Chapter 8

He'd wanted to be with me. Could he get any sweeter? Sure, if Ram had just told me that we should stay put and his guys would be along shortly, I wouldn't have stolen that van and headed for Cleveland. We wouldn't have crashed. He wouldn't have lost his arm. But I was still flattered that he'd wanted more time with me.

And as much as that warmed my heart, it also shot straight to my cock. "Holy hell," I said as I yanked my shirt off, "you gotta fuck me again."

Ram was nodding, watching me undress. "Yes, but first— Quincy, you must—" He cleared his throat as I dropped my pants. "I need you to bathe."

I caught a whiff of myself and agreed. "Oof. Yeah, no problem. I am pretty gross, huh?" I looked around for a bathroom, and then headed for the only door in the room. It was pretty sparse with only a big bed, comfy chair, and a desk, but there were a lot of exotic-looking plants, too. "But then afterward, okay? One last glorious fuck before you send me back." I grinned and smacked my own ass.

"Back?"

"To Earth."

He followed me, standing in the doorway as he said a very firm, "No."

"No?" I stopped looking for a way to turn on what seemed to be a shower and faced him.

Ram was clearly uncomfortable as he glanced everywhere but at me. "Quincy, I…"

"What? I can't go back?"

He sighed. "I would have to go with you."

"Why? Is this the prisoner thing? Can't we get that straightened out? I'm sure if we just talk to your commanding officer, we can explain everything. They kind of debriefed me, but not?—"

"You are my mate."

I blinked at him. "Pardon?"

"I understand that these are not ideal circumstances for our courtship and I will do my best to accommodate all of your needs."

"Courtship?" I gasped as I realized what he meant. "Hold on. Are you saying what's between us is like the thing that happened to the wolf prince, the captain of this ship, and that tiger guy with the humans they met? I read about that. Oh, my fuck…"

I leaned against the tiniest sink I'd ever seen as my mind replayed the articles I'd read and news bites I'd seen where those guys—a former cop, a politician's son, and a kid who'd signed up to be a hooker—had talked about Norlons finding their fated mates by scent. One sniff of a person's good old-fashioned pheromones and they were hooked—nobody else would do. And those three men seemed blissfully happy about their alien fellas.

"Quincy? Are you upset?"

I blinked a few times and straightened up because I'd never heard Ram sound so vulnerable before. He looked like he'd be twining his fingers if he had another hand. As it was, he was hunched over and chewing on his bottom lip.

"No, I'm not upset. Just…" I chuckled. "I'm surprised. Like really surprised. Like why would you ever want…me?" Oh, that sounded bad. I was an okay catch, not perfect but not hideous either. Had my issues, of course, but I was pretty chill and not ugly.

Rampon straightened up and nodded like I was testing him. "I admit that my initial attraction to you was entirely physical. However, I have grown to admire your determination, protectiveness, and jovial nature. You are an excellent mate, and I hope you will allow me the chance to woo you."

To woo me. I had to smile—he was so adorable. Giant, brutal, and dangerous, he also had a melty, gooey center. Honestly, it made sense to me to grab onto the guy who claimed to want me above all others; I was a big fan of happily ever afters. I stepped over to him and reached up to bring him down for a sweet little kiss.

"I don't know how being mates works exactly," I said to him, "but I was only going to leave if that was what I had to do. If I can stay, then I want to do that and see what happens with us."

As much as I wanted to jump into forever with someone for whom that was totally normal, I also wanted to be realistic. Maybe we'd spend a month together and realize we didn't work so great. Maybe we were only awesome when we had a common enemy. I'd give us a chance and be completely thrilled if we worked, but I needed to remember that I was human and he wasn't. Fated mates sounded like he was ready for marriage, while I was on our first date.

Ram caught the back of my head in his big hand and kissed me deep, like he was staking his claim. I opened up and let him in, clinging to his tactical vest and wedging my thigh between his. Arousal came rushing back, but he'd wanted me clean first, so I eased back, and he let me go.

"Shower," I said and licked my lips. "You need me clean, remember?"

He smiled and—hoo boy—it was entirely predatory. I shivered as he rumbled, "Allow me to assist."

I chuckled in anticipation, sure I was about to get even filthier.

"Give me a minute to get this off." I leaned against the wall and set about removing my prosthesis. I'd worn it too long since I hadn't taken it off last night and my thigh was aching a bit now. Of course, it sounded like I was about to spend a good long time naked and wouldn't really need full mobility for a while, so that would help.

"Does your artificial leg need any repairs or maintenance after our ordeal?"

I held it up and looked it over. "Nah, I think it's okay. Couple new scratches maybe, but that's no big deal." I took off the gel liner from my thigh and checked it over. "This is the most important part since it distributes my weight and holds the leg on. Looks fine, too, though." I set it on the sink so I would remember to wash it later.

