“Any females?”
“Not interested in my kind.” All I want is to hold her and feel her, know she is safe and with me again, finally. “You?”
She shakes her head, then paces away and back toward me.
My cock swells. The need to collect her in my arms and take her cuts through my thoughts. I try to block out the idea byfocusing on our reality: she’s not honest about her shipments, her family are known criminals, and I’m the law.
I’ve pieced together reports and images from spacecams over the years, enough to know she heads into some very dangerous territory. And because I now work as private security for hire, certified with the Terran Federal Defense Department, I would have to report her if I knew or be sentenced for conspiring with a criminal. If I got caught, I’d become unable to help those who need my skills. My core and my duties are at odds with each other.
“Maybe soon.” Zariah doesn’t sound thrilled.
A defensive urge boils in me. “Have you been forced into a union?”
“What? No.” She slumps against a support pillar. “But I do have to go soon.”
“What for?” I’m confused by her statements and only half-listen, distracted by the smoothness of her skin and the way it seems to glow under the lights illuminating the corridor.
Zariah produces the paper from her pocket. “Mom’s last gift.”
I watch as she turns it over in her scratched-up fingers. Her pulse drops. I watch the vein in her neck, isolate the sound, and memorize thethump-thumpof her heartbeat. She blinks and sucks on a bleeding lip.
Eager for an excuse to touch her again, I motion to a nearby metal crate. “Why don’t you sit for a second and let me patch you up a bit?”
She sighs and slumps down. “My shuttle leaves soon.”
I pull out my medkit and find the dermal rapid repair gel and sanitizing wipes. “This will sting.”
“I know.” She leans back against a storage rack of parts and tools. “My StarBuster is getting really tired.”
“Still haven’t upgraded?” I clean her knuckles, then dab the healing gel on the cuts.
“Can’t afford to.”
When her knuckles are healing, I tear open another cleaning wipe and reach up to dab at her lip. I don’t want to cause her pain. Even though I kneel before her, I have to crouch a little more to inspect her fully.
I could heal her flesh with one kiss.
Her scent makes the back of my neck tingle. It’s formulating a custom repair serum. It’s the very serum Terrans based the original dermal repair patches with, and the one thing that makes me one of the most vulnerable beings in the universe. Everyone wants a dose.
“Elix?”
I force myself to swallow the serum and inch back. “I’m sorry, again.”
She sucks air in through her teeth when I clean her lip. Zariah’s eyes roll upward with her groan. “That’s what I get for pulling on a stuck door—it breaking loose and smacking me in the face.”
I want to make moan in pleasure instead of pain. I owe her everything. But it’s the very center of me that knows she’s supposed to be mine.
Every bone in me wants to bond with her, protect her, stay with her. It’s agonizing to shut out my desires and medically treat her the human way, instead. But she is the daughter of a terror to this galaxy, one I have tried to take down many times.
As I portion a bit of healing gel onto my finger and reach for her lip, her gaze meets mine. I’ve never really had physical contact with her before today. Her soft thumb glides over a scar on the side of my face. “What’s happened to you?”
The feeling of her skin against mine brings me to my knees. She is a small, plump human who carries a power I wish I understood. I can’t think when she touches me.
I gingerly brace her wrist. “I’m fine. Every injury has healed.”Even if my core is broken.
My entire being heats as I carefully dab the gel on her skin. The way her plush mouth shifts beneath my fingertip has my cock pulsing with need.
I close my eyes to shut her out but breathe in the warm air around her, laced with her addicting musk. I map the notes of her in that inhale. It’s not defined by lotions, perfumes, or oils. I isolate her natural fragrance from the gear grease—the detailedfleshlyfragrance of her. I will never forget it. I can’t. I haven’t since our first meeting, but now I have a fresh memory to hang on to when I am alone again.
