3013: SALVATION (3013: The Series Book 5) (15 page)

“Thank you for taking me flying
with you.”

“It was my pleasure. We can do it
as often as you like.”

She cocked her head to the side,
studying him for a moment. If she wasn’t mistaken, Arik was nervous—or as
nervous as a D’Aire could be. He always lapsed back into a formal speech
pattern whenever he was unsure of a situation and she could see the tension in
his flexing muscles. “What is it?”

“I want you, Skylar. I don’t know
how to bear this need I have for you any longer.”

She smiled at him. “You don’t
have to wait. It’s just you and me here...it’s perfect.”

He didn’t move as he regarded her
with serious eyes. “I have imagined this moment so many times I am afraid to
move and find it is only another dream.”

Feminine pride swept through her
as she realized this was the first time Arik had ever been with a woman like
this. “This isn’t a dream, Arik. This is real.”

“I...I don’t know what to do. I
mean, I know, but I don’t want you to regret being with me if you aren’t ready
to face your past.”

Regret filled her as she finally
understood what waiting for her had done to him. Being with him felt
right...and she was ready to take the next step. Ready to belong to him
completely and claim him as her own in return. Determined to give him all she
could, she took a deep breath and slowly began undressing. His eyes widened as
he watched her remove her uniform jacket.

“Skylar...”

“I’m yours and accept all that
comes with being your keeper,” she said as she leaned down to unlace her boots.
When the task was complete, she looked up to see he hadn’t moved. His hands
were fisted at his sides and he was watching her with an intensity that made
her body tingle with anticipation. She quickly removed the rest of her
clothing, smiling as she heard his harsh intake of breath when she was done. He
made her feel like the most beautiful woman in the universe as his gaze burned
over every inch of her skin. Holding out her arms, she said, “Come to me,
Arik.”

She let out a startled squeak as
he flew to her, moving so fast she barely had time to blink before he was on
her. He jerked her to him, his mouth claiming hers in a brutal kiss. Their
tongues dueled together, stroking, tasting. She let out a low moan as he went
to his knees in front of her, his mouth latching onto one of her breasts. She
shivered as he suckled nipple into his mouth, his tongue swirling over the
straining peak.

Pleasure shot through her,
straight down to her throbbing clit and her hands fisted into his long, white
hair, holding his head to her. His mouth switched to the other breast and she
moved her hands to his shoulders, reaching behind him to stroke where his wings
met his back. She felt him shudder and looked down when he pulled back.

His expression was savage, the look
of hunger so raw she lost her breath. “I need you now.”

“I need you, too.”

Pulling her down to the sand, he
cover her body with his, taking her lips once again. She turned her head before
she lost herself in the kiss. She wrapped her leg around his, letting out a
growl of frustration when she made contact with the material of his pants.

“Clothes off,” she panted. “Take
them off.”

With a rush of wings, Arik was
back on his feet, tearing at his clothes in frantic, jerky movements that was
so unlike his usual graceful manner. When he was naked, Skylar hummed in
appreciation when she saw his beautiful cock jutting out from between his thighs.
The hard shaft was lined with veins pulsing under the skin, and a pearly drop
of liquid leaked from the bulbous head. There was a small part of her that was
relieved that his anatomy was exactly like a human male’s. She’d never seen a
D’Aire naked before, but seeing his gorgeous body made her so damn glad that he
was hers.

Arik felt his body tighten with
need as she rose to her knees. Her body was absolute perfection. Her full
breasts were tipped with pink nipples he wanted to suckle, and her golden skin seemed
to glow in the sunlight. The apex between her thighs was bare to his gaze,
making him almost desperate to feel that soft skin again. He wanted to stroke
his fingers and tongue inside her. To taste her liquid fire. Stroking his shaft
in his hand, he watched her eyes flare with jealousy as he touched himself.

“Who does my pleasure belong to,
Skylar?” he asked softly.

“Me. Your pleasure belongs to me.
Let me show you. Come to me, Arik. Let me taste you.”

His cock throbbed at her words
and he walked toward her, slowly savoring the way she caressed him with her
gaze. He felt utterly seduced.

He stroked her face lovingly.
“What you do to me, my love...my precious little Sky.”

When her pink tongue touched the
head of his shaft, he let out a vicious curse. His cock hardened as she lapped
at the pre-cum leaking from the tip.

“Do not tease me. I cannot bear
it.”

