by Leia Gray
“I’ll take the moon glitter,” I say, pointing to it.
She whisks the paper away. “Not a bad choice at all. One of our most popular ones. Always makes me think about the galaxy, right?”
“Yeah,” I say, but my voice trails off. I came here to get away from everything, but he’s there, in the back of my mind, even when I’m looking at different colors of nail polish. “Reminds me of the galaxy too,” I sigh wistfully.
Zon gently takes my hands and places them on a bright pink cushion, then she gets to work.
We have a little friendly banter while she does my nails, but mostly I’m just enjoying the chance to turn my brain off for once. Everything feels so... normal.
Well, as normal as you could call it, after everything that happened. I think back to where this all started. I think back to home, and the mining accident that took my parents from me. If they could only see me now...
Zon finishes with one hand and moves to the other. She’s silent this time, like she knows I’m deep in thought and need some time to process things. Finally, she speaks up.
“This for a special guy?”
I blink a few times, registering her words. Was it? I shake my head. “No, this is for me.”
“Fair enough,” she agrees, and goes back to filing my nails smooth. A few moments pass, and I get the feeling she’s not done yet.
“So, no special guy then?” She looks up and catches my eye. Her pigtails bounce almost with a mind of their own. I don’t know why she keeps asking.
I huff out a breath through my nose and my muscles tense for a moment, anticipating danger. What if this is just another trap?
“Why?” I ask, a little too curtly. “You interested?”
My cheeks flush with color and I look away, staring into my lap. I guess the stress of it all is still getting to me. She didn’t deserve that.
“No, I...”
“It’s fine. I’m sorry, just...” I shrug. “I’ve been through a lot lately, is all.”
Zon finishes with my left hand and turns in her stool. My nails are almost iridescent in the pale light. Even without the glitter or the top coat, the effect is breathtaking.
“I get that a lot, you know,” Zon says quietly, almost too low for me to hear. “We get all types here. People need a little luxury, especially if they’re going through hard times. That’s what we’re here for.”
I simply nod my head, too ashamed to say anything else. She sets about applying the glitter and top coat in silence.
“So...” Zon says while waiting for the top coat to dry. “There is someone, then. You’re giving off all kinds of emotional distress.”
“I...” What?
“Don’t worry.” She shrugs. “It’s not like I can read your mind or anything. I just... can feel the temp of an area, you know? And something’s bothering you. Most people don’t come in here just for fun; I know that much.”
She has a point, as much as I don’t want to admit it. And I’ve been stranded out in the middle of space with no one to rely on or talk to in so long. Would it be so bad to open up to her?
My shoulders slump and my face softens. “Yeah. At least I think so.”
“You think so?” she asks before moving to my toes. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It’s complicated.”
“Love always is, honey.”
“Isn’t that the truth.” The word strikes me like a mallet on a gong. Love. Was that what this was? I definitely feel something with him, something I’ve never experienced before. Something I thought I’d never experience. Not to mention all the weird psychic stuff and...
“I’m still trying to figure things out. He... well, he rescued me. From some bad men. We’ve barely even had a third date, and I’m ‘his’, somehow. He comes from a different world than me, and maybe they do things different there, but I don’t like the feel of it. Where I come from, women are pretty independent. They don’t like to be thought of as possessions, and sometimes that’s what I feel like I am to him. I just don’t know what to do.”
“What does your heart say?”
“Huh?”
“Your heart. Your people do have them, correct?”
I can’t help but laugh. “Yeah, but—”
“Then listen to your heart. What does it tell you? Are you his? Is he yours?”
Now there was a question I hadn’t asked myself. Was I? All this time, I’d been running from... What? I barely know him, sure, but I can’t deny that I am tied to him in some way that neither of us can really understand. It’s infected my mind like a virus that refuses to go away. And the worst thing is, I don’t think I want it to.
What if the stars really have chosen us for each other? How can I walk away from something like that?
I feel the same swell of energy again, the same as I did when Darvok and I mated for the first time. That pink glow that surrounded us both from that stone. The one that suggested we were a match made in the stars.
I open my eyes, and now I know the answer.
“He is,” I say finally, and my heart swells with that ecstasy of certainty.
He is mine, and I am his. And there’s no way I’m letting that get away.
25
Liana
Refreshed and with a new purpose in my heart, I step out of the salon into the dead of night.
There are so many street lights and signs lighting the way that it barely looks like night time; it’s as bright as day. Reminds me of the megacities where all the rich people live on my planet. I never had a chance to see them in person, but I imagine they look something like this.
Is he yours? The idea bounces around in my head.
A resounding yes. A jubilant, exquisite yes. It’s time for me to take a leap and see where this goes.
When was the last time I did something crazy? I played by the book my whole life, tried to do everything society expected of me. Hell, even my escape attempt was attempting to win a galactic pageant. And look where it got me: snatched. If I knew then all the things that I knew now...
Thankfully, there was a hunk of a warrior out for vengeance that found me just at the right moment. I have to admit, I was scared at first. Annoyed. Intimidated. But even though he has a gruff exterior, he’s not like the others. I can sense it.
