He grabbed me hard and shook as though an earthquake was capsizing his soul, fingers digging into my body and he collapsed onto me as my orgasm ricocheted, and I couldn’t release him and I couldn’t feel anything but the soft cushion of grass and the blanket of stars above and his strong hands holding me and the sweet breeze chilling our skin and shudder after shudder rocking me as he slowly, slowly pulled out and lay on top of me, sweat-slicked, sliding off to lay beside me, breathing heavily, kissing my shoulders, kissing my neck, kissing my face, as I tried to focus on his lips, and brought my hand to his face and memorized every aspect of his face.
“I’m yours…”
“You’re mine. I’m yours.”
We collapsed together on the cushion of grass, listening to the little river lap at its banks. The occasional bark of an order, thunder of an aircraft, and the roar of a world my Alpha ruled was just beyond these bluffs. A world we needed to get back to…
Jase pulled himself up and teased my nipple with his teeth until I laughed and pushed him off. “They will be looking for you.”
“Yes, but they will be looking for you, too.” His gaze turned serious, suddenly. “Look, I doubt it will come up, but don’t tell anyone that you are the one that flattened Tarsine’s chest. I know why you did it, but… you really shouldn’t have interfered in that duel, and, in the future, you must know, on Farian, duels are meant for the two people fighting them: no interference from the outside.”
“I know, I know… I don’t know what overcame me.”
His stone look softened. "You're my Destin… I am sure I would have done the same. But, I don't want it to cause any trouble. Just let me say I did it if it comes up. I'm sure I am powerful enough to cave someone's chest in with just the wind…"
I was surprised to hear a little doubt in his voice. Was he not? No matter, I would keep the secret. I would keep all his secrets. I was in love with him. In some amazing, otherworldly magic… I was in love.
What in the world would Daphne say?
I couldn’t wait to tell her everything…
“Come on,” Jase stood up. “Let’s get back to work. We have a lot to do.”
Nineteen
Vania
We traveled with Commander Xane's ship and the Trios back to Capital City, rather than returning to Emerona. King Kajo wanted to officially declare the Bordash lands in the South to be Jase's, and apparently, there was a time limit on the Destin destiny for the heart to be set-in… I needed to be accepted officially into Curan culture and bonded with Jase's soul…
He seemed to be eager for it, too.
The next few days flew by. I managed to squeeze in a Taco Tuesday lunch with Daphne, Aimer, LeiLei, and Cassala. The Trio didn’t quite know what to think about the semi-Tequila-y shot with salt and lemon, but they loosened up and even promised to try to get some chocolate for us. There's a similar plant to the cacao plant along the Bristola Oceans where Axis and his Seawards were stationed. Axis and Cartari had spoken so lovingly of their homeland, I hoped I could visit it someday.
Then the week passed, and I was lying on an altar, wearing a ceremonial lace blouse and an asymmetrical skirt that was traditional garb in Jase's family; and, his ring was still on my finger. I had been warned what the ceremony would be like and had begun to adjust to being the Alpha Warlord's Destin, but it still seemed surreal. The five priestesses in hooded cloaks with obscure, shadowed faces, hooked an IV into my arm and I was soon swooning, trying to stay awake and focus on the images in the incense smoke above my head, wavering mirages of prophecies about Jase and I. They flickered in greys, whites, purples, deep blues, and blacks, smudges, and carbon smears revealing what my life would be…
I was being thrown into so many new life possibilities: marriage, children, adventures, spaceships, worlds, species, faces, foods, I had never seen. Battlefields, we would bless and vanquish together. We would be the romantic warrior Alpha Warlords.
I was lucky that I had Daphne beside me for the Curan ceremony. She had had to do this all alone. I couldn’t even imagine that… I was more fortunate. Daphne was there, King Kajo was just outside, and my Alpha Jase was by my bedside.
Since I wasn't going to be Queen to the Beast King, I didn't need a full public ceremony, though apparently there would be a bit of a ceremony back in Emerona once we were officially bonded. It would be more of a celebration and less of a medical necessity.
Now, it was just about making sure our souls could become one and the same, that we could become each other’s light, each other’s pathway, each other’s source of happiness, pleasure, safety, and protection.
Alpha Jase, Warlord of my heart.
Jase was awarded the Bordash lands Tarsine had overseen, and for a while, he and I would need to move further South, to strike up allegiances and build loyalty from those Bordash in the new parts of the Emerona Empire. I would be far from Daphne, but I would visit often; after all, she was pregnant, and I would want to be by her side.
Jase held my hand and leaned in close to me as my eyelids began to flutter. “Your love and loyalty, Vania. That’s all I ask for. Your love, your loyalty, and also, your challenge. I want you to always challenge me, to be my warrior queen. You are the one to keep me solid, keep me strong. Keep me at my best for the next two hundred years. We will be together. I am giving my soul to you. I am yours, and you are mine.”
I squeezed his hand, still marveling that I