Skylar loved the salty sweet
taste of him. Wanting more, she took the entire head of his cock in her hot
mouth and gloried at the hoarse shout he let out when she sucked on him. She wanted
to give him this, to show him how much she wanted him. Using her tongue, she
lashed at the taut skin underneath the head of his cock, and heard the low
growl that tore from his throat. She drew him in until the head of his cock hit
the back of her throat, then pulled back only to repeat the action. She peaked
up at him through veiled lashes and the pleasure she saw in his eyes filled her
heart with joy.

She felt his hands stroking her
hair from her face and she moaned, letting it vibrate up his shaft. She began
moving her head faster, using her hand to stroke the part of his shaft she
couldn’t fit in her mouth. The sexual energy pouring from him had her clenching
her thighs together to prevent the liquid heat spilling from her pussy. Her
other hand drifted down between her own legs, wanting to relieve the growing
ache that was building in her core.

“No, Skylar! My pleasure belongs
to you, but yours belongs to me. You will find your release when I am inside
you, not by your own hand.”

Pulling his hips back, his cock
left her mouth. She was disappointed he wouldn’t let her drink down his release,
but had to admit his command made her hot. Before she could protest, he reached
down, lifting her easily into his arms. Thrilled with his casual display of
strength, she automatically wound her legs around his hips.

She took his lips with hers,
capturing his groan as she began to move against him, rubbing her stomach
against his straining erection. She felt his hand kneading her ass as the other
gripped her hip hard. “Stop moving like that or I will take you right now. I am
barely holding onto my control.”

She nipped at his shoulder with
her teeth, making him jerk in surprise. Winding her arms around his neck, she
raised herself up and started rubbing the head of his massive cock against the
slick entrance of her pussy, teasing them both to the point of madness.

“Then stop. Lose control with me,
Arik. I want to see you wild and crazy for me. As your keeper, I demand it.”

He let out a savage growl he
jerked her body down onto him, spearing her with his cock with one quick
thrust. She tried to force her muscles to relax at his invasion. Their groans
of pleasure mingled together as he slid deeper, filling her full. Arik tried to
remain still to give her time to adjust to him, but she didn’t want to wait.

He was big, and felt so damn good
inside her.

Arik felt overwhelmed with
emotions. His first taste of loving was so much more than he’d ever imagined.
Not because it was his first time having sex, but because it was with Skylar,
the keeper of his heart. “I never knew I could love like this...that I could
love you more than I already did. I love you, Skylar. To the depths of my soul,
I love you.”

“Oh, Arik, I love you, too. I was
just too stupid to realize it.”

“Shh, we are one now...and will
be for all eternity.”

Pressing his lips to her, he shared
his pleasure with her. Shared his love. He opened his mouth over her, welcoming
her tongue inside to dance with his. And when she lifted her hips starting a
slow sensuous ride that pleased them both, a shiver wracked his body as the
intensity of his feelings for her besieged him on every level. A low growl of
pleasure tore from him as she rode him, taking and giving with each rise and
fall of her body on his.

Arik had never felt pleasure like
this. Feeling Skylar welcome her into her tight, hot body was like a
benediction. He gripped her hips hard and took over, thrusting his cock slowly
inside her tight pussy as he curled his wings around her back to support her.

It was if she had been made for
him and now she was his...completely.

He whispered words of praise, too
lost in sensations to focus on what he was saying, but her purr of approval
told him whatever was spilling from his lips had pleased her.

“By the Gods, Skylar. I never
knew anything could feel this good.”

“Brace yourself,” she said with a
laugh. “It gets better. Now, give me more. Faster, Arik. Fill me fast and hard.”

Arik pumped his hips faster,
thrusting his steel-hard cock inside the sweet haven of her body over and over
again. He could feel his balls draw tight with his impending release, but
fought the urge back. Making love to his keeper for the first time was so good
he never wanted it to end. She was wide open to him, letting him see the
pleasure he was giving her, and felt his heart jump in his chest. He gripped
her hip, but wound her hair around his other fist, bringing her lips back to
his in a heated kiss.

They fed off one another as the
storm of passion built to a crescendo, and he knew he was reaching the point of
no return. Needing her to come with him, he shifted his hips so his cock hit
her G-spot with every thrust, demanding that she race with him toward the
finish.

Skylar fed off his need of her,
welcoming the energy pouring from him. She took it into herself, let it mix
with her own so that it built inside her like a supernova waiting to explode. She
threw her head back and screamed as her climax struck.

Unable to hold back the energy
inside her, she let it burst from her. She was barely aware of Arik falling to
his knees as her release hit her, her body clamping down around his invading
shaft. She tried to pull back, sensing the energy was too intense for him to
handle, but he held onto her, not letting her move away from him.

“Arik!”

