Megan lay looking up at the stars in the green, waiting to see if she could tell when Morax arrived. Tomorrow they should arrive at the coordinates the guardians had given Sara. Tonight would be the first night she came back to the green to sleep. It had taken her that long to decide on what she wanted, and a course of action to get what she wanted. The first one was easy. She was in love with Morax, Tellox warrior. Actually getting him when he seemed even more hell bent on avoiding her than he had before their talk? That was more difficult.
She had been thinking about it all day, and it had finally occurred to her that he was still watching out for her, even when she could not see him. Which meant chances were good that he snuck into the green and watched over her at night while she slept. At least she hoped he did, because her plan would never work if he stayed away. She sucked in a calming breath and decided then and there that if he came she would see that as a sign it was meant to be, if he didn’t, well then maybe she was reading him wrong, seeing what she wanted to see, and he just didn’t care. She was not even going to dwell on the fact that this could all be for nothing and she was not even his blood mate because she refused to even think about that possibility.
She had never been drawn to any man before him, and she could not imagine ever feeling this way about anyone but Morax of the Tellox, she knew Sara was worried about her, but everything from her instincts to her heart was telling her that Morax was the one for her. So tonight she would stay aware, and when he showed up she would do what he seemed opposed to doing for whatever reason. She would claim him.
If she didn’t lose her nerve.
***
Morax heard her voice raised in song as soon as he entered the green. He did not want to admit to himself that he had missed being able to watch over her while she slept, or that he would feel more and more hollowed out each night she did not appear and sing to the stars. There was something wrong tonight though, he thought, as soon as he caught sight of Megan and saw that while she sang, she did not relax and watch the stars while she did so. Instead, she seemed to be pacing in agitation. Clearly her song was not working to calm her this night, and he wondered what had her so distressed. The imminent meeting with the guardians perhaps? He thought. But the more he watched her the more it bothered him that he could not ask her what was troubling her. The song cut off abruptly and she turned and looked right at him, though he knew that he had made no sound. Even her beasts did not react to his presence, but somehow, she knew he was there. It was as if she had been waiting for him.
“You might as well come out of the shadows,” she said with almost a huff to her voice. “I know you’re there.”
If anything, her nerves ratcheted up when he stepped out of the shadows toward her. He could hear her heartbeat as if it were his own, a phenomenon that had happened from their first meeting, no matter where she was in the room. Something about his presence had sped up her pulse. He scented no fear, so his presence had not startled her. In fact, he would say she had been waiting for him. Her dogs came running but before they could get close they both stopped and turned to go back to their playing as if they had heard a command that he had not. They did not bark or snarl at him, and he realized they had not done so for some time. He tried to remember when they had stopped reacting to him as a predator and he realized it was the day she had faced the pirates. The day she had woken up changed after using the teacher on Aa-ryal. The day her amped abilities had kicked in. He wondered if she realized yet that she did not have to speak or motion to the dogs anymore for them to know what she wanted.
“Okay, so I am going to make a mess out of this but I need to ask you something, and I need you to tell me the truth,” Megan blurted out, the stress in his voice more than her words capturing his attention. She went on and he began to feel an inkling of unease. “Since you came to Earth to get me you have acted as my protector.” She bit her lip and then taking a deep breath, she looked directly into his eyes and spoke, making his insides seize up. “Is it because you think I’m your mate?”
“No,” he finally said. The disappointment that hit her eyes made him curse himself, but he went on, sure to give nothing away in either his posture or expression. “I know you are not for me.”
Her face tilted and her forehead scrunched as something he said drew her attention. She did not leave him in suspense for long. “Not for you? That is a strange way of saying you feel nothing for me but responsibility for my safety.”
He said nothing, and she narrowed her eyes at him. He heard her heart rate ramp up but he could not tell whether it was disappointment, or something else.
She studied him for a long moment and he watched her finally take a deep breath and swallow hard. He saw the moisture at the back of her eyes and the quiver of her soft lips before she squared her chin and continued. “I need you to tell me right here and now, that you don’t want me,” she finally whispered, and the punch to the gut was nearly a physical wound.