And after all we’ve been through together, I’d be a fool to run away.
I reach out to him with my senses, trying to connect with him on that deep spiritual level. It’s still so new to me, and the connection is shaky, but to my surprise, I start feeling his presence.
I’m coming, I try to project to him, and run off toward the source of the energy.
I’m coming, Darvok, wait up for me.
Like a dog following her nose, I sniff out the scent of my mate and rush off in that direction.
“Watch it!” a scaly blue alien yells at me as I nearly trample his foot. I pay him no mind, pushing through the crowds as fast as I can. The street lights point the way, almost. They change to an eerie pink as I pass under them, as if the very universe knows I’m on my way.
People are staring, but I don’t care. I’ve made up my mind.
The path leads me to a large shuttle terminal, similar to the one we arrived in. The small emergency pod isn’t enough to get us back to Darvok’s planet, but there are plenty of ships here that can.
Spacecraft big and small line the hangar as far as the eye can see. Some aren’t much bigger than the pod we came here in. Some are impossibly huge, towering hundreds of feet above me.
I’m nearly there when a guard steps out and holds up his hand. “Easy there, miss. Do you have a flying permit?”
I consider just running past him for a fraction of a second, but then I notice the blaster at his belt. Better not to cause any trouble.
“Sir, I’ve got to go, I’ve...” I try to duck around him, but the guard is too fast. He slams his hand into my shoulder, holding me steady. “You’re not going anywhere without a permit.” He frowns, looking
me up and down. “You’ll have to go to the hall of bureaucracy for that, right down Aryon Way.” He points in the opposite direction.
No, I’m not going back that way. I can’t. I try to crane my neck to look beyond the guard. Darvok’s energy is waning. He must be moving away. And I was so close. Then I see him.
“Darvok!” I scream, praying that he can hear me over the din of the engines. “I’m here!”
The guard swivels to look who I’m yelling at, and then his eyes widen. “You expect me to believe...”
Then Darvok catches my eye and throws his hand up in a wave. He starts running toward me, his face slack with unbridled relief.
“I’ll take it from here,” Darvok says to the guard. He’s still staring. “She’s with me.”
The guard sputters and lets go of my shoulder. “Of course; I didn’t know...” he trails off.
“Our papers should be in order?” My mate says it more as a statement than a question.
The guard takes one more look at me and then back to the tall, imposing purple alien, then gives us a curt nod. “Very well,” he says and gives us a salute. “Pleasant travels, wherever the stars may take you.”
“Thank you,” Darvok nods his head and grabs my hand, then we’re walking through the hangar alone.
The moment we’re out of sight and earshot, he presses me into a corner and covers my lips with his own. There’s no hesitation. My body reacts to him just as strongly as it did the first time we came together. “Liana,” he breathes, drawing away from the kiss for just a second to look at my face. “You came back...”
“I did some thinking.” I shrug. “Got my nails done too.” With that, I flash my fingers in his face and the light from the street glints off the iridescent pearly color. “I was unsure at first. I needed some time to sort things out in my mind. But I realized something back there. It’s more than just the stone connecting us. Despite myself, I’ve really come to care for you, and I don’t want to live in a world that doesn’t have you in it. So yes, Darvok, I’ll go home with you. Take me to your planet. On one condition.” I look up at him, blinking through the wetness in my eyes.
To my surprise, Darvok looks the same. When he blinks, a small trail of tears flows down his cheek. “Anything,” he rasps. His hands move down and grasp my own. “I thought I’d lost you. Forever... I’ll do anything to make sure that doesn’t happen again.”
“You said I was yours, back there in that awful auction room. And you know what? Maybe I am. But there’s something else too. If I’m going to be yours, then you have to agree to be mine. Mine and no one else’s. Deal?”
For a few moments, he’s too stunned to speak, then his lips break out in a grin and he crushes me into a kiss once more. This one is more aggressive, wilder than the one before. I snake my hands up to grip his shoulders and back, feeling the tense muscles there. Everything fades away as my tongue lashes out to meet his. This is what I was made for. This is what the stars had in store for us all along.
“A thousand times yes, my darling mate. In all the years I’ve lived, I’ve been waiting for this moment. And now that I found you? I’m not going to squander it for the world. I’m yours, forever.” He punctuates his speech with little kisses on my nose, my forehead, my cheeks. My skin flushes hotter with desire and I lean into him, desperate to be closer.
“When I said you were mine before, I meant that you were a mate of my soul. There is no higher honor than that. I would never treat you like a possession, Liana. You are the most beloved treasure of my life.”
I squeak as Darvok hefts me in his arms and off the floor. He plants another kiss on my forehead and holds me close. “Let’s go home.”
The shuttle Darvok rents is much larger than the one we came here in. I didn’t even know they had shuttles this luxurious. He simply winks at me and waves Krevith’s credit card in the air.
“A little treat for my mate,” he says and kisses my forehead. “We will have a homecoming to remember.”
