You can’t keep this up.
I ignored her.
“Lamp on, low.” I whispered the order and the ship responded, activating the soft glow of a delicately carved table lamp I’d designed with the S-Gen machine. The shiny surface was a soft rose color, the flowing form meant to trick the eye as the outline of a woman melted into that of a swan—and back again, if one circled the lamp. The matching sofas, one large, one perfect for two, were a gentle, soft gray decorated with pale pink and darker gray pillows and soft blankets. The temperature of the room was controlled at all times, but he would adjust the settings for my comfort, my mate informed me, pleased with himself. I explained to him the plush cushions and cozy blankets were for comfort, not necessity. Comfort—he’d looked around the room but said nothing. I thought he’d dismissed my comment, and my need. I was wrong. So wrong.
To his credit, he’d adapted quickly, insisting on bending me over the back of the couch and making me melt all over his cock—a soft pillow under my hips to ensure my ‘comfort’.Even now, the memory made me blush. By the end of the next night, Zarren had used the S-Gen machine to create multiple items 'for my comfort', including two lengths of soft fabric he'd used, one to blindfold me, the other to tie my hands over my head while he made me come.
I’d unpacked my suitcase, placing the few items I’d brought with me into a drawer built into the wall of the bedroom. I was making this a home, as much as I could in just a few days. I’d activated the entertainment settings on the large comm screen—Zarren only ever used it for official Intelligence Core or military business—so I could watch literally anything I wanted while he was working, from human sitcoms to educational vids on ship engineering, or detailed documentaries about various planets in the Coalition.
I should be content, at peace.Happy.I had never felt safer or more secure, more certain about my future.
But the nightmares were killing me. They bubbled up from my subconscious and forced their way into my dreams, cut spaces in my mind like glaciers carving valleys. Even after they were gone, the scarred landscape remained.
Reaching into the robe’s pocket, I lifted my mating collar from its hiding place and secured it around my neck. I held myself still as the connection linked me to my sleeping mate. Calm. Silent. Empty. I did not want to send any strong emotions that might wake him.
After the first night, I’d learned to remove the collar when I slept. I would wait, make my mind calm and clear, focus on the contentment coming from my commander until he drifted off to sleep, and then take my collar off.
There was no need for him to suffer with me every night, and I did not wish to answer any questions.
Nightmares were just dreams in darkness. I did not intend to breathe life into them in the light of day. Well, spaceship day. There wasn’t exactly a star that rose and set on the horizon. Luckily, all the ships set their schedules to match the capital city’s time on Prillon Prime. Their planet’s natural length of day was close enough to Earth’s that adjusting my body’s circadian rhythm had been easy.
I glanced at the data pad embedded in the wall near the front door. As I suspected, it was nearly morning. Zarren would wake on his own soon, as would the rest of the warriors on the ship. Wake, work, eat…
Fuck.
Naked under the robe, I was suddenly acutely aware of everywhere the fabric moved over my skin, flowed around my things and ass, hugged my breasts.
I settled my palms along the back of the couch where, not long ago, my commander had bent me over and filled me with his cock. Thrust deep. Pulled my back to his chest and cupped my breasts from behind.
“By the gods, female, you have a one track mind.” Big, strong hands slipped around my waist, reaching for the tie securing my robe.
9
Zarren Helion
She shivered,but not from cold. Was she responding to my touch? Or still upset about whatever nightmare had driven her from my arms this morning? Every morning since her arrival. I fought myself, told myself it was none of my business. Me. The one male in the universe who, as far as I was aware, had more knowledge about what was happening than any other.
Yet I knew nothing about my own mate.
I slid my hands around her and pulled her small body back, against mine. “Tell me why you remove your mating collar at night.”
“It’s nothing. I don’t want to talk about it.” She shifted her weight, turning to face me. I wasn’t sure if her intent was to get away from me, or to move closer. When she pressed her lips to my chest, I assumed it was the latter.
“Are you trying to distract me, female?”
“Would I do that?” She kissed me again, then moved to take one nipple into her small mouth. Delicate hands reached between us and grabbed my cock, wrapped around me and squeezed just hard enough to make me moan.
Fuck me, this female was dangerous. “Yes. You would.” I knew that much.
I lifted my hands to cup each side of her jaw and angled her face until she looked at me, her gaze locked with mine, her fists locked around my throbbing cock. “I am an intelligence officer, commander of the I.C. I wouldn’t be very good at my job if I didn’t notice what has happening with my own mate.”
Something dark and fleeting flashed through her eyes, something I’d never seen before. Before I could ask more questions, Willow sank to her knees on the thick rug that now covered most of the room and sucked my hard length into her mouth. Her tongue teased the underside with an insistent flicker that drove sane thought from my head.
“Damn it, female.” My cock swelled, became painfully engorged in seconds.
She pulled back, held my cock in place with her hands and rubbed her lips back and forth across the tip. “Do you want me to stop?”
“No.” Fuck no.
