Chapter 19
Mariah helped Suvan shed his helmet and gloves so that he could race to the storage bay console, patching through his datpad to check on his engines.
A girl could take the engineer out into space and even kiss him—not in space, obviously—but she’d never take the engines out of the engineer. Or however that Earther saying went.
And she didn’t want him any other way.
When he returned to her side to lift her bodily out of the heavy suit bottom, she clung to him. She held him as tight as she could while his quill-scales were smoothed down in his suit. He might remember he loved her, but would he also recall his fear that she couldn’t handle a poke or two?
She’d have to remind him how far the resonark had come for its reunion.
Speaking of… “How’s the ship?”
“We’re out ahead of the resonark cloud fusion, gathering as much data as we can while not getting our rear stabilizers burned. But the engine optimization is holding steady.” He squeezed her back with exultant satisfaction.
Maybe she could make him forget his safety protocols by quoting diagnostics at him.
Courtship via circuitry. Lovemaking by laser light. Fabricating forever.
He set her on her feet and cupped her cheek with his bare hand. “How are you? Your eyes went hazy for a moment. Was it another vision?”
“A vision of you—and me together.” She tilted her head into the caress, reveling in his touch. “I wondered why the resonark didn’t send me a vision the first time like everyone else. It was because I was already living my dream.”
“And I don’t need memory or harmonic resonance to know I love you.” He brushed his thumb over her lip. “I feel it.”
Slowly, his mouth descended on hers, a gentle collision of soft breaths and yearning flesh. Her eyes drifted closed, melting against him, all her senses hijacked by his presence.
This was beyond any dream.
The captain’s sharp command echoed through the empty bay. “Chief engineer to the bridge. Now.”
With one last quick glance shared—an unvoiced promise—they rushed for the inner hatch.
Griiek was waiting. “That was amazing,” she enthused as she loped along beside them.
“The resonark fused with the cloud like…like a romantic embrace.” She clutched all four hands beneath her chin, big eyes shining.
“Just like in the IDA brochures. Remy and Ikaryo said the signals became a perfect chord spanning every octave they could follow.”
“Yes, like in the brochures.” Suvan slanted a wry glance at Mariah.
She bit back a smile at the Monbrakkan’s innocent excitement. “I can’t wait to hear their new song.”
She could already feel the rhythm.
Love. Love. Love.
They burst onto the bridge. But the captain wasn’t waiting impatiently for them. The big Kufzasin was standing facing the front monitor, all his golden fur bristling.
On the screen was another ship.
Suvan pulled Mariah to one of the consoles ringing the center seat. “I’ve never been up here,” he told her under her breath. “I always use remote access.”
“It’s the ship that was following us before we added the ghostform,” Delphine said sharply. “Without our mask, they’ll have scanned us, no doubt.”
Nehivar didn’t turn his attention from the screen where data scrolled too fast for Mariah to understand. “Chief, can we outrun them?”
“According to analysis of their engine output…” Suvan tapped at his console and sent the data to the main screen. “We could run a few rings around them and still leave them in our afterburn.”
Nehivar growled his approval as he finally settled into the captain’s chair.
“Captain, they’re hailing with a repeating message,” Felicity reported from the communications console. “Should I open a channel?”
“Why not?” He adjusted his eye patch. “Put it on screen and let’s hear it.” He glanced over his shoulder at Suvan. “If it’s a trap, I’ll listen to you this time.”
“On the record, Captain.”
Over Nehivar’s grunt of amusement, an automated intonation ticked on: “…about your ship’s extended purchase agreement. We’ve been trying to reach you about your ship’s extended purchase agreement. We’ve been trying to reach you—” The message crackled. “Oh. Hello? Is somebody there finally?”
The forward screen fuzzed and then cleared with an image of…a sea star?
Mariah stared, fascinated. She knew the Big Sky IDA outpost in Montana had an Ajellomenes comptroller (which had always made her wonder exactly how closed world her Earth really was) but she’d never seen one.
“Why are you stalking us?” Nehivar snarled.
