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“Waiting uplink from Captain Varik Otorol. Do you accept?”the AI whispered in her mind and Stacey nodded.
“Yes,” she whispered.
“Please wait.”
It felt like a second and an eternity as she waited but when Varik’s warm voice brushed through her mind it was worth waiting for her, like the touch of a lover.
“Stacey,” he rasped.
“Varik? What is this?” She was extremely confused. Why the hell was Varik giving her a private comm implant. They were not only very expensive, but they were very hard to get ahold of as their use was highly regulated.
His sigh brushed over her nerves. “I know that this is highly unusual and very illegal, but I must beg that you forgive me. I had to do something to make sure that you would be able to reach out to me at any time if you are in danger. Especially considering this foolishness that the prince insists upon.”Another heavy sigh rolled through her. “If only I could just steal you from all of this.”
That… was unexpected. So why did it make her heart leap gleefully as if it wanted to burst out of her chest? It seemed so unlikely and could have easily been some cruel joke or charade to get something from her but oh, she wanted to believe it.
“Why can’t you,” she replied in a quiet voice, scarcely able to believe what she was hearing. He wanted to take her away! Then what was stopping him?
“It is impossible.”The grim note in his voice made her heart sink. “Kaidava has highly restricted shuttle flight and Gaix is the only identity signature on the shuttle as it is his private vessel. For some reason, he insisted on loading it onto my ship before we left Caysta and insisted that we bring it down to the planet. I assumed because it was loaded with his personal luxury goods of which he enjoyed copiously upon our descent but I suspect it was also to give him complete control over our departure from Kaidava—beyond what his station should have already guaranteed him.”
“Do you think he suspected that some of us are going to try to escape?” She spoke with a voice barely at a whisper but was relieved that he seemed to hear her just fine. It occurred to her then that she probably didn’t need to speak out loud at all but thinking at him just felt too weird for her.
“No. He is too cocky. He does not believe that anyone would be capable of it. He is effectively trapping us all here which seems to point to a different purpose that I do not yet understand. But even if we could get off this planet that would not be the end of our trouble.Acasai Horinthiwould possibly shoot us out of the sky and even if she accepted the docking commands and the crew allowed us onboard if there are enough rebellion sympathists among my crew as some of my officers recently suggested, the ship has widescale tracking integrations. We would be found no matter where we went.”
“Fuck.”
“Quite.” A soft growl stirred through her mind.“Gods preserve me. Dealing with a fiendish prince and now this. It tortures me more than I thought it would. Hearing your voice and not being able to touch you is an unbearable torment. How I miss you, blossom.”
She blinked rapidly, a warmth curling through her as she quickly waved away an approaching server. “You do?”
“More than anything. This is shockingly a very real pain. My need for you consumes me. Not just a physical need but a need to be beside you and share all of your days with you so that I do not miss another one of your smiles.”He scoffed quietly. “Gaix thinks that they are his smiles, but every single one is mine and I am discovering that I am a possessive male.”
“I miss you, too.”
It was nothing more than four little words and yet they hung between them with a weight that brought with it a pregnant pause.
“Come to me,” he growled.
Stacey glanced around uncertainly. “Where?”
“Just follow my directions closely.”
ChapterFifteen
Stacey slipped among the small labyrinth of shops and food establishments, following Varik’s very specific instructions to the letter. The sights, smells and bustle of the shoppers taking a break from the intense heat of the shore created a busy and high energy atmosphere. She suspected quite a few locals took advantage of the tightly enclosed market around the resort to sell and buy goods, even if it meant paying fees to do so, but it was such a confusing melee of people that she wouldn’t have been able to differentiate between the guests of the resort and local inhabitants. Not that she had any intention of seeking anyone out—not now. Any temptation to seek anyone out had mostly dried up with the realization that it wasn’t just Kadesh males looking for a mate that she would have to worry about—but guests with an itch to scratch.
The latter actually worried her more. With how flexible the laws on Kaidava were because of the mate-stealing practices of its native populace, it seemed that travelers were more than happy to take advantage of it to suit their purposes and make any claim. A nervous shiver ran through her, but it rapidly faded and was replaced by a pulsing warmth and tremor of excitement as she turned down a narrow path between two buildings at Varik’s whispered instruction.
Varik. They were pulled irresistibly to each other even though this thing between them wasn’t good for either of them. He couldn’t help her and yet he endangered his own position and likely his life for being with her. Hell, she was endangering her life as well but then her plans to escape alone was a death sentence but using what little time she had to meet him rather than working on a way off Kaidava seemed especially foolish. That they seemed unable to help but to orbit each other, drawn continuously by the gravity of their attraction, seemed to make such risks inconsequential, however. It simply just was, and she was rushing forward headlong into that pull.
Stacey’s steps slowed as the shadows thickened, the hair on the back of her neck prickling. There was a subtle sound of something shifting behind her and two thick arms burst from the darkness to wrap tightly around her. A startled shout rose quickly to her lips but she choked it back and fell silent with a soft sigh at the sound of her captor’s voice in her ear.
“Shh, little blossom. I have you.”
“Varik, you scared the shit out of me,” she whispered and tried to turn only to have her effort foiled by his tightening grip.
“No. Stay like this. This is perfect,” he rasped, slowly drawing a hand along her belly as the other migrated north toward her breast. “You are softer that the finest silk of the double winged parsina on Lorgoon’s golden coasts.” He lowered his head, his nose nuzzling her neck, dragged in a deep breath, and growled. “And your scent is twice as addictive as the most prized flowers.”
His long tongue stroked along her neck and the sensation lit up through her. She swore she could feel it in every intimate place. He palmed her breast, stroking it and pinching the tip with a rhythmic fascination. He drew his mouth back so that the tip of his tongue teased her sensitive skin before descending once more to suck amorously over her pulse as his other hand delved beneath her skirt and into her underwear to lightly squeeze her clit between two knuckles in a small stroking motion. Her hips lifting into his touch, she gasped and reached back for him, her hands fumbling until suddenly his thick tail swept across her middle. Far thicker than a Calysii tail, it was also slightly flat on the sides rather than perfectly round which made wonder at its evolutionary purpose. The lower part of the tail also boasted another noticeable difference—flattened, webbed spines that twitched as she clung to his tail’s hot length. The scales under her hand were slightly coarser and thicker than the ones of his torso that had pressed intimately against her at their last meeting. Gaix tail had been round, thinner and tapered to a long, whip-like tip that felt exactly how it looked whenever it energetically slapped against her ass on the occasions that she hadn’t been able to avoid mounting him. She’d hated his tail, but Varik’s tail was something else. It was thick down most of its length before tapering into a blunted tip was a little thicker than her thumb.
