Chapter 28
DADDY
Sheila had won.
She’d trapped me in my own mind and now wanted nothing more than to watch me kill the man I’d fallen in love with.
I’d done everything I could to escape her hold over me, raged against a body that no longer obeyed me, trying to remember how I got out the previous times she had a hold over me.
But it was all in vain.
Until something awakened within me. A light, guiding me from the darkness.
Twink.
It was such a small feeling at first, but it grew within me until I felt myself coming back, able to control my tentacles once again. But by the time I relaxed my hold on his throat, he wasn’t moving, though I could sense his quiet pulse, so there was still time.
“Finish him!” Sheila cried out as I lowered him to the floor cautiously. “What are you doing?”
I sensed her moving toward me, my brain sparking off as I tried desperately to come up with a plan. I held my breath to keep from inhaling her scent, which I feared would pull me right back under.
“He’s finished,” I lied.
“You killed him too fast!” Her disappointment was a visceral sensation that lingered in the air as she approached, without caution, certain she still had control over me.
As she neared, I feared she’d figure out he was still alive, but mostly, I wanted to reach down and take him into my arms.
“Wait, he’s not dead.” She turned to me, and the shift in her gaze assured me she knew I wasn’t under her control anymore. What she hadn’t realized was that as she was approaching, I was feeling around for the syringe Twink had dropped.
I moved quickly, stabbing her in the neck, emptying the fluid into her.
This deception stunned her momentarily, granting me the opportunity to tangle my tentacles around her.
She issued a series of expletives in her Vorcon tongue, thrashing about.
Her tail stabbed into my torso, and I seized it, holding it in place to keep her from pulling back out and striking again.
“You left me! You left me!” she wailed.
For the first time, I didn’t hear just the rage, but the profound pain behind it all as her body weakened, her strength fading.
“I loved you,” she managed to say as she collapsed against me, no longer fighting, simply grieving.
After Sheila passed out, I tended to Twink’s injuries. I was relieved she had forced me to go slow because I was sure that was the only reason they weren’t more substantial. He would bruise for sure, which I would feel bad enough about. My only solace was that he was still alive.
As I sat at the edge of the bed, watching him, staring at him, fully appreciating his beauty, I realized how quiet it had become since Pluto had stopped freaking out.
Like my conscience, for some time, he wouldn’t let me forget about what I’d done, relentless in his fury while tucking close to protect my mate.
Twink finally stirred, whimpering, his eyes flitting. “Daddy?”
“I’m right here.”
He sat up, placing his hands against his chest. “I’m alive,” he said in shock.
“Yes, you are.” I couldn’t disguise my relief, knowing how easily that might not have been the case.
We must’ve been enjoying too much peace and quiet because Pluto rushed to the bed, hopping up and barking in a frenzy at Twink.
“Hey, now,” he said, reaching his hand out, which Pluto sniffed incessantly before Twink began petting the little guy, who immediately settled. Once he’d subdued Pluto, he searched around. “Where is she?”
I rested my hand on his thigh. “After she passed out, I secured her in a chamber, and Kryton had already called.”
“How did she get away?”
“I can answer that,” Kryton said, coming into the room, in his human form. “She seduced me to get me to release her.”
“She seduced you?” Twink asked as Pluto turned his attention to Kryton, growling.
“I mean, she is one of the most beautiful creatures I have ever beheld,” he said.
While I more than understood, Twink cringed.
“She got out because she’s beautiful?” he asked.
“That, and Daddy had warned me that her chamber had a hole that needed repairing since her scent was coming from it. I patched it up, but we got into a conversation, and I guess she made another. I can get rather lonely at night, and I found myself very drawn to her. Before I knew it, she had me under her spell… Honestly, though she used the opportunity to attack me, touching her, kissing her…it still lingers.” He gazed off, in a daze, reminding me of my own erotic times with her. Lost in endless kisses and her scent.
Twink glanced between us uneasily as he scooped Pluto up and placed him in his lap. The pooch rolled onto his back, his legs kicking up high as he enjoyed pets and scritches.
“She’s back under again,” Kryton assured me. “I’ll put her into cryo before she wakes to prevent another incident.”
Although, I imagined that would be a struggle. It was difficult once you had a taste.
Kryton must’ve intuited my desire for a private moment with Twink because he stepped out once again.
“All that matters is you’re okay,” I said, resting a tentacle against Twink’s shoulder, curling it around the back of his neck.
He stroked it gently. I enjoyed the way he relaxed into my touch, reminding me that, for a moment, I nearly lost the chance to have this forever.
I hated what I’d done to him. “I’m so sorry, Twink. ”
“That wasn’t you. It was her.”
“But if something had happened to you…I don’t know what I would’ve done.”
He kissed the end of my tentacle gently, which sent a spark right through me. I relaxed into it, trying to let my body fully appreciate that he was here. Alive. With me.
“Give me a kiss,” he said, and as I moved closer, Pluto rolled onto his belly and continued barking at me.
“Well, he doesn’t seem to like me very much.”
“Okay,” Twink said, taking hold of him. “I like you, but not enough to let you interrupt my kisses.” He set Pluto beside him, opposite of me, as though he knew it was better to keep some distance between us.
I moved in, taking a kiss, my lips appreciating the sensation, much deeper since we’d bonded earlier in the night.
As I pulled away, I embraced the sensations in me fully.
“All these stars I have traveled, all these worlds I’ve traversed, bodies I’ve inhabited, every experience feels like it has led me to this moment with you. ”
He gulped. “Maybe it did.” His muscles tensed. “It’s gonna be hard while you’re gone.” He teared up, and it made my gut twist up.
“It’ll be hard for me too, especially now that we’ve bonded. I’m sure you’ll bear it more than me.”
“I haven’t asked because I’ve been too afraid, but after everything I’ve been through tonight, I don’t know that it’ll kill me, so I guess I need to know. How long do you think it’ll be? I need to know if I’m gonna be like old and gray by the time you return.”
I choked up as I started to reply, not wanting to deliver the news, though since he’d asked, he deserved to know. “It’ll be a very long time, Twink. I’m expecting at least two…maybe three…” His tension ratcheted up. “Weeks.”
Even saying it out loud broke this human heart, but Twink’s emotions shifted so quickly, it was difficult to read what he was feeling.
He scowled. “You got me all worked up because you’re gonna be gone for maybe a few weeks?”
“That seems a long time, especially for a human lifespan, yes?”
“I guess, but the hell? You should have just said that, not this stuff about how it was going to be a very long time. For a second there, I thought you were gonna be gone for two decades, at least.”
“How do you think I could even survive being away from you for that long?” I inquired, and his expression softened.
“I am so mad at you right now, but that was a very smart response.”
“Is this our first big fight?” I asked.
“Definitely.” He scoffed, shaking his head before glaring at me. “I’ll be really mad about this for a few days, so you need to do a lot to make up for it.”
“I think I can manage that,” I said, stroking his neck with the tip of my tentacle, which produced the desired effect—his tension settling.
He shook his head, biting his tongue as though wanting to keep himself from saying anything he might regret. Then he turned to Pluto. “Get him,” he ordered, and the little guy bounced onto his feet and jumped over Twink’s legs, barking in a frenzy, which made Twink laugh.
That got me laughing too.
Considering the day and night we had, it didn’t seem the time for laughing, but I had a feeling this would become a familiar part of our life together.
And I was truly looking forward to enjoying every moment of it.