Page 31 of Chieftain (The Outlander Book Club… in Space! #1)

Khaion looked at me from under lowered eyelashes, affection and need painting his expression.

He leaned forward and brushed his lips across mine, pulling back just a little to let me taste him before beginning the kiss again.

The soft touch of his mouth against mine was feather light at first, like the brush of a butterfly’s wing.

My body pulsed in anticipation when he swung me up in his arms as we neared the bed.

Still, he didn't lay me up on the mattress, instead sitting on the edge of the bed and holding me in his lap.

His hands moved over and around my skin as if magnetized, and he did not possess the strength to separate.

"It can be as simple as calling a female your mate out loud to another's ears or as opulent as a ceremony and banquet," Khaion murmured against my skin.

"Kind of like Earth," I tilted my head. Khaion had other ideas. He captured my chin and turned me to face him, pressing his lips against mine. His eyes sparkled with lust, and his voice was tight with restraint when he spoke.

“I am sorry, my vika . I should have let you be, but I could not.” He leaned forward, resting his forehead on my shoulder, and inhaled deeply.

As if sensing my reaction, he lifted his gaze to meet mine.

His golden irises swam in a cobalt sea, dark with desire and soft as a kitten’s fur in the fire's light.

“I crave you more than I crave air to breathe. "

My fingers traced the curve of his jawline, and I lost myself in the depths of his gaze. I craved him too. The need for Khaion was a living thing, more powerful than anything I'd ever known. Mate or no, mate, I would not give him up.

"You know, on Earth, I was married—mated.

We had a huge ceremony, a wedding we call it.

" I felt myself flinch, recalling the extravagant ceremony that bound me to Rick.

I'd walked down the aisle believing my marriage would last. I'd been wrong then, but I wasn't wrong now.

The man before me blazed brighter than any star in heaven itself, and I knew that only with him would my wonderment never cease, and my soul always remain safe.

"Did the ceremony bind you as mates?" Khaion's brown furrowed, as though the idea of my being mated to another was unthinkable.

“It was supposed to, but no.” I shrugged, soothing the furrow in his forehead with a fingertip. “To everyone on the outside, we were a perfect, happy, successful couple. Rick took great pride in calling me his wife in public, but in private, he treated strangers more like a wife than me.”

Khaion's hand stroked through my curls, tilting my head back. His gaze was molten gold, filled with lust and longing and a tinge of anger. "I am sorry he hurt you, my treasure. I give you my vow. I will challenge this ex of yours to a battle should we ever me."

“That’s something I would like to see.” The image in my head made me laugh, but I pushed the face of my ex away, not wanting him to taint my future any longer.

I placed my hands on Khaion’s cheeks, drawing our faces only a breath apart.

I needed Khaion to understand that being called his mate didn’t matter to me.

“As bad as my marriage was, it taught me something important. It doesn’t matter how others see your relationship.

The only thing that matters is how the two people in the relationship feel about each other. ”

He cupped my face tenderly and leaned so close I could feel his breath tickling my lips before he pressed his mouth to mine.

His kiss was soft yet passionate, sending a wave of warmth throughout my body.

I wrapped my arms around his neck, giving myself to him.

I felt his chest rising beneath the fabric of my shirt and heard his breath's ragged rise and fall.

His fingers lightly brushed my cheek and drew out shivers over my skin.

The heat of Khaion’s physical presence was almost too much to bear as he gently pressed his warm forehead against mine.

His cobalt and gold eyes shimmered, seeming to search my own for understanding as he spoke in a low, gravelly voice.

“I can never utter the words to make you my mate. To speak them aloud would be a prayer to Valana that will doom you. But I swear upon my life, I shall care for you and protect you and cherish you and make sure that every day you are near me finds you happy and pleasured.”

“That’s more than I got from my marriage,” I admitted, my heart thudding with the promise of a future with Khaion.

But as much as I wanted him, we needed to get a few things straight first. “Khaion… I want to be with you, but you need to understand… you don’t own me.

You can’t forbid me to help rescue Willa. ”

His strong, calloused hand brushed against my cheek. His touch was gentle and warm, yet there was a hint of desperation. His eyes darkened with fear as he spoke. "I only seek to keep you safe. It is a selfish desire. If anything happened to you..." He shuddered at the thought.

“You’ll be with me?” I gave him a soft smile. “How much safer could I get?”

"You will not leave my side." Khaion's words were neither a comment nor a question but a vow.

"Never," I whispered, wrapping my fingers in his thick, black hair and tugging him closer, hungry for the taste of him. Our mouths met in a flurry of movement as we pressed closer together and let the warmth from our skin mingle and sink into one another's souls.

I felt myself melting into him and wanted nothing more than to experience the sensation of being claimed by him.

