Chapter 15: The Big O - How the Stars Fall

Ryker navigated the dense forest, the leaves murmuring in the gentle breeze, the scent of Earth lacing through the air. Towering trees, aged and mossy, whispered secrets as he ventured further. The setting sun’s light dimmed in the thick foliage. His head was still spinning from the attack. Usually, his keen eye never missed a beat, but that Lycan caught him off guard. The whole situation had him on edge and, to add to it all, thunder rolled in the distance.

Nova was quiet as she sat in front of him. Her use of powers had completely drained her. He needed to find shelter, and he needed to find it soon.

A subtle break in the green caught Ryker’s eye. The forest parted slightly, unveiling a cave covered with vines and veiled in shadows. Ryker guided Charlie off the path and into the thick, untamed undergrowth, steering them towards the darkened den.

Outside, he pulled Charlie to a stop and carefully dropped to the ground. Pain shot through his leg, but he didn’t let it show. He was grateful Nova had been able to stop the bleeding, but it would still take a few days to fully heal. “Stay here, I’ll make sure it’s empty and free of . . . animals.”

Nova looked at him nervously, but nodded, remaining seated.

The mouth of the cave yawned at him as he silently scoped the entrance. It seemed as if it was empty, but he wasn’t convinced, so he stepped in further. Water dripped from somewhere in the tunnel. Lichen clung to the walls and the air smelt of damp earth. As he contemplated, a distant rumble echoed, the air shifting with the scent of rain. Far off, clouds gathered, lightning flashes painting the sky. The distant storm cast an eerie glow, intensifying the hidden cave’s allure. This was their only option for now.

He turned around and headed for Nova.

“We will spend the night here and wait out the storm,” he said as he helped her down.

They gathered their belongings and entered the rock shelter. He made a fire and Nova laid out the bedding as close as she could without it catching alight.

Dinner was a simple meal of bread, cheese, and some fruit.

Ryker glanced at Nova now and then. She seemed to be in her head as she sat staring at the orange flames that cast dancing shadows onto the jaggard walls. If she hadn’t been there for him today, that Lycan would have been the end of him. And that wasn’t how Ryker had thought he’d depart from this Earth.

She’d saved him. This fragile and brave being . . . had saved him. And even though Ryker didn’t want to admit it out loud. The act had changed things for him.

“Are you alright?”

Nova glanced across the fire to meet his gaze and smiled softly. “Yes. Though my body is aching from the absence of power.”

“Is there anything I can do to help?”

She nibbled on the bread in her hand and shook her head. “I just need rest—and the moon once she decides to show herself.”

Ryker huffed humorously. “She?”

“Oh yes. Moon is all femininity and grace. Her glow is all the stars need to twinkle.” Nova smiled softly.

“She’s essential to your wellbeing?” Ryker asked as he picked at his food.

Nova nodded her head, white gleaming strands of hair floating around her face. “Without her, I fear I would fade away.”

Ryker swallowed his bite of food and tilted his head. “So, what exactly is it that you stars do?”

She set her plate aside, drawing her knees to her chest and wrapping her arms around them. “My sisters and I are made by the Creator to simply be. We exist to guide the adventurers, to shine bright for those who are lost and to twinkle for the dreamers. Born out of chaos into the galaxy. It is our beginning and our end, the place where our bodies will one day become part of the atmosphere, and the cycle will begin again.”

The way she spoke about her home had Ryker feeling things deep inside his chest. Her eyes sparkled as she spoke about Ara and what a star’s life purpose was. She went on with such a love for her own kind and the more she spoke, the more she glowed. There was no way he could take that from her. Ara was where she belonged, and despite the feelings that flooded his mind and soul, Ryker knew he had to get her home.

Did that mean he couldn’t enjoy her company while she was here in this part of the world, though?

She’d stopped speaking and looked at him across the fire, eyes framed with dark lashes. He shouldn’t be looking back at her the way that he was, but the thought of nearly losing his life today and the impending storm had Ryker wanting to seize the moment. Tomorrow wasn’t promised. All they had was today.

