“I did.” And I will enjoy keeping it.
19
RUBY
Aldit sweeps me up into his arms and kisses me. Even though I am chilled from the cold water, his skin is warm. He wades out of the river, carrying me as if I weigh nothing and we weren’t half dead before getting in the river.
And while I am hungry, at the moment it isn’t food I need. He sets me on the shore, on top of the clothes, and gathers some small branches and dry leaves. He has a fire going in minutes.
It’s because of him I survived.
It’s because of me we were in danger in the first place. But if not for this misadventure, I’d still be seething and planning my escape. I’m glad to have let the anger go and to realize that the colony was never my home.
Now I have a mate, and I don’t know what to do about him.
He thinks he’s broken the rules because I didn’t choose him, even though neither of us expected it to happen, and I’m not sure either of us would have behaved differently if we had.
We needed each other.
More than that, I like him. I think I could be happy with him. Could he be happy with me, a woman not of his people? Or will I always feel like a mistake?
He turns to me, his wide yellow eyes filled with heat. Even though the rut is only a biological reaction, it’s still real, and binding him to me. His lips part as his gaze travels over my body. He doesn’t see me as a threat the way some human men did. Some didn’t like that I was part of security and could best them in a fight, others considered me stupid for only being part of security instead of a scientist or an engineer or any of the other trades the colony needs to survive.
With Aldit, none of that matters.
He kisses me again, forcing me back on to the clothes. I don’t resist. Why would I?
His lips travel down my body as if drinking the water from my skin, then his tongue sweeps over my clit sending sparks of pleasure through my chilled blood. I close my eyes and bite my lip as he alternates between licking and sucking and thrusting his tongue into my pussy. It doesn’t take long for the first tentative climax to roll through me.
I come with a gasp, and that’s when he spreads my legs and lifts them onto his shoulders so he can feast. The next orgasm catches me off guard. My back arches and I moan.
He lifts his head to look up at me. “I will only stop when you beg.”
I’m not ready for him to stop yet. No one has ever promised me as much pleasure as I can take. “And then what will you do?”
“I will fuck you until I am done.” His markings are brighter now survival isn’t dulling his desire.
I nod. That seems like a fair trade.
Now he knows what I like, he uses it to bring on a third and fourth climax. His fingers press into me, finding the spot within me that makes me squirm and gasp as I come. My hands claw at our clothes.
“You taste so good,” he murmurs.
I’m no longer cold. I’m sweaty and desperate. I’m not sure if I want him to keep going or stop, as every part of me feels too sensitive to his touch. I moan and shudder as his tongue sweeps over my clit.
Then his tongue presses into me and he fucks me with it. That’s what I need. I need him to fill me and fuck me. “Please. I want you.”
“You have me.” He fucks me with his fingers.
Two or three? I don’t know or care. I can’t think of anything but being filled. “Fuck me.”
“I am.” I can hear the smile in his voice.
I groan again. I’m pretty sure all of my muscles have melted. “With your cock.”
He pulls his fingers free but doesn’t lower my legs as he rises to his knees. He pulls my hips up while my feet point to the sky. The hot head of his cock presses against my pussy, then he is sinking in, stretching me. His eyes close as he groans. For a couple of heartbeats, he doesn’t move even though he’s not fully within me.
I’m sure his cock pulses within me.
