by Tamsin Ley
Looking defeated, Lisa leaned against her mate’s chest. Qaiyaan wrapped an arm around her shoulders. He nodded his head toward the catwalk. “Go on up to the med bay, then. I’ll have Kashatok assemble his crew for a debrief in an hour.”
Mek nodded. “Good idea. I should examine both Noatak and Marlis.”
Marlis gave Noatak a worried look. “Noatak used his powers several times to help us escape. Make sure he’s okay.”
It felt strange to have someone so deeply and personally concerned for him, but it also felt good to know Marlis was by his side. Qaiyaan and the rest of his iluq cared for him, but with her, it felt different. He wasn’t entirely sure if that made him stronger or weaker, but he no longer cared. He wanted her at his side every moment of every day for the rest of his life, however long or short it might be. And if Mek could harvest his nanites to fix Marlis, Noatak’d take back every bad thought he’d ever had about Ellam Cua’s sense of humor.
He took Marlis’s hand. “We’ll get checked out together.”
They followed Mek to the med bay. Noatak closed the door behind them, then took a deep breath and turned to face them both. “I was injected with the nanites.”
Both Mek and Marlis gasped. Marlis said, “Why didn’t you say something?”
“I didn’t want to get your hopes up without Mek’s input.”
The creases around Mek’s eyes deepened. “Why would Syndicorp inject you with the very things we were looking for? Is it a trap?”
That was something Noatak hadn’t even considered, but a trap didn’t feel right. Dollard had definitely not intended Noatak to escape with the things. “I don’t think so. Apparently, their design was based on the Denaidan ionic system, and the dude went crazy about actually having one of us to test.”
Mek shook his head as if coming out of a daze and moved to his cabinets. “Let’s take a look.”
After a brief scan, the doctor nodded. “You’re full of nanites all right.” He tapped his lips with a finger. “I don’t know why I never thought of using ourselves as hosts. Are you feeling any of the side effects Lisa and Joy experienced?”
Noatak shook his head and readjusted his perch on the exam table. “Nope. Just a surge in my ionic strength.”
“But you said they turned Doug into a cyborg.” Marlis’s voice was strained. “Will they do the same thing to you?”
Mek’s eyes widened. “A cyborg? That makes so much sense!” He turned and began pulling items from the cabinets. “Joy’s nanites interacted with her camera implant in an unexpected way, attaching themselves to her nervous system. What if the nanites are attracted to computer hardware? They were designed to create cyber awareness, after all. And it would explain why Joy had a much less severe reaction than Lisa, who has no implants.”
“I don’t have any implants, either,” Noatak pointed out. “What happens to me?”
Rubbing his jaw, Mek looked over his scanner readings. “I’m going to have to do a bit more study. But there does seem to be some good news.” He met Noatak’s gaze. “Your ionic levels are up forty-nine percent. The nanites appear to be repairing your system.”
Noatak let out a shuddering breath. “So Dollard wasn’t lying.”
“This is a quite a breakthrough,” Mek muttered, pulling a syringe from a drawer. “Roll onto your side. I need a physical sample.”
Complying, Noatak endured several needle pokes, three more scans, and Qaiyaan knocking on the door wondering if everything was all right before Mek told him he could sit up. “Your system is self-regulating nanite levels in the same fashion we do ionic waste. The nanites won’t need to be purged from your system, and you won’t need cybernetic implants. You’re the perfect host.”
Noatak let out a sigh of relief. “Will I be able to provide a supply for mates?”
“Even better,” Mek said. “I should’ve seen this connection before. The nanites alter human synaptic material to mimic our ionic system. It’s what allows them to become compatible mates. Implanted in a Denaidan, they appear to modulate the ionic system in a way that will allow us to engage in sexual intercourse without being deadly to humans. Our mates won’t need the nanites.”
Marlis gripped Noatak’s hand, turning to grin at him. “We can be together.”
He smiled, loving her enthusiasm, but there was one thing she’d forgotten. He looked at Mek. “Can they fix Marlis’s brain damage?”
