by Stacy Jones
She meant for her voice to come out strong, calm, to face this inevitable confrontation with her spine straight and her shoulders set, but it cracked over his name.
“Zaek.”
He froze with his clawed foot on the bottom stair, but he didn’t turn. Swallowing hard, she stared at his huge, broad back, visible since his wings were tucked away inside the slits beneath his shoulder blades. She meant to ask point blank if he was leaving her here, but those weren’t the words that fell from her lips.
“Do you regret it?”
At that, he finally turned to look at her. She didn’t have to explain to what she was referring. He knew. It was there, in his strange, beautiful eyes as he gazed at her from across the room.
“Yes,” the admission sounded as if it had been torn from him, his voice impossibly deep and saturated with such pain and shame it hurt to hear.
“Oh.”
The breath gusted out of her as her chest caved in on itself. Mira felt like he’d just reached into her and ripped her heart out. Even expecting it, hearing confirmation crushed her.
She thought she was ready, but she realized she’d been holding on to a sliver of hope that maybe he was just acclimating, maybe if she gave him time and space, if she showed him she was happy, that he would be too.
Then, later, maybe if she were quiet and helpful and not a burden, he would stop looking at her like the sight of her pained him.
I was wrong.
She didn’t know what she’d done to make him so upset. She didn’t know how to make it better. Now it was too late. She’d lost him. He wasn’t more than four feet away from her, but she’d lost him, and that felt like a knife in her chest.
She wanted her Zaek back so badly it hurt, the quirky one who made her laugh, who touched her like she was precious, the one she’d fallen in love with.
She rubbed her chest with the heel of her palm as if that would stop her heart from breaking. She swallowed hard, trying to force the choking lump out of her throat, but gritting her teeth so hard her jaw ached didn’t keep tears from filling her eyes.
His expression twisted at the sight of her tears. He looked like she’d just physically struck him. Zaek took a faltering step closer and reached out to touch her but, for the first time, she shied away from him.
Maybe she couldn’t hide her pain, but she didn’t have to stand there and let him see her break down. She didn’t have to let him see her be weak.
Mira tried to leave, tried to make herself move, but her feet were frozen in place. She had to know.
“Why?”
He reared back slightly and frowned as if her question staggered him, then snarled almost angrily, “I betrayed you!”
She expected him to say he didn’t love her, or that he didn’t want a human for a mate, or to finally tell her whatever it was she’d done to turn his affection into aversion, not that he’d betrayed her.
“What are you talking about?” she breathed.
“I gave you the dassa without your consent,” he rasped, squeezing his eyes shut as if he couldn’t stand to look at her. “I have lost my honor.”
“Zaek… ”
Mira was shocked, more than shocked, she was gutted. She thought he didn’t want her, that it was her fault, and all this time he was…
He was right. She hadn’t known, at the time, the implications of having sex with him, but she didn’t regret it. Not for a second.
“Zaek, I-”
He shook his head, cutting her off, and took another step toward her, his huge hands reaching but not touching.
“Forgive me,” he pleaded, his voice low and hoarse, his eyes tortured.
Her face crumpled, and she raised her hand to touch him, opening her mouth to tell him she was never mad, but the second her skin touched his, he moaned and shuddered. He surged toward her before her words could be voiced.
Cupping her cheeks, he tilted her head up and bowed himself down until their lips were only a breath apart. The feeling of his hands on her, for the first time in days, was like coming alive.
A tremble worked its way down his muscled arms, and he closed that last inch separating them. He whispered his plea against her mouth. Mira gasped, arousal sudden and sharp, burning through her even as her chest was squeezed in a vise. As soon as her lips parted, Zaek groaned and slowly licked inside her mouth like he was helpless to resist. That taste seemed to snap his control.
With no warning and without taking his lips from hers, he grabbed her thighs and picked her up. The suddenness of the move made her heart pound and soaked her panties.
Mira moaned into his mouth and wrapped herself around him tightly, clinging to him in case he changed his mind and tried to retreat again. She wouldn’t let him, not this time. He backed her against the wall, his kiss fierce, yet tender, so full of need and pain.
She hadn’t known the depths of misery he’d been in, but she could taste it on his tongue.
She could feel it in the desperate, frantic jerk of his hands as he stripped them both.
She could hear it in the low, hungry, urgent sounds coming from his throat.
“Forgive me.”
It was a litany, a mumbled prayer as he kissed her, a growl as he aimed his cock at her opening, a strangled roar as she tightened her legs to bring him inside her. It was a guttural demand as he touched her everywhere, as he kissed her like she was air and he was suffocating, as he surged in and out of her soaked pussy, hard and fast.
Over and over he repeated those words as he fucked her with a desperation that was almost violent. Over and over she cried yes as she took him and screamed for more.
They strained against each other, pulled the other impossibly closer, and came together, their releases perfectly in sync, in a moment that felt beautiful and raw and heartbreaking all at once.
