15 Vitus

I've never been so frustrated in my life. I'm torn by the news of my uncle and spent most of the night talking with others in our command to sort out the recent battle that left many injured. The light concept helped. No soldiers died this round.

It sounds like we just don't have enough of these light devices to fend off the Nebulous Empire. The armies weren't ready when the recent raid happened.

I am supposed to be at home, fighting in my uncle's place. He is not a young warrior like I am. He should be home, retired, with his mate. Instead, I have been nearly forced to enter this stupid race at a very turbulent time. And the moment I finally get the female I want to fall for me, we're interrupted by news of something I may have been able to prevent if I was at home.

To make matters worse, my groin aches from the pent-up hormones. I need release.

Cylene softened against me hours ago and lightly snores on my chest. I want to wake her, return to where we left off, but when I see the healing bruises on her neck, I want nothing more than to let her rest.

I know she wants me, and that's mended one hurt. If only we could skip all this nonsense, and I could just take her back home with me tonight.

Lanos messages me several hours after our last holochat.

He's awake and talking. Doctors say they think he'll make a near full recovery. It's just going to take time.

I haven't slept much, and the moment I hear my uncle is going to be okay, I drift off into a pitchy realm of rest.

It's sadly a mere flash of darkness before my wristband vibrates again. My alarm's going off.

Cylene shifts beneath the blanket I draped over her last night. "How is he?"

Her concern with my family when she hasn't even met them is endearing. "Yes. But we're going to have to rework out defense measures more to prevent further injuries and casualties."

Cylene shifts further under the covers. At first, I think she's cold, then she pushes up the sides of my uniform top I never bothered to take off and frees my belt.

"What are you doing?" I prop myself upright and feel her hot breath curl inside my pants, over my swelling shaft.

"Returning the favor." Her eyes gleam with wicked intent when she peeks up at me. Soft flesh glides down and over my stiffening cock.

Cylene gasps in surprise, then giggles as she fingers the ridges and patterned ripples of my erection. "Sorry, I'm not laughing at you, I just—"

Insecurity makes me reach for my pants to close them. "If I'm not what you like, just say—"

Wet velvet encircles me and swirls around my head, stealing the words from my mouth. I relish the softness of her and let the sensation banish all doubts that she wants me as a mate, even if it's a lie.

"I think you need to feel good for a change," she whispers.

Cylene's silky lips press down over my head and bob a few times before she takes me to the back of her throat.

When I hit the end, my balls tense, and my heart races. "Cylene—"

She hums a note of acknowledgment that pushes me close to the edge of release.

I've been worked up for days. I'm going to make a mess of her. I try to warn her but can't fight through the bursts of pleasure every time her mouth engulfs me.

Her small hand cups my sac and gives it a gentle squeeze, thrusting me into a fiery crescendo. My breath comes in rapid bursts. I've not felt such admiration in another's touch.

As Cylene's tongue travels up my cock, she makes a point of caressing every bump and ridge as if to savor every inch of me. When she finally reaches the top and presses her luscious mouth down over me again, I lose control.

"Cyl-Cylene, you might want to—" let go.

I twitch with the urge to penetrate her deeper as heat rises, and I find release with thunderous force into her mouth. She doesn't freeze or shy away.

A draining sensation startles me. Cylene sucks hard, slurping up every drop.

In shock and panting as the euphoria fades and my body relaxes, I graze her cheek with the backs of my fingers. "You did not have to do that."

She beams sleepily at me and wipes her mouth on the back of a hand. "I wanted to."

When I glance at the time, I note Jalut likely has my updated biometrics as the light on my wristband blinks. But I don't care. All I want is to lay in bed with Cylene and never leave again.

She slinks up beside me and rests her head on my shoulder. "What's on the agenda for today?"

"The space tour. But if you'd like, we're allowed to take our own ships. Would you like to ride with me?" Or ride me? "We could stay here all day."

"You don't need to go home?"

I hold her against me. "I am not—" I trail off, unsure if I want to tell her the truth.

"Not—?"

"I have to stay here until we're released from the race." It makes me uncomfortable just thinking about it.

I slip free from her and sit up in bed. My uniform is wrinkled and dirty, so I grab a fresh one and change in the bathroom.

When I walk out, Cylene has raked her hair back in a smoother ponytail and waits by the door.

