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I laugh quietly as I swipe my hand over the keypad to the door and it slides open. “Well…I think we had some things to discuss, didn’t we?”
He pulls away from the wall, lithe and muscular, and follows me into my room. It’s peaceful here; water trickles in a decorative waterfall into the bathing pool in the corner, kept in place by artificial gravity, while a big circular bed occupies the far wall. It looks a lot like my room on the Naiad, with a touch of Alamancian design: ironwood accents and a shower stall for when there’s no time for a bath. It’s more like a spa than a warship…if there were mounted guns outside the windows of a spa.
Orion doesn’t speak, his talons barely making a sound against the floor. I don’t know how he does it; he’s huge, but somehow silent. “I expected you to come after me today when I ran off,” I say. “Thank you for letting me go on my own.”
His clawed hands rest on my shoulders and I suck in a breath at his sudden proximity. “You’ve gotten out of far worse situations than a little dust-up with planetary security,” he says. “I trust your judgment.”
“Sometimes I think you’re the only one who does,” I breathe. I stand still as he drags his hands forward to the clasp of my armor, beginning to deftly unhook the clasps down my torso. I’m not wearing anything underneath—the Merati aren’t big believers in underwear, even if I sometimes insist on wearing them for nostalgia’s sake—and my chest quakes with anticipation. I always love the way this man undresses me, slowly and methodically.
“You don’t hold to convention,” he says. “That doesn’t make you any less effective as a queen. In fact, I think the Merati could benefit from fresh blood.”
“I’m inclined to agree,” I say. I gasp when he pops open the third clasp on my top, revealing my cleavage. Orion drags a single claw over my breast, knowing I like the sharp zing of just a bit of pain, before continuing with the clasps. “I wish the others saw it that way instead of thinking I’m just…inexperienced.”
“You’re learning how to wield your power,” he says. The tough leather of my shirt parts as he undoes the last clasp, and I roll my shoulders back so he can peel it off me. My nipples pebble at the sound of a satisfied rumble in his chest, his claws twirling around my breasts. “These are growing pains any seasoned warrior would recognize—finding your style, your strength.”
“But I’m not a warrior,” I say.
“Youare,” he says. “You merely wieldother warriorsinstead of weapons.”
Orion turns me to face him before dropping to his knees, looking up at me through slitted pupils. I used to think he was so strange, but now…now I just think he’s beautiful, in a terrifying, feral kind of way. “So, my queen,” he says. “How will you wield me tonight?”
“Keep undressing me while I think about it,” I whisper.
I put my hands on top of his head as he unlaces the front of my pants, somehow not slashing through the leather cords with his claws. The frill on his skull flares slightly, and I run my fingers along it, feeling the way the soft tissue flutters. He’s sensitive here—and velvety smooth compared to the cool steel of his scales. “I don’t know how you manage to be so gentle when your whole body is a weapon,” I murmur as he pulls my pants down. I shudder when he presses his snout to my inner thigh, his tongue flicking out over my bare flesh.
“Practice,” he growls. “Discipline. You’ll learn that, too.”
“But I want to learnnow,” I say. “I feel so…ah!”
The gasp slips past my lips as he runs his tongue over the folds of my pussy, making me thrust my hips toward him. “Patience,” he says. “Repetition.”
He does it again and I grasp his head tightly. “Fuck,” I whisper. “If I can learn how to rule like you fuck me, I think I’ll have it covered.”
Orion laughs, his breath puffing against my skin and sending a shiver down my spine. “That takes gentleness and subtlety.”
“But you know I like it rough.”
His eyes flicker up to me, his hands on the backs of my thighs. “Is that so?”
I don’t even have a chance to answer before he’s pulled my feet out from under me, and my breath comes out in a rush when my back hits the floor. He cushions my fall with his tail, lowering me down and then crawling over me. I’m completely naked while he’s fully clothed, and the dynamic of it makes my head swim. He’s constantly giving me all the power, then snatching it back with sharp claws.
The way he seduces me is dizzying.
“Youare soft and delicate in a way Mlok females are not,” he growls, his tongue flicking over the shell of my ear. “I’ve had to learn to be gentle with you…not to grip you with my claws, or to use my teeth.”
“What if I want you to?”
“I would only do so if you asked,” he says. “But you might bleed.”
I take a sharp breath, staring into those alien eyes. And I see something in them that I don’t think I’ve ever noticed before.
He cares about me. This isn’t just lust. Not just respect.
Care.
“Do it,” I say.
His claws bite into my thighs and I cry out, arching my back. Then his teeth are at my throat, grazing just slightly–not enough to hurt me, but enough to show me he could. The fact that he wouldn’t somehow makes it all that much better.
