Page 71 of Alien Scars

“We chose each other,” I agreed slowly, wonderingly, my hands cradling his jaw. I shifted so that I was straddling him and could better see his face. “I love you, Thaleo. I loved you beforeyou ever got your mate vision. And I love you now.” I let my lips ghost across his. “I wish I’d told you that before.”

He groaned deeply, as if my words were the balm to a wound. Or maybe were the wound itself. Like I’d caused an ache deep inside him.

And maybe not just deep inside him, I thought, when I felt him stir to hardness below me.

Our tongues met with the tenderness of mutual worship. When I pushed him down onto the bed and took him inside me from above, I worked my body over his with the reverence he had always shown to me. I rode him slowly, lovingly, my eyes on his, feeling the perfect miracle of him inside me until I was coming undone. He met me there, in that place of pleasure and poetry, claiming me so deeply.

And I claimed him, too.

Because I chose to.

Because he was mine.

23

NASRIN

“You will have to let me know,” Thaleo said with heavy thoughtfulness, as if he considered some very important matter, “if there is a credible resemblance.”

The very important matter he was considering was, in fact, a drawing done by little Wanda. We were sitting outside with the brolka, enjoying the afternoon sunshine and the quiet lapping of the cold lake. Salina, Zaria, and her girls were splashing around in the shallows. Linnet was here too, of course, and she was just as lovably cantankerous as ever.

The drawing in Thaleo’s claws was obviously supposed to be a portrait of him and me. Wanda had run over here and dropped it at our feet before sprinting away, giggling madly.

“Well, I think I look rather good,” I said, observing myself in the image. Though Wanda seemed to have forgotten to give me a torso, she’d made up for it by giving me big, shiny green dots for eyes and a voluminous mane of hair made up of wiggly lines.

Thaleo’s hair she seemed to have struggled with. A few weeks had passed, and it was growing in now, a short, thick velvety sort of stubble that I couldn’t get enough of rubbing my palms against. And my nipples. Like me in the picture, Thaleo had alsobeen awarded a few wiggly lines of hair, except his were short and scraggly and standing straight up from his round purple head.

“Of course you look good,” he growled, his sight stars – bright teal in both eyes, now – flying to my face. “Look at the inspiration she took from.”

“Well, I’ll just say that no one would be able to capture your essence reliably,” I said, grinning and patting his chest. “Don’t worry. Your hair will be back to its full glory in no time.”

“I was not worried.”

“Suuuure.” I gave him a swift kiss.

From the water, I heard Vanda say, “Did you give that drawing to the Gahn and the Gahnala?” To which Wanda squealed her confirmation.

Thaleo was still Gahn. For a time, he’d struggled with this. Even though he was able to take me as his official, Vrika-approved mate in the end, the very fact he’d chosen me before his mate vision left him feeling like he still owed his people the chance to choose a new Gahn.

I had to remind him constantly that he’d basically given up his fucking life to defend his people. If the Vrika hadn’t been there with him, he would have died killing the borog. And if there was ever a sign of a worthy Gahn, it was that.

And I knew his people agreed. He’d always been an impressive figure that commanded respect. But now, people looked at him with a sort of hushed awe.

Which was fair. Sometimes, I did too. This beautiful, powerful man who’d died for his people and then dragged himself all the way back.

This man who was with me now. Within kissing distance. Unable to resist, I leaned over and gave him another soft peck. Then, I stood. “I think I’m going to swim,” I said, extending my hand to him. “Want to join me?”

“Yes,” he said at once. He rose and took my hand in his own. “I want to, Nazreen.”