Chapter 10
CHAPTER TEN
Anya’s words echoed through Selik’s mind even as he methodically arranged training equipment he’d arranged dozens of times before.
“You two need to just make out and get it over with.”
Direct. Blunt. Accurate.
His tail lashed once before he brought it under control, wrapping it tight against his leg where it couldn’t betray the chaos churning through his thoughts.
Holding Corinne during that training exercise had been exquisite torture—her soft body pressed against his chest, her scent filling his lungs, her pulse racing so fast he could feel it through the contact points between them.
She’d wanted him. He’d known it in the catch of her breath, the way she’d frozen in his arms, and the heat that had radiated from her skin. The desire had been mutual and overwhelming and completely impossible to act on in front of her stepdaughter.
He glanced across the training room. Corinne and Anya stood by the water dispenser, heads bent together in quiet conversation. The young female gestured emphatically, while Corinne’s expression shifted from embarrassed to thoughtful to something that looked almost like hope.
Mikoz made a fussy sound and Anya scooped him up, settling him on her hip with the practiced ease she’d developed over the past few days.
She said something to Corinne, then headed for the door, draping her cloak over the infant.
They were still trying to keep his presence a secret, although he suspected their efforts were not entirely successful.
“I’m taking Mikoz back to our quarters for a nap,” Anya announced as she passed. “He’s getting cranky and nobody needs to witness that particular meltdown.”
The door slid shut behind her with a soft hiss, leaving him alone with Corinne.
The silence stretched between them, heavy with everything unsaid. She stood by the water dispenser, cup clutched in both hands, eyes fixed on him with an intensity that made his pulse quicken. Her cheeks were still flushed, color high on those soft curves he wanted to trace with his mouth.
Focus. He was a warrior and a commander. He had faced down Vedeckian raiders and navigated political minefields and survived the death of his entire family. He should be able to conduct a simple training session without losing control.
“Shall we continue?” he asked, proud of how steady his voice sounded.
“If you want to.”
“What I want—” He bit off the words before they could escape fully formed. Dangerous ground. “We should practice the escape techniques until they become instinctive. Muscle memory could save your life.”
She set down her cup and crossed the mat toward him. Her movements had become more confident over the past few days, no longer scared and exhausted.
“All right,” she said quietly. “Show me again.”
He moved behind her, aware of every centimeter of distance between them.
His training had taught him to read opponents through the smallest shifts in stance and breathing.
Applied to Corinne, that skill became something else entirely—an acute awareness of how she responded to his proximity, the subtle tells that betrayed her attraction.
The slight hitch in her breath when he stepped closer. The way her shoulders tensed and then deliberately relaxed, like she was fighting her own instincts. The pulse point at her throat that beat just a fraction faster.
“I am going to restrain you again,” he said, keeping his voice level. “This time, I want you to execute the full escape sequence without hesitation. Stomp, elbow, drop, twist, run. Do not think about whether you are doing it correctly. Just react.”
“Okay.”
He wrapped his arm around her chest from behind, careful not to hold too tight but firm enough to simulate a real threat.
She went rigid in his arms and he felt the tremor that ran through her—fear mixed with something warmer, something that called to every instinct he possessed.
Her sweet scent increased and he bit back a groan as his body reacted.
“Now,” he commanded.
She drove her heel down toward his foot.
He shifted his weight at the last second, taking the impact on the edge of his boot instead of the vulnerable instep.
Good. She’d put real force behind it. Her elbow came back hard into his ribs—not hard enough to hurt but with enough commitment that he approved.
She dropped her weight like he’d taught her, throwing off his center of balance.
But when she tried to twist free, she moved the wrong direction and ended up pressed even tighter against him, her back flush with his chest, his arm still banded across her.
She froze.
So did he.
They stood there for a heartbeat, two, three. His tail had moved of its own accord to curl around her waist, holding her close in a way that had nothing to do with training and everything to do with instinct. His body recognized her as his even as his mind struggled with the impossibility.
“Selik.” His name on her lips was barely a whisper. “What are we doing?”
“Training.”
“Is that all this is?”
No. Not even close. But admitting that meant confronting truths he wasn’t sure he could handle—that he wanted her with an intensity that defied logic, that every moment in her presence made the future seem less like an endless gray stretch of duty and more like something worth wanting.
He should release her and step back. Give her time.
Instead he found himself saying, “What do you want it to be?”
She turned in his arms, a smooth movement that brought them face to face. Her eyes searched his, looking for something he hoped she could find there.
“I want…” She paused. “I want to understand what’s happening between us. Because it feels like something. But I don’t know if it’s real or if I’m just desperate for connection after everything that’s happened.”
“It is real.”
The words came out roughly, scraped raw from somewhere deep in his chest. He’d spent twenty years avoiding this kind of vulnerability, building walls between himself and anything that might hurt. But she made him want to tear those walls down and risk the pain if it meant having her.