He let out a low groan as he came
with her, her own climax triggering his. His wings shot out, expanding to their
full, imposing length as pulse after pulse of his hot, thick cream shot deep
inside her. She could feel their bond begin to snap into place as he filled her...could
feel his mind merging with hers.

Her first instinct was to fight
it, but she forced herself to welcome him in and felt him slide into place in
her heart and mind until they were one. She felt the ache her overload of energy
caused him fade away. Somehow his body was able to accept the energy flow now
that they were truly bonded. In turn, feeling the depth of his emotions for her
kicked her straight into another startling orgasm, this one so strong her body
jerked as waves of ecstasy battered her system.

“
You are my keeper
,” he
said softly in her mind. “
I will love you until the end of our days
.”

Exhausted, she rested her head on
his shoulder, her body still wracked with aftershocks of her release. “
You
can talk to me in my mind now?
”

“
Yes. We are truly bonded, my
keeper.
”

“
Wicked cool. I love you,
Arik.
”

“
I am hoping that will always
remain true. Forgive me, my love.
”

Skylar began to raise her head to
ask him what he meant, but that was when the pain began.

In an instant, flashes of every
memory she’d ever had sped through her mind as if he were downloading the
entire record of her life. The reliving of all she had experienced was
agonizing and too much for her to handle. Arik held her close, wrapping his arms
and wings around her in a protective cocoon as if trying to give her comfort
when she cried out, this time out of pure distress as the torture continued.

When the final memory replayed,
her body slumped against his. She couldn’t move after the torment stopped, only
to be replaced by the soothing balm of the memories his life. She wanted to
hold on, to enjoy the replay of his life, but she was far too drained.

And when oblivion called, she
willingly let the darkness claim her.

***

Chapter Eleven

Skylar woke in the quiet and the
dark.

Her brain felt foggy and muddled,
like she had been asleep for weeks, but when she remembered what happened on
the oasis with Arik her mind cleared and she went on alert.

The painful memories of her past
assailed her. Every single moment that she had forgotten—or blocked out—was
there in her mind now. A wave of grief so strong hit her and stole her breath.
It was an interesting combination. Part of her felt like it had all happened
yesterday, the pain so fresh that it left her bleeding from the heart. But another
part of her mind had distanced itself, allowing her to consider the new
information rationally.

Still, the grief won out.

Afraid to move, she opened her
eyes and slightly relaxed when she discovered she was lying in bed back on the
Stargazer
.
She wasn’t sure how she got there or how long she’d been sleeping, but she knew
she couldn’t just stay in bed and hide from reality any longer than she already
had.

“How are you feeling?”

The concern in Dom’s voice had
tears stinging her eyes and she felt him place his hand on her leg over the
covers that had been tucked around her. She turned her head as he called the
lights in the room on dim. She blinked rapidly to clear her eyes and saw Dom
and Arik sitting beside her, both of them watching her with grave expressions.

“How long was I sleeping?”

“About two days,” Arik answered.

“Two days? Holy nova, what the
hell happened?” She struggled to sit up and both men helped her. She realized
she was wearing one of Dom’s black shirts, and she was glad he had thought to
put something on her. It wasn’t as if she were embarrassed for them to see her
naked body, but having clothes on while she dealt with what had happened made
her feel better.

Emotions swam in Arik’s
iridescent blue eyes. “
Skylar, please forgive me. I didn’t mean to cause you
so much pain. I—
”

She reached up and placed her
finger over Arik’s lips to silence him. “I don’t blame you. It was past time I
dealt what had happened to me. I’m glad I remember, even if it hurts me. I felt
you with me, trying to shield me. I’m glad I had you with me when I
remembered.”

“Can you talk about it?” Dom
said. He brushed her hair back from her face.

She raised a brow at that, glad
she could still feel amusement even though her emotions were in turmoil. “Don’t
pretend that Arik didn’t tell you everything.”

Dom and Arik had done a lot of
talking while she’d slept. He had been filled in on Skylar’s history in full
detail, but he wanted to hear it from her. He wanted her to tell him almost as
much as he figured she needed to say the words out loud. “I want to hear it
from you. Will you tell me?”

After a slight hesitation, she
nodded. “Give me a few minutes first.”

She got out of bed and headed
into the bathroom. Dom stared at the closed door, his heart aching. He didn’t
want to let her out of his sight for a single moment, but he knew she needed
privacy. Tearing his gaze away from the door he turned to look at his friend.
“Stop beating yourself up about this. I’ve told you a million times now, she is
better off knowing.”

