Predator

Chapter 9

For the first time in as long as she could remember, Alex’s sleep was peaceful. The nightmare that constantly haunted her every night was absent from her dreams as she slumbered in her mate’s arms.

She watched him as he slept and felt his love, self-doubt, and anger. Upon further reading of his mind, she found the thoughts that inspired those emotions.

He loved her beyond a shadow of a doubt. There was nothing this man wouldn’t do or risk for her. He had his reservations about being a good influence on his child but was more determined than ever to try. He didn’t believe he could bring himself to defend her other mates and jealousy was the driving reason for it. Hatred coursed through every fiber of his being and was completely directed at Tyr.

The moment he entered her thoughts, she could feel Tyr’s physical and mental anguish flood through her. He was sleeping with a large amount of discomfort due to the injuries Riddick imposed on him.

She tried to ignore him and remain in her new mate’s arms but she could not resist her bond to Tyr. She was drawn to his pain and compelled to end it. She gazed lovingly at her new husband, kissed him softly over his heart, and dematerialized from their bed.

She reappeared inside Tyr’s chambers draped in a long silk gown. Her modesty was never an issue with her but she was definitely apprehensive about her nudity in front of Tyr on this night.

She moved quietly to his bedside and ran her sad eyes over his troubled form. Sweat beaded his furrowed brow and he tossed about restlessly under the sheets. She sat beside him and gently pulled the sheet down to his waist. ‘You definitely got the short end of the deal, didn’t you, love?’ Bloody cuts and dark bruises covered his chest, arms, and face. When her eyes settled on his missing bone blade, tears ran down her cheeks.

“Why are you here?”

Her gaze remained fixed on his damaged forearm when she whispered her response. “You are in pain.”

“My nanobots will heal my injuries.”

Her fingertips traced the remnants of his broken blade and she felt him shudder from her touch. “They won’t fix this.” Her black eyes met his brown while her free hand moved to lie on his chest. His breath quickened and his heartbeat accelerated. “Let me.”

“Why?” He could barely choke out one word while he was overwhelmed by her presence and touch.

“I was the cause for it and it is part of my oath to you to keep you safe.” She did not wait for his response before she let her energy flow through his body. Within seconds, he was restored to a normal, healthy state. “Everything is better now.”

He caught her wrist before she could remove her hand from his chest and pressed it over his heart. “Not quite. I am in agony here.”

His touch had the usual effect and her face flustered with her own desire. “I cannot heal that pain.”

His left hand caressed her cheek as he brokenly whispered. “You are the only one who can. My entire being aches for you.”

“I will not give myself to you on the same evening I took a new mate.”

“What about your forgiveness?” Tears shone in his pleading eyes that bore into hers. “Can you give me that?”

She lowered her head and her own flowing tears dropped onto his chest. “I do not know.” She got up and turned to leave when she noticed the adjoining door open to his son’s room. She slowly walked towards the child’s chambers and hesitated for a moment before she entered.

He was standing behind her and whispered into her ear. “Do you want to see him?”

“I don’t know that either.” He placed his hands on her shoulders and ushered her closer to the crib. “Aren’t you afraid that I’ll hurt him?”

“Not at all.”

She peered into the crib and stared at the tiny infant who looked up at her with his father’s eyes.

“Why the curious look, Alexandra?”

“He is so small. This is how lesser beings enter life?” He nodded his head and smiled at the innocence of her words. For a being that was born in the dawn of creation, she was child-like in many ways. Like now, she was curious of the unknown. “He is defenseless against aggressors.”

“That is what parents are for. Alex, your children are born into physical adulthood but they are still mentally children that rely on us for protection. We, the fathers, take them from you upon birth and you have no contact with them while we instruct them so you have no idea how young they really are. Even after we return them to you and you train them, you are still constantly protecting them. So tell me, what is the difference?”

“I’m…not sure.”

“Why don’t you try it the ‘lesser beings’ way for a change? Wouldn’t you like to see one of your children grow?”

“Are you insane? I would be more psychotic than normal about their security.” He chuckled at her comment and recognized it as truth. “He looks just like you…only tiny. What is his name?”

“Tamerlane.” He took her hand and drew her attention to him. “Alex, I want another child from your body.”

“That is your right.” She backed away from father and son. “Will you expect this child to grow as that one does?”

He moved to stand in front of her and held her face between his hands. “I would like us to experience that together but I’ll leave that decision to you.”

“Tyr…I have to return to Riddick.”

“I understand but…I love you, Alex.”

“I love you too, Tyr, more than you could possibly know and that is why it hurts so damn bad.” She disappeared to leave him with his own pain and the slightest hope that they had a future together.

Riddick woke the moment Alex left his arms. He reached out with his newly super-enhanced senses and discovered his wife in Tyr’s quarters. His jealousy ran rampant before he realized he was seeing through her eyes, hearing her thoughts, and feeling her emotions. It was the most amazing experience he had ever felt; short of making love to her; until he focused on the situation.

The pain she felt by his betrayal was overwhelming. She loved this man with a fiery passion that consumed her human form and the Phoenix force. He watched Tyr’s injuries heal, felt his grip on her wrist, and the sensual caress on her face.

He could feel his own anger as well as Alex’s desire from Tyr’s intended seduction. Her thoughts and heart immediately turned to him and she pulled away from Tyr.

Riddick had a whole new understanding of the agony her other mates went through when the thought of sharing her entered their minds. He didn’t think he could stand for it. She was an extension of his being now. He couldn’t possibly allow another man to touch her or have her.