Megan looked Morax in the eye, hoping that he would give something away, even if he refused to speak, but there was nothing but frost in those eyes. It was as if he was cut off completely from everything that could touch him. Specifically, her. She was almost ready to give up, thinking she had dreamed what she saw the last time they talked, until she asked him point blank to tell her he did not want her. Then she saw a flash of pain and a nearly feral edge to his anger that she almost took a step back. It should have scared her. Instead it bolstered her. But she gave him one more chance just in case and hoped.
“If you don’t want me you need to tell me now, because otherwise I’m claiming you.”
He blinked at her words, and for the first time that she could remember his lip twitched as if he found something funny. It made Megan narrow her eyes at him but just as quickly his face went back to stoic freeze out and she huffed in a deep breath, hoping she did not give herself a heart attack before she got this done. Then she pulled out a small sharp knife she had told Sara she needed for the garden. It had been a lie but she knew her sister would not have given it to her if she had told her the truth. Luckily Sara was still respecting her boundaries because she did not sense the lie, even when the telling of it made Megan blush and stammer, just a bit. A lot like she was doing now, she realized.
She looked up to see that Morax had stepped closer, his face no longer expressionless, he looked confused. “Are you intending to cut me with that knife little flower?”
“It’s not for you,” she said taking one more deep breath. “It’s for me.”
Before he realized what she was doing she slipped the blade over the tip of her thumb. He had both of her hands caught before the blood beaded at the small wound and trickled over her knuckle. She watched his eyes flash as he opened his mouth and growled at her, sharp white teeth bared, Spanish gold eyes flashing angry heat.
“What are you doing?” He practically growled the words, clearly incensed. For a moment Megan saw the anger in his eyes and the snarl on his lips and worried that what Sara had described to her was not what she was seeing here. He was angry but he did not seem out of his mind with lust or the need to mark her. Then before she could despair he inhaled strongly, then growled. But this time the growl was different. This time his eyes were not angry so much as feral, and suddenly he was no longer hiding anything he was feeling from her.
No, the burning need in his eyes was right there for her to see. He pulled her forward and licked the small wound on her thumb, she watched his eyes dilate and go molten a second before he shuddered. Then he yanked her into his body and the force of his hold had her plastered to his chest, head back and wide eyes trained on the predator peeking out of his.
Morax bent down and she could feel his breath against her neck. His nose rubbed first one way and then the other before he pulled his head back and growled in her face. “Mine,” he said his voice barely human sounding.
Oh, thank God! Megan thought, right before he snapped down and bit her. She felt his teeth sink into the flesh of her neck right where it met her shoulder. Then she screamed from the pain as fire seemed to burn her from the bite into every part of her body and mind. After that there was only darkness.
Morax felt her body go limp and took them both to the ground, his mouth still clamped around the soft neck of his blood mate. With her blood on his lips he unclenched his teeth and licked the mark he had made on her soft flesh. Tomorrow he might remember that he did not deserve the honor that had been bestowed on him by giving him not just a mate, but this mate. For now, he leaned over and used the tiny knife she had dropped to cut a dash in his own finger, then he placed it in her mouth. The need for the exchange between them so intense he could not have stopped himself if he had wanted to. And at the thought of his blood in her veins he did not want to.
She had chosen him.
As he held her tightly against him and pulled his cut finger out of that soft warm wet mouth he marveled at the knowledge. She had chosen him. She had come here and waited for him planning to cut herself and force the mating fire to manifest. Morax pulled her closer and bowed his head over her sleeping form. In all the unbelievable bounty that rested in his arms, his blood mate, that she had chosen him made the gift that was Megan tenfold. He did not deserve her, but she had chosen, and now he was never going to let her go. Not even when she realized what he was and changed her mind. She had chosen him. He was keeping her. He would kill anyone who tried to harm her, or take her from him.
She had chosen him. Morax closed his eyes and breathed her in, bowing his head at the very thought of it.
She had no idea what sleeping predator she had awakened by that one foolish action.