Lightning lit up the cave and he fiddled with his pendant—thunder soon followed.

“Do you miss it yet?” he asked quietly.

“Home?”

He nodded.

She let out a soft sigh as she closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them again, her sea-green gaze locked onto his, and his heart pounded, feeling like it might break free from its bone cage.

“I do . . . but if I’m honest, I like being here too,” Nova answered. “As long as King Branoc and whoever else leaves me be.”

Ryker placed his plate on the ground beside him and rested his arms against his knees. “He never will, little star. Ara is safer for you.”

“I know. I just wish things were different.” Nova sighed. “Why can’t they let me be? I want to see the world.”

Ryker’s heart twisted as he took in her troubled expression, her brows furrowed, and eyes clouded with thoughts she wouldn’t share. He wished he could ease the worry shadowing her face, but he knew he didn’t have the answers she sought.

A cool breeze entered the cave, with the scent of rain riding on it.

“I think the storm is here,” Ryker murmured.

Nova stood, stretching as she did so. She folded her arms, facing the mouth of the cave. Her mind was lost in thoughts. “Now that I’ve told you a little about myself, are you finally going to tell me why you’re always fiddling with that pendant?”

Ryker swallowed down the instant heat that washed over his body at the mention of the ruby jewel.

Why was she so determined to dig into this part of him, the one he’d buried deep and left unspoken? Her questions coiled around him, tangling his stomach into painful knots as memories clawed their way back up, ones he’d fought hard to keep buried. Each word tightened the ache in his chest, making it harder to breathe. He knew she wanted to understand him, but opening those doors would be risking more than he was ready for.

Ryker rolled his eyes as he stood, tossing the remnants of his meal into the fire. “There’s nothing to it,” he shrugged. “I just don’t like storms.”

What was the point of dragging up old memories? They were better off where they were—in the past. He didn’t need to relive memories that would most certainly tear his heart into a million pieces again. He’d only just begun to learn how to live with them. Though she really did deserve to know some things about him. She’d done her fair share of sharing who she was.

Yet the words wouldn’t form.

“So, you won’t tell me anything?”

Ryker caught her eye. “There is nothing to tell,” his voice was gruff.

Nova eyed him, her gaze never waning before shrugging her shoulders. “Suit yourself,” she said, as she took a few steps away from the fire.

The glint he saw flash in her sea-green orbs didn’t go unnoticed. It wasn’t one of playfulness or mischief—but determination.

“What are you doing?” Ryker asked.

Nova had started undoing the buttons on the back of her linen dress. Her cloak was already discarded to her bed. The dress dropped to the floor, and she stood there grinning at him with a mischievous smile on her face in only her undergarments.

“Nova . . . what are you doing?” he repeated.

“As we established before, I like storms, so I’m going out into the rain,” Nova answered as she spun around and headed outside.

“Nova, please don’t!”

It was too late, she disappeared into the darkness, Ryker paced the floor of the cave, both hands fisting the hair on top of his head. He couldn’t go out there. It was too much. But he also couldn’t let her be out there alone.

He moved to the mouth of the cave and called out, “Nova, please come back inside. It’s not safe out there.”

“Not until you tell me why you don’t like storms!” she called back.

He watched her dance as the rain poured down. He wanted to smile at her joy. He wanted to experience it with her, but he couldn’t. This was all just wrong.

“I can’t . . . please Nova,” Ryker begged.

Nova stilled. She turned to face him, standing her ground with her slender arms crossed tightly over her chest. The white of her undergarments had turned see through and Ryker struggled to stay focused on her face.

Nova’s face was stern. “Tell me the truth. No rhymes or embellishments. No adjectives. Tell me and I will come back in.”

Could he do it? Could he relive the moment four years ago that still haunted his mind day and night just so a woman he barely knew would come inside from a storm?

Nova wasn’t just a woman, though, was she? This creature before him had somehow found her way into his heart and he’d refused to fully realise it until she was standing outside in the pouring rain. Ryker stood, battling his internal demons as Nova watched and waited.

