Destin's Hold (The Alliance #5)(76)
“I want to show you something else,” he murmured, stepping back and holding her hand again.
They walked in silence around the curved walkways to the front of the planetarium. The front doors had been boarded up and chained, but that didn’t stop him. He pulled free the lock he had picked earlier in the week, and opened the door. Sula stepped through with a puzzled smile and waited for him to follow her inside.
He closed the door and wound the chain around the inside of the doors, sliding the lock back on the chain, but not locking it. Turning, he led her through the foyer and to the center section where a set of large, double doors stood open. Love filled him, heating his blood when he saw her lips part in wonder when they passed through into the domed theater of the planetarium.
“You did this for me?” Sula whispered as if afraid of breaking the spell he had cast.
Destin released her hand, watching her walk down the aisle to the center. On one side, he had a small table and two chairs set up. A battery operated flameless candle in the center of the white table cloth softly lit the table. He had cut a dozen roses from a rose bush he had discovered in the central gardens and placed them in a vase in the center of the table. There was a cart next to the table that Destin had begged for Chelsea and Thomas’ help with. Thomas had made a nice Italian dinner and the couple had slipped it into the building late this afternoon.
Tim and Richard had helped him repair the Planetarium projector and Cutter had made sure that power had been installed. It had taken some teamwork to get it done this quickly, but Destin wanted tonight to be perfect for Sula.
He looked up, staring at the array of glittering stars. He would never look at them in the same way. He had traveled through them to a distant world and discovered a siren that had captured his heart when he kissed her under the water.
“Destin, this is… You are a very unusual and amazing male,” Sula whispered, her eyes glittering with the same stars the filled the room.
“Sula,” Destin grasped her hand and slowly knelt down on one knee on the floor in front of her. He cleared his throat and gazed up at her. “Princess Jersula Ikera of Usoleum, would you do me the honor of being my wife? I don’t know the traditions of your people or how they form a union, but here on Earth, it is through marriage – like the ceremony Saber and Taylor celebrated on Rathon. I promise to love, honor, and worship you for the rest of my life, in sickness and in health, till de—”
The rest of his words were captured by her lips when she bent and pressed them against his. Her lips parted and her tongue slipped against his, tangling and dancing until their breaths came fast and heavy. He rose, never releasing her. His arms swept around her, lifting her off the floor and he carried her over to the king size air bed he had made up so they could lie under the stars and talk about their future after dinner.
He gently laid her down, his hands greedily running over her even as she tugged at the buttons on his shirt. He shrugged out of his jacket, tossing it with one hand onto a chair. He gasped softly when her fingers quickly unbuttoned his shirt and he felt her fingers tangling in the hair on his chest.
“Yes,” she whispered, brushing tiny kisses along his jaw while her hands pushed his shirt off his shoulders. “The answer to your question is yes. I will be your wife, Destin Parks.”
“God, Sula, I love you,” Destin moaned, kissing her again as his hands ran over her.
The heat from their kisses could have rivaled the stars over their heads. Their hands slid over each other, pausing, learning, exploring, and worshipping each other. Their breaths mixed with whispered words of love and the wonder of their child growing in Sula’s womb as they made love far into the night.
It was after midnight when Destin reached for the small box he had hidden under the pillows of their makeshift bed. Destin’s fingers trembled slightly when he slid the ring he had made for Sula onto her finger. Swallowing, he gazed at her, his throat tight at her beauty. Unable to resist, he traced her face, letting his fingers skim down over her neck and shoulders to her breasts, memorizing the feel of them and letting this memory burn into his heart and soul. He now understood the two faint lines on her neck were not scars, but an evolution of her species. He vaguely wondered if their son or daughter would be able to breathe underwater like their mother.
“I will need to talk to your father,” Destin murmured, threading his fingers through her hair and watching it fall back over her bare shoulders. “Do you think he will be upset? I’m not exactly royalty.”
“You are giving him a grandchild. He will love you forever,” Sula laughed, resting her head on his shoulder so she could stare up at the stars overhead. “What will happen, Destin?”
“What do you mean?” Destin asked, his stomach clenching with worry.
“What will happen with the missing women – both here and the ones on the vidcom?” Sula asked, tilting her head to look up at him. “There was also the Trivator called Edge. I had not heard of him before.”
Destin relaxed and smiled into the darkness. His hand came up to caress Sula’s arm, being careful of her shoulder. These kinds of worries he could deal with; it was the fear of losing her that he couldn’t.
“I don’t know about Edge, but I do know about the missing women here. The Raftian and Jawtaw were working undercover for Razor to find the missing women. One of their leads led them back here and to the Armatrux. Cutter is rounding the Armatrux up. The Raftian approached Alissa Garcia, seeking her cooperation. Alissa and a small group of other former police officers agreed to be ‘kidnapped’ by the Raftian and Jawtaw to find out where the missing women were being kept before they were taken off world and, if necessary, to tag their spacecraft with a long-range locator. The Raftian and Jawtaw didn’t anticipate Prymorus showing up and demanding their assistance. They discovered that Trig and Tim were looking for them and were able to lead them to Prymorus. Unfortunately, he escaped – both from them and the Trivator forces. Cutter has sent a request to the Alliance Council to have a bounty put on Prymorus’ head. The attack on Earth has also increased tensions between the Drethulans and the Alliance, but Cutter said it might take a while for the Alliance Council to actually do something. In the meantime, there are still issues with them mining on Dises V. I have to tell you, I’ve learned more about alien politics in the past week than I ever wanted to know,” Destin muttered with a dry laugh.