Cruel Union (Brutal Universe #1)

13. Aurora

13

AURORA

W e didn’t say much on the flight. Slade was too busy piloting the ship and I was too busy watching him from the corner of my eye to see if he would turn into the enormous dark figure with the white, knife-like teeth again.

I had been frightened of him before—mainly because I was dreading what was going to happen on our wedding night. Now I had a whole new fear. What was the beast that he became? How dangerous was it? Could it come out at any time? Did he have control over it?

All these questions swam through my mind as I watched him fly the ship through the dark skies of Rigelis Nine . But I wasn’t sure if I could ask them without making him angry again—without making the thing inside him come out. So I kept my mouth shut and huddled against my seat, feeling tiny and frightened and alone.

At last Slade flew into a large horizontal opening in the side of another tall building. He landed and turned to me.

“ All right, Princess —we’re home. Or at least the place I’m calling home for now.” He sighed and ran a hand over his golden horns. “ Hang on, I’ll come around to get you out,” he told me.

“ I can manage!” I protested but he shook his head.

“ No , I’m going to help you. The last thing we need is for you to fall and get wounded again.”

I bit my lip—how had he known that I was wounded? My palms and one of my knees were stinging fiercely after falling on the pavement but I hadn’t said anything to him about them. And none of my injuries was obvious— I had my arms crossed protectively over my breasts and I was turned away from him.

Nevertheless , Slade seemed to know. He came around the other side of the ship and reached for me to help me out.

I shrank away from him— I couldn’t help it! He was so big—and so much more frightening than I had ever dreamed.

A look came into his golden eyes—sorrow, I thought, mixed with regret.

“ Please , baby, don’t be like that,” he murmured. “ I’m sorry you had to see what you saw but I swear to you I would never, ever hurt you. I just want to heal you and make you feel better.”

It was the look in his eyes as much as the sincerity in his deep voice that melted just a little of my fear. But I wasn’t quite ready to go with him yet.

“ That thing you turned into…what is it?” I asked in a trembling voice.

I expected him to put me off, but he answered without hesitation.

“ We of Clan Cruel call it ‘ The Darkness .’ It’s a symbiotic organism that lives inside us and helps us fight.”

“ So …all the males in your Clan have it?” I was surprised— I never would have dreamed such a thing was possible.

Slade nodded.

“ We got it when we did a genetic trade with the Night Walkers of Midnight Prime . It’s kind of a secret weapon—it makes the other Clans fear us.”

“ Well , it certainly made me fear you,” I said in a low, choked voice. “ Can …can it come out at any time?”

Slade shook his head firmly.

“ No , baby— I can control it. And even if it did come out, it would never, ever hurt you. It’s part of me and I’m your Fated Mate . Mates don’t hurt each other— ever.”

I still wasn’t sure about the whole idea of Slade and I being “ Fated Mates ”—we had no such concept on L’Crist and it seemed strange to me. But I could tell he was sincere.

“ So …you’re saying it’s not a danger to me?” I probed cautiously.

He shook his head.

“ No . It only came out because I was feeling so angry and protective of you—it came out to help me save you from that fucking Clan Ruthless asshole!”

His eyes went dark for a moment and then he took a deep breath and they were gold again.

“ Sorry ,” he apologized. “ But just the thought of him touching you…trying to take you away—” He took another deep breath. “ How did he even get to you in the first place?”

“ He sent me a drink and then came to sit at the table,” I said in a shaky voice. “ I tried to send him away— I told him I was there with my hu-hu-husband but you…you w-weren’t th-there!” I was starting to cry again, though I really didn’t want to. It was the memory of looking for him and not seeing him and then being grabbed by the strange Brute that did it.

Slade closed his eyes for a moment and a look of pain passed over his face.

“ I know, Princess and I’m so fucking sorry,” he said in a low voice. “ I stepped out for a minute to take a call but I swear I never would have if I’d dreamed that anything like this could happen!”

“ So …this isn’t usual?” I asked, sniffing and trying to get hold of myself.

Slade shook his head.

“ I don’t know what kind of fucking lurid stories you humans tell about ‘ Sin World ’ but I swear this is unprecedented. The male that tried to snatch you was from another Clan — Clan Ruthless . He’s got fucking brass balls to come after females in Clan Cruel territory.” He gave me a steady look. “ I swear to you, Aurora , he’s going to be punished .”

I shivered and nodded.

“ Thank you.”

“ Did he say anything to you?” Slade asked. “ Anything to indicate what he was planning?”

