by Presley Hall
Malav grips the sheets, his head going back as he shudders.
“Oh gods, Harper,” he groans, and I squeeze him a little, watching him as I slide my tongue up the length of him slowly, over and over.
He looks down at me, his eyes wide with pleasure and awe as he takes in the sight of my naked body between his thighs, my tongue sliding over the smooth, rigid length of his cock. I do it again and again until he’s trembling from the pleasure, moaning with the need for more.
Just when it seems like he can’t take it anymore, I wrap my lips around his swollen head, tasting him as I slide my mouth down slowly. My hand cups the soft, fragile skin between his legs as I take all of him, inch by inch. He groans and shudders as I reach the end, my lips brushing against his abdomen as I take him all the way into my throat. My throat muscles convulse around him, squeezing tighter as I swallow.
I come back up for air, then slide my tongue around the tip of him and start to go down again. But Malav shakes his head.
“If you do that again… I need to be inside of you.” He grabs my arm, tugging me upward. “I’m going to come if you keep doing that.”
That admission sends a flush of pleasure through me. He grabs my waist as I move up his body, then flips me suddenly, tossing me onto my back. Air rushes from me in a gasp as he settles his large, muscled body between my legs.
The tip of his cock brushes between my legs, but he holds himself back, his body tense as he reaches out to touch my cheek gently.
“Harper.” His voice is strained, and I see something in his dark eyes, something that he can’t quite bring himself to say.
“You can tell me,” I whisper, meeting his eyes with my own. “Whatever it is, it’s okay.”
“I’m afraid,” he whispers in return, shuddering above me.
I know what he means.
He’s not afraid of tomorrow, or of the possibility of us crashing, or even of death. He’s faced all of those things a hundred times before.
What he’s afraid of is losing me.
He’s afraid this thing between us could end before it really even gets a chance to start. He’s afraid of saying the words that I see etched on his face and reflected in mine, knowing this might be the only time they’re ever spoken aloud.
“It’s okay,” I tell him again, laying my hand on his cheek. “This might be our last night together. Or we might have a thousand more. But one or one thousand, I’m yours. Forever.” I reach up and trail my fingers over the edge of his horns, down the side of his handsome face, over his jaw. “My soul has recognized yours,” I whisper, cupping his face in my hands. “I am yours, Malav. Your Irisa.”
“Harper.” My name tears from his lips in a deep groan. “I can’t lose you.” His voice is a thread in the darkness, a faint whisper. “I love you, Harper. I have never loved any woman before. But I love you. My iqha. My warrior. My Irisa.”
“And I love you,” I tell him, my heart aching as I say the words, seconds before his lips come down to claim mine.
Pitching his hips forward, he slides into me in one long thrust, and then he holds himself there, his body locked within mine as I wrap my legs around his waist. Our only thought now is being as close to one another as we can, his body buried inside mine as he rocks against me, his hands buried in my hair.
As the pace becomes harder and more frantic, he grasps my waist, holding me against him as he sits up. His arms wrap around me to hold me as close as he can, and I sink down onto his lap, his cock buried inside me to the hilt.
I can feel the orgasm building inside of me with every shift of his cock inside my channel, but it’s a secondary thought now. I run my hands over him desperately, wanting to memorize every inch of him, every curve and ridge and valley, and I can feel the same answering need in him.
“I don’t want it to be over,” he groans against my throat, his hips twitching beneath me as I rock against him. “But I can’t… gods, Harper, I can’t hold back…”
My own climax rises up to answer his oncoming release, and I feel him desperately trying to hold it back, every muscle in his body rigid with the effort.
“I’m going to come,” he whispers against my mouth, his fingers tangling in my hair. “I can’t stop it… Harper!”
He moans my name as he thrusts up into me, throbbing as he groans with a sound that’s almost painful. His entire body shudders with the force of it, and it sends me over the edge as well, into a blinding pleasure that sweeps through me.
I cling to him, our bodies locked together in a sweaty, shuddering, trembling wave of release, ecstasy overcoming us both as we collapse backward onto the bed, his cock still deep inside of me.
We lie that way for a long time, his arms around me, still locked together.
“I love you,” he repeats, his lips moving against the soft skin of my throat. “My Irisa. I love you.”
“I love you, Malav.” I turn in his arms, his body finally slipping from mine as I press myself against him. “More than I ever thought possible.”
We fall asleep in each other’s arms.
Somewhere in the night, I awake to him hard against my thigh, and he stirs in his sleep. We make love half-awake in the darkness, him turning me onto my side so that he’s spooning me, his cock sliding easily into me as he holds me against him and moves slowly, every inch of our bodies pressed together. We come at the same time, pleasure rippling through us in slow, sleepy waves, and he stays inside of me as he falls asleep again, his arms wrapped tightly around me.
I wish it could always be like this, I think as consciousness steals away. I wish that we could never leave this moment.
But tomorrow will come, and I need to be alert. So I let myself fall asleep, the feel and scent of Malav all around me, and I try to rest in the knowledge that, no matter what comes, he loves me.
And I love him.