“I know she is, but that doesn’t
make it any easier to bear the fact that I am the one who caused her pain.”
Arik let out a weary sigh. “This information changes things.”

“It doesn’t,” Dom growled. “I
don’t care who her father is...no one is taking her away from us.”

“She is going to want to meet
with him. What happens if she wants to stay on Tartarus?”

“We’ve been over this, damn it—”

“I don’t.” Skylar said from the
doorway. “We need to go to Tartarus for this mission, but I don’t want to stay
there. Why would I? My life is on Earth...with both of you.”

“Come here, love.” Arik held out
his hand and some of his tension eased as she walked over to him and slid onto
his lap.

Skylar pressed a kiss to his lips
then turned her head and beckoned Dom forward. She leaned in and kissed him as
well before saying, “Knowing what happened doesn’t change what was. There is
nothing for me there.”

Dom shared a look with Arik
before he spoke. “Skylar, we have information to share with you, but first, I’d
like you to tell me what you remembered.”

“I don’t know where to begin.”

“Tell us about your parents,”
Arik encouraged.

She took a deep breath then
began. “My father was a young man when he met my mother. He had just turned
eighteen when his father gave him his first slave. She had been a human woman,
so she was very rare on Tartarus and a highly coveted prize. She was a few
years younger than he was, and my father didn’t follow the tradition of wanting
to own slaves, but he kept her and cared for her. A few years later I was born.
I remember spending time with him when I was a child, but when his father died,
he took over as lord. I saw less of him then as his duties took up most of his
time.”

Dom cupped her face in his hands
so he could look into her eyes. “Say his name, Sky. Tell us who he is.”

She shuddered then said, “Tor. My
father was...is Lord Jaden Tor.”

“Now we know why you were so
upset after your conversation with Deidre on Avox,” Arik added. “You didn’t
know it at the time, but I think you were reacting to hearing about him.”

“You’re probably right. I
remember that he offered to release my mother. She was happy there even though
they weren’t in love, but then she got sick. She wasn’t an Elite and caught a
fever that she never recovered from right after I turned twelve. She had been
asking my father to take me to the Hades Outpost to get the enhancements for years,
but he refused. Besides my mother, he didn’t care for humans. I remember him
saying that the Alliance shouldn’t be interfering in Tarin business.”

“It is a well known fact he often
argues with his friend, Lord Malik Rego, about having the Alliance base on his
land,” Dom told her.

“It doesn’t surprise me.” Her
breath hitched, and she cleared her throat to try and mask it even though she
knew both of her bonded could tell she was upset. “A few days after my mother
died he got rid of me...sent me away. I had gotten sick, too. My father had
even allowed an Alliance doctor to come and treat me, but I just got sicker. I
guess he didn’t want to have to deal with another death so he told my mother’s
friend, Nula, to take me to the Hades Outpost. On our way to the outpost we
were attacked. Everyone in our entourage was killed except me, and the men who
took me brought me to Lord Fen Varo. Why do I have to tell you this when you
already know?”

“Because you need to say it,” Dom
snapped back. “You know you do, so finish it.”

Skylar pushed up from Arik’s hold
and started pacing the room. She felt dizzy from lack of food, but that didn’t
stop her. “When I arrived, I was told I was now property of Lord Fen Varo. I knew
he was an enemy of my father’s, but since my father didn’t want me anymore I
didn’t know if he would even care that Lord Varo had captured me.”

 She paused as she wrapped her
arms around her waist and stared out at the big black through the window. “I was
scared, so fucking scared I didn’t know what to do. I was taken to see Lord
Varo that night even though I was so sick I could barely stand on my own. He
was...the man was a fucking monster. I didn’t understand it at first, why a man
older than my father would want a little girl, but I found out. He tried
to...he attacked me, tried to rape me, but I fought back. I fought and—”

Looking down at her hands, she
whispered. “I killed him. I used my abilities to kill for the first time when I
was twelve.”

She gasped as she was spun
around. Dom’s eyes were fierce as he glared down at her, his hands on her arms
like vices. “Don’t feel bad about what you had to do or feel sorry for that
sick fuck. You protected yourself, nothing more.”

“Okay...okay.”

She wrapped her arms around him,
taking the comfort he offered as she remembered the horror of realizing what
she’d done. Because she had still been sick, using her abilities for the first
time had been a complete shock to her system. She hadn’t understood it at the
time, but she had acted on instinct, taking all of Lord Varo’s energy to cure
herself and allow her to escape. Somehow, she had managed to leave the palace,
hiding in the back of a cart as it left the holding. She had fallen out of the
cart when she had been too weak to hold on any longer, and had crawled into a
small cave where she’d passed out.

When she had woken, she’d had no
memory of how she had gotten there or who she was. The only thing she
remembered was the name of the Alliance outpost. Luck was on her side when she
had stumbled upon a family traveling to their home after visiting friends. They
had taken pity on her and offered to take her to the Hades Outpost, but when
they dropped her off she’d found the outpost in chaos. There had been an attack
there a few days before she’d arrived and they had been evacuating people a
ship that was waiting in the planet’s orbit. Because she didn’t know who she
was and due to the condition she arrived in, she was taken on the next shuttle
off the surface since she was so obviously human.

“They lied to you.”

Skylar pulled back from Dom to
look over at Arik. She could see the pain and regret in his eyes, but didn’t
understand what he meant. Dom lifted her in his arms, carrying her back over to
the bed where he sat her down on his lap facing Arik, who reached out to take
hold of both her hands. “What do you mean? Who lied?”

“After we discovered what had
happened to you, we did a little research while you were sleeping,” Arik began
softly. “Nula lied to you. Your father never sent you away, he was sending you
to the outpost to get treatment because he was worried you weren’t getting
better.”

“But...”

“Your father would have gone with
you himself, but he had been called away to war. He sent some of his best
warriors to keep you safe, but they were ambushed and outnumbered. Nula
survived the attack on the convoy escorting you to the outpost, and returned to
your father’s palace where she told them what had happened. She knew you had
been taken, but she told your father that you had been killed along with the
others.”

“No,” she whispered. “That can’t
be true.”

“It is,” Dom assured her. “Our
information says your father went crazy when he returned to the palace and was
told about your death. He scoured the area where the attack had taken place,
but by then the bodies had been moved. He blamed himself for not taking you,
and blamed the Alliance since he had been sending you to them. Over the years
he has never taken a consort, never allowed himself to have a family since he
lost you. Some people have said that the biggest reason he fights to free all
women on Tartarus is because it is what you would have wanted.”

Tears clouded her vision as she
stared at them. Her heart was pounding in her chest and her breathing shallow
and rapid. Most of the pain she had felt upon remembering her past had been
centered on the fact that her father had thrown her away. But knowing that he
hadn’t sent her away changed everything.

“We have limited resources when
it comes to information about people on Tartarus, but I contacted Deidre on
Avox. She was reluctant to speak with me, but after I told her a little bit
about what we discovered about your past, she agreed to ask the others for more
information that could help us. Last night she made contact and told us one of
the females knew Nula back when they were children.” Arik paused. “It seems
that Nula was Lord Fen Varo’s distant cousin. She helped plan the attack on
your convoy.”

“Why would she have done that?
What the hell would she have had to gain?”

“Your father,” Dom explained. “She
wanted your father and she knew about her cousin’s deviant predilections. It
was a win-win for both of them, or so she thought.”

An icy rage settled over Skylar. “Is
she still alive?”

Dom nodded. “She is, and still
living at your father’s palace. He never took her as his consort like she
wanted, but she is there helping run the palace.”

“Son of a bitch!”

“We’ll get her,” Dom promised.
“We’ll make her pay for what she did to you. I swear it.”

“Okay,” Skylar said, trying to
calm herself. “I need to think. We need to focus. We have to track down Khan
and—”

“Sky, stop.”

“No, we need to—”

“What you need to do is give
yourself a fucking break!” Dom barked. “Let yourself feel for one damn moment.”

“This doesn’t change anything.”

“It changes everything,” Arik
countered. “Your father never wanted to give you up, Sky. He has thought you
dead all these years.”

“Haven’t I been? He doesn’t know
me. I’m a different person now. I can’t change the past.”

“But you can rebuild, starting
now.”

“I have a life with both of you.
I don’t want to lose—”

“You are our chosen, Sky. The fucking
love of our lives. We’d walk through the damn fires of Tartarus for you. You will
never lose us,” Dom swore.

A sob escaped and the strong arms
that wrapped around her gave her the strength to let go completely. For the
first time in longer than she could remember, she broke. She let the tears come
freely, violent and hot, weeping with grief over what she’d lost. She hated
crying. Hated the weakness it represented. Crying always made her feel even
more lonely for some reason, but knowing that she now had someone—or two
someones—to hold her made all the difference.

****

“It’s been nearly two damn days.
What the fuck is the hold up?”

Dom paced the confines of the sitting
room in their quarters on the Hades Outpost where everyone had gathered. They
had arrived on Tartarus a day and a half ago and were still waiting for permission
from Lord Malik Rego to leave the base so they could talk to Lord Jaden Tor.