Leo

Seeing a knife at Trinity’s neck was the scariest thing I’d ever seen. Not a trio of Hive with weapons beyond our technology. Not being on a shuttle that had been hit by Hive fire and the planet’s surface looming too fast. Nothing compared to seeing my mate in mortal danger.

I should have kept Zel alive. Should have kept him breathing so we could interrogate him. Learn what he knew. Trinity had said he hadn’t acted alone. He was a mere pawn. I had to wonder even if we’d ripped his fingernails off if he’d say the name of his master. I had to wonder if he even knew who it really was. He was a pawn and had been used.

Discarded.

But that didn’t matter. Not now. Only Trinity mattered. She might think otherwise, worry for her mother’s life—wherever the fuck she was—and the safety of her sisters. The queen knew she had enemies, that was why she’d had to flee the planet in the first place. She’d known they were still around, that they’d come for her eventually. That was why she’d prepared her three daughters. Trinity was skilled enough in protocol and leadership to take over the throne from her mother. Queen Celene knew this and was prepared for her spire light to be extinguished.

It was my duty to the queen to keep Trinity alive. Safe.

And I’d almost failed tonight.

That would not happen again. I’d be at her side all the time. Hell, I’d be inside her all the time. At least for the next few days. My father—who hadn’t even told me about his band of specialized mercenaries—could deal with the aftermath of Trinity’s kidnapping. He didn’t need me for that. He had Nix. My job wasn’t with the queen’s guards. My job was as Trinity’s mate.

And I would show her how dedicated I was to the role. I kicked the door closed to my quarters, locked it. Tossed Trinity on the bed with a solid bounce.

Even if someone knocked on the door, I wasn’t answering. The only way someone could communicate with me or the princess was through my NPU. And it damned well better only be Nial and then only if it were life or fucking death.

I turned, stared down at my mate in all the frothy pale blue fabric.

“The dress has to go.”

I stalked to her, tugged her so she stood on the bed, then spun her about so she faced away from me. The fastenings down her back were plentiful and tedious, almost impossible for my big fingers. So I ripped the back of the dress, rent the fabric so it split in two, then carefully worked the straps from her shoulders.

Fuck, she had on nothing beneath. For when the dress pooled on the bed around her ankles, she was bare. Her perfect heart-shaped ass was right before me.

She turned around and now her breasts were right. Fucking. There.

If she were offering, I would take, so I sucked one pert tip into my mouth, felt it harden against my tongue. Her hands went to my hair and tangled, held me in place.

“Leo,” she breathed.

My cock, which I discovered would flag when my mate had a knife at her throat, was hard as a rock, pulsing to break free of my uniform pants.

I didn’t release her nipple from my mouth as I worked my pants loose, toed off my boots, removed my belt and holster. I had to pull back long enough to tug off my jacket and remove my shirt.

“You’re so gorgeous,” she breathed, running her hands over my chest. “Hurry.”

“You want fast, mate? Works for me. This time.”

I lifted her up so I could yank her dress away, let it fall to the floor. I lowered her to the bed and I settled on top of her.

“Yes,” she breathed, letting the word go long. “God, you feel so good.”

She parted her legs, bent her knees so I could settle at the juncture of her thighs, let my cock nestle against her wet heat.

“Now, Leo. Please, now.”

I looked down at her, saw the dark desperation in her eyes, felt her anxiousness in the way she moved, trying to get closer. The only way to do that was to shift my hips and slide into her. Deep. Deeper still.

She cried out as I filled her. Stretched her. “It’s like coming home,” I murmured against her neck. I rested on my forearms as I held my weight off her, even with my cock bottoming out inside her.

“Yes. God, it’s perfect.”

I moved then, gave her what she needed. Me. Us. To feel alive. Together. To know she was safe beneath me, that she was whole with me filling her up.

“You want to come, mate?”

Her hips lifted to meet my hard thrusts.

“Yes!” she cried.

With a hand behind her, I rolled us so she was on top. Her legs moved so she straddled me, keeping me deep inside.

“Ride me. I want to watch. I want to see you come. To watch those gorgeous breasts bounce as you take your pleasure. To feel your pussy milk the cum from my balls. To see you come apart.”

I settled my hands on her hips as she began to move. Her hands settled on my chest for balance as she lifted and lowered, circled and rubbed her clit against my lower belly. “Leo,” she said once, then again. Like a chant as her eyes fluttered closed, her head fell back.

Her neatly styled hair hung wild and tangled down her back, her nipples hard and upturned. Her pussy was dripping and slick, my cock sliding in and out of her without any resistance.

I knew the second she was going to come. Her inner walls clenched down and there was no way I could hold back my own release a second longer. I was done for.

The building could collapse. The queen’s guard could burst through the doors. I would know none of it for I was lost in Trinity. In what we created. In the pleasure we wrung from each other’s bodies.

She was mine. Whatever the future brought, we’d tackle it together. And we’d get through it, one orgasm at a time.