Page 14 of Sheltered in the Storm (The Fortusian Mates # 1)

CHAPTER 13

CALLA

I’d fibbed—I wasn’t really in any pain. I just wanted to be in the water with Vos.

I wanted him to cradle me with nothing between us—no blankets, no clothing, no distance. I wanted to see more of the raw desire I’d glimpsed in unguarded moments when he thought I wasn’t watching.

When I woke this morning, I hadn’t necessarily planned to ask him to join me in the tub today. He’d been so obviously cautious not to push me in any way. But when he’d told me he smelled like a predator to most sea life, I couldn’t hold back a shiver of desire.

He was a beautiful predator who’d been nothing but kind and gentle to me, and I wanted him. I ached with need—so much so that I had to fight the impulse to slip my hand under the blankets and between my legs, where wetness already dripped.

My healing body had limitations, but we’d find ways around that. Maybe his reminder that I had to be careful not to over- exert myself was about more than just my morning exercise routine. And maybe he was reminding himself too.

When he emerged from the bathroom, he had already removed his shirt, and his loose-fitting pants rested low on his hips. I let myself devour the sight of his broad chest and shoulders, the lines of his muscles, and his gills that fluttered as he breathed. Oh, to be able to swim with him in the sea and see him in his element. For now, the wonderfully enormous bathtub would have to do.

I’d gotten enough deep breaths to relax again, but that didn’t mean my scent didn’t give me away. I didn’t mind, though. I liked that Vos would be able to tell how aroused I was. He didn’t have to wonder, and I didn’t have to say.

Vos scooped me up as carefully as ever, his eyes glowing. “Ready, my Calla?”

“Yes.” I lay my head against his chest to listen to his hearts beat. “Very ready.”

As he carried me to the bathroom, I spotted Poe’s eyestalks peeping out from her shell. When she saw me looking at her, they darted back into hiding. She’d clasped her claws in front of her massive shell, which I’d learned was a sign of tranquility. Because she was warm, safe, and comfortable in Vos’s house instead of outside in the nasty weather, or because Vos and I had decided to take another step toward the kind of relationship she so clearly wanted us to have? Either way, her contentment made me smile.

Vos kissed my temple. That spot had only recently stopped hurting from the crash and then being burned by the barrel of the Atolani raider’s plasma gun.

“You probably think it is silly of me,” he said, “but I will never tire of your smiles.”

An unexpected pang in my heart made my smile fade. “I don’t think I’ve smiled as many times in my life as I’ve smiled in the past week. ”

“I am sorry.” He rested his forehead against mine. “But also I am glad.”

“Me too,” I said softly.

He closed the bathroom door to keep in the heat, slid his pants down and off, and sat on the side of the tub. Not only had he put in the leaves I’d requested, he’d added something that smelled sweet and made the water froth and bubble.

“My Calla,” he said, his gaze on mine.

He unwrapped my blankets slowly. He was always careful not to touch any of my healing cuts or bruises, but he seemed to want to take his time. Maybe he wanted to savor this, or maybe he wanted to give me time to change my mind.

I was impatient to be out of my coverings and into the water with him, but I also wanted us to go slowly so I could watch him watching me. That candor I’d come to rely on was evident even now in the way he didn’t seem embarrassed or self-conscious or shy about baring me in a very different way than ever before, and that kept my own self-consciousness at bay.

When the last of the blanket fell away, he let it slip to the floor, leaving me naked and cradled in his tentacles rather than sitting on his lap. His gaze devoured me so intensely I shivered.

Vos’s hand caressed my shoulder, moved down my arm, and captured my hand to bring it to his lips. “Beautiful,” he said, his mouth on my fingers. His sharp teeth pressed into my skin, a thrill of danger, as if he knew what his predatory side did to me. “Mercilessly beautiful, like a star.”

I opened my mouth to say something self-deprecating, only for him to silence me by lowering his mouth to my right breast to catch my nipple between his lips. He flicked it with his tongue and sucked gently.

Oh, gods. I tried to arch my back, but Vos held me still.

“No, my Calla,” he murmured, his softly glowing gaze locked on my face. “You must not injure yourself. I will give you pleasure, but I would die before I would hurt you. ”

He was right, but desperation and desire made it difficult to care. “Vos, please .”

In an inhumanly fluid movement far more reminiscent of a cephalopod than a man, he slipped us into the tub. The water was the perfect temperature—hot to the point of not quite scalding—and whatever made the water bubbly made my skin slick and soft.

But the moment I rested my head on his chest, the sensation of his hot, bare skin against mine and memories I’d kept buried since that night stole my breath right out of my lungs. Everything good about this moment evaporated.

Pain. Blood. Falling toward dark water. Broken bones and burns and fear.

Lying in this tub, in and out of consciousness, unsure if I would live or die, with only this hot skin and these heartbeats to cling to.

I let out a ragged sound and buried my face against his chest.

Vos’s tentacles quivered. “My sweet Calla,” he murmured into my hair, and cooed.

