Interstellar
17

Stella left the loft to replace Nova for the ritual, pausing before turning toward the guest suites. Her heart sank as she heard familar moans coming from the opposite end of the house. Stella was quick to head toward the kids’ wing. From the end of the hall, she could see her son wrapped around Nova, the young woman gasping against his touch. The open doorway perfectly framed a sight which struck horror into her. Stella’s voice cracked with the intensity she screamed, followed by the cries of her pups.

Nothing would distract Titan from the Goddess-blessed woman he held to his chest, not until he had claimed her fully. He withdrew from her neck, lavishing the bite with slow, sensual passes of his tongue. She turned in his embrace, stealing his lips for a ravenous kiss as she pushed him onto his back. Titan pulled Nova’s shirt over her head, breaking the kiss just long enough to toss the garment aside. He was unwilling to pull her from his lap long enough to remove her shorts and grabbed the fabric with both hands, tearing the denim along the inseams until it fluttered open into a skirt. Nova moaned against his mouth, and he greedily swallowed the sound. She grasped at his sweats, pulling them down just enough to free his arousal, before pulling her panties to the side and sinking herself onto him. He growled and drew her bottom lip between his teeth, his eyes snapping open and staring into hers with wild hunger as she enveloped him completed.

Everything faded away as Titan lay beneath the rolling curves of his mate. He stared at her in awestruck wonder, each movement of her body sending seismic shocks to the deepest, darkest parts of his being. She was light incarnate; a divine gift he knew he did not deserve. In a matter of moments, she softened every sharp edge he’d been carefully honed into. His physical body reacted to the slightest of her touches, each moment a euphoria he would spend the rest of his life chasing. He reached out for her, wanting nothing more than to channel every ounce of this ethereal pleasure back toward her. He halted when she slowed her rocking hips and grabbed his hands, guiding one to her waist and the other to cover his mark on her neck. The touch to her mark pulled him from his daze, and the room snapped back into focus. His soul yearned to fully claim her, mind, body and soul. The loving graze of her hands along his arms, delicate digits coming to rest on top of his own, was enough to make him come undone.

Nova felt no control of her body as she straddled the man beneath her. She had never felt so connected to another person, as if they were two halves of the same mind inhabiting different bodies. Electricity sparked across the surface of her skin with each roll of his hips, his gaze burning beautifully intricate patterns across her skin as he breathlessly studied her body. A desire more ancient than any she’d ever encountered overwhelmed her senses as she lowered her mouth to his neck, marking his flesh just as he’d marked hers. She purred against his skin at the metallic taste of him, a bliss she’d never before known bursting forth and filling every piece of herself she’d lost along her journey. His soul wrapped protectively around hers, filling each broken and jagged wound. Her body shuttered from the sensation of feeling finally complete.

She released his neck, gently pressing her lips to the deep punctures, and for a moment she could have sworn he glowed in the fading sunlight streaming through the window. Nova trailed her lips to his, stealing the air from his lungs with another kiss. His strong arms wrapped around her, pulling their chests flush, their hearts beating rapidly but in sync. When they separated, it was like she was seeing him for the first time. His features were softer than she remembered, still holding onto the adolescence he was not long gone from. His steely eyes now reflected the warm gold of her own.

Titan curled protectively around his mate, his arm draped across her waist, a hand pressed against her bare stomach. He shrouded them in a knit blanket and relished as she turned beneath his arm, instinctively burying her face in the hard expanse of his chest. His chin came to rest in the dark curls haloing her head, the scent of wildflowers and honey intoxicating as he breathed deeply, calmly, inhaling her essence. Her shallow breaths tickled his sweat-slicked skin, a gentle reminder of the power within her touch.

By the time Stella returned, the house was quiet. She’d used every ounce of her strength to keep Leon behind her, to protect him from the scene she had observed what seemed like seconds before. The Alphas stood at the end of the hall, gazing through Titan’s doorway only to see two bodies curled beneath his bedding. The only evidence of Nova were her dark curls laid across the Titan’s arm, his face buried within them. Stella felt her mate’s pain, and she felt him exit the house before she could work up the courage to gaze upon him.