Chapter 6
Chapter
Six
MAVERYK
T he floorboards hum beneath our feet.
Light seeps through the cracks like veins of silver.
My heart drowns in my chest for want of her—resonance igniting me from the inside out.
Only ever spoken of in whispers and shame. Now it burns clean as truth.
Pulsing through me. Terrifying. Purifying.
The thing I’ve spent a whole lifetime hiding from and searching for. The thing that could wreck me on its rocky shore.
Our breath syncs, each exhale altering the sound of the storm outside. The wind answers like a bow drawn over wire.
Melody palms my chest, her tiny hand fragile against the heat of my flesh, light slipping between her fingers.
The flesh that hums for her.
A low chord shudders through us—warmth, vibration—and I don’t know where it starts or ends, only that it binds us until we feel like one thing.
The mountains sing through us. The words float inside my head. Our eyes lock. She hears. She knows.
The world blurs at the edges.
Focus narrows to light, touch, to the beat of her heart against mine.
I pull her closer, a desperate growl escaping my chest—like I’ve spent decades holding my breath, lungs straining only to finally inhale.
Her arms thread around my neck, fingers tangling in my hair.
My mouth drops, hungry and fierce, lips seizing hers, unraveling in the heat of our need.
My hands cup her cheeks, stepping her back to the table’s edge. My tongue sweeps into her mouth, ravenous, desire climbing like the thunderheads outside.
The air swarms—alive.
Whispers thread it, chanting our secret, tucking it into mist and shadow.
I angle her head. The kiss deepens until space itself thins.
The cabin glows, its objects a riot of hum and light.
Her hand comes to my forearm, the bracelet liquefying in the blaze of our touch.
Cool as water, strong as wire, it winds our fingers together.
I try to pull back, voice shaking.
“You don’t know what this means.”
But she grips me tighter, eyes finding mine.
Her chin lifts, voice a silk-edged dare.
“Then, show me.”
Her arms tighten around my body, hands pressed to bare flesh.
Chest to chest, breathing each other’s air.
The world goes silent, one held breath between heartbeats.
Then a single note floods everything, raw, pure, unheard for too long to remember—the Starborn pitch, the one that lives in bone.
Her fingers are electricity on my skin, burning and awakening, shivers of need sliding through me.
My heart pumps, blood singing with her name, the bond quickening, yet to be spoken in flesh.
I sense the part of her that wants to run from the power of this. It echoes in the tremor of my hands.
But the rest— her truer self —leans in like I do.
“Whatever this is,” she whispers. “I want to feel it all. To understand you through touch, the way words never could.”
“Yes,” I murmur, showering her in kisses.
New words whisper through my mind. You think I don’t understand what you’re warning me from. You’re wrong. I feel the same wildfire. I want to burn anyway.
Not my thoughts— hers .
Then, let us burn together , I answer.
Her eyes flicker with awe and wonder.
“The bond is deeper than bodies,” I tell her, tearing down psychic walls to let her slip deeper.
Her eyes pool, lips trembling as she sees to the very heart of me.
My hands skim her shoulders; the coat pools at our feet. Fingers come to the front of her mint blouse, teasing loose the ties. Each unknotting a binding, drawing us closer to a reality I’ve only heard whispered in the darkest corners.
“Need you.” My voice is raw, breathing ragged.
“Yes.” Her answer trembles against the shake of her body.
Children of light land among the pines.
Ancient memory—shared, ours—seeping into the spaces between our flesh.
Hands building shelters of stone and star-metal as my palms graze over her impossibly soft skin.
I memorize every smooth plane and curve—perfection.
My head dips, mouth kissing along her jawline and neck, her shoulder, down to her full breasts buried beneath pink lace.
Her desire scents the air, sweet as a promise.
The clasp gives, the fabric falls, and I admire her for one exquisite, painful moment.
Every need hangs between us, begging for release.
She trembles beneath my touch, exhale shuddering as I take her nipple into my mouth, circling with my tongue.
She gasps, eyes searching mine when I raise my head.
“Too much?”
“Not enough. Need more.”
I suck and tease her, nip and lap, kneading her with my hands before switching sides.
Her moan melts into my skin, pleasure doubling back as I feel her feeling me.
Ecstasy so thick it could kill—or push me to reckless, dangerous things. Like this.
