Hunter's Claim: The Alliance Book 1 (20 page)

“You do that by just being here,” Jesse
said, laying her head down on his chest. “When you aren’t being a
pain-in-the-ass to everyone, that is.”

Hunter chuckled. He never had to doubt that
Jesse would let him know when he was being a pain in the ass,
either. That is another part of her that fascinated him. While
others, with the exception of Saber and Dagger, feared expressing
their views or opinions at times around him, Jesse never did. She
was small and fierce and protective. She was a mixture of strength
and gentleness. She was his
Amate
and he would never take
for granted that he had been gifted with his strange and unusual
mate.

He ignored the smirks on the faces of the
warriors as he guided the chair he and Jesse were sitting in down
the corridors. He paused outside the living quarters he had been
given on the same floor as the medical unit. A swift command had
the doors silently opening. He paused once he was through just long
enough to seal it behind them.

He reluctantly released Jesse as she slid
from his lap and stood to the side. Gripping the sides of the
chair, he rose on shaky legs. He locked his knees and focused on
making it to the bed.

He looked down at Jesse as she slid her arm
around him when he stumbled. Instead of feeling the overwhelming
rage that had swept through him time after time over the past week,
he felt a sense of calm determination. He nodded his appreciation
as she helped steady him as he walked. It was slow but with each
step he felt a tiny bit stronger.

“Thank you,” he breathed out as he turned
and sat down on the edge of the bed.

“You would do the same for me,” she
responded. “There are times when we’ll take turns being
strong.”

He watched as Jesse knelt in front of him
and pulled his boots off. He cupped her chin and tilted it so he
could brush a kiss along her lips. He loved the taste of her.

“You are an incredibly smart and beautiful
female,” Hunter whispered.

Jesse blushed at the heartfelt emotion in
Hunter’s voice. She rose up until she was standing in front of him.
Grabbing the edge of her tunic, she pulled it over her head and
tossed it across a nearby chair. Her breasts were beginning to grow
fuller. She wasn’t wearing a bra but knew she would have to before
too much longer.

She had begun to show more though the loose
tunics covered that fact. The leggings were perfect as they
stretched over her growing abdomen. She kicked off the soft
ballerina type shoes she liked to wear and started to push off her
leggings when Hunter reached out and stilled her hands.

“Let me,” he murmured, drawing her closer.
“I want to look at you.”

“I’m beginning to show pretty good now,” she
laughed nervously. “Before you know it, I’ll look like I’ve
swallowed a watermelon.”

“You will be beautiful,” Hunter whispered in
awe as his hands cupped the slight swell. “Your breasts are
fuller.”

“Yes,” she choked out breathlessly as he
leaned forward and drew one of her swollen nipples into his mouth.
“I’m… oh god, that feels so good,” she gasped. “I’m going to have
to start wearing a bra soon.”

“Why?” Hunter asked, cupping the heavy
globes in his hands. “I like them free.”

“You… you aren’t the one carrying them
around,” Jesse stated in a dazed voice as he continued to massage
them. He nipped at the tips making them swell until they were
almost painful. “Besides, when I nurse I’ll have to wear one
because they’ll be full of milk.”

“Until then, keep them free,” Hunter
ordered. “I swear your scent is going to drive me insane if I don’t
have you soon.”

Jesse’s fingers moved to the buttons of his
loose fitting black shirt. She undid each one slowly, taking her
time as she explored him again as he explored her. Her fingers slid
under the soft material to run along his shoulders before she
pushed it off.

“You are so beautiful,” she murmured. “I was
terrified when that man came to the house and told us that you were
missing. Our father used to have to go visit the homes of people
and tell them that their loves ones had died in some accident or
another. It always hit him hard as he remember
ed
what it felt like when he found mom.”

“What happened to your father?” Hunter
asked, pushing her leggings down so he could lean forward and kiss
her over the swell of their babe. “Both of your parents no longer
live?”

Jesse nodded, winding her hands through his
hair and drawing his lips to her stomach. She gently massaged his
scalp, loving the soft moans he emitted when she did. She was
surprised she could think of her parents without the familiar ache
of sorrow.

