She stood alone before the floor-to-ceiling viewing window, arms wrapped loosely around herself, staring out into the endless black. The ship’s interior lights were low, so the stars outside burned brighter, vast fields of them, swirling nebulae glowing in deep purples and fiery oranges, distant galaxies like scattered diamonds on black velvet. A massive, slow-turning spiral arm of the galaxy dominated the view, its core pulsing with ancient light. It was beautiful in a way that made an Abyss-born male feel small.
She saw my reflection in the glass before I spoke.
“Can’t sleep?” she asked softly, without turning around.
I shook my head and moved closer until I stood directly behind her. Close enough that I could feel the warmth of her body. Smell the scent of her hair and skin.
“I felt you awake,” I murmured.
A small smile curved her lips in the reflection. “I’m sorry?”
“It’s not your fault.” I rasped, unable to control my timbre. Her nearness intoxicated me.
We fell silent, simply staring out at the cosmos together. The view was breathtaking, raw, untamed, filled with colors and light no planet-bound being could ever truly understand. A distant supernova bloomed on the edge of sight, a slow explosion of gold and crimson painted the darkness for a few eternal seconds.
“It’s so much prettier out here,” I said quietly.
Naeris leaned back just slightly. Her shoulder blades brushed my chest. The contact sent a jolt through me. Making me yearn for more. Always more with her. Something uniquely her made my blood run hotter. My hands flexed at my sides, fighting the urge to wrap around her waist and pull her fully against me.
She let out a soft breath. “It’s funny… space looks just the same on this side as it does where I grew up.”
She turned then, slowly, until we were almost nose to nose. Well, would have been, if she were taller. As it was, it was her nose against my chest. She had to tilt her head to look at me. Her luminous eyes locked onto mine. The golden thread between us flared bright and urgent, singing with raw need. The air crackled. I could feel the heat of her breath on my lips. My heart hammered against my ribs as every instinct screamed at me to close the last few inches.
“Tell me about your Dark Abyss,” she whispered.
“It’s not mine,” I contradicted, completely mesmerized by the way the starlight played across her face. “Never has been.”
The pull between us was magnetic, undeniable. My hands rose of their own accord, hovering just above her hips, trembling with the effort not to touch her. Her lips parted slightly. The bond thrummed so loudly I was sure she could hear it too. For one suspended, electric moment, nothing else in the universe existed, only her, only me, and the vast, beautiful darkness stretching out behind us like a witness. I had never wanted anything more in my entire existence. And I had never been more terrified of what would happen if I finally took it.
Naeris didn’t pull away. She tilted her head slightly and parted her lips on a soft exhale. The golden thread between us was no longer a hum; it turned into a roar, a living current of heat that pulsed straight down my spine and settled heavy and aching between my legs. My cock was already hard, straining painfully against my pants, thick and insistent. I could feel every beat of my heart in it.
I wanted her.
By the dark stars, Iwantedher.
The need was so sharp it bordered on pain. I imagined pushing her back against the cool glass of the viewport, stripping that tunic off her body, tasting every inch of glowing skin the Starmap had marked. I wanted to drop to my knees and bury my face between her thighs until she was shaking and crying my name. I wanted to sink into her, claim her, mark her so deeply that the universe itself would know she was mine.
My hands moved, settling on her hips, my fingers dug in just enough to feel the softness of her flesh beneath the fabric. I pulled her closer until her breasts brushed my chest. The contact made her breath hitch. Her nipples were hard—I could feel them through her tunic—and the realization sent another surge of blood straight to my cock.
“Thyros…” she whispered. Her voice was husky, unsteady. Her hands came up to rest on my chest, not pushing me away, but curling into the fabric of my shirt like she needed something to hold onto.
The bond was screaming now. It wanted. Itdemanded. I could feel her arousal through it, the slick heat building between her thighs, the way her body was softening, opening, readying itself for me. The scent of her arousal was faint but unmistakable, sweet and musky, driving me half-mad.
I lowered my head until our foreheads nearly touched. Our breaths mingled. My lips hovered a fraction above hers. Onesmall movement, and I could take her mouth, taste her, devour her.
“You have no idea what you do to me,” I rasped, voice wrecked. “Every time you look at me like that… every time you let me touch you… I want to ruin you for anyone else. I want to bury myself so deep inside you that you forget every other male who ever existed.”
Her fingers tightened on my shirt. A soft, needy sound escaped her throat—half moan, half whimper—and it nearly snapped what little control I had left.
The stars wheeled slowly behind her through the viewport, but all I could see was her. The flush on her cheeks. The way her lips glistened. The rapid rise and fall of her breasts against me.
I was so hard it hurt. My cock throbbed with every heartbeat, leaking against the fabric, desperate to be inside her. I wanted to lift her, wrap her legs around my waist, and take her right here against the glass while the universe watched.
The last thread of my control snapped. I cupped her face with both hands, brushed my thumbs over the softness of her cheekbones, and kissed her. The moment our lips met, the universeshattered. It wasn’t gentle. It was desperate, hungry, centuries of longing and pain and loneliness pouring out of me into her. A broken sound tore from my throat as I tasted her, warm, sweet, alive. Naeris gasped against my mouth, then melted into me, her hands fisted my shirt, kissing me back with equal fire.
The golden thread between us exploded into blinding light. I felt everything. Her fear. Her hope. The aching emptiness she had carried for years. The way she had never been truly held, never been wanted forherself. And beneath it all, the bright, fierce spark of her soul, reaching for mine like it had been waiting millions of years to come home.
Tears burned behind my eyes.