“If I tell you, will you promise to come inside?”

A look of wariness flitted across her face, but she nodded.

Relief washed over Ryker, but it was quickly replaced with the dread of his past. Would he ever get over the internal pain attached to it every time he spoke it out loud?

Perhaps keeping his heart locked away was doing more damage than good. Perhaps it was time to open those gates.

“There was a storm four years ago,” he said, loud enough so his voice would carry, though it laboured under the weight of both sorrow and remembrance. “Yolanda, my fiancée, was a spirited soul. We were childhood sweethearts. She loved riding with the wind in her hair, and the freedom of the open land. Her laughter echoed through the fields like music.”

He paused, as waves of old ache crashed into his body. “We were caught in a sudden thunderstorm,” he continued, his voice softer. “She insisted on riding back home despite the dark clouds looming overhead. I told her that it wasn’t safe . . . but she didn’t listen to me.”

A sombre breath escaped him as he recalled the moment that changed everything. “Her horse spooked, startled by a clap of thunder. Yolanda tried to calm him, but he reared. She fell, struck her head on a rock, and . . .” His voice trailed off, the unspoken tragedy hanging in the air.

“We were to be married,” Ryker murmured, his eyes meeting Nova’s. “The storm took her away, and I’ve carried its echoes ever since. Every thunderclap, every raindrop, they remind me of that fateful night. It was all my fault. She was my love, and the storm took her away. I should have made her listen. It was my job to keep her safe.”

A sob caught in Ryker’s throat at the tragedy of all of it. “I won’t watch it happen again . . .”

It was too much. The pain was too great.

One moment, Yolanda with her dark wild hair and deep brown eyes was with him, and then next she was not. Her last breath expiring from existence as he cradled her in his grasp.

Ryker’s arms dropped to his side as he recalled Yolanda’s last words.

“You worry too much . . .”

But in fact—he hadn’t worried enough.

“And the red pendant?” Nova murmured, her once bright eyes, full of joy—now brimming with sadness.

Ryker dragged a hand through his hair. “It was Yolanda’s engagement ring. My father had it smelted down into the pendant after the funeral and surprised me with it. I haven’t taken it off since.”

Nova’s chest rose and fell with each steady breath as she watched him from outside the cave. Her face was etched with a deep empathy that struck right through his guarded walls. Her eyes, soft and unwavering, seemed to steal the breath right out of his lungs as they locked with his understanding in their depths. She didn’t speak; instead, with a simple look, she beckoned him outside, silently offering him a reprieve he hadn’t realised he needed.

Should he accept the invitation? Should he step outside into the heart of the fear that gripped his mind . . . body . . . soul?

Her eyes beckoned again, yet this time they were accompanied by an outstretched hand. One that glowed with an iridescent viridian. Illuminating the rain that tore from the heavens as it fell upon the land.

Ryker shook his head but made no sound.

Nova beckoned again.

He couldn’t handle the pain anymore. His heart was broken, and he longed to find rest. Somewhere he could lay his heart down for a while. Just to take a moment to breathe.

Was Nova his heart’s respite?

His mind told him no, but his heart screamed at him to say yes. She could be the very thing his heart had secretly been searching for. He just needed to trust it. Ryker ran a hand over his face, swallowing down the fear, and took one step outside of the cave. Then another. Then another.

Cold, stinging rain drenched him within moments as he slowly made his way towards the glowing star. With each step, the fear became duller, its voice no longer screaming in his mind. It wasn’t gone completely—but it was quiet.

It was silenced the moment she ran from the embrace of the forest and threw herself into his arms.

Warm lips found his in a passionate kiss. Nova wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him as close as she possibly could. Ryker wanted to resist. He knew he shouldn’t be kissing her back, but she was intoxicating. Every nip of teeth on his lips, every tease of her tongue as she coaxed his mouth open, was another dose of a substance that he didn’t want to stop taking.

His reflexes kicked in, and before he could tell himself to stop, he lifted Nova and placed her legs around his waist. Her glow grew brighter the longer they stood together in the midst of the storm, enduring it as one.

