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She turned her head and, ignoring the tiny voice in her head telling her to run, nuzzled him back. Oh, wow. He smelled good.
Then he kissed her for real, a human-style kiss, his lips firm and demanding. She was lost in his arms as waves of desire crashed over her.
Ulrek
Ulrek couldn’t believe it. Delaney was kissing him back while he held her in his arms. It was a small victory and most likely short-lived, but he savored it anyway. The little female was just as sweet as he’d imagined, proving once again that the ones with the most fire were the sweetest on the inside.
Ulrek wanted to tame that fire—only temporarily, because even he knew that fire was untameable. Then it would burn brighter than ever before. Those who believed in the Stars considered fire the balance between life and death. Just as the fire of the stars brings forth life on the planets, it could also turn everything to ash on a whim.
Those raised in Dominion space and fed the Goddess’ teachings, like him, were supposed to find such beliefs primitive and laughable. But Ulrek knew better. He’d seen the best-engineered ships consumed by flames. Only those who were brainless…or brainwashed…would ever disrespect fire.
He groaned as his hand explored her body, stopping for a moment at her ass. It was a perfect handful, and Ulrek couldn’t help himself. He gave it a gentle squeeze, and Delaney melted against him.
Sliding a hand into her hair, Ulrek grabbed a handful of the silky strands as he tilted her head and devoured her, his tongue parting her lips and delving inside. She whimpered into his mouth, the sound soft and needy.
Stars, he wanted to explore every single inch of her.
Kissing mouth-to-mouth wasn’t a Tallean thing, although they did kiss everywhere else on the body. But Ulrek rather enjoyed this odd human custom; he viewed it as a glimpse of things to come when he lavished attention on more intimate parts of her body.
Emil’s voice came over the intercom. “Ulrek,” he said in English, “there are two idiots poking around the hangar.”
Delaney bolted up ramrod straight, almost bashing her lips against his sharp teeth, and Ulrek pulled away immediately. He chided himself for getting distracted by the delectable female. With her in his arms, he’d completely forgotten about his concern that they might be followed back to the ship.
“Let me get Delaney set up in the greenroom,” Ulrek replied, trying to sound business as usual. “Then we’ll go investigate.”
They went to the greenroom, and he opened the portal. The muggy humidity rolled out in a sheet, and Delaney made a gagging sound.
“Jesus! What the—” She waved her hand in front of her face to dissipate the steam. “You were not kidding about this place being messed up.” She frowned. “Crap, I don’t have my tools with me.”
“The old technician left his set in the storage room inside.”
“Has this been linked to your ship’s air filtration system the entire time? Because if it is, you need to disconnect it yesterday.” She gathered her hair in her hands, smoothed it up into a ponytail, and tied it with a thin elastic she had on her wrist.
“No. We cut it off from the system when it started to get bad. And I turned off the water to it, though it still gets light.” Ulrek didn’t think this place needed any more water.
“Good. I don’t smell any dangerous bacteria, but that’s swampy as ass.”
Ulrek grimaced at the description.
“Can your system vent it out of the ship? Not all systems can, and I doubt your old tech has a mask to fit my face.”
“Our system can, yes. I’ll do it from the bridge and leave the door open for you.”
“Thanks. I’ll need to wait for the air to clear before I go inside, but I’ll get started as soon as possible.” She almost looked excited to face the challenge.
“If this is too much of a mess for you to diagno—” Ulrek started, taking advantage of this new side of Delaney.
She held up a palm. “Pfft, I can do this.”
Ulrek held his hands up in surrender. “Good. If you need anything, the common room is down that hall and around the corner. Tuhror will be there.”
Then, before he could get sucked into kissing or nuzzling her again, Ulrek turned and left. He headed to the bridge first to vent the greenroom, then went in search of his comm specialist and part-time navigator.
Emil met him at the ship’s entrance. Cage was there too; the human was as big as a Tallean male. He wasn’t too bright, but reliable in a fight and fiercely loyal. Together, the three stepped out into the hangar to find the intruders.
Chapter 9
Delaney