“There was never anything to forgive,” she panted against his neck, holding him tightly with arms that shook with the effort. Sliding her cheek along his until she could look up into his eyes, she whispered against his lips.
“I love you.”
33
Zaek
Zaek’s breath shuddered out of him. He tried to say something, anything, but his lips moved against hers without sound. She stared up at him with such surety in her eyes, such conviction and sincerity and tenderness, but that didn't stop shocked disbelief from being the first thing he felt.
“Mira… ”
“Did you do it on purpose?” she challenged, her brows raised expectantly, her breaths still fast from their wild coupling.
He knew what she asked—had he intentionally given her the dassa without telling her what would happen.
“No! I would never, Mira. You must—”
“I didn’t think you did. I understand you’re upset we didn’t talk about what would happen beforehand, and I get that, I do. But, I need you to listen to me and really hear me right now.”
He nodded and tried to brace himself for what she would say, his arms tightening around her naked body, pulling her closer to his.
“I love you, Zaek. I don’t regret what we did. At all. And this is not all on you. I didn’t ask what would happen before we had sex. I could have and should have, but I didn’t.”
He growled, not willing to let her carry any of the blame, but she shook her head and spoke over him.
“I know my reaction was— well, it sucked, and I’m sure it made you feel worse. I’m sorry, Zaek. That was not my intention. I was surprised, and I needed to work through it. But, you pulling away… I thought you didn’t want me,” she admitted quietly.
“Mira, no!”
“I know that wasn’t the issue now, but you shut down, and then I shut down, because I thought you regretted having a human, having me, as your mate.”
He did not think his heart could take any more. “I want you, my Mira. Macero damn me, how I want you. More than anything in this world or any other,” he swore. “My sweet mate, I am sorry I ever made you feel otherwise.”
&
nbsp; “I’m not telling you this to make you feel worse. This is my fault, too. I’m not… amazing at talking about my feelings, but I’m going to do better. And so are you. No more not talking to each other okay? If this is going to work it’s going to take work from both of us. I’ve never been in a serious relationship before. Have you?”
“No.”
“So, this is new to both of us. We’ll figure this out together, but we have to be open with each other and talk.”
“My vow, I will do better.”
“We,” she corrected.
“We,” he agreed.
Burying his face in her hair, he hugged her close. He had truly thought all hope was lost, that she was lost to him. He did not deserve her, but he was taking this boon the universe offered and holding on to it for as long as she wanted him.
“My Mira, my Hondassa, I love you.”
He carried her up the stairs, down the hall, and to his bed. He showed her how much he loved her, how much he cherished her, whispered it against every inch of her skin as he savored her the way he’d wanted, but was unable to during their first mating.
Only when she asked, and not before, did he give her the mate kiss. He fed it to her slowly, building her pleasure with it as he moved in and out of her sweet heat, and when she peaked, he drank down her cries with fierce satisfaction.
After exhausting themselves in each other’s bodies, they lay spent, her nestled against his chest and wrapped securely in his wings. Just before they fell asleep, he made her a promise.
“I will be a good mate to you, Mira. I will do everything in my power to make you happy. I have found you—after almost fifteen hundred years, across the universe, after I’d given up hope, I have found you. I will do whatever it takes to keep you.”
34
Zaek
Sitting side by side at the dinner table, they consulted the maps laid out in front of them and plotted potential routes to the retrieval location, with plenty of alternate courses to account for any number of eventualities.
Mount Nirvana, where they were set to be picked up, was in the Northwest Territories in Canada and roughly one thousand miles from his cabin. Flying the entire way, carrying Mira, the beacon, and all the supplies they would need, would take too long, so they were discussing what other options were feasible.
Cutting his gaze to her, he watched her mutter to herself as she made a list of things he needed to gather when he went on his supply run. He’d learned she talked to herself almost as much as he did, and he loved it. He loved her, more than he thought a being was capable of loving another. She was the most incredible person he’d ever met, and he could not imagine life without her. She held his heart in her tiny hands.
They’d spent the last two weeks since their make up sex, as she referred to it, compensating for the time they’d lost. They rarely left each other’s sides. Before her, Zaek hadn’t known simple, daily tasks could be so much fun or that almost any situation could lead to mating. Meal preparation, for example. That had always been a necessary task and one performed mechanically. Not so with Mira. More often than not they wound up in a food fight that led to cleaning each other. A person obviously needs to be unclothed to be cleansed properly, and Mira without clothes was not a sight he was able to resist. Neither was Mira with clothes, for that matter.
Bathing was another formerly necessary task that was now one of his favorite times of the day.
Zaek groaned, imagining her soapy and wet and naked…
“Focus,” she muttered with a chuckle.
He grumbled and returned to mapping out another route, this one involving sneaking aboard a freight train, but he reached out and slid her chair closer, then buried his claws in her hair. If he could not convince her to bathe with him, he would soothe himself by petting her as he worked.
