Gark scowled. Nothing, short of a request from the Taurean Supreme Commander himself, would pull him away from his mate right now. And even then, he’d think twice.
He picked up the buzzing wrist comm and scowled as he read the message.
Aletta groaned, rolling over and pulling the pillow over her head. “What’s that noise?” The pillow muffled her voice.
Gark grabbed his tablet. “It’s about the hearing.”
Aletta sat up, clutching the covers to her chest. “The military hearing you’ve been waiting on?”
Gark sat on the edge of the bed naked as he read the message. “Yes. They’ve postponed it.” He frowned. “I can make it after all.”
“Why are you frowning? Isn’t this what you wanted?”
“I thought so.”
She sat up, wrapping her arms around him from behind, her soft breasts pressing against his back. “But?”
“But I can’t bring myself to care anymore.” He typed a reply before he could think twice, sending notice that he would not be attending and withdrawing his appeal.
He smiled, feeling like he’d let go of a starship’s load from his shoulders as he told Aletta what he’d done.
“Are you sure?” She asked, a worried look making a line between her brows.
“Absolutely,” he said, turning to face her. “For a long time, I wanted to reclaim my rank because I felt it would bring me back my honor. I thought it would make my grandfather finally see me as worthy.” He reached a hand up to cup her cheek. “But you showed me that honor is something you feel, not something someone else bestows on you. I have always acted honorably. I won’t force myself to fit where I don’t belong, and align with values I don’t agree with. I never belonged in the military; it just took me a long time to realize it.”
She smiled, reaching a hand to cup his jaw, smoothing her thumb over the side of his face. “You are the most honorable man I have ever met, Gark.”
He smiled. Nothing would ever beat the approval of his mate. He bent his head to capture her lips with his, but she pulled away with a cheeky look, leaning back on her hands so her breasts jutted forward invitingly. He growled and prowled toward her, and she giggled, falling back amongst the rumpled covers.
“Aletta.” He growled, dropping his head to lick a trail from her belly to her collarbone. “My mate,” he said against her neck,kissing the mark he’d placed there not an hour before. “I want to stay here wrapped in your scent and buried in your cunt.” He cupped her breast in one big palm, pinching her nipple gently.
Aletta bit her lip. “So stay.”
So he did.
EPILOGUE
Gark
“This is definitely the one.”
Gark looked up from where he was tying the laces of his boots. Aletta was plucking at the dress she was wearing and looking at herself in the full-length mirror in the guest room of his mother’s home.
He tied off the lace and pulled the cuff of his pants down with a jerk of the fabric. He stood, rolling his shoulders to ease the stiffness of the past few days helping with the harvest. One thing he didn’t miss about his childhood home was how back-breaking the work was on the farm.
He smiled. One thing he’d learned about his mate is that she was fiercely protective of those she deemed ‘hers’. At their first meeting a few months ago, Aletta and his mother had become fast friends. So when they’d been invited back for the harvest festival, she’d taken little convincing to come.
Gark admired the way the flowing fabric skimmed her hips and clung to her breasts and stomach. By the Lady, his mate was beautiful. He slipped his arms around her from behind and dropped a kiss to her neck, right on the faint scar of her claiming.
She shivered. “Gark, if you keep doing that, we won’t make it to the dance.”
His lips twitched as her head rolled back against his shoulder and she bared her neck to his lips.
“What a shame.” He purred against her neck, running his tongue up the side of her neck in the way he knew drove her wild.
“Ahh! You’re incorrigible.” She pulled away, but smiled. “Come on, your mother’s waiting.”
Gark sighed. “My mate?—”
