Chapter 18
Daria
My heart was pounding far too fast inside my chest, I knew that wasn’t from the run but the brush with death we’d just escaped.
Our opponents had not been so lucky, and it was a bit chilling to discover just how little I felt over my father’s demise.
If anyone deserved it, it was him. My fear had more to do with the hairy, wolfish alien that had leaped from the passage, and how my father had served me up to him.
I had caught all that on video! It would be exactly what I needed, but it was the scariest situation of my entire career, and that was saying something.
I’d been in some really scary places and escaped with my life by the skin of my teeth more than once, but nothing beat that.
Then my mind flashed to how Killian had dropped from that ceiling like an avenging angel, or Spiderman maybe.
He’d been magnificent, cool as a cucumber, and highly effective.
“Callum,” my superspy/assassin whispered.
“How many at our exit?” That was smart. I kept forgetting that we had eyes in the sky helping us.
I needed to thank this Callum for going along with this crazy, hare-brained mission.
He didn’t need to do that, he could have washed his hands of the situation when Killian went off-script for me.
I couldn’t read Killian’s expression, but from his grim silence, I took it to mean our odds weren’t good.
“Can Callum get my video to Sami?” I asked.
We were almost at the exit, and though I had so much I wanted to live for, with Killian at my side, I had to focus on reality.
All would be for naught if Sami didn’t get this footage.
“Already done,” Killian responded, and though I couldn’t see it, I could still sense the wild grin he shot my way.
Heat washed through me when I realized he’d thought ahead, done more than just be my backup.
He’d made my mission his. My chest grew tight, and I pressed my fingers to my sweater as if that would ease the pressure.
We’d reached the trapdoor behind the shed, this was it.
My fingers caught Killian’s jacket to stop him, but he’d halted just as I had.
We didn’t have time. Soldiers had entered my father’s home, they’d be down this passage in no time.
We were fish in a barrel if they started shooting.
“In case we don’t make it,” I whispered.
“If I’m supposed to be your Tally, then what does that make you? ”
His mouth swept down on mine, claiming my lips, my tongue, and my taste. My toes curled in my boots as I clung to his shoulders and let him transport me for a lingering second to a better place. “A’Tal, a female calls her male A’Tal. I love you, Daria. We will make it, have a little faith.”
A’Tal, huh? I pressed my mouth to his quickly, but the sound of footsteps entering the passage meant we’d run out of time.
If they had night vision goggles, it was all over.
“See you on the other side, A’Tal,” I said, and I pushed open the trapdoor and threw myself into a low roll out of the passage.
Bullets and sizzling laser fire erupted around us, much like a twisted type of fireworks.
The lasers were oddly pretty as they scorched the air above me.
I came to a rolling stop beneath a tree, jerked to my knees, and hurled my backpack into the nearest soldier.
I didn’t have time to register that the soldier was on two furred paws and carrying a rifle straight out of a science fiction movie.
One moment I was staring into a pair of reflective yellow eyes, the next, Killian threw himself on top of me.
Explosions rocked the Earth, dirt sprayed and at least two trees toppled.
“Up, now!” my alien mate yelled in my ear over the roaring, bullets firing, and lasers burning.
I obeyed, fighting with my senses to decipher what I was seeing.
The ground was torn up, with dirt, tree roots, and bodies everywhere.
In front of me, a surface shimmered and glittered like a mirror, reflecting the chaos of the battlefield back at me.
Killian was propelling me right at it, and at the last moment, it slithered open a crack and we rolled through a doorway.
“Damn it! Killian,” a male voice shouted.
“That was close. Are you insane? Is she insane?” The world tilted sideways, and I slid across a smooth metal surface.
Bangs went off, but they were soft, muted, and over it all was a gentle hum like an engine.
Killian’s arms surrounded me, and when my back collided with a solid wall, he cushioned my head so I didn’t get hurt.
My spy laughed, his chest rumbling against mine where we lay on a tilted floor.