Not even the lighting was a match for her viridian light.

All thought drained away as he kissed her. And for once, the sounds of the external storm were louder than his internal one. The rain became just rain, the thunder just thunder. No screams. No crying. No sharp pain inside his chest.

Just Nova and the feel of her pliant body wrapped around him.

Ryker held her gently, cradling her close as he stepped back into the cave, his boots echoing softly against the stone. Without a word, he brought her over to the fire. He slowly eased them both to the ground just as his legs gave way. He leaned himself up against the wall of the cave, with Nova straddling his lap. Her skin glistened with water droplets in the firelight as he dragged his eyes over her body. There seemed to be a pattern here, Nova dripping wet and him becoming hard.

Ryker reached to brush his fingers across her collarbones. His gaze locked on hers, a silent invitation. She nodded in acceptance.

Her gaze was unwavering as he slowly eased the straps of her now sheer camisole down off her shoulders, where it fell and gathered at her waist in a damp heap.

His breath was ragged as his eyes caught the star imprint in the centre of her chest. It was pulsing with a faint blue light. Ryker reached and brushed the scar. It was warm under his touch and made his fingers burn. Nova quivered against his hand.

His gaze dropped to her shell-pink hardened nipples, his breath catching as he grazed his thumb over one.

“You’re so beautiful, Nova.”

She whimpered softly, arching her back and pressing her breast into his hand, filling it perfectly. He gently kneaded it in small strokes, drawing out her pleasure and indulging in his own. His other hand joined in, rolling her other nipple between his finger and thumb. Nova’s head dropped back as a moan escaped her lips.

He needed more of her.

She dropped her head forward again, her sea-green eyes heavy with desire. Ryker cradled her face in his hands, drawing her lips to his in a possessive kiss. It was deep and hungry, tongues dancing together to a song only they could hear. Nova tasted like the fresh plum she ate for dinner, and Ryker wanted every bit.

His hands left the dampness of her face and traced lazy patterns down her back. It was warm from the fire. They found their way to the fabric that gathered at her waist and Ryker took it in his hands, gently lifting it up and over her head.

Nova now straddled his lap . . . completely naked . . . and glowing.

“Is this alright?” Ryker murmured.

“Yes,” she whispered.

In the dim light of the cave, Nova shimmered. The droplets of water on her skin caught the flicker of the fire, while her celestial glow radiated softly from within. A faint hue of silver and blue thrummed from her body. Ryker reached out and ran his fingers through the thread of colours.

His gaze shifted to her face, where Nova watched him through the veil of her dark lashes. “Are you sure? Because if I keep going, it’s going to be very, very hard for me to stop . . .” he said as his hands tenderly kneaded her thighs.

Nova shifted forward until her bare breast brushed against his jacket. She lazily brought her hands up and around his neck, her fingers tangling into his damp hair. “Definitely don’t stop.”

He didn’t need to be told twice as he shrugged his jacket off.

Ryker’s smirk grew as Nova’s fingers deftly found each button on his shirt, one by one, slipping them free. She peeled the damp fabric from his shoulders, letting it fall away, leaving his chest exposed to the cool night air.

Delicate fingers traced a pattern on his skin, leaving a trail of bumps behind them. Every drag of her hand over his body was intentional and agonisingly slow. Her eyes drank in every part of him.

Nova’s lips were the perfect shade of rose pink, soft and inviting, a subtle contrast to her pale skin. She caught the corner of her bottom lip between her teeth, a glint of mischief sparking in her eyes. When she flicked her gaze up to meet his, it was a look that pierced right through him, unravelling every ounce of his self-control. It wasn’t just a look; it was a silent dare, an invitation he could feel radiating from her, tempting him closer.

Ryker groaned as he dipped his head and caught her mouth in a gentle kiss. His hands danced along the dip of her lower back before he cupped her ass and what a sweet, sweet ass it was. So perfectly round. It fit in his hands like she was made just for him.

