by Vivian Venus
After a few quiet minutes in the bath, a low rumble sent vibrations across the surface of the water. Kyp looked around wearily as the walls trembled and a groan echoed through the ship. “What was that?” he muttered.
The walls rumbled again, and Kyp wondered how the energy shield integrity was. If they failed, they would get cooked by the radiation storm…
“Did you hear that?” Crysta’s voice came from outside the bathroom where she stood just out of Kyp’s view.
“Yes,” he answered. “Energy fluctuations against the shields, I’m guessing.”
“I thought so too.”
She didn’t sound too worried, Kyp noted with some relief. “How are the shields holding?”
“They’re holding. …Kyp?”
“Yes?”
“I…want you to know that I really did mean it when I told you that I would always be with you. I had never wanted to leave you.”
He couldn’t find the words to answer, and eventually he heard her footsteps walking back to her room, and her door seal shut. He sighed and stood up in the bath, water dripping down his body. He looked down at his muscles and saw how bruised they were from their sparring match. Then he took the towel and wrapped it around his waist and went back to his quarters. Her words echoed in his mind, and tying knots in his stomach and throat. He threw himself onto the bed and closed his eyes, willing himself to fall asleep, but when he did all he dreamed about was her.
CHAPTER FOUR
At the start of the next day cycle, Kyp awoke with a start.
His eyes adjusted to the dimly lit room, and he remembered where he was, and the events that had occurred the day cycle before. He got out of bed and pulled his clothing from the cleaning unit, donning his robe and pants. He reached for his sword on the wall, which he usually hung at his waist as was custom for a Raspharion warrior, but right now he decided not to. He was in Crysta’s ship, it would be more respectful for him to go unarmed.
He walked past her quarters and saw the door was shut, so he casually explored the ship to see if she was awake. She was nowhere to be found, so he stopped by the kitchen to eat. Crysta had no fresh ingredients, only small synth-cubes which he turned into a pasty soup after adding water to then. Then he ate, and afterwards went to the observation hall to meditate. When he got there, he was surprised to find Crysta standing at the viewing window.
Kyp felt a strong desire to hold her, comfort her, and feel her body against his. “Good morning,” he said.
She turned and nodded. “Did you have a good sleep?”
“Good enough. I’ve never liked sleeping in space.”
She drew a long breath. “I’m sorry about yesterday. I’m…ready to talk now.”
“Okay. Let’s talk,” he said.
“Follow me.” She motioned with her hand. As he followed her down the corridor, Kyp found his heart thumping heavily in his chest, the anticipation painful.
Crysta opened the door to the cargo bay and led him inside. The bay was empty, and he watched as she made her way over to the wall adjacent to the loading doors and tapped an empty spot on the metal. A lit keypad appeared, and after entering a password a storage safe slid out from its hidden compartment inside the wall, and she reached inside and carefully removed a small transparent cube.
The thing inside it emanated an orange red glow, and Kyp narrowed his eyes to see what it was. As he came up to her, he could clearly see now what was contained in the box – it was a small gem, teardrop shaped and smooth as a pebble, with a translucence that glowed from its center.
A soul shard.
Crysta held it out to him and he looked at her questioningly before respectfully taking the box from her. He was handling someone's last remnants.
Who did this belong to?
As he asked the question to himself, the pieces of the past came together and he realized the answer.
“Your father,” he whispered, almost to himself. “This is your father’s soul shard.”
“Yes,” she nodded.
“Your father’s soul shard was stolen, that was why you left.” He realized his hands were trembling. He bowed his head to the box to pay respects to the dead, and then handed it back to her. “Crysta,” he said firmly as she placed the box back into its safe, “Why did you not tell me? You know that I would’ve summoned every resource available to me to retrieve your father’s soul shard from who had taken it. I could’ve helped you. I would’ve gone with you.”
With just the slightest bit of hesitation, Crysta reached out and touched his arm. “I know, Kyp. I know you would’ve done everything you could’ve to help me. You would’ve even disobeyed your father the king, and I couldn’t let you do that. I couldn’t let you sacrifice who you were born to be for me.”
“It should’ve been a choice we made together, Crysta.”
Her eyes shimmered with tears.
Kyp struggled to come to terms with the answer to the question that had been with him for so long, but he knew she was right.
Just then a tremor jolted through the ship like it had been struck, nearly knocking them off their feet. “What the hell? Are you certain the shields are—”
Kyp was cut off as the ship jolted violently again, this time flinging Crysta into his chest, the two of them crashing to the floor. The ship shuddered and groaned, and they stumbled to their feet. Then the ambient lights flickered and went red, signaling that main power had been lost. They looked at each other, their eyes wide as they both knew what that meant.
