15. Tovan

15

TOVAN

I t’s quiet in here. Outside, the plains are silent. All is well.

Except it isn’t.

I lie in a bath my lira’an forced me to take, the warm water barely covering my form as I hear her bustling around the lodge.

We still haven’t spoken about what happened, how I lost control. She still hasn’t mentioned the fact she saw me in my anger. The fact that I must have scared her to death.

The fact she must be thinking the worst of me now.

Instead, she led me inside, bolted the door, and started the warm bath. She dropped herbs within, forced me down into the steam, and hurried away again.

My throat feels tight as I listen to her moving around within the lodge. The memory of her cry for help still reverberates in my mind like a haunting signal.

What if I hadn’t been here?

Frakk.

I lean back, the water sloshing as I adjust my frame. The wounds and bruises beneath my scales don’t even concern me as I listen to my female move. Knowing she must be frightened is tearing at me. Not knowing what she will do after this is even worse.

I’m tense, all my muscles tight, when the door to the washroom opens and my lira’an steps in. Her gaze finds me immediately, her brows twisting.

“How are you feeling?”

She’s brought heavy pieces of fabric, ‘toh-wells’ as she calls them, and there are round tins of ointment in her arms. A warmth immediately floods through me. She’s caring for me, even though she must be rattled by that other Kari’s sudden appearance.

But the warmth that suddenly rises within me quickly recedes. Because this is my Donna. She will care for me even if she will cast me away later. That is simply her nature. She is too good to let me bleed and suffer. Even if I deserve it.

That other Kari was right.

There are many others, many that have flocked to our small town, that deserve a kahl more than I do. He was right. I—

“Tovan.” Donna crouches, setting the things down as her soft claws skim over my chest, her soft digits rubbing away the blood that’s stuck beneath my scales. “You’re bleeding, but I can’t see the wound.”

Her fingers tremble and my core-organ aches.

I could end all this. This waiting. This ache. If I could just force my core-rhythm to sing, then it would all become clear. The others would leave her alone. They wouldn’t dare come to her farm on the off chance that she could still be claimed.

I could protect her with just my name, my lifeblood. All would know she is mine.

But my core-rhythm won’t activate. It…frakk.

I growl a little, my frustration evident. Evident enough for Donna’s fingers to stop moving against my scales. Her brown eyes shift to mine, searching.

“You’re hurt. I’m worried.”

I shift my body, and the water sloshes over the rim of the tiny bath, soaking her garments. She doesn’t even blink. Her other claw touches the water too, her touch as light as the wind as she brushes her digits across my jaw.

“You have to tell me this will heal. Like your foot did. You know, your magical alien mojo.” She grunts a soft laugh, but it’s different from the other times she’s laughed before. Almost hesitant. She’s…unsure. Scared even.

“I will heal.” I press a claw over the one she has resting on my chest. “It is minor, the injury.”

She nods, her digits shifting underneath mine. “Good.”

She doesn’t pull her claw away, and the one that’s gently brushing my jaw remains there too. Of all the times for my shaft to grow hard, now is the worst of them. It does so, anyway.

“I am sorry, lira’an. I was tending to your outbuilding. I wanted to clear it out for your oogas.” I pause, fighting the growing thing between my thighs as all my attention wants to go to how her soft claws feel against my scales. “I should have heard him sooner.”

“It’s not your fault. He’s a prick.”

That translates to him being a big, hard cock, and I’m tempted to reset my translator again.

“I’m happy you were here…” She doesn’t meet my gaze but the words alone settle something inside me. She doesn’t hate the fact that this male arrived because of my own body’s failing? She is too forgiving. Even of a male like me. “And you’re not undeserving.”

My whole being stills and she notices.

“Tovan…”

I can’t face her. Shame burns in my throat, a bitter taste. “You don’t know—”

“About the war? No. You’re right. I don’t know. But I come from a planet that’s seen its share of conflict, too.”

This makes me look up, meeting her eyes. Donna takes a deep breath before continuing. “My brother...he was in the Air Force. I saw firsthand how hard it was on him, the toll it took. The nightmares, the guilt, the struggle to adjust to civilian life afterward.” Her gaze meets mine. “I didn’t see your war, but I know you must go through the same thing. War leaves scars, Tovan, and not all of them are visible.”

My throat tightens. Words fail me. For a moment, I wonder if my translator is on the fritz again, translating the exact words I want to hear. Of all the people to understand the ache in my soul, I would have never thought a female as soft and lovely as this ever would.

