Kedar was in full control as he thrust into her, supporting her body with his strong arms. He nipped at her neck and whispered devotion to her.
“You are all I need.My mate. My beautiful and violent mate. I thought I’d never get to say that. I am sorry I ever hurt you. I’m sorry I ever took anything away from you. You deserve worlds, all the cosmos—you deserve someone better than me. But I swear, I will give you everything.”
“I’m yours, Kedar,” she panted. “You have my heart and every broken piece of me.”
His name fell from her lips as he moved her up and down his cock. His ridges stroked her walls, and she clenched around him. She was so close. Her head fell back in ecstasy, but his hand was there to support her, wrapping around the nape of her neck.
“Fucking perfect,” he groaned. “Going to knot inside your tight cunt. Can’t—” He was panting as his thrusts grew erratic. Vessa could only catch snippets of his broken sentences. “So deep in you.Mine,”he growled. “Always been you. Come with me. I need to—”
“Please,” Vessa pleaded, and Kedar knew exactly what she needed.
He buried himself as deep as he could inside her. His knot expanded fast, but his seed was already filling her in hot waves, leaking out the sides. Pleasure swept over her, and when she broke in his arms, he gathered her impossibly closer. Their bodies convulsed together, a rhythm that only passion knew. Nothing could separate them now. His hearts beat against her,intoher. His breath filled her lungs. They were so deeply connected she was certain she’d find their veins entwined, their ribs overlapping.
Two halves of a whole. All this time, their souls had only ever longed forthis.
“How is it that your helmet is in my room right now?” Vessa was sprawled across Kedar's chest, her fingers absently tracing the deep grooves between his abs. It’d been hours since she brought him back to the ship. Which made the fact that his helmet was sitting between two of her leafy plants on a shelf in her bedroom an impossibility.
“I put it here on the off chance you killed me,” he rumbled beneath her.
“So, you thought that I would want it if I killed you? And you broke into my shipagain? Liv and I are going to need to have a long talk about what the directive ‘let no one else on the ship’ means.”
“I went through your underthings again, too. I couldn't help myself.”
She groaned. “Is nothing sacred?”
“He also took a spoonful of your jam and left the sticky utensil out,” Liv reported.
“Kedar,” she growled as she propped herself up to see his face. “I’m already regretting this.”
He shook with laughter, and his smile was full of mischief. The golden flecks in his eyes seemed to glimmer extra bright. A new detail to add to her growing collection of expressions.
She bit her lip, fighting the urge to laugh with him. “Don’t make me laugh. This is serious. You owe me more jam, and stop being weird with my underwear!”
Kedar pulled her up higher on his chest and patted her ass. “I’ll buy you all the jam you want. From all over the galaxy.” He kissed her shoulder, then the Xaal mark he’d given her beneath her collarbone. “As for your undergarments, I don’t need them when I can go straight to the source.”
“Is this how it will be, then?” she asked with a long-suffering sigh. She traced his lips, tapped the point of one of his fangs. “You being here? In my things?”
He nipped at her finger. “I fear so, and there’s no takebacks. If you try to kill me now, your honor would be in question. Besides”—he rolled them over—“you love me.” His gaze softened as he took in her naked form.
Vessa couldn’t help but smile at him. “Gods help me, I do.”
Never had she thought that a job on the universe’s shittiest planet would lead to this. Lead her back tohim.Her best friend. Hermate.Her beautiful hunter.
Epilogue
Vessa
Four Months Later
“There is no need to pretend,” Vessa said without looking over her shoulder. “It’s obvious you’ve been drawn in. No one escapesBetween Dimensionsunscathed.”
“No one,” Liv echoed ominously.
“I am not interested in this,” Kedar said, waving a hand at the projection.
This had been an ongoing battle for weeks now, but every once in a while, she’d catch him watching it when he passed by the couch. “How about you come over here and give me a massage? You don’t have to watch it, but my body is sore and in dire need of your hands. I miss you.” She really did. After they trained in the mornings, Kedar spent most of his time working on something he didn’t want her to know about.
He couldn’t resist her—she saw how her words affected him. Softened him. “We could train more instead,” he said, his jaw ticking.
