Chapter 27
Resolution
At lunchtime, Pilot Joel joined the brothers in the mess bar in the barracks. Blayze brought the brews, he had to make two trips because he couldn’t carry four upright glasses at once.
“Next time, ask for a tray,” said Lero.
“Genius, I didn’t think of that,” retorted Blayze, his tone saying he had. “They didn’t have one.”
“Cheers, brother,” said Darren. He leaned toward Lero. “Next time, he’ll spit in your drink if you keep speaking to him like that.”
Blayze nodded. “I will.”
“Thank you, Blayze,” said Joel, raising his glass.
“Congratulations on your release, Darren. I’m sorry I couldn’t be there at the time, but I had to arrange maintenance on the ship.
” Darren accepted his good wishes and they raised their glasses.
“How are the girls? I’ve plans to see Prosperity later today before the emperor makes his announcement,” declared Joel.
They all took the first sip. Nothing better than the first taste, Darren thought.
“They’re fine. Happy,” Blayze replied. “Nayli’s fine, and her friends are fine. Those are all I care about.”
“You should have been there when Darren asked Aelanna to be his. You missed quite the drama. He took a knee and made a pretty speech,” Lero told Joel in a sing-song voice.
Darren touched Lero’s shoulder and got him to look at him. He tapped his own face above his top lip. “You got a white moustache over your own. Well done for matching your hair but otherwise it doesn’t look good.” Lero frowned as Darren took the wind out of his sails.
“Here comes Mommy,” sang Blayze, aiming a serviette at Lero’s face. Lero snatched it and wiped his mouth.
“Don’t you guys want to hear the news?” asked Joel.
All three turned to him. “What news?” Darren asked.
Joel took another pull at his brew. “Drypso. The Ohirins didn’t want the humans. They stole lizard girls from the Drek. That's why they attacked the Pioneer.”
Understanding transformed the brothers’ faces.
“It makes sense now,” Lero said.
“The emperor has replaced Crukugs with Battle Fleet Commander Gorkorlox. The emperor never liked the crazy scheme to match Earth females to the Ohirins, and the unsuitability of choosing humans to match to lizards. It was Crukugs’ idea.
His incompetence led to the Drek’s attack on my ship in retaliation for Ohirins stealing their women,” Joel said.
Darren flicked him a glance before he took a sip from his own glass. “I’ve got orders to see Gorkorlox first thing in the morning. But this evening, I want to see Aelanna.”
“But how? They won’t let us on the females' floor,” Blayze said.
“High Command are still responsible for them until they release them,” added Lero.
Their objections only made Darren’s despondency worse.
“I’ll tell you where you can meet her,” offered Joel, regarding Darren. His eyes gleamed as he said it.
“You haven’t changed your mind?” asked Darren as he led Aelanna to her old cabin on the Pioneer. He opened the door and they went in. Her heart swelled with nostalgia at the familiarity, the furnishings bathed in sunset light, and the intimate memories she and Darren had shared.
The cabin hadn’t changed since she had occupied it, though it had been cleaned, linens changed, bed freshly made, but most of all she was happy to have him returned to her; bruised and battered, but in one piece.
She turned to look at him, his handsome face distressed, his stance humble. He was immaculately turned out as usual in leather battle pants and jerkin, recently shaven, his hair in a neat knot and swept back from his face.
Stepping to him, she wrapped her arms round his neck, nuzzled her face against his chest.
“I haven’t,” she murmured. “I love you and I’ll love you forever.” She knew what he was asking.
“You choose me?” he asked, sliding his arms around her and she felt his warmth seeping into her like a healing balm.
She looked up and met his gaze. “I do.”
She felt the tension leave him and the worry-frown disappeared.
He lowered his face until his lips brushed hers.
She closed her eyes as he tilted his head and increased the pressure of the kiss.
She opened her mouth and felt his tongue slide inside.
They kissed like that for a while, sweet and affectionate, and he broke off, hugging her to him like she was the most precious thing in his life.
“I’m glad,” he breathed. “I wouldn’t survive without you by my side. You are my heart, my life.” He planted a kiss on the top of her head.
She moved back a little and put distance between them. “I want to see your mating marks.” She asked with a small smile, so his anxiety wouldn’t return.
He didn’t say anything, but his lips quirked as he stripped off his jacket and the cotton singlet he wore underneath, and she feasted her eyes on his muscled torso, bare for her inspection.
His marks were dark crimson, so were his bruises, but those were fading.
They were neat, curved shapes, sometimes swirls, surrounded by a thin line, like tattoos.
He had shown them to her before, though not all of them, and under the circumstances, she hadn’t had a chance to consider them properly, not with the audience in the barracks, which made her feel like the curiosity, not his marks.
Seeing the effect they had on his magnificent chest, she stared in admiration.
“Turn around, let me see your back,” she ordered.
The marks covered his shoulders and shoulder blades, trailing a little way down his spine, ending in a neat point.
They were magnificent; he was magnificent.
He was alien, but he was a man like she’d never seen.
She stroked her fingers over his back and he turned to her again and pulled her close, the smile still ghosting his mouth.
“You like what you see?” he murmured into her ear.
“Yes.”
“I must claim you. Say you’re mine.”
She didn’t hesitate. “I’m yours.” He completed her. He filled the hole in her heart, in her soul, left by other failed relationships she’d had. Her heart was crushed by the wedding which had never taken place, but Darren had restored it.
He worked fast, stripping her of her clothes as she toed off her shoes, then he took off his pants. He wasn’t wearing any underclothes, and he stood there in all his proud and noble glory.
Gently, he guided her on the bed and knelt between her thighs.
He towered over her, raised on his elbows as he looked down at her.
The room wrapped around them like a warm, soft blanket, and his scent, like sharp pine forest and something uniquely him, was hypnotic.
They wouldn’t be disturbed, not here, not in the Dheltan ship.
“I’ll go slowly, my dusk-heart, since you’re so small and I’m large and I don’t want to hurt you,” he promised, eyes softened with tenderness.
But he worshiped her breasts with his hands and mouth, then the rest of her.
She wanted him. They’d done this many times before, but she could never get enough of him. She needed him as much as she needed air to breathe.
It didn’t take long for her to shatter and afterward, he rolled on his side and held her tight.
“You are my mate, my forever,” he whispered into her ear, and he meant it, she was sure. She was too raw to reply and so she kissed his cheek. He rolled on top and pressed himself between her legs. She felt him, hard, hot and thick under her, and opened herself to him.
He was as good as his word and entered her inch by inch, slowly. He dripped sweat with the effort of holding back and touched his forehead to hers.
“You feel so good, keeper of my calm,” he rumbled.
He pushed in a little more, then withdrew.
Each time he was further in until she arched upward and pushed herself onto him until he was fully inside.
He groaned and then went perfectly still.
The strain of his restraint showed on his face and the tension in his body. He was hard inside her.
“Are you alright, my soft-glow?”
She nodded and smiled up at him. “Yes.”
He withdrew gently and pushed in again, starting a slow rhythm that felt so right.
It felt right with him. He sped up, their mutual need building until they found a fast pace.
She shattered again, hugging him to her with her arms round his back.
His thrusts became ragged, and he shuddered with a final groan, then went still.
“I don’t want to crush you,” he murmured.
He moved to her side, and they lay like that for a while catching their breath. He kissed her forehead and each cheek, snuggling up to her, putting an arm round her and holding her close.
“Aelanna?”
“Hmm?”
“I never want to be parted from you again. You are my soul, my life.”
She kissed his cheek. “We won’t be.”
That was fine by her, she had found home. He had found his fated mate, and she had found her forever love and the father of her children.