“Oh, yeah.” Marlis turned to the doctor expectantly.
Mek pressed his lips together, gaze meeting Marlis’s. “The nanites may be able to heal you, but you’d still need to be purged.” His gaze flicked to Noatak. “And mating with Noatak will no longer deactivate them.”
“Uminaq.” The expletive was out before Noatak could stop it.
Marlis bowed her head. “You’re right about Ellam Cua’s sense of humor.”
He let out a shaky breath and relaxed his grip on her hand. “I don’t blame you if you take them.” He was no longer going to die, but he was going to live in pain watching Marlis mate with another Denaidan. As long as she’s happy.
He was surprised to feel her fingers tighten around his. “I don’t want them if it means I can’t have you.” Then her grip slackened and her brows raised. “Unless you don’t want a Weapons Specialist with memory problems.”
The tightness in his chest released with a whoosh. She would give up healing just to be with him? He couldn’t let her do that. But then, who was he to say what she could and couldn’t do? He raised her hand to his lips and pressed a kiss against her knuckles. “I love you just the way you are. Your mind is beautiful, memory lapses and all. But I would never ask you to give up healing. The choice has to be yours.”
Color flooded back into her face and she smiled. “I’ve lived with this problem most of my life and managed to survive. But I’m going to miss Twerp more than ever.”
He pulled her close. “I’ll buy you a new AI if you’d like. I have plenty of cash saved from our previous jobs.”
“We can talk about it.” She raised her chin until her mouth was within kissing distance. “Right now, all I need is you, Noatak.”
He’d never imagined a moment more full of promise than this one. “And I need you, Marlis.”
“All right, all right,” Mek interrupted. “This is a med bay, not a honeymoon suite. Marlis should take some time to think about this. In fact, I’m going to have to insist. Besides, at the moment, there’s a group of men waiting to hear your report.”
Planting a resounding kiss on Marlis’s lips, Noatak rose from the exam table. The doc was right. Marlis needed to be absolutely certain before she made the choice, and he’d waited fifteen years for her. What was a few more days? But for the first time in over fifteen years, he actually had no doubts. Marlis was his. She would choose him and he would cherish her all the rest of their days.
Chapter Twenty-One
Marlis looked in the mirror as Emmy ran a comb over her hair. Behind them, Lisa and Joy rummaged through a closet. The women’d taken over the captain’s quarters and the private bathroom there, insisting on pampering Marlis before tonight. Tonight, Marlis thought, her heart racing with excitement. It felt like she’d been waiting for years. Mek had insisted she take time to talk with Emmy before making her final decision, but Marlis had never doubted her choice. She’d lived with her memory issues most of her life. She could continue to live with them if that’s what it took to be with Noatak.
“After this, you’ll be bonded for life,” Emmy said for what felt like the millionth time, almost as if she needed to convince herself more than Marlis. “I hope you’re sure about this.”
Marlis smiled at her friend. “You know I am.”
Lisa turned from the closet holding a low-cut negligee. Turned out Qaiyaan loved to buy her clothing, and she had a closet full of items that’d never been worn. She held the garment toward Marlis. “How about this one?”
Marlis waved away the negligee. “This is a waste of time. He’s just going to rip
everything off me, anyway.”
Emmy dabbed pale pink blush across Marlis’s cheeks. “This is the final first time you’ll ever have—with anyone. Every inch of you should feel special.”
“And men love this stuff,” Lisa added, now holding out a scrap of pink lace Marlis took a moment to recognize as panties.
“I prefer my gun belt.” Marlis wrinkled her nose and shook her head.
Lisa laughed and held up a matching bra. “I’m not opposed to a little BDSM, but an actual gun might be a bit over the top.”
“All right, enough, guys.” Joy straightened from where she’d been leaning against the closet door. The engineering coveralls she wore were more to Marlis’s liking than the pyrelux silk overflowing Lisa’s closet. “This is her wedding night. Let her wear what she wants.”
