She massages that spot for a few moments, her breaths coming hard with each pass.

“Haa…”

I am transfixed.

My sazi throbs and Adee’ra moans louder as she guides me lower.

I feel the heat of her entrance a second before my tip sinks inside her warmth.

Exploding stars…

I can no longer keep still.

I grab her arms and lift them, pinning them above her head as I ease forward.

She’s tight.

So unbelievably tight and spend seeps from me deep inside her.

The more of me that she takes, the wider her mouth opens till I can see her little pink tongue.

I dip my mouth to hers, tasting it as my length slides deep into her wetness.

A thrum barrels through me, riding on top of a moan of my own as I pull back and slowly move forward again.

I can feel her resistance around my sazi, know I cannot go as fast as I want to, but the sweet torture is worth it.

The look on Adee’ra’s face is enough to make more spill seep from my tip.

Adee’ra whispers something I do not hear over the wild beating of my blood organ within my ears.

“Say it again, my little bird.”

Her eyelids flutter at the moniker and I’m reminded of that day I saw the small flying creature. The day Adee’ra was hunting for sea creatures.

I remember the look on her face when she saw it, remember how it sounds just like her when she speaks.

I plunge deeper within her and groan as her suu’ci quivers around me.

“I said,” she pants, “I’m yours, Fer’ro.” Her eyes open and meet mine. Lids low, she looks at me. And I am bare. It is as if she can see me now.

I do not know when that changed.

When she stopped looking at me with fear in her eyes to look at me like she is looking at me now.

“I’m yours,” she repeats, and her words ignite something in me that is like a raging fire.

I surge forward and Adee’ra cries out as she grips me.

Her suu’ci clamps down on my length, pulling me deeper.

“You are mine,” I growl, as I pull back and thrust deeper, and when Adee’ra grips my hips, wrapping her legs around me, I know it is the end.

I burst within her, my hips thrusting forward with the torrent of my spend.

A deep roar comes from my throat, filling the room, and I am sure any passing Vullan now knows what I have just done.

My body shudders as I finally release her, easing up as I crawl down her soft body.

“What are you doing?” Her words come out on panted breaths and she lifts her head to look at me before it falls back on the feathers.

But I don’t need to speak. She only has to feel.

My tongue brushes over the nub hidden in her soft folds and Adee’ra jerks.

I rumble in pleasure as my mouth closes over her and she whimpers above me.

I will not stop until she begs me to.

Chapter Thirty-Five

FER’RO

This is what bliss feels like.

There’s a glow on my face, the taste of my female on my tongue, and her soft body in my arms.

I made her cry out on my tongue many times, until she could not take it anymore, and nothing fills me with more joy than her sated body and the look of happiness on her face.

There’s a glow over her too. A warmth that hadn’t been there the first time I saw her.

I like it.

I take pleasure in her contentment.

“This is nice,” she whispers as she turns in my arms to face me. She runs a hand down my chest before her gaze wanders behind me.

I turn to look at what she’s focused on, but there is nothing there.

“I can almost forget bad things are happening out there when I’m with you.”

Time passes as we lie like this, our blood organs beating in tune with each other.

She breathes twice as quickly as I do, and I find myself enjoying the rise and fall of her chest.

I’m counting her one hundred-twentieth breath when she tilts her head and looks up at me.

She holds my gaze, saying nothing and I do not push her.

I believe she is not going to say anything.

That is, until water fills her eyes. She promptly blinks it away.

“You have a plan, don’t you,” she whispers. “You have a plan to take down the Gryken.”

The worry in her gaze has a scent similar to her fear.

I have the urge to dispel it.

“Yes.”

Adee’ra jerks her head downward a few times then.

“We should go eat and see if we can put that plan of yours into motion.”

Yes.

She is right.

I am sure my brethren are waiting to see where we stand.

And though I do not want to leave my quarters just yet, the faster we get rid of the Gryken scum, the sooner I can get more days like this with Adee’ra.

“Let’s go,” she whispers, her symbiotes creeping over her skin.

She begins to ease off me but I stop her.

“You can rest here. I will bring you sustenance.”

She licks her lips and sits upright. “I know you’re just trying to keep me in here, aren’t you?”

I look at her, dumbfounded.

“You’re going to feed me then leave again to go look at that monster we captured then make plans with your team, aren’t you?”

She is right.

“I want to see it.”

My eyes close as soon as the words leave her lips.

The Gryken is contained in a special tank. It cannot harm us.

It cannot harm her, but even having Adee’ra in the same room as it makes me uneasy.

I remember seeing its grasp on her in that Scrit.

I remember the utter terror I felt for her in that moment.

When my gaze raises to hers though, the ultimate determination in her eyes tells me this is something she needs to do.

“I want to be a part of this.” She reaches forward and runs a finger down my leg.

My sazi throbs immediately but I push it from my mind.

“You put your life at risk and I almost lost you. I disagree.”

A huff of air makes her shoulders rise and fall. “I know…but…I just can’t sit by.” She shakes her head and runs a hand through her hair. “I just can’t.”

For a few moments, she says nothing.

“Let me see it,” she says. “I don’t think I can ever do what I did again, but I’m going to help you fight for us.” Her gaze meets mine. “For our future.”

I get the sense she is also referring to our future—mine and hers together.

I study her for a few moments.

I know I can never deny her wishes.

“I’ll take you to it.”

ADIRA

Fer’ro walks beside me as we leave his quarters.

It turns out that they’d brought fish on board for us and after getting it roasted, I’d eaten till I was full in his room.

Now, each step reminds me of what else I’ve had inside me.

I’m a little bit sore but a feeling of bliss surrounds me like an invisible cloud.

I don’t think anything can change that right now. Not even the horrible face of a Gryken.

We’re heading toward the med bay, I assume, and when we step through the door, my first thought is Mina.

Fer’ro seems to read my mind.

“Your friend is here.” He walks over to the wall and presses something. It turns into a screen as it did before.

Across the barrier, in the other room, the light is dim, but I can see the form of a woman clear enough.

Mina is on the table, well, over it. Her body floats, and already there is some color to her skin.

The room looks quiet and she appears so peaceful, my heart lurches, thinking she is dead.

“She receives sustenance automatically,” Fer’ro says, gesturing to a tube that is attached to Mina’s body. “And regenerative ions.” He gestures to another tube. “We would have put her in the regeneration tank,” he turns to me, his heated gaze slipping over me, “but it is not yet calibrated to your species.”

I nod as I look up at him before turning back to look at Mina.

She’s going to be all right.