Chapter 15
GARK
She was glorious as she sat astride him, head thrown back and curls clinging to her neck in damp ringlets. She didn’t seem to be aware that she was cupping her breasts, holding them out to him like an offering. Everything about her was begging him to worship her, and she didn’t even know it.
But when she’d used the words? Well, now he knew what he was missing in his life. Her.
His control snapped, fingers gripping her hips tighter as he pulled her back down onto his length. She was so wet, any thoughts he’d had about being too big for her fled.
She was perfect. A goddess he didn’t deserve. Strong and brave.
He’d never felt such a connection to anyone.
“Yes, that’s it. Fuck me just like that.” Aletta moaned, head thrown back as she rolled her hips.
Gark’s introspection ended in an instant.
He pulled her down to lie on his chest, then rolled, pulling her underneath him.
“Oh!”
He smirked at Aletta’s surprised exclamation.
He lifted one of her legs, pulling it over his shoulder and raising onto his knees, all the while staying seated inside her. She was spread open for him, like a feast only for his eyes. Her pussy glistened with her juices where they were joined, and he revelled in the mess he was making of her.
Gark held her to him with a hand looped around her hip, fingers splayed over her lower belly, and thumb brushing her clit. She jerked and moaned as he found the rhythm she liked best, slowly moving inside her.
He wanted to pound into her, lose himself in her wet heat forever, but the need to give her pleasure was greater. He’d forgo his own needs just to see her fall apart in his arms.
But Aletta had other ideas, apparently, squeezing her inner muscles and driving almost every ounce of control from him. He froze, muscles straining from holding himself back.
“What’s wrong?”
He swallowed, a muscle twitching near his eye with the effort to maintain his composure. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
Her confused look smoothed into understanding. She propped herself up on her elbows and reached up, cupping the side of his face. Her full breasts swayed slightly as she moved, and he dragged his eyes away with a swallow.
“Gark.” His eyes met hers. “I’ll tell you if it’s too much. I won’t let you hurt me.”
The tension unfurled in his chest, and he let loose a heavy breath. “You promise?”
She nodded, eyes warm. “I promise.” She bit her lower lip, dragging her teeth over it in a way that made him groan.
“Now, fuck me.” She smirked, eyes twinkling.
He turned his head to kiss her palm. “Who am I to deny my mate?”
He slid a hand under her back, holding her steady as he thrust into her wet core, grinding himself against her in a way that had her mewling.
“Oh god, yes. Just like that.” Her breathy moans fed his need for her, fanning the flames higher with every movement.
There was no time. No clock ticking with the never-ending list of tasks for a ship’s captain. There was nothing but the two of them, bound together in this moment.
And then Aletta gasped and sobbed, her core clutching at his cock as she reached her peak. Gark’s thighs complained at the position, but he ignored the ache, not wanting to move as he gloried in the beauty of the woman laid out before him.
And then, suddenly, it was too much, and the pleasure he’d been staving off until she had reached hers hit him like an exploding star.
He bellowed his pleasure, head thrown back as he found his own release.
It felt like it would never end, his come coating both his dick and her pussy, sliding out of her with his thrusts.
With a final cry, he collapsed over her, their sweaty bodies pressed together, and Gark rested his weight on his arms so he wouldn’t crush Aletta.
After a few moments, he raised and pulled out of her, his seed sliding out of her in a milky flood that had him transfixed.
“Holy shit.”
He had no idea what that meant, but the sentiment was clear.
“I agree.”
She giggled.
He went to move fully off her, worried his weight would be too much, but she tugged him back down on top of her, one of his thighs between hers.
“Don’t move. You feel good.”
His heart thudded.
“Nobody has wanted me close afterward,” he admitted in a low voice, dropping his head into the crook of her neck.
The irony of being both sought after and not wanted had not been lost on Gark.
As a young man, he’d not let it bother him, especially since his military service meant he was never in one place for long enough for a relationship to develop.
So he’d let himself believe flings and one-night stands were enough.
They weren’t.
Especially when some encounters ended when the women realized he didn’t have two cocks like a full-blooded Gnaggarian. He’d felt dirty after the second time that had happened, and had been celibate for years.
Until Aletta.
“They were idiots.” Her hands trailed up and down his back, tracing patterns in the sweat on his skin.
He sighed, a long-held tension releasing. Is this what he’d been missing? The acceptance of himself just as he was. The ember of the connection he’d felt when he’d first met Aletta sparked into a full-blown flame, fuelled by the scent his Gnaggarian side identified as his mate.
But would she feel the same?
Worse still, what if she didn’t and the consequences were the same as the stories said?
He’d never bothered to find out, pushing aside any connection he had to his father.
Something he regretted wholeheartedly now.
But finding his mate, the one person in the whole universe his life would bond to, was a revelation.
It was something to celebrate. He smiled.
Nothing else mattered. Finding one’s mate was the single most important event in a Gnaggarian’s life.
“Aletta,” he said, pulling back to look at her.
“Mmm.” A small smile played on her lips, her eyes closed.
“I never thought I would find my mate.” He needed her to understand. Nobody had ever accepted him just as he was.
Her eyes shot open. “I’m sure you will one day.”
“One day?” He frowned. “No. Today. You are my mate.”
She pushed at his chest, and he pulled back, brows furrowed. She laughed, but it was harsh and grating, not the joyful laugh he’d heard only minutes before.
He tried again. “You are my mate. I scented that you are.”
She grimaced, and he ran a hand over his face.
“You don’t have mates? Soul-bonds?” He racked his brain for other ways to describe the mate connection, but it was more than just a marriage.
It was more than that. More than legalities or shared property.
A mate was your heart outside your body, the one connection for your life.
A Gnaggarian rejected by their mate would live a life half-lived, never finding another companion. Nobody would ever measure up.
And that was if they weren’t driven insane.
It was a once-in-a-lifetime bond. And not every Gnaggarian found theirs, so Gark had never dared to dream he would find his.
But there was no doubt in his mind that Aletta was his mate. He may not have had the immediate, intense feeling of connection that full-blooded males of his father’s race did, but it had grown rapidly until it was a burning need to be fulfilled.
And she would turn away from that?
He couldn’t fathom the idea.
“What about lovers for life and all eternity?” That wasn’t even it, but it would have to do.
She raised her eyebrows in a look that screamed incredulity. “Marriage. You think we’re married.” She barked out a laugh.
His chest tightened. This was not going how he thought it would. How could he make her understand?
“No. It’s more than that.”
She scoffed, shaking her head.
“Yeah, no.” She made a cutting motion with her hand. “Just because we had sex doesn’t mean I’m your wife.”
He frowned. She had given him the greatest gift of his life, and she didn’t want to accept his in return?
“I don’t understand.”
She pulled her knees to her chest, dragging the sheet around herself. “Clearly.”
“Aletta—” The buzzing of the comm sounded loudly. He ignored it. “Aletta—” The comm buzzed again, insistently. She waved a hand, not meeting his eyes.
“You need to get that.”
He looked from her to where he’d laid the comm in its usual place on the small shelf beside the bed. It buzzed again, and he cursed, sliding off the bed and scooping it up in one large hand.
“This had better be an emergency!”
Vox’s amused voice came through the small speaker. “If you call an emergency finding the ship Aletta’s kin could be on—”
Gark’s eyes met Aletta’s.
“—then yes, it’s an emergency. You had better get up here.” There was a pause. “Aletta, you should come, too.”