Marlis shot her a grateful look and dropped her robe, ready to don her standard issue shirt and trousers. Pausing, she glanced once more at the lace dangling from Lisa’s fingers. She didn’t usually wear pink, but what if the ladies were right? She sighed and snatched up the undergarments before marching into the bathroom to change. Behind her, the women giggled. The bra felt strange and wildly unsupportive, but she wouldn’t be wearing it long, so she stuffed herself into it, slipped her arms into her shirt and buttoned it up the front. Noatak was in for a surprise, and she had to admit, that was a little thrilling.
Returning to the main cabin, she turned a small circle for the ladies. “Good?”
“Perfect,” Joy said, while Emmy nodded with encouragement. Lisa raised her brows and shrugged, but used the comm to let Noatak know Marlis was on her way.
Thanking her new friends, Marlis left the captain’s cabin, excitement tingling along all her nerves. Had the men doted over Noatak the same way the ladies had over her? It felt really weird to have so many people’s attention on her for what felt to her like a very private event. But she supposed these men had good reason to celebrate each and every mating.
She passed Tovik in the corridor; his grin was wide enough to split his face. From any other guy, she might’ve thought it creepy, but from Tovik, it just felt enthusiastically supportive. He gave her a thumbs-up. “You look great, Marlis.”
“Thanks, Tovik.” She smiled back, feeling better about his compliment than she had about any of the women’s.
Reaching Noatak’s door, she found it open, the scent of naujiar flowers drifting into the hall. At a glance inside, her jaw dropped. He stood facing the door with a grimace, his bed covered in petals and the lights turned sultry and low. She arched a brow. “I didn’t think you were the flowers and candy type.”
His face flushed blue-green. “Tovik insisted. Do you hate it?”
With a laugh, she moved forward. “It’s lovely. Everyone is being so attentive.”
He bent to his desk and pulled out a flat, rectangular box. It was wrapped in plain paper. “I couldn’t get you a new AI yet, but I got you this.”
She bit her lip. “Are we supposed to exchange gifts? No one told me.”
“No.” He shook his head. “Just open it.”
Her heart full to overflowing, she ripped aside the paper and tipped open the box. Inside rested two shining new E-11 pistols. Covering her heart with one hand, she whispered, “They’re beautiful.”
“I know you lost yours on the mission.” He moved to her side and lifted one from the box. “A matched set.”
She ran her fingertips over the barrel then took it from him and set everything aside. “Just like us. I love it.” She wrapped both her arms around his neck. “Thank you.”
He smiled and pulled her close. “My pleasure.”
“Not yet,” she said, her mouth twisting into a wicked grin.
The hunger in his gaze caused an immediate flush of warmth between her legs. Slowly, he lowered his face to hers, his tongue running hotly across her lips before he sealed the kiss. Fire sprang up at his touch and she tightened her hold, tangling her tongue with his.
After a few moments, he pulled back, lifting both hands to cup her face. “How did I get to be so lucky?”
She smiled up into his face. “You took a chance. You trusted me.”
“I vow to trust you until the day I die.”
Marlis felt tears prick her eyes. That was the most powerful thing he could’ve said. Him trusting her. Her trusting herself. “And I vow to do the same.”
Reaching for the top button of her shirt, she flicked it open. His gaze slid from her eyes to her chest, and she let her head fall back, exposing her throat as she slowly undid the rest of the buttons. He ran his thumb over her collarbone, making a small noise as she exposed her lace bra.
Her nipples puckered beneath the fabric. “Do you like it?”
He placed a palm flat over her heart and slid his fingertips beneath the lace, cupping her sensitive flesh. “Indeed. But I think it needs to come off.”
She arched her back, loving the heat of his hand against her. He reached around and released the undergarment’s clasp. She shimmied her arms out of her shirt, letting it fall to the floor behind her while he slipped her bra’s shoulder straps loose. Breasts free and skin bare to his gaze, she felt as if every millimeter of her body was crackling with static electricity waiting for release.
“My Marlis,” he said as he ducked his head to one nipple, his tongue rolling over the tip.
Letting out a sigh of pleasure, she ran both hands over his hair and down his shoulders, bunching the fabric of his shirt in her fingers. “I’m not going to be the only one naked this time.”
