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I hang from the rear of the fuselage by a strap. The repaired heater core is back in place. The space welder seals the unit as I run it along the damaged panels I’ve reshaped. It should be space-worthy after I fabricate a few more patch panels, but I’ll move quicker when Aurelius arrives.

I hope he gets here soon.

The sky overhead has cleared enough that I can see our two blue moons and the crystal belt. Abrasive wind curls around me, but I think of Zariah asleep in the nest I made her, and my core heats up again. It helps me finish the repairs on the aft ailerons.

Weathered another tough landing. One of these days, I’ll pull you into a real repair shop and fix you up properly.

I haul myself up to my anchor, unclip my harness and jump down, into the snow.

MONA opens the ramp for me.

Once I’m inside, MONA closes me in. I reconnect the coils to the heater core in the junction box overhead and switch on the power breaker. The coils heat, but it’s so cold that I know it’s going to take a while before the rest of the ship is safe for Zariah.

With the omenotaus’ organs processed, I initiate the purification step. The liquid pumps into the storage tank but is slow to process in the low temperatures. It will take time before more medicine is ready.

After I’ve sanitized the medbay and put the loose parts and items back in their places, I take the hide and check Zariah’s flash tanning job. It’s rough, but the skin will help keep her warm.

Collecting the tendons I’ve had soaking in a jar, I use them to stitch the furs into a traditional cloak of a length that I think will fit Zariah’s much smaller frame. The fur is so large I’m certain it will wrap completely around her.

When it’s stitched to my liking, I select a canine tooth from the tray, wrap it with tendon, and stitch it to the collar. Five more teeth with tendon loops work to hold the cloak together in the front.

I sit back and lean against the wall, my core pulsing with more heat the longer I think about her. I could be nestling with Zariah, but the thought she’s so close suddenly terrifies me.

All I have ever done is fight to survive and save those I guard. Bringing more risk into her life is not what I want. But my core can’t be swayed. I just don’t want to risk mating with her and then breaking her heart or, worse, getting her killed. But the idea of living without her is too much.

“MONA, how long until the heater core has the ship up to temperature for her species?”

“Three hours.”

“Zariah?”

“She is resting, but her body temperature has dropped two degrees. May I recommend a booster and an additional heat source?”

“A booster?”

MONA replies, “I may have recommended a stimulant pack before she followed you. She was determined. I tried to protect her, sir. I did not want you to be alone when so many predators approached our position. I cannot leave the Scintilla. She can.”

“You took orders from a human?” I get up, frustrated that MONA would disregard preservation protocols. Then it hits me. “I’m sorry. Did you just say you wanted something?”

“I am AI. You modified me to learn so I could one day learn new things, like battle maneuvers.”

“You haven’t learned those.”

“No. But conversing with Zariah has taught me some new things.”

“What’s that?”

“That I care for the people I am responsible for. That is what people do. Did you know she talks in her sleep?”

I shift inside my leather jacket, growing uncomfortable from the idea of them talking without me knowing. What else has MONA told her? “Yes, but I can’t understand it.”

“That’s because it’s in another language.”

“Which one?”

“It changes. She has spoken in three so far.”

I get up and enter the medbay, find the vial she needs, and walk to the door to the cockpit. But I’m a dirty mess after the crash and handling the omenotau.

The showers won’t work until the back rooms are hot again. So I grab a pack of surgery prep wipes and wash up. I change out of my armored gear and into a fresh pair of pants and a t-shirt since she seems to like them. Then I return to the cockpit door, vial in hand.

“What are you waiting for?” MONA asks after a few moments.

My core is so hot that I fear what I will do when I see her.

“Trying to get control.”

“Why? Is mating not the prime purpose of all living things?”

But that’s my problem. “My kind has never bonded with another outside of our species.”

“Yes, they have.”

“Larisien tried but had no offspring. What if she wants them, and it’s the same problem with me?”

“Elix.” MONA pauses. “I have no data to support such a hypothetical. However, she has taken in a large amount of your serum in recent days. Her DNA is rewriting itself.”

Breath catches in my throat. How is that possible?

“What is your objective?” MONA asks.

The vial in my fingers is cool but warms in my fingers as I spin it around. “My elders would say there are three. Survival, procreation, and love. They do not all have to function equally to be effective, but they provide the stable platform for the future together.”

“Then perhaps it is worth the risk.” MONA opens the door to the cockpit without my command, exposing Zariah curled up in the nest I made for her. She is staggeringly beautiful even as she sleeps.

I slowly move toward her. The door closes behind me. I still can’t believe she’s on my ship or that I managed to keep her alive through a literal nightmare, and she doesn’t hate me for it.

