Dhakhar

by Annabelle Rex

  Sometimes I wonder if it’s worse remembering. Being able to recall those nights spent in Dhak’s arms is an exquisite kind of torture. It’s been six months and I still cry myself to sleep some nights.

  But then I think of who I was before Dhak, what I thought about myself, the way I allowed others to make me feel. That girl didn’t think she was worth shit. Put up with a loser boyfriend and did nothing with her life but fantasise about everything she ‘couldn’t’ have. Missing Dhak is a small price to pay to also remember I’m not that girl any more.

  And maybe - just maybe - if Simon’s little project works out, I might not have to miss him any more.

  “Are you going to type anything, or do you need a bit more time to consider?” Simon says.

  “Can’t rush genius.”

  “You don’t have any,” he says, but he flashes me a tiny little smile, lets me know he’s just joking.

  I put my fingers to the keyboard and start typing.

  Princess Charlie remembers her time on Xentra with fondness and would like to talk about going back.

  That ought to get their attention. If they’re looking.

  Please, let them be looking.

  Because it’s been months now since I came back to Earth. Whatever the fallout of my lies was, it will all have been resolved. I hope like hell it went in Dhak’s favour. I’ve spent many a sleepless night wondering if sending this little message is wise. Will it stir up things that are best left forgotten? I don’t know.

  If my little game with the diplomats was enough to convince them of his innocence, he could be living and working on Xentra, just as he was before. Or maybe the blame really did fall on H’Varak’s shoulders and things are better out there for Dhak now.

  Or maybe he’s in prison. Maybe I ruined his life and this is a second chance for me to make it right.

  It’s a chance I’ve decided I have to take.

  “I just press enter?” I say to Simon.

  “Yup,” he says. “And within twenty-four hours your message will be beamed out into the stars.”

  “For real?” I say.

  “For real. Hope you wrote something good.”

  My finger hovers over the enter key.

  I can’t let myself get my hopes up too high.

  But still, I let myself be hopeful.

  I press the enter key.

  Chapter 34

  Dhakhar

  Waking up is like sinking in to a hot bath, only without getting wet. I feel relaxed all over, muscles loose and warm. I luxuriate in it. I haven’t felt this good in... ever?

  “Does it normally take this long?” A female voice says.

  Familiar. My heart kicks in my chest even as my brain struggles to shake off the fog of sleep.

  “It’s quite normal,” someone responds.

  “Yes, but I woke up straight away.”

  “You weren’t woken up properly. Much nicer for the person coming out of cryostasis doing it this way.”

  Cryostasis?

  “Sorry, I’m being impatient.”

  “We’re all impatient to have the Commander back.”

  Commander?

  Details start to trickle in and I remember. I remember feeling terrible, Taph diagnosing me with Mating Sickness, the only option to save my life being cryostasis. Frozen until Charlie...

  Charlie.

  With some effort, I force my eyes open.

  “Dhak?”

  Footsteps, and then someone’s weight settling on the bed beside me. A hand holding mine. I find the right combination of muscles to turn my head, and there she is, smiling down at me.

  “Is this a dream?” I say, my voice hoarse.

  Charlie glances round at the room. “We wouldn’t be in the med bay if this was a dream.”

  She looks different. Her hair, I realise. It’s shorter, cut in a different style. I raise my hand, brush my fingers over it.

  “How long?” I ask.

  “Eight months,” she says. “Could have been sooner, but Judge J’Nesric wouldn’t let me travel through more than one gate at once. He said you have to have been through one at least ten times before you can do multiples without several days in between, but I’m thinking he was just torturing me as revenge for beating the memory wipe.”

  “You were lucky it was Judge J’Nesric who saw your message,” Crelin says. “Someone else might have just wiped your memory again.”

  I have so many questions, but only one important one.

  “You remember?”

  “Everything,” she says, pressing a kiss to my nose. “Turns out there was just enough Abbarax toxin left in my head to pull all the memories back.”

  My heart is pounding, sending enough adrenaline through my body that when I grab her and pull her to me, my arms obey me perfectly. She squeaks as I flip her over so she’s on her back on the gurney, and then I’m kissing her, my mouth on hers, her lips parting for me. I kiss her for a long, perfect moment.

  Then she pushes me back.

  “Much as I’ve missed you, perhaps we ought to wait til later for this,” she says. “There are things Crelin doesn’t need to see.”

  “Crelin can close his eyes for a couple of minutes.”

  “Actually,” Crelin says, amusement in his voice, “as you were suffering from Mating Sickness, it’s my duty as a member of your medical team to encourage you to continue. It will aid your recovery, after all.”

  And he hits the button that puts the privacy blinds down, pausing only to shoot us a little smile before he leaves the room, the red light coming on above the lock, letting me know that the door can now only be opened from the inside. I turn my attention back to Charlie.

  “I’ve missed you,” I say.

  She gives me a stern look. “You missed me? Mr ’I’ve been frozen for seven and a half of the eight months. What about me, huh? I had to ride it out the long way round.”

  “How can I possibly make it up to you?” I say, growl creeping into my voice.

  “Well, it just so happens that I’ve had eight months to think of some ideas.”

  I laugh, then kiss her, deep and passionate, my hands going to her blouse, undoing the ties, exposing more skin.

  “Dhak,” she says, her voice a breathy moan as I kiss a path down her chest. “Dhak, wait a minute. I need to say something to you.”

  I push back from her, giving her space, even as my Dravosic side pushes me to claim her.

  “I’m so sorry I lied to you for all that time,” she says. “At first I was scared and then I was too distracted and then I was scared again.”

  “Scared of me?” The thought hurts.

  “No,” she says, “no, of course not. Scared for you.”

  I wrap my arms round her, holding her tight.

  “You were so brave,” I say. “My beautiful, brave woman.”

  I kiss her, show her my appreciation with lips and tongue. When I resume removing her top, she doesn’t stop me. She doesn’t even speak again until I’m moving inside her, buried to the hilt in her tight heat. And then it’s only to moan my name, beg me for more.

  I’m happy to oblige.

  Afterwards, she lies tucked against my side, tracing patterns across my scales.

  “So... Mating Bond, huh?” she says.

  “In my defence, I didn’t know it was possible. There’s no rule book when you’re hybrid.”

  “That’s okay, we’ll figure it out.”

  As simple as that. We’ll figure it out.

  “I love you,” I say.

  “Even though I’m not a princess?”

  I laugh, then nip her ear.

  “Will you still use the princess persona from time to time?”

  “Hmm I’m sure that can be arranged, Commander.”

  Ah, yes. I’m Commander now.

  “I should probably get started on some commanding,” I say. “The entire duration of my time in the role has been spent sick and then frozen.”

  She looks at me, a wicked glint in her
eyes as she shifts to straddle me.

  “You definitely should get on that,” she says. “But... I’m thinking it can wait until tomorrow. Your stand in has kept the place going for the last eight months. He can manage one more day.”

  “My medical team probably would recommend a little more... bed rest.”

  She grins, kissing me tenderly.

  “I love you,” she says. “Take me to bed, Commander. Your bed, not this gurney. I want to see where you’re going to be making love to me every night for the rest of our lives.”

  ”Yes, ma’am,” I say.

  About the Author

  Annabelle Rex has loved all things space since she first watched Star Wars as a little girl. She writes steamy sci-fi romances featuring lovable alien heroes and the women they want to claim for their own.

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