by Zoey Draven
And finally…
After a week...
“That must be it,” Dravka murmured in her ear, pressing a kiss to her temple when she turned her face to look out the window. They were on the tiniest little vessel imaginable, hurtling towards a little speck in the distance that had grown larger and larger with every passing moment.
“I think so too,” she whispered, smiling, excited, relieved. Because while Dumera was classified as a colony, it was really a planet. An actual planet, as small as it was.
A planet with natural weather patterns. With sunrises and sunsets. With—hopefully—plant life and rich soil so that she could create a garden.
And Eve and Khiva were already there. They’d managed to patch through to them while they’d been on Twon’ia, so they knew they were coming. According to them, they’d already managed to procure housing for them.
Within the hour, they would be on the ground. Valerie would step out onto an actual planet for the very first time in her life. Dravka would be returning to one twelve long years after Kerivu was destroyed.
Behind them, though Valerie couldn’t see them, she knew that Tavak and Ravu were watching their arrival just as curiously. She knew that the brothers still had doubts about the kind of place Dumera was—but after speaking with Khiva through the patch number on Twon’ia, Valerie knew he had put most of their fears to rest.
Valerie turned her face to Dravka. Her mate. Her lover. Her love.
“I’m so ready to be alone with you again,” she whispered, just between them. There were only ten other beings on board the small vessel and over the roaring of the engines, she knew Dravka was the only one who heard her words.
Dravka growled, capturing her lips in a swift kiss, one that made her chuckle and smile.
“I’m so ready to have you all to myself,” he rasped.
A warmth spread in her chest, one she’d grown used to this past week. Truthfully, it was one she’d grown used to in the past five years, whenever Dravka looked at her like that…like she was the only female in the entire universe. The only female for him.
Just to be sure, she asked, “Is this real?”
She had the strangest urge to pinch herself, the closer the planet out the window came into view.
Dravka’s opal eyes glittered with amusement, with certainty, with their future together, with his love for her. It was all there. Right there. Beautiful in its honesty. Absolutely perfect.
“This is real, mellkia,” he rasped, his voice sending pleasurable shivers down her spine. “It always has been.”
Out the window, suspended in a bed of stars, Dumera was waiting for them.
Epilogue
Two months later…
“Dravka,” Valerie murmured, trying to hide her impending smile with a stern expression. “You’re distracting me and I’m losing sunlight here!”
Valerie was on her hands and knees, her palms deep in the dark, fragrant, rich soil of Dumera. The last tendrils of sunlight were disappearing on the horizon but she could already tell that a magnificent sunset would soon take their place. Over the last two months, she’d become very well-versed in sunsets. And sunrises. She never missed a single one.
Just that morning, Dravka had woken her with kisses across her neck, just as the rays were beginning to spear across the thin furs that lined their bed. He always woke her for the sunrises and they watched them together…before his hands started to wander, of course. And since they slept with the windows open, they had a perfect view of it, every morning, high up in their house in a jivera tree.
Valerie had always dreamed of being surrounded by plants, of watching things grow and live and thrive. And now on Dumera? She lived in an actual tree. A jivera tree house, strong and surprisingly spacious and roomy, since each jivera tree was massive. The whole planet, for that matter, was home to all sorts of plant life. Plants she intended to spend her days studying because it was all so new and exciting to her.
And because Dumera’s weather was humid and since, according to Eve and Khiva who had been on Dumera for five months now, it rained a lot, it was a green haven. A perfect place, one that Valerie could never have imagined.
Sure, Dumera was small. There was a ‘city center,’ though it mostly consisted of a couple bars, which served the plethora of beings that worked in the mines every day. Dumera was rich in minerals, which were its primary source of income—or at least, they used to be.
Khiva himself had worked in the mines when he’d first arrived on Dumera, but it was dangerous labor. Eve had told her, amid one of their many ‘afternoon tea’ sessions, that he’d often come home bloodied, with a new wound, and sore muscles.
Now, however, since he’d begun to create firestones again, he’d created new jobs on the planet and brought in a lucrative source of income for their little colony. Firestones were selling faster than they could produce them and there was a buzzing of life and excitement on Dumera because of it.
In the city center, there were also the archives, which was where Eve worked during the day—at least when she had the energy to. She was going on five months pregnant now and seemed to get bigger and bigger every day. She’d known that Keriv’i were large, so it made sense that Keriv’i babies would be as well, but according to the healer she saw in town, she still had many more months to go until she delivered.
Dravka and Valerie had spoken of when they wanted to start having children. They both wanted them, very, very much. But Dravka’s contraception implant—which all of the Keriv’i had been given annually on Everton—wouldn’t wear off for another six months and Valerie was content to wait. She was content to have him all to herself for a little while longer.
Dumera was a perfect place to raise a family, however, when they started having children. It was small and quiet. They lived on the outskirts of the center, close to Eve and Khiva, and close to Tavak and Ravu’s jivera dwelling as well.
