Ascension Saga (Interstellar Brides): Book 6

I felt her soft skin beneath my fingers, the beat of her heart as our chests were pressed together, the hard points of her nipples.

“How do you plan to do that?”

I felt her body heat beneath mine. “I could kiss you.”

The corner of her mouth tipped up. “That might work.”

“On your pussy.”

She wiggled her hips and licked her lips, her eyes going dark with a look I would never tire of seeing. “That would definitely work.”

I lowered my hand to her belly, felt how soft and lush she was. How different than me. I was all hard angles, rough edges. And she was so much more than I would ever be. She might be small and soft, but she held the power in our mating. She could make life and I had to wonder if she already carried our child. It was possible considering the way I couldn’t keep my hands off her. I knew now why the Ardor and awakening combined made for a powerful mix. Surely, every new couple on Alera found themselves with child the first week, if not the first night.

It hadn’t been a smooth transition for us. Fuck, my parents dying—I wouldn’t think of that now—the traitors in our midst, the dangers, and of course, Faith being a princess. It didn’t make for an easy time. Hell, I’d been taken into custody and restrained by guards more since I’d known her than I had in my entire life.

“And your words earlier. Did you mean them?” I thought back to that moment in the transport center when she’d leaned up and whispered in my ear, when she’d made my heart skip a beat and my palms sweat. When I’d been about to explode out of my skin with the need to strip her naked and take her against the wall. I needed her to whisper that promise to me again. I needed to hear it. Was desperate to hear it.

She stilled, came over to me. “That I want your baby growing inside me?”

I nodded, remembering the words she’d whispered in the transport room. “What if… what if we’ve already made a baby?” I stared down at my big hand where it still rested low on her stomach, imagined a new life stirring under my touch. “Do you feel pregnant?”

She laughed and covered my hand with her own. “That’s not exactly how it works.”

I lifted my hands to cup her breasts. “Yes, it is.” When my thumbs slid over her nipples, teasing them through the fabric of her clothing, she sighed and her eyes fell closed. Her back arched and she pressed herself into my touch. “Sensitive?”

“They always are and you know it.” She lifted both hands so they rested atop mine. “Thor, what are you saying? That you want a baby? Now?”

“Yes. I want to fill you with my seed and my child. I want a house full of laughter and chaos and children.” I didn’t stop brushing my thumbs over her nipples, loved to feel the way they hardened, the way her breathing picked up and her cheeks flushed. “I want a baby. Our baby.”

“But… but I thought—I wasn’t sure. You don’t have to do this now. I know you are worried about the Jax name. You just lost your parents. I can wait. I just—I wanted you to know how I felt. That’s why I told you.”

“Mate, we’ve fucked. My seed has filled you up and you’re probably pregnant now. We haven’t talked about it, so perhaps it’s a little late.”

She laughed. “A little.”

I lifted my hands so they cupped her face, forced her to look at me. To not only hear my words, to see how I felt about them. To know. “I want to make a baby with you. One with your dark eyes, wild hair. She’ll be beautiful, but never allowed out of the house until she’s thirty.”

“What about her Ardor?” she asked.

I growled, thinking of any male touching something so precious.

She laughed again. Fuck, I loved that sound. “What if it’s a boy?”

“Then I will teach him to be honorable.”

“I thought your honor was ruined?”

I leaned down and kissed her. “You are my honor now, my life. You’ve seen to that.”

She shook her head slightly, for I still held her. “There was nothing for me to do. You needed to see I believed in you, that you’re more than your parents. You’re everything to me.”

“It will be my honor to be your mate, to make a family with you. A new one.”

“Perhaps daughters who might one day rule the world?” she asked.

I kissed her again, softly. Gently. “You rule my world, mate. Always.”

Tears spilled from her eyes and I wiped them away with my thumbs. “Boy, you do know how to distract.” She offered me a watery smile.