Kiara breathed deep as a smile curled on her lips.
Volcair.
He was coming back. Soon. She only needed to wait a little longer before she could touch him, hold him, and kiss him once more. That brief time on Janus Six hadn’t been enough, and these past three months without him near had been torturous—for the both of them. They’d been able to communicate through holo calls while she was still in Entris Dominion space, finishing her delivery with the Starlight, but once she’d exited Dominion territory for the home trip, that contact had become minimal. She missed the sound his voice. Missed him.
Soon, Kiara. You went years without him by your side, what’s another couple of months?
“Too bloody long,” she muttered, closing the taxi door behind her. The cab pulled away from the curb and drove off.
Chirruping called Kiara’s attention down to Cypher. He cocked his head, and his ears twitched, flicking off droplets of water.
Kiara smiled. “Just wishing Volcair was here, too.”
He clicked and bobbed his head in agreement. She hadn’t been the only one who’d been away from Volcair for so long.
Kiara turned and stared up at her home. The brick building was warm and familiar by daylight, but those windows—which let in so much brightness while the sun was out—were dark and lonely now. This was home, had been for several years, but it wouldn’t start feeling like it until Volcair came and helped her fill it with welcoming light. With his starlight.
She knew Volcair was the reason she’d so often insisted on accompanying her crew on their deliveries. Some part of her, small but insistent, felt like the only way she could be a little closer to Volcair was by being out amongst the stars. She’d always known he was out there, somewhere. Even a centimeter nearer to him was better than her and Cypher staying here alone.
Walking toward the door, she shouldered her bag, lifted her wrist and tapped on her holocom, sending out a call to her parents.
“Kiara!” her mother said after the second chime.
“Sorry for calling so late. I just wanted to let you know that I’m home.”
“No need to apologize. We’re so glad you’re back.”
“You were gone longer than usual,” Isaiah said, a hint of concern in his voice.
Kiara stopped in front of the door, opened her bag, and dug around for her keys. “Yeah, about that… The crew and I kind of ran into a little…trouble.”
“What kind of trouble?” Jada asked.
Kiara cringed. She could just imagine the worried expression that was likely on her mother’s face. Jada had never been happy that Kiara insisted on traveling with her cargo so often. Even though the Entris Dominion, where she took the majority of her trade, was allied with the UTF, there was a vast amount of space to cross to get there. Anything could happen in that distance—as this last trip had proved.
“You’re not allowed to freak out,” Kiara said when her knuckles brushed against the cool metal of her keys. She closed her fingers around them and pulled them out.
“I don’t like the sound of that. You can’t tell your parents not to worry. We’re allowed to freak out as much as we like when it comes to our child,” Jada said.
“Then let’s forget I said anything.” Kiara stuck the key into the lock and turned it, pushing the door open and stepping inside. “The trip was wonderful, and the crew is doing great. Oh! Tekel and Mason really loved the biscuits you sent them, and—”
“Kiara…” Isaiah intoned.
Kiara groaned and glanced at Cypher as he padded through the doorway, his metal scales rippling to shed the water from his body. He looked back at her, jaw parted with his sharp teeth bared in what could only be a mocking grin that said, You’re in for it now.
She sighed, shut her door, locked it, and tossed her keys on the table nearby. “Pirates.”
For the next several minutes, she told her parents the entire story, cringing at each of their responses—all of which held a blend of concern, horror, and anger. At one point, Cypher huffed with laughter as he swaggered past her, leapt onto the sofa, curled up, and laid down. All four of his eyes glinted with amusement.
She glared at him, but her smirk was proof that she wasn’t really annoyed with him.
Kiara understood her parents’ worry—and she knew they understood that she wouldn’t be persuaded to give up the work she was doing. She wasn’t going to send her employees, several of whom had become close friends, out there without being willing to take the same risks they were.
Of course, knowing that Kiara wouldn’t be dissuaded had never stopped her mother and father from trying.
