22. Thyros
The last Moggaddesh crumpled at my feet, its black blood stained on the deck plates.
My chest heaved, adrenaline still sang through my veins, and I scanned the carnage, noting bodies of the fallen beasts scattered across the bridge entrance.
Dravok grunted, wiping his blade clean. Zapharos kicked a corpse aside, his amber eyes already fixed on the sealed door ahead.
But I couldn't look away from her. Naeris stood a few paces away, her creamy skin slick with sweat and spattered with alien gore. Her chest rose and fell in sharp bursts, and she held her knife low, blood dripping from the tip. She turned her head slowly, until our eyes met.
The world narrowed. The stench of death faded. All I could see was the fire in her gaze, the same fire that had burned through me while watching her fight. She moved like a storm, relentless and beautiful, each strike a promise. And now that promise hung in the air between us, thick and electric.
"Zapharos!" Ella's voice cut through the moment the door to the bridge opened. "We've got incoming!"
Zapharos' eyes scanned the room frantically until they landed on his Aelyth, having to get a visual confirmation that she was unharmed.
Dravok did the same the moment we entered.
I felt his restless aura only settling when his gaze fell onto Nadine.
Both Ella and Nadine sat strapped into the pilots' seats, their fingers flying over the controls.
"Damage report?" Zapharos barked.
Nadine didn't flinch. "Primary drive is offline. Secondary thrusters at forty percent. We've got a hull breach in cargo bay three, but it's sealed. We're hiding in a debris field now, no immediate hostiles on sensors. The other Moggaddesh ships either jumped out or were destroyed."
Zapharos grunted, moving to the large panels. "What are our options?"
"We can reroute power from life support to the primary drive, but it'll take six hours. We need a stable orbit and someone on manual repair in the engine room."
Dravok stepped up beside her, and his hand landed on her shoulder.
She leaned into him without looking away from her scans.
My attention drifted to Naeris, who had sheathed her knife and blaster and was standing near the rear of the bridge, arms crossed, watching me.
Her lips were slightly parted. The tension that had been building since she came to find me now crackled like a live current between us.
"Perfect," I couldn't keep the grin out of my voice
The others turned. I didn't care. I crossed the space in three strides, grabbed Naeris by the waist, and pulled her hard against my chest. "Naeris and I will make sure the rooms are all secure."
Before she could react, I bent, hooked my arm under her thighs, and hoisted her over my shoulder. She let out a startled squeal, and her fists pounded against my back, but there was no real force behind it. "
Thyros! Put me down!" She demanded.
"No," I informed her simply.
From behind me, Ella laughed. Nadine chuckled softly. Dravok shook his head, muttering something about barbarians, while Zapharos just smirked and turned back to his console. I carried her out of the bridge, down the corridor, and past the crew quarters, until I reached my own door.
The moment I came close, the doors slid open with a soft hiss. I stepped inside the room, which lit faintly at our entrance. I set Naeris down. Her brown-gold eyes blazed up at me, and her breath was coming fast.
"You think you can just throw me around?" she challenged, but her voice was husky, her hands already gripping my tunic.
I chuckled. "I think you want me to."
I pressed my body against hers, pinning her to the wall. My cock was already hard, straining against my trousers. I could feel the heat of her through the fabric.
"Tell me the fight didn't get you all hot and wet. I watched you fight. By the Abyss, the way you moved..."
Unable to form more words, I crushed my mouth to hers.
No gentle prelude. Just raw, claiming hunger.
She bit my lip, hard, and I growled, thrusting my tongue into her mouth.
Her hands tore at my tunic, ripping it open.
Buttons skittered across the floor. I didn't give a drek.
Her skin was slick with sweat, and I tasted salt and blood and her.
I pulled away just long enough to rip her top down the middle. Her breasts spilled out, full and firm, her dark nipples already peaked. I took one into my mouth, sucking hard, and she arched into me, a guttural moan escaping her throat.
"Ah shit... Thyros... yes."
I worked my way down her body, biting and licking, leaving marks on her belly, her hip. I dropped to my knees, pulled her trousers and undergarments down in one rough motion. The scent of her arousal hit me, heady and intoxicating. She was so wet, glistening for me.
"By the stars, you're beautiful." I pressed my mouth to her opening, laving my tongue through her folds.
