Page 35 of Dark Survivor (The Qaldreth Warriors #2)

“I guess,” she said, cradling her jar. “I have to be in the mood to enjoy it.” She leaned back on a sigh. “That was delicious, Nenn.”

He grinned. “Have any preferences yet?”

She tapped her nose—whatever that meant. “Too soon to tell.”

Ulvus harumphed when he stomped into the galley. “Feeding your pet?”

Her eyes widened then narrowed. “Well, that smacks of jealousy.”

Ulvus gaped.

She gasped. “Am I speaking—” She faced Nenn. “Qaldreth?”

“Of course,” he said, adoring her expressive features.

“I said Ulvus was jealous, too.” Vaen chuckled, weaving around Ulvus to reach the replicate.

Into the silence, Ulvus snapped, “You gave her a language implant? This will not go down well with—”

“The udaps and the Ivoyans,” Vaen said. “We have heard your opinion on welcoming the killers onto our ship.”

“Each race has good and bad people.” She flashed a smile when Nenn took the empty jar of tisane from her.

“Hell, in my family, I can, without a doubt, state that’s true.

I wouldn’t say my brother is pure evil, but he has no consideration for others.

” Her gaze was distant with sadness lingering in the white depths of her eyes.

Vaen arched a brow at Nenn, who gave him a subtle headshake.

“Another tisane?” Nenn offered, inching closer to Tiny.

“I thought I was done until he walked in. Now I’m staying put. So, yes, please.” She folded her arms across her chest.

“Prior to Nenn kidnapping you, what did you have for your morning meal, Tiny?” Vaen asked, settling opposite them. He cradled his jar of water.

“Mm, on the Mula Pesada , bacon, eggs, toast, coffee.” She closed her eyes and hummed.

When she gazed in Nenn’s direction, her eyes sparkled.

“Bacon are thin strips of meat fried in sunflower oil. Eggs are from chickens. So versatile. Scrambled, boiled, fried, poached. Some people eat them raw.” She scrunched up her nose.

“Toast is a slice of bread roasted on both sides, and you slather butter all over it. Then coffee. Oh my word, do I miss that. Nothing compares.” She bowed her shoulders.

“On Lunar Base, I lived off protein bars or ramen. Back home with my parents, more protein bars, other reconstituted meals, and my mom’s lasagna with fake meat, pasta, dairy. I don’t know it any other way.”

“Morning,” Juunn said, striding into the galley. He didn’t glance over his shoulder while he ordered his meal.

“Juunn,” Nenn whispered in her ear.

“Morning,” she said, with a weak smile. “I’ve been practicing, I promise.”

Juunn laughed. “I am here to eat, not to check up on your progress.”

“Phew,” she said, running her hand across her temple. When she relaxed, she bumped her jar, spilling her leftover tisane over her tunic. She scrambled back, almost tumbling off the bench. “I’m so sorry. Is it a big mess?”

“Do not worry, Tiny.” Vaen ordered the rinse which flooded the floor with an inch of water before draining. He wiped the table with a pointed look between Tiny’s wet tunic clinging to her breasts and Nenn.

Nenn captured her hand and helped her to her feet. “Let me escort you to your room…to clean up.”

She nodded and squeezed his forearm. At her door, she faced him. “Just going to hop into the shower. Will let you know when I’m done.”

He shifted back, let her pass, then stared at nothing before striding to the bridge, aware he was acting like an idiot.

Lost in the view out the forevids, he didn’t greet Igar.

He leaned against the bulkhead, content to let his thoughts whizz past while he analyzed what she invoked in him.

Vatia sahaar circled. Ulvus couldn’t be right.

The male wasn’t known to be insightful. But Nenn couldn’t shake the hope.

A squeal snapped him from his daze. He bolted along passages to burst into Tiny’s room.

Only to skid to a halt at the sight of a naked, dripping female with her arms thrown out.

Presented with her full beauty, his breathing seized his chest. She muttered curses while she patted the air.

Every step made her breasts jiggle, her taut nipples drawing his focus.

The dip of her waist to the flare of her hips to plump thighs with some muscular definition tempted him to run his hand along her shape.

“Why does the tap have to be so damn sensitive?” She switched off the shower, then, shivering, found the towel and began to rub herself all over.

She bent, twisted, and rose, flashing him parts of her body between swipes of the towel.

A flood of heat hardened his koq. His fingers twitched to touch her, but his boots were riveted to the floor. When she raised her arms to dry her hair, he froze, mesmerized by her.

She sniffed then gazed at the door. “Nenn?”

“My apologies, Tiny… You screamed,” he managed, his voice hoarse.

She squeaked and clutched the towel in front of her. “You’ve been standing there the entire time?”

“You are beautiful,” he said, drawing closer.

She gasped, pink flushing her body. “Please tell me you’re alone?”

“I am.”

