Nova: A Scifi Alien Romance (Rebel Lords) (9 page)

The younger man’s eyes widened, but the other just gave a bigger grin, “Of course, of course. This is about civility. You have something I want, I have something you want. We can go about this like civilized species,” he tried to assure me.

I just gave a nod and gave them all a glance over before turning on my heel and heading back to the village. Something about that man unnerved me, he seemed vicious and just… diabolical. But the thought of arrangements actually taking place to exchange Julia made my heart sink. It was really happening… Soon, Julia would be gone forever.

I
had already woken
up and dressed; thankful that Nova had helped me wash my clothes after our time in the shower the night before. I stayed on the bed though, tiredness still lingering over my body—I was exhausted from the night’s activities and all the exercise from running for what felt like forever in the jungle. Honestly, after the night we had shared, I found myself actually happy and relieved that he had caught me. While I still wasn’t entirely certain of my feelings for him, I knew that I had some feelings for him; and that night had solidified that for me.

I must have drifted back to sleep, as the sound of the door closing jerked me awake. Nova didn’t walk into the room, staying in the kitchen area. Was he cooking? I stood and walked in there. He stood at the counter with his back to me, his hands resting on the countertop. “Morning,” I called to him. He flinched a bit, turning to me just to give me a glance. “How long have you been up?” I asked, just trying to make conversation. With how tired my legs were, I couldn’t resist the urge to sit.

Nova was silent, as though he was thinking hard about something, which confused me a bit. Why think so hard about small talk? He then gave a sigh and turned and leaned his back against the counter. With his arms crossed over his chest, he looked at me with a placid expression. “I went to Harp and set up an arrangement with their leaders to exchange you for my warriors being held captive.”

My jaw dropped, my eyes staring at him. He… He seriously was going through with it? He was actually going to sell me back to the colony? The night before, I thought he had been bluffing about it. Once the initial shock was over, my body was flamed with anger and hurt. “So you seriously are going to just use me as a tool in your master plan, hm?” I bit at him bitterly.

Nova glared over at me, “What else was I supposed to do, Julia?” he retorted.

His words sent a spike of pain through my chest. Did he really not care about me in the slightest? Had I just imagined all the affection and intimacy of his actions towards me? I felt brokenhearted over a man that didn’t give a damn about me. I felt naïve and stupid for thinking he could have felt something for me as well. After all, he had been preaching and screaming his hatred for humans for I didn’t even know how many years. I was on my feet then, completely flustered by my new, all-consuming anger and hurt. “I don’t know,” I shot back, “Maybe not use me, a living being, as a weapon in your war that I’m not even a part of.”

“So what am I supposed to do with you then? Just release you back into the jungle?” he remarked, glaring in my direction.

“Well,
yeah
. That would be the polite thing to do,” I spat.

“You had your chance yesterday. As I recall, I didn’t drag you back by your hair. So you tell me, Julia, why didn’t you fight me if you wanted to be free so bad?”

“And why haven’t you killed me or sold me back before?” I rebutted, glaring hard in his direction. I didn’t have to answer his questions if he wouldn’t answer mine.

“I never planned to kill you, and selling you had honestly just slipped my mind with how busy I am running and protecting an entire village,” Nova defended. “Why did you bring up my selling you back to the humans if you don’t want me to?” he questioned.

“I don’t know,” I blurted out. “I just didn’t understand why you were after me and weren’t attacking me after I broke the only rule you had about me being in your hut.”

“Why are you so mad about the exchange, Julia? I never hurt you, the only injuries you have sustained were by accident. You’ve been fed, you’ve been bathed, you’ve been treated like royalty compared to any other prisoner on this planet. Exchanging you for warriors would give me back couple of my people after losing so many during that attack on the guard station. And you would get what you have always wanted—to return to the humans. So why in the hell are you so angry with me?” he barked at me, his arms uncrossing as he stood straight and began walking in my direction.

I was speechless. I had no idea how to answer his question; I couldn’t just say because I had caught strong feelings after he made love to me—he would just laugh in my face. I felt tongue-tied, unable to articulate any response that came to mind. After a few moments of silence, Nova spoke again, letting out one dry laugh, “You’re pathetic. You’re weak just like the rest of the humans. Completely fickle and self-absorbed. You can’t even have an argument without crumbling,” he mocked me. He locked eyes with mine, “And what makes you think you could ever handle a Navani man like me? You’re too weak to be a compatible companion for me.”

Tears stung my eyes then, my hands balling into fists. When he took another step towards me, I swung an arm out to strike him. With a flash, his hand jerked up and caught my arm. I swung back my other arm to hit him, he caught that one as well. Both of my forearms were in his grasp, his amber eyes burning into mine. My chest heaved with anger, all of my strength going to trying to free my arms from his grasp. His grip just grew tighter, his eyes never leaving mine. Just as I went to bring my foot up to stomp on his, his head swooped in and his lips were on mine. At first I wanted to claw at his face, to spit at him, to make him back up. But after just a few moments of feeling his lips passionately and hungrily attacking mine, I felt myself beginning to kiss him back.