“Get to the bridge!” she shouted and they sprinted off, trying to keep their footing as the ship shuddered and rocked.
“What happened?” Kyp yelled over the pinging of an alarm. Crysta’s fingers went furiously at the controls, disabling the alarm and checking the reports.
“There was a breach in the shields,” she said, “something small that the scanners must not have detected. They’re slowly losing power.”
“We’ll be dead in minutes if they go.”
“Trust me, I know.”
“Well, are you doing something about it?!”
“I'm trying!”
A warning appeared on the holographic display.
Shields at twenty five percent, level critical.
She called up a schematic of the ship. “There!” She pointed at a section blinking red. “A stabilizer must’ve blown or something.”
“Hurry!” Kyp shouted, and the two of them ran out of the cockpit to the source of the problem.
Crysta pulled off a panel on the ship’s wall, revealing a complicated mass of technology. Kyp already had the tools out and he handed the first one to Crysta, and she immediately got to work.
“I need an arc spanner,” she said, sticking out her hand, and Kyp had it to her in seconds. They were working in tandem, a perfect team, even faster and more efficient than they had been when repairing the engine.
“How’s it coming there,” he asked as he worked on replacing a bad component.
“It’s coming.”
The alarm started to ping again throughout the ship, and the computer’s announcement failed to reassure them.
“Shit,” they said in unison.
Crysta traced her finger along a thin metal tube, following it from its source until she reached a small cylinder. She tapped it with her finger and felt that it was emanating heat. “Kyp, is the first sevget power coupling supposed to hot or cold?”
“Cold.”
“That’s what I thought. This is it. I need a—”
Kyp reached into the toolbox and pulled out a long, hexagonal tool and handed it to her. “And you’ll need a replacement. Do you have a replacement?”
She looked at him with look of defeat. “No.’
“I can get us one.” He stood and ran towards his quarters. “You can thank me for saving our lives later!” he shouted.
The alarms blared and the computer announced that there was only seven percent shield concentration left, and he cursed under his breath as he
hit the door control and ran into his quarters. He opened the wall storage compartment, pulled out the torso piece of his armor suit, and spun it around so that the back was facing him. Sliding down a latch, he opened a panel on the armor that revealed a series of small tubes just like the one that Crysta had touched.
Shield at four percent concentration.
He pulled at one of the tubes to remove it, but it wouldn’t budge.
“Come on, dammit.”
He pulled harder, trying to yank it free but it was lodged tightly into its socket and his fingers couldn’t get a good grip on it.
Shield at three percent concentration.
“Kyp!” Crysta screamed.
Kyp closed his eyes and concentrated. He saw his dragon form clearly in his mind and focused his shift down to only his hands, which morphed into the clawed hands of a dragon. He pried his claws underneath the tube and popped it free, and ran back to Crysta as he shifted his hand back to its human form.
Shield at one percent…
The ship shook violently as he slapped the tube into Crysta’s hand, and she jammed it into place.
There was a low hum as the shields restored power and all the systems came back online. The shuddering stopped. They were safe.
The two of them collapsed next to each other on the floor, panting and numb with adrenaline.
“Thanks for saving our lives,” Cryta turned to him and said, grinning.
He nodded, as he caught his breath. He couldn’t hold back a laugh. Crysta laughed too, and the two of them lay there together, laughing at their narrow escape. He reached over and took her hand, and she squeezed his back, and they both stopped laughing and looked at each other.
Crysta gazed into Kyp’s eyes as he slowly leaned over to her, and her heart was beating faster now than it had been when they were on the brink of death. Their lips touched, and Kyp came over her and drew his hand around her neck. She felt the familiar warmth of his palm and pushed into the kiss, throwing her arms around his neck and pulling him into her.
All those years of mutually pent up emotion was suddenly released, exploding out like a dam that was broken. Their mouths crashed together, tongues intertwining and probing each other, tasting again what had once been so familiar, and now was still just as sweet.
Crysta tried and failed to hold in a moan as he kissed her neck and nibbled her ear in that way he always used to. She felt warmth between her legs and became soaking wet with desire for him, aching for him to touch her. She couldn’t believe how badly she had missed the warmth of his fingers on his skin, the kiss of his lips, and the rawness of his energy when he entered her…
She gazed deeply into his eyes as she pulled at the tie of his robe, undoing it and pulling it open. She ran her fingers along the sculpted curves of his abs up to his armor-like pecs, and traced her fingertip around his erect nipple. Kyp kissed her collarbone and undid the knot of her robe, pulling it open and pulling up the tight fabric of her undershirt so that rested above her breasts. He ran his palm over her breast and caressed it, allowing his fingers to the gently graze her hard and sensitive nipple. She sighed and squirmed with pleasure, silently urging him to move his touch lower and lower.
