Chapter 24

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

KHORAHN

Vya's taste lingered on my tongue long after her breathing slowed. I wanted nothing more than to spread her limbs and lap up her sweetness while the sounds of her excitement filled my ears. I needed to hear her call out my name again in her pleasure.

My ambal leaked with my secretions at the thought. She chose that moment to shift her leg over me. The heat of her skin blanketed me, and I could feel the moisture leaking from her breeding sheath. The ache in my cock increased, and the need to adjust its position consumed me.

I craved her soft body's welcome.

Considering her lack of fear at my unclothed state and how she'd asked for my help with her need, she was so close to inviting me to mate with her. I could imagine the way it would feel to slide my cock into her warm breeding sheath. Again. And again. And again.

Our mating would be glorious.

My cock twitched, demanding to be repositioned.

"Command Khorahn, how long would it take to reach Navar Seven if we cut power to non-essential ship functions?"

There was a long pause.

"One full flare."

"And if we cut power to everything but my sleeping quarters?"

"Three arcs. Cautionary note. All life outside of your sleeping chamber will terminate. Cautionary note. Injury may result when entering Navar's orbit at zero gravity. Cautionary note. Loose items will drift during transit and potentially lead to ship damage when entering Navar's orbit at zero gravity. Cautionary note. Environ?—"

"Stop."

I swore under my breath and shifted my hips to rub my ambal against her. Its swell increased.

"Vya, my sweet female, I'm not sure I can spend another prexel in here with you. You are the most enticing form of torture. And I'm too wise to test my control when you're so close to giving me all your trust."

I leaned in to inhale the scent of her hair then eased out from under her. Her hand drifted across the space I'd occupied before settling. A slight frown marred her brow.

"Rest easy, my pretty one. I won't go far."

She didn't stir at the sound of the door opening, and I paused in the hallway for a moment to calm my body's demands for her. My ambal leaked onto the floor with my need to mark her. To slide its length inside of her however she would allow. To scent mark her inside and out, completely, leaving no doubt that she belonged to me for however long she chose.

The thought brought my swell to the point of stinging pain, and I strode to the cleansing unit. After using the efficient and painless waste removal unit, I thoroughly released my secretions. With the ache eased, I sat in the steam cleanse and considered how to handle the next few flares.

I trusted Mtinash to provide what I needed, and he knew I would pay the chit or provide the terra he wanted. He didn't ask unnecessary questions and would keep his mouth shut about my female. He understood how dangerous it would be for her if the systems knew she was aboard my vessel. After all, every male in the systems dreamed of obtaining a female of his own and would do anything to secure one.

And therein lay my problem.

Mtinash was a male of means. His sky home afforded every luxury, including a lucrative grow dome filled with non-life-threatening edible fruits and roots. Traders came from all over the systems to buy what he offered. His home was well-guarded with the latest tech.

The male had connections. He would be a tempting match for any female and knew it. He would do everything in his power to lure Vya away from me.

My little human didn't understand how the systems worked, though. She'd been taken from her home and mistreated in ways I didn't want to imagine. However, she trusted me. And I wouldn't tarnish that trust by keeping her from the one thing she needed right now—a translator—simply to spare myself the possibility of losing her.

However, I wasn't without a plan of my own to woo her.

Over the next several flares, I planned to continue showing her the type of male I would be if she chose me. That she wouldn't lack anything, including my attention, which she seemed to crave as much as I wanted to give it.

A slow smile lifted my lips as I left the cleansing unit and thought of the clean clothes I'd stashed in the med bay. The time for barriers between my pretty little human and me was over, and I couldn't wait for her next feeding.

My ambal started to swell anew, and I knew it would be a long three flares. Probably the best in my life, though.

While I waited for her to wake, I went to the cargo bay, where I inspected my hard-won cleansed terra. The Wernius's digestive system had turned the numerous bins of mineral waste into one full bin of terra.

Using the nearest datapad, I started a purity scan. If I'd timed the terra retrieval well enough, the single bin would contain pure, cleansed terra, one of the most sought-after commodities in the systems.

The terra in the ship's grow bay was the nutrient-dead terra readily available in the systems. It worked well enough with the grow lights, but the plant growth would increase if I used cleansed terra, which carried all the nutrients needed for growth but none of the destructive microbes found in planet-side terra that mutated vegetation, causing it to turn carnivorous and aggressively overtake environments.

"Purity rating complete. Terraforming microbes non-aggressive. One hundred percent pure."

