When Rayn ambled toward the bed, she told him that she would be in there momentarily. She stripped off her bra and panties and jumped in the shower quickly washing and shampooing her hair. Then she let the air dryer finish her up. She threw on Rayn’s robe and joined him in the bedroom.
He was sitting on the edge of the bed, and she brought him a pair of boxers and helped him step into them. He handed her the towel and she hung it in the bathroom and brought back some lotion. Maddie rubbed his arms and legs with the soothing cream and then moved to his chest. She tried her best not to, but she couldn’t help her fingers when they traced gentle patterns across his chest and abs. She was saddened by the amount of weight that he had lost. His ribs poked out like a set of stairs. She leaned down and kissed them. She held his face in her hands and gently touched her lips to his and then ordered him to lie on his stomach.
She straddled him and began massaging the lotion across the muscles of his back, gently kneading them. Next, she worked on his neck, the back of his arms, and then his legs. When she was finished, she leaned down, and brushing her lips against his ear, she asked him if he needed anything else.
He shocked her when he flipped her over and held her tightly to him. He nodded and whispered one word, “You.” Then, he kissed her, gently at first. He held her tightly, and his kiss deepened as he invaded her mouth with his tongue, dancing within its depths, sliding around her lips. She felt the electricity flowing between them, and she moaned into his mouth. His kiss turned from gentle to possessively controlling, taking from her as much as he could. She felt his desperation and his need for her. She felt him trying to quench his thirst for her, but never quite reaching satiety. She gave it all back to him.
He eventually pulled back and just stared at her. His eyes darted over her, and then, he sat up and asked her to stand. He questioned her about what she wore beneath her robe. When she told him nothing, he asked her to put some clothing on. She wanted to know why, but he wouldn’t tell her.
She ran up to Sharra’s room and asked to borrow some clothing. She donned a bra, some panties, a pair of tights and a black shirt, and she ran back to Rayn’s room where he waited for her.
When she neared the bed where he sat, he cocked his head to the side as if he were inspecting her.
“You have lost all of your curves, Sunshine. What happened?” he quietly asked.
Staring directly at him without flinching, she whispered back, “I am told I have been living much like you, eating only for nourishment, working most of the time, and spending my free time exercising to the point of exhaustion.”
He gently took her by the chin, and first, he studied the angles and planes of her face. Then his inspection moved to the defined muscles of her arms and legs. He pulled her closer until she stood between his legs. He lifted her shirt and inspected her stomach. He softly ran his fingers over the scars from battle with the
heptamorg
and the new scar she had from her most recent injury. He traced the firm planes of her abs, running his fingers up, down, and sideways.
“Take your shirt off.”
“Wwwhat?”
“You heard me. Take. Your. Shirt. Off,” he repeated in a low murmur.
His whispered demand left no room for argument. She obeyed him with trembling hands, not sure of where this was headed. She would love nothing better than to completely disrobe and jump into his arms, but she knew better than to think that would happen—Vesturion rules and all.
“Turn around.” Rayn began inspecting the multitude of scars she had received since her stint with the
heptamorg
and her little friend Ondine, walking his fingers over and across her back.
“Face me, please.”
Maddie turned around and faced him, her eyes cast downward.
“Look at me, Maddie,” he demanded.
She lifted her eyes to see tears in his. He pulled her into him, wrapping his arms tightly around her, burying his head against her.
“Please,” he choked out, “don’t ever do anything again that could even remotely, with the tiniest of chances, have the possibility of marring your beautiful body. Sunshine, I don’t ever want to think of you in danger, in pain, in anguish, or even sadness. I have caused you a great deal of this recently, and I promise never to willingly or knowingly do it again. However, in return, I want you to promise me the same: that you won’t ever put yourself in harm’s way for anything again.”
She looked at him, nodding, and said, “Rayn, I promise except where you’re concerned. I would walk through the fires of hell to save you, and I mean it.”
His eyes raked over her again, and he declared, “Bloody hell, I would never have thought it was possible, but you are even more beautiful than ever, Maddie.”
He lay back down on the bed and opened his arms. Maddie wasted no time crawling into them.
“Rayn, I want us to be united. How do you feel about today?”
He raised a brow at her saying, “Can we wait until I lose this eyepatch?” They both laughed. “After all, I want to have my strength when we celebrate our unification!”
Maddie and Rayn requested everyone’s presence in Rayn’s bedroom. They were all standing around the bed when Rayn began.