22
Malav
The next day, Harper’s words are what keep me going as we settle into the cockpit in preparation to land on Kalix. I’ve navigated us as directly toward the capitol city docks as I can.
Now it’s up to us both to make it there.
I can see the tension in Harper as she settles into the co-pilot seat. Her back is stiff, her lips pale and thin as she presses them together.
“Easy,” I tell her gently. “Being tense won’t help you. You can do this.”
“I hope so,” she whispers. “It’s your life if I can’t.”
“And yours too.” I reach out and brush a piece of hair back from her face. “We’ll do this together, or we won’t do it at all. But either way, we’re here.”
She nods, and I see her square her shoulders, settling determinedly into her seat. “Let’s go.”
When we enter orbit, the whole ship shudders with the force of the atmosphere taking hold. Harper is pressed back into her seat, but she clings to the controls as I walk her through it as needed—but she remembers more than I expected her to, even in the heat of the moment.
I’m overwhelmed with pride and love for her… and then I see the flashing red light above her that says that there’s a problem.
She notices it too and looks at me with frightened eyes. “Malav, what…”
“It’s one of the drives. They’re overheating. I’m going to go release pressure in it. Just keep us steady on course. You can do it.” I keep my voice calm and firm. “Just hang onto the ship. I’ll be right back.”
Releasing the pressure by cutting one of the lines could cause us to lose power before we land. But it’s better than overheating and catching fire while still too far from the surface to land. It’s a choice I have to make, and I make it quickly and without question. Once made, there’s no point in looking back. I go back to the cockpit to see Harper clinging to the controls, holding the ship steady.
“It’s going to be a rough descent,” I tell her. “But we’ll make it. I promise.”
There’s hope in her eyes, and I try to let it be reflected in mine. I’m not sure we’r
e going to make it. The ship is shaking harder as another of the lines overheats. But there’s no time to release that one.
We’re out of time.
“Drive it forward!” I tell her. “With me! We have to get within landing range, now!”
I can see the docking bay approaching. We’re coming in too fast, and workers scatter below like insects, sprinting to get out of the way. I hear a screech as the landing gear breaks off when I deploy it, the rush of our descent too fast for it to withstand.
Alarms are going off everywhere.
Krax, I hope we live through this.
“I love you!” I shout to Harper as we head nose-down toward the dock. “We’ll be out of this in a few minutes! Just… hang… on!”
The force of the landing drives me back into my seat as we approach, and I brace myself for the impact.
It’s harder than I expected. For a moment I can’t think or breathe, every bit of air driven out of me. I can hear the rending screech of tearing metal and smell the fumes, hear the shouts of people outside.
When we finally come to a stop, I look over at Harper—and my heart nearly stops.
She’s lolling sideways in her seat, blood dripping from her mouth and a deep cut on her forehead. Her leg is twisted beneath her.
Gods, no. Don’t let her be dead.
When I scramble out of my seat and reach for her, she moans softly in pain. The sound tears at my heart, but fills me with joy at the same time.
Because it means she’s alive.
And I can’t help but feel joy for another reason—the sounds of my people speaking in my native tongue as the doors to the outside decompress and the Kalixians come on board.
But the prevailing feeling is fear. Bone-deep terror. I have to get Harper off the ship and to a medical facility. I have no idea how badly she’s hurt, and the idea that I still might lose her, even after we’ve landed… after we’ve made it this far…
I can’t bear the thought of it.
“Malav!” I hear a shout and see a familiar face. It’s Ardir, one of the managers at the docks. “Malav, where have you been? We lost contact with your ship and…” He glances around. Where is everyone? Who is this?”
He stares at Harper, who’s still clasped in my arms. When I don’t answer, he gives me a hand to get up, but I don’t take it. I won’t let go of my mate, staggering to my feet on my own as I pick her up gently out of the co-pilot’s chair.
Confusion creases Ardir’s features. “Who is this?” he repeats. “She’s… is that a Terran? What in all the gods’ names…”
“I need to get her to the closest medical facility,” I say sharply. “She’s badly injured.”
“Who is she to you?” Ardir asks, his face a mask of surprise, but I push past him. I can see that same confusion written on the faces of everyone on the ship—none of them understand why I would be so protective of someone not of our species, what attachment there could be between us.
But I don’t care. My only thought is for Harper and making sure she survives this.
If she doesn’t, I’m not sure that I can either.
I load her onto a transport, but Ardir stops me with a hand on my shoulder.
“What should I do about the ship?” he asks, and I blink at him. I’ve nearly forgotten about the ship, and the damage caused by our rough landing. We didn’t injure any of the workers, I know that much. And beyond that, I don’t care.
“Trash it, stow it, sell it for parts.” I shake my head, unable to be more articulate than that. “I’ll speak to Prince Khrelan about repairing the damage to the docking bay as soon as I can.”
“Of course. But Malav…”
I don’t wait to hear what he has to say next. I grip Harper’s small, frail hand as the transport carries us to the nearest medical facility. The minute we stop, I pick her up as if she weighs nothing, carrying her into the main lobby.
I refuse to leave her side. The nurses try to shoo me away, telling me I can’t be in the examination room, but all it takes is one solid glare and they flit away, making excuses as to why it’s all right. I hover over Harper as the doctor examines her.