I nodded again.

“ When I was fighting him he said…said that he didn’t need me alive to…to cut me up for cloning,” I managed to get out. I was fighting tears again and shivering. Why was I so cold?

“ That fucker!” Slade’s jaw clenched and I saw his big hands ball into fists. The blackness passed through his eyes once more but I saw him take another deep breath and it was gone. “ Come on, Princess ,” he said, reaching for me again. “ Let’s get you to my suite so I can get you cleaned up and healed.”

He gathered me into his arms and this time I let him. I had watched “ The Darkness ” as he called it, rise twice in his eyes and both times he had pushed it away—folded it inside himself like a cloak he wasn’t using at the moment. It gave me a tiny bit of confidence that he really was in control of it.

That’s not to say I felt perfectly safe in his arms—not at first, anyway. But I found that the longer he carried me and the more I breathed in his warm, spicy scent, the calmer I felt. Was this some kind of Brutal trick, I wondered? Some way to manipulate me?

But that seemed like a silly idea— I didn’t want to reject the comfort he was offering out of fear, though I vowed to be more cautious in the future. I let myself melt against him as he carried me effortlessly.

We came to a set of double doors manned by a half-human/half Dothranian doorman. He had green skin and was wearing a black and white uniform.

“ Good Evening , Enforcer ,” he said, bowing to Slade and not batting an eye at me. “ How is your night going?”

“ Evening , Harry . It’s a mixed bag,” Slade rumbled. “ I’d like you to meet my wife—isn’t she beautiful?”

He sounded extremely proud, though I didn’t think I looked like anything to be proud of at the moment. I was a complete mess—my hair was all over the place and the little bit of make-up I’d put on that morning had been cried off in the past hour. But the doorman only nodded again as he opened the door for us.

“ She’s stunning, Enforcer . And congratulations on your Binding !”

“ Thanks , Harry .” Slade nodded back as he carried me through the double doors and into a vast and gleaming hotel lobby.

I looked around at the Frellian leather chairs and ottomans scattered around the gleaming marble floor. The ceilings were impossibly high and the solid ganga wood front desk was lined with smiling clerks, all wearing impeccably spotless black and white uniforms.

Several of them called greetings to Slade as he carried me through the lobby and he nodded and introduced me several more times as his wife. I tried to smile at them but I was so tired—completely worn out. I just wanted to be someplace where I could relax in private.

Slade seemed to share my sentiment because he took me to another vertical lift—which was mercifully empty—and then, after a long upward ride, we came to the very top floor which was labeled on the elevator as “ Penthouse Suite .”

The lift doors opened right into the suite, which was done in ultra-modern décor. Sleek metal-framed furniture padded with white fur and tan leather, a firepit in the center of the room with a fluted chimney positioned over it, and a thick carpet met my eyes. The colors were sandy beige and silver—cool tones that somehow avoided being cold—and there was framed and signed art on the walls that looked expensive.

“ So this is where you live?” I looked around in awe. I had been a princess all my life, but nothing at our tiny palace came close to the luxury I saw around me.

“ Uh -huh.” Slade nodded and sat me down on the broad, tan couch.

I began shivering as soon as I was no longer in contact with his warmth.

“ Oh —why am I so c-c-cold?” I exclaimed, my teeth starting to chatter.

Slade frowned, a worried look in his gold eyes.

“ Possibly you’re in shock. We need to get you warmed up—here.”

He snapped his fingers at the firepit. At once, blue and gold flames ignited, crackling quietly and adding warmth to the room. Then he unfolded a white fur blanket and draped it over me before turning to go to another room.

“ Wait —where are you going?” I felt panicked at the idea of him leaving me alone. Probably because last time he had left me, I had nearly been kidnapped by a male who wanted to cut me into little pieces!

Slade reached down to stroke my tear-streaked cheek.

“ It’s okay, Princess — I’m just going to run you a bath so we can get your core temperature back up. Don’t worry—you’re safe here. Nobody can get in or out but me—the button for the Penthouse Suite is keyed specifically to my DNA .”

“ Well …all right.” I nodded at last. “ Just don’t take too long.”

“ Not long at all— I promise.”

He left the room and a moment later I heard the rush of water. A moment after that, I smelled a light, floral scent drifting through the air—probably some kind of bathing product, I speculated. Whatever it was, it smelled nice.

I watched the blue and gold flames and snuggled under the fur blanket which felt impossibly soft. My eyelids were getting heavy when Slade came back into the living area.

