Chapter 34
NOVA
The walk home is a slow burn.
Kaz doesn’t say much, and neither do I. We don’t need to. The silence between us hums—taut, electric. Every glance carries weight. Every brush of his arm against mine sends sparks crawling up my spine like static with intent.
The air's cooler now, soft with night. A breeze drifts through the Daveros corridors, smelling faintly of metal and desert and blooming biolumina. We pass under flickering lights and over quiet pavement, and all I can think about is the way his fingers curled when I kissed him. The way he didn’t push or pull—just melted into me like he’d been holding that breath for years.
I want to say something. I don’t.
We reach my door too fast.
The keypad glows amber as it scans me. The lock hisses. I turn toward him, keys still in my hand, and before I can think better of it, the words are out.
“You wanna come in? Just for a drink.”
Just for a drink.
Liar.
Kaz arches a brow. “That your best line?”
I shrug, keeping my voice light. “Worked on you once.”
He smirks. “No, it didn’t. I let myself be convinced.”
But he steps in.
I key the lock behind us. The door seals with a quiet thud, and just like that, the world goes still.
Dar’s room is dark, his door cracked just enough for the nightlight to cast a soft green glow.
I pad across the room, peek inside. He’s curled into a ball, arms tucked under his cheek, hair a soft mess of sleep.
His little synth-rhino’s half under the blanket, one button eye staring out like it knows what’s coming.
Kaz waits near the window. He doesn’t speak. Doesn’t move.
I close Dar’s door gently. Then I turn.
And he’s there.
Close.
Not touching.
But close enough to make my pulse do that erratic thing it only ever does around him.
“I was gonna pour a drink,” I say, but my voice is already drifting.
He doesn’t answer. Just looks at me like he’s trying to read the past five years in the shape of my face.
I step closer. Bare feet on cool floor. The silence thickens, charged and warm. My hand brushes his. Barely.
He doesn’t pull away.
His fingers turn, catch mine.
That’s all it takes.
We move at the same time—like magnets too long apart. No hesitation. No thinking.
His mouth finds mine, and everything tilts.
It’s not sweet.
It’s not slow.
It’s heat and hunger and all the things we never said colliding between our teeth.
His hands tangle in my hair. Mine clutch the front of his shirt like if I don’t hold on, I’ll fall through the floor.
We stumble back, crash into the edge of the couch.
He lifts me, and I wrap around him instinctively, like I never stopped knowing how.
We land in the dark of the living room. Light from the street spills in through the balcony doors, casting us in half-shadow. His mouth moves along my neck, down my collarbone, and I gasp, sharp and broken.
“Kaz—”
He pauses, forehead pressed to mine. Breathing hard.
“You sure?” he asks, voice ragged.
I nod. “I was sure five years ago.”
Clothes scatter. A shirt hits the back of a chair.
His jacket lands in a heap. The hum of the console drowns in the rush of heartbeats and the hitch in my breath when his hands find my waist, my skin, the places he used to know so well.
I memorize him all over again—familiar and new in the same breath.
His hand slides under my tank, rough-scaled palm brushing my stomach, my ribs. His golden skin glows in the dim light. He’s bigger now. Broader. But his touch is still gentle. Worshipful.
“You’re still the most dangerous thing I’ve ever wanted,” he murmurs.
I pull him down to kiss me again, and this time, there’s no going back.
His fingers slide into my shorts, find the slick heat of my pussy, and his breath stutters against my cheek.
“You’re already soaked,” he growls. “Fuck, Nova…”
I moan when he circles my clit, rough fingers maddening and precise.
“I missed this,” I whisper. “Missed you.”
He drops to his knees in front of the couch, drags my shorts down, eyes locked on me. His tongue flicks over his lips before he lowers his mouth to my cunt and licks—long, slow, and deep.
“Oh—fuck, Kaz—”
His tongue isn’t human. It’s longer. Hotter. Forked. He uses it like a weapon, like a prayer. He devours me like he’s starving, like this is the only meal he’s ever wanted. My thighs shake. My hands claw at the cushion. I’m writhing, coming undone with every pass of his tongue over my clit.
He growls against me, the sound vibrating through my core.
When I come, it crashes over me hard and fast. I cry out his name, arching, trembling.
He doesn’t stop.
He keeps licking until I’m whimpering, too sensitive, too raw.
Then he stands, eyes dark and wild.
“Bedroom,” I pant.
He lifts me, carries me down the hall like I weigh nothing. We fall into bed, breathless, feral.
His cock is hard and heavy between us, golden and ridged, thick and pulsing with heat. I reach for it, wrap my fingers around him. He groans, hips jerking into my touch.
“Don’t tease,” he growls.
“I wasn’t planning to.”
I guide him to my entrance. He holds himself there, eyes locked to mine.
“This time,” he whispers, “I’m not letting you go.”
He thrusts in.
I cry out, hands clutching his shoulders. He fills me—deep, wide, impossibly thick. The stretch is almost too much. Almost.
But it’s perfect.
“Fuck, Nova—so tight,” he groans. “You feel… gods, you feel like fire.”
He starts to move. Slow at first. Deep. Each thrust grinds against my g-spot, and I can’t stop the moans spilling from my lips.
His golden body glows in the faint light, sweat glistening on his scales. His eyes are locked on mine, fierce and open and raw.
“Look at me,” he commands.
I do.
“This is real,” he says. “You. Me. This.”
I nod, unable to speak.
He fucks me harder now, hips slamming into mine. I meet him thrust for thrust, greedy, desperate. His cock fills me again and again, stroking every nerve, hitting places no one else ever has.
“Kaz—I’m—oh gods—”
“Come for me,” he growls.
I do.
I shatter around him, crying out his name, pussy clenching hard. He roars, thrusts deep, and I feel him come—hot and thick inside me, filling me completely.
We collapse, tangled, panting.
And for one perfect moment, the universe fades away.