She shook her head and wrapped her arms around his neck. Veri brushed a gentle kiss on his lips to reassure him and then laid her head on his shoulder. “You protect your own,” she said. “I admire that and honor it more than gold and jewels.”
Asher pulled a necklace from his pocket, a piece dripping with diamonds and aquamarines. “Oh, well then I suppose I should return this,” he teased.
Veri burst out laughing and reached for the necklace. Asher pulled it back so she missed and tapped her nose. “Turn around you vicious little thing, and let me put it on you.”
She did as he commanded and admired the weight of it when it settled against her throat. Asher clasped the piece and then wrapped his fingers gently around her neck, pulling Veri against his body where she could feel the rock hard length of him.
“What is it for?” she whispered, aching for him.
Asher gently slid her skirts up and trailed gentle fingers over her bare thighs as he tightened his grip on her throat. Veri had to arch to keep from choking and then his fingers found her wet center and she moaned with pleasure. His fingers swirled around her clit before diving in and she gasped, pressing herself fully against him.
“Maybe I want to claim you,” he said against her ear, stroking her slowly until she practically begged. “Maybe I want everyone to know you are mine.” Asher rubbed her clit in time with the words and she lost her damn mind.
Veri reached back and undid his pants, yanking them down until she could feel the silky skin of his cock against her bare ass. Not once did he slow the swirling of his fingers and she bucked against him. “Please, take me,” she begged. “I’m yours to have.”
His fingers slid out of her but Asher didn’t stop his gentle assault. He rubbed her in the exact way she needed and then released her throat. He slid into her slowly, luxuriously. And when the head of his cock hit the end of her channel the pleasure exploded and she came hard and fast.
His name was a prayer as he pounded into her from behind, rough and possessive while he murmured sweet things into her ear until they were both spent. Asher laughed with her when they rolled in the forest underbrush, kissing her softly, gently.
“You are mine, Veri,” he growled against her throat. His sharp canine brushed the delicate skin there.
“Yes, and you are mine.” The claim was risky, but she wouldn’t lie. Not when Asher could smell one. “Maybe I should get you something sparkly for all to see.”
He chuckled and rubbed his nose along her jaw, holding her tight against him. “If you wish, lady. Now help me get my damn pants back on so we can get some work done.”
Veri nipped his bottom lip and then went down and clasped his pants closed with her teeth. Asher growled in frustration and yanked her back up when she started to nuzzle his cock. “Stop that or I’m going to have to take you again.”
When she looked up into his face she saw the desire there and Veri stood before helping him to his feet. Asher cupped her cheek and those dark glittering eyes turned soft for her. When he least expected it she dropped to her knees and unclasped his pants again, pulling him into her mouth before he could say a word.
His answering snarl made her want him again. But this was for him. Veri wanted to properly thank him for the priceless necklace, and for his trust in her. Asher had let her inside his walls to truly see him. The prince was the only male who treated her like an equal, sharing everything with her.
Veri wasn’t about to let that go and she took him deep in her mouth to remind him how much she appreciated everything he gave her. She sucked and worked him until he burst in her mouth, salty and warm.
No, she didn’t mind not becoming queen as long as she was still Asher’s princess.
Chapter Nineteen
Joslynn
Draga Royal Palace
Planet Draga Terra
That council meeting had been something out of a nightmare.
Joslynn paced outside the council room. From what she gathered the War Council was usually held somewhere else, but the tang of fear must be too heady for the Crown Princess. It would cow those generals when she needed to appear strong.
Tomorrow, tomorrow she would be Queen. The prospect terrified her.
An evacuation of the outer rim, the execution…it all seemed to pale in comparison to seeing Sirus walk through those doors with Giselle. She’d had no word, none from her fiancé other than the report they were alive and on their way back to the core. Seeing him practically stroll through the room…Joslynn snarled. One of the guards outside the door flinched, but she ignored him.
She should send a cast to Colin, start plans to evacuate, start packing her things to assist her people, perhaps find out where they were supposed to evacuate to.
Instead of all those things she waited outside the council room to pounce on Sirus.
Suddenly Joslynn realized how stupid she was being. Waiting to yell at her fiancé wouldn’t help her people. She was not some lovesick fool; she was the damn Countess of Pedranus. She whirled around so fast the guard who’d flinched took a step back at the sudden motion. Joslynn snapped her teeth at him just for being so spineless.
Another guard waited at the lift and said something into his implant. The doors opened and she stepped in, crossing her arms and tapping a foot impatiently. The footman inside the lift politely asked where she would like to go and she snapped out a response. Somewhere deep inside she felt like a monster for being so rude when these poor people deserved none of her irate temper.
The lift descended too slowly for her taste and she practically burst out of it when the doors opened on the floor of the guest suites. Joslynn headed straight for her rooms, pulling out her simulcast and tapping out a brief message to Colin. She needed a status update on everything so she could start making plans, start setting things into motion.
There were sixty million people on her planet last time she checked. Where they would all go was a mystery to her. If she’d agreed to marry an Ushanov they would have gladly taken in her people. The lucky bastards just managed to stay in the line designating where the core ended and the outer rim began. Instead she had fallen for a Scyrian lord and his planet was in just as much danger as her own.
The population was a bit smaller on Scyria, but still…moving all those people…the panic and disruption it will cause would be endless. The pirates would have a field day with that. Joslynn shuddered to think of the casualties. Would Raena send forces to help escort the civilians or would they all have to fend for themselves?