“ All right, here we go,” he murmured and scooped me up off the couch.

“ I can walk, you know,” I said drowsily as he carried me to the bathroom.

“ Maybe I don’t want you to walk. Maybe I like carrying you,” he rumbled. “ You’re a princess, after all—why can’t I treat you like one?”

I had no answer for that—though to be honest I had never been pampered or coddled or treated the way he was treating me. True , I had my own personal maid but Pansy was more a friend than a servant. She didn’t wait on me hand and foot—mostly she just helped me pin up my hair and get dressed for Court Balls .

I missed her sadly right now— I would have liked to discuss the strange and bewildering time I’d had ever since Slade had claimed me and whisked me away. Unfortunately she was beyond my reach—there was nobody here but me and the big Enforcer who was now my husband.

Speaking of Slade , he was still treating me like I was made of fine china. He carried me into a room with a big, beautiful soaking tub. It was already filled with bubbles and scented steam was rising from the water.

I expected him to set me down and then leave so I could take a bath by myself. Instead , he swept my hair to one side and began unbuttoning my dress.

“ Hey !” I turned my head to glare at him. “ Stop that! You can’t just take off my clothes!”

“ I can and I will.” He gave me a stern look. “ I’m your husband now—remember?”

I had been so consumed with the awful, attempted kidnapping that I had forgotten this was my honeymoon night. Now it all came rushing back and my old fears began to rear their heads.

Slade must have seen the terror in my eyes because he turned me fully to face him and cupped my face in his hands.

“ Look at me, Princess ,” he rumbled. “ You’re frightened I’m going to take you tonight, aren’t you?”

“ Of course I’m frightened!” I bit out. “ You said you ‘wanted me under you’ every single night!”

“ I do want that.” His eyes were suddenly half-lidded. “ But not tonight—you’ve been through too much. In fact, I’m going to make you a vow— I won’t take you until you beg me to.”

“ What ?” I shook my head at his foolishness. “ Surely you know that’s never going to happen.”

“ You don’t think so?” He raised an eyebrow at me. “ Then you don’t know anything about Bindings —even Partial ones.”

“ No , I don’t—we don’t have anything like that on L’Crist ,” I said stiffly. “ But I know I’m never going to beg you to…to do that to me.”

“ Careful , Princess ,” he murmured, raising an eyebrow mockingly at me. “ You never know when your words might come back to bite you.”

“ I doubt it,” I said frostily. I had been drowsing off in front of the fire but I was definitely more awake and alert now. And there was no way I was going to beg Slade to shove his huge shaft inside me!

“ Doubt it all you want,” Slade growled. “ Right now we’re going to get you cleaned up and ready for bed.”

“ Bed with you?” I demanded as he insisted on peeling off my dress.

“ Of course,” he rumbled. “ I’m your husband—in my bed is where you belong, wife.”

Then he started working on my underthings. He got my bra and panties off in no time and then I was naked and shivering in the middle of the bathroom. I crossed my arms over my breasts, hiding them from him, but Slade shook his head.

“ No , Princess —let me see. You don’t know how many years I’ve waited to look at your sweet, luscious body.”

“ You’re going to be disappointed— I’m not very thin,” I protested as he peeled my arms away from my breasts. For some reason it made my nipples tight when he looked me over, his golden eyes lazy with lust.

“ So fucking beautiful,” I heard him murmur and his deep voice had gone hoarse. “ I don’t want you thin, Princess —you’re fucking perfect just the way you are.”

I doubted that any of the human men I’d grown up with on L’Crist would agree with him, but I had to admit it was nice to be called beautiful. Even though I still felt shy about letting him look at my naked body.

Slade had me turn slowly around so he could admire me from all angles and then he helped me carefully into the tub.

I sank gratefully into the steaming foam, only hissing a little when the hot water stung my palms and my wounded knee. I must have cut it on a rock when I fell, I thought. I was glad that the bubbles covered my naked body— I still felt shy about letting Slade look at me, even if he technically was my husband.

“ All right, baby—close your eyes,” he murmured.

“ What ? Why ?” I asked suspiciously. He was taking off his expensive suit jacket and rolling up his sleeves to show muscular forearms. One had the word CRUEL tattooed on it in golden letters.

“ Because I’m going to wash your hair and I don’t want to get soap in your eyes.” He sat at the head of the tub, just behind me as he spoke.

“ You want to wash my hair?” I asked blankly, tilting my head back to look at him. “ But I can do that myself. Honestly , just because I’m a princess doesn’t mean I’m helpless .”