It doesn’t take long to get everything packed up on the ship. And then I’m strapped into the seat next to him ready for takeoff.
“You ready for this?” he asks me while flipping all the various levers and dials.
“I’m ready,” I agree, and hope I’m not white-knuckling the restraints too obviously. Space travel is a part of life, but it still sends my heart into overdrive every time.
The roar of the engines echo in my ears and steam boils out all around the ship. There’s a subtle mechanical click, and then we’re off the ground and moving. I turn in my seat as much as I can to see the station as it disappears behind us. We are leaving. We are really, finally leaving.
And what is out there? My future.
The speed of the ship presses me back into my seat, but I’m surprised how smooth the ride is. It’s like we’re gliding through the water in a sailboat, except we’re gliding through space. I look over to Darvok, who is still fidgeting with the controls.
Then I turn back forward and see the panoramic view spread out before me. I’ve never seen something so beautiful in all my life. Vast fields of stars speckle the sky like diamonds and rush past us as we float through the sector. Colorful nebula, gas clouds, and even a few floating stations pass us by, no more than small specks in the distance. From up here, they look like child’s toys in a doll house. There’s a bright point of light in the distance, and when we grow closer, I can see that it’s actually two.
“That is Ra,” Darvok says, pointing, “and that one is Senya. The twin suns that watch over my world.”
I know everyone says you shouldn’t stare into the sun, but I can’t help it. They’re so beautiful. A representation of all the things to come. I reach out and take his hand, giving it a squeeze. “How long until we reach your planet?”
He regards me with a mischievous grin. “Oh, we have plenty of time to get to know each other.” He cocks an eyebrow and stands, pulling me out of my seat.
“The ship will be okay?” I have to ask, even though I don’t really give a shit right now. The heat of his hand in mine, the weight of his gaze upon me, the magnificence of the future laid out before us... I can’t think about anything else.
“Autopilot,” Darvok rumbles low in his chest, and whisks me away down the carpeted corridor.
This is no shoddy shuttle, that’s for sure. Darvok must have sprung for the most expensive one he could afford, and it shows. The walls, instead of being bleak chrome and wiring, have a luxurious deep red color to them, and the carpet... It’s like nothing I’ve ever felt before.
All that fades away when Darvok takes me into his arms and carries me down the hall to one of the sleeping compartments. It’s much larger than what I’m used to. Usually, it’s no more than a simple cot and a little table to put one’s possessions on. This is like a bedroom set for a king, complete with a four-poster bed and a huge rug that covers the entire room.
He basically is, I realize with a jolt. Well, a chieftain, anyway. Whatever.
My heart hammers in my chest faster than I can think. Around us, there seems to be this pink aura, but maybe I’m just seeing things. It’s him. It’s always been him. I nuzzle into his neck and breathe deeply, inhaling the warm, musky scent. Mine. My alien. My warrior.
“Mine,” Darvok growls in response, as if he heard my thoughts.
“Yours,” I say breathily. My skin feels like it’s on fire everywhere we touch, and the throbbing need between my thighs grows stronger with every step.
“Please,” I mutter into his chest. “I need...”
“I’ll give you everything you need, sweet one. Everything you want and more.” He lays me down on the bedding and my body sinks down into the mattress. The pillows and quilts pile around me.
Darvok leans over me, covering my body with his own. Even through our clothes, I can feel the pulsing heat of his purple skin, and his hard cock poking at my thigh. I try to shift in place, to get it where I need it most, but he’s too strong.
“Ea
ger,” he rumbles as he kisses his way down my face, my neck, my shoulders. He pulls the wide neck of my top to the side, exposing a bare patch of skin. His lips move there next, drawing a sharp gasp from my throat.
I still have the urge to cover myself, but it’s much fainter now. Despite everything, I trust this man. And I want him with a fire I can’t believe.
“So beautiful,” he mumbles and helps me out of my top. “Ever since the first time I laid eyes on you...”
Our eyes meet and I can see the truth there within them. He’s not making this up. I used to dream of a better life. I used to read far-flung stories of love and adventure, but I never thought I’d be living my own fairy tale.
I tilt my legs up to wrap around him and bring him closer. This time it’s him who sucks in a breath. “Very eager,” I agree with a grin.
I continue to paw at his shirt while he dips his head lower to muzzle at my chest. My nipples are already standing erect, hard and sensitive in the cool air. So of course, when his mouth finally finds one, I throw my head back and sigh.
The whiz of that electric current between us spikes higher, shooting from Darvok’s lips all the way down my body and back. It’s like being drunk, but in the very best way.
No, that’s not the right word. Drunkenness dulls the senses. This heightens them times a thousand. The world is a kaleidoscope of color, and there, in the center of it all, is my mate, my warrior.
I lift my hips up, trying to grind into him. This time he returns the favor. The feeling of his hard length pressing into me is almost more than I can bear. Breaths come in gasps and my eyelids flutter closed. He still hasn’t let up in his assault on my nipples, and every second I can feel the pulsing of energy and desire between us grow stronger.