“We know this is highly unusual, but we have decided that we would like to have our unification ceremony today or tomorrow at the latest.”
Everyone began speaking at once, until Rayn held out his hand saying, “Wait! Please, hear us out!”
When the room fell silent, he continued, “As you all know, Maddie and I have been through some difficult trials to say the least, and with this recent episode, we have concluded that we have waited long enough. Simply put, we want to be together as soulmates should. Now, that is not to say we do not want a celebration. What we would like to propose is to be united tonight and then plan for a formal ceremony culminating in a traditional reception. Vesturon does not have to know we have united. We can keep it our little secret. Then, when we have our official and formal ceremony, everyone will think we are newlyweds, as they say on Earth!”
Sharra jumped in and said, “Oh, I think that is a wonderful idea! And then, I also still get to plan the party for when you truly tie the bow!”
Rayn looked at Maddie and said, “Sunshine, let me handle this.” Maddie was giggling when Rayn turned to Sharra and said, “Sister, it is ‘tie the knot,’ not bow.”
“Oh, yes...well that too! In any event, as long as I can still be the party planner, it is all okay with me.”
Xarrid ran into the room yelling, “Newsflash, everyone! The Xanthians have pulled back all of their aggressive forces, and they are calling for a universal cease-fire. Chancellor Druaha is currently on his way here under a heavily escorted armada,” Xarrid announced.
“Maddie, it looks like your covert strike did the trick,” Therron said.
“It was a well executed mission, and we had a grand time, did we not, Maddie?” Sharra asked.
Rayn looked at Maddie, shaking his head. “Would you care to explain this or do I even want to know?”
“Only if you promise not to get too angry with me. I did it before I made that promise to you.”
Rayn rolled his eyes, shook his head, and listened to how Maddie had gone back to Xanthus and had singlehandedly taken out a quarter of the planet, including their entire communications and security systems. He had to take several deep breaths to calm himself as he thought of how much danger in which she had placed herself.
“I am here and it is done. Do you remember what I told you earlier? I promised not to do anything dangerous unless it involves you. I was so angry with those scumbags that I let my fury fuel me in order to accomplish my mission. I was determined to pay them back for what they did to you,” she squeezed his hands as she spoke.
Rayn just stared at her grinning. He knew he would have his hands full where she was concerned. He wondered how he would ever be able to get any work done with her around; she was a full time job in itself.
“Rayn, I cannot believe you are thinking that!” Maddie said with great indignation. The rest of the family laughed.
Rowan stepped forth and inquired, “Maddie, there is one thing I would like to know. How is it you were able to free Rayn so quickly?”
There was a moment of brief silence while Maddie looked up at everyone sheepishly. “Well, I think I might possess the Power of Command.”
You could have heard a pin drop. A snicker escaped from her as she took in the looks of astonishment on their faces.
“Would you care to expound on that Maddie?” Rayn queried.
“Yes, well, I thought initially I was feeling anger. It started happening awhile back but the first time it intensified was the other day when you informed me of Rayn’s capture. Remember when I tore the door off the hinges?”
Rayn raised his brows, questioning her, while everyone else nodded. At the time they, too, believed her anger to be the cause. Xarrid explained the occurrence to Rayn and relayed how Maddie was the one that incited them to plan his rescue.
Maddie continued, “I don’t think it was anger that caused that. It may have been partly due to my anger, but prior to that, I had been feeling this surge of fierce heat emanating from my core and radiating out to the rest of my body. When I was on Xanthus and Druaha tried to play hardball with me, the feelings began to escalate. Then when the guard refused to let me in Rayn’s cell, I just commanded him to shut the power source down. A glazed look came over him and he left to follow my orders. As soon as I heard the shield power down, I entered Rayn’s cell and well, you all know the rest of the story.”
They all stared at her in amazement.
“What? Did I do something wrong?”
Rayn tilted his head gazed at her in wonder. Rykerian supplied her with the answer. “Maddie, it is an extraordinary thing to possess the Power of Command. There are many full-blooded Vesturions that do not have that ability. Quite honestly, it is nothing short of miraculous.”
“Really? I wasn’t aware…” she trailed off. She flicked her eyes toward Rayn and noticed he was still gazing at her in a stupefied manner. “Rayn, are you all right?”
Rayn shook his head a bit, and said, beaming, “Sunshine, I could not possibly be any better. You are, well, you are amazing! I am so proud of you!”