Riddick felt her curiosity compel her into the child’s room and the wonder when she looked at the infant. The knowledge of her children’s births and how they were raised entered his mind. She felt a deep sorrow when she thought about everything they missed out on by entering the world as adults with responsibilities.

He read Tyr’s request for another baby with their wife and her hesitant agreement. Her oath was her honor. She could not deny her husbands anything. His fury was so strong that she sensed his presence in her mind and immediately felt regret and apprehension. After a few heartfelt words to Tyr, she teleported into the hallway outside of their quarters.

He waited for a few minutes for her to enter on her own and could see her pacing in the hall. When she failed to come in, he slipped on a pair of black workout shorts, crossed to the door, and swung it open. “You plan on pacing out here all night or you coming in?”

She lowered her gaze to the floor, slowly walked past him, and heard the door close behind her. “How long were you in my head?”

“From the moment you left OUR bed on our wedding night to go to one of your other lovers.”

“I see.”

“No. I saw! I could see through your eyes, feel how he made you feel, and read your thoughts.”

Her surprise registered on her face but not for the reasons he thought. “Those are not normal abilities of a Furyan and; except for Ian; none of the others can do that. Our merging of power must have enhanced you further.” She cocked her head and ran her eyes over his form. “Yes. You are changed. Your physical strength has grown exponentially. Your mental capabilities are greater than any being’s and still growing. You are almost on the same level as Ian and me.”

“That is something to discuss later. Why were you in Tyr’s fucking room?”

“To heal his injuries.”

He closed the distance between them until they were chest to chest and inhaled her scent. “I can smell him on you and I hate it.”

“Then replace it.” She took his hand and held it to her cheek. “Not now though. There is something I want you to see…to feel. Besides Ian, nothing and no one in existence has experienced this. Do you trust me?”

“Yes.”

“Then hold on.” She clasped her hands behind his neck as he wrapped his arms around her waist and they disappeared from their room in a flash of white light. When they rematerialized, she was grinning at the wonder on his face.

He looked down and saw the palace begin to fade from sight. “We’re flying.”

After they were surrounded by the night sky and stars, she leveled off their ascent and they hovered. “They are beautiful, aren’t they?”

He gazed at the surrounding stars stunned by the sheer beauty of something he never paid attention to in the past. “I’ve never seen them like this before. They are like sparkling gems.” He glanced at her face and smiled. “You are the brightest diamond in the heavens though.”

“Flatterer.” She indicated the sky with a tilt of her head. “Point at one.”

“What?”

“Just do it.”

“That one.” He pointed at one twinkling star that was far removed from the galaxy they occupied. “Now why did I just do that?”

Her eyes turned white and the Phoenix erupted from its shell to encase them both. “So you could see what it’s like to be me.” They left the atmosphere of Ariana and flew towards his target so fast that the other stars streaked by. “Very soon you will be able to survive the vacuum of space and do this on your own.”

“Baby, we have a lot to talk about but now isn’t a good time for small talk.”

“Is the big evil nervous?”

“We are in space without a ship flying faster than any known speed of travel. What do I have to be fucking nervous about?”

She giggled, turned on a burst of speed the likes of which could not even be imagined, and; ten seconds later; they were orbiting the star he picked out. “I use to live in suns when I was just a cosmic entity.” She took his hand, descended their orbit, and they stood on what passed as the surface of the sun.

He watched her stare at the gas giant with a longing and sadness. “You miss it.”

“Yeah. I stare at them, visit from time to time but I need to stay away from them. At least while I’m in this form.”

“Why?”

“A discussion for another time.” She felt him nudge at her memories and shut a door in her mind effectively closing him out. “No peeking.”

“There are things I need to know and you are just as evasive as you accuse me of being. Now tell me what I want to know.” He pushed harder against her mental shields with an order to let him in. To his surprise, it worked and he honed in on the cause of her nightmares. “Thirty-five billion.”

“I killed them in an instant.” She turned away from him and ran through the memory of the day she became the Angel of Death. “My power grew unstable. I needed to feed. I was running out of time.” She raised her right hand, palm up, and clawed her fingers. A solar flare sprang from the surface and mimicked the movements of her hand. “D’bari was the closest star. I couldn’t find an uninhabited system fast enough.”

“You ate their sun.” She nodded in response and continued to bend the flare to her will. “It went nova and decimated the entire system.”

“I told you there were greater evils than you. Now you know how I became the Destroyer of Worlds and you have an idea of the amount of death I’ve delivered.”

He grasped her shoulders and turned her to face him. “What would have happened if you didn’t consume the star?”

“At the time, I did not have the wielders or the balance of Duncan and Ares to control me. My instability would have resulted in a rage induced feeding frenzy and a power release of epic proportions.”

“So you would have destroyed more than D’bari?”

“Yes.”

“So it was kind of a good thing.”

“No it wasn’t! D’bari started my path of destruction. I’ve killed many worlds since then!” Her temper effected their environment and the sun’s surface developed bigger flares.

“Alex! You had your reasons and I am not here to judge you.”

“Yes you are! You became my judge, jury, and executioner when we bonded and merged our powers. I expect you to stop me if I ever lose control again. You and you alone have complete dominion over this shell and you now have enough power to destroy it.”

“You can’t…”

“I do.”

“You sure put a buzz kill on our honeymoon.” She grinned at his comment and levitated free of his grasp. “Where are you going?”

“I’m returning to our marital bed to try to put the buzz back into my husband. Care to join me?”

“Uh, don’t we need to hold hands or something?”

“Nope. You can survive out here on your own now and your power; in my presence; will enable flight.” His frown gave way to a grin that she returned. “Wanna race?”

“Damn straight.”