Lightning quick, he released her nipple, ripped the buttons open, and flung his shirt aside. She only had a momentary glimpse of his chest and abs, the hard copper planes glinting in the dim cabin lights, before he’d latched onto her once more. His hands kneaded her waist, then moved to her fly. “These, too.”
While he unfastened her waistband, she studied his chest and abs, fingertips tracing the definition of his muscular biceps. He was the most gorgeous man she’d ever seen, and she loved knowing she would touch and love these planes and ridges all the rest of her days.
He shoved her pants down around her hips so she stood in only her pink lace panties. His eyes glinted as he traced the top edge along her hipbone. “Didn’t think you were the lace type.”
“The ladies insisted you’d like it.” She felt self-conscious but refused to shy away.
“It’s nice.” He met her gaze with a wicked gleam in his eyes. “But I prefer to see the real you.” With that, he placed both hands at her hips and rolled the lace downward.
She smirked; she’d been right. Letting his gaze take in her nakedness, her own attention drifted downward over the ripples of his abs to the gigantic lump bulging at his crotch. “Now I want to see you.”
“I love that you know what you want.” His voice was rough with desire.
Without taking her eyes off the bulge, she pointed. “Strip.”
In one deft move, he had his fly open. His erection strained against his underwear, the distinct outline of his shaft and head tenting the stretchy fabric. Within another moment, he was standing there before her in naked glory that made her gasp.
A fine line of hair began at his navel and traveled downward to frame his dark copper shaft. She reached forward, wrapping her fingers around his thick length, the circumference too large for her fingers to meet. His skin was velvety and hot, and she swore she could feel his pulse as she squeezed gently. He moaned, hips flexing forward, the shiny knob on his tip glistening.
All she could think about was tasting. Dropping to her knees she encircled the head with her mouth, taking him in as deeply as she could, her hand firmly around the base of his shaft.
He groaned, straining forward. Then his hands suddenly gripped her shoulders, pulling her up and away. “It’s been too long for me. I don’t want my first time to be in your mouth.”
Regretfully, she released him. He scooped her off her feet, carrying her to the bed. Then he was on top of her, burying his
face against her neck and trailing kisses down her chest to her breasts. His fingertips tickled her skin, her belly, her thighs, before brushing the hair over her mound. She opened her thighs, yearning for him to touch her, but he teased her mercilessly.
“Just take me already,” she panted. “I want you.”
“I need to make you come first,” he murmured. “I don’t want to hurt you and I’m not sure how long I’ll last. I want you to have your pleasure.” His fingers dipped downward and slid into her wetness.
She groaned and bucked upward as he rubbed, wanting him to fill her, wanting to feel her thighs around his hips, his pelvis driving against her. But if he knew his own body as well as he seemed to know hers, she needed to trust him. Letting herself go, she relaxed her thighs as he put his head between her legs.
His mouth clamped over her clit, tongue flicking against her in a way that had her spiraling into a frenzy of need. Just when she thought she couldn’t take any more, he inserted two fingers, stroking a new center of pleasure, rounding out her desire. Adding a third finger, he hit a spot deep inside that burned with pleasure, coaxing her until she trembled and gasped for air.
She was on the verge of exploding, but he kept pulling back, changing rhythm and angle and driving her higher. God, she needed him. Now. Grabbing his hair with both hands, she begged, “Noatak, please.”
Leaving her pussy, he ran his broad tongue up her belly, circling one of her nipples briefly before once more claiming her mouth. His entire body now lay against hers, hot and hard. She flung one leg up over his hips, guiding him toward her entrance. After another moment of kissing, he adjusted, settling against her cleft, his erection pulsating with infuriating heat.
“Just take me,” she said between clenched teeth, rolling her hips, yearning, wanting, sure she might die if she didn’t find fulfillment soon.
He raised himself onto his elbows, looking down into her face with an intensity that threatened to make her racing heart stop in its tracks. He was panting, the head of his cock poised at her entrance. “What if Mek’s wrong? What if you do need the nanites?”
