AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The chirp of the comm wakes me from my slumber. I reach out a hand to slap the insistent pinging into silence before pulling a sleepy Cora back against my chest and burying my face in her silky tresses.
All is quiet, calm, as I drift off—
Ping! Ping! Ping!
My eyes fly open, my jaw clenching in irritation. All I want is to stay here and sleep the morning away wrapped around my mate's warm body.
"You should answer that." Cora rolls over, snuggling her face between my pectorals. "It's probably Qhix."
Her lithe arm encircles my waist in a loose embrace and there's nothing Qhix or whoever is on the other end of the comm has to say that's more important then savoring this moment of solitude with my mate.
Ping! Ping! Ping!
"Bliking dund!" I curse, reluctantly untangling myself from Cora to snatch the comm from the bedside table. Only her lilting giggle keeps me from crushing the device in my bruising grip.
"Don't break it, silly," she gently chastises me. "Maybe it's good news."
I roll to my back, dragging Cora's delectable body onto my chest. Her slight form fits snugly against me, her soft curves conforming to my muscles like a second skin.
"It had better be," I grouch, and she giggles.
"What is it?" I answer, my gruffness somewhat tempered.
"Behtu, the bliker, beat me to it," Qhix grumbles. "The bounty on your head has been eliminated."
Cora's body stiffens in my arms. I would have thought the news of Warden Hyt's demise would come as a relief. Instead, there's tension radiating off her.
"Where and when does he want to meet for the exchange?" I instinctively smooth my hand over Cora's back, offering comfort.
"Vrut's third moon, Xea, in two hours."
Now it's my turn to tense. So little time is left with my starfire. With the bounty lifted from my head, so is the reason for keeping Cora safe on Zeva. And I must return her to her home.
"Two hours," I grit out. "Tell Behtu I will see him them."
"Very well, brother," Qhix ends the call and it's all I can do not to hurl the comm across the room.
I set the comm aside and pull Cora tighter to me, not ready to let her go. Closing my eyes, I drop my face into her silken strands and inhale deeply of her scent. She squeezes me in return, and I entertain the idea that she wants to stay with me as badly as I want her to.
My chest constricts and aches with an unbearable acuteness as I taste a glimpse of the loneliness that is to come with her departure. Cora does not belong here. She was unjustly stolen from her world, and deserves to be returned there safely. A task I will see through to the end no matter how much it pains me.
I will live up to my end of our bargain as she has hers.
"We should get moving if we are to meet Behtu on time." I begrudgingly break the silence. "We can travel to Etto from there, trade my ship for a vessel with a cloaking device."
"Then to Earth?" she asks, her arms tightening around me.
"Yes," I somberly whisper into the morning air. "I will honor my half of our bargain and return you home."
Cora scoots to the edge of the bed, her head hangs, and her delicate frame trembles in a way that worries me. I knew I was too rough with her during our last mating.
"You're hurting," I hiss through clenched teeth, my sivot shrinking in shame.
Her response is a single, anguished whisper. "Yes."
"It's my fault." I scramble off the bed and drop to my knees before her. "I should not have been so rough with you, starfire."
Her eyes bright with unshed tears, she searches my face in confusion. "I've only ever found pleasure at your hands, Navik."
