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 anew 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.”
23: Zariah
I wake hours later and giggle inside my mind, floating in the euphoria of mating with Elix. He’s still glowing where he lies curled up around me. The memory of taking his engorged cock and how much I had to stretch to accept all of him makes me wet all over again.
He doesn’t strut his skills like Ginarigons. But I suppose it’s because he doesn’t have to make up for what he’s lacking with false advertising.
“Are you always going to glow like that?” I ask.
“I don’t know. But it seems to be dimming.” He props his head up beside me in our nest. “My core is quiet now. The light and my core’s heat seem to be linked.”