This was more than just desire, more than just the craving for the pleasure that came from his touch and kisses.

This was something more… something deeper…

a connection that could only come from being in love.

I was falling in love with Khaion. How could I not?

He was the most trustworthy, honorable, loyal, dependable man I'd ever met.

My alien Jamie Fraser.

All I can think about is how to get him inside me.

I feel flushed and needy. My clothes seemed tight and confining, the air humid as if we were in a rainforest instead of onboard a spaceship with climate control.

My body is in overdrive, running on pure heat and need.

The air feels thick between us, crackling as we look at each other with hunger clear in our eyes.

He growls and tosses me onto the bed. I lose myself in his touch, letting his hands guide me until I'm weak and begging for more.

With deft fingers, Khaion attacked the ties and buttons of my dress, and within the span of a sigh, I was naked beneath him.

My nipples stiffen to tight points and ache for his touch, for anything at all.

There are sharp jabs of sensation spiraling out from my throat where his hand rests lightly, almost possessively.

When his fingers stroke downward, I'm so aroused just the touch of his breath sends prickle points of pleasure over my skin, leaving the spots sizzling and smoldering as though struck by lightning.

Khaion grabs my hips, pinning me down as he slides between my thighs.

Everything trembles when I feel his tongue dragging across my nipple before sucking it deep into his mouth.

Khaion’s calloused palms cover the curve of my flesh as I arch into him.

His lips and teeth suck and nibble at my nipples as I arch against his mouth.

My hips undulate in a primal dance, desperate to feel all of Khaion within me.

He moves his mouth lower, tongue dragging across my abdomen.

The velvety texture of his pelt rasps along the flesh of my belly until he reaches the smooth skin between my thighs.

Slipping one hand under my ass, he raises me higher to meet his questing mouth.

“You are so wet, my sweet.” Khaion licks his lips. “Is this just for me? Do you want me?”

The confirmation I give is a cacophony of sighs, moans, and whimpers as I thread my fingers into his hair.

His hot breath sends pulsing pleasure through my body as his lips and tongue tease and tantalize.

He continues to devour me, a tornado of sensation that threatens to overwhelm me.

His hands knead my hips while I feel the heat of his arousal radiating from him.

I glance down at him between my legs, watching his head move frantically, consuming me like a man who is both starving and sated all at once.

Khaion's arms, hard and corded with muscle, wrapped tightly around my hips as he hooked one of my legs over his shoulder. His tongue was a glorious sensation against me as I grew closer to the edge, breathing shorter and faster as tension coiled in my belly like a spring ready to release.

"Oh God, Khaion, I'm going ...." The words choke off short as an explosion of pleasure radiates through me. It starts as a low hum that builds into a vibration throbbing between my legs. Sensation after sensation pierces through me like bolts of electricity.

His tongue moved feverishly against my sensitive flesh, fingers digging into my skin as I cried out his name, feeling a wave of pleasure wash over me like a tidal wave, so intense it left me dizzy and weak in its wake.

Slowly, savoring every lick, Khaion nibbled and kissed his way up my body. His heat seeped into my skin and sweat beaded my forehead as he lowered his head to nuzzle between my breasts.

The starlight from the window lit up his pelt, making his body seem etched from granite.

I love the feel of him, the hard muscles, and the way his body moves, so large and graceful.

My mind spins for a minute, stopping as the sensations become too intense to allow anything else.

Khaion whispered in my ear, the excitement building within me at his voice, the weight of his body pressing onto mine, the feel of my skin against his suede-like pelt.

"Are you certain, Emmy?" he asks roughly. His eyes ask what his words cannot. He is asking me to be his and his alone, his mate in all the ways that matter. Despite him never being able to speak the words, the joining of our bodies will say everything that needs to be said between us.

I, however, am under no such restriction.

I cradle his face between my hands and pull him closer. "I’m yours," I mumble against the soft skin of his mouth before dragging my teeth along his bottom lip.

Something seems to snap within him. Khaion's lips crash down on mine, one hand cradling the back of my head as his hips surged forward, and in the span of one thrust, we are joined.

Joined, and no alien or man will ever be put asunder.

His cock stretches me open until I'm filled, and Khaion's muscles tremble with the exertion of holding himself still, deep within me, while my body acclimates.

The feel of him is overwhelming both in the way my body rippled with bliss, and my heart settled around the idea of us and forever.

I grasped him like a lifeline, my teeth sinking into his shoulder as I clenched down on his cock.

His hands roved up and down my body, pressing me closer, holding me tighter.

The slick sounds of our flesh coming together fill the room, along with the moans of two people lost in pleasure.

We move together in a dance older than time itself.

It is primal; it is raw; it is beautiful… and forever.