by Presley Hall
He breathes in sharply, his arms going around me as he returns the kiss. The taste and scent of him fill my senses, and my hands rove over him, wanting to memorize him—the firmness of his skin, the softness of his hair, the press of his body against mine. I want to kiss him forever, and the thought that I might not be able to is like a dagger in my heart.
When we break the kiss at last, I look up at him, my eyes pleading. “Please,” I whisper, his face still in my hands. “Please don’t do what you’re planning to, Tycran. I can’t bear it.”
“You don’t understand…” he starts to say, but I shake my head wildly.
“I do understand! I love you even more for your honor and your desire to protect your people, but I can’t lose you!”
He goes still, his light blue eyes fixed on mine. “Say it again,” he murmurs softly.
“I do understand—”
“No. That you love me.”
I blink as realize what I just said in my rush to convince him. And more than that, I know it’s true. I do love him. I love his bravery, honor, and determination. I love his fierceness and his gentleness all at once. The warrior and the lover, the man who has given himself to me completely.
“I love you,” I whisper, tears filling my eyes. “We finally found each other, Tycran. Please don’t leave me. Please don’t do this. I know you love me too.”
“I do,” he says softly, stroking my hair away from my face. “Don’t cry, my sweet one. I love you too. I swear it.”
“Then don’t die! Don’t do this!”
Pain and regret are clear on his face, but the resolve in his eyes doesn’t waver. I don’t think there’s anything I could possibly say to change his mind, and that knowledge sends a pain like I’ve never known through my heart, radiating through every part of my body.
“I have to, Lucy,” he whispers, his voice strained. “I don’t choose this lightly. You know I don’t—especially now. But I have to do this. I couldn’t live with myself otherwise.”
My eyes sting as hot tears roll down my cheeks. I want to shout at him, to stamp my feet and demand that he give up this mission, that he stay here with me where it’s safe. But I can’t. I can’t ask him to fundamentally change who he is. And this is who he is.
Selfless. Brave. Determined.
The man I love.
“Okay,” I finally say, brushing away my tears. “Fine. I understand. But I’m going with you.”
Tycran sits bolt upright in bed, his eyes turning fierce and angry. “What? No! I won’t allow it.”
I cross my arms over my chest, sitting up to face him. “See?” I challenge. “That’s how I feel.” I soften my expression a little, shaking my head. “I just found you, Tycran. I can’t let you go.”
“I’m not letting you go on a suicide mission with me.” His jaw is set, his eyes flaming.
“I’m not staying behind!” I shoot back.
“Yes, you are.”
We face off across the bed, both of us stubbornly determined to protect the other. Then a new idea comes to me as I stare at the taut lines of his face.
“I am going with you, Tycran. I won’t let you stop me. But maybe… maybe there’s another option,” I say quickly, turning the thought over in my head.
He frowns. “What do you mean?”
“Maybe it doesn’t have to be a suicide mission.”
22
Tycran
Lucy gazes at me as her words die out. Hope fills her eyes, rising up to meet the stubbornness, bravery, and intelligence that gleam in their depths… along with so much caring that it nearly knocks me backward.
No one has cared for me this much, loved me this much, since I was a child. It’s staggering to see. It might have taken her some time to come around to the idea of being my Irisa, but now that she’s accepted her feelings for me, she’s given herself over to them entirely.
However, that means she’s not joking right now… not that she would about something this serious.
She means it.
And as I look at her, my mind whirs as I try to think of another path, a way to keep this from being the suicide mission that I’ve been sure it would be since the beginning.
Based on the plans we analyzed from the model, the core reactor has to be hit in a very specific spot. If it’s missed by even a small amount, the bombs will damage the moon but won’t destroy it entirely. That might set the Orkun back a little, but it won’t have the wide-scale impact that will make all of this worth it.
I don’t want to go back to Kalix and see disappointment in the faces of my commander and my king. I don’t want to have betrayed their trust and put both myself and Lucy in so much danger for nothing.
But having found my mate at last, I can admit that I don’t want to lose her. I don’t want to die, it’s just that I didn’t see any other way.
So if there is one…
I planned to fly the bombs directly into the reactor. It’s the only way to be certain that they detonate in the right place and destroy all of Oryn and everyone on it. And it will mean dying with them, exploding the bombs, my ship, and myself all at once.
But, I realize as I consider it, I made that plan with the idea that it would be just me on the ship, working alone.
At the start of this voyage, I would never have considered letting Lucy help. But she’s shown me over and over again how smart and brave and capable she is—from helping me piece together the model, to distracting the crowd on the cruise ship, to helping take down the buyer and get the seeds. She’s resourceful and courageous, and I realize that the biggest flaw in my plan is that I never considered an alternate attack once I had Lucy working with me.
With the two of us working together, it’s possible that we could drop the payload accurately and still be far enough away to get out safely. It’ll be close, and it’s extraordinarily dangerous for both of us, but it’s possible.