“My mom was killed in a car accident when I
was ten,” she whispered, staring down at the top of his head. “My
father was killed the first day your people came to our world.
Riots had broken out. He called us to warn us about what was
happening. A few hours later, one of our neighbors who worked with
dad came by to check on his family. He told us that dad was killed
when he was hit by a car trying to get away from rioters,” she said
sadly. “That night, looters overran our neighborhood. Jordan,
Taylor and I escaped out of the upstairs window, climbed down the
tree and hid in the old storage cellar hidden out back.”

Hunter’s arms wrapped tightly around Jesse
for several long seconds before he leaned back to stare up at her.
She had been through so much in such a short time. He had never
really thought about the people of the worlds the Alliance sent
them to.

He had always accepted that if the species
sent out a message then they must be expecting an answer. He had
grown up knowing there were other species in the star systems so it
was not a foreign concept. For the first time, he really thought of
what it must be like for a species that is unaware that they are
not alone and how frightening it must be.

“Why did you save me that night? You knew it
was dangerous. Why didn’t you just run away?” He asked.

“I couldn’t let you die the way those… those
other humans were planning,” Jesse admitted. “I planned to kill you
myself if I couldn’t release you. No one should die such a horrible
way.”

“I’m glad you did not kill me,” Hunter said
with a touch of amusement. “I would have been very upset.”

“Why?” Jesse asked blankly.

“Because I would have never been able to
experience having a family,” he admitted. “It is a gift to a
Trivator warrior. It is considered a blessing for having fought
honorably.”

“Oh Hunter, I’m glad I didn’t either,” Jesse
whispered. “Lay back for me.”

“With pleasure,” he said.

He used his upper body strength to pull
himself up higher onto the bed before lying back against the
pillows. He shivered as Jesse’s slender hands moved to the waist of
his pants. He gritted his teeth in frustration as she took her time
pulling them off and placing them across the back of the chair.

“What now?” He asked hoarsely, his cock
straining upwards.

“Now, I make love to you,” she answered,
climbing onto the bed.

Hunter’s fingers twisted in the covers as
she started at his ankles and worked her way upward. Nerve-endings
exploded along the path of her lips telling him that the feeling
was coming back. He thought he would lose control by the time she
made it to his inner thighs. Her hair fell on each side of his
thigh and brushed his heavy sack as she continued her sensual
attack.

He cried out when she finally wrapped her
hands around his throbbing cock and slid her mouth over the rounded
tip. He watched in fascination as the bulbous head of his cock
disappeared between her sweet lips. The sight was an erotic
combination with the feel of her full breasts brushing along his
thighs as she moved in the rhythm of them making love.

“You are so beautiful,” he groaned. “So
very, very beautiful.”

His hips moved up and down with her rhythm.
Her mouth felt so good wrapped around him. She twisted her tongue
at the last second whenever she reached the tip, pulling on him.
The heat of her mouth made him remember what it felt like to be
deep inside her.

“I need you,” he gasped out. “On top of me.
Now.”

Jesse reluctantly released him. She slid her
body along his as she straddled his narrow hips. She didn’t have to
hold onto his shaft. It was hard and full as she rose up over it.
Both of them moaned as she slowly impaled herself on him. A shudder
ran through her as he filled her, pushing through her swollen folds
and along the sensitive walls of her vaginal channel.

“You’re so thick,” she gasped out as he
pushed upward. “I don’t know how you can fit.”

“Yet, I do and you caress every inch of me,”
Hunter gritted out. “Every inch.”

Jesse cried out as he pulled back almost all
the way out of her then pressed deep again. His hands cupped her
full breasts, playing with her nipples while she slowly rode him.
She kneaded his chest as she began her sensual lap dance. Her eyes
closed and her head fell forward as she absorbed every feeling.
They rocked back and forth, each stroke growing more desperate as
their climax rose on a swell of love, tenderness and time apart.
The knowledge that they had been given a second chance was not lost
on either of them.