I didn’t even think about the implications of the nest. I just made it because that felt right.

She looks so comfortable that I don’t want to disturb her.

A screen flashes blue beside her.

Zariah stirs. I glare at the closest camera and whisper, “Not cool, MONA. Let her sleep. I was enjoying the view. And I’m not sure I like this new pushy side of you.”

A screen beside the door illuminates with text.

The one weakness of life is time. There is never enough of it. Make the moments count.

“What are you a philosopher now?” I mouth.

I will give you two some space, but do not think I have not heard you say her name in your sleep for the last decade.

Another message appears.

She was worried about you collecting parts alone. She fell asleep staring at the video feed of you working. Zariah has been in and out. Every time she wakes, she asks about you.

Then one final message.

Stop wasting time.

I switch off the screen, sigh deeply but quietly, and then climb into the nest, curling my body around hers.

She inhales and looks sleepily back at me. “Hi.”

“Hey, your vitals are a bit low. I’m just going to dose you again.”

“Okay.”

I prop myself up in the pile of blankets and snap the vial into her neck port. After the serum has discharged, I set the vial on a nearby shelf and try to ignore the pulsing heat thumping in my middle.

“Can you stay a while?” Zariah rolls back into me. “It’s a little cold in here.”

Her soft hair tickles my chin. I draw in a breath of her and nod. “I can stay.”

Her plump ass presses against my erection as she wriggles closer. I cannot contain myself any longer. I lace an arm around her and draw her back against me. She is smooth beneath my fingertips, evoking urges that make me tremble with the need for release. “Zariah, I’m losing control.”

“Good.” She rolls to face me and kisses my chin. Zariah hooks a leg over my hip.

Good?

A sudden awareness hits me as I slide my hands around her waist. “Zariah— Are you wearing any clothes?”

She bites a lip and shakes her head. Her fingertips travel down my neck, find my t-shirt, and crawl underneath, then glide over my chest and abs.

Zariah grunts as if she’s tasted something delicious and wants more. But I can’t see how it could be me when I’m the typical color of a scary alien in most human movies. But as her hands push my t-shirt up and peel it over my head, I’m starting to believe her.

Her lips trail down my stomach to my belt. She deftly frees my buckle and works my pants off of my hips. My core races, sensing what she wants is what I’ve wanted for years.

But what if she doesn’t like me? I brace myself mentally for a possible rejection.

Hot breath falls over my cock, making me flex and swell until it’s painful to hold back.

I slam my eyes shut. I’m not an animal.

I won’t take her.

Zariah strokes my shaft with tender fingers, massaging me in awe. “Oof.”

Her giggles make me look down. But before I can ask, she slides her pretty mouth over my tip.

The plush heat of her tongue swirling around my erection is so powerful that I can barely breathe. My core pulses faster. I rest my head back in the nest and strain to steady my thoughts. The world tips and warps as she draws me deeper inside her luscious lips.

A thrilling rush, like I’m riding my first lazagon in the night sky, courses through me. “You don’t have to do this.”

Zariah cups my balls in her capable fingers and gives them a gentle squeeze as she glides her tongue up my shaft. When she bobs down over my tip again, she hums like she can’t get enough.

The ship fills with light, my body ablaze from her touch.

“Zariah—” I don’t want to go without you. But I’m too breathless to get the words out.

She hums another note that ignites my core in a way I can’t slow or stop. All three balls tighten, and my cock goes rigid. I’m going to make a mess of her gorgeous face.

“Zariah!”

She deep-throats me, and it evokes a euphoric sensation I’ve not felt before.

“Fuck.” My body tenses in waves. Skin ripples. Pulses rip out from my core, heating me like they never have before.

What’s happening to me?

Zariah sucks on my hard shaft as I release and pump my seed into her. She slurps up every drop.

My core’s change doesn’t stop, but it slows. I’m not quite there.

“Elix?” she finally says. “Are you— Are you glowing?”

I catch my breath and look down at her.

It’s just a hint, but my skin looks a brighter green in the darkness.

Zariah wipes her smiling mouth with a hand and crawls over me. She runs the back of her fingers over my face in admiration. “I feel a little better now.”

I brace her sides with lust and a bit of shame. “You didn’t have to do that.”

Her lips graze my ear. “What makes you think I didn’t want to?”

No words come to mind, but I can’t help thinking something about me just has to be repulsive. My tribes, my entire species, rejected me.

Zariah runs her hands over my chest and sits up, the heat of her pussy palpable over my shaft. She nips at my throat and works her way up to my mouth. Her fingertips trace familiar spots on my face. “Why do you have so many scars when you heal so fast?”