***
Megan snapped awake with a gasp, startling the dogs that were sleeping at her sides. Her heart was beating so hard she felt the thump of it under her skin and behind her eyes. She looked around, then when her memory rushed in on her she slapped her hand to the bite Morax had given her only to find nothing there but unblemished skin, sensitive yes, but not marked. She sighed, falling back and wondering if she had fallen asleep and dreamed what happened. She held up her hand to look at where she remembered cutting but it was pink and unblemished. She dropped it to her heart and only then realized it was too bright in the green. She shifted on the grass to look around, she could still see the stars above her so she knew it was still ship night but it was as if everything else was brighter. When she looked around she could see farther and clearer than she ever had before. Details she had never noticed suddenly shouted at her in the leaves of plants, and the bark of trees across the field.
Megan sat up sucking in a deep breath and scenting dog so strongly she grimaced, but there was more, the grass and smell of dirt, green growing things and even the metal of the ship was easily discernible. She was nearly hyperventilating when she turned her head, knowing he would be there, by his scent yes, that wild hot scent that never failed to call to her, but it was more now, she could feel him there. Morax met her eyes, and for once he did not hide from her what he was feeling. She could see it all there in those nearly feral Spanish gold eyes. And she could feel it. She felt a great deal more seeing him crouched in the shadows naked, all that hard muscle and metallic gold skin gleaming like honey in starlight. Never had she seen so clearly the primal beast he truly was inside. Every nerve in her body sprang to life in an instant, her body flooded with heat and need and she could barely breathe through the desire fogging her thoughts. Desire and fear, if she were honest. He had never looked more alien than he did at that moment, crouched like some attacking beast in the night.
“Morax,” she breathed. Right before he pounced.
With a yip, her dogs jumped out of the way and she felt them bristle and react to a threat to her. She petted their minds in reassurance.
He won’t hurt me, she thought at them, sending them away. Hoping she was right. It was all she could do before her attention was firmly on the hard male warrior that was just suddenly upon her.
Crushing her flat to her back in the grass, the sounds he made were both aggressive and feral. He ripped off the simple tunic and trouser she favored so fast it pulled a yip of fear from her. He growled at the sound, crushing her back into the grass bare skin to bare skin this time and Megan could only shiver at the sensations bombarding her. The grass and torn cloth beneath her was quickly forgotten as her senses homed in on the hot molten gold pressed along her length. She could swear he was burning her, so hot did he feel against her. Hot and unyielding. There was not a soft spot among the planes and valleys of that flesh. Nor did there seem to be a thinking being inside those molten gold eyes. What she was seeing, what she was feeling was all primal need and aggression. She might have set out to claim him tonight, but it was Morax that would leave his mark on her. All she could hope for now was that it did not cut too deep.
Megan knew he had to feel her fear, because she could feel him there with her in her mind, and she was starting to shake in reaction, something he would be aware of. She just did not know if there was enough of Morax left now to care that he was scaring her.
He forced open her thighs and she felt the hard length of him pressing against her wetness and it made her swallow hard. She knew she was crying but there was nothing she could do about it. She bit her lip and his eyes tracked the moment. The press of her lips, the tear that escaped to trail down her cheek, the pulse beating at her throat while she attempted to breathe too fast. Then his eyes came back to hers and she could feel the need pressing him down battling with a small inkling of worry on her behalf. She felt it all and knew the snarl he made was not for her so much as it was frustration that he was scaring her. Still the sound made her jump in her skin, and he saw that too.
“It’s alright,” Megan finally said on a shaky whisper trying to smile at the beast crouched in Morax’s eyes. Her hands went to that savage hewn face and she ran shaky fingers over his cheekbones and into the mane of his hair. “I feel what you are feeling. I know the need that drives you. Take what you need from me, It’s alright.” Then she claimed what courage she was still clinging to and forced her body to relax under his, wrapping her legs around his hips, she tried to assure him every way she could that she was his for the taking.
