Page 10 of Taken By the Gargoyle King

My body felt heavy and sluggish, but I could not look away from the piercing mercury stare that Kal was holding me captive with. Everything seemed too slow, too heavy, too much effort. I tried to comprehend the words he was saying, the demands he was making. Did he call me mate? Did I hear that or did I imagine that? Mate. I thought I heard it again, but the words were so far away, the only thing I could really focus on was the silver of his eyes.

The explosion had really knocked me out of it. I felt sick and lightheaded, and I was supposed to be really worried about something, but now I couldn’t remember. Was it the girl? Kal’s niece? Oh, the cure. My chin dipped as I dropped my gaze from Kal’s to check the vial I was clutching and drew in a relieved breath when I discovered it was still in one piece. I had done that before, checked it before because this action felt familiar. If only I could get my brain to function, but it seemed harder now that the world was spinning.

“No, look at me, Caitlyn!” Kal demanded ruthlessly. He was such a bossy guy, always telling me what to do, always there, making his demands. Especially in bed, like last night, when he’d ordered me to stay still as he drove me absolutely crazy with his talented tongue. He was even fiercer than he normally was and I guiltily jerked my eyes back to his, obeying even though it was hard to keep them open. “I love you, little human. You are my mate, and you are not leaving me, you hear me? I have plans for you, a lot of plans. So no backing down now. Show me that spine of steel I know you have!”

Plans… Steel… Love? Did Kal just declare that he loved me? Maybe I hadn’t misheard that thing about ‘mate,’ after all. My heart thudded wildly in my chest. If my Kal loved me, that meant I wouldn’t have to go when this was over. This was a good lab, I could stay here and finish my research. That sounded good, that sounded like a plan.

“She is going to be fine, my king,” a male voice said, and for the first time I realized I wasn’t alone with Kal. He held me in his arms, a wing cupped around my back. We weren’t quite cocooned in when he kept the other tucked against his back, but still it felt private. Like he was all I could see until I became aware of everything else going on around me. The doctor with oddly bright red hair at my side, the IV attached to my arm, and the wound that was being stitched together with a clever medical device. It was a sizable wound on my leg, likely from flying debris after the bomb went off.

“I’m fine,” I said, my mouth dry. I had not even realized I’d been injured, but I started recalling more details as my mind cleared with each drop of blood that was replenished through the IV. Kal who shielded me with his body, realizing just like I had, the danger we’d been in.

I scanned around for the unfortunate lab tech that had set off the explosion. The male was sitting on the floor against the nearest counter with a compress against his head, but breathing and offering me the guiltiest of stares. I’d caught the whiff of chemicals as he pulled on the door, knew it by instinct at first; now I knew that I’d recognized the scent of the explosives. I had been more primed for danger than I had realized.

“Kal, did you mean it?” I asked him, still clutching the precious vial to my racing heart. That seemed far more important than the recent explosion, especially when I realized the tech had survived unscathed in his battle-form. The bomb’s violence had been dangerous only to my vulnerable human flesh; I’d been the target.

“Mean it?” Kalzudaud demanded as he clutched me tighter, pressing my head against his chest where I could hear his own heart thudding loudly and rapidly. “Yeah, every word. I love you. You are my mate, and I am never letting you go. You get the lab you demanded, a better one, a new one, but you are not leaving the planet.” As I tipped up my chin to meet his eyes, heedless of the surprised muttering around us, I smiled as I kissed him.

“You’re my queen,” Kal said, a declaration, a vow. My body flushed with warmth and a hint of nerves. His queen? He meant that literally, but I still loved how fervently he said it, how much it sounded like an endearment.

“I love you too, Kal,” I whispered, and then more loudly I spoke my own declaration. “I love you, King Kalzudaud. I should be mad at you for the kidnapping thing, but how can I not fall for you? You’re kind, you're caring, and so very loyal to those you love.” He grinned, and we kissed again; a toe-curling, scorching kiss that left me breathless and made my head spin for entirely different reasons than before.

There was applause around us, the alien kind, where they thumped boots on the floor and slapped their chests with their fists. The sound startled me so much that I jerked back in Kal’s arms and would have toppled out of his lap if not for the warm leather membrane of his wing curled around my back. The doctor finished by wrapping my leg up with a plasfilm bandage and then I insisted that Kal take me directly to Sera. “I need to take you to the med bay for more healing,” Kal said firmly, but I shook my head.

“No, I’m sure I have it. We need to go to your niece. She’s suffered long enough!” I cupped his chin to make sure he couldn’t be the one to look away. I wanted him to know how serious I was. On a perfect day, I would want to just laze in his arms and celebrate the moment we’d declared our love to each other. But that wasn’t today, because a bomb had just gone off and nearly killed me and nearly destroyed the cure. Sera was still in danger, and we still didn’t have the damn traitor!

My IV hovered next to me on its own, designed to stay at the perfect height and right next to me as I moved. Kal rose with me in his arms, and the IV rose with us. “Fine,” he said while he glared at the device that was still working to stabilize me, supplying me with precious fluids that I’d lost. “We will go to Sera.” His glare told me he really meant it, he loved me. He was mad at me because he wanted to take better care of me than I wanted to let him.