Her mind brushes mine again: It’s too much—heat, sound, you.
But the fear is holy, not horror.
I reach for more because I sense she needs to know what she is with me.
“Mine,” I say, the full thrust of longing hitting hard.
Something inside her flares in answer—not submission, but recognition.
The word doesn’t trap us; it names what we’ve already claimed.
“Yours, Maveryk. All yours.”
“Say it again.”
“Say what?”
“My name.”
“Maveryk.”
I’m a goner. Lost. Ready to die for this—for her.
Light bends around us.
Frequencies melt and refract.
My flesh pours into her and hers into mine as I lift her from the ground, her legs circling my waist.
For a heartbeat, I’m afraid I’ll lose myself—then realize I’m finding pieces I never knew were missing.
Her hands in my hair. Her mouth against mine.
I pull back slightly, fight to say, “If we do this?—”
It’s too late, the thought thrums like an ancient chorus.
I need her to know that once she’s mine, we can never go back.
She already does.
Every touch erases another line between our bodies and our minds.
Fierce longing rushes through me—hers echoing my own.
Her fears, her questions, her hesitations dissolve in the weight of our flesh.
“Yes,” I whisper to the flicker of panic that I’ll put my baby inside.
“Yes,” to the anticipation that I can make her body vibrate the way my note shivers through her core.
“Gentle,” I answer, when she wonders how I’ll handle her virginity.
She pulls back suddenly, inhaling sharply.
A flash of anger—protective, possessive—flares at the thought of another man touching her.
She feels it too, a smile curving her lips.
“There can be nothing between us,” I warn.
She takes it as a challenge.
Clothes fall.
Breath stutters.
The universe contracts to the sound of our hearts.
“Is it different? ” Her eyes meet mine, curiosity swirling.
I chuckle, pushing a hair from her cheek. “Good different,” I promise.
Her heart throbs behind her breastbone as need roars through me. The need to make her feel better than she ever has before. To make her fly like the ancient starships over Earth.
Her fingers dig into the waistband, tug down the fabric as she stares for one long moment. Her almond eyes settle on the spot above my cock that I’ve always had to hide. “My first time, too,” I admit, stroking her cheek.
Her breath shudders as she lifts a hand, places it over my heart again. “Now, you live for me.” The words of the bond syncing in her head.
“Now, my blood burns for you. My soul sings to yours. I live for you.” I say the words out loud, solemn, so there can be no doubt.
“The symbols engraved in the bracelet,” she gasps. My eyes search hers, glowing.
I grab pillows and blankets, cover the hard ground. Then, lay her down gently, finally letting the full force of my weight hang over her for a moment.
Good , her mind whispers, until the part of me above my cock hits her abs, sucking and kneading her soft skin. She gasps, and I pull back, chuckling under my breath.
“What is that?”
My hand comes up. I spit on my thumb, sliding it between us to circle her clit.
“Goes here,” I say, my lips an inch from hers.
“Let’s me take you as you take me.” At least, this much I know.
She moans, hips inching toward me. Her heat entrances me, the perfume of her arousal almost too much to bear.
“Wait, what?” Her eyes round, thick lips dropping open.
“Does it scare you?” I ask, trying not to grin.
“Not at all. Makes you perfect for me. Like we were made for this.”
I nod. “You’ll see. But first, I need to taste more of you.” My mouth covers her again, diving in as my other hand slides up her inviting inner thighs, savoring the feel of her silky flesh.
Her legs part, and I slide a finger inside, wincing at her heat and tightness.
I can feel the stretch, the mixture of bliss and pain as I find her pleasure spot, tug at it with a curious finger.
She moans, head lolling back. I repeat the action, and she shudders beneath me.
My mouth returns to her nipples, feathering her flesh in hot kisses until the need draws me lower.
Her throb rushes through me, the pull of my finger a slow unwinding. Each stroke is a slickening as my thumb swirls around her until her thoughts urge me between her legs.
The first swipe of my tongue brings her hips off the blankets. I follow it with a long draw, then a pulse. I add a second finger, discomfort mixing with urgent pleasure as my cock goes so hard I feel like my whole body will explode. She gasps, body shivering with anticipation.
