everyone to know we couldn’t keep our hands off each other, another to be doing it just out of someone’s view.

“I shall not answer that,” she replied. “You managed to escape, did you not?”

“I—” My tough female looked to me for an answer. I had none.

A corner of the older woman’s mouth tipped up and I decided it was time to change the subject.

>

“Shall we get on with questioning our prisoner, My Queen?” I shoved Pawl forward toward Captain Turaya, drawing the attention of everyone in the room. Pawl had been behind me, hidden by my taller frame until I knew he would pose no threat.

As Pawl moved, I met my mate’s gaze across the room. The sweet smile she gave me was my reward. For now. Later I’d have that soft mouth around my…

“Pawl? You’re Pawl?” The queen paled and swayed on her feet. Captain Turaya shouted in alarm, but he was not about to release the prisoner to go to her.

Trinity caught her mother and helped her into the nearest seat, the queen’s gaze never leaving the prisoner.

“This is impossible,” she murmured. “I don’t understand.”

And neither did we understand her reaction. She’d never seen Pawl before from what we knew.

Pawl shifted from foot to foot, waiting, as we all were, for some kind of explanation for the queen’s reaction.

“What is it, Mom?” Trinity straightened to her full height and looked at Pawl. Eyes narrowed, as if assessing how she could kill him herself depending on what her mother said.

Queen Celene had her head in her hands. “This can’t be happening. I don’t believe it. I can’t.”

“What?” Faith moved too quickly, nearly too fast for me to see, and I determined to ask Destiny about it later. These females all seemed to have odd—abilities. Faith had her fist raised in a fighter’s stance. “What is it?”

“Jesus, Mom. Stop being a drama queen and tell us what the hell is going on.” Destiny’s fist slammed down on the table to accentuate her words and I held back a laugh.

Oh yes, she was mine. All. Fucking. Mine. And she was magnificent. Only my mate would dare insult the queen of our planet and make demands of her at the same time.

For whatever reason, it worked. The queen recovered instantly, standing and walking toward Pawl, her face an expressionless mask. “Where is he?”

Pawl frowned. “Where is who?” He tried to take a step back, but Captain Turaya’s grip was too strong.

“Where is your father?”

Pawl looked from the queen to me. “He’s dead.”

Queen Celene stood before him like a goddess from hell. She was shorter than Pawl, but much more formidable. “Don’t lie to me, boy. Where is your father? Where is Mykel?”

That stopped everyone in their tracks. Faith gasped.

The king? The dead king? She was saying King Mykel was Pawl’s father?

“Mom, you must be confused,” Trinity said. “This is Pawl. He’s Radella’s son. Lord Wyse’s grandson. His father was Danoth.”

“Bullshit,” she replied, not looking away from Pawl. “I want to see the DNA on that. This boy is the son of King Mykel. And he looks exactly like his father.” She turned away from Pawl and looked for Amandine. The elder had taken a seat at the table and was examining Pawl as if she’d never seen him before.

“Mom, he’s one of the guys who went to Earth and kidnapped you,” Trinity explained.

“My grandfather arranged it,” Pawl said. “I didn’t know why we were going. He only mentioned bringing an Aleran back from Earth. I had no idea it was a female until we arrived. And then we all had the portable transport beacons. Mine returned me here, to Mytikas. Everyone else”—he dipped his head indicating the queen—“went somewhere else. I had no idea.”

The queen pursed her lips and studied him, then looked to the elder cleric. “Aunt Ama? Do you see the resemblance to Mykel?” She ignored Pawl’s explanation.