I laughed my way to the med bay.

Vya walked in just as my follow-up scan completed and the arm extended to my leg for my second round of regeneration stim. She made a sympathetic sound and hurried to my side.

"I love watching you move, female."

Her small hand clasped mine, and she patted my arm.

"I know, Khorahn. Shots aren't fun. Next time, be more careful," she said.

"Not if you keep touching me like this when you believe me to be in pain. I have something else that aches. I wonder if you will be as willing to help me with that once you can understand me."

The stim administered with a hiss. She leaned in and pressed her chest mounds to my arm, wrapping another arm around me.

"Poor Khorahn."

"Poor me, indeed."

I sat up and slowly tugged her forward until she stood between my legs.

She came willingly, seeming to crave contact with me. I smoothed my hand over her back, greedily accepting the press of her bare body against mine.

Her hands trailed over my back as she hugged me close. Prior to the stop at Divos One, she'd sought contact with me, but not quite to this level. I didn't mind, but I worried that I'd caused her additional stress.

"Do you need calming, my sweet female?"

She pulled back and smiled at me.

"How about we find something a little less life-threatening to do for a while? Got any games around here?" she asked.

"Soon we will understand one another and do many things together. This flare, let us work on your links. I need a distraction from your softness." I stood, letting our bodies brush. "Come, my Vya."

She looked down at the hand I held out to her, but her gaze shifted to my swollen ambal. She shook her head and met my gaze.

"You really need pants."

"A covering will not stop my reaction to you, dear one."

I motioned to her with the hand I still offered her, and she took it without hesitation, allowing me to lead her to my workroom.

"Jewelry repair definitely qualifies as dull compared to jumping out of your ship," she said as we entered the space.

"This will not be dull, my pretty female. Let me show you."

I lifted her and sat her on my work table. Her gaze caught on the pile of gems near the lengths of chains.

"You kept them?" she asked, smiling.

"Of course, my pretty female. I'll find a way to add them to your chains so you can wear all of them at once."

I stepped closer, and she immediately parted her legs to allow me between them.

"Perfect." I ran my hands up her sides and trailed my fingers over her chest mounds.

The light scent of her arousal bloomed.

"We will place a chain there, then," I said, picking up a length and setting it against her chest mound so it teased the skin I'd just touched.

She glanced at the chain then back at me. Her expression questioned me, but I couldn't detect any hint of fear or concern.

"Look at how far you've come. You respond so well to my touch now."

I trailed the chain over her skin and watched the dark center of her chest mound pebble. When I gently rolled the hard flesh between my fingers, her lips parted.

The scent of her arousal thickened in the air around us.

"I wish to speak with you and ask what more I can do for you, my pretty female."

As I spoke, I set the chain aside to free my other hand and leaned in closer. She reached for me, her small hands settling on my shoulders and teasing a path to my neck.

Her exhales warmed my skin. The first flick of her tongue against my chest nearly brought me to my knees. She groaned and pressed her chest mound into my hand more firmly. Only then did I realize my hold had tightened.

"Forgive me," I murmured roughly, releasing her.

She caught my hand and brought it to her other chest mound.

"Please do it again." She coaxed my fingers to clasp the hardened nub, and I pinched it firmly. Her hips bucked against my torso, and she tipped her head back to look at me.

"I really want you to kiss me, Khorahn."

Although the translator supplied the word, it wasn't one I was familiar with. In my effort to determine what she meant, I almost missed the slight pressure she applied to the back of my neck. Realizing she meant to draw me closer, I complied.

Her pupils grew larger at my nearness, and her gaze dipped to my mouth.

"Please don't eat my face," she said a moment before she pressed her lips to mine.

I held still, uncertain until her tongue stroked over my bottom lip. I grunted in shock.

She meant to taste me?

"Kiss me," she murmured against my mouth.

I needed no further encouragement to mimic what she'd done to me. Her soft moan echoed in the workroom, prompting me to do more. I tasted her mouth tentatively at first, focusing on her responses to everything and only repeating what evoked any positive response.

Her fingers clutched my short hair, keeping me in place as she ground her wet breeding sheath against my ambal. She tested my restraint, and I began to understand how some males thought this level of response was an invitation for more.

It was maddening, and I struggled to think beyond the primal need to mate her. Quickly. Roughly. The need to hear her cries of pleasure consumed me.

Gripping the work surface on each side of her, I eased back. She followed, making sad little mewling sounds.

"Be at ease, little one. I will not leave you. Let me help you find the release you need."