Page 26 of Protected By the Alien Knight

She whirls on her heel, her messy strands flying. “In fact, why don’t we cover the entire dining area in a fifteen-meter hedge maze? That’ll give you two ample room to get impossibly lost in each other’s navels!”

Max purses his lips in a petulant mimic of his twin. “Well at least I have good taste, unlike you putting this wedding together with single credit decorations!”

I am prepared to physically separate the pair as they square off, when a quiet presence at my shoulder makes itself known.

“Quite the family circus you all are conducting here.”

Crux’s rich voice has an instant calming effect, like a balm being poured over my fraying nerves. My mate is leaning against the doorframe in a crisp white shirt molded to every stunning inch of his muscular physique. His arms are crossed nonchalantly over his broad, powerful chest, but the undisguisedamusement dancing in his eyes reveals how thoroughly he’s enjoying the spectacle.

Alice and Max both aim synchronized scowls of aggravation in his direction. I half-expect Crux to scold them like unruly novice knights, but instead, he just arches one brow, the smirk that always gets my pulse racing playing over his lips.

“Why don’t you two get some air and calm down?” His words are mild but underpinned with just enough subtle command that Alice and Max immediately deflate like popped balloons. “The festivities haven’t even started yet. I’d hate for you both to be in foul moods.”

Face mollified, Max inclines his head in a begrudging nod. “Fair point, Crux. We still have many preparations to coordinate before guests start arriving in a few hours.”

He extends his arm for Alice in a gentlemanly display despite the sweat stains on his burgundy jacket. With a haughty sniff, she takes it, and they depart to handle setup details elsewhere.

Once we’re alone, Crux arches a brow, silently inviting me to explain the fresh wave of pandemonium. Before I can even collect my scattered thoughts, a distant clatter signals yet another incident requiring my attention, which is confirmed by a passing attendant’s panicked look.

I sag against the doorframe, feeling suddenly and profoundly old despite only being a decade into middle age. “This is the problem with indulging your kid’s lavish tastes, I suppose. Inevitably, the tantrums become more extravagant over time.”

Crux snorts in amusement at my flippant remark, the irreverent sound making my lips twitch despite the madness swirling around us. With two easy strides, he closes the distance between us, his broad palms skating over my hips until I’m pressed flush against his solid form.

He leans down to trail a path of molten kisses across my cheek. The ticklish-soft caress of his breath raises goosebumps all alongmy heated skin as his lips brush the tender spot just below my ear.

“So feisty today, my radiant one,” he rumbles in that sinfully low tone that resonates straight through to my rapidly melting core. “Am I to take this defiance as a request for... correction?”

I try for a nonchalant scoff, but it emerges as more of a breathless whimper as Crux’s wicked mouth works lower, his blunt teeth grazing over my thundering pulse point.

Coherent thought scatters when those full, sinful lips finally capture mine in a searing, demanding kiss that instantly liquefies my bones and kindles fresh flames in my veins. One broad palm smooths up my spine to tangle in the heavy tresses of my hair, angling my head for him to plunder my mouth with his questing tongue.

An embarrassingly needy whine slips free, only to be instantly swallowed by the low, rumbling growl of approval that vibrates through Crux’s chest. He slants his sublime mouth over mine again and again in a merciless onslaught until I’m left utterly disheveled and dazed, clinging to the solid wall of his body for balance.

When he finally allows me to surface for air, I’m nothing more than a panting, whimpering mess already dissolving under the lash of his piercing stare, his kiss-swollen lips curving in a wicked smirk of profound masculine satisfaction. Crux tsks softly in rebuke, somehow perfectly composed despite my state of disarray.

“You constantly underestimate the effect your spirited defiance has on me,” Crux chides softly.

I let out a shaky breath, feeling desire stir within me. Before I can formulate a response, he’s trailing blazing paths along the column of my throat, the rough pads of his fingertips raising delicious sparks everywhere they roam.

“Tempting me to remind you exactly where your place is—here in my arms, utterly possessed...”

His teeth graze over the thundering pulse at the base of my neck in a blatant claim, sending lightning bolts of need lancing through my body. A breathy moan is the only reply I can muster, my head lolling back in total surrender as he tastes and marks every exposed inch like a brand.

“Well then,” Crux rumbles with rich approval, “I suppose I’ll have to thoroughly demonstrate where you belong, won’t I?”

The molten promise in his tone sends an answering pulse of need throbbing heavily between my legs. I nod frantically, words deserting me entirely as his tangerine eyes blaze with the undisguised promise of rapture soon to come.

He claims my mouth again in another searing, lushly demanding kiss that leaves my knees buckling. Crux growls deep in his chest, swallowing the whimper that tears free as his other palm spans the generous curve of my backside.

The delicious friction of his thick, pulsing cock grinding against my aching bundle of nerves drags a desperate keen from somewhere deep in my chest. He’s swallowing the sound, tongue stroking and teasing with a sinful possession that strips me of any last shreds of self-restraint.

“Shall I have you right here, my radiant goddess?” Crux murmurs darkly against the swollen seam of my lips. “Take you hard and thoroughly possess you against this wall, where anyone could witness your rapturous ecstasy?”

Heat detonates in my core at the wicked suggestion, the idea of such lewd exhibitionism both thrilling and scandalous in a way that stokes the embers of my arousal to a raging wildfire. All I can do is whimper and pant my agreement, rolling my hips in desperate entreaty against his vicious steel cock as it strains for release.

My mate doesn’t need any further encouragement. With a potent flex of powerful thighs and calves, he hitches one leg high around his hip until I’m splayed wantonly open against the unforgiving oak panel at my back. I’m utterly on display for him now—my dress soaked through, arousal sliding down my thighs as my pussy throbs with the fevered ache to be claimed and split apart by his punishing cock.

I try to voice a plea, but Crux silences me by slanting his mouth over mine once more, the merciless grind of his cock against my entrance turning the sound into a sobbing whine of rapture. I hear his zipper sawing apart through the roaring rush of blood, feel the scorching brand of his length spring free to notch against my throbbing entrance.

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