“ I know,” Slade said simply. “ But I want to take care of you. Be a good girl and let me, okay?”

I thought about fighting about it some more…but did it really matter? I decided to choose my battles. What harm could there be in letting him wash my hair?

“ All right,” I said and sighed as he poured warm water over my head.

“ Good girl,” he murmured again and the next thing I knew he was rubbing some sweet-smelling shampoo into my hair and massaging my scalp with his long, strong fingers.

“ Ohhhh ,” I sighed. “ That feels so good.”

“ The touch of your Fated Mate’s hands on your body should feel good,” Slade rumbled. “ Close your eyes now—it’s time to rinse.”

He followed the shampoo with a conditioner he said would be perfect for my long, wavy hair. I would have wondered what a Brutal Clan Enforcer knew about human hair care but I have to confess, I was too busy enjoying the treatment. I nearly dozed off again as he rubbed and massaged my scalp and worked the sweet-smelling products through my hair.

His next move woke me up, however. After rising out the conditioner he slipped on a pair of fuzzy looking gloves—they were stretched tight over his big hands.

“ Er …what are those for?” I asked as he dipped them in the water and began rubbing them together.

“ Washing you, Princess ,” he murmured and his eyes were heavy-lidded again. “ Are you going to be a good girl and let me?”

I shouldn’t, I thought. I should fight him every step of the way!

But having his hands on my hair and feeling his firm but gentle touch as he washed and conditioned it seemed to have made me a lot less reluctant to let him touch me. In fact, deep down inside, I suspected that I wanted his touch, though I didn’t want to admit it to myself.

“ Sit up so I can do your back,” Slade ordered me, and without thinking, I did as he said.

The gloves were both smooth and rough, depending on the way he used them. I shivered in delight at the delicious scrubbing as he rubbed them over my back and shoulders and down my spine. Then he leaned forward and whispered in my ear,

“ Time for the front now, Princess .”

I moaned softly as he reached around and cupped my breasts. He scrubbed my heavy globes but when he reached my nipples, I winced and pulled away from the scratchy gloves.

“ Hey — I’m really sensitive there!” I protested.

“ Sorry , baby—did I hurt you? Here , let me take these off.”

He removed the gloves and then he was cupping my full breasts in his bare hands. I moaned softly as he circled my tight nipples and then plucked gently at them, as though testing how much sensation I liked.

“ Oh , Slade !” I protested as he teased my tender peaks. “ Why …why do you have to do that?”

“ Because I want to, Princess ,” he growled softly in my ear. “ Because you’re my Fated Mate and I’ve been waiting fucking years to claim you…to touch you and make you moan for me.”

And then one big hand left my breasts and slipped below the water to find my cunny.

“ Have to wash you down here, too, baby,” he murmured in my ear. “ Can you be a good girl and spread your legs for me so I can wash your sweet pussy?”

I didn’t want to, didn’t want to let him touch me in my most secret and forbidden spot…and yet I did, too. While my mind was still debating, my body acted on its own. I felt my thighs spreading and then his big hand was slipping between them to cup my pussy mound.

“ Such a good girl,” Slade rumbled in my ear and I felt one long finger slip between my outer lips. “ Such a good girl to spread your soft little pussy and let your husband wash you.”

I was nearly panting by now—no one but me had ever touched me where he was currently washing. His fingertip was sliding gently over the aching bud at the center of my cunny—the one I’d heard some of the married women at Court calling a “clit” and a “pleasure pearl.”

“ Tell me something,” he murmured in my ear. “ You’re a virgin, aren’t you?”

“ Y -yes,” I admitted as he continued to circle my clit.

“ Mmm -hmm. I thought so. So you’ve never had anything in here?”

As he spoke, one long finger slipped down and began circling the mouth of my cunny. He probed lightly inside, sliding just a little way into me.

“ Oh , Slade !” I gasped, my hips jerking involuntarily at the gentle intrusion.

“ Well , have you?” he murmured again. “ It’s all right if you have— I don’t care, baby,” he told me. “ I just need to know how inexperienced you are—how slow I need to go with you.”

“ You promised you wouldn’t…wouldn’t take me unless I begged you to,” I reminded him breathlessly.

“ And I’ll keep my promise— I won’t slide my shaft into your hot little pussy until you beg for it,” he rumbled. “ But I will touch you in other ways. So tell me if you’ve had anything inside you before. Do you have a maiden barrier I have to worry about?”