The sound that escaped from Nova as he gripped her and pulled her closer had his cock hardening in his trousers. Her hands dragged through his hair as she kissed him with such a gentle force. For someone who hadn’t been human for long, she certainly knew how to make him feel good.

Ryker pulled his lips from hers, tracing her cheek with his fingers. “You’re so fucking a beautiful, little star.”

Pink cheeks, swollen lips, and sea-green eyes stared at him as Nova rocked her hips. “So are you,” she whispered against his mouth as she leaned forward to kiss him again.

He needed more than just the taste of her mouth; he needed to feel her too. He wanted to know her warmth on his fingers, what she would taste like on his tongue, or how she would sound as she came for him over and over.

As one hand cradled her back, the other reached between them and Ryker brushed his fingers against the wetness that pooled there.

Nova cried out as she ripped her lips from his. “What are you doing?”

Ryker stilled, his eyes glued to hers, heart racing and blood pumping. “Do you want me to stop?”

Nova bit her bottom lip and shook her head. The plea in her eyes had Ryker nearly coming on the spot. It had been too long since he’d been with a woman and his body knew it.

Ryker’s hand moved again, a grin spreading across his face as Nova’s head fell back. “Do you like this?” he asked as he slid a finger inside her warmth. Nova bucked against his hand, her breasts glistening under the firelight.

She brought her head back to look at him and nodded, lips slightly parted with the pleasure he was pumping into her. The walls of her warmth clenched around his fingers as he slowly dragged them out before pushing them back in. His thumb found her clit, and he circled it gently, which brought new cries from Nova’s lips.

Ryker lifted his free hand and placed it on the back of her neck, dragging her lips to his as he kissed her. He sucked her bottom lip between his teeth, gently biting down as he slipped a second finger inside her warm, silky folds. Nova cried out and thrust against his hand. He kissed his way down her neck before taking a hardened nipple into his mouth and sucking it. She dug her hands into his hair as he drew his fingers out and pushed them back again.

She felt like a fever dream, and he never wanted it to stop.

“Ryker . . .” Nova whimpered.

“Yes, little star?”

“What is this? I feel like I’m going to shatter into a million pieces.”

Ryker grinned against her mouth. “Then do it . . . come for me.”

Ryker plunged his fingers deeper into her silky wetness one more time. Nova arched her back and cried out as she came all over his hand.

The star in the centre of her chest grew brighter and brighter with each wave of pleasure her orgasm created. It shone brighter than the sun itself, lighting up the cave like daylight for a moment. Nova’s body jolted in ecstasy, her pleasure clamping around his fingers as her soft cries echoed throughout the cave. He melted under her gaze as her orgasm peaked and she came back down to Earth, her body limp against his.

With hearts racing, they sat on the floor, Ryker holding Nova close. Shadows from the flames danced on their bodies and for the first time in a long time, the storm that raged inside Ryker’s head was calm.

“Whatever that was, can we do it again?” Nova whispered softly.

Quiet laughter erupted from Ryker’s stomach. “I think one is enough for now. We need to sleep.”

He reached over, grabbed Nova’s cloak, and gently draped it around her shoulders. She was almost asleep, and he couldn’t blame her. Most humans require sleep after seeing the stars. Who knew what an actual star needed after reaching for their own kind.

He hadn’t found his own release, but that hardly mattered. Watching her come undone from the pleasure he’d given was more than enough. In a perfect world, there would be time for them to explore each other fully—if that’s what she wanted, and if his heart would allow it. For now, he was more than content to see her blissfully happy.

“You should change before you get too cold,” Ryker murmured into her hair.

Nova nodded sleepily, and Ryker eased her from his lap. He watched as she placed her dress over her head. Her cheeks were pink, and the smile that graced her lips was sweet and so unfettered. She returned to his side, dropping down beside him. Ryker encouraged her to lie down on the makeshift bed by the fire before placing himself behind her. He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her close.

“Goodnight, little star,” he whispered into her soft white tendrils.

Ryker closed his eyes against the sounds of the storm raging outside. There was no going back now, whether he liked it or not.