“Admit it, Callum. You like this chaos, you thrive on it! And you are a total sap for a good love story.” I raised my head slowly, eyes blinking against the bright lights that lit up the interior of what had to be a spaceship.
It wasn’t big, reminding me of a van or RV.
I saw gray and silver, a pair of bunks, and in the distance a chair occupied by a man as golden-hued as my spy.
“We made it, Tally,” Killian said quietly. “Welcome aboard the Swift.” His finger lifted my chin, turning my head until I was looking him in the eye. “Told you we’d be fine.” I savored his kiss for as long as he let me this time, clutching his torn and dirt-stained tuxedo jacket.
Then my eyes caught a hint of red blood from the corner of my eye and I jerked upright.
“You’re hurt! Killian, why didn’t you say?
” I should have known. It was already a miracle that I’d gotten through that shootout with nary a scratch on me.
I knew why: my man, my mate, my A’Tal. He’d protected me through it all.
I scrambled into a sitting position and scanned his body for more injuries besides the large stain of blood on his shoulder, masked by the black fabric but clearly visible where it had dripped on the metal floor.
He had the nerve to laugh, his dimple popping on his golden cheek, his gray eyes growing bright and luminous.
“I am fine. It’s a scratch. Your father’s shot went wide. ”
“My father’s shot! He shot you?” I demanded and huffed when Killian calmly reminded me he’d gotten his shot in too.
It hadn’t quite sunk in yet that I’d never have to deal with his disappointment, his cold disregard, ever again.
I felt a little dazed when Killian drew me to my feet and urged me into a tiny bathroom.
My first time on a spaceship, and I wasn’t even paying attention.
Then I found myself paying a whole lot of attention when endless amounts of golden skin were revealed.
Killian was entirely efficient as he stripped off his clothes and revealed the bullet graze on his biceps.
All he did was slap some sort of waterproof bandage on it and then he started yanking on my sweater.
“Come on, Tally. Let me take care of you. Let me show you what the rest of your life will be like.”
That was a promise I was taking him up on, and I wiggled out of my jeans and boots while he took care of the rest. Naked, I let him press me beneath a hot spray of water, steam fogging the air around us.
We kissed, passion exploding in the aftermath of our action-packed escape.
My system wasn’t quite ready to accept that we were safe now.
His big hands stroked me, caressing and caring.
They lingered on my breasts, and then his mouth took over, sucking the turgid tips until I was writhing in his arms, moaning as I begged for his cock.
He was all too happy to oblige, easily picking me up and pinning me against the wall beneath the hot water.
I felt his arrow-shaped tip press against my core, but he still made sure to test my readiness.
His fingers swirled through my folds, teased my clit, and then tested my wetness.
When he found me ready, a growl rattled from his chest and his hips punched forward.
This wasn’t the same as the love-making we’d done before, this was an explosion, a claiming.
Fireworks danced behind my eyes as my first orgasm rocked me, but that was just the foreplay.
As Killian sank inside me with his magnificent, ridged, and veined cock, I felt each bump, each grind.
My nerves were on fire for him, and he felt the same, his thrusts wild and rough, possessive.
The hands on my hips held me up with a tight squeeze that might leave marks, and I loved that.
It fired me up even more, because this felt right, this felt like home.
Finally, I belonged to someone, and he belonged to me.
Unconditionally. This was what love was all about.
The kinds of feelings that make a woman decide to leave her life behind and run off to outer space. I got it now.
With a roar, Killian’s mouth closed around my neck, his sharp canine teeth pinching my skin in a delicious contrast of pain that mingled with the pleasure.
He came with a stuttering of his hips, his cock pushing deep, and as it kicked and spurted, my walls closed around him, milking him.
I came with him, something I’d never done before, and it felt like I’d never been closer to anyone. Like we’d become one.
We came down from that force of nature slowly, pressed together beneath the warm spray. My heart felt huge inside my chest, full of hope and wonder. We’d finished one adventure, and now we’d start on the next. This was going to be a fantastic year, I knew it.
“I can’t believe you made me fall in love with you, Killian,” I murmured. The sound of his satisfied laughter was music to my ears.