“There is a way, I think,” I say slowly. Then my jaw clenches. “But it could fail. We could both die. I don’t feel right putting you in that kind of danger, Lucy.”
She lifts her chin and meets my gaze. “You said this mission would protect not only Kalix, but the people on my planet as well, right?”
“Well, yes, but—”
“You’ve gone all these years wanting revenge, carrying the anger you have against them and all of that pain so that you could channel it into defeating them, right?”
“Yes, that’s what I said, but it’s different—”
“How?” She looks at me fiercely. “I survived. Rose, Cora, Emma, and all the other women—they survived, because we were all lucky enough to be on a ship with warriors who could fight back and save us. But how many women weren’t that lucky? How long have the Orkun been abducting women from Earth, claiming them as tribute brides for their warlords?”
“I don’t know,” I admit. “A long time, probably.”
“How many women do you think they’ve taken from my planet?”
I see where she’s going with this, but I answer her question anyway. She deserves to say her piece. And the longer she speaks, the more I understand that she’s right.
“Many,” I say softly.
“And from other planets?”
“Many more.”
“So there you are. You want to destroy the Orkun because they killed your family, because they killed the wives and mothers and daughters of every Kalixian on your planet. Because you want revenge for that, and because you want to save all the people in the future who might be hurt by them.”
Her voice is trembling as she speaks, but she keeps her chin high. “Well, I want revenge too. I want to stop them too. I want justice for every woman from Earth or any other planet who’s been abducted, enslaved, and raped by these animals. So I’m going with you, Tycran, because this is my mission too. I want my homes, the old one and the new, to be safe. And I don’t ever want any other woman to feel the fear I did in that Orkun cargo hold, or the fear that Autumn felt, or Rachel, or Madison,
or anyone else.”
I’m stunned by the force of her speech, by the conviction with which she’s delivered it. And she’s right. I can’t argue with it. I can’t think of what to say, so I do the only thing that feels right.
I lean forward, wrapping my arms around her to pull her against me, and kiss her.
She returns it, long and deep. Her arms wind around my neck as her tongue slides into my mouth and tangles with mine. I’ve never fit so perfectly with another being, never felt so deeply that someone else could be the other half of me.
And in this moment, I know I can’t leave her behind.
Not only because of the rightness of it, not only because she has her own vendetta against the Orkun, but because without her, I’m not whole. We’ll do this together, or not at all. There’s no questioning it. And I know she feels the same.
I can feel the need flare between us, desire flooding my veins as her soft body molds against mine, her hands roving over me as they learn the topography of my body. In another moment, I won’t be able to stop myself. I’ll have her down on the bed again, my cock as deeply inside her tight channel as it will go. I plan to do exactly that before the night is over. But first, there’s something I have to do.
I kiss her again, fast and hard, and then stand up.
“Where are you going?” she asks, her eyes narrowing.
“I’ll be back soon. Don’t worry. Just stay here, all right?”
She looks at me suspiciously, and I lean down to press my lips to hers. “You’re right, Lucy,” I tell her softly. “Everything you said is true. Don’t worry. I’ve found my Irisa, and I’ll never run from you again. You’re the only one I’ll ever want in all the universe. I’ll come back. Nothing could keep me from you.”
I dress quickly, drop one more quick kiss to her sweet, soft lips, and then stride out of the ship, walking purposefully in the direction of Rok’s warehouse. I don’t want to leave Lucy on the ship alone too long. Already, my body is aching to be with her again. I’ve heard stories of the mating lust after a bond is consummated, and I can feel every part of me clamoring to be back in bed with her, riding the waves of that need.
But I have to do this first.
“Tycran!” Rok looks surprised to see me when he opens the door. He arches an eyebrow, causing the markings on the side of his face to shift. “You know I’ll need more time to finish the bombs. I’ve only just finalized the design.”
“No, I’m glad you haven’t started yet,” I tell him quickly, stepping inside the warehouse. “I need you to modify the design.”
The man frowns, his tan skin shifting to a slightly darker color. “That’ll cost extra. Well, I suppose you have some room to negotiate, but I can’t promise that I can get your Terran woman off Hak Gavar if you require extra work without more money—”
“I don’t need you to get Lucy off the planet any longer,” I say, cutting him off. “In fact, that’s why I need the design modified. She’s going to help me.”
Quickly, I tell him the plan that’s been forming in my head since Lucy insisted on coming with me. It means giving him more details about the mission than I would like, but there’s no help for it. I never mention Oryn by name, but as I speak, a knowing gleam burns in his eyes.
Does he know I’m going up against the Orkun?
If he does, the look of satisfaction on his face makes me think he’s got as much reason to hate them as I do.
I hope I’m right.
When I finish speaking, Rok whistles. “Quite a female you’ve got there. Not many would have the courage to go flying into a core reactor.”
“You have no idea,” I tell him with a short laugh.
“What do you want me to do?” Rok gestures for me to follow him, walking to his workbench where several blueprints are laid out. “As long as it’s within my capabilities, I’ll do my best, brother.”