In the hallway I gasped at the sight of the fancy advisor lady sprawled on the floor, arms restrained behind her back, and the booted heel of a male planted firmly on her shoulder to keep her pinned. She looked disheveled and furious, but at the sight of Kal and me, she deflated. Kal hissed, and the sound morphed into a growl. “I trusted you, considered you family, Amaza. All this for the throne?”

He shook his head as she glared, but did not respond. “I’ll deal with you later. First, I’m going to save my heart-daughter, and then I’m going to announce my mating to the public. You can rot in a cell till then.” Oh, mating announcements? He wasn’t waiting for anything. Why had I even worried about a goodbye? I should have known from the start he wasn’t giving me back to the Aderians.

Kal gave the male restraining the advisor a nod. “Thanks, Savar. I expect you to be on time at the mating feast. Understood?” It sounded like they had history together, and I gave the male a curious once-over as Kal rushed away, followed by the doctor. Then I faced front and spoke in a hurry to explain what I needed besides the precious vial with what was hopefully the medicine that would restore Sera to full health.

Epilogue

Kalzudaud

I watched from a window as Iru squatted down on the grass that covered one of the lower balconies. Sera stood in front of him with a radiant smile on her face while she placed a flower crown on my friend’s head. Two weeks ago, she still could not get out of bed without aid, but she’d made great strides since then. None of which would have been possible without the help of one little human.

“Are they outside?” Caitlyn asked, and she uncurled from the couch to pad over to the window and stand next to me. Unable to resist, I curled my tail around her waist and spread a wing to shield her back. She smiled as soon as she spotted Iru with his flower crown, and the laughing Sera. “Ah, she looks so good. I’m so glad the treatment is working. Today’s scans indicate almost ninety percent of the damage has healed. She’s a strong little girl.”

Yeah, she was. “She’ll make a good queen one day,” I agreed, but until that time came, Caitlyn and I would take good care of Daudiras. My mate had been accepted by the people with much happiness. She had risked her life to save the future queen and stolen the heart of their king.

“She will,” Caitlyn agreed, and she turned to curl her arms around my neck. “I’m glad you abducted me, Kal. I love you, I love it here, and the lab is perfect.” A lab which had been finished today. I’d insisted on adding more safety features before she could return to it, and I knew she was dying to finish her cure so it could be offered to others in the quadrant.

After the destruction Amaza and her bomb had caused, I had wanted to make sure such a thing could never happen again. The woman was locked up now, and awaiting her trial in the deepest of cells below the palace. Savar had questioned her several times, but I could not stomach going down there to see her. I was certain that if I laid eyes on her again, I could not stop myself from meting out vengeance for her attempts to steal the lives of the two people that mattered to me most in the world.

Only once her network of traitors and followers had been rolled up could I rest easy, but seeing my two girls happy and hale eased my mind. Iru would remain Sera’s guard, while I made sure that I was there to protect Caitlyn.

Then my beautiful mate distracted me with her clever mouth. She nibbled first along my lips, then trailed her tongue along my jawline. Her hands brushed along my groin, and I jerked against her, my other wing snapping shut to cocoon us together in our own private little world. “Ah, Caitlyn,” I groaned when she sank to her knees in front of me and, with a twist of her wrist, undid the belt buckle that kept my kilt up around my hips.

I shouted her name when she sucked my cock into her mouth, “Ah, Caitlyn. I love you.” My fingers curled into her hair, holding her as she sucked, her eyes glowing with a hint of mischief. I fought to control myself, but the pleasure was sudden and intense. The urge to pump my hips was powerful, and when she moaned, her arousal perfumed the air between us, I knew I was about to snap.

***

Caitlyn

Making Kal lose control was my favorite pastime. Nothing made him lose it more than when I wrapped my mouth around his dick. He gave me exactly what I wanted, his control spiraling until he gave in to the wild side. With a wicked growl, he had me up in the air, and then my pants were shredded by his sharp claws. His heat surrounded me, and then it filled me as he pushed his ridged cock against my core.

My back hit the wall, my world dark and shaded in the shelter of his wings. And then that world became even smaller, centered on his mercury eyes and the heat he caused between us. His hips pistoned into me, his cock stretched me wide, and each ridge and bump along his erection stroked along my folds.

When he added the tip of his tail, a soft brush that flicked over the top of my slit, I hurled over the edge before he did. I clenched up tight, my muscles spasming around him and, just like I knew it would, that pulled him over the precipice with me. His seed spurted from him in hard bursts. His growl made my nipples perk against his chest.

Then came his bite along the curve of my neck, his favorite spot. It was just a nip this time, sharp hot pleasure lancing through me. A second orgasm cascaded after the first, sharper, brighter. Perfect. I did not realize it when I woke up on that spaceship, abducted from Aderia by a ruthless royal, but he’d taken me home.

“I love you, Kal.”

THE END