They hadn’t spent the entire last weeks mating. Most of it, granted, but not all of it. He’d also spent hours every day training her in self-defense. He did not want there to ever be an occasion where she was forced to defend herself, because it would mean he was not there to keep her safe, but he needed her to be able to protect herself. If anything should happen to him, he needed to know she would be okay. He taught her how to use firearms, hand-to-hand combat maneuvers that used her small stature and her new strength to her advantage, and some blade training. He also added her to his security system and showed her how to use his sigil. He had to tweak it so it would recognize and respond to her, but she would now be able to use it to beam aboard the rescue ship, with or without him.
Spending the last weeks preparing meant they had just enough time to reach Mount Nirvana, with a only a couple days to spare for any unforeseen delays. As idyllic as their time together in his cabin had been, and as much as he wanted it to continue, it was time to leave.
That night he would fly to town to gather supplies. Mira would stay at the cabin to limit her exposure to danger, and so he could get there and back faster. They were running low on food, and since they would be traveling to the far north, she would need appropriate clothing. They planned to leave the evening after he returned, so they could travel under the cover of darkness. He had disguises, if needed, but moving at night was safer, to avoid as many Earthians as possible. But, first…
“I believe I need to cleanse myself before leaving for the supply run,” he announced.
With that, he snatched her out of her chair and up into his arms then carried her to the bathing room, peals of laughter spilling from her lips the whole way.
Setting her on her feet, he turned on the water then helpfully stripped her and set her inside the spacious shower stall.
“You’re incorrigible!” she gasped as he backed her against the wall and hiked her up against him.
“Mmm, and you taste good,” he growled, licking water droplets from her neck. “So good that I believe I will need a snack before I leave.”
He felt the shiver of anticipation that traveled down her spine at his low-voiced threat. He pulled back long enough to give her a hungry grin that bared his sharp teeth, his orange eyes dark with predatory desire, then lifted her higher and settled her with her thighs over his shoulders.
Mira gasped and clutched his horns, but he knew it wasn’t with alarm. Zaek would never drop her. No, his hungry mate fisted his horns to pull him closer.
“Is my Bunny needy?” he rasped teasingly, rolling his eyes up to gaze at her beautiful face as he flicked his tongue out, leisurely gliding it over her clit in a way that had her lips parting on a moan.
He didn’t give her a chance to respond. He used his fingers and tongue to push her to a swift, shattering orgasm then, when she was limp and panting against the shower wall, slid her down his body and impaled her on his cock. He fucked her hard, careful with her delicate body but relentless until she came for him twice more. Only when her screams tapered off to gasping moans did he bury himself to the hilt and surrender to his own release. He filled her tight canikin with jet after jet of cum, pushing her into a final orgasm that had her clamping down on his cock and screaming his name.
By the time he pulled out of her, releasing a flood of cum from her still spasming center, she was as limp as overcooked arirrk.
Gasping for breath, she panted, “I’m… gonna… get you back… for that.”
His deep, rumbling laugh echoed in the bathing stall around them.
“Do your worst, Fluffy Bunny. I am yours,” he purred and gently nipped her neck.
Fisting her wet hair, he tipped her head back and kissed her until she was no longer limp but clutching at him once again.
Zaek stepped out the back door of the last store on his list, the sack hanging across his chest stuffed full, just in time to be spotlighted when four police cruisers screeched to a stop in front of him. He immediately darted back inside and slammed the door shut, but he heard their shouts of alarm and one voice yelling into a radio about a monster, dissolving any hope that he’d moved too fast for them to see him. He imagined he looked li
ke a demonic version of their gift-giving winter deity, Santa Clause.
“Fuck.”
Glancing through the windows at the front of the store showed two more cruisers waiting out there. They didn’t pose much of a threat, but being spotted by humans was a no-no and damned inconvenient since he and Mira were set to leave the next evening. They didn’t need the police on the lookout for them in addition to being hunted by the soldiers from Area 51.
“If you had not been so focused on that thing Mira did with her tongue in the bathing room, we would not be in this predicament,” he chastised under his breath as he made his way to the second story and the door leading to the roof.
Pausing, he listened to be sure it was clear before opening the door and stepping out. He walked to the edge and peered down at the police officers on the ground, watching as they positioned themselves behind open car doors and aimed their weapons at the storefront.
He caught the words disguise and mask and smirked. Humans had developed a fantastically convenient propensity to deny what was right in front of them over the last few decades.
Leaving them to shout orders of surrender to an empty store, Zaek leapt from roof to roof, waiting to fly until he reached the edge of town where the chances of being spotted were less likely.
He was halfway there when the sound of a helicopter reached his ears.
Dread settled in his stomach like a rock. This town was too small to have one on their police force. The sound of multiple car engines speeding his way came next. When he ran to the ledge, he saw a dozen black SUVs racing down the main street of downtown.
They found us.
They must have been monitoring police communications. Worse, they must have already been in the area to get there so quickly.
More SUVs approached from the other direction and, within seconds, dozens of soldiers dressed in black tactical gear spilled out of the vehicles, spreading everywhere.