Sometimes, Valerie would wake up in the mornings, or lie in bed at night, and marvel that she was so fortunate. That everything had worked out in a way that she’d only dreamed of.
But as Dravka often reminded her…this was real. This was their life and it would be for the rest of their days.
So, right then, Valerie was wrist-deep in Dumera’s soil, in the garden that Dravka had made for her. It was the first thing he’d done once they were settled in their tree house. He’d built fences for her—the posts of which he’d had to cut extra long because the ground was soft on this planet. Things sank into it easily, which was why the majority of homes were built in the trees.
Then again, as she was finding, that same soil was perfect for plants.
Dravka came to crouch in front of her, examining the little holes she was digging out for the scraps of roots from last night’s dinner. She was experimenting, to see if they would regrow if the root tips were replanted. One of her many experiments that were scattered through her plots.
Dravka had just gotten home from the labs in the city center, where he worked with Khiva, Tavak, and Ravu. Khiva had put Dravka in charge of the firestone exports now that they were expanding their operation, since Dravka had been a merchant trader back on Kerivu. He had specialized knowledge that the others didn’t have, old connections through the Quadrants, and he could read trade lines and run numbers like no other Keriv’i.
Seeing him return home every night with a quiet determination and satisfaction after his day was a reward in itself, one Valerie would never get tired of witnessing. She loved watching him pore over trading figures at night before she dragged him to bed, loved seeing the way his mind worked away from Everton. It was a side of him that she’d never experienced before, one she’d never seen, and it had only made him more attractive to her when he’d already been absolutely devastating before.
“Have you been out here all day?” he asked, eyeing her in a way that made her shiver. She knew that look. It was a look that told her her male would be ravenous that night. The fact that she was on her hands and k
nees before him didn’t help matters. Her male particularly loved that position and if they weren’t at the base of their tree house right now, he’d probably already be deep inside her.
“I took a break for lunch,” she said, giving him a smile. “But I’ve been out here since you left, yes. I got all the seeds of the flowers planted. I hope they grow.”
There was a market on Dumera. Traders from off-planet would sometimes come and bring goods with them. Last week, a trader came with an assortment of seeds. Of vegetables and fruits and flowers from another world. Valerie needed to be careful just in case the seeds actually took root and grew. She needed to be careful that they didn’t spread beyond her plot. She didn’t want to disrupt the balance of Dumera whatsoever, but it was a fun little project, one that might bring a new food supply if the seeds were successful.
“Almost done?” he murmured, eyeing her in her dress, one she’d bought from the market when they’d first arrived. Since it was humid on Dumera, the less clothes, the better, she’d found.
Valerie straightened once she was finished burying the root, wiping a hand over her forehead, no doubt getting dirt on her face.
“Pax,” she said, her tone teasing.
Dravka smirked and helped her up. Her legs were covered in dirt and she swiped it away.
“Don’t worry, I’ll clean you up,” he purred, snagging her around the waist, leaning down to give her a proper kiss.
Valerie’s breath hitched, her arms threading around his shoulders, pressing up on her toes to get closer. They kissed a million times a day and still, every time felt like that first time. His kiss made her shivery and warm and wanting. It made her feel safe and loved and protected.
Valerie pulled away when Dravka’s hand began to creep up the back of her dress.
She grinned, her body already readying for him, the place between her thighs beginning to throb.
“You’re insatiable, you know that?”
“My Rut’s coming,” he rasped.
“Oh,” she whispered, excitement curling in her belly. “When?”
“In a couple days, I think,” he said.
His last Rut happened about a week after they’d settled on Dumera. The first Rut she’d helped see him through. Properly, at least.
If Valerie had thought that Dravka’s sex drive was incredibly high normally, it went into overdrive around his Rut. For three days, it had seemed like she’d been suspended in a never-ending orgasm. Morning to night, he’d taken her in every possible way, every possible position. Once he released his teela inside her, he only needed a moment’s rest and then he was ravenous for her again.
They’d nearly destroyed their tree house those three days. Every inch of their home had been christened during that Rut.
And by the end of it?
Dravka had been a very, very satisfied male and Valerie had felt like she’d just returned from battle. A very pleasurable, intense battle that she wanted to do all over again.
But she’d loved seeing him through it. She was his mate, after all. She took great pride in the knowledge that she had seen him through it and made it out alive on the other side.
Death by sex?
Not a bad way to go. Especially when a Keriv’i was involved.
So, if Dravka’s Rut was T-minus two days…it made sense that his sex drive was ramping up again.
“A long bath sounds nice,” she told him softly, tossing her words over her shoulders as she went through the gate of her garden and towards the ladder that led up to their jivera tree house. “Doesn’t it?”
A growl met her ears.
Dravka was close on her heels. When they reached the ladder, he jerked his chin up. “Females first.”
She gave him a knowing look that made him chuckle, wicked and deep. But she would play along. So up she went. And when she was only up a few rungs?
She heard his groan.
