When She Belongs: A SciFi Alien Romance (A Risdaverse Tale Book 4)

by Ruby Dixon

  "I want to stay with you," Sophie agrees, her fingers tracing along my jaw. "But…would you go with me?"

  "Go?"

  "With the Jabberwock," she says, that look of worry still on her face. "If they need more help. They're going to retrieve the Little Sister, and they might need more hands. Zoey might not be able to help out much and she'll need Sentorr, and Fran's got a new baby, and…"

  "You want to go with them? What about Sleipnir?" I'm surprised. I thought she was incredibly uncomfortable around the others. I know she thrives when it's just the two of us, so she must feel very strongly about this.

  "He'd have to come with. I won't go if you don't go with me, Jerrok, but…I felt like we should at least offer." She bites her lip again. "I'd want someone to marshal the troops if I went missing."

  Didn't I want the same thing back in the day? When I was captured behind enemy lines and no one ever, ever came for me because I wasn't important? The va Sithai brothers have family waiting for them. They don't deserve what I went through; no one does. So I nod. "I'll float the idea past Kivian, see what he thinks." I pull her closer. "But you and I stay together, no matter what. We don't separate for anything. Anything at all."

  She shakes her head. "No separating. You're stuck with me."

  As if that's a hardship. I pull her closer, hardly daring to believe that she's mine. "You absolutely sure you want to be stuck with someone like me?"

  Sophie traces her fingers over my jaw, her gaze moving over my face. Her fingertips move up and trace the scars around my replacement eye. "Not stuck," she whispers. "Never stuck. I'd happily spend every day for the rest of my life here with you, scrapping and eating noodles. You make me feel safe. And happy. And special."

  "You won't get lonely?"

  Her fingers continue to move over my face in the softest touch, as if she's memorizing me with her fingertips. "How can I get lonely when I'm with you?"

  "And Sleipnir," I add, though part of me wants to keep her praise all to myself.

  Her smile fades just a little, sadness creeping in. "Sleipnir has to come with us because he's worth a fortune."

  "And because he'll chew a hole through the station wall if left unattended for long?"

  She shakes her head. "No, he has to come with us because he's expensive. He's the only bargaining chip we have if someone's holding the va Sithai for ransom."

  The thought didn't even occur to me, but she's right. "You'd give him up?"

  Sophie shrugs, but I can tell the question bothers her. "How could I not? There's no right answer. It would kill me to have to give him to someone else, but…he's not truly mine. He belongs to the va Sithai. I can't hold him if selling him could bring them home."

  I hold her close to me, hating the melancholy in her tone. "I'm going to do my best to make sure that doesn't happen."

  65

  SOPHIE

  It's late into the night before Jerrok finishes his work on the flight logs. Some of them are corrupted, which means he has to painstakingly rebuild the records from scratch, typing away, and all I can do is watch and be quietly supportive, my cheek on his arm as he works, my seat pulled up next to his. I tried to sit farther away, but he just pulled me back to his side, telling me he preferred me right next to him, and his tail curls around my waist.

  It's still hard to believe that this man is mine. Good things never happen in my life. I springboard from a rough childhood into sexual slavery. It's difficult for me to imagine a future of happiness, of waking up every morning and looking into Jerrok's handsome face. The thought makes me so full of joy that it's utterly terrifying. It's far easier to think of all the ways it could go wrong, but I try to push those thoughts aside. I don't want to give them space in my head any longer. To reassure myself, I stroke my hand over his tail.

  Jerrok stops typing and gives me a heated look.

  "Did that bother you?" I ask meekly. "Sorry."

  "It's a distraction," he tells me, putting a finger under my chin and tilting my face toward his for a quick kiss. "Tails are sensitive."

  I file this away for future knowledge. "It's late," I point out. "Are you good to keep going? Do you need a carcinogel? A drink? Something to eat?"

  He shakes his head and taps the screen. "Just uploading the finalized logs to the Jabberwock right now. If you're tired, head to bed and I'll join you soon enough."

  "I'm good." I don't want to sleep. Sleep was an escape once upon a time, a way to hide in dreamland rather than face my reality. Now, though, my reality is something I've always wanted—a place to belong, a wonderful man that loves me—and I don't want to waste a moment of this by sleeping.