She cried out, her fingers tangled in my hair, pulling me deeper.
I fucked her with my tongue, tasting her need, feeling her thighs tremble against my ears.
Her moans grew louder, more frantic, and I slid one finger, then two, inside her tight channel, curling them as I sucked on her clit.
"Thyros! I—I'm going to?—"
"Come for me," I commanded against her flesh. "Now."
She shattered. Her climax ripped through her, and I felt her walls clench around my fingers as her juices flooded my mouth with an intoxicating flavor. I lapped it up, groaning. But I wasn't done.
I rose, shoving my trousers down, and my cock sprang free, thick and hard and already leaking pre-cum. I'd been waiting for this moment for so long, I nearly spilled my seed right then and there. Just at the sight of her.
"We're not finished," I murmured against her lips. "The ship can wait. Everything can wait."
She smiled, her eyes hooded and heavy with lingering pleasure, but there was a new softness there, a vulnerability that made my heart hammer against my ribs.
"Good," she whispered.
Gently, I spun her around, holding her face in both of my hands for a moment, not to dominate, but to hold her. I leaned in, my lips grazing the shell of her ear.
“You are a goddess, Naeris,” I whispered in a voice thick with devotion. “Every inch of you... the way you fight, the way you laugh, the way you challenge me when no one else dares. The way you look at me as if I am something worth saving.”
My fingers tightened around her, not from possession, but from the overwhelming need to keep her close.
“The way your courage burns brighter than any star I have ever seen. The way your heart is fiercer than the strongest warrior. The way you hurl yourself into danger without hesitation, and somehow still make me believe in things I thought were lost forever.”
I pressed my forehead to hers, my unsteady breath worshipping her skin. “You are brilliant and stubborn and reckless beyond reason. You are infuriating and breathtaking and more alive than anyone I have ever known."
A helpless laugh escaped me, thick with awe. “You make me want to be better. Stronger. Worthy.”
I brushed my lips over hers with all the reverence in my soul. “My perfect Aelyth,” I murmured. “My light. My salvation. The greatest gift the cosmos has ever granted me.”
My throat tightened as the truth rose, vast and humbling.
“If I lived a thousand lifetimes, crossed every galaxy, and searched until the stars themselves burned out, I would still choose you.” My thumbs ran over her cheeks as though she were the most precious thing in creation.
“Because I do not merely want you, Naeris.”
My voice broke with the force of what I felt. “I adore you.”
I felt her shiver, a delicate tremble that ran through her entire frame. I picked her up and gently moved her to the bed. Kissing her already swollen lips.
She spread her legs underneath me, returning my kisses, with hitching breaths. I didn't rush. I took her hips, my large hands encircled her waist, and I began to ease into her. I slid inside her with a slow, agonizing precision, feeling every ridge of her tight, wet pussy hugging my cock.
Naeris let out a long, shaky moan that filled the room, and her head fell forward against my shoulder. I stayed still for a heartbeat, just feeling the incredible heat of her surrounding me, the way our bodies slotted together like two pieces of a broken whole, finally reunited.
Then I began to move, a slow, rhythmic grind that focused on the friction, the intimacy of the connection.
I reached around to pull her closer, and my mouth found the sensitive curve of her neck.
I kissed her skin, licked and nipped softly, worshipping the scent of her, the salt and the sweat, and that intoxicating female musk that belonged only to her.
"Thyros... please," she whimpered, her fingers digging into my forearms.
"I've got you," I groaned, increasing the pace just slightly, each thrust a promise of forever. "I've got you, my love."
I hovered over her, my eyes locked onto hers.
In the dim light of the room, I saw stars dancing in her pupils, the reflection of the cosmos we traveled, but also the reflection of the fire I had ignited in her.
I descended upon her again, our mouths meeting in a deep, soul-searing kiss.
As I pushed back inside her, slow and deep, I felt a wave of possessiveness crash over me that was stronger than any battle lust. She wasn't just a partner or a warrior.
She was the female made specifically for me, the only soul in the universe who could match my strength and soothe my rage.
"Mine," I growled, the word vibrated through both our chests. "You are mine, Naeris. Only mine."
"Yes," she gasped, arching her back, her eyes wide and shimmering. Yours. Always yours."