“But everything is fine,” Kiara said as she made her way upstairs. “I’m fine, the crew is fine. No one was seriously hurt. Dominion soldiers boarded the ship and took down the pirates with Cypher’s help. Well, mainly one soldier, the commander.” She stopped at the top, her hand tightening on the banister. “Volcair Vantricar.”
Silence followed. It was her father who first broke it.
“Kiara—”
“Why didn’t you tell me Volcair came back?” Kiara asked, eyes stinging with sudden tears.
Silence again. She couldn’t imagine what was going through her parents’ minds in those moments, but knew it couldn’t overcome her hurt.
“After so many years of seeing your joy fade, of seeing you unhappy, you were finally yourself again,” Isaiah finally said, his voice raw. “You were with Daniel. You were moving forward in life after standing still for so long.”
“You knew how much Volcair meant to me. Had I known he’d come back…” Kiara brushed the tear of her cheek as it spilled from her eye. “I never loved Daniel. Even when I was with him, I was still in love with Volcair. You should have told me.”
“I should have, Kiara, but… I didn’t know. If you weren’t happy with Daniel, you never showed it, and you never said anything to us. We’ve never wanted anything more than for you to be safe and happy. I…I wanted to prevent you from being hurt more than you already had.”
Kiara moved down the dark hall toward her bedroom, opened the door, and flicked on the lights. She couldn’t prevent the sniffle as she entered the room, walked to the bed, and dropped her bag atop it.
“We didn’t keep it from you to hurt you,” Jada said softly.
“I know,” Kiara said. “And I…I understand. I’m not going to lie and say it doesn’t hurt, because it really does, and had I known, it would have changed so much. But what’s done is done. And now…I have a way for you to both make it up to me.”
“Anything,” Isaiah said.
Kiara grinned, her happiness immediately pushing away any lingering hurt and sadness. She sat on the edge of the bed. “You can help plan my wedding.”
“Your wedding?” they both asked.
“I wasn’t the only one who couldn’t move on. Volcair and I are mates…and really, we have been since we were kids. All that’s left is for us to make it official—for the UTF and the Dominion both, if we can.”
“You… Volcair and you…” Jada laughed. “Even after all this time?”
“It was fate, Mum.”
“You always said that he was yours,” Isaiah said with a chuckle.
“You bet your bollocks he is.”
“Kiara!” Jada admonished. “Language!”
Kiara laughed.
They talked for a little longer before she told her parents she loved them and said goodnight. She unpacked her bag, tossing the dirty clothing into the laundry basket, set her tablet on her nightstand, and took a quick shower. By the time she finished and pulled on her underwear and a tank top, it was nearly eleven o’clock.
She padded to the bedroom door and leaned out into the hallway. “Goodnight, Cypher!”
An answering chirrup sounded from downstairs.
Smiling, she closed her door and walked to her bed.
Kiara drew back the covers, crawled into bed, and pulled the blankets over her lap. She picked up the tablet. Running her
finger over the screen to activate it, she flipped through the commands until she found Volcair’s contact number. Longing filled her. The last few times she’d called—the most recent being the moment she’d touched down on Earth—he hadn’t answered. He was most likely somewhere out of reach; she knew he’d been traveling lately, finishing up his military service and settling his remaining business within the Dominion. According to the last word she’d had from him, he should’ve been en route to Arthos now.
Volcair was going to see his father for the first time in a long, long while.
She’d just call him and leave a message telling him that she loved and missed him and wish him a goodnight. Kiara tapped the call icon and stared at the screen as the chiming tone of the outgoing call played.
After the sixth repeat of the tone, the screen changed to display the timer of a connected call. She only expected to hear the generic greeting he’d set for his messenger service.
“Kiara,” Volcair said, his voice caressing her name.
Her breath hitched, and she tightened her grip on the tablet. That definitely wasn’t the prerecorded greeting she’d heard at least a dozen times over the last few months.
“You’re really there?” she asked.
“I’m here.”