Underneath her dress, she was bare and from this angle, he could see her clearly. And since Dumerians had no concept of underwear—something she was realizing had been very human—she didn’t wear any anymore because they weren’t available for purchase. The few pairs Dravka had packed from Everton she’d decided to save for her periods because she could easily slip in an absorbent cloth.
But right then, all Dravka saw was her bare flesh.
She felt him begin to climb up after her. A moment later, she gasped because his hand landed on the back of her thigh, stilling her in place. He climbed higher and her breathing went a little ragged in anticipation.
She felt his head dip beneath her dress, felt his hot breath across her thighs, and then—
A shocked moan released from her throat before she bit her lip to quiet it, casting her eyes around for any neighbors that might see.
Her eyes went wide in disbelief, a gush of wetness flooding between her thighs at his brazenness.
Because he’d just licked a long, wicked line up her slit.
“Dravka,” she breathed.
“Mmm,” he groaned under her dress. “Pax?”
Then he did it again and her knees trembled.
“Dravka!” she whispered, her whole body tingling in awareness. “What if a neighbor sees?”
It was unlikely, but still possible. The jivera trees were spaced pretty far apart. Their nearest ‘neighbors’ were actually Eve and Khiva and their tree was a good quarter mile away.
“Then you better get inside now, mellkia,” he growled.
She squeaked and darted up the ladder quickly. He followed in pursuit and once she reached the main platform of their home, a startled laugh emerged from her throat because he caught her around the waist and carried her inside, kicking closed their heavy door.
But they didn’t make it to the washroom. Instead, he lowered her down to the entrance rug she’d found at the market a few weeks ago, pushing up her dress until it was bunched around her waist.
“Dravka,” she breathed, watching him kneel between her thighs as he spread them wide.
Her shameless cry filled their jivera tree when he lowered his head, when that long, dark tongue darted out and flicked between her folds.
“Oh god,” she breathed, her hands coming to rest on the top of his smooth head before stroking down towards his jaw. She felt it shift and move as he ate at her, as he lapped and laved and suckled.
He was much too good at it because a couple moments later, she felt the telltale signs of her impending orgasm. She began to squirm on the rug, feeling his dark purr vibrate her in places that he’d explored thoroughly.
“Dravka, please!”
“Not yet, mellkia,” he growled, pulling away, making her grunt in frustration. “I want to feel you come on my cock. Hands and knees, Val.”
She bit her bottom lip when a grin began to show. So her position in the garden had given him ideas. She loved when he got a little demanding and to further tease him, she took her time rolling over as she heard him untie the laces of his pants and shove them down.
He groaned when she positioned herself in front of him, arching her back a little as she looked over her shoulder at him. He stroked his cock a few times as he watched her sway, a puddle of pre-cum already dripping down his length.
Delicious.
Her male was impatient tonight though. Ravenous, just as she’d known.
He ran the head of his cock up and down her slit, making Valerie rock her hips.
“Vauk, I want you,” he growled. “I need you so badly right now.”
“Then take me, love,” she whispered, meeting those opal eyes of his. “Because I’m all yours.”
With a growl, he thrust inside her, deep and hard. A breathless moan tumbled from her lips as she rocked her hips back against him. Her gaze, however, never left his.
It was a fast and needful and satisfying mating. He took her hard, their flesh slapping together, as he worked those hips expertly between her thighs. Valerie was huffing and moaning endlessly when her orgasm finally crashed over her, feeling his pac
e quicken.
It was all he was waiting for because when he felt her begin to squeeze around him, a loud bellow released from his throat and he began to pump his seed inside her.
And as the intense pleasure began all over again, she still kept his eyes. Because she never wanted to look away from him again. When they were together, he was all she wanted to see.
“Vellka,” he rasped.
Much, much later, they were in the bathing tub together.
Valerie was leaning back against him, her back to his front, encased between his thighs. His hands were stroking her leisurely, water trickling whenever he lifted his arm from the bath.
Her hair was pinned to the top of her head to keep it from getting wet and every now and again, Dravka would press his nostrils into it and drag her scent deep into his lungs.
Quietness stretched between them because it was sundown. The window that their bathing tub faced was perfect for watching the sunsets and their bedroom window was perfect for sunrises. Lavender and lime and swirls of forest green threaded through the sky, the colors intense and beautiful. She’d never seen anything like a Dumerian sunset. Even Dravka had said they rivaled Kerivu’s.
Valerie felt a sense of awe and peace whenever they watched one. As if everything was right in the world.
Well, almost everything, she knew.
There was still no word on her aunt’s trial. Tavak often combed through universal news but nothing yet had come from the New Earth colonies about Madame Allegria. Perhaps Celine Larchmont hadn’t exposed her yet. But Valerie knew that the day she learned of her aunt’s downfall would be a very relieved day indeed. A weight off her shoulders.
“I made you some solar lights for your garden,” Dravka murmured in her ear. “There were some leftover firestone pieces at the labs, ones that were imperfect. So I chipped them down and used them as a power source for lanterns. I can install them tomorrow.”