Page 18

Shower spray sprinkles his rugged face, dripping off his contours in little streams. I wonder if serum is his only flavor, and crane my neck to sweep my lips over his. How have I not noticed him the way he noticed me?

Hunger for more of him stirs in my belly so powerfully it tightens my pussy even in my half-dead condition. I urge him closer.

“Zariah,” he breathes heatedly into my mouth. “We shouldn’t be doing this.”

“Why?” I ask, savoring the lushness of his smooth lips against mine.

“The race—your mother’s last gift. The other males could give you more. They have kingdoms, homeworlds, homes .” Doubt pinches his brows. “They could give you a normal life like you always wanted. Like you deserve. Somewhere safe. And we have to keep you comfortable until I’m certain you’re healing with solid progress.”

I lean back, hating that he’s being so damned rational. Raw marks on his neck become visible when he shakes his head and looks away from me. They resemble a familiar pattern.

Touching my neck, now healed, likely from all the serum he’s given me, I’m certain a Ginarigon bit him.

Elix has fought for me even though he believes I deserve someone else. I’d be blind to not see what’s in front of me and an idiot not to want him.

“I think it’s pretty safe to say I’m never going to have a normal life, Elix. And I don’t want any of those alien males. I never did. Just a vacation, a chance to feel wanted, special, and safe . Is finding a normal mate more important than what I want?”

His shocked breath tells me what I need to know. I lean back and look him in the eyes. “I never stopped thinking about you either. And everything since has proven my feelings about you aren’t misplaced.”

He smiles, just a little, his relief apparent.

It’s a struggle, but I sit forward, brace the back of his head, and kiss him.

Elix’s eyelids droop. His muscles flex in ripples. A deep primal rumble starts in his throat. “Zariah—”

“Elix—”

“When was the last time you felt really good?”

I honestly don’t know. Escaping my father? Not dying under a SoulStealer’s claws? Then it hits me. “Waking up and seeing you.”

He lets out a breath, dark brows knitted like he can’t quite believe it, and then he collects me carefully with an arm and lays me back. Elix unzips my suit and continues peeling it off of me. His lips find mine once more before gliding down my chin to my throat, traveling lower until he finds the sore spot on my chest. He drags his tongue over it one more time, slowly, evoking a tingling sensation akin to his healing affections, and then he slips the suit over my hips.

His every touch and brush of his skin over mine ignites a burning need to feel more of him— all of him.

Elix throws my race uniform aside, then crawls over me. Water drips from his face, his short ebony hair, his bloodied armor, and his clothes. But flames dance in his eyes as he leans down for another sensual kiss.

I clumsily unbuckle his armored vest, and he tugs it off. Unzipping his jacket, I find he’s not wearing a shirt underneath. And when I see the bruises in the light for the first time, I lock up.

“Oh, stars, Elix!”

He braces his elbows beside my head and laces his fingers into my soaked hair. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll endure anything for you. Just promise you will stay, that you won’t run, won’t sacrifice your freedom for mine again. Let me fight the universe with you.”

Water turns into mist against his broad back muscles. But now he’s got me thinking about how we could possibly merge our two very different lives. I’ve never told anyone outside of my secret life what I really do.

A tug on my bra pulls my attention back to Elix. He gently unhooks it, offers me the soap, and then rinses the blood from my bra in a nearby puddle.

I try my best to wash myself, but my fingers tremble too much.

“Zariah.” The way he says my name, like a sad, sweet song, makes me want to cry. He hovers over me, topless, green skin glistening under the lights, on all fours—a prime guard built to be a shield, a protector, a healer. “Let me serve you.”

I don’t know what he means, but I’m in need of any help I can get, especially with as weak as the sight of his rigid body makes mine. I have to abandon my pride and my independence and trust someone for once. Elix has proven himself many times already. I’m certain I’m safe with him.

“Okay.”

A shiver runs through him, and I swear his eyes gleam when they meet mine. He scrubs the remaining blood from my body, being extra gentle over my breasts. Then he lowers his head to my ribs. “Looks like you need a bit more healing.”

His tongue swirls up my side. But he doesn’t stop. Elix caresses a globe, then glides up and over my nipple. Goosebumps prickle my chest, tightening my buds. Elix heaves a breath, steadies himself, and drags his tongue over my breast with hungry affection.

No one’s ever touched me with such desire or sent such sizzling waves through my body.