Maddie felt a grin spread across her face. They just stared at each other, lost in themselves.
Finally, someone cleared their throat. Annalise reminded them, “We know you gathered us here for something other than this. Would you care to enlighten us you two?”
“Yes, right you are,” Rayn said, bringing his attention back to the others. “So, getting back to our original request, Maddie and I want to have our unification ceremony today or tomorrow at the latest. Then, we will turn everything over to Sharra, and she can handle the rest. We would love your blessings and your presence here. We would also like to include Maddie’s grandparents.”
Rowan interjected, “I will contact Council Elder Scroldon and Minister Jarrato to perform the ceremony. They can be trusted to keep this quiet. I cannot speak for everyone else, but you two certainly have my blessing!”
Everyone else joined in, and Maddie quickly teleported to her grandparents’ home, where she informed them what the plans were.
Later that evening, everyone assembled in the informal living area of the palace. All the Yarristers were present as well as Taruk, Lysandra, Athyna, and Saylan. Everyone was dressed casually so as not to arouse any suspicion amongst the palace workers. Julian had allowed Rayn to remove his eyepatch. He was pleased to see his eye had healed perfectly, and his vision was restored.
Maddie and Rayn held hands throughout the brief but beautiful ceremony. Their vows were exchanged, and they officially became The Firstborn and His Mate, Rayn and Maddie Yarrister. Rayn surprised Maddie with a beautiful topaz and diamond ring. He had picked it out long ago, and even though it was not Vesturion tradition, Maddie’s face lit up with joy when he slid it on her finger.
Hugs, kisses, and congratulations were exchanged, and champagne was passed around to everyone. Food was brought out, and everyone started mingling. Rayn pulled Maddie to the window to watch the sun setting in the distance.
She stared at it with a tender smile on her face.
“So beautiful,” he breathed in her ear.
“I couldn’t agree with you more. I love the golden and amber hues it casts this time of day,” Maddie answered.
“Sunshine, I wasn’t talking about the sunset. I was talking about you. It is the very reason I call you that, except you are more beautiful than any sunset I have ever witnessed.”
He tugged her by the arm until they reached the door, and then he lifted her in his arms and carried her up to their bedroom.
They had waited so long for this moment, but Maddie felt her body tingle with anxiety.
“Is everything okay, my love?” he asked.
“Could not possibly be better,” she answered in a shaky voice.
“Ah, love, tell me the truth. I sense differently.”
“Just a bit of the jitters, I guess.”
He cocked his head and looked in her eyes in askance.
“What if I don’t live up to your expectations? I’ve never done this before.”
“Shh,” he said, placing his fingers on her lips. “Ah, Maddie, it will be just fine, I promise. You have far exceeded any expectations I have ever had where you are concerned. We will take it slow, and if there comes a time when you want to stop, we will stop, no matter what. We will learn each other together. I have every intention of making this the most wonderful experience for you.” He kissed her then and held her to him.
Then, he guided them to the bed and pulled her on top of him and began to gently massage her back, tracing her tautness with his fingers. He slipped his hand beneath her shirt and felt her silken skin.
“Maddie, my love, I need for you to know some things.” He tucked her against him, flipped them over and lifted himself onto his elbows, gazing at her face beneath him. Then, he placed his hand around her neck, sliding his thumb back and forth across the hollow in her throat. He dipped his head for a brief taste of her and continued, “When I was held by the Xanthians, thoughts of you kept me alive. I tried to reach out to you and when I received no response, I knew I was being blocked. When the days turned into weeks and their torture intensified, I pictured you in my mind. I repeatedly ran scenes of you through my head, like a movie, watching you over and over. Your lovely face kept me sane, my love. Initially, I thought I would be able to escape. They are such a primitive culture; I didn’t expect them to have such an advanced security system. When the first week ran in to the second, I knew my family could not get me. I thought I would die in there. I knew my family would stop at nothing to retrieve me, so when they did not show, well, you can imagine where my thoughts took me. I envisioned you through it all. I remembered what you said about my eyes, when we spent our first night together on the mountaintop—about how my eyes offered you safety and hope and reassurance. I felt the same way about yours. Your eyes grounded me when I was getting tortured. My focus on them and on you is how I retained my sanity. When I would awaken from those sessions, you were always on my mind. It killed me to realize the time I left you at your graduation party could have been the last time I saw you. I…I...” Maddie put her hand on his mouth.