I hopped over to the shower and found a panel on the outside with controls I couldn't read. Ram was right up close behind me a second later, tapping symbols. He asked me how hot I liked it, how hard the water should fall, and if I wanted it from above or in front of me. Which, given how turned on I already was, sounded like sex talk to me. When the water was nice and steamy and falling like a gentle rainstorm, I hopped in and immediately sighed, releasing tension I hadn't realized I was still carrying. I gave myself a minute just to breathe, letting the water wash over me.

When I opened my eyes again, Ram wasn't there. I appreciated that he might be letting me have some time to orient myself, relax, or just be for a little while. Not sure I wanted to let myself deep dive into the what-ifs of my new relationship, I concentrated on using alien body wash on an alien space ship. It smelled like a sea-side forest—kind of green and earthy but with a saltiness to it. Which had me thinking that maybe Ram's people were sort of like iguanas. Every other Norlon was a humanoid version of some kind of animal, but I'd been thinking of Ram as a dragon. Ooo, maybe he was a dinosaur!

Chuckling to myself about that, I finished up and got out, finding a fluffy gray towel folded in a pocket alcove built into the wall. I dried off and was pretty sure asking Ram about his animal-ness might be rude somehow. Come to think of it, I thought maybe I'd heard somewhere that calling any of them tigers, wolves, and lizards might offensive. Yeah, I shouldn't ask him about dragons.

Squeaky clean and dry, I hopped into the doorway and looked into the rest of the apartment. Ram was sitting on the bed, eyes closed and propped up against a massive yellow cylindrical pillow with disc-like ones all around him. Dude liked his comfort. I went over to him, wondering if he might actually be asleep. I wouldn't mind at all if we had ourselves a nice nap together.

But as I stood beside the bed, he opened his eyes and smiled at me as he held his hand out to me. I took it and got on the bed, and he encouraged me to straddle his thighs. They were so thick, they spread my legs wide just sitting there. I grinned at him, and he chuckled before pulling me against his chest and flicking his tongue along my lips. I sent my tongue out to battle his and ended up laughing at the tickle of his flicking all over mine before he snatched me into a kiss.

I leaned against him and opened up, letting him plunder and claim as he cupped my ass in his big hand and hauled me closer still. His slick cock slithered free of its pouch and up along my abs, and I undulated against it, rubbing my dick into the pouch. Were his balls in there? It felt fat and firm and the small, rounded scales on it were like little fingertips teasing along the underside of my cock.

I moaned into our kissing when Ram took hold of my dick. Happy to have his hand on me, I thrust through his fingers a couple times before gasping when I felt wetness on my tip. Breaking the kiss, I looked down as he eased my cock into the slit of his pouch beside his own cock. I couldn't help the whine of incredible pleasure that left my throat because it was hot, wet, and tight in there. Ram grasped my asscheek again and encouraged me to thrust into him.

"Aw, fuck," I moaned as I rocked my hips, driving my cock into the space where his cock usually curled up to sleep. It was incredible! Like nothing I'd ever felt before. I didn't like topping, but this felt different. Ram was watching me take my pleasure, breathing heavy and biting his bottom lip, letting me know it felt good for him, too.

And then he grinned wickedly and reached around and down behind me. Suddenly, his cock slid underneath me, between my legs, and a moment later I felt the wet kiss of his cockhead at my hole.

"Oh, fuck. Give it to me. Ram, please!" Because I already knew that to be inside him while he was in me was going to blow my mind completely.

He grinned like a crocodile as the wide head of his cock breached me and immediately started fucking itself deeper into my ass. I hollered in unexpected pleasure since its movements rubbed the base of his cock against mine inside his pouch. I writhed on his lap, my hands scrabbling for something to hold onto as his cock jackhammered my ass and stroked my dick at the same time.

It was so much… Oh, god, I couldn't…

I came with damn near a scream, my whole body shaking as I flooded his pouch and spasmed on his thick cock. He slowed his thrusts but didn't stop, and I collapsed against his chest. That was unbelievable and, dammit, it had ended too soon. I was going to have to work on my stamina and try this again. Though… Oh, god… Having him keep going while I was still snug inside him, sated but on edge, was like nothing I'd known before either.

Suddenly his cock pushed deep, deeper than one had ever filled me before, and I moaned piteously, overstimulated and wrecked. Ram came with a subterranean growl that vibrated through him and into me. I might've come just a little more inside him and I swore I could feel the pump of his cock emptying his balls into my ass. Ram hugged me tightly with that one strong arm of his, like he wasn't ever going to let me go.

And I was okay with that.