He did, and he slid his fingers underneath the loose fabric of her pants and into her underwear. She jerked as she felt his touch on her, and his fingers were immediately slick with her lust. She was so wet for him.
“Oh, Kyp,” she moaned. “Put your fingers inside me.”
He obeyed, and she let out a sigh of pleasure as she looked down to watch what he was doing. He tugged off her pants and threw them aside and with one hand spread her legs apart. She watched him look at her, and she blushed but didn’t shy away.
“You’re as beautiful as ever,” he told her. “All of you.”
He touched her for a while, and then brought his face down between her legs and kissed her lightly on her thighs. She shivered, and then jerked as he encircled his lips around her pussy and drew his tongue up and down it, tasting her fully and circling the tip around her clit. It felt like heaven, and she moaned and grabbed his arm as she shivered with pleasure. He dipped the tip of his tongue into her and when he drew it out a silvery strand of her wetness clung to it, stretching out as he pulled back for a moment before diving in against to nibble on her pink folds.
Kyp loved her flavor and her smell and now he was intoxicated by them, reminded of how much he had missed her, every single little bit of her.
“Kyp!” she moaned, “Don't stop…
Kyp still knew her perfectly after all those years, and she shuddered as an orgasm overtook her. “Come here,” she murmured as she reached for his pants, and she untied his belt and pulled them down. His heavy cock popped free, rock hard and pulsing with desire. She eyed it hungrily, and wrapped her fingers around its girth. She loved the way it felt in her hand. Then she leaned up and took him into her mouth, tasting the delicious flavor of the pre-come that had coated his cock head in his anticipation.
He let out a sigh of satisfaction, watching with admiration as Crysta lovingly tended to his cock in a way that only she had ever been able to. He felt the expert movement of her tongue against the firm ridge of his cock head, exploring him and teasing him like he couldn’t imagine. He shivered and flexed his muscles which made his cock flex inside her mouth, and she enjoyed his vitality. While gripping the thick base of his girth she used her other hand to massage his balls, and Kyp suddenly found himself close to orgasm. He clutched her hair and groaned as he released his come into her mouth, and Crysta savored the musky flavor of the load as she swallowed it down in one gulp. She loved it when he came inside her mouth, and she milked the length of his shaft to get out every drop.
Kyp stroked his cock and got it hard again, and Crysta spread herself open for him, her opening listening with lust for his cock. Kyp didn’t hesitate. He was aching to feel her around him, and he thrust inside, pushing deep in to the hilt. Crysta shrieked as he filled her up, throwing her legs around his waist and squeezing him deeper. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and Kyp stood up and slammed her against the wall, pumping in and out of her.
“Fuck me harder,” she moaned to him. She felt the heat emanating throughout her from his cock, the sign of an alpha dragon in heat. His size seemed to swell larger and harder within her, and her eyes fluttered and rolled back with the pleasure of it.
Kyp could feel her warmth squeezing around him, begging for him when he pulled back. He buried himself inside of her again and again, her lust dripping onto the floor with every deep thrust. He pulled out and turned her around, pressed her up against the wall as he entered her again from behind. His lips found hers again, and his muscles tensed and strained as he gripped her waist and slammed into her hard, making her toes curl as the perfect curve of his member hit her in just the right spot, each thrust rocketing her closer to the brink. She screamed in pleasure, and the sounds of their love making seemed to echo loudly in the contrasting silence of space.
Kyp felt Crysta’s climax around his cock, the ripples of her orgasm teasing him to the edge. He slammed the wall with his arm and grabbed Crysta’s breast and squeezed her waist, and his powerful hands made her feel small and fragile. He shuddered and tensed as he came too, and Cyrsta felt him swell up inside her, followed by the filling warmth of his come. When he slowly pulled his cock out from her, its length glistening wet with a mixture of their love, his hot dragon-seed slowly flowed out from her opening and dripped onto the floor.
CHAPTER FIVE
The two of them relaxed into the hot water of the bath together, Crysta laying back against him as he wrapped his arms around her. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the feeling of her back against his broad chest. She felt dizzy with happiness that they were together like this.
“It’s still hard to believe that we’re together,” Kyp said softly. “That I found you again.”
She nodded. “The past day has been intense.”
“It’s strange for me to think th
at…you’ve been on the same mission for all these years, to get back your father’s soul shard. You left me at the start of it, and we were brought back together at the end. It’s almost as if time between us has stood still for you.”
“In some ways, yes,” she replied. “I can’t imagine how hard it was for you to not know what happened to me, to have gone on with your life and then to find me suddenly back in it. I’m so sorry for that, Kyp. It has been hard for me too, though, to live with knowing that. And to be without you.”