“She’s got some lacerations to her face and the inside of her mouth, and her leg is broken,” the doctor says. “Some internal bruising and injuries to her ribs, and some bleeding. But it’s nothing we can’t heal. She’ll be well soon.” He glances at me, the same curiosity on his face that I saw on Ardir’s. “We’ve never had a Terran on Kalix before, Malav. Most of the staff here won’t even know how to treat her. I do… but this is highly unusual. Is she a person of some importance?”
I grit my teeth and fix him with a hard stare. “She is a person of importance to me. She is everything.”
It takes twenty-four hours for Harper to wake.
I don’t leave her side for even a minute, and when she finally regains consciousness, she moans softly as she shifts in the healing pod. Her eyes drift open, and her gaze finds me almost immediately.
“I… Malav!” she exclaims. “Where are we? Did we make it?”
I reach for her hand, careful of the wires hooked up to her. “We made it,” I tell her gently. “We’re on Kalix. You’ve been asleep for a day. You broke your leg, and…”
She stares at me, then down at the smooth, nearly unmarred skin of her leg, and then back at me. “Wait, you’re telling me that I healed a broken leg in a day? What kind of insane technology is this?”
“You healed from a fall that broke multiple bones in a matter of days back on the ship,” I tell her, surprised. “Does it take longer, back on Earth?”
“It takes months,” she says, her eyes wide. “I was so distracted by everything else back on the ship that I hardly thought about it. But this… this is incredible.”
I swallow hard, thinking of what I need to say next. My heart nearly tears open at the thought of losing her so soon, but it has to be said. If she stays with me, I have to know that it’s truly of her own will. That she has the opportunity to make her own choices, Irisa or no, fate or no.
“Speaking of Terra—Earth—” I say slowly. “Harper… if you still want to go back, I can send you. You need a few more days to be at your full strength, but I can have you on a passenger vessel back to your home within a week. I know that it was important to you to see what was done put right. I will make sure you have that, if it’s what you want. I won’t hold you here against your will.”
She is silent for a long moment, and I see tears filling her eyes, bright and shining.
I can feel my heart cracking.
So this is heartbreak, I think.
I never want to feel it again. I know in this moment that there is no other woman for me. There can be no other Irisa, but beyond that, Harper is the only one I will ever love. If I lose her now, my soul will go with her.
“Malav,” she whispers, sitting up slowly in the pod. “I don’t want to go back. Not anymore. I meant what I said last night. I love you.” She takes a deep, shaky breath, her hazel gaze fixed on mine. “The only place I want to be is with you.”
Relief like I’ve never known, even when I saw her wake up back on the ship after her fall, washes over me.
I stand up shakily, reaching for her in the pod, not caring about the wires. Not caring about anything except having her in my arms. I bend down, kissing her, and she wraps her arms around my neck. The beeping of the machine next to her intensifies as she kisses me harder, her breath quick against my lips.
My cock hardens, my body arching toward hers as if drawn by a magnet. Her hands clutch my shoulders, and I’m suddenly aware of how little there is between her body and mine—only my loincloth and the thin gown that patients here wear.
I’m considering whether both of us will fit in the pod and how sturdy it is when the door opens and the doctor walks in.
“Um… I… sir.” He turns bright red. “Excuse me. I didn’t realize…”
“It’s all right.”
I sit down quickly, trying to hide the e
vidence of how aroused I am as Harper blushes a shade of red to match the doctor’s.
He looks between the two of us. “The pairing of a Terran and a Kalixian is… well… it’s quite unheard of. Beyond the occasional meetings of the flesh in the places that traffic in it, that is.”
I frown. “Please keep this to yourself until I’ve had a chance to speak with Prince Khrelan,” I tell him firmly. “The prince will hear about this from my lips first.”
“Ah… yes. Very good. I’ll give you some time to, er… compose yourself,” the doctor says, so flustered that Harper bursts into giggles as he leaves, and I have a hard time not laughing myself.
Her expression turns serious as the door closes behind him.
“I didn’t think about the prince,” she whispers. “I mean, part of me didn’t really expect us to ever get here. Tordax hasn’t said anything? No message about him and Rose?”
I shake my head. “He wanted to tell our prince in person. It is… unusual, as the doctor said. The mating bond has only ever been between Kalixians. We can find pleasure with other species such as Terrans, but there has never been a mate bond. I don’t know what Prince Khrelan will think of it. The mixing of our blood with another race.”
Harper frowns. “They’d have things to say about that, back on Earth.”
I look at her, surprised. “You are accepting of alien and human partnerships there? But the vast amount of Terran subjects don’t even know—”
“They’re not subjects,” Harper says, laughing. “And no, not aliens. But there are still differences in race. And it hasn’t always been agreed upon if they should marry, or even be together. It’s better now, but there are still some closed-minded people who frown on it.”
“Who frown upon mating among your own species?” The expression on my face is horrified. “But that makes no sense.”
“Trust me, I agree with you.” Harper sighs. “It’s complicated. I’ll explain Earth politics and history to you some other time. But here…” She frowns. “Will the prince try to keep us apart?”