Saved By The Warrior Hero Page 20

  “Oh, you’re not allowed to say goodbye to me, you baz-terd. Not for a long, long time.” She sounded angry at me, which seemed unfair. I had just saved her, after all. She should have been elated. But instead, she snarled at me more furiously than I had ever heard her before. “What did you think you were doing, throwing yourself at an armed warrior like that? He could have killed you, you big idiot.”

  “Thought…I was…saving you.” I had to push the words through my teeth. I feared that if I unclenched my jaw, I might pass out.

  “Well, now I get to save you, dumbass. Whatever you do, you are not allowed to die. Understand?”

  “Yes,” I hissed. “Cannot. Two…cubs…on the way.”

  I thought that would please her, at least. It was the closest I could get to telling her that I wanted to marry her. To raise our cubs together—both of them. That it did not matter to me who had fathered either of them. I saw them both as my own.

  Instead, she corrected me. There I was, baring my heart to her as I bled out, and she was correcting me, of all things.

  “One cub, you mean.” Her voice was as full of sadness as her eyes were with worry.

  Nine moons. I loved her dearly—but I had never met a more ridiculous female in my entire life.

  “No,” I grunted and forced a grin—though I doubted in my current state, it was a very reassuring one. “Two cubs. Two.”

  23

  Alyse

  I got Nion to the medical bay as quickly as Leonix and I could carry him. I wasn’t sure if he knew it or not, but his legs had mostly stopped working as soon as we got him out into the hall.

  That dopey, painful-looking grin he was forcing didn’t quit even when I finally found a free cot for him and got him into surgery, though. Even after he drifted off under a Lunarian warrior-sized dose of anesthesia, it lingered on his lips.

  He looked proud the whole time I stitched up his wound. I supposed in a way, he had good reason to be.

  He’d saved me yet again—and Leonix too. I was certain that Leonix could have kept stalling for approximately a decade if she’d had to, but I was pretty sure we were both relieved once Ero had dropped to the floor.

  I’d never liked that little shit anyway. If there was one thing a doctor hated, it was a faker. Sure, there were other reasons to hate Ero—like selling out his own comrades, or turning out to be a creepy weirdo, or trying to kill us—but those were above my pay grade, as far as I was concerned. For the moment, faking a concussion was just the reason I’d chosen to settle on.

  I wasn’t the only one who’d been saved that day, it quickly became apparent. A few days after we had managed the other wounded men from the mission, Coplan had mentioned that the human they had rescued from the Lunarian base was regaining her strength and would likely awaken soon.

  Unfortunately, this new woman wasn’t exactly as grateful as I had been. Only a few minutes later, I heard screaming from the exam room Coplan was keeping her in. When he emerged from it, he was clutching his hand in a way that was a little too familiar to me.

  “Bitten! Again!” Coplan bared his fangs at me as he shoved his hand in my face. “What is wrong with you awful little humans? Like feral swamp-cats!”

  I couldn’t help it—I snickered at the way he was losing it.

  “Stop shoving your hands in our faces and maybe we’ll stop biting you, Coplan.” I had to cover my mouth to stop from laughing harder at him. It had been a long few days. Between Coplan, Healer Adskow, a dozen nurses and myself, we’d been able to save every warrior who had returned from the ship. Despite that, I knew the number of warriors who hadn’t made it back at all were…depressingly high.

  If the only thing available to cheer me up was Coplan raging about another human’s bite, I’d take it.

  “You are merely lucky that you are prettier than your teeth are sharp, Alyse.” Coplan glanced almost fondly at the exam room and prepared to head back in. “As is she.”

  I almost offered to help him…but I’d seen that furious-but-enthralled look in his eyes before.

  Coplan was going to have his hands full with this new patient, no doubt. But that could be his new project for the time being.

  As for Nion—he was mine.

  He healed slowly as the ship finally returned to Lunaria. Once he was stable, I was able to move him out of the hospital ward and back into my bed.

  As far as I was concerned, that was exactly where he belonged—wounded or not.