  His hand moves to my thigh possessively, and we watch the screen as the logs are uploaded, merging and adjusting the Jabberwock's records so we can head into the Slatra system without issue. Hopefully. I have no idea how Jerrok learned everything he does, but I'm not surprised. He's clever, and he's managed this old station for years simply with what he has on hand. Of course he can figure out how to do most anything with a ship. It just makes sense, and I'm so proud of him for being so clever. I want to learn how to do this, too, not just so I can have another skill, but so I can be a good partner to him.

  "Done," Jerrok finally says, and rubs my thigh again.

  It makes me squirm a little with arousal, that small touch, and I find myself hoping his hand will creep even higher, to touch me where my pulse throbs even now. "Should you let Kivian and the others know?" I ask, trying to concentrate on the task at hand.

  He shakes his head. "They've got a baby on board that ship and by galactic standard hours, it's the middle of the night. They'll change out fuel-cells in the morning, so I'll talk to Kivian then. See if he wants more crew and mention that we can trade the carinoux."

  Grief threatens to overwhelm me at the thought, but I nod. I can't weigh one life against three. I just can't. It has to be done. "All right."

  "For now, you and I should go to bed." Jerrok pulls me against him and presses a chaste kiss to my brow.

  Bed sounds wonderful. My body's humming with a slow-burn sort of need, and I'm more than ready to slide into bed with my mate and kiss for hours before touching each other in increasingly more pleasurable ways. Heck, just thinking about it makes me even more fired up, and I'm antsy as I settle Sleipnir for bed in my room with a nice chew toy of metal and a kiss on his leathery head. When I return to Jerrok's quarters, though, his shoulders are slumped with exhaustion and he looks…wiped. I notice for the first time that there are circles under his eyes and realize just how long a day he's had.

  My poor love.

  I move to his side, touching the auto-fastener at my collar and letting the fabric slither off my body as I walk toward him. His clothing is pooled at his waist, and by the time I reach him, I'm wearing nothing but underwear and a tight band that serves as a bra. He groans as I slide my hands over his shoulders. His head presses against my breasts, his horns a hard contrast against his velvety skin. "You're tired—"

  "Not that tired," I counter. "And I need you."

  "I know. I can smell your need." He presses a kiss to my belly, his hands on my waist. "Kef me, but you smell amazing."

  "We don't know how much time alone we'll have for the next while," I reason, tracing a finger along the shell of one of his ears. "Don't you think we should take advantage of what we do have right now?" He glances up at me, and I slide the band off my body, freeing my breasts, and move closer to him. "I love you so much, Jerrok. More than anything, I want to be with you tonight."

  "I love you, too, Sophie." He nuzzles at my breasts, his mouth going to the valley between them and pressing kisses there before moving to my nipple. "My beautiful, perfect female."

  "You're perfect," I whisper back, caressing the sides of his face as he teases my nipple with his lips.

  He snorts at that. "I'm in pieces."

  "You're a survivor, just like me." I skim my thumbs over his jaw. "And I love that, just like I love all of you."
r />   He nips at my breast, sending a skittering pulse of joy through my body. The joy continues to build as he lavishes attention on my breasts, on my belly, and eventually, on the place between my thighs where I'm sensitive and achingly wet. We make love slowly, taking our time with one another, and by the time I push him back onto the blankets and straddle his hips, we're both more than ready. I ease onto him, and when I ride his cock, his spur glides against me in the most enticing ways, strumming against my body each time I lower myself on him.

  It's not the most comfortable of sex positions—he's so big that at times it feels like too much, but I still love it. When I ride him, I can feel his thick scars under my thighs, and the slightly unpleasant sensation of metal under the plas-skin of his prosthetic leg where it meets his hip. These are just all the more arousing to me, though, because they're wholly Jerrok, and when I come, it's with a cry of his name, our fingers laced as I ride him. He comes a split second later, as if he was waiting for my release before claiming his own, and rocks me on his length even as he fills me with his seed.

  When I collapse on his chest, I'm filled with that terrifying sensation of joy all over again. Like things are so perfect they surely can't continue like this. I twine my fingers in his hair, holding onto him as I press my cheek to his breastbone plating, and listen to his heart beat. "I love you," I tell him again. "I love you so much."

