C23 Knox - I have to find her

Samantha was pale and panting as she sat on the ground. Part of me hated Alva for not allowing me to tell her anything. And as much as I had promised I would never be vulnerable again because of love, I would risk everything for Samantha. Even my heart. Even if she hated me for this and not telling her before now.

“How did you know? The healers told you?” Samantha guessed.

“When you healed me, it was the babies working through you.”

Her blue eyes widened. “Babies? Like I’m going to have a litter.” Her breaths started coming out fast and shallow. “I-I can’t…”

“No. Twins. Do you want to know more?”

She gulped in air, then nodded.

“A boy and a girl. But you’ve got to get regular checkups now. We don’t know what the acceleration will do to them.”

“Fuck, Knox. Then why wait to tell me?” she demanded. “Wait. Acceleration? What are you talking about?”

“The shot the Roulex gave you.” I swallowed, hoping she wouldn’t hate me forever once she knew everything. “It not only puts you in heat and made you extremely fertile, but it also made your pregnancy speed up.”

She paled.

“So instead of the thirteen months for my people, you’ll give birth in about seven, if our calculations are correct,” I continued before she started screaming or something. “The healers assured me and Alva that they, nor you, were in any immediate danger. But starting now, you will need weekly visits.”

“Is that why you came here?” Her lower lip trembled despite her glare. “To tell me this? Get yourself off the hook for getting me pregnant when we didn’t even have sex—well, not fully? Don’t worry. I won’t make you pay child support or anything.”

I knelt in front of her, tucking my wings behind me. I had wanted to do this better. A fancy dinner, kisses under the stars with the double halo moon. Instead, I squatted in the dirt while the woman I loved shot daggers at me, wounding me more than the Roulex ever could. “Samantha, will you marry me?”

Her mouth dropped open, then she slammed it shut so hard that her teeth squeaked. “Do you allow men to have multiple wives where you’re from? No way. I don’t need your pity or your money or anything from you.” Her voice wavered. “Me and the babies will get along just fine.”

Multiple wives? Then realization smacked into me that I fell backward onto my ass. Celica. She thought my first wife was still alive. How could I have botched this up any better?

I had used my dead wife as a shield when I’d thought Samantha was my enemy. Now it was a double-edged sword cutting me for my gross mistakes.

“No.” I swallowed hard. “I have a confession. Do you remember me telling you there were two others of my kind captured with me… Celica was one of them. She died in prison with me over a year ago.”

Samantha blinked like I’d struck her. “Oh.”

“Please forgive me. I wasn’t right while I was there. Everyone was my enemy and I…”

“You thought I was too.” She heaved a sigh and stood, dusting off her pants. And she turned away. “Goodbye, Knox.”

“Please don’t go.” I grabbed her arm, but then jerked my hand away when she gave me a stare that froze my heart.

“Why shouldn’t I?” She crossed her arms.

“I have no excuse. I should’ve told you the truth immediately.”

“Not good enough.” She took a step away.

If I didn’t fix this, I was going to lose her. She was too stubborn to walk away and let me come back into her life. I felt the fragments of my sanity, after so much time in prison and being tortured, fracture. It felt like she was ripping out my soul. The torture was worse than anything I’d ever experienced until now. I couldn’t breathe, shards of ice pierced my lungs, my heart, my very soul.

“Wait.” I fell to my knees in the dirt. “I was wrong about everything. I can’t lose you, Samantha. This time without you has driven me to the brink of insanity. You helped me find myself—find love. And I know if you give me the chance, our love can grow.”

She shook her head, turning away from me and I shattered inside. “You had the opportunity to tell me all this before. Especially about your wife—you knew how I felt—how it tore me up inside to think I’d helped you to cheat on her.”

“I know.” I swallowed the feeling of crushed glass scraping my throat. “I-I was wrong. I’d believed a lie that you knew and were working with—”

“With the Roulex.” She snorted, standing. “Then you didn’t really know me or you’d have realized that I never would agree to hurt you like that.”

I hung my head, my voice soft, crushed under the weight of her words and the truth. “I know that.”

“But you didn’t then.” She spun. “You thought the absolute worst about me, Knox. Shit! I don’t even know if I can believe you care about me at all.”

“I was a stupid fool. Please, forgive me, Samantha. I will spend my life making it up to you.”