Jesse opened her eyes when she felt his
hands move down to her hips to hold her as he began rocking faster.
She leaned forward, giving him better access to her breasts. She
cried out harshly when he bit lightly on her right nipple.

Her orgasm exploded around him as he
continued moving faster while devouring her nipples with nips from
his teeth followed by the soothing swipe of his tongue. The
combination of pleasure and pain locked her in an intense
climax.

Hunter looked up into Jesse’s face as the
intense pleasure of her orgasm held her in its greedy grasp. The
sight, combined with her body fisting him, was an erotic sight that
drove him to capture her nipples as he rose up. The feel of her
vaginal walls pulsing around him pulled his own orgasm from him. He
wanted to yell out in ecstasy as the intense feeling was wrenched
from his body. Instead, he sucked hard on her nipples in an effort
to prolong their release.

He reluctantly pulled back as she became
limp in his arms. He slid his left hand over her ass as his right
hand moved up to the center of her back, holding her locked to him.
Relaxing back against the pillows, he continued to release his seed
deep into her. Her body answered by squeezing his cock inside her,
as if greedily sucking every last drop from him.

“I love you, my Jesse,” he whispered,
softly.

“I love you too, Hunter,” Jesse murmured.
“Forever.”

“Forever, my
Amate
,” he repeated.
“Forever.”

“Jesse!” Taylor yelled. “I’m going to go
torture Saber. I’ll be back later.”

Jesse turned when she heard Hunter’s deep,
melodious laughter fill the air. She shook her head and rose up
from where she was checking on a new batch of plants she had
planted. She walked over to the blanket spread out under the large
shade trees.

“You know we’re lucky he hasn’t strangled
her yet,” Jesse said as she sat down on the blanket next to Hunter.
“Didn’t he contact you yesterday about her coming over?”

“And the day before and the day before and
the day before,” Hunter acknowledged. “It is good for him. He
cannot withdraw if she is there and he is having to call me all the
time.”

A whimper next to them drew their attention
to the small body beginning to wake from his nap. Lyon’s little
eyes opened and he blinked several times before he whimpered again
and rolled onto his stomach.

At seven months old, he was sitting up and
crawling. He had his father’s yellow-gold eyes and facial features
but Jesse’s dark brown hair. He turned his head and stared up at
Jesse for a moment, blinking. A wide, toothless grin and a stream
of drool lit up his face as he pushed up onto his knees and crawled
over to her.

“I think someone is hungry,” Jesse laughed,
scooping their son up into her arms and rubbing her nose along his
chubby cheek. “I’ll take him inside to feed him.”

“Feed him out here,” Hunter requested in a
husky voice. “I love watching you.”

Jesse smiled and opened her tunic. Lyon
greedily latched onto her and sighed. Jesse leaned back against
Hunter as he sat behind her to give her support. He rested his chin
on her shoulder and watched as their son fed.

It had been over a year since they returned
home. Hunter was almost back to his old self. He still had a slight
problem with tingling in his legs at times but he worked out each
day to strengthen his muscles. Saber had come home almost six
months ago. It had been touch and go for months. He had spent much
of the time before he came home in rehabilitation.

Since his return, Saber was a different man.
Hunter said it was as if his friend was trying to hide from the
world. Hunter explained that Saber still needed a cane to walk with
but that he should eventually be able to walk without it.

Taylor had taken it upon herself to try to
cheer him up. Personally, Jesse thought her sister was doing a
better job of driving the poor guy nuts but at almost eighteen now,
Jesse was just thankful Taylor continued to be Taylor.

The biggest loss everyone was dealing with
was Dagger. The loss had hit both Hunter and Saber hard. She had
learned that the three of them had been as close as brothers.

Jesse worried the most about Jordan. Her
sister was almost twenty now. She seldom did anything that didn’t
involve studying or research. She spent hours each day locked away
in the lower library that she had taken over as her own. Shana had
tried to draw her sister out but except for excursions to the
market or to the local archive in town, Jordan preferred to be
alone.