“I need a casing on the bombs that will allow them to be dropped from the back of the ship. I’m going to man the controls while Lucy stays in the back and releases the payload on my command. I need her to be able to drop them exactly where we need them to land, and quickly. It’ll be tight, and I need precision and accuracy.”
“You need more finesse now than just flying straight into the reactor, eh?” Rok laughs.
“Can you do it?” I hear the tension in my voice. “If not, let me know now.”
A confident smile spreads across his face. “Oh, I can do it. No reason to worry. It won’t even be that much more difficult. Might take an extra day or two, but I can put together what you need.”
The relief I feel upon hearing those words is palpable. I thank Rok and leave him to his work, hurrying back to the ship as quickly as I can.
Lucy is still in bed when I walk inside the cabin. My heart leaps when I see her lying beneath the blankets, her blonde hair spilling over the pillow. She looks more breathtaking than anything I’ve ever seen.
I want longer with her. I want years, decades… a lifetime. I want things that I never allowed myself to think about before—a home, children, a family. I went on this mission to protect all the other families, to give the other Kalixians a future, but now as I look at Lucy, I can’t help but want that future as well.
And if this goes well, I’ll have a chance at it.
“Where did you go?” she asks softly as I take off my loincloth and slide into bed with her.
“I went to see Rok,” I say, pulling her close to me. “I asked him to alter the design of the bombs so that they can be dropped from the ship. We’ll go together, like you want us to. I’ll have you in the back, and you can drop the bombs on my signal, at the right spot to destroy Oryn and still allow us to escape.”
Her eyes light up, but worry still tugs at my heart. I hold her closer to me, sliding my fingers through her hair. “You have to live,” I murmur, pressing my lips to her forehead. “Promise me.”
“I will.” She looks up at me with those wide blue eyes, and I can see the certainty burning in their depths.
I wish I felt as sure.
“And so will you,” she adds in a whisper. “We just found each other, and I’m going to make damn sure this is the beginning of our life together, not the end.”
I kiss her deeply, feeling a sense of love so overwhelming that I could drown in it. Desire is close behind. The sensation of her lips on mine and her soft curves pressed against me awakens the mating lust all over again, making my cock rise until it’s rigid between her thighs, sliding against her heated flesh.
She reaches down without a word, hooking her leg over my mine as she guides me to her. Her hand is firm around my cock as she presses the tip to her entrance, and she moans against my mouth, arching her hips as I thrust into her.
I want to stay here forever.
The thought lodges in my mind as I begin to move slowly, both of us finding our rhythm together. I know now why the stories always talk about mates being sequestered for days on end when the bond is first consummated. I could do this for hours and never get tired of it.
Lucy gasps as I drive in deeper, rolling her onto her back in order to increase the pace of my thrusts.
I plan to spend more time pleasuring her tonight, making her come with my lips and tongue—maybe in the shower, certainly many more times in the bed. But at this particular moment, the need to come overwhelms me, and I kiss her hard as I thrust into her again and again, filling her with my thick length as I urge her toward her own climax.
“Come with me, Lucy,” I pant as I claim her, feeling my body tighten as I near the precipice.
“Tycran…”
She moans my name against my lips, her breasts pressing against my chest as she arches against me, and I feel her muscles tense. She cries out as the orgasm hits her, her body convulsing under me, writhing in pleasure as she moans into the kiss, and that’s all it takes.
I drive into her as deeply as I can, feeling my cock throb with waves of indescribable pleasure as I pour myself into her. She squeezes me
, clenching around me with the pulsating waves of her own climax, and as we come together, I know I’ll die happy with her as my Irisa.
Whether it’s today, tomorrow, or a hundred years from now, I will be happy.
I’ve never been so grateful to have lost control—to have given in at last.
23
Lucy
Over the next few days, as we wait for Rok to have the bombs completed, Tycran and I do three things. We analyze the model of Oryn, we plan the attack… and we have a lot of sex.
A lot.
I’ve never been shy about my desires or one to turn down a good roll in the hay, but I’ve never experienced anything like this. I remember the other women telling me about the Kalixian mating lust, the way their mates couldn’t keep their hands off them, taking them straight to bed the minute there wasn’t something else that needed doing. And Tycran is no exception.
I’m not complaining. God, no.
In the days that follow, he takes a sort of unbridled joy in discovering the carnal pleasures that can be had between two people, and to my delight, he particularly loves bringing me pleasure. He’ll go down on me for what seems like forever, making me come again and again until I’m drenched, weak and gasping, only to thrust himself into me and work me up to another climax before finally allowing himself his own.
The first night was no fluke. I never knew I could come so many times in a row, but it turns out I definitely can with the right partner. And he loves every second of it.
When we’re not naked, we’re in the common room working on the plan to destroy Oryn. The 3D model we pieced together is invaluable in helping us devise our attack. Using that, we determine that our best way in will be by utilizing the service tunnels and ducts to navigate our small ship to the reactor without being seen by the Orkun defenses.
