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Chapter Thirteen

Lunar Base

D rafe met Aehort’s gaze. The Ivoy knew and saw too much, as expected of a symbiote transfer. In the ambassador lounge, Drafe hovered behind him, studying every person eager to intrude.

“I apologize, Drafe, for not forewarning you.” Aehort bowed his head.

“She was…unexpected.” Drafe didn’t want to discuss Victoria Harper when he had just cooled his ardor. A slither of sadness remained though, as if he had lost an opportunity, missed out on something momentous.

“True connections are rare.” Aehort smiled at a passing server carrying a tray of colorful beverages. “If she were to appear before you now, what would you do?”

Every muscle in Drafe’s body tensed. His symbiotes sparked to life, rippling along his skin and receding his armor, leaving parts of him, for a moment, bare.

He laughed. No, she wasn’t a threat, despite having seen her fight on the holo.

Foq, such a woman had passion, strength, and self-discipline.

, Yet softness lingered in her hair, her skin, and the pliancy of her lips.

“I cannot abandon you a second time, Aehort.” Duty called. He scanned the room, watching twitching fingers and the pseudo-happiness offered with false flattery. “How much longer?”

“We have breached the humans’s database where they store their video footage, communication, military strategies, and stockpile locations.”

“Good.” Drafe rubbed his fingers along his thigh, needing to burn through this pent-up energy. The texture of the armor pressed into his bare skin. Sighing, he willed his symbiotes to calm but not to recede. A naked male in an alien station would not go down well.

Tyler strode toward him, his excited expression the most honest in the room. “I found her. Well, it has to be her. A Victoria Barnes signed up today on an ice hauler.”

Drafe beamed. “Excellent, Tyler.”

“Only thing is, they’re departing in a few hours. They’ve logged a delay. The station allows a few hours pro bono, but after three, they will be charged.”

Drafe didn’t care about costs. There was time to find her, to form some sort of communication path with her. Not that he knew if human technology was compatible with Ivoyan. “How do I reach her?”

Tyler grinned and waved a black strip. “Smart band.” He snapped it over Drafe’s wrist.

A buzz ran up Drafe’s arm while he studied the device.

“It’s powered by your body’s energy and connects with the closest available communication port.” Tyler raised his wrist to his lips and spoke into his matching band. “Meorri aac Drafe Arrak.”

Drafe tensed when a bolt shot up his arm. He gripped the band, preparing to rip it off him when Tyler’s voice emanated from it. Pausing, he uncapped his hand and tapped the flashing star. “Drafe.” He felt like an idiot and raised his gaze to meet Tyler’s.

“As simple as that. You mention her name on this, and it will try and find her.”

Excitement sparked a shift in Drafe’s posture, and he faced Aehort. The male inclined his head and strolled to the exit, trailing his Qaldreth warriors.

Drafe paused and pressed his lips to the device. Before he could say her name, a flash of color amid the grays and blacks of the guests caught his focus. Striding across the vast hall was Victoria, her gaze fixed on him, her garment baring more than covering.

Foq . His cooled ardor exploded into life. His symbiotes bounced and reverberated, exposing and armoring him. His hair rose, no longer draped down his back.

“Farg, Drafe, your eyes are glowing.” Tyler searched the room and chuckled. “Right, that’s my cue.”

Drafe spared him a glance. “Thank you for the assistance, Tyler. I am in your debt, and this should not be taken lightly.”

“Glad I could help. I’ll fall in with your warriors to ensure Aehort Uz is well-guarded.”

Drafe lowered his gaze to rest on the human male. “You are honorable and have earned my respect.”

“Drafe.” Vic’s rasping voice snapped his attention to her. “Am I intruding?”

“I need to escort my uz to the ship. Join me.”

She hesitated, sliced a glance at Aehort, then shifted closer to Drafe. “Are you sure you want me with you?”

“One warrior is good, two are better.”

She gasped and rested her hand on his chest for a moment. Color splashed her cheeks, but she said no more, just fell into step beside him.

“I am told you have a few hours to spare.” He scanned the crowds as they cut through them.

Aehort’s arrival was unexpected, so Drafe didn’t anticipate an attack.

Still, a Qaldreth warrior prepared for all scenarios.

The sun-drenched scent of her teased him, and he snuck a glance. He had not planned to meet her.

They crowded each other in an ascending box. Her arm brushed against him, and a thousand sparks exploded outward. With all his strength, he kept his gaze forward, his arms by his side. Soon enough, he would have her beneath him, her sweet essence engulfing him.

“This?” Ulvus gestured to Vic as they approached.

“None of your business,” Drafe growled, his glare warning Ulvus to back off.

