Page 12 of Space Vampire (Scared Sexy Collection #4)

Epilogue

Vlad

Four Months Later

I t feels strange to step out of the tiny pod that’s been our home for months now and onto the open docks of Cassa II.

It’s full dark currently, the skies above littered with stars and swirling nebula.

There’s a ring around the moon that can be seen clearly from here, and the moonlight is bright enough that Dana should be able to see well enough with her bad human eyes.

A cold breeze ruffles my now-long hair, and I pull my hood over my face, shocked at the scent in the night air. It smells like ... water. Ice water.

And everything is so open .

I look to Dana, moving instinctively closer to my mate to protect her. All of this openness makes me uneasy. “Are you all right?”

She just tilts her head back and breathes in deep, the tip of her nose bright pink with cold. The expensive vase is cradled in her arms, wrapped in a blanket. “Never been better. You okay?”

I nod.

“Great, then follow me.” Dana takes my hand in hers, and, our cold fingers entwined, we head toward a large male approaching with a datapad in hand.

He’s wearing a dock uniform, a light strapped to his helmet.

He’s no alien race I’ve ever seen before, but the look on his face isn’t unfriendly.

He’s the one we’ve been talking to for a week now, arranging the bribes so we can get a homesteading stake here on Cassa II.

Dana’s been wrangling everything from afar, and her expression is confident as she strides forward.

I’ve got the bag of credits and valuables slung over my shoulder; just in case things go wrong, they’ll have to fight me to get them.

“Dana and Vlad?” the male asks.

“That’s us,” Dana replies. “You Vargis?”

He nods and glances around, then holds a pair of hard electronic chips, each the size of one of Dana’s freckles, out to us.

“These are your implants. They’ll have your identities and your request for a land stake to the north of here, just as we agreed.

” The man pauses. “It’s cold here, and this far north, it’s dark a lot more than it’s sunny. ”

“We like the dark,” Dana says firmly.

“Good,” Vargis says. “Insert those at the tip of your forefinger, and let’s get you checked in. You brought the funds?”

I gesture at the sack over my shoulder. Dana holds up the vase, letting the blanket fall away.

The man’s eyes glitter with greed, and something tells me we aren’t the first—and won’t be the last—to work the same sort of deal. “Then let’s get you settled.”

Dana just looks up at me, her eyes shining. “Welcome home, Vlad.”

Home. I think for a moment, and then lean down and rub my nose against my mate’s cold one. “I’ve been home since the moment I met you.”

She mouths, I love you , and I kiss her because those are the rules.