“ No ,” I admitted, my cheeks getting hot. “ I … I broke the barrier myself. I tried putting something in me once—just to see how it felt.” I couldn’t believe I was telling him this, but I couldn’t seem to stop talking.

Slade didn’t seem shocked, though what I was admitting would have been beyond shameful back on L’Crist .

“ Mmm -hmm. Go on,” he said. “ So you broke it yourself?”

“ Yes , because I though I would never get to marry and I wanted to see…see what all the married ladies were always talking about at Court ,” I confessed, my voice dipping low with shame.

Somehow , Slade seemed to understand what I was feeling.

“ You don’t have to be shy or feel ashamed to tell me that,” he murmured. “ It’s all right to be curious and it’s your body, baby—you can touch it any way you want to.”

“ That’s not what we believe on L’Crist ,” I protested.

“ Mmm -hmm, let me guess—you’re not allowed to touch yourself because it’s ‘sinful.’ Right ?”

“ Well it is!” I protested. “ The Goddess of Mercy doesn’t approve of females, er, giving themselves pleasure.”

“ Well , She of the Four Faces does,” Slade told me. “ She has one whole face— The Lover —devoted to a female’s pleasure. It’s all right to touch yourself here…or to let your husband touch you,” he added, probing a little deeper inside my cunny mouth and making me squirm.

“ Oh , Slade !” I protested, panting.

But he didn’t stop touching me.

“ So you tried fucking yourself, did you?” he rumbled.

Tell me, Princess , how did you like it?”

“ I didn’t,” I admitted, thinking of the wooden toy that I’d bought in secret to try and had buried in the garbage heap in the dead of night afterwards. “ It …it felt too big…too rough.”

“ Uh -huh. Show me with your fingers how thick it was,” Slade commanded.

Still blushing, I held up two fingers.

“ Like that.”

“ Hmm …” He nodded. “ Looks like I’m going to need to spend some time getting you ready.”

“ Ready for what?” I panted. His finger had moved away from the mouth of my cunny and was circling my clit again.

“ Ready to take my shaft in your pussy of course,” he growled softly. “ But don’t worry—we’re not doing that tonight.”

“ All …all right,” I nearly moaned.

The way he was rubbing and teasing my clit was beginning to feel really, really good. It felt like it did when I touched myself at night, though I always stopped right when I was on the edge because I felt too guilty to push past into the pleasure I sensed was waiting for me.

I wished he would continue—after all, if he pushed me over the edge, the pleasure I felt wouldn’t be my fault. But just as I was feeling really close, he stopped abruptly and announced that bath time was over.

“ Really ?” I squirmed in the tub as he reached down to pull the plug and drain the water.

“ Really . Why , were you enjoying the way I was washing you?” He gave me a golden stare, lazy with lust and I felt my cheeks getting hot again.

“ No ,” I lied, lifting my chin defiantly. “ I just…never mind. I’m ready to get dried off now.”

“ Good . Stand up and I’ll dry you.”

In vain did I protest that I could dry myself— Slade wouldn’t hear of it.

“ You’re mine now and I’m going to take care of you,” he growled and proceeded to blot me all over with a thick, luxurious, fluffy white towel. It felt like being dried with a cloud.

When Slade was finished, he wrapped me in a long, silky white robe that tied with a silk sash around my waist.

“ Wait —isn’t there a nightgown that goes under this?” I protested, looking down at myself. My heavy breasts were clearly visible through the thin silk and my nipples were pressing hard against the fabric.

Slade shook his head.

“ No , baby. Besides , you’re not going to be wearing it long. We’re going to be sleeping naked.”

“ What ? Every night?” I asked, stunned. On L’Crist we covered ourselves before going to bed—women especially were expected to wear long, thick nightgowns that came down to their ankles. I think the idea was that the gown would be in the way and keep us from touching ourselves.

“ Yes , every fucking night,” Slade said firmly. “ I won’t take you until you’re ready. But until that time, I refuse to deny myself the pleasure of sleeping naked next to your sweet, curvy body.” He cupped my cheek in one big hand and looked at me sternly. “ You’re mine now, Aurora —don’t forget it.”

I shivered all over. He was telling the truth—by the rules of marriage, on L’Crist at least, I was his to do with as he pleased.

“ You can wear the robe until bed time,” Slade told me. “ But when we get under the covers together, it’s coming off.”

“ All right,” I whispered. I wished I could be defiant but the way he was looking at me made me bite my tongue.

“ Good girl,” he murmured. Then he lifted me into his arms again. “ Now let’s get you to bed.”