“Stalking you? Oh no. We weren’t. Or we were, but only because we could not confirm your ident.” The Ajellomenes waggled one suction-cupped arm. “But now that we have, we will be taking immediate repossession. Thank you for your attention to this matter.”
“As pirates go, at least this one is polite,” Mariah whispered to Suvan.
His fingers twitched over the engine controls. “I’ll say please before I roast them in our upgraded plasma wash.”
The captain slouched in his chair, looking all the more dangerous in his arrogance. “You think I’ll let you steal my ship?”
“Steal?” The Ajellomenes reared back, bubbles sputtering from its beak. “It’s my uncle’s ship. Your payment never went through.”
Very slowly, Nehivar straightened. “I’m sorry. What did you say?”
The flustered ET suctioned up a datpad. “Here. Notice of default and reclamation due to material breach of purchase agreement terms, specifically failure to remit payment. Also, non-response to three standard comm notifications sent to registered purchaser: Mr. Evens’ Odds and Ends Shop, Big Sky Intergalactic Dating Agency, the spaceport of Montana on the planet…
” It turned the datpad sideways. “Dirt?”
“Earth, actually.” Evens stepped through the bridge doorway. “As you might have noticed, we were forced into a dangerous sidetrack through the Zarnax Zone, but I assure you, payment is on the way.” When everyone pivoted to glare at him, he added, “Very soon.”
Slowly, Nehivar rose, towering in his anger. “You stole a haunted spaceship?” His growl was a deep vibration. “How many times did you threaten you’d take command because this was your ship?”
“Never threatened,” Evens protested. “Merely…insinuated. And it’s not haunted anymore.” His sigh was so despondent, Mariah almost felt bad for him.
Almost.
“We’d be happy to leave you all at the nearest miscreant outpost,” the Ajellomenes broke in helpfully.
“Or we can leave right now,” Suvan reminded the captain. “At max power plus-plus.”
Nehivar spun back to the screen. “You have the purchase agreement there? Send me the price and swap out the purchaser.”
Felicity boggled at him. “Ellix,” she whisper-hissed. “Are you kidding?”
The Ajellomenes bubbled more vigorously. “Really? Oh, my uncle will be moist with cheer at this conclusion.” When its datpad pinged, it angled the device the other direction. “Thank you!”
“A little extra for your trouble,” Nehivar said.
“A delight doing business with you, Captain Ellix Nehivar, of the Love Boat I.”
“The pleasure has been all mine.” Nehivar waited until the Ajellomenes repo man/invertebrate had signed off before rounding on Evens once more. “Get off my bridge.”
Wisely, Evens did as ordered.
Delphine glanced over her shoulder, one webbed hand hovering over the helm in anticipation. “Where to, Captain?”
“There’s one sunset we missed on our three-sunset tour.” Nehivar settled back in his chair. He held out a clawed paw to Felicity, who stalked over to him with narrowed eyes, and Mariah imagined there would be discussion later. “Max speed is fine.”
“Aye, Captain,” Suvan said, shunting power to the helm. “How convenient you saved all those long-haul freighter run credits. But what are you going to do with an alien speed-dating cruiser?”
Nehivar glanced back at his chief engineer, whiskers rippling. “Since intergalactic dating has been a win for me, maybe we’ll just keep going.” He held Felicity’s hand to his lips, and his gold eye glinted up at her. “In space, sunsets can be forever.”
+ + +
Mariah held Suvan’s hand as they walked down the night-lit corridor to her stateroom, Lub prancing ahead with lure aglow.
Suvan had the smiling moon tote over his shoulder, the goblhob’s blanket and bone sticking out the top. Both his datpads were tucked deep inside as he’d declared the engines nominal and himself off-shift.
A keen anticipation shivered through her, and he must’ve felt the tremor in her hand, because he glanced down, his pale quartz eyes glimmering.
“Are you remembering too?” His gravelly voice was especially rough, and her knees went shaky.
“Not looking back,” she said. “Max speed ahead.”
And after what seemed like only a few steps more, she was falling backward onto the bed, laughing, her lips hot and swollen from his kisses.
