Chapter 32

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

VYA

Every nerve ending buzzed with need—the need to touch Khorahn all over, to ride him until I screamed, to get on my knees and taste him—and the intensity of my need wasn't natural. At least now, I had a better idea why.

"Can you put me down, please?" I asked, looking up at him.

I shivered at the way his hands grazed over my skin as he did so.

"The scent-marking that you've been doing to help calm me has been doing more than just suppress emotions I should be feeling. I think it's also causing me to crave you. I can't stop thinking about how much I want to touch you and how much I want you to touch me.

"I understand that you did what you did to help me after the abduction. Without it, I don't think I could have faced everything that's been happening to me. I also believe you about needing it to protect me from the fey—I did feel his draw—but I'm afraid, if you keep marking me, I'll be under the same kind of influence. Only it will be yours.

"I want you so badly right now, I'm shaking with my need. That's not normal, Khorahn. Not for me and not for most healthy humans."

He studied me for a long moment, and I wished I knew what he was thinking and feeling. Finally, he reached out to stroke my cheek. A simple, comforting touch but one that made my pulse beat faster and made me want to lick him all over.

He dropped his hand to his side. "I know you wish to return to your planet, and I will honor my promise to take you there, but I have no desire to return you. I want you to stay with me, Vya. But because you desire me as I desire you, without any influence.

"I will refrain from marking you, but I fear what will happen to you when we arrive."

I looked up into his blue eyes.

"Maybe I should fear that too. And maybe I will once this numbness wears off. But I think, if you're with me, I won't be afraid."

He pulled me into his arms and held me close, and I loved it.

After a minute, he pulled back and helped me out of my chains.

"Is this really considered a dress?" I asked, struggling to keep my libido in check with his light, innocent touches.

"It is. Although many will question why I added mineral waste to the stimulation disks."

"Waste? Is that why you dumped them out of the ship? You thought they were garbage?"

He grinned. "The waste was converted to pure terra, which has more value than almost any other material in the systems."

"Dirt is more valuable than rubies?" I said, not fully believing him.

"Can a ruby be used to grow the plants needed to breathe clean air? To feed us? To feed the animals we eat?"

"Well, when you put it like that, yeah, I guess dirt has some value."

He set the chains aside and led me over to the bench as the room filled with steam. It didn't feel weird to sit in his lap. In fact, I craved the contact. But it didn't help that need crawling through me.

"Will you tell me more about your people?" he asked as his fingers skimmed over my arms and down my side. "You said public breedings are not common. Why?"

I shrugged slightly, shifting positions as I did so his hand moved from my arm to my breast.

"I'm not sure. Where I'm from, walking around naked would get me arrested. Pretty sure public sex would be the same. I guess people just don't want to see that."

He rumbled thoughtfully. "But you enjoyed watching."

"It was shocking to see it so openly done. I think all your scent-markings changed how I viewed it, though."

"You were aroused." His fingers found my nipple and plucked at it.

My breath caught, and I struggled to remember why turning around and riding him would be a bad idea.

"You're aroused now," he said as I was still trying to control my impulses.

"Very," I agreed.

"I can bring you pleasure without scent-marking," he said. "If you wish it."

My breath whooshed out of me, and I nodded eagerly. He shifted our positions, laying me on the bench beside him and kissing his way from my knee up my thigh. I was babbling by the time his tongue swirled around my clit. And damn if I didn't start begging for penetration again as I climbed closer to the finale. When I found my release, my scream echoed in the steam-filled shower.

Spent, I lay limply as Khorahn slowly lapped at my opening. It felt so good. Especially when he dipped inside just a little bit. It made me want more.

The need started to tingle through me again.

"How long do you think it will take the scent-markings to wear off?" I asked, reaching out to run my fingers through his short, white hair.

"I have no answer. I've never marked anyone before," he said.

"This horniness just isn't letting up," I said, moving my hips under his tongue.

His hand splayed over my stomach to hold me in place.

"I will never tire of your taste. Lie still and allow me to feast on your endless releases."

His tongue dipped inside of me again before his lips closed around my clit, and he gently started to suck. My eyes rolled back in my head, and I curled my fingers in his hair to hold on for dear life.

Warmth surrounded me, and for a moment, I thought I was still in the steam room. The weight of Khorahn's arm draped over my waist registered along with the softness of the bed beneath me.

Content and relaxed, I remained where I was and listened to his subtle exhales. It was the first time since I could remember that he slept next to me, and I didn't want to disturb him.

My thoughts drifted to the "O"-fest that had caused another blackout. My bits were really sore now, but I didn't regret a thing since that tingling need that had been riding me so hard no longer seemed as intense.