“We will await your return. Meorri aac Ulvus Sava, escort me to my quarters.” Aehort met Drafe’s gaze, then captured Vic’s hand, pressing his palm to hers.

His eyes rolled back. He hummed. To her credit, she didn’t react and didn’t break the connection.

“You are most welcome, Victoria,” Aehort dropped his hand and strolled into the Aroagni .

“What was that?” She leaned against Drafe’s chest.

With eagerness, he looped an arm around her to keep her there. “Ivoyans are clairvoyant to some extent.” He buried his fingers in her silky strands tumbling down her back and tugged gently. “Where to?”

“I booked a hotel room.” Pulling out of his embrace despite his efforts to restrain her, she caught his hand and gestured to a double-door twenty meters away.

He didn’t look at the crowds or at the stalls. They could not hold his attention, but the sway of her hair brushing her ass… “I am pleased you found me.”

She cast a smile over her shoulder. “I was lucky to arrange this. My new employer surprised me by agreeing to help.”

“Help?” Drafe furrowed his brow.

“Yes, I want you.” Her laughter wrapped around his chest, squeezing the air out of him.

She hurried him through a predominantly red lounge and into another ascending box. Once it climbed, she dropped his hand and pinned her back to the side, watching him. Her stance was casual, not like her appraisal.

The urge to use her kiss on her was tempting, but if he started in this box, he doubted they’d make it to the room.

Stepping onto the level also carpeted in red, she strode ahead, paused outside a numbered door, and swiped her smart band over a white panel.

The door clicked open, and she sashayed in.

When he followed, he did not expect her to lift a leg to undo a boot.

Doing so exposed first a smooth thigh, then a scarred one.

Her tiny feet were delicate. Exposing them made her vulnerable.

That she did so freely meant more to him than she could know.

He growled and hurried to strip off his boots. Naked, his symbiotes retracting his armor, he burst forward and pinned her to the bulkhead. He pressed his lips to hers, savoring her flavor. When she swiped her tongue across his, his control crumbled.

Gripping his shoulders, she wrapped her legs around his hips and clung to him. A groan tore from him when she pressed her sex against his. Foq, he wasn’t strong enough to handle the temptation of her.

“Garment off, now.” His voice wasn’t his, sounding more like the mating call of a vasquva.

She laughed and tapped her shoulder. The garment dropped, pooling where their hips met, and revealing her breasts. “You don’t have nipples.”

“Males do not nurse babes.” He cupped a breast, relishing the peak of her nipple stabbing his palm while surrounded by exquisite softness.

She moaned, arching her back. Grabbing her ass, he hoisted her against him and strode to the bed. With one knee at a time, he crawled onto it, sprawling her beneath him. She reacted so foqing beautifully to his every touch.

“I want to please you, little one, but I need to learn how to.” He clenched his jaw when she rubbed her hot core against his hard koq. “Do not touch me until I have done so.”

She blinked at him, then nodded, lowered her legs, and raised her hands above her head.

He wished he could remember her like this forever, laid before him like a blessed offering from Osnir.

His hands trembled where he stroked her neck, over and around a quivering breast, along the hard yet silky dips of her ribbed stomach to the apex of her thighs.

So far, she was similar to a Qaldreth female.

“Allow me.”

“What?” she squeaked, resisted the nudge of his thumbs for a second then let him spread her legs.

He shifted back until he could nestle between her thighs, his nose an inch from her exposed sex.

“Foq, Vic, your human sex is like a cucooya blossom. Petals circle a tight bud holding the tree’s water.

I wonder…” Using his tongue, he parted her petals to reach the bud—as he would to a cucooya to capture a few droplets of dew.

The untamed, exotic taste of her burst across his senses.

“So good.” When he found the bud, he suckled.

Her cries and pleas drenched his ears. She thrust her hips to meet his tongue, her breath fluttering.

In his life, few things had brought him this much joy: the summer feast after a stark winter, when he had first held his father’s sword, securing his sister’s future, and this…

this female. He ached to bury himself in her, but unfamiliar with her species, he needed to explore a little more.

Not willing to cease suckling, tasting her, he slid a thumb along her thigh and under, encountering the slickness of her arousal.

He slipped a finger into a hole a little higher than a Qaldreth’s.

She moaned, gyrating her hips further.

Withdrawing his thumb, he extended his forefinger, testing the depth.

Osnir have mercy, she was tight…too tight, perhaps?

Inserting a second finger, he paused to smile.

She stretched, and with the additional stimulation, was rushing toward her pleasure without him.

If he judged the clamping along his fingers correctly.

Pulling away, he flipped her onto her knees and positioned his koq at her entrance. As he pushed into the silken heat, how well she squeezed him, was bliss he’d never imagined nor experienced.

“Foq, Vic, you are breathtaking.”