Her face displays her expectations. "I'd like to see more of space. But if you have to stay for some military reason—"

"We can go. I just have to stay with Abr to make Rhynin's entry worth it, to protect you, and to apparently satisfy the High Council's desire for me to find a human mate. But now, they want me to stay until we get better security measures in place back home.

"Darsus, my acting Second, is working through my new plan to move most of our ore storages to undisclosed locations and leave one bunker completely unguarded, then another guarded with a minimal crew to see what the enemy chooses. He knows I will want to fight if I return home, so I have been told to stay away. But he's working with other members of command to organize this."

Cylene's expression is unreadable. "You really didn't want to come here?"

"No."

She nods and grabs the door handle. "I'm going to change."

"I'm coming with you."

Cylene agrees and walks out into the hallway. "So meeting me was entirely unexpected."

"Yes," I admit. "But I don't think Rhynin sending me here was a random crime of event."

"You mean crime of opportunity?" she asks.

"That, yes. I am not sure I quite get all of human's wordplay. He is better with it."

"You speak our language very well, considering I can't speak yours for shit." She unlocks her door. "I'll just be a moment. Come on in."

I look out Cylene's window while she changes and note Earth's radiant blue glow beyond the lunar envirodome. Cylene has no personal belongings except a single backpack. It sits packed like she's ready to leave. And suddenly, I want to give her lots of things, from clothes to the newest tech gadgets, and a big room where she can feel safe enough to set out her things.

She exits in a pair of loose olive pants with cargo pockets, and a tight tank top that's a little too small for her bountiful breasts. "I assume they want to put us all in space suits if we're taking the group tour bus. Do you care what I wear?"

"No, but I wish I had a uniform to give you. I think you would be safer in that fabric." As I think about it and stare at her chest, I take it back. "Perhaps a looser top, so I don't have to fight off too many males just to make it to the ship."

She looks down at herself, laughs softly, and changes into another bodysuit. "My friends pooled what they could, but they're all skinnier than me, I guess."

We're going to be too late for breakfast, and the tour's leaving soon. "Almost ready?"

She exits the bathroom in her race suit and shrugs. "More than I ever have been."

I message Jalut as we leave Cylene's room and take the elevator to the upper docks.

He meets us in the hallway outside my dockpad. "Sir?"

I am used to him sneaking up on me, but Cylene still jumps back with a hand to her chest.

"Can we find her a wardrobe? She has next to nothing."

Jalut stammers. "Clothes, sir? You want me to find her clothes?"

"Yes. I don't want to arrive home with her in this suit. She has very little to call her own."

Jalut dips his head. "I will be certain to find her appropriate attire for the trip home. The ships are lining up for the tour, sir. You best get going. We will be right behind you."

Cylene pokes me as I lead her inside of my ship. "I never said I was going home with you."

The burn hurts more than I expected after the way she roused me this morning. I drop into the pilot's seat and motion her to the one beside mine. Closing the dock door, I warm the engines and do my best to strengthen my voice so she doesn't hear my disappointment. "It's just what I had to say so he would get you something else to wear. It's not typically in his job description to shop for females. He does not have a mate, nor does Lanos."

I launch us away from the lunar surface and savor her delighted yelp.

She covers her mouth with her hands. "Sorry. Lots of firsts on this trip."

I switch on the Abr tour channel and quiet the speakers so Cylene can listen as we head for the portal that will take us to the next galaxy. Jalut and Lanos follow but keep their distance like the other security teams of princes and dignitaries on the trip.

We pass planets of other male participants and travel through multiple solar systems. Cylene gawks at the colorful worlds, plentiful moons, and glittering asteroid belts like a youngling who's never left home.

I know I can do better. I can show her something truly breathtaking, that even after seeing it a hundred times, still stuns me.

"When do we see your homeworld?" she asks.

"The tour stop was removed two years ago when our trouble with the Nebulous Empire made our system too risky."

"But you're allowed to participate in the race?" she asks.

"Anyone can travel freely to my planet. The committee just didn't want to risk a whole tour of innocent lives."

I direct her attention to the lights blinking along the distant perimeter of our long line of ships. "Security watch the perimeter."

And that's going to make my next move a bit more difficult. "Do you want to see my homeworld?"

"Right now?"

"I'd like to show you something I've always enjoyed. And from it, you can see Nytheria."

She shrugs. "Sure."

The moment we pass through the next portal, I break off course.

Security calls in. "General Vitus, you're breaking protocol. You need to return to safe space."

"I'm showing her my world from a distance. We'll return to your mind-numbing tour later."

