Chapter 37

CHAPTER 37

THREXIN

H e woke with his face in the familiar scent of Alina Argoud's hair nearly one ship week since Colossal's jump—the humans counted those in batches of seven days. He was late. Twice his Colossal had notified him that Renza had come to see him in his quarters, and Threxin did not want to ignore his brother a third time, for something told him Renza would know where to look.

Alina's head rested at the flat plane between his chest and shoulder, shifting with his breathing. Her palms were curled at his side, beneath her chin. The soft length of her was pressed flat against him. She had a leg tucked up and between both of his, foot nestled underneath his calf. Alina moved her chin up and down a little in a nestling motion as he squeezed the arm he had wrapped beneath her shoulder and over her waist, pulling her closer against him.

For the first time since arriving on his Colossal , Threxin had slept like a rock of unmined hak. His Alina moved too much in her sleep, kicking a foot out here and there, but even that did not manage to disrupt his rest. When she flayed about too much, he simply took her and kept her still against him and she settled down eventually .

"Morning." Her voice was muffled behind her fingers, which she had brought to her mouth for some reason.

Threxin responded with a low hum, hand moving instinctively to stroke at the dip of her waist. She blinked at the wall against which he was squeezed. "Maybe we should've slept in your bed, where there's more space."

"No," he said quickly.

"Oh. Okay."

She sounded chastised.

"I do not sleep well in my cabins," he elaborated. "It is too big."

"So you're… not uncomfortable here?"

"The opposite," he said, and enjoyed the way her body melted against him as she relaxed. Her skin was such an interesting texture beneath his thumb as he drew absent arcs in her waist. Uhyre were smooth like the plane of a stone, save for the crevices of their apertures. Alina Argoud's skin had a certain resistance as he stroked it, manifested by the minuscule hairs and tiny pores. It used those to breathe and excrete fear and arousal.

Although her cunt… Shoq, that was where the arousal was really excreted. When he first felt her with his fingers, soaking wet inside, it was a revelation. Each taste of it made him want to sink into her all the more—see what she'd feel like clamped around his cock. And the way it clenched and sucked at his fingers as she came was unlike anything he'd felt before.

How could he ever give that up?

He was hardening and it was not the time. Threxin forced himself out of bed, peeling Alina Argoud off him reluctantly as he did so. He jerked his pants up over his hips. He saw the way her eyes followed the hard slopes of muscle leading beneath the clasps and the way her pupils grew slightly as she traced her gaze along his abdomen .

If he wanted to, he could fuck her, and he wouldn't even have to force her into it.

Hopefully soon, he would. When he had his vaccine.

Threxin dug in his uniform pocket after dressing, extracting a communication bracelet. He tossed it to the bed beside her, enjoying the way her eyes widened as she registered it.

"This is safer," he said. "It links only to me." He held his inner wrist out, showing her the adhesive comms device there.

Alina nodded and bit her bottom lip, trying to hide a smile as she took the bracelet and held it in her lap, fingers rubbing the metal.

"Thank you." She glanced up at him from beneath her bangs.

Threxin forced himself to tear his eyes from her—if he'd waited any longer, he feared he'd never leave.