Chapter 9

nine

. . .

Katarina

Left alone in the shelter of the medbay, the closet room we could find, I opened my mouth and blurted the three little words. "I love you!"

The words rang through me like a struck bell, clear and pure and terrifying in their implacable truth. I loved him. I loved this impossible, incredible being down to the marrow of my bones.

A shuddering breath escaped me, my grip tightening convulsively on Thaumas's hand. "Do you hear me, you stupid bird?" I whispered, my voice trembling. "I love you. I love you so much it hurts."

But Thaumas didn't hear me. He'd rushed to the other side of the room and slipped into the lab, where he grabbed bandages and ointment for our scratches.

I jolted upright, hardly daring to breathe. "Thaumas? Did you hear me?"

His head shook. "What?"

"Nothing. Doesn't matter."

"Kat? You're okay?" He gazed over my body looking for injuries.

"Am I..?" A hiccupping laugh bubbled up my throat, edged with hysteria. "Am I okay? Thaumas, you idiot, we nearly died!"

Tears coursed down my face, my whole body shaking like a leaf.

He cupped my face, his amber gaze lambent. "I would die for you," he rasped. "Again and again, in a thousand lifetimes. You are everything to me. But we didn't die today."

I made a wounded noise, fresh sobs wrenching from my chest. I surged forward to claim his mouth, the kiss salt-sweet and desperate.

"I love you," I gasped against his lips, my hands fisted in his hospital gown. "I love you, I love you, I fucking love you, Thaumas Leion'ct."

He shuddered, a broken moan vibrating through him. "Kat, my Kat, my heart. Say it again. Please."

I peppered his face with kisses, tasting the salt of both our tears. "I love you," I breathed, pouring my whole soul into the words. "I love you so much, you beautiful, brilliant man. I'll love you until the stars go dark and the ‘verse crumbles to dust."

A sound like a sob tore from his throat, his arms coming up to band around me like steel. He crushed me to his chest, mindless of his wounds, as he sealed his mouth to mine.

The kiss was searing, star fire and plasma, branding me to my very bones. I drowned in the taste of him, honey and ozone, my pulse throbbing a tribal beat in my ears.

His tongue thrust into my mouth and I opened for him eagerly, wantonly. I was a live wire, aching, burning in all the secret spaces that wept for his touch.

His talons fisted in my hair, wrenching me back to bare my throat. I keened back bowing as he worried the tender skin with fang and tongue, savage little bites that stoked the conflagration in my core.

"Need you," he snarled, his free hand molding the curve of my ass. "Need to be inside you. Make you mine, mark you, claim you."

"Yes," I gasped, writhing in his grip. My thighs clenched, molten honey seeping the crotch of my flight suit. "Yes, Thaumas, please."

A growl and he was ripping at my suit, talons parting the tough synth-silk like tissue. I whimpered as the cool medbay air hit my bared skin, my nipples tightening into aching points.

He cupped my breasts in his massive hands, the heat of him searing. I cried out, arching into the rough touch, shameless.

"Look at you," he rasped, his eyes devouring me. "So kroxing perfect. My mate, my goddess."

He lowered his head to take a nipple into the wet silk of his mouth. I keened, my hands fisting in his crest, holding him to me as he suckled and nipped.

Pleasure knifed through me, sharp, my hips rolling mindlessly against his. I could feel the thick ridge of his arousal through his thin hospital gown, pulsing with heat.

Gracelessly, desperately, I reached between us to palm him through the flimsy cloth. He jolted like I'd electrocuted him, a guttural moan vibrating around my trapped nipple.

"Kat!" He tore his mouth from my breast to pant harshly against my sternum, his hips bucking into my touch. "D-don't, I can't."

"Shhh," I crooned, my hand working him through the fabric. He was so hard, velvet over durasteel, throbbing against my palm. "Let me, love. Let me make you feel good."

I shimmied out of my ruined flight suit, kicking it away impatiently. His eyes flared, going almost black as he took in my naked form, flushed and eager atop him.

"Ishtar," he breathed, reverent. His hands mapped my curves, gliding over sweat-damp skin to cup the rounded globes of my ass. "You're a miracle. And an answered prayer given flesh."

Tears stung my eyes, my heart so full it ached. "Thaumas," I whispered, leaning down to brush my lips over his. A benediction, a promise. "My love. My heart, my home."

I reached between us to ease his cock free of its cloth prison. It sprang eagerly into my grasp, heavy and perfect, the velvet head weeping pearly droplets.

Slowly, deliberately, I pumped him from root to tip. He threw his head back with a hoarse cry, neck corded with strain, hands flexing convulsively on my hips.

"Kat!" A broken plea, edged with desperation. "I need to be inside you. please, love, I can't wait any longer."

"Shhh," I soothed, my arousal a slick inferno between my thighs. Carefully, mindful of his healing wounds, I shuffled forward to notch his cock at my entrance. "I've got you, love. I've got you."

And with a slow, sinuous roll of my hips. I took him inside me.