  “You really scared me there for a little bit, handsome.” I brought him a glass of iced tea in bed—his new favorite—and helped him sit up to drink it. One of the few benefits of the placement of Nion’s wound was that it led to him having his shirt off an awful lot so I could change his dressing with ease. I hugged his bicep and cuddled up close to him while he took a sip.

  “You need never be afraid again, zahvinya. Not while my blood still runs through my veins.” He leaned over to kiss my forehead with icy-cold lips. Once upon a time, feeling cold lips against my skin would have taken me back to my time as Var-arak’s captive, but those memories were slowly fading. Coupled with how good Nion smelled, it was actually kind of nice. “You and Leonix caught Ero before he could report your pregnancy to anyone. You are safe.”

  “For now.” I sighed softly and hugged his arm a little tighter. “I just wish we could have stopped him before he told the Rutharians you were attacking their base. You lost so many warriors…”

  “Which is why it is more important than ever that we are bringing more into existence.” Nion reached over to place a hand on my belly. It was still flat, but every day it seemed like I could feel the presence of the babies growing inside me a little more. “You are a particularly efficient mate, Alyse. Two cubs at once—you will be the envy of every Lunarian as soon as it is safe for them to know.”

  “If it’s ever safe,” I reminded him. “These babies could be trouble, Nion.”

  “Much like their father, then.” I was still kind of amazed that Nion had decided that he was the father of both babies now. I knew he understood the situation—I just hoped he wouldn’t be disappointed anyway when one of his newborns turned out to have red skin and horns. “I will keep you and our cubs safe, Alyse. I swear it to you. No matter what.”

  “I have no doubt of that,” I assured him. “You’re taking on the responsibility of fatherhood pretty well, all things considered. You must have had a great dad.”

  Nion laughed. “Alyse…no. For once, I must inform you that you could not possibly be more wrong.”

  “Am I?”

  “My father…he abandoned us when I was young. My mother had to work hard to provide for my brother and me on her own.” Nion shook his head. “I would never dream of making you struggle in such a way. You will be protected and provided for, for the rest of your life—and our cubs will have the same.”

  “Your mother sounds like a strong woman.” I smiled up at him. “I’m excited to meet her.”

  “She will like you. Strong women…you tend to enjoy the company of one another. Look at how well you get along with Leonix.” Nion returned my smile, then placed a little kiss on the tip of my nose. “Besides, my mother has always wanted me to have a family of my own. Before I met you, I thought it to be a silly dream that would never come to fruition, but now…it will bring me great joy, I think, to introduce you as my bride.”

  I blinked. For a second, I was sure I hadn’t heard him correctly. Then, I thought maybe something had been lost in translation.

  “That word must not mean the same thing for you and me, Nion.” I said with a little giggle. “Just because I’m pregnant doesn’t mean we’re married, handsome.”

  “Not yet, no.” Nion shrugged. “But when we return to Lunaria, a little ceremony in the village would be quite lovely, I think. It will be winter there by the time we land, and with your hair, your eyes… You would make a lovely winter bride.”

  I narrowed my eyes at him. “Nion…are you asking me to marry you?”


  “Yes. Was that not clear?”

  “Well, it was a little abstract, but—”

  “Marry me, Alyse,” Nion said. It wasn’t really a question, but if I wanted clarity, he was giving it to me. “I do not have much, but all that is mine is yours. If I can climb the ranks here in the military for only a little longer, I will be able to retire by the time the cubs are ready to enter the fighting pits.”

  “Fighting pits?” I gave Nion a stern look. “Absolutely not. I don’t think so.”

  Nion smirked. “We can discuss it later. With my pension, though, I could buy a plot of land near my mother’s cottage. We could farm it. Buy animals. Build a house of our own, if you wanted. I know that it is not the same as what some high lord could offer you, but—”

  I stopped him with a kiss. My tongue snaked against his like I was spelling out how perfect that sounded in his mouth.

  But as I pulled away, I supposed he probably needed a real answer too.