  "My Sophie," he murmurs, stroking my back. "My good girl."

  It's like he knows just what to say to me to make me feel at peace. I go to sleep curled atop my mate, sated and content.

  66

  JERROK

  I wake up in the morning with Sophie's hair in my mouth, my cock and thighs sticky with our release, and my mate snoring and sprawled over my chest.

  I've never been so keffing happy.

  I lightly trail my fingers up and down her spine as she sleeps, unwilling to awaken her. Last night, we should have showered after sex, but she'd dozed off and I didn't have the heart to move her. I like wearing her scent, anyhow. In a brutal, animalistic way, I like the thought of others smelling it on me, knowing that she's mine. Maybe that's crazy, but I don't care.

  Sophie loves me and wants to stay with me.

  It's like a dream, one I don't want to wake up from. To think that this gorgeous, lovely female has been through so much and still wants to be touched. To think that she can see happiness with me, a broken war veteran scarred both inside and out, who hides away from the universe. I know that living on an asteroid in a broken-down abandoned station isn't a dream for anyone. Most people can't wait to get away from this place. I'm too far out from most of the comm bands to get vid transmissions, too far from most stations for an easy visit, and it's just…a solitary life. I expected to spend it alone, save for the occasional visitor looking to trade scrap.

  But the thought of waking every day with Sophie at my side fills me with such utter…joy. She deserves better than me, but if she wants me, I'll gladly be hers.

  Eventually, my circuits start to twitch, and I grimace, knowing that I have to get up. I carefully extract myself out from under my mate, who sleeps like the dead. She smacks her lips and rolls over in the blankets, presenting me with her fine-looking backside, and I'm tempted to climb back in.

  No. I have to talk to Kivian. Sophie wants to help with any sort of rescue of the va Sithai brothers, and I understand that. If we can help out, we'll do so. I owe them…because they dumped Sophie on my doorstep and made me take her in despite my reluctance. If they were here right now, I'd keffing kiss each one in sheer gratitude. Since they're not, though, I'll help with the rescue.

  I take a quick shower and change into a fresh pair of trou and a work tunic, then head out into the hangar to see if the crew of the Jabberwock is awake.

  Kivian and Sentorr are on the bridge of the other ship, despite the early hour, and I tell them Sophie's plan—that we want to help out with the rescue, and for us to help with the retrieval of the Little Sister. I talk about the carinoux, too, though everything in my body revolts at the thought of selling him, since I know Sophie's so fond of him. I also mention what I haven't told anyone else before—that I've got plenty of weapons and a stash of unmarked credits at my disposal.

  "How do you have so many weapons?" Sentorr asks with a frown when I outline just how much I have at hand. "You're a keffing scrapper."

  "I am," I agree. "And when you get boarded by the authorities, do you leave your weapons out or do you have secret hiding places stashed all over your ship to hide such things? Not all hiding spaces get found before the ship comes to me." I shrug. "I keep what I find, just in case it's needed."

  "It's needed," Kivian says flatly. Gone is his normal flamboyant attitude. His clothing is somber and functional today, reflecting his mood.

  "I hope for their sake all that's needed is a ransom." Sentorr shakes his head. "It's going to tear my mate apart if something bad has happened to them." He glances over at me. "Generous of the female to offer up her pet. We'll try not to use that tactic, but until we know what we're up against, it's good to have options."

  I just nod. I don't like the thought of it either, and if I have to clean out my savings and my arsenal to make Sophie smile, I will. "Do you think they're dead or just in hiding?

  "Not dead," Kivian says immediately. "There'd be blood everywhere. A murder on-ship just makes a damnable mess. Bio-waste in all of the sockets and the moldings and just…ugh." He shakes his head. "And the smell."

  Sentorr just stares at him.

  "What?" Kivian says defensively. "It's true. If you're going to kill them, you don't bring them aboard your ship and do the deed. You leave the mess behind. This wasn't about money, though, or else the ship would be claimed instead of floating free in space and picked up by shipping lane patrols. This is something else."

  He's probably right. You don't kill a pirate right away, not when there's a potential for ransom or bounties. "They'll turn up," I say. "We just have to be ready for whatever kind of trouble they bring with them."