“How do you know?”
“Because I have not felt this way since my mate died. Because I wake thinking of you and fall asleep wishing you were beside me. Because when I found out about the escape shuttle, something drove me to pursue it myself instead of sending one of my officers—and I believe now it was fate bringing me to you.” His tail tightened around her waist. “Because my body recognizes you as mine even though everything I know about Cire biology says that is impossible.”
Her breath caught. “The mating bond. Can it really happen between species?”
“I do not know. The scholars say no. That it can only happen between two Cire.” He touched her face, fingers gentle against her soft skin. “But I feel it anyway. The pull towards you. The need to protect and provide. The desire that burns hotter than anything I have known.”
“Maybe the scholars are wrong.”
“Maybe.” He traced the curve of her cheek, fascinated by the warmth of her skin and the delicate structure beneath. “Or maybe this is different. Not a mating bond but something else. Something equally strong.”
“Would that be enough for you?”
“More than enough.” He meant it. If he could have her in any capacity—mate, partner, companion—he would count himself fortunate. “Would it be enough for you? To build a life with someone who cannot give you a biological bond?”
“I don’t need biology to tell me what I feel.” She leaned into his touch like a flower turning toward the sun. “I feel safe with you. Happy. Like I don’t have to carry everything alone anymore.”
“You do not. I will carry whatever you need me to carry. I will protect you and the young ones with everything I have. I will build a home where you can rest and heal and be happy.” The words poured out, raw and honest. “I know we have only had days together, not enough time to build the foundation a relationship needs. But I want that time. I want years of it. Decades. However long you will give me.”
Tears gathered in her eyes but she was smiling. “That’s a pretty serious commitment for someone you just met.”
“I told you I do not take this lightly. When we choose, we choose completely.” His thumb brushed across her lower lip, feeling the soft give of it. “I am choosing you, Corinne. If you will have me.”
“I’m choosing you too,” she whispered. “It’s crazy and impractical and probably too fast, but I’m choosing you anyway.”
Thank Granthar. Relief flooded through him, so intense it made his knees weak. He pulled her closer, needing the contact, the reassurance that this was real and happening and not some fantasy his lonely mind had conjured.
“I want to kiss you again,” he said, giving her the choice.
“God, yes.”
He lowered his head and claimed her mouth, gentle at first, testing.
She made a soft sound and pressed closer, hands sliding up his chest to wrap around his neck.
The kiss deepened, turning hungry. She felt perfect against him and he wanted more, wanted everything, wanted to lose himself in her until the ache of twenty years of loneliness finally eased.
His tail tightened around her waist, pulling her flush against him while his hands explored the curves of her back, the dip of her waist, the generous swell of her hips. She was all softness where he was hard, yielding where he was unyielding, and the contrast made him growl low in his throat.
She gasped against his mouth and he swallowed the sound, taking it into himself like a gift. Her fingers stroked over the ridges covering his skull and sent pleasure sparking down his spine.
Careful. He needed to be careful. She was human and fragile and he could hurt her if he lost control. But control was becoming harder to maintain with every second that passed, with every soft sound she made, with every place their bodies touched.
He walked her backward toward the wall, needing something to support them both because his legs felt unsteady.
Her back hit the padded surface and she arched into him, eliminating the last centimeters of space between them.
He could feel the rapid beat of her heart, the heat of her through the thin fabric of her clothing.
His hands slid under her shirt, finding warm skin, and she shivered. He froze, pulling back to check her expression.
“Too much?” he managed.
“Not enough.” Her voice was breathless, her eyes heavy-lidded with desire. “I haven’t felt this way in so long and I want—”
He kissed her again, swallowing whatever she’d been about to say, because if she kept talking in that voice he was going to lose what little control he had left. His hands explored the soft skin of her back, tracing the delicate curve of her spine, the vulnerable dip at the small of her back.
She made a sound that went straight through him, half-moan, half-plea, and he felt his restraint starting to crack. His tail slid higher, curling around the lush curve of her breasts, and she gasped into his mouth.
“Selik—”
The door hissed open behind them.
They sprang apart like guilty adolescents caught by parental figures. Her face flushed scarlet while he fought to regulate his breathing and force his body back under control.
Anya stood in the doorway, eyes wide. “Oh shit, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to— But Mikoz is sick and I don’t know what to do and he’s burning up and making these awful sounds—”
The rest of her words became irrelevant noise as instinct took over. Corinne was already moving towards the door, all traces of desire replaced by concern.
“Show me,” she said, voice steady despite the lingering flush in her cheeks.
He followed them both, his military training kicking in to assess and respond to the new crisis. But part of his mind remained back in that training room, remembering the taste of her and the feel of her and the promise of what had almost happened.
Later. They would finish this later.
Right now, an infant needed them.
They ran.