  “I grew up in mansions, Nion,” I told him. “Fancy, beautiful…lonely, lonely houses that were way too big and way too empty to ever be happy in. I would love to marry you. I love the life you’re offering me. I love you, you handsome idiot.”

  “And I love you.” Nion closed his eyes and sighed with happiness. “My beautiful, strong, brilliant bride-to-be.”

  “You forgot stubborn,” I teased.

  “I did not. I simply did not think it would be kind to add it. My mother always said that when you lack kind words to speak, you are better off not speaking at all.”

  “Your mother isn’t going to have problems with…you know, the half-Rutharian baby. Will she?” As happy as I was about the idea of marrying Nion, I was still pretty nervous about what people would think of our situation when word finally got out. Unless the Rutharian baby took strongly after me, though… it was going to be a difficult thing to hide. For the baby’s sake, I didn’t want to have to hide it at all. “I know you seem okay with it for now, but your mother…”

  “My mother is going to have grandcubs. Two of them,” Nion reminded me. “Few peasant mothers of her generation are even able to claim one grandcub, and here you are prepared to give her two. She will be pleased, Alyse. Do not fear.”

  “But what if they baby turns out to be, you know…Rutharians-are-ruthless. He or she might be, um, kind of a handful.”

  “Just like their mother, then.” Nion gave me a wolfish grin as he reached over and cupped my breast in his hand, then squeezed.

  “You’re bad.”

  “Perhaps, yes.” He moved his arm around my shoulders and pulled my body closer to his. “I think it is just Rutharian culture that is so ruthless though. Rutharians themselves, if they could be raised with Lunarian and human values…I think it is worth trying. Besides, the cub won’t be all Rutharian. It is half of you, too.” He nuzzled against my cheek. “Our little family will turn some heads, yes. But with a wife like you, I was expecting to do that already.”

  “A wife like me, huh?” I pulled away from him, knowing that he would be able to look at me better from a distance. I ran my hands up and down my body as I gave him my sexiest smirk. “And what exactly is a wife like me like, Nion?”

  “Dangerously horny now that the pregnancy hormones are kicking in,” he said appreciatively. “Are you sure you want to do this right now? My poor wounds—you may be too much for my heart to handle, zahvinya.”

  “Your heart can handle more than you want to admit,” I shot back at him. “You fell in love with me, didn’t you?”

  “That was easy, zahvinya,” he purred. “It is keeping you safe that has been the hard part—but you are right. I have managed that as well. Now. Come here. I wish to reap the bounties of my efforts.”

  I crawled toward him slowly. As soon as I was within reach again, his hand slid up my inner thigh beneath my nightgown. He cupped my pussy in his palm possessively. His fingers slicked between my folds. When he drew them out again, they glistened with my honey before he flicked his forked tongue against his fingertips.

  “Mm. Alyse…already wet for me. Why did you not tell me so?” He moved his fingers back between my legs. This time, he rubbed me up and down in search of my clit. “I could have begun pleasuring you hours ago.”

  “I was enjoying cuddling with you too much.” I closed my eyes and gasped as Nion pinned my clit beneath his fingers. “Plus, I think I might just always be wet now. My body…wow. Every time I’m close to you now, it’s like I can’t help but want you. The hormones, probably.”

  “Or my own failure to keep you pleased while I have recovered.” Nion’s eyes, deep blue now, flashed sinfully. “I will not make that mistake again.”

  “Couldn’t hurt to find out, right?” I licked my lips slowly, enjoying the way his eyes tracked the movements of my tongue.

  “My wanton wife. My perfect bride.” Nion grunted with longing, then pulled me over onto his lap. “Mother of my cubs. I cannot leave you wanting then, can I?”

  I settled my pussy against the hard, thick swell of Nion’s cock beneath the sheets. As I rubbed myself against it, it twitched beneath me eagerly.

  “I suppose you can’t,” I agreed. I pressed my fingertips to his chest and did my best to look concerned. “Are you sure your poor heart and your wounded body can handle it, though?”

  Nion grinned, then shoved the sheets down to his thighs—and his pants along with them.

