Chapter 38
Chapter thirty-eight
Heat and light surrounded him. He knew nothing except for the feel and taste of Wynn. He stroked up her arms, over her shoulders, then down her sides. Tiny bumps broke out across her skin in the wake of his touch. Their heartbeats echoed one another’s.
He now knew why he had never coupled with another. He had been waiting for the perfection of this moment, the flawless way their bodies joined together. She consumed him, body and mind. He did not exist except for this.
Then he reached a resistance within her. He knew anatomy from others’ medical knowledge, and understood this was an untouched place, and that passing through might cause her pain.
He did not like that thought, did not want this first experience between them tainted by discomfort. With his fingers laced with hers, he concentrated his essence, aiming to ease her hurt as he had healed her cuts.
Their points of contact flared with sensation: their hands, her full breasts squished against his chest, the softness of her stomach against his, her spread thighs, and the way her wet heat gloved his cock.
He focused past all those points to where his essence spoke with hers. Then, with another twitch of his hips, he sank into her more.
There was a pause, her eyes widening, then an easing and acceptance as she took him deeper.
Another inch of ecstasy. He groaned again, unable to keep the noise inside.
Throughout this experience, he had made sounds he never knew he could create.
Her lips parted, and a bloom of color swept over her features.
A fresh emotion cascaded from her to him in a thick wave.
He felt it too, hot pleasure building inside him.
“Oh,” she moaned, sitting up to take him deeper.
Short breaths expelled from her lips until she was fully seated. They settled together, adapting to the change in their bodies. A red flush stained her cheeks and chest; her eyes darkened.
His hands moved to her hips to hold her in place. Her warmth wrapped him like she belonged there. She does. An unfamiliar emotion pounded through him, something without a name, but with it came a potent dose of attachment.
He did not want to let her go. Not ever. He did not think he could, even if someone demanded it.
Swallowing, he focused on where their bodies joined. The sight stole his breath. She took him so well, stretched open and pink. It was a view he could stare at for hours. More magical than nebulae. More mesmerizing than star clusters.
But he also knew there was more pleasure to give. Hands tight on hips, he lifted her slightly, then guided her down. They groaned in unison. Her eyes fluttered closed, and she tipped her head back, exposing her delicious throat.
Had he ever paid attention to someone’s body the way he was becoming obsessed with hers? He could not remember a single instance.
He lifted her again, then brought her down harder. Explosive lightning ricocheted through his body.
“Oh, stars,” she breathed, her eyes opening to focus on his face.
He liked that, her entire focus on him. It caused his heart to pound like he had raced a hundred kilometers.
Then she moved on her own, and he didn’t think he had ever experienced anything so profound in his life.
In and out, her fevered body sheathed his in an erotic slide of flesh.
Their essences fed off one another, rising in a tidal wave of pleasure.
Each give and take connected them more. The yielding of their bodies made it impossible to know where she began and he ended.
Emotions entwined in a concrete tangle, building until they roared in his head.
“Yes,” she breathed, pushing his threadbare control right through his fingers.
Smooth motions turned frantic. He slammed upward, needing more friction. Bursts of light bloomed behind his eyelids at how good it felt. His testicles tightened.
“More,” she moaned, rotating her hips. “Harder.”
His vision blurred. In the next instant, he rolled, keeping himself inside her, until he was on top. Her arms wrapped around his shoulders, and her one knee lifted. He grabbed hold of it to angle himself, then snapped his hips forward again and again.
Breaths puffed from between her lips. Her fingers bit into his scalp, shooting tingles across his shoulders, and he understood how she could find pleasure or solace in pain.
She wrapped her other leg around his waist to take him deeper. Each jerk of his hips brought them closer. She cried out his name, then her teeth dug into his shoulder. Her inner walls clenched around him.
Iax was not sure how another being could be so perfect.
The heat grew inside him until he could hold back no longer. He thrust inside her and came in a hot jolt. An explosion shot off behind his eyelids. She tightened around him again, and he groaned her name into the crown of her head, his body convulsing.
He held her this way, straining, until he collapsed and his body covered hers from top to bottom. He turned his face into her throat and inhaled her scent deep into his lungs. Despite her time on the CORE warship, she still smelled of earth and warmth.
When she twitched beneath, he propped himself up on his elbows to stare down into her eyes. Though he softened inside her, he did not want to separate. He also did not want to crush her.
He rolled again, taking her with him, and settled his hands on the globes of her ass, keeping her solid and safe on top of him.
She huffed out a gentle laugh. “All right, then,” she said, then tucked her face in the crook of his neck.
Iax closed his eyes and exhaled a slow breath. If they could stay this way for the remainder of their lives, he would die content.
“You know,” she said, the words vibrating against the skin of his throat. “You were pretty good at that for being your first time.”
“Could I not say the same of you?”
She lifted her head to meet his gaze. “I don’t know. Could you?”
His chin jerked in a small nod. “You, this experience, has changed me on a molecular level. For the better.”
Her eyes widened, then she licked her lips. “You really have a way with words, you know that?”
It seemed like a rhetorical question, so he did not answer, only squeezed the flesh of her bottom again.
A huff left her as she dropped her face into the crook of his neck. A hush enveloped them while his thoughts circled on how to remain secluded, just the two of them, for as long as possible, taking and giving pleasure.
Unfortunately, they would run out of air after too long.
Wynn pulled him out of his hypothesizing when she shifted away from him.
“Washroom,” she murmured, and he forced himself to release her lush curves.
But he did not wish to let her go, especially as she slid off his softening length. The movement made him twitch and harden.
She looked down at him, a little smile curving the corners of her mouth. He hardened more.
A look. She could have him wanting with a look. More reason to figure out how they could stay cloistered indefinitely.
She slid off the bed, her breasts and ass jiggling as she dashed toward the washroom. Then the door closed, blocking his view of her.
His brow furrowed. Even this paltry separation seemed too much. If they were not lying next to each other, touching, then they were too far apart.
Instead of shifting the spectrum of his eyesight to watch her beyond the door, he expelled a breath and lay back on the bed to stare at the overhead.
He did not know how these possessive feelings had started, but they had intensified during their separation.
Now he could not stop them. He did not want them to stop.
And the longer he stared at the overhead, the more discontent gathered within his chest.
He turned his head when the door finally opened, revealing her naked form.
The tension that had been growing inside him eased as she hopped on the bed and crawled closer.
The sight of her flesh made his mouth water.
Perhaps he could convince her to remain unclothed most of the time, as did some in Sector Ten.
She settled herself in his arms, and he sighed. The sensation of wholeness encompassed him. He stroked her arm, relishing the smooth skin