“Valentine’s?”
Lycen swallowed and nodded. “All our friends are in love. Maybe I just don’t want to be left out.”
“Or maybe you’re just tired of playing by the rules.” Elio grabbed her anxious hands and gripped them in his. “Layla isn’t supposed to be with a Leonid captain, Marcus isn’t supposed to find love again, or supposed to be starting a second family when some Felids are becoming grandparents. Nessa wasn’t supposed to get involved in a shoot-out, make a last-ditch long shot to piggyback on a shipment, and crash into Kamau’s heart. And I... I’m supposed to die in a few years, no use to the lab techs and medical testers, liver all used up, veins collapsing—”
“Shh! Elio, don’t say things like that.” Lycen’s voice was choked, and she crushed his fingers in her sudden spasming grip.
“But it’s true. A boy with no money, no family, no real education... Boys like that barely grow up to be men, and men like that don’t live long on Sapien-Three. All the laws of the universe say I don’t belong here, looking at a Wolfi goddess, all gray and white silk and the bluest eyes... All the laws say I shouldn’t exist anywhere near you, but here I am.”
Lycen licked her lips, and her head bowed, resting her chin on the crown of his head. “Here we are.”
RULES WERE MADE TObe broken, Lycen thought, heart racing. His scent speared into her senses in a way that should have been illegal. Even though she took heat control shots, Elio’s touch, even on her hands, made her libido soar to life.
“Do you... When we have some time... Do you want to get dinner sometime? Or go on a holo-excursion? I could order software and—”
Elio’s offer of a date was awkward, but not hesitant. It was as if he were trying to piece together a possible outing for two people who passed each other every day, who “saw” each other without really “knowing” each other. Flying through the galaxy on a long-haul freighter-turned-mercy ship didn’t help with dating options.
“I have a holo-excursion back in my quarters we could try sometime. Even tonight, once the parents come to get their cubs. It’s not really much of an excursion. More of a simulation.” Lycen’s heart raced at what she was offering. It might sound completely innocent, but the software she’d bought was anything but.
“Oh, sure! That’d be great. Um. Mind if I hang out with you until they arrive?”
“I’d love it.”
THE HOURS SLIPPED BYonce they started talking. They weren’t the bubbly, chirpy ones on this vessel, and it was refreshing to find someone to talk quietly with. To talk seriously about plans and challenges, and ask hard questions about life in the Sirius Federation or life on Sapien-Three. As the time passed, Elio found himself sliding closer and closer to her, until their hips pressed together and Lycen’s tail wrapped around hiswaist. His hand tangled with hers, and his head sank to her shoulder.
“Tired?”
“No. Happy.”Never had a partner to lean on.
Partner?
Yes, partner. Not just a date. Nothing so silly-sounding as a girlfriend.
His eyes skirted over her statuesque curves.
That’s a powerful woman. Goddess of the Lupine type, a Wolf warrior woman.
He shook his head before foolish alliteration and overzealous praise could bubble out and make Lycen think twice about being with him.
Being his partner. The word hit a chord that made his heart reverberate.
I want her to be my partner. My other half, a steady force that sees a strong survivor, lets me sink into the safety of her soft fur and beautiful eyes.
“I might break rules,” Elio said, voice quiet, eyes on his knees, “but not all of them. On Sapien-Three, the guys who survive with enough money for a good life aren’t the good ones. They’re the guys who traffick girls like Layla, or who deal substances that rot your brain and steal your health. I still want better than that. I’m going to be an officer on this ship one day.”
Lycen put her larger hand on his knee. “I know that. I can tell you’ll get there, Elio.”
“And I still want the things I dreamed of. Safety. Career. Education. Family of my own. I might break the rules, but I’m not getting off that path. I should have asked... I don’t know when to ask...” He trailed off, swallowing hard. “I never was in the position to date, and I don’t know what I’m doing. All I’m trying to say is that I take you and me seriously. Like you’re part of my plan now, like maybe you always were. I spottedsomething in you that matches something in me, but I didn’t think I had a hope in hell of putting the pieces together,” he whispered.
Lycen saved him. Saved him like the partner he knew she was. “You mean you want us to be serious about each other? Well, that tracks. We’re serious about pretty much everything else.”
“Yes! Like that!” Elio gave a relieved laugh.
And she laughed with him, a long, free sound that he’d never heard. Elio was sure he’d never heard it. He would have remembered something so beautiful tickling his ears, would have remembered the way she looked with her head tossed back and her elongated face pointing skywards.
And he suddenly had the completely inappropriate thought that he wanted her face to point up at him, while he was above her.
Followed by the thought that he wanted to be under her, smothered between her thighs, looking up at her while he struggled for breath, trapped in a lush, fluffy paradise.