“Why didn’t you tell me the truth?” She looked over her shoulder at me, her eyes red-rimmed, but there was that stubborn lift of her chin, challenging me. “After we escaped. Once you figured out that I wasn’t working for your enemy?”

“I was forbidden.” If she didn’t believe me, I don’t know what I would do.

Her eyebrow arched like she didn’t believe me. “And now?”

“I have been released from my promise.”

“Of course. Get up, Knox. People will think you’re proposing or something.” She glanced around.

“But I am proposing. Isn’t this what your Earth customs dictate--a male on his knees? I don’t care about anyone else.” My throat tightened. If she didn’t realize that I was asking her to be my mate--my wife, then I had to make her understand how much she meant to me. “I’ve been lost without you. Without hearing your voice or seeing your smile. Everything. I want you, Samantha. I want to make you happy. To spend each and every day doing whatever I can to make it up to you. To prove my love. But if you don’t want me, just say so. Tell me to go and you’ll never have to see me again.”

She shuddered, her shoulders tight. “You’re just saying all this because I’m pregnant.”

“No, no I’m not.” My wings ruffled behind me. “I’ve fallen in love with you, Samantha. My whole world shattered when Celica died, but you helped me start putting the pieces back together. Healing my soul, my heart. Regardless of how you feel about me, I love you. And my love won’t change. It can only grow stronger if you’ll let it.” My voice dropped to a harsh whisper. “I can’t lose you. I won’t be able to heal from that. Not in a thousand years.”

Her silence felt like a wedge between us. I had to reach her.

“Tell me you don’t care about me. Tell me you want me to go.”

Then her shoulders softened.

“If we’re going to do this, I have conditions.” She stared down at me. “First, you never ever lie to me again, not even if Alva demands it. Second, you will be a good father to our children no matter what happens between us.”

I nodded, standing. “And third?”

Her mouth quirked up on one side. “You need to prove to me that you know how to make more babies for the future.” She placed her hand on her hip. “After all, I kind of agree with the Roulex that you don’t know h—”

Before she could finish her words, I dove for her, scooping her up in my arms and flying her over this grassy, flat world. I kissed her long and deep until she was as breathless as me. “Let me show you how much I know about making babies.”

I laid her down on an empty pasture, my wings cocooning us. Our mouths devoured one another. Her hands yanked up my shirt. It was like we were starving for one another. I squeezed her breast through her shirt, and she moaned.

I wanted to taste her, to smell her, to kiss her everywhere and savor her.

“Please,” she said breathlessly. “I’ve wanted you from the first time you touched me. Don’t make me wait. We can go slowly later. Right now, I want you inside me.”

She pushed my hand down her pants, her moisture coating my fingers. I ran my thumbs up and down her slit, sliding in and out of her slick entrance. She groaned as she opened her legs wider. Her hands stroked my horns and nearly made me come undone.

“You’re too tight.” I slipped two fingers in and she bucked against me. Fuck! She felt so good, I wanted more. Would I ever have enough of her?

"I want you inside me, deeper, more,” she growled.

Carefully, slowly, I eased the tip of my swollen cock into her. This was how far we’d gone last time—when I’d gotten her pregnant. Sweat rolled down my back. It took all of my strength not to bury myself inside her, to allow her to adjust to me as I eased in a bit more.

She squealed, clutching the base of my horns, and bringing me down for a kiss. Then she thrust her hips upward.

I sank into her and shuddered a breath. “Too fast,” I whispered against her lips. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Then move. I want to feel you.” She kissed me and I obeyed.

I plunged in and out of her. She met me with each thrust, crying my name and mewling. Our bodies smacked together in a rhythm all our own.

I kissed her mouth, her neck, her breasts. I stroked her body, worshiping her. The wetter she got, the harder I fucked her. Her juices coated my shaft. Her body tightened around me, pleasure racing through me. Her body rocked against mine, my cock buried deep inside her.

She threw her head back and her body went rigid beneath me. I kept pumping until my own release spilled through. We held each other in the afterglow of our lovemaking.

“Well,” she traced her fingers up and down my chest, “the Roulex were certainly wrong about you. I’ve never cum so hard in my life.”

“Wait until I take my time with you.” I brushed a kiss over her lips. “You’ll cum so many times, I’ll make you lose count.”