Cylene grips the armrests and tenses as we dive and race toward the nebula. "Might be boring to you, but this is extraordinary to me."

"I just want to show you something special."

"This is—"

"To me," I add.

I take her around an asteroid belt and into the misty, luminous clouds of a vibrant nebula, where I ease back on the throttle. "My kind calls this the Sepherous Cluster, which means source of life in our native language."

Cylene leans close to her window. The colors of the clouds give her face a soft glow. My scales aren't as glossy as most on my planet, but they still reflect the light in a staccato pattern. But I don't like as much as hers.

"Why this place?" she asks.

"My mother brought me here as a child. She told me to look at the colors, the light, and the dark, and see how they all came together in this one nebula. Some clouds blend, some keep to themselves, and some new mixtures form. But it is still one nebula."

I point through the window at the green orb just distinguishable through the cloud. "There's Nytherali."

She barely gets a glimpse before warnings flash on my dash. A black cloud surrounds my ship, engulfing us in darkness. Dread grips me. The shadow soldiers never hide in nebulae. And yet, I can't help but recognize the technology.

"What's that?" Cylene asks her voice tight.

I try the engines, but they switch off. Radar dies. The lights flicker out.

We are drawn upward, likely into the belly of a ship. It is usually how Nebulous attacks work in space.

I unbuckle, walk back to my spacesuit closet, and find the smallest one I can. I help Cylene climb into the suit as, I think.

She stammers out questions, but I'm too busy forming a plan to listen.

"Vitus, talk to me!"

"That cloud is Nebulous Empire technology. You need this suit in case they try to smoke you. You'll get knocked out and then kicked out an airlock." I reconsider. "But I'm not sure what they do to females."

She starts to hyperventilate.

My honesty has been too much for her.

I get in my suit, close it up, except for the helmet, and then feel my ship set down on a floor. Kissing Cylene deeply, I tell her the truth. "I'm in love with you. I'm sorry your life had so much pain, and you had to find out this way. But you are strong and smart. We will find a way to get through this. Slow, deep breaths.

"Now, tuck yourself up in that notch up there. I won't let anyone hurt you. If the smoke clears, and I'm gone, you tap that big green button. It will autopilot you to my home. It will instruct you to fire if there's a blockade in the way. Just do what it says. Understood?"

Her eyes zip back and forth, and I can tell she's trying to memorize what I just said. She's trying to think through her situation. But the way she tears up and her lips plump with her restrained cries makes me hate myself for taking the detour.

It just doesn't make sense for shadow soldiers to be out here.

I savor the taste of her kiss one more time. Then I close her helmet and help her climb up into the hiding place. I hand her a portable light.

"Just in case," I say over the helmet coms.

I climb back down and tuck myself in a corner. The ramp to my ship grinds and squeals as someone on the outside tries to break in. Sparks shoot out of the panel beside the door, and the powerless ramp lowers. I watch the screen under my backup console across the room. A blue light blinks to life, then another. The ship's computer will reboot within minutes. We have figured out how to handle the consequences of Nebulous Empire technology. I just wish we could take the fight to them instead of always playing defense.

Three figures stalk inside with guns, but they don't look like regular shadow soldiers. They wear humanoid suits. Their weapons are Nebulous in design, but they move with clunky, laborious steps. I can't tell if they're humans or robots.

One more individual enters with a cocky grin on his wrinkled, silver-bearded face. He patrols the ship while his guards take up positions around him.

I hear a gasp over my com feed. It's quiet but enough that it catches the attention of the man admiring my controls.

"There you are. Pesky little thing." He shines the light on his rifle at Cylene's position. "Hello, pet. Time to come home to Papa."

Disgust and fury churn my insides. Whoever he is, he knows my mate.

Cylene scrambles between the hull supports and drops into the exit then bolts outside. The older man charges after her.

I'm not letting him touch her. She left her Earth life behind for a reason. I can only assume he is part of the problem.

I bash into the rear guard, crush him against a wall. When he slumps, I take off into the mothership after Cylene and her pursuer.

This is not how this detour was supposed to go. I had nearly won her over. Now, she's in danger. And it's all my fault. I have failed miserably. I risked my mate's life to show her something she didn't need to see. She could've seen it later.

"Use your shield!" I call over the coms as I run through patchy smoke. "Shield, Cylene!" Guilt drives me out of the ship in her direction. When I see the smoking black staff swinging at me, I know this was my last mistake.