Chapter Twenty-Seven #2
Eventually I rolled onto my back and stared up at the crystals above us. Just his presence at my side made part of me content, even if we were both focused on our own thoughts.
“We don’t have to figure everything out right now.”
Relief flowed into my chest before I got a chance to finish, and I grinned up at the ceiling at the quick reversal when I kept going.
“But we need to talk it through eventually.”
There was a pause before Rhydek sighed.
“Yes.”
It wasn’t enthusiastic, but it wasn’t a refusal. It was enough that I felt his certainty that it was necessary.
“We do need to figure out what to eat, though, because I’m starving.”
The rest of the day passed in a strange, peaceful rhythm.
Rhydek didn’t leave except to get water and food for me, insisting I stay in bed and recover.
His hovering could have become annoying, but since I could feel his desire to take care of me and how it helped his mood, I suppressed the urge to resist.
Every time I drank, ate, or even stretched, there was a subtle flood of relief, like he was checking something off a list only he could see. I didn’t know if it was just him, or a cultural thing, and eventually I had to ask.
“You know I’m not going to wither away if you let me finish the whole cup before refilling it, right?”
His lips twitched although a spike of unease hit my chest.
“I am aware.”
He’d been doing something on his datapad as I napped, and he hadn’t bothered to look up, but I sensed how his focus was on me, not what he was doing.
“Then why does it feel like you’re monitoring my hydration levels like I’m a delicate houseplant?”
That drew a huff of amusement out of him, and golden eyes lifted to drift over me.
His gaze was almost physical, a wave of goosebumps breaking out along the path his eyes took before they met mine.
My nipples tightened and my core clenched, dampness growing between my thighs that I knew he didn’t miss because I felt the rush of lust that wasn’t just my own.
But then he turned back to his datapad.
“You need to recover. It is my responsibility to be sure you do.”
Narrowing my eyes, I resisted the urge to growl at him for turning away.
“I am recovering.”
His amusement rolled into me, making me more irritated even though I knew it was irrational.
“You are not fully recovered.”
Rolling my eyes, I took another sip of water before turning onto my other side. I hadn’t meant to fall asleep again, but when I woke from another short nap to the scent of grilled meat, I seemed I had only proven his point.
I was equally grateful and restless as I stretched.
My body needed the time to recoup what my heat had taken from me, but I had no idea what to do to entertain myself as I lay in the bed.
On Earth there had been research for work, or TV, or books.
Here, I couldn’t read the language, I’d asked as many questions as I could about the varkuun, and the only thing left to distract me was Rhydek.
And he seemed determined to ignore the desire that still stirred beneath everything else.
He finally let me out of bed to eat dinner at the table in the main room. I considered staying naked, but I ended up wrapping myself in the orange robe I’d been given at the beginning of my heat, some part of me uncomfortable with the idea of leaving it behind in the bed.
Plus, I knew what it did to him to see me in it. The scent of what had happened the past few days lingered on the fabric, but he kept a tight leash on himself, restricting himself to staring while I ate with an intensity that had my core throbbing as if my heat had returned.
Returning to bed to sleep for the night felt different. We had always been careful to keep our distance, both of us holding back, but now, everything was different.
I hesitated at the edge of the mattress, fingers brushing the fabric that still smelled of what we’d done.
My brain said I needed to take all the dirty sheets off, but another part of me was violently against the idea, and I found myself straightening and reorganizing everything instead of removing it.
Rhydek lingered near the doorway before approaching, his movements slower than usual. He felt cautious, as if he was as clueless as I about what would happen next.
Were we a couple now?
Were we just two people sacrificing for the good of our people?
How was I supposed to act?
Letting out a breath, I shed the robe and climbed in first, settling on my side and pulling a light sheet over myself more out of habit than necessity. I had been naked the whole day with him in bed beside me, but I suddenly needed the thin support.
Rhydek followed a moment later, the bed dipping as his weight settled on the other side. Every inch of space between us felt intentional, and a part of me sank.
I had faced the wall, and he did the same. Neither of us touched, both holding still as if the slightest brush of skin might detonate something.
The silence stretched, tense, and I knew he was as awake and aware as I was. I felt him behind me, his warmth radiating against my spine. It made my skin too sensitive, nerves prickling with the need for his touch until it felt like ants cover my flesh.
Somehow we had spent my entire heat tangled together without hesitation, yet we couldn’t figure out how to lie next to each other.
I shifted and felt him stiffen as if ready to jump from the bed. Swallowing a sigh, I tried every trick I knew to fall asleep, but my thoughts kept circling back to him.
His nearness.
Our nudity.
How he had felt inside me.
Time passed. I didn’t know how much since it was impossible to tell anything more than that it was night, but the nights were long on Morrakan. It was enough time for my thoughts to start spiraling into wider circles of chaos.