Khorahn's hand skimmed over my stomach, and his lips brushed my shoulder.

"How do you feel?" he asked.

"Better. Thank you."

"Do you still crave penetration?"

I hadn't been, but as soon as he said it, my core clenched. He inhaled deeply.

"Nope. I think I'm ready for a real tour of your ship now and an explanation of what life is supposed to be like. Having me here probably messed with your day-to-day schedule a little, didn't it?" I turned in his arms to look at him, and my core clenched again at the sight of his sexy smile.

"You wish to learn more about life on a ship?"

"Sure. I mean, I've had a free ride so far. If I can help in some way, I'd like to do that."

He chuckled, kissed my forehead, and got out of bed.

I stared at everything hungrily, and the image of Mtinash's hard length driving into Oaiu filled my head. Tearing my gaze from Khorahn's girthy impressiveness, I got out of bed too.

"Any chance we can wear some clothes?" I asked.

His smile faded. "You wish to cover yourself?"

"I wish to cover you so I don't distract both of us from the tour," I said honestly.

He grinned and shook his head. "I would prefer to be distracted. That is how you can help me. Keep giving me memories that will fill the long void of my life once you leave me."

For the first time, I was glad I couldn't fully feel my emotions as guilt tried to worm its way inside of me.

"Okay. We'll stick with no clothes then. What do you normally do when you wake up?"

His routine was pretty standard. Use the bathroom. Eat. Workout. Shower. However, his "standard" was an erotic experience for me. First, his toilet, which I no longer hated, gave just the right amount of suction to start my engine again. Sitting on his lap to eat with my legs spread gave me all sorts of inappropriate thoughts. Then, watching his workout had me squirming on the bench. He knew it, too, based on the way he scooped me up and power-walked to the shower. When I admitted I was too sore for his mouth, he used his fingers to coax another orgasm from me.

"What's next?" I asked as I caught my breath.

He chuckled, kissed my temple, and stood with me.

"Next, I check the system logs and perform whatever maintenance is required."

It should have been mundane work, but as I watched him clean filters, replenish supplies, and wash the light panels in the grow bay, I found myself captivated. Not just in what he did to keep the ship running but in the way he explained everything. Khorahn was crazy smart. About everything. At least, that's how it seemed to me. And it was a big turn-on.

Truthfully, everything about Khorahn was a turn-on, which was why, when it was time to eat again, I hesitated to climb onto his lap again.

"I can feed myself," I said.

"You can. But doing that doesn't help me prove that you can trust me not to take more than you're willing to give."

It hit me then what he'd been doing all along. Proving that he was a decent person. He never took. He coaxed and guided me, but he never took. If anything, I was the one taking.

"I'm afraid if I sit on your lap, we're going to end up in the steam room again with me pulling your hair."

"It's been a flare since I last marked you. Has your…"

"Horniness," I supplied.

"Yes. Has it abated at all?"

"A little."

"Then come eat. If you need another release to help ease you through the transition, I am happy to provide for you."

My core clenched again at the thought, and I eagerly climbed onto his lap. Once my legs were hooked around his, he spread his knees, thereby spreading me. I could feel the nudge of his top shaft against the cleft of my ass.

"Can I ask you some anatomy questions?" I asked as I leaned forward to grab the bowl and spoon.

"Always," he said, running his fingers down my spine and stopping just at the top of my cleft.

"You've only been using that top penis to mark me. When Mtinash was having sex with Oaiu, he used both of them. Is there a difference between the two?"

"Yes. The top one is called an ambal. It produces the scent-marking secretions that calm females for breeding. The primary breeding shaft only produces genetic material for reproduction. Not every species can accept both into the breeding sheath as Oaiu did. Some have secondary sheaths, like you."

I paused with the spoon partway to my mouth. "Secondary?"

His finger brushed over me there, and I clenched. Heat ignited in my face and rushed through my body as my pulse raced at the idea of what he meant. I wasn't sure if it was turning me on because of the scent-marking or because I was actually considering dual penetration.

"Breeding can be done without the ambal inserted internally, but applying the secretions externally is not as efficient in calming as it is when applied internally."

That bit of information clicked into place.

I hadn't started craving Khorahn until the first time I rode him. He'd coated me thoroughly from the inside that time. And I'd drank him, too. I couldn't forget that.

"And calming is needed because knotting is bad?" I asked in a semi-strangled voice. "As in painful or something?"

"Knotting isn't painful or bad. It's done to help increase the probability of reproduction. It prevents the mating pair from separating too soon. However, the swelling knot can be a little uncomfortable for the female."

I twisted to look back at him. "And what about you? Is it uncomfortable for you?"