Morax felt the soft give of her beneath him, felt and saw her fear and her determination to give him what he needed. Fear radiated from every pore of her soft, so very fragile body but his blood mate was assuring him, comforting him.
Her eyes had already changed to Tellox, the chocolate brown still a dark velvet, now lit from within, the pupils now split with that shape that resembled the cat beasts their makers had coded into their DNA. He wondered what she would say when she finally saw the changes she could only feel. He would have asked for none of it, having no desire to change his little flower, but it could not be denied that it was the changes that marked her as his, nearly as much as the healed bite on her shoulder did. Other Tellox would sense it, smell him on her, and know she was taken, so he could regret none of it.
And as much as he tried to distract himself with these thoughts, slow him down for her sake, he could not stop the molten lava of desire that weighed him down from taking every thought but the need to finish claiming his mate. He never regretted more than this moment the nature of what he was. Megan needed a considerate soft human lover. Even as Morax had the thought he snarled in rage at the picture it painted in his mind. That might be what she needed, he thought, and even in his thought it was spat in a snarl. His eyes shifted back to that soft brown light that offered him everything. But she chose me. Morax shifted his hips and watched the heat in her eyes flare and match the wet heat he was feeling pressed along his length. Then he adjusted and found her entrance shuddering in bliss at the first feel of sliding inside his blood mate. Tight and wet her body gave every inch reluctantly, but it gave just the same. He wanted to see his cock taking her, but he needed her eyes more. So, he stared into her eyes as she shivered in equal parts fear and need holding on to him in every way she could, as he pushed past the last barrier that separated them. When he felt the small wall of her innocence he pulled back and then pushed through it forcefully seeing the pain hit her eyes as he was finally fully inside her, before she closed them.
Unacceptable, he thought. Growling a warning. He felt a small spurt of humor in her mind before her eyes, glazed from both pain and desire met his.
Her mind brushed his with actual words for the first time. You won’t always get everything your way you know. She smiled at him. This amazing female who had chosen him. I’m making allowances because I can feel how out of control you are right now.
Morax shifted back, and it sent his cock deeper inside her so that he groaned at the pleasure of it, and she gasped because it was not pain that shot through her nerves and made her shiver this time. When he could speak again he met her eyes, completely serious. If you think, little flower, that there will ever be a time my need for you will lessen, you mistake the matter. From what I have seen in your sister and Creeg’s mating, it only grows more powerful.
Her eyes widened, and he knew she was going to say something more, but he had given her all the time he could manage to adjust to him. He pulled almost completely out of her and then thrust back in. Her thoughts splintered along with his and her head fell back offering her neck to him as she shuddered, this time in only pleasure.
Give me your eyes, he growled. When she finally managed to meet his eyes again hers were sparking brown flames at him and he knew she was finally completely with him. Mouth, he ordered and had the satisfaction of watching her cheeks blush, her lips part and her chin tip, offering him that soft pink mouth that he had spent too many nights dreaming about. Wondering what she would taste like. He had known even at the beginning that he could not chance tasting that warm heat. He took it now and realized immediately at the taste of her sweet, hot, giving, mouth that he had been right. If he had tasted her, he would have never been able to stop himself from claiming her. So that’s what he did.
He took that mouth with lips and tongue, memorizing the heat of her as their tongues dueled and she moaned and shuddered around him. Then he pulled back, and with a snarl, he claimed the rest of her just as thoroughly with hips, and cock and seed, as he pumped everything he was into her until finally she screamed out her pleasure.
Minutes or hours later Morax felt a soft hand touch his cheek and caress the hard planes of his face. He opened eyes he had not realized were closed and saw Megan smile shyly up at him.
Mine, Megan’s mind voice was almost a whisper, soft but no less claiming than his had been when he roared it in her ear as he came.
Yes, he answered just as quietly.
Rolling them both he fell to his back and settled her close, her head on his chest, legs entwined with his. He felt her sigh of contentment as she snuggled close and fell asleep. Morax did not sleep, even as peace he had never thought to find suffused him he held his mate close, ran his hand through the soft strands of her hair and watched over her while she slept.