Maxym
MAXYM
Cleo’s gaze doesn’t waver. Her chest heaves up and down as the scent of her arousal increases. I want to scatter the remaining weapons and mate her on the table here and now.
“We can’t…I can’t do this, ,” she says, her voice a barely audible whisper. “You don’t want me.”
“Because you have a mate?” I hear myself growl far too harshly. “The one who put a youngling in your belly and yet makes you come here every day.”
She pulls her chin from my grasp with her own growl of anger.
“No.” Cleo marches over the table I was contemplating a second ago and begins putting the unused weapons in their box. “There is no mate . And my pregnancy has nothing to do with you.”
If I had any control, it vacated me long before my head injury. I pull her into an alcove. The feel of Cleo in my arms is even better than I ever thought it could be.
“I think you’ll find it has everything to do with me because I have claimed you and your young for my own.”
“You can’t do that. I don’t belong to anyone,” Cleo retorts.
“Don’t you?” I pull her scent into my lungs.
“This baby is my responsibility.”
To my delight, she smooths her clothing over her stomach, revealing the small swell which causes my cocks to jerk hard against my pants, making me groan out loud.
“I have to provide for it. I have to make sure it has a home. I have to…” Her words end in a sob.
“Tell me,” I order.
“I have to tell Retah and hope he doesn’t fire me,” she says and then looks at me like I’ve ripped her lungs from her body.
“Your employer doesn’t know?”
“He doesn’t.” She hangs her head. “I don’t know what to do.”
I want to tell her I will have her and her young. I will worship her body, nest for her, keep her and protect her.
Only I’m a prisoner of the dome. I cannot do any of these things.
“I doubt he will fire you for being with young,” I say.
“But when the baby comes…” Her eyes are filled with water. It hovers at the edge of her lashes before a drop runs down her cheek.
I catch it on my finger, bringing it to my mouth and tasting a faint tang of salt.
“He will accept it, or he will have to deal with me.”
Cleo hiccups, a smile briefly appearing on her face as she dashes the rest of the water from her eyes.
“I guess that’s one way to manage it.”
“It is the only way.”
Cleo shakes her head, sidesteps me, and goes back to sorting her weapons.
I stand, arms by my sides, feathers itching with the need for her. The taste of the water from her eyes only fuels the fire within me.
“Come eat with me.” It’s all I can think of.
“I’m supposed to go back to Retah’s,” she says.
“Do you require your employer’s approval to have a meal?” I growl. If she is a slave, I will ensure her bonds are broken.
“No, only I have three nova-hours before I’m working again. It’s my only option.”
Now I smile. I smile like I haven’t done in a very long time.
“It’s not your only option,” I respond. “I can show you the dome, provide you with sustenance. I am here to protect your person, after all.”
Cleo stares at me, her fingers poised over the locking mechanism of the weapons bin.
I think she’s going to reject me, and if she does, I’m not sure what I’ll do. I can’t take her by force, but I can’t leave her alone.
She is my mate. She is my everything, and the sooner I claim her and her young entirely, the sooner she can be installed in my nest, forever.
Cleo takes in a breath. “Okay, show me the dome.”