“Let me settle Lub out of the way,” he said with another kiss.
She rolled to the other side of the bed to grab the controls for adjusting the lighting. Not too bright, with all the rainbows plus-plus.
He returned with a shimmering ball in hand.
She sat up. “You saved the lumi-lace. I was sure Lub had chewed through it.”
“Only a few fang marks. I wanted to knit something for you, but…I almost put a knitting needle through my finger. It’s harder than it looks.”
She gazed at him seriously. “Your finger or knitting?” When he grumbled under his breath, she smiled. “I could show you, if you want.”
“I want.” He knelt beside her. “I want you to show me everything.”
With gentle, inexorable hands, he stripped her naked. But when he reached for the ribbon on her braid, she stopped him.
“Your turn.”
The quill-scales on his shoulders bristled with uncertainty as she slowly unsealed his uniform down his chest. She trailed her fingers over the bone mender scar on his pec, then down toward his belly. The scales here were flat and smooth, like warm satin that rippled at her touch.
“Farther?” she whispered.
With a rasping breath, he affirmed, “All the way.”
The Intergalactic Dating Agency had promised her a match, and here he was: scaled armor wrapping a brilliant mind and a vulnerable heart. When she eased his uniform past his hips, he was magnificently compatible—and all hers.
She took care with him as she did with her most precious yarns, conscious of the tensile strength and the delicacy. He endured her first contact ET exploration with barely leashed control, quill-scales flexing, scoring shallow marks in the bedding.
His quartz-bright eyes shattered when she found where the tiny jeweled scales were most sensitive—and when the lone, long lance of his erection jutted between her hands into her mouth, she found out exactly what it took to make him snap.
With a groan, he tipped her backward into the pillows, looming over her, chest heaving. She licked her lips, tasting metallic starlight.
He lowered to her for a deep, searching kiss, and she reached between their bodies to take him in hand.
More than ready, she eased him inside her, an achingly measured glide.
She wrapped her legs around his backside, drawing him deeper.
The rounded scales on his flanks teased the tender inner flesh of her thighs, and when she let out a shuddering breath, she felt him flex deep inside her.
“A perfect match,” she whispered.
“Entangled.”
He thrust into her, slow at first, then faster, as powerful as the engines that propelled them among the stars. Sparkling ecstasy cascaded through her, hotter than suns, and she was going to come undone…
Abruptly, he eased back, and she whimpered at the unexpected distance. “Suvan…”
With precise and clever fingers, he circled her clit. Pale eyes narrowed with focus, he watched her. “I dreamed of what would happen if I pierced you here.”
“Not a dream,” she panted. “You promised.”
“Hold tight.”
“Always.”
He kissed her, tongue deep, just as he delicately pricked her swollen nub. She caught her breath, and he resumed his steady beat while fractals of pleasure unfurled through her. When she spasmed, all the rainbows behind her clenched eyelids blazing to dark fire as she arched up against him.
He followed her over the edge with a hoarse roar, quill-scales flaring as he buried himself inside her.
And in that rapturous connection, she felt it all come together: the longing, the search, the risk, the choice.
Love. Love. Love.
For a heartbeat, the resonark’s shadowlight shone over them—like the universe exalting in this shared moment—and then they collapsed as one, spent.
It took a little eternity to float down from her euphoric bliss as delicious shivers continued to roll through her in gradually fading waves. Suvan tucked her against his side, and for once, his quill-scales were lax with peace.
“I love you,” he murmured.
The simple purity of the words was like another piercing, sweeter and deeper. And she knew the joy of hearing it would echo in her forever.
“And I love you.”
Love wasn’t just written in the stars or even on flamboyant brochures, they’d woven it together, stitch by precarious stitch, from mismatched threads and tangled dreams, across the emptiness and endless dark, to find each other.
She smiled as she closed her eyes, knowing that tomorrow would bring new patterns to follow—but tonight, wrapped in his thorny arms with her whimsy dancing overhead, all that mattered was this moment: seen, held, home, even in the infinite vastness of spacetime.