“Phew.” She grinned, releasing the towel to loop it around her. “Didn’t mean to scare you. I nudged the nozzle with my hip, changing the water from lovely to ice cold. When I leaped out of the way, I lost my bearings.”

He crossed to her, switching his gaze from the knot between her breasts to her flushed face. When he cupped her cheek, she stilled.

“Tiny,” he rasped.

She layered a hand over his. “What’s the matter?”

He succumbed and kissed her, willing his symbiotes to fade so her skin would be against his.

The scent of her teased him. He broke away to draw in a deep breath, expanding his chest. She blinked at him, her lips swollen.

Slipping his hands down her back, he yanked her against him then frowned at his uniform separating them.

“Do not move,” he said and stripped, tossing his boots and pants aside.

“Nenn?” she asked, a brow arched, but a twinkle in her eyes preceded a smile. “You can’t be thinking of taking advantage of little ol’ me?”

He chuckled and crossed to her, his stiff koq aching.

This time, her silkiness pressed against him like the softest of moss.

She sighed and scraped her nails over his torso, summoning a shudder.

He ran his hands to her backside where he dug his fingers into her cheeks.

When he hoisted her up, she squeaked. He groaned, his koq rubbing against her sex.

“Well, you did ‘buy’ me dinner,” she whispered, looping her arms around his neck.

She peered at him then kissed him, plucking at his lips with hers before thrusting her tongue in. His breath caught. Emotions stung his eyes with unshed tears.

She made him happy, which he hadn’t experienced for so long. Not since before his mother’s disappearance, if he was honest with himself.

He lowered Tiny onto her bed then stepped back to admire her sprawled before him.

Running his palm from her toes, along her shin, over a knee, up her thigh and hip, a twirl around her belly button to tweak a nipple, had her trembling.

Minute bumps formed across her skin. Her nipples tightened.

That peach color he loved flushed her body in a path he wanted to trail with his tongue.

He pressed a knee to the mattress, then climbed onto the bed, nudging her legs apart with his. Settling between her thighs, nestling in place, fluttered warmth through him. The sensation was odd yet familiar, like he’d found the fabled Pools of Abstyn—guaranteed to grant the drinker eternal peace.

She stroked from his shoulders to his elbows, her unseeing gaze just to the left of his face.

“What do you want, hirihadie ?” he asked. Osnir knew what he craved, but he had to make sure she desired him, too.

“You,” she said, without hesitation. Her cheeks pinkened, and she glanced away, trying to hide her expressions from him.

He grinned, not doubting that she shared the same affection. With his fingers in her hair, he held her still as he sipped from her lips, flicked his tongue across the plumper bottom one, all while listening to their thumping hearts merging into a primal rhythm that his body recognized.

“You will need to guide me,” he said, plucking curls off her temple and brushing them aside.

“Oh,” she gasped. “Roll over.”

“Why?” he asked, frowning.

“Nenn… Please.”

He flipped them, wrapping his arm around her to keep her close. She wiggled, her hands feathering across his body as she spread her thighs and exposed her sex to his wide gaze. Dark pink folds glistened like the petals of an exotic flower. She shifted back, rubbing herself over his koq.

He hissed, squeezed his eyes shut, then jerked, forcing them open to not miss a moment. With her breasts bouncing, she circled her hips until the head of his koq hit the hottest part of her sex. She moaned but didn’t stop.

Incredible heat engulfed his length. Inch by inch, she impaled herself, her face revealing the bliss burning through him.

Never had he experienced anything like this.

She’d sparked an explosion of joy when she took him into her mouth and swallowed his seed.

But this… It was like her mouth but tighter, hotter, smoother.

She leaned back and speared him with pleasure.

He gripped her hips, ogling her breasts and the curve of her waist.

“You’re inside me,” she said, her eyes shut, her teeth dimpling her bottom lip while she gyrated. Each swirl summoned a teasing flash of heat. “You can take control again. Pull out and thrust in.”

Yes. That urge was there, driving him to sit up, curl an arm around her waist, and press her back to the bed. He did so, making sure his koq stayed in place. With her beneath him, her smile sweet, he withdrew and plunged in, both summoning a fission of electric ecstasy.

The head of his koq rubbed against something that had her writhing and panting, her nails digging in.

Pleasure rippled over him, stroking the length of him when she cried out, arching into him.

He knew that expression, that position, her reaction.

A flood of wet heat exploded, pushing him toward a pinnacle he’d climbed just yesterday.

He couldn’t stop his hips from pistoning in and out of her, driven by a primitive need he didn’t know the name of.

Every move she made, each sound spilling from her lips, the texture of her skin and hair, all imprinted on him.

His overactive symbiotes bolstered every ounce of happiness she inspired.

Blinding white ecstasy burned away all shadows in his soul.

As he soared, he didn’t know what words he spoke or what he did.

He locked himself in her, between her thighs, at the most vulnerable part of her, and vowed never to leave.

She was his.

At last.