She squealed and bounced in place. Perhaps she should’ve been embarrassed by her reaction, but at this moment, she didn’t give a bloody damn if her neighbors—or the whole world—heard her. “Switch to visual. I need to see you.”
He laughed, and a moment later the tablet’s projection flickered again to depict Volcair in a three-dimensional hologram. For a second or two, she could only stare. She’d seen him via holo calls a number of times since leaving Janus Six, and physically he looked exactly the same as he had in person on the space station, but there was a definite difference in him since he’d taken off his uniform for the last time. He seemed…lighter. Brighter. His lips were curled up easily in a smile now, and the hint of darkness that had always been in his eyes—even as far back as when they were children—had finally dwindled almost to nothing.
Only his upper body was visible, clad in a form-fitting tunic that matched the dark blue of his shoulder-length hair and accented his toned body. His posture was relaxed; sometimes it seemed like she might’ve been the only one to have ever seen him in such a state over the course of his entire life. She ran her eyes over his face, and her belly fluttered as it always had when she looked at him. As a boy, he’d always been beautiful, but as a man…
“You are going to let me see you, too, right?” he asked.
She chuckled, sure she was wearing the silliest, most lovestruck grin in all the universe. Kiara couldn’t help it; she hadn’t felt this way in years.
She tapped the visual icon on the tablet’s screen. His gaze locked with hers, and her heart leapt.
“I didn’t expect you to answer,” Kiara said. “Where are you?”
“Still traveling to Arthos. A few more hours, and I’ll officially be in Consortium space…and I won’t be able to talk to you until I leave.”
“Then we have some time.”
Volcair’s smile widened, though it was slightly offset by a gleam of longing in his eyes. “I can’t wait until I can say I’ll always have time for you and be able to uphold it.” He lifted a hand and raked his fingers through his hair, dragging it back behind a pointed ear. “I received your last message just a few minutes ago. Are you home now?”
“I am. All snug and cozy in bed, but quite lonely. Cypher likes to rest downstairs when we’re home to guard the door.” Kiara leaned back against her pillow, which was propped up against the headboard. “I called you to leave a message saying goodnight, but this is much better.”
“It certainly is.”
“I spoke to my parents when I got in. I…asked them why they never told me about you coming back.”
Volcair frowned, and a little crease formed between his eyebrows. “Is everything all right?”
Kiara nodded. “I was hurt, but I wasn’t angry. Everything is fine, though. I didn’t want to dwell on the past. I understand why my father did it, and I told them about you, about us.” She smiled. “They are happy for us. They’ve always loved you.”
His frown eased, and his expression softened. “I’m glad to hear it. I’ve always loved your parents, as well. They were very kind to me. And I understand why he didn’t tell you, too, as much as I wish things had gone differently.”
“What of you?” She frowned. “You’re going to see your father for the first time in years. Are you all right?”
Volcair shrugged and shook his head. “I don’t know. I haven’t really sorted it all out yet. I don’t even know what I want to say to him, if I’m being honest. I just… I just need to speak with him before we take this last step.”
“Just be honest with him, Volcair. But be understanding, too. I know he’s always been…formal and uptight, but you are his son, and he does care about you.”
Volcair’s jaw clenched. His shoulders rose as he took in a deep breath and slowly released it, his nostrils flaring as he shifted his gaze to look off to the side somewhere.
“I wish I could be there with you,” she said gently.
“We’ll be together soon enough, regardless of how this goes.” The tension drained from him, and he laughed, shook his head, and returned his attention to her. “How is it that these three months have felt longer than the last nineteen years, even though we’ve been talking to each other this time?”
“Anticipation, maybe? Because finally, after all this time, we’re closer to being together than ever before.” She reached out and ran her finger along the image of his cheek. “And we’ve both had a taste of what we’ll have once we’re together.”
His smile tilted up at one corner wickedly, and the light in his eyes gained a new heat—a heat that matched the sudden glow of his qal. “I wish I could have a taste now.”