I lost myself in that wonderful comforting sound and the security of his arms and tentacles around me. Vos’s coo didn’t banish those memories, but they cut less deeply. One breath at a time, one gentle caress of Vos’s tentacles at a time, the bitterness of terror faded.

I was safe now. I had survived. The raiders who’d been so cruel were dead. Vos had killed them all for what they’d done and they’d never hurt anyone else again.

And more than that, I was happy here. I was cared for and desired. I smiled .

Vos cupped the back of my head and held me close. “I am sorry these memories surfaced. I feared they might.”

“I have to face the memories,” I said, my voice not quite steady despite how much I meant those words. “I can’t pretend it didn’t happen. That really only makes it worse. ”

“Yes.” He covered my hand with his where it lay on my stomach. “I too must make peace with my past, so I may see my future more clearly.”

“What do you see in your future?” I asked. We’d talked about our pasts, but not about days to come. Maybe it was a dangerous topic because I had yet to decide what I would do once my injuries healed, but I wanted to know what he envisioned for himself. “If it’s okay for me to ask,” I amended.

“You may ask me anything. I will find the courage to answer.” He rested his chin on the top of my head. “I am sure it will not surprise you to hear my dreams are of you.”

No, it wasn’t a surprise. His admission was very sweet, and far less anxiety-inducing than I’d thought it would be. Maybe that was because he’d cooed, or maybe because the prospect grew more pleasant by the day.

I managed a small smile. “I don’t think anyone’s ever dreamed of me like that.”

He cooed softly.

Was he sorry that was true, or secretly happy that he was the first to think of me in that way? The answer might be that he felt both.

Two of Vos’s tentacles stirred the water around us while another wrapped around my ankle. “What are your dreams, my Calla? You said you wanted to earn a bonus from the Defense and use it to travel.”

How terrified he must be to ask that question—to bring up what I’d told him about what my plans were before the crash. To remind me of the choices that lay before me. But he’d answered me honestly, so I owed him the same.

“I’ve seen so many dark things,” I said. “My time on Ganai was a nightmare. A lot of what I saw and did before I joined the Defense was too. As a pilot, I fought for Alliance ideals against the scum of the galaxy. My commanding officer wasn’t all that much better than the scum I fought. Each day I put on my uniform and sat in a mission briefing with Captain Proos and told myself I could put up with anything if it meant getting that reenlistment bonus. Once I completed my service, it would help me finance travel to places where I could see beauty and good things and meet kind people.”

I moved my head and rested it on his tentacle so I could look up. His expression was so tender that a lump formed in my throat.

“I’ve been lying in your bed thinking about it all,” I continued, my voice raw. “What I dream of is choosing where I go and where I stay, and healing all these hurts. That’s my dream and the future I want for myself. I’m just not sure anymore if that’s out there somewhere or right here.”

He bent his head and brushed his lips on mine. “I understand.”

He really did, and that stirred more than desire. It warmed my heart, and maybe my soul too. I pulled his head down to mine and kissed him fiercely. His chest rumbled and his tentacles quivered.

When he raised his head, he gazed into my eyes. “Do you think you might find healing with…me?”

Vos had been so honest with me that his obvious reluctance to say what he’d had on the tip of his tongue made me squeeze his hand. What had he been about to say before he changed his mind? Do you think you might find healing with a monster?

Well, I’d already accepted his monstrous side, along with the side of him that cradled me like a treasure he was afraid to harm or lose. Maybe he was a monster, but he could be my monster, if he didn’t mind me being his.

“Yes,” I said, my voice quiet but firm. “I don’t think being a monster is bad. Doing monstrous things is . You have not done one monstrous thing since I met you, and my gut tells me you never will. I might not trust anyone or anything in the universe, but I trust my gut. And I trust you.” I ran my hand through his hair and cupped the back of his head. “I wanted to find beautiful and good, and I found you.”

His grave expression became a grin. Gods above and below, the sight of his mouthful of sharp, pointed teeth made my pussy wet and my nipples hard.

He inhaled deeply, first with his nose and then with his gills. They fluttered against my skin. And his tentacles swirled in the water again, but not in anger or agitation. All four of them traveled up my legs and arms, coiling around me and plucking at my skin, as if Vos was drinking in my taste and smell in every way he could.

Every little suck at my skin made my pussy clench and ache because he wasn’t filling it. And when I thought about the ways he might use those suckers on my most sensitive places, I felt myself gush for him.

“I cannot go back to how we were before,” he said, his voice rough. “I will not live under the same roof as if we were strangers. I will be yours. I will kill anything that poses a danger to you.”

“I will do the same.” I touched his lips with my fingertips. “Once I’m back on my feet. Until then, you’ll have to rely on Poe.”

He smiled at that—a sweet smile that had the same effect on my desire as his toothy one because it showed the goodness of his heart.

“Kiss me,” I said roughly. “Wrap me up in your beautiful tentacles and kiss me, please .”

He did as I asked without hesitation, his tentacles coiling around me everywhere: my arms, my torso, my legs, tasting and drinking me in. I had never felt so safe, so desired, so needed .

With another low rumble, he bent his head and pressed his lips to mine.