Page 97 of Whispers of the Void

Eventually I’ll have to hire a replacement, if such a thing even exists. How do you replace the male who practically raised you and stepped up when your parents died before you reached adulthood? I don’t have the answer. In truth I haven’t had time to grieve his death properly. I haven’t even had time to breathe, let alone plot revenge for his death.

Everything is happening so quickly I can’t keep up. If I could take those I care about and disappear, I would. Find some peaceful planet, ideally uninhabited, and spend my days fucking my mate and laughing with friends. At this point in my life, that’s all that I want. I’m so close to giving up my birthright of House Aste and my position in the military, I can almost taste the freedom.

I finish lacing my boots and slide my swords into the cross sheath on my back. Their ornate handles are carved from the same stone of my family’s mines. The veins of silver crystal that run the black obsidian walls of my family estate are three times as hard as any substance in the system and the most valuable product Zeahiri trades with other planets.

Laughter drifts into the hallway as I walk toward Neev’s room. Vynia came to get ready here with her, so she could help her dress and explain aspects of the night that I haven’t had a chance to yet. The sound of their happiness, even in this tense of a moment, brings a lightness to my soul I didn’t realize I needed.

I lift my hand and knock on the door, waiting to open it until they call out I can. The two of them are standing side by side when I enter, and the sight leaves me breathless. Vynia is arguably one of the most beautiful Zeahirian females on the planet, but my eyes are glued to Neev.

She’s wearing a deep purple dress that dips low in the front, nearly to her belly button. The wide expanse of exposed skin on her chest shows her tattoo and the curves of lush breasts. The swaths of fabric tie around her neck, leaving the soft skin of her shoulders bare. The rest of the dress skims her body, a large slit runs up the front, and as she walks to me, I see the length of the legs I’ve felt wrapped around me.

My fangs ache to descend and sink into the skin, leaving my mark so everyone knows she’s mine. The desire to claim her, to mate her, to spend weeks fucking her until I’ve left my mark on every part of her body roars in my blood until I can think of nothing else. I don’t snap out of my trance until her hands slide up my chest.

Vynia disappeared while I was stuck in my possessive haze. I’ve never been as close to blurting out the truth: that she’s my mate.

Mine.

My. Fucking. Mate.

As her hands wind around my neck and she pulls my head down to her for a kiss, my hands slide up her sides. It’s only then that I realize the sides of her breasts are even more exposed than the center of her chest. I slide my thumbs along the supple curve and under the thin fabric until I feel her nipples pebble beneath my attention.

“Oh.” She practically purrs against me. “Don’t start something you can’t finish.”

“I’ll finish any male who looks at you tonight.”

She tosses her head back and laughs. “I’m sure they won’t give me a passing glance. Did you see Vynia?”

“I’ve seen her every day of her life. She’s beautiful, but you?” I say with a shake of my head. “Your beauty is otherworldly. Every male in your vicinity will wonder if your skin is as soft as it looks. If your breasts will feel as heavenly in their palms as they look.”

She lifts onto her toes, but I still have to bend to put us eye level. “Good thing you’re the only one who will ever know the answer,” she whispers against my lips.

My chest thrums, deep and low and possessive as I crash our mouths together. I gather the soft roots of her hair in my fist and pull, angling her head so I can kiss her so deeply I consume her. Her nails sink into the hair at the nape of my neck and scratch against my scalp, like she’s trying to leave her own mark on me.

She doesn’t need to worry about that. As far as I’m concerned, no other female even exists. She’s the only one I want. Even if she looked at me and told me she wanted to go back to Oculus Nine, I’d go with her. I’d orbit her life from afar. I’ll never touch, never notice, another woman for as long as I live.

Vynia clears her throat from behind us. “I don’t mean to interrupt, but Altis is here with a transport. We should leave if we’re going to make it in time for the rite.”

With a will stronger than any I’ve ever known, I drop my hands from her hair and take a step back. “Where’s your cloak?”

Vynia hands her one the same color as her dress and is lined with fur. I watch as Neev drapes it around her shoulders and pulls her hair loose. She struggles with the clip at the top.

“You’re not to take this off tonight.” I clip the two sides of the cloak together for her.

“Why not? What if I get hot?” She raises a slim brow.

“You won’t, the Sovereign keeps his ship icy cold. But that’s not why you need to keep this on. It’s so I don’t go on murdering spree against any male stupid enough to look too closely at what’s mine.”

Her lips lift slowly into a smile. “And what if any females look too closely at what’s mine?”

“You don’t need to worry about that. As far as I’m concerned, no other female exists.”

“Good.”

My cock thickens at the look of possession in her eyes. For the millionth time the temptation of telling her about our mate bond bubbles up so close to the surface. I feel Vynia’s eyes on me expectantly, and it pulls me back from the edge, much to her irritation. My friends have come to care as deeply for Neev as they do me. I see it when they watch us together, when they interact with her. Truthfully, Vynia might like her more than me at this point.

“Ready?” Hyva asks from the doorway.

When I turn I’m ready to beat him if he looks at Neev wrong, but I find his eyes locked on Vynia. In fact, it feels as though he can’t take his eyes off her. I watch as they do a sweep from her face, down her body, to the crutches aiding her and back up to her eyes.

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