Later, my Starlight and I will have to practice psychic boundaries, how to put enough space between our pleasure so we don’t dissolve around each other’s bliss. But now, I revel in the overload.
Everything turns to hum and frequency as I lap and tease her, wet velvet drawing her closer and closer as my fingers ready her for more. A hot gush of heat hits my thigh as I come, unable to hold back. My release rushes through her, shared heat and need, burgeoning, overflowing.
Then, I’m hard again, ready to take her as her walls grip and suck my fingers, my tongue pushing her over the edge.
She spasms and shatters around me, body flying heavenward, taking mine with her.
I pull out, lick my fingers clean, savoring the flavor of my mate.
Better than any taste to every hit my tongue.
“I want to spend hours with my face between your legs,” I sigh, mouth covering hers.
Tasting her taste herself. Too much, enough to stop hearts, bind souls as I slide into her.
I inch in slowly, pain searing through me with each thrust. Her hands grip my back, fingernails gouging. Somehow, sharing the discomfort helps.
Her body rounds around me, breath escaping in hot pants as I go deeper, again and again, making her mine. I suck the pain inward, try to take it from her, though I don’t know if such a thing exists—the bond forbidden, rarely discussed.
When I’m finally seated inside her—all the way—my body finds hers, sealing the bond forever. Sucking and teasing her clit, flooding her with pleasure from another world, locking her hard against me. She screams, hips bucking, breath explosive.
My rhythm is slow and consuming, each thrust drawing another cry, her body shaking as pleasure rolls through her in waves, crashing into me.
We break together, tumbling through space, breaths intermingling, kisses hot and knowing. I fill her as she fills me; we are the same pulse.
Afterward, we lie tangled, breathing the same air. Her hands trace the glow of my skin as I feather her face in kisses.
“Mine,” I repeat—not possession but promise.
Before I can wonder how deep she feels this bond, she answers. Mine too, the thought drifts back—not claim, but recognition.
The hum lingers but softer now—inside us, woven, certain.
We can’t undo this , a brush of thought against her mind, my hand pushing a lock of raven hair off her cheek.
“Would you want to?” she murmurs.
Never , whispered from my mind to hers.
She lifts my hand, kisses each calloused finger.
Gold spills across the cabin, soft and human again.
Her pulse steadies beneath my palm, a drum I’ve chased my whole life and finally found. The hum lives inside us now—quiet, sure.
I tuck a blanket around our bodies, skin to skin beneath its rough warmth. The firelight dances across her glowing skin as I fall in love with her all over again.
Her laughter spills, light as wind in pine, caressing memories from my youth. Our minds brush, no barriers now. She tastes the thought before I can hide it.
Suddenly, her eyes find mine, breath rushing from her lungs. “You went to school with my grandpa, grandma. How old are you, Maveryk?”
I shrug. “Quit counting at some point.”
“Does that mean you’ll live forever? Watch me grow old and?—”
“No,” I say, not wanting even the thought of her mortality in the air. “The bond changes everything. It ties my life to the length of yours.”
Her chin trembles. “Really? You’d sacrifice that for me?”
I raise a finger, stroke along her jawline. “Only really living if it’s with you.” My lips ghost over hers, sparks flying.
Her mind relaxes, and I explore. My throat tightens as I taste her psyche in return—the moment she first saw me at the ranch, the tremor of fear she mistook for fate. The dream we shared at her bedroom window.
My hand slides lower, savoring her curvy form beneath the blanket, worshiping as her walls drop further, and she lets me feel her desire in the barn. Then, the cold sting of my back to her the morning after. I want to explain the reason, but I won’t let her feel my fear.
Not yet.
I hold back.
She doesn’t push.
Peace settles.
A stillness so complete it feels like prayer.
Outside, the mountains vibrate the same harmony back, as if the world itself has joined the song.
Then, a sound intrudes.
I try to ignore it until I can’t.
The liquid light of the bracelet around our joined bodies fractures, hardening back into the thin metal around her wrist. Her eyes search mine.
I lift my head, staring toward the black window. The night beyond gives away no secrets.
“What is it?” she whispers, as if trying to disentangle her mind from mine.
Static crawls across the radio. A thin mechanical whine threads through the wind—precise, deliberate. Not weather.
“They’re coming.”
The fear rises like a tide, and this time, she feels it too.