The space between us felt wrong. Cold and empty in a way I didn’t like. The longer I tried to ignore it, the worse it got, and I finally gave up.
I rolled onto my back and moved my hand across the space between us. For a second I hesitated, then I let my fingers brush against his arm.
The bond flared with surprise, and something darker. My fingers had drifted along his forearm, and I almost pulled back, until I realized he was gripping his tail in his fist.
He was keeping it from reaching for me.
I let my hand rest on his wrist, not gripping or demanding, just… offering. Asking. Silently saying it was okay.
A long moment passed before I felt movement. His arm remained where it was, but he’d released his tail, and it reached over to wrap around my thigh.
Relief washed through me so suddenly it made my chest ache. Keeping myself away from him had caused more strain than I’d wanted to admit, and I needed his touch in a way I couldn’t explain.
“This is better.”
My murmur was met with a low sound that was half amusement, half something else.
“Yes.”
There was a pause, and then he was on top of me, the weight of him making my muscles melt as my mind blanked.
“But it’s not enough.”
His mouth was pressed to mine before I could say anything else, the dual tips of his tongue still foreign as they tested my lips. The textured surface made me shiver as I remembered how it felt elsewhere, and as if he could read my mind, he began moving down my body.
I might not have been in heat any longer, but I still burned for him. I parted my knees willingly, and my folds were drenched before he even settled between my thighs.
I arched off the bed with the first swipe of his tongue. He’d paid attention while I was still lost in the fever of heat, because he drove me to the edge at the speed of light. I was panting and gasping, trembling from head to toe, when he surged back over me and placed himself at my entrance.
When he paused I opened my eyes, gazing straight into golden ones that no longer felt alien. The entire room glowed yellow, but it was the way he entered me slowly, watching my expression for any hint of pain or resistance, that made my heart clench.
Neither of us may have expected to find love, but he was making it hard to remember we hadn’t even been aware of the other’s existence a month ago.
The most I’d dared to hope for when we left Earth was coming to a mutual understanding, perhaps eventual friendship, but the warmth blooming in my chest held the promise of something more.
If we could find our way past what held us back.
My release crashed through me, amplified by his as he thrust his knot into place behind my pubic bone. He filled me to the point that I was bloated with his seed, then he rolled us over so I was sprawled on his chest.
I woke that way, the cool air telling me it was early morning. Rhydek shifted when I lifted my head, staring at me as if he’d been awake the whole time.
“We have a council meeting. We have enough time to bathe before we have to go. If you want.”
It felt like we should have been given more time before he returned to his duties, but I knew how things worked.
If omegas went into heat every few months and their alpha had to tend them through it, it was a surprise anyone in a leadership position was allowed to claim one.
Humans certainly would have protested the necessity of someone disappearing for days without scheduling it ahead of time.
But I only nodded, keeping my thoughts to myself.
Rhydek’s knot was soft, but he had remained inside me, and my cheeks warmed as I lifted myself off him. The rush of fluids that followed spread the burn all the way to the tips of my ears, but his arched brow and the hint of amusement I felt said he didn’t view the mess the way I did.
Reaching down to stroke himself and then licking it from his palm seemed unnecessary, but he got the point across.
He also made my core clench, and fresh slick wet my thighs, but there was no way I was going to be distracted from getting a bath before being trapped at the council meeting with him. I knew how sensitive Morraki noses were.
The warm water of the pool Rhydek took me to felt good against my skin, but when I emerged to dry myself, something inside me twisted. Frowning at the clothing I’d brought with me, I didn’t realize I’d been standing still for too long until Rhydek came up beside me.
“What’s wrong?”
His concern beat inside my chest and I realized he felt my unhappiness, but all I could do was shrug.
“I—I don’t know. Something’s not right.”
He stared at me for a moment before leaning down and rubbing the side of his neck against my jaw. Shocked, I froze as he did the same to the other side, then he rubbed the inside of his wrists across the top of my shoulders and down my arms.
Hints of leather and pine filled my next breath, and the tension in my shoulders eased. Brows raised, I opened my mouth to ask but all that emerged was a yelp when his tail suddenly shoved between my thighs, dipping between my lower lips to my entrance.
“Wha—”
Lips tipped in a smirk, Rhydek made sure I watched as the tip of his tail rubbed against each side of his neck, then down the center of his chest, the faint sheen of my slick marking his skin. My chest started vibrating before I knew what was happening, a soft purr filling the air between us.
“Better?”
I coughed and cut the sound off, eyes narrowing as I realized what he’d done. The scent of him on me, and seeing him mark himself with my slick, had fixed the unhappy bubble in my chest.
Giving a reluctant nod, I rushed to pull my clothing on before I gave into the urge to cover both of us in even more of each other.