But this is why I’m sure she’s my kahl . She understands more than I realized.

Her claw shifts against the weight of mine, rubbing the scales on my chest. Her touch is so warm, so reassuring, some of the tension leaves my shoulders. “We’ve both been through things that have left their mark. But that doesn’t make either of us undeserving of happiness, of connection, of…whatever this is between us.”

My core-beat stops. Did I hear right? Or is my translator chip—

When Donna suddenly leans forward and her lips brush against mine, the rumble that goes through me makes the surface of the water vibrate. Water sloshes as I lean over the bath and reach for her, groaning again as our tongues meet and her softness presses against me.

Oh gods. I will never get enough of this.

Before my mind can catch up, my body is already out of the water, lifting my female against me.

“Tovan.” She’s breathless, but her lips press against mine again. Water drips everywhere as I press her into a counter at her back, and when her legs open, inviting me in, I can’t help but growl into her throat.

It makes her whimper. Makes her go limp. And my whole being lights up with need.

My cock bobs, already seeping pre-spend and I try to press it into the counter to keep it away from the center of her thighs. But my female protests.

Donna whimpers again, tugging me closer as her hips roll and shift.

Breathless, I pull my lips from hers. “We can’t,” I pant.

“Why not?”

“I knotted you last time and you are so small, my kahl.”

“I can take it.”

Frakk. My cock aches against the hard wood.

“Not here. Not like this.”

Donna pauses, gaze meeting mine before she runs her tiny pink tongue across her lips.

Leaning in, she presses her nose into my neck, pulling in a deep lungful of air. “You smell so good.” She shifts her hips and reaches down between us. When her digits come in contact with my heated flesh, I jerk, a ripple of sensation going through me.

“Don’t knot me right now. Just…just make love to me. You can do that, right?”

Frakk. I will do anything she wants. “Yes, my kahl .”

I can’t resist anymore. Shifting my lips, I allow my cock to bob upward, pressing between her thighs.

“Wait.” She reaches between us and shifts away a piece of fabric that’s covering her beautiful slit. “Now.”

Gods, I wanted to take it slow, but the moment her softness begins to close around me, I lose control. And Donna pulls me in. With a moan and a jerk of her hips, she pulls me in deeper.

Her warmth envelops me and the pleasure is so intense I can only see stars. A groan reverberates through my chest as I begin to move, slow at first, but she urges me on with her heels against my spine, her claws clutching at my scales.

“Yes,” she whispers, her breath hot against my ear. “Oh shit yes. Don’t stop. Don’t you dare stop. I need this. I need…I need…”

Me?

I can hear the fact she wants to say it. But she’s not quite there yet. No matter. I am a patient male. I will wait. And in the meantime, I will make her slit weep.

My hips snap forward, driving into her with a force that makes her cry out in quick succession. Her body takes all of me, every inch, fitting perfectly around my length. And I bury myself inside her.

Her moans fill the room, mingling with my growls and the sound of our bodies meeting. I can feel her core-beat racing, her breath coming in quick gasps.

“Don’t stop. Just…” She’s frowning, eyes squeezed shut tight, and if not for the way she’s gripping me, surrendering to me, I would think she’s in pain. But this isn’t pain. This is something else. She’s close, I can sense it. “Don’t stop. Don’t stop.”

And so I don’t. I keep doing the exact thing. I keep the rhythm, the pressure. I keep my tight hold on this delicious morsel of a female, my female, and I drive my cock into her just the way she’s begging for it.

“Tovan!” Her nails dig into my scales as she climaxes, her body convulsing around me. The sight of her lost in pleasure, the feel of her pulsing around me, sends me spiraling.

With a final, deep thrust, I let go, pouring myself into her. My body shudders with the force of my release. It’s so much that it comes streaming down onto the counter, the scent filling the air of mating and spend.

Donna’s legs are still wrapped around me, her body limp and satisfied. I press my face into her neck, inhaling like she did before I nibble her face, her lips. She smiles against my mouth, her eyes still closed.

“See,” she murmurs. “We fit just fine.”

I can’t help but chuckle, my chest vibrating with the sound. “Yes, my kahl . We fit perfectly.”

In this moment, everything else fades away. Still buried inside her, I tug her closer. I know, with a certainty that shakes me to my core, that I will never be free of this female. And I don’t want to be.

I am hers.

Completely.

Utterly.

Hers.