His big hands slide to the nape of my neck, and I bite my lower lip, truly shocked now.

“Last night… I thought you were rejecting me, my heart. I did not think that it was the idea of children you reacted to, which was short-sighted of me, yes? But you want me, my mate? You accept our bond, our marriage?”

His voice is so full of hope, full of love, that I sniffle, on the verge of tears.

“No, do not make the eye water again.” Distressed, he pokes at my eye with a careful finger. “Is this a sign of sadness or happiness?”

“Happiness.” I laugh, and then his mouth closes over mine, cutting off the sound.

He smooths his hands down my back, tugging up my Federation issue tank. His scales rasp against my skin, and I shiver at the sensation. When his talons skate across my spine, I arch into him, and he murmurs my name against my neck, his tongue exploring the smooth column of my neck.

“I like when you are happy,” he says, his hands pulling at the bottom of my sports bra. I pull it over my head, and as I stretch my arms up, his mouth locks over one nipple, sucking hard.

I gasp, rocking into him, instantly wet.

“I like that sound, my Ni-Kee.” He traces a talon gently over a nipple, then the other. “And I love these. I love these very much.”

“Draz,” I moan, already way too turned on.

“Take off your pants,” he says, his tone brooking no argument, exciting me even more. I don’t want to think too hard about how I like when he’s bossy with me, how I like it when he tells me what to do.

I stand up, my hands working at the fastener, then let them drop in a pool at my feet.

He groans, eyes raking over my now naked body.

“I like this hair here,” he says, combing through the short hair between my legs with those dangerous and skilled talons. “Spread your legs for me, mate,” he all but growls, and I comply with a shudder.

“Not so stubborn now, are you?” He grins up at me, and I raise my chin imperiously. “I can scent your delicious arousal. I want to coat my tongue in it.”

My breath comes in short bursts, and yet, he doesn’t move, his gaze sliding over my bared body possessively.

“What are you waiting for?” I finally ask him.

“For you to tell me what you want.” His diamond-pupils expand, and I know he’s just as excited by the tension between us as I am.

“I want you to stand up,” I tell him. He cocks an eyebrow, then smooths a hand over his dark hair, complying.

“Take off your pants,” I command, loving the way his stomach flexes as he moves. When he pulls his pants down, my attention goes straight to the hard length of him, and I shudder at the memory of how incredible it felt inside me. How incredible he felt, all over me.

“Does it please you?” he asks, and his cock jerks as I take it in my hand.

“Let me show you how much.” His head falls back as I lick the head of his cock, his low moan the only encouragement I need to take him deeper. It’s too big to take the whole way in my throat, but I ease into it, enjoying the way his hand spasms on my head.

I’m going to rock his world.

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CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

OceanofPDF.com

DRAZ

I cannot think. There is nothing outside her mouth around my cock, the slick slide of her tongue around my xof.

“Mmm,” she hums, and my balls draw up tight, my control razor thin.

“Ni-kee,” I moan.

“You like that?” When she smiles up at me, my cock still on her lips, my control snaps.

“More.” The word is ragged, and for a moment, I think my stubborn mate will refuse me, will not like the depths of my need. Instead, she lets out a moan of her own, her arousal growing stronger.

I curl my hands in her hair, and the scent of her desire fills the air.

Her lips fit over the tip of my cock, and then she’s working it hard, her lush, wet mouth pumping up and down, taking it so deep I can hardly breathe.

“My mate,” I groan. “Wait.”

She pauses, drawing back on her heels, my cock leaving her mouth with a wet pop.

“Get on your hands and knees,” I snap out, my need for her so strong, so immediate, I worry it will overwhelm her.

Her reddened lips part, and to my surprise and gratification, she obeys, lifting her ass in the air, her pretty cunt wet with her lust.

I lower myself to my knees, running a finger through her folds as she moans my name.

“Are you going to come hard for me, my mate? Are you going to show me how much your body loves being mine?”

“Yes,” she says, and I growl my approval, pumping my fist down my cock before lining it up with her core and thrusting in deep and hard.

I cover her body with mine, my tail winding around our legs, nudging down the soft hair to the center of her pleasure. When I find it, I run the tip of my tail over it again, using one hand to support myself and the other to tweak her peaked nipples.

“You’re mine,” I growl against her ear, and she rewards me by arching her back, driving me deeper inside her.

I work her with my tail, my cock hammering into her, my fingers tweaking her nipples hard enough that she cries out.

When she comes, it’s with a breathy moan and a flood of delicious juices.

I want to taste them all. Snarling again, I flip her onto her back and spread her wide, lapping through her cunt as she grinds against my face, making small, needy noises.

I have no gentleness in me, not this time. Not when I need to slake my desire in her, prove that her pleasure is mine alone.

The thought snaps something in me, and I hike her feet onto my shoulders, hammering into her body. She clenches around me, her eyes wide and locked on mine as she matches my hard, demanding rhythm.

“This is how it will be,” I tell her, my jaw tight, my fangs grinding against my lower teeth. “You and me, my heart. You are mine, and I will give you as much pleasure as your body can handle.”

She arches off the ground, tugging my mouth to hers and sliding her tongue inside.

It drives me wild, and I pick up the pace, my xof vibrating harder and harder. Her blunt fingernails scrape down my back, and I reach the peak of that delicious pleasure.

“Ni-Kee.” I yank myself out of her, then paint my hot seed across her trembling stomach.

I want to shove it inside her, push it deep in, and see her swell with our child. I don’t though, squeezing my eyes shut until the possessive impulse passes, and draw her into my arms instead.

She smiles up at me, a contented, sleepy grin, that fills me with a soft, gentle pleasure.

I would fight an entire platoon of Roths. I would move worlds for this small human.

Ni-Kee has my whole heart.

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CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

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NIKI

My recovery is slower than I would like. Three days since I woke up, we’ve been stuck here at the cave, waiting for me to be strong enough to leave.

“Keep going, my Ni-Kee,” Draz encourages.

Sweat drips from my temples, and I move through the martial arts stances I learned decades ago, as a child, from my mother. My breath comes in great heaving gasps. It shouldn’t be this hard, and impatience rips through me.

I sit down heavily, finishing the set, and press my chin to my knees.

Draz hands me a water canteen, and I drink it greedily.

“Your way of fighting is not so different from ours,” he tells me. “You could help train our warriors, if you like.”

I shrug, caught off guard. Rationally, I know that Sueva is my only option. But something about planning for the future makes me feel… weird. Draz is amazing, and it has nothing to do with him. In fact, sometimes, when he catches me staring at him, my heart squeezes so hard with affection it’s nearly painful.