Warmth flooded Kiara and pooled low in her belly. She grinned. “And what is it you would like to taste?”
“Your lips. Your skin.” His eyes trailed from hers and moved down. “Your breasts. Your passion. All of you, Kiara. Every last bit.”
Her nipples tightened, hardening into achy little buds, and her sex clenched. More than anything she wanted his mouth and tongue on her, licking, sucking, biting, stroking…
A sudden idea came to her mind.
Raising a hand, she lazily brushed the tip of her finger back and forth over the neckline of her tank top and stared at him with her eyes half-lidded. “Volcair? Would you take off your shirt?”
His brows lowered slightly, and his lips parted, allowing his tongue to slip out for an instant. “It is warm in here.” He lifted his hands to his shirt and slowly unfastened the buttons. He started at the top and worked his way down, revealing his pale blue flesh—with its shining qal marks—a little at a time.
Kiara trailed her eyes over the muscles of his chest and abdomen, her fingers twitching with the need to touch him, to feel his warmth. “If I were there, standing in front of you, I’d unbutton your shirt for you and slide my hands over your chest and shoulders as I removed it.”
As he undid the last button, he released a heavy breath and scooted his chair back from the holo recorder, revealing his legs. “I’d place my hands on your hips”—he leaned forward and shrugged his shirt off his shoulders, letting the garment fall onto the chair behind him—“and run them up your sides, lifting your shirt with them.”
Sitting up, Kiara kicked the covers off her legs and laid the tablet on the bed in front of her, far enough away that he could see all of her. Keeping her eyes on his, she placed her hands on her sides, caught the hem of her tank top with fingers, and slid her hands up, baring her middle. “Like this?”
“Slower,” he breathed, running his hands over his chest. “I want you to feel the fabric rasp over your skin, over your breasts. I want my touch to send a thrill through your body as I bare you to my eyes.”
Kia
ra did as he instructed, pulling her tank top farther up her body, imagining it was his calloused fingers on her skin. Air kissed her nipples. She tossed the tank top aside. “What will do you now?”
Once again, his tongue slipped out and ran across his lips; his qal was even brighter than a moment before. She could feel how wet she was, knew her slick was soaking through her underwear. She wanted to trail her tongue over every single one of those marks on his body.
“I’d lean close,” he said, voice husky, “just close enough for you to feel the warmth of my breath over your skin. So close, but I wouldn’t touch. Not yet. Not until you’re begging me for it.”
Her breath quickened as tingles skittered across her skin. How was it possible for his words to produce such a powerful reaction, as though she could really feel his breath, warm and teasing, on her skin? Kiara leaned back against the headboard and moaned, arching her back. “Touch me, Volcair.”
A groan, low and sexy, resonated from his chest.
“Cup your breasts, Kiara,” Volcair said, and hummed when she obeyed. “Caress them. Harder. Yes, like that. Imagine my fingers running over them, my mouth on them, sucking deep. Pinch those sweet nipples, my mate.”
Kiara’s lips parted in a gasp as she squeezed her nipples, sending a jolt of sensation straight to her core that only deepened her needful ache. Her eyelids drifted shut, and she tilted her head back.
“Open your eyes,” Volcair commanded, “and look at me. Do not look away.”
She’d never heard him speak so firmly, so unrelentingly, had never experienced him seizing control quite like this. The hard edge in his voice assaulted her with a fresh gush of heat. She opened her eyes and met his. His gaze glowed with the intensity of a thousand stars.
“Feel me, Kiara,” he growled. One of his hands was pressed down on his groin, and his chest heaved with ragged breaths. “Do you ache for me?”
“Yes,” she breathed, her voice barely making a sound.
“Show me. Take off your panties.”
Kiara dropped her hands to her underwear, hooked her thumbs under the waistband, and lifted her backside as she dragged them down, sliding them along her legs. Once they were off, she tossed them over the side of the bed to land somewhere on the floor.
Entwined Fates Page 13