  "Extra crew will come in handy," Kivian says. "Can your female fire a blaster? Does she need training?"

  "She can take care of herself," I say proudly, thinking of how she defended me.

  "You keeping her?" Sentorr asks in a quiet voice. "Zoey's going to want to hold onto her if not. She already thinks of Sophie as family because of her connection to the brothers."

  My jealousy surges, just a bit. "She's not anyone's to keep. Sophie belongs to herself. And she said she wants to stay with me, but I'll let her know about Zoey's offer."

  Kivian gives me a cocky grin. "She might say she belongs to herself, but they still like it when you try to stake a claim."

  I think of Sophie in my bed, still sticky with my seed, and my chest hurts from all the emotions pouring through it. "She knows how I feel."

  The corsair nods. "Good. I like to see you happy, friend." His smile widens. "A scrapper in a good mood means a discount for all."

  I snort. "Don't get your hopes up about that." I get to my feet, my need for Sophie raging through me. "When do we leave?"

  Kivian checks his wrist-comm, tied in with the Jabberwock's systems. "Three standard hours from now, give or take." He gives us a wry grin. "Baby sleeps best on a quiet ship."

  I wave a hand at them. "I'll be ready. You'll have a room for me and Sophie? She needs privacy."

  "I'll make sure something's ready," Sentorr replies. "Let me know if you need help with the weapons."

  I nod, but I'm not thinking about weapons right now. I'm thinking about Sophie, warm in my bed, her hair spilling on my blankets. I want to rejoin her there, and three hours gives me plenty of time to pleasure her before we have to join the others. So I head off, trying not to seem too eager. I pass Sleipnir in the hall, and the big carinoux yawns hugely, showing me his teeth. I hesitate for a moment and then pull a piece of scrap out of the closet we have designated for “treats.” "Don't tell Sophie I'm spoiling you," I say to the creature. "Go sha
rpen your teeth on this for a bit while I wake your mistress up."

  The carinoux takes the metal hunk with an almost greedy eagerness, padding away to go gnaw on the carcass. I have no idea how his teeth aren't shredded after all the metal he chews, but he seems to enjoy all of it. With the pet occupied, I head for my quarters and let the door slide shut behind me with a gentle hiss.

  Sophie's still in bed. She's a heavy sleeper, my good girl, and I remember what she said about sleeping being her escape for so long. No doubt she trained herself to sleep deeply and easily. That's all right. I know just how to wake her up. I move to the bed and ease my body down on the corner of the mattress, hating that my limbs creak more than the bed does. Sophie yawns and rolls over onto her back, flinging an arm over her eyes.

  Perfection. I peel the blankets back, admiring her beautiful body for a moment before I put my face between her legs and wake her up in her favorite way. It doesn't take long before her hands are in my hair, and her legs wrap around me, and Sophie breathes my name out with a sigh of pure bliss.

  "You don't have to wake me up like this every day," she tells me, gasping when my tongue flicks over a sensitive spot.

  I know I don't. I just like to. So I nuzzle her sweetness and keep going.

  67

  SOPHIE

  "Are you sure your quarters are comfortable?" Fran asks me, patting the baby strapped to the front of her tunic. Little Jasmine's fists flail, catching Sleipnir's fascinated attention, but he doesn't move from my bed.

  "They're wonderful, thank you. We appreciate you making room for us." I smile at her shyly. "We don't want to be a bother."

  Fran just stares at me. "Girl, how long were you in captivity? You're doing us a favor. This isn't a bother. This should be us thanking you guys."

  How long was I in captivity? I flinch. "Nine years. Too long."

  She makes a sympathetic noise in her throat. "It wasn't long for me and it still felt like forever." She runs a hand over Jasmine's back, rubbing the baby again. "Okay, well, I'm not sure if you're familiar with a skater-class engine, but when we hit the hyperlane, we're going to glide past a lot of galaxies. When we're at full throttle, you might notice a little…sliding." She mock-shuffles her feet on the floor like she's ice-skating. "You get used to it, but just make sure you have everything tied down and watch your food and drink." Fran pats the baby again. "You'll see me wearing this constantly for the next while because of that."