We cried out in tandem as he filled me, stretching me, the thick head of him kissing my womb. I shuddered, clenching down on the exquisite hardness spearing me open.

"Nnngh, Thaumas."

"Fuck." A guttural rasp, his talons digging into the meat of my ass. "Oh fuck, Kat, you're so, nnngh, so kroxing tight."

I leaned forward to rest my brow against his, my hips working in shallow little circles. Savoring the drag of him in my aching sheath, the way he throbbed inside me.

"You feel so good," I panted, my voice thready with need. My hands glided over his chest, his shoulders, mapping the hard planes and angles of him. "So kroxing perfect."

He snarled, his own hips snapping up to meet my downward grind. The impact sent sparks skittering up my spine, pleasure knotting tight and urgent in my gut.

"Mine," he growled, savage and certain. His cock pistoled into me, spearing me open again and again. "Mine, Kat. My mate, my, nnngh, gorgeous, fierce, perfect girl."

"Yours," I gasped, my nails raking his chest as I rode him harder, faster. Chasing my pleasure, chasing his, lost to everything but the slick slide of his body in mine. "Yours, Thaumas, all yours."

His talons flexed, kneading my ass, urging me on. I could feel my release barreling down on me, a tidal wave of ecstasy cresting behind my eyes.

"Close," I whimpered, my head thrashing. "Thaumas, I'm so close."

"That's it," he snarled, his eyes wild and feverish on my face. "Come for me, Kat. Come on my cock like a good girl."

I shattered, my spine snapping taut as my climax crashed over me. I howled my rapture to the uncaring medbay ceiling, every muscle locking tight as pleasure scoured me raw.

Distantly, over the roaring in my ears, I heard Thaumas bellow his own completion. Felt the hot gush of his seed painting my insides, his cock jerking wildly in the rippling clasp of my cunt.

I collapsed against his sweat-slick chest, boneless and trembling. Little aftershocks zipped through me, my overwrought nerves sparking and sizzling.

"Nnngh." Thaumas's throat worked as he swallowed thickly, his arms coming up to band around me. "That, fuck, Kat. That was."

"Incredible," I mumbled into his neck, my lips brushing his thundering pulse. "Transcendent. The best kroxing sex of my life, bar none."

He huffed a laugh, the sound ragged but so, so warm. "Flatterer," he accused, nuzzling into my hair. "But, I know what you mean. That was."

He shook his head, wonder and reverence tinging his voice. "I've never felt anything like that. So complete, so whole. Like every fractured piece of me just clicked into place."

Emotion swelled in my chest, too vast and shining to name. I propped myself up on an elbow to stare down at him, my eyes tracing the beloved lines of his face.

"I love you," I said simply. A fact, immutable and true as gravity. "I love you, Thaumas Leion'ct. More than life, more than anything."

His amber eyes shimmered, a telltale gleam of moisture at the corners. "Kat," he breathed, raw and reverent. "My heart, my soul. I love you too. So kroxing much, for so kroxing long."

He leaned up to catch my mouth again, the kiss sweet and slow and achingly tender. A promise, a vow, sealed with lips and breath and the salt of happy tears.

I lost myself in him, in us, the rest of the ‘verse fading away. For that shining, crystalized moment, there was no pain, no fear, no darkness.

Only light. Love. The two of us, entwined, united against all that would tear us asunder.

But of course, the ‘verse had other plans.

A discreet cough from the doorway jolted us apart. I scrambled for a sheet, clutching it to my bare chest as I twisted to glare at the intruder.

Raza leaned against the jamb, arms crossed, a knowing smirk curling his scaly lips. "Well, well," he drawled, eyes glittering with mirth. "Looks like the mating pair are feeling better. Much better, if the smell is anything to go by."

I flushed scarlet, my grip tightening on the sheet. "Raza, you ass! Haven't you heard of knocking?"

He waved an airy hand. "This is my vessel, Blondie. I go where I please." His smile sharpened, something cold kindling in his eyes. "And right now, I need to talk to your boyfriend. Alone."

Thaumas growled, low and warning, his arm tightening around my waist. "This had better be kroxing important, Raza. I'm in no mood for games."

The merc sobered, all traces of humor leeching from his face. "No games, beak-face. Just a heads up that might save your feathered ass."

He glanced at me, something uncomfortably like pity in his gaze. "You're gonna want to hear this too, girlie. ‘Cause if my intel is right, the shit's about to hit the proverbial fan. In a big kroxing way."

"What do you mean?" I demanded, hating the tremor in my voice. "What's happened?"

Raza's smile was mirthless, a slash of white in the gloom. "Happened? Nothing yet. But my contacts in the Obsidian Syndicate just sent word of some very interesting chatter. The kind of chatter that usually precedes high-level assassinations."

He pinned Thaumas with a hard stare, his slit-pupiled eyes glittering like chips of amber.

"They're coming for you, bird boy. And they're coming soon. If not for you, then for her."