“I can’t heal everyone and myself.” My core’s still pulsing, softer now like it’s waiting for something.

Worried Zariah’s getting cold with her bare shoulders exposed to the ship, I pull a blanket over her and savor the gentle heat of her flesh against mine. Her full breasts taunt me with their plush weight as they rest on my chest. Her taut nipples rake over my skin in a way that makes my cock stiffen again.

“Promise me that you start saving a little for yourself,” she says, nuzzling my face.

“Uh-huh, sure.” I’m distracted by the hot bead of cum that drips from her onto my tip. I reach a hand between us, find her mound, and give it a nudge as I slide my fingers back, dipping them into her wetness. One touch is all I need to feel my core’s heat begin rising again.

Zariah moans and wiggles her hips back until my fingers slip free, and she bumps my head. “Please.”

Energy pulses out from my core until I can’t control myself. I hope she really does want me.

My body seems to move of its own volition, knowing now that she wants me, too. I grab her hips and guide her into position. Rocking mine, I sheath myself inside of her, slowly.

I want to remember this moment forever.

Zariah arches and cries out, in a painfully erotic way. Her head hangs back. Her nipples tighten. Goosebumps crawl over her skin. She braces herself on my forearms. When her pussy clenches around my shaft, a searing wave of lust courses through me. I push deeper.

Zariah gasps.

I sit up and draw her face to mine, worried I’ve hurt her smaller body. “Zariah?”

She wavers in my grasp and leans against me. “I’m good. You’re just—a lot to handle. I need a moment to—stretch.”

Her body is damp with sweat. I’m not sure this is the best idea when she’s still healing. Then she wraps her arms around my neck, pulls herself up to my lips, and her pussy slides up my slicked shaft.

My core stutters as my need to feel more of her rises. I ease into her again. The lusciousness of her core wraps me up in a new kind of comfort that makes me forget every worry and bad memory. I rest my forehead to hers, utterly at her mercy.

She makes a noise of softer pain and pleasure, then looks up at me with a smile.

“What is it?” I gently ask.

Zariah braces my jaw with a hand. “Take me, Elix. I need to know how much you want me.”

I cup the back of her head, bury my face in her soft hair, withdraw, and thrust into her again. A wave of increasing desire floods me.

“Yes, that’s it.”

My body brightens with every bond. Pulses grow stronger. The nervous tremors in my muscles ease until I finally have steady control.

Zariah clenches around me again.

I need to feel her, all of her, around me. I want every part of me enveloped in her tender warmth.

Collecting her, I lay her back in our nest. Then I ease myself out and suckle each of her breasts until her nipples are as rosy as her flushed cheeks. Then I reinsert my cock into her.

She lets out a euphoric noise that pushes me close to the edge. Zariah hooks her ankles around my hips and digs her fingers into my back as if she can’t get enough of me. I have never felt so needed or wanted before.

I pump into her faster, deeper, harder until we are in a sweaty rhythm I want to savor but can’t. My core’s thrumming like a maxed engine. I’m either going to blow or burn out.

“Elix?” Zariah grips me hard. Something pops in my core. I give everything I have to her, filling her again and again.

I can see myself in Zariah’s wide eyes—radiant green.

She bucks into me, enhancing my climax until I’m certain nothing will ever feel as good as this moment. I could die right here and now and be content.

Zariah melts into the blankets beneath me and laughs softly. She touches my face, finds my lips, and kisses me.

The heat of her hand is comforting as I descend from my high. I nuzzle into her palm. “I love you, Zariah. I have since you saved my life. And here you are, doing it again.”

She gives me a knowing look. “Elix. You are so much more than you seem to realize. But that’s one of the things I like about you. You’re humble. You just don’t have to be with me.”

I withdraw from her and wrap her up in my arms. She is perfect, and I fear losing her now so much more than before.

“Where do we go from here?” she asks. “I mean, I’d stay here forever with you if we could.”

“We can’t. Ghostfleet will come looking as soon as they figure out where we went. We don’t want to be here then.” I bundle her up in blankets and pull her head to my chest, wishing I could protect her from everything in the universe that seems to want to kill us both.

“Aurelius will be here soon. When we’re back among the stars with his help, we will have to find a place to hide that’s somewhere safe and out of reach from them.”

“I don’t want to hide.” Zariah traces my back muscles with her fingertips. “Because then I’m always hiding. I want to set things straight. Figure this out so we can stop them and move on with our lives.”

I kiss the top of her head. “I just don’t want you to get hurt. I’ve almost lost you twice. I’m afraid a third time might break my core for good.”