Elix toys with my other breast as he suckles the first. I’m caged inside his brawny arms and legs, bare and raw in the heat of his affection. He shifts his weight, his powerful, green body slinking over me like an animal stalking prey, muscles taut and bulging, primed for action.

His hands work downward, washing and rinsing my stomach, thighs, back, all while his lips tease my breasts.

He wants me?

His kisses trail affectionately down my stomach to my hips. He sweeps his nose across my panties and tears them off with his teeth. Then he gingerly slips his fingers into my folds and washes me.

An unexpected burst of pleasure makes me gasp. The shower feels unsteady, like my thumping heart. I’m not sure my body is ready for this. But his touch feels too good to ask him to stop.

After a kiss to my neck, Elix slinks down to my hips, where he nuzzles his nose into my delicate flesh. He nudges my clit as he draws me closer. Elix inhales me deeply. The rush of air against my pussy in the hot water is a mind-crushing sensation and makes me slick with anticipation.

Wrapping his arms under my hips, he braces himself between my thighs and licks my opening with slow, penetrating motions.

When he plunges his tongue into me with force, a hot scourge of thought-shattering lust rips through me. My pussy clenches around his tongue without my consent. I ride the swelling high, breathless, and hear him rumble a satisfying note.

Elix’s body sways as he strains to reach deeper into me. My hips hang in the cradle of his sculpted arms as he massages my clit with a thumb, his other hand snaking up and finding a nipple to tease. The euphoric sensations he evokes blend into a glittering mass that whites out my vision. Elix pushes his tongue deeper, licking me like I’m a once-in-a-lifetime dessert.

His body heats between my legs.

“Elix.” I try to pull him up to me, wanting him to drive his cock into me, whatever the hell it looks or feels like. But he growls and sways his mouth over my opening. I think he’s saying no but doesn’t want to lean back long enough to actually say it.

How did we go from being distant friends to this?

Elix flattens his tongue against my aching slit, caressing me in one long lick.

Ooh, fuck.

The tension in my core grows in an addicting high.

He circles his tongue over my nub as he slips a long finger inside of me.

“Please,” I protest, my depths begging to be filled with him.

He growls again, but louder this time, so that I can feel it in his tongue, while he savors me from the inside out.

My ecstasy rockets. I strain for air, not sure I’m ready to let him see me break under his power. But he is in command, and when he flicks my entrance with the tip of his tongue, then dips a second finger inside, I arch under the exquisite strain of accepting him. Elix promptly withdraws his fingers and thrusts his tongue deep, sending a molten wave out from my belly into every corner of my body.

I buck onto his tongue, unable to control myself. Elix grunts and binds my hips to his face until I’m sure he can’t breathe. He plunges into me as I climax and clench around him until I have nothing left to give, and my body melts in his arms.

He rests me back on the floor and braces himself, panting. As I catch my breath, Elix sits back on his heels and washes his face, hair, chest, and arms.

As my euphoria fades, I realize what happened and become a wreck of emotions in a limp body, unable to lift myself. I’m embarrassed, tired, helpless without him, and I’ve just given him a way to overpower me any time he wants. “Elix—”

He crawls over me, brushes the hair from my eyes, and kisses my forehead. “Yes?”

“Why?”

I want to knot up into an all and hide my body from him, not because of him but because of instinct. Because of my father. More so because of his men. But also because we are friends, and I don’t want to lose the few I have.

He must read the doubt in my eyes because Elix lifts my hand, presses a kiss into my palm, and then guides my fingers to his stomach. Hot waves pulse from his middle like a violent single heartbeat. “I wanted to. My core wants this. I will do anything for you.”

I’m expecting him to be like people he’s not. When I clear away the betrayals I’ve endured and look at him apart from everyone else, I see it, feel it. His core is hot because of me. He wants me, not as a fling—as a mate.

The cuts on his body make me fight to sit up. Many of his injuries are because of me. Maybe even all of them.

I force my burning limbs to steady me while he tries to help. Collecting the soap, I do my best to wash away the dirt and blood he can’t reach.

He watches me closely as I run my hands over his toned back and down his sides. The puncture looks mostly healed. Whatever paste he used must work like his serum.

Elix suddenly twists and kisses me once more, sweeping his tongue over mine. I can still taste my musk on his breath. “I serve you.”

He gets up before I can protest. “MONA, turn off the alarm. I’m on my way.”

“Alarm?” I quiet my thoughts and listen. It’s a faint sound, a high-pitched whine I’ve not encountered on other ships before.

Elix grabs our clothes, puts them in a nearby drying closet, taps a button that makes the room flash with light, and then walks out.