  “We will see, zahvinya,” he growled as he settled the flat tip of his cock against my entrance. “If you kill me, at least I will die happy.”

  His cock made me gasp as he entered me. In just the few days that we’d been laying off sex, it felt like my pussy had completely forgotten what it felt like to be filled so perfectly. Now that Nion was inside me again, though, I felt complete. Whole.

  Full. That was difficult not to feel while Nion’s cock was throbbing inside me. No matter how often I tried to wrap my head—or my cunt, for that matter—around how big he was, he never failed to amaze me.

  “I’m a lucky woman, you know,” I panted as I worked my hips up and down against his. I couldn’t quite hit the pace I wanted. My body felt more awkward and clumsy now that I had two alien babies growing in my womb. But still, every time I plunged down on Nion’s cock, heat and light radiated up through me, starting in my core and shooting out through my every nerve.

  “Are you, Alyse?” Nion chuckled—then moaned as I crushed my lips against his.

  “Yes,” I breathed. “Very lucky. I have a handsome future husband. Who has…mm, a very nice cock.”

  “If only you had a nice husband with a handsome cock,” Nion teased.

  “Oh, your cock is plenty handsome.” I flicked my tongue against his lower lip as I wrapped my arms around his neck. “And you’re nice enough.”

  “It does not seem so nice to force you to do all the work, zahvinya.” Nion’s fingers curled around my waist. His hands were big enough, he could nearly wrap them around my waist and encircle it completely. “Are you sure you do not want me to be on top?”

  “You’re injured,” I reminded him. “And I like riding you. This way, you can watch me while I make you come.”

  “Mm.” Nion’s gaze slipped down to my tits. They bounced full and heavy beneath my nightgown every time I moved. “And you are a fine thing to look upon. But I do not like seeing my wife working so hard to please me.” His fingers squeezed a little tighter around my waist as a wicked glimmer caught in his eyes. “A warrior must know how to please himself.”

  “What are you—” I began with a giggle, but then Nion lifted me up off his cock and lowered me back down onto it, answering my question for me.

  It was like he was jerking himself off with my pussy. Lifting my body effortlessly, despite his wound, and setting the exact pace he desired.

  I moaned and bit my lip as he increased that pace little by little.

  I wasn’t about to complain.

  This was exactly what I wanted, too.

  Nion’s tongue lappe
d against my neck. His fangs scraped against my shoulders, tugging the straps of my nightgown until he had pulled them away. The nightgown slipped down to my waist in a hiss of silk against skin. Without it covering my tits, now they were free to bounce bare in front of Nion’s face.

  He purred and grinned as he watched them for a few moments. Then, he lowered his lips to my nipples, sucking one, then the other, between his teeth so he could lash out at them with his tongue.

  “Beautiful,” he kept hissing up at me every time his lips weren’t too busy kissing and licking and sucking at my skin. “Beautiful and mine.”

  “I love you, Nion,” I breathed in desperation. “I love you so much.”

  “I love you too, Alyse.” As if he could sense the way my orgasm was building within me, he increased his pace. It made my entire brain light up every time he sheathed his cock within me, and his words made my heart ache every time they rang true. “I love you, too.”

  The first orgasm exploded inside me like a supernova—but Nion didn’t stop at that.

  I was pretty sure that if he had it his way, he’d keep me coming for the entire night.

  And hey—who was I to argue?

  After everything Nion had done for me, he wasn’t someone I could stand to deny.

  Nor did I want to.

  I’d give him everything he wanted while I let his love and praise and protection wash over me for the rest of my life.

  I’d always known that aliens existed. For the longest time, they’d terrified me—and with good reason.

  I’d just never expected to fall in love with one. But as I lay my head on Nion’s chest and rested my hand over my belly, I knew that love was exactly what I was feeling. It was expansive. Intergalactic. The greatest sensation I had ever known.

  One alien had stolen my life. He’d captured me from my home, pulled me across the universe, and given me a child.

  And now, another alien had gifted me my life back. He’d saved me. Loved me. Given me a second child and promised to treat both babies as his own.