Page 14 of Monsters in Love: Lost in the Stars

Mary

Two days later, it finally feels like I can breathe without needing to breathe him in.

That doesn’t mean I have any intention of detangling my legs from his as we lie in bed, just feeling each other while he points out places on Isia to me.

It’s so strange, watching the planet shift above us as we orbit.

Pointing at a glittering white city, he says, “That’s Lasiana, where the ship landed. It’s where your Agency office is and where we’ll live most of the time.”

He drags his hand across an area that looks like an icy blue and yellow bullseye from here and points at another city, with huge spans of blue grass between buildings and dotted with teal lakes. “And that is Kaveter City. We can go there if you’d like. They have an amazing cave system and some interesting museums.”

“And that?” I ask, pointing to the formation he’s breezed past.

He grimaces and an uneasy feeling settles over me. “That’s the Shadow Zone. You won’t have to worry about that.”

“It looks like a volcano,” I say, peering up at the bullseye and the dark lines, like cracks, that run through its center.

“It is.”

I almost tell him I don’t know how I feel about living next to a volcano… and then I remember that Mt. St. Helens was basically next door for my entire life, so…

“Why don’t I have to worry about it?”

“There is a group that take care of it. You’ll be safe in the city.”

I believe him, so I don’t ask any more questions… they can wait.

This version of a honeymoon is exactly what the Agency promised… or maybe their information packet was a warning.

It’s been two days of sex, punctuated by delicious food I don’t remember the names of, high-orbit sight seeing as we travel around the planet, and clean up that invariably leads to more sex.

I’m blissfully sore and when his hand moves down my stomach, my knees drop open… it’s almost a reflex anymore.

That makes me laugh and he smiles as he kisses me. “What are you thinking, susre?”

“How many times do you want to try breeding me before we have to go back to Isia?”

“As many times as I’m able to… physiologically, I mean.”

His lips ghost across mine and a flutter of something… sheepish crosses the bond before he tells me, “I am still on the stopper.”

“Good.” We hadn’t talked about it, but I’m glad.

His lips coast up my sternum. “If you want me to stop taking it, I will, but I would prefer to wait.”

I agree, but I think “why,” and even though I know the bond doesn’t let him read my mind, he smiles. “You deserve to have your mate home to help as our weeun grows… and I don’t want to miss any part of this, with you.”

“I’m happy to wait.” I smooth my fingers along the ridge beneath his eye. “I’m going to get less of you than most women who come here get of their mates… I’d like to enjoy every minute of what I do get.”

“I’ll make sure you do.” He leans over me, lips finding mine and I smile into the kiss.

I don’t care if part of this feeling is a hormonal trigger in the vitamin S. I want him, and the universe gave him to me.

I’m not going to question it.

There’s a sharp trill near the airlock and he flinches at the sound. Eyes narrowing as he looks at the panel beside it and the flashing light there.

“What’s wrong?”

“I’m not sure.”

He slips from the bed and I sit up, clutching the sheet to my chest… still not completely trusting that there’s no one else around to see us.

There’s a flash of concern in the bond, and I scoot further down the bed, even though I can’t see what he’s looking at without getting out of bed and going to him.

He swipes and taps at the screen there and then I see him take a deep breath and he turns it back off.

“What happened?” I ask when he’s almost back to me.

“It was a censor warning. A magnetic storm is going to pass over us. It’s nothing you need to worry about.”

“None of the windows are going to pop?”

“Not a single one.” He climbs back into bed. “We should get a fun light show, though.”

I don’t quite believe that’s all it is, and the strange feeling through the bond makes me even less likely to do so, but he kisses me before I can ask any more questions and I wrap my arms around his neck, holding him close as we ruin the sheets all over again.

Kade

Making love to Mary as the darkness between us and the planet turns pink and green and violet feels like the Saints are showing their approval.

Her eyes go wide with wonder as we’re bathed in those colors and then flutter closed as bliss crosses through the bond.

The longer we’re here, the longer we can ignore everything but the way we feel together, the more certain I am that I’ll forget every English word but “Mine.”

She falls asleep, bliss warming our bond, and I kiss her shoulder, tucking her in before I go to get something to drink.

No one told me this contentment would try to consume me.

Another sensor warning pings as I put the glass into the wash cycler. Curious, I go to the system panel again.

It’s unusual to have two storms so close together.

But it’s not a storm warning.

I look from the screen into the other dome and then up. The dome is closed, but the system says it isn’t.

Checking the tanks, I breathe a sigh of relief that they’re full. But when I do a soft reset, all I get from the system is an error message.

The system has double checked itself and it’s decided it’s right. Except it also says the dome is closed. Contradicting statuses on the same screen make me grit my teeth.

“Make up your mind.” But the system doesn’t respond when I try again.

Irritated, I pull on pants and slip on my boots and hit the airlock door release.

Nothing happens.

I hit it again.

And again.

“What is going on?” I peer through the small window in the airlock hatch and my brow ridges pinch together.

The other side of the airlock is open.

The safety systems should keep both sides closed unless the lock is in use, which it hasn’t been since we got here.

But that’s an easy enough fix.

Pressing the cycle function on the lock, I wait for the light to go red and then back to green, but it doesn’t change.

An error message flies up in my face instead.

It’s an irritation and I start the override process, but on the second code string, my fingers hover over the control panel, muscles locked.

Saints. What am I doing?

Looking back at the bed, I exhale until my chest hurts, and then, I quickly put the airlock back into the error I found it with.

Not all of my normal methods of fixing things will work anymore.

I promised to protect her and opening the airlock right now might not kill her, but waking up gasping for breath she can’t find…

I thank the Saints she’s asleep and hope she can’t feel this dread.

She turns, fitfully murmuring.

Maybe she can.

Happy thoughts.

I need to think happy thoughts so she doesn’t wake up from a nightmare.

I tap through the commands again and the computer throws a new error at me instead of doing what I need it to.

Taking a deep breath, I look out at the other dome, with the ship sitting in its center like nothing is wrong…

The whole dome looks like nothing is wrong, but while the system thinks the roof is open, it’s not going to release the air from the tanks.

“Which it isn’t.” I mumble the words at the computer, speaking my own language for the first time since she arrived.

What is open, is the other side of the airlock, which means I can’t go out and manually fix it… not without dropping the oxygen level in here too low.

The system won’t tell me why I can’t close it, and I can’t do a full reset because I’m not sure what that would turn off, and I don’t trust it to turn back on again.

Flipping through the user manual, I glare at the troubleshooting options. Of course this isn’t something listed.

This shouldn’t happen.

Mary murmurs something in her sleep and I think about her smile to blot out my frustration.

It helps.

Sending off a support ticket, I close the screen and go back to her.

She settles as soon as my fingers touch hers.

I am her protector now. It’s my job to make sure she has everything she wants and needs and never has to even consider worrying about things like whether or not she can breathe.

Laying down beside her, holding her close, I let her warmth calm me.

She’s mine. I promised her she was safe here and I will do everything I need to in order to make sure she is.