Something clunks then scrapes. A latch snaps. And the alarm shuts off.

I manage to get my feet under me and stand with some effort. Turning off the water, I grab the towel and get dried off. “Elix?”

“We’re getting ready to drop out of hyperspace. Abr is lining up the tour. But I am going to need you belted in for the drop,” he calls back to me.

I make my way to the drying room where I grab my undergarments and the race suit. Tying off my uniform arms around my waist, I shrug. Guess it will have to work as pants for now. No way am I fitting into his.

“Elix, do you have a shirt I could borrow?” When I lean out into the hallway, I notice he’s still in his wet pants, topless. “Or do you not own shirts?”

He looks down at himself and then over at me. “I don’t normally wear t-shirts. They are very thin and serve little purpose. Leather is better. Armor is best.”

“No shit. But I would like a shirt.” I cup my breasts and give them a bounce. “Makes me feel better anyway.”

He heaves a breath, jerks his eyes away from my chest, then taps something on his wristband and points to the room just behind the cockpit. “A drawer is open in my quarters. Please take what you need.”

I walk into the small space and find the drawer that’s opened beneath a window. It has black military-cut tees that are still far too big for me. But I put one on and draw the hem to one side where I tie it into a knot. I push the drawer shut and notice a faint glow of my fingerprints on the surface. It has recorded my action.

On my way out, I notice a light moving on the ceiling and look up. It’s a video of me talking with dock staff at a spaceport on the edge of Nebulous Empire territory.

I wonder if he knows the truth about what I do. It’s clear Elix has seen me more than I’ve seen him.

“Zariah. I need you in the co-pilot’s seat. Asap.”

I do my best to hustle out to where he is and climb into the seat. Buckling in, I look over at him, but he doesn’t look happy.

“You could’ve—” I start to say, wanting to ask why he didn’t mate with me when I get the impression he wants to.

“It’s not that. I can’t make enough of a course correction. Something is right in front of us. I’m dropping us early.”

“What kind of thing?”

“A portal. Hold tight.” He points to the dash, then tanks his engines so fast that we’re slung forward in our harnesses.

My chest aches. My right side screams under the straps. “Fucking hell. Are the others going through?”

“No.” He flips a few switches. “It appeared after the last ship. MONA wants a course correction. You can’t survive that yet. We have to go through.”

I start to panic, wondering what in the stars is happening. I know he’s just told me, but it’s the reason that doesn’t make sense.

“Zariah, inhaler. It’s in the armrest.” Elix taps something into his screen. “MONA, I need that backup portal ready. Shields up.”

“Elix,” the dash coms say with a voice I don’t recognize. “Do you have a visual on your obstruction?”

“It’s a portal. Warn the next in line. We’re breaking formation in three, two, one.”

The blur of hyperspace crystallizes into stars, a large pale blue planet beside us, and a blazing yellow portal ahead of us. We’re with Abr and the tour for three seconds before they’re gone, and our momentum has launched us into a blazing realm of orange planets.

Ahead sits a fleet of white ships, ghosts that are rumored to leave ash skeletons in their wake. Yellow missiles race toward us from a nearby ship.

“MONA, portal!” Elix shouts, maneuvering us away from the blasts.

Another blaze opens at the ship’s nose. It coats the ship in icy greens and blues and plunges us into a different world, one of frosty winds and dark continents.

Alerts blink and flash all over the dash. I find myself dizzy and finally remember the inhaler. It doesn’t clear my mind the way I wish it would, but I get some breath back. “Elix?”

“We’ve lost an engine’s power cell on the port side. They shot it out.” His hands dance over his screens as he tries to reroute power and regain control.

“They wanted to cripple the ship,” I say.

“They did.” He tries to stabilize our trajectory. “We’re going to crash. The planet’s gravity has us. I can’t get us out with a downed engine. I’m going to try and fix this so we can crash with some control.”

“Crash?” I gasp. Damn it!

Of course, the moment I find happiness is followed by the moment I die. That just seems to be my kind of luck.

“Do you trust me?” Elix gets out of his seat and crawls his way to me.

“More than anyone. But where are you going?”

“To try and give us a chance to live.” He kisses me with passion, but it is too brief. “I love you, Zariah. I always have.”

Then he climbs into the back. I stare ahead at the frozen planet we plummet toward, the ship shuddering in the turbulence of reentry, and hope he knows what he’s doing. I hope he can get us out of here because I don’t want to lose the best thing I’ve ever had in my life.