While the anger still remained in the pit of my stomach and hurt still shot through my chest, passion began to take my mind over. Nova’s hands lifted away from my arms before grabbing my sides. He forced me back, through the entrance of the bedroom. As he moved me to the bed, his lips never left mine. Never before had the kissing been so passionate and feverish, like he would die if he wasn’t touching me. I began to reach down to stroke his cock, when his hand batted mine away. His hands flew down my shirt as he artfully unbuttoned every last button, and then he reached down and unbuttoned my pants. Without taking off my shirt, he began to shrug down my pants. Nova only ripped away from me to sit up and forcefully pull my shoes from my feet before pulling my pants off the rest of the way. I was completely dizzy by all of the intense emotions swarming my brain.

His lips were on my neck then, leaving sweet, wet kisses on my skin as he trailed down to my collarbone before my chest. His path continued down my sternum and then down my stomach. I felt his teeth begin to nip and nibble at my skin as he got to my hips. My cheeks burned from being aroused, not at all being able to anticipate what he was going to do as my body was focused on his touch. Then, I felt his lips press to my freshly cleaned underwear, making me gasp. I looked down to find his head between my legs, his eyes close as he placed a line of kisses from the top of my panties, down to my sex. He then opened his mouth and sucked at my sex through the fabric. While it didn’t necessarily feel titillating, it was extremely attractive and almost kinky feeling. His tongue swirled circles against the fabric, making my breathing hitch. His tongue trailed to the side of the panties then, licking at the hem of my panties. I knew I was meant to be mad at him, and hurt over what he was doing, but it was like I couldn’t resist him. And there was something almost desperate about his actions that made my heart hurt for him, even if I didn’t understand why. It was almost as though I could feel his emotions.

I could feel as his tongue poked under the hem of the thin panties, leaving a damp line over my skin as he licked down my flesh. Oh god, he was going to drive me completely mad with the teasing. Nova then abandoned that, but then I felt him suck at my clit through the panties, causing me to make a loud gasp. I could feel him smirk against the fabric. But then he pulled away and pulled the panties off. Before I could say or do anything, his tongue was pressed against my center, dragging his tongue upwards towards my clit. Nova’s tongue moved quickly in a lapping motion before pressing it inside. Groan after groan escaped me, my hand going to his short black hair. His tongue whirled around me, grazing against my tender walls. He felt so damn good, doing everything perfectly. While things were moving quickly and were much more intense and quick compared to the night before, it held the same sort of intimacy. Nova had to be expressing some sort of emotions or at least an apology for his words before—I never knew anyone to go down on another person in the middle of an argument.

Either way, he was definitely doing the job right, currents of pleasure running through me. His tongue pressed in and out before licking my wet seam. He then moved up, taking my clit into his mouth and sucking on it, swirling his tongue on it. Moans sounded from my lips at the sensation. Every time I began to think he couldn’t do better than the time before, he proved me wrong. His tongue traveled back down to my lower lips, his fingers forming a V to hold them apart as he drove his tongue back in. Nova moved rapidly and almost hungrily, clearly wanting to make me come. My fingers gripped at his hair as I gave into the sensations he was providing. He was going down on me with ferocity. Licking back up to my clit, he sucked hard on it, causing my hips to buck into his face. At that, he rolled us over to where I straddled his face, causing my cheeks to burn an even brighter red. A hand reached up and grabbed one of my breasts as he relentlessly worked my clit, licking and sucking. His other hand moved my hips lightly, wanting me to move with him. Slowly, I swiveled my hips, his tongue dipping back down to my opening. When he pressed his tongue in, the arousal became too much for me. I picked my hips up and down, moving with his tongue. My breathing was ragged as I felt myself climax around his tongue, a hurricane of moans leaving my lips as he did. He licked at my lower lips as I came down, my thighs twitching around his face.

Once I was done though, my body gave way and I fell beside him. Nova moved to lay next to me. While I had only been up for a short while, the pleasure from his actions had rendered me exhausted. I felt as he wrapped his arms around me, his face nuzzling my shoulder. I tilted my head awkwardly to look at him. With him being close to my face, I could see then just how exhausted he was, dark bags under his eyes. It looked as though he hadn’t slept at all. Since he was going to sleep, I didn’t find the harm in dozing off myself. I felt my eyes flutter closed as I cuddled into him.

I
woke
up the next morning, exhausted from the previous day. From not sleeping that night, I slept most of the day away which was completely foreign to me; then when I awoke that night, Julia and I stayed in bed, pleasing one another—just to fall back asleep. Needless to say, the day hadn’t been productive, but I wouldn’t have changed it for the world. As I climbed out of bed and dressed, I couldn’t shake the feeling that Julia and I had a better understanding of one another then.

As I began to sear some kawrun on the cooking surface, I already began to try and construct a plan to call off the exchange. Perhaps we could grab another human and barter them instead? All I knew at that point was Bru was right, Julia was my fated mate. After spending an entire day embracing her and exploring her body, I knew that no other soul would ever satisfy my need for her. And while I was still trying to process the fact I had feelings for a human, I knew it would be alright. If it was prophesized, then surely things would be sorted and fall into place as needed. Perhaps I could bring that vile, peace-seeking Dracon to the village to get his assistance on getting the people to accept Julia.

As I plated two plates of meat and fruit, I heard the soft patter of feet behind me. Glancing over, I saw Julia dressed and moving to her seat at the table. “Morning,” I called over with a soft smile. But Julia didn’t even look up from the table, mumbling something in return. My brow creased but I tried not to think too much on it; she was probably just sleepy. Placing the plates on the table, I then got two cups of juice before sitting down at the table. As I began to eat, I noticed her lack of movement. Looking to her, she had her fork, poking at a chunk of meat on her plate. “What’s wrong? Are you not hungry?” I asked. There was something about her that seemed off… She was distant and quiet. Julia just gave a shrug at my words, continuing to poke at her food. Once again, I tried to tell myself that she was just sleepy and groggy from just waking up. I went back to eating my food and drinking my juice.

After several minutes of silence, Julia finally spoke, “I want you to send me home.”

My eyes stayed on my plate, frozen by her words. Suddenly breathing became a little painful, my chest feeling like it was being crushed. Finally, my gaze lifted to her, but she was staring off in the distance. “Why do you want me to?” I asked her, my voice a little croaky.

Julia was silent for a moment, the woman chewing on her bottom lip. She gave another shrug, “We’re just too different. I’m human, you’re Navani. I can’t stay here. I don’t belong…” There was a pause and she took in a sharp breath before continuing, “I just… I need to go home.”

For a second, it felt like I couldn’t breathe. She really wanted to go home? I didn’t understand. Why all of a sudden? She was just upset about me making arrangements to exchange her yesterday. Had I done something wrong? My mind raked through the events the day before. Yeah, I had been an ass when we fought, but I was sure I had made it up to her during the hours spent in bed together. I was at a complete loss for words. I didn’t even know what to say, or how to feel. While Julia didn’t know of the prophecy or the fact we were fated mates, I knew in my gut she felt
something
. Yet, she still wanted to leave. I wanted to fight her, to demand answers, to call her stupid and selfish—but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I didn’t want to upset her; I didn’t want to cause her anymore distress than I already had.

I lifted my eyes to her, holding eye contact with her. “Are you sure about this decision?” I asked her, my voice quiet and calm.

Julia’s eyes were glossy, but she nodded her head, “Yes… I am.”

My jaw clenched and I stood from the table. Walking into my personal area, I reached into a drawer and pulled out a snake lock. My heart was pounding painfully, unable to believe what I was having to do. Walking back into the communal area, I stood next to her, “Stand up,” I spoke firmly, but not an ounce of hatred or anger in my tone. Julia stood hesitantly, her big glossy green eyes staring up at me. I turned her around and brought both of her hands behind her back. Taking the lock, I wrapped it around her wrists and set it in place. Without another word, I guided her outside and began walking to the local jail. If she wasn’t staying, and if she wasn’t going to be my mate, then she needed to be in lock-up to ensure she didn’t attempt to escape again. At that point, she was just a currency being used to get our warriors back.

We approached a hut with no windows and a high roof. I walked her inside, the jail was completely empty of prisoners. The hut was divided into four small cells with a wide hall between the two rows of cells. Walking her to the furthest cell, I opened the metal door and placed her inside. Turning her around again, I took the lock off her and then closed the jail doors. Julia turned to look at me, but I averted my eyes, not being able to even stomach looking at her anymore. It would destroy me. “The exchange will take place tomorrow. You’ll be returned to your people then,” I told her before quickly exiting the jail. Tears stung my eyes, I was unable to believe that this woman had such an effect on me. And I was unable to believe that she had broken my heart.

Attempting to void her from my thoughts was fruitless. I walked until I found a commanding warrior, Tarik, and told him to send a scout to let them know we would exchange the hostages tomorrow at noon. I then walked immediately to the medical tents, needing to throw myself into something to keep my mind from looming over the subject of Julia and the hurt of her sudden decision to go back to the humans. It still didn’t make sense to me, but I had no say. If she wanted to return home, then that’s what she would do. While I had the power to keep her there as long as I wanted, I didn’t want to force my fated mate into something she didn’t want to do. Grabbing the bandages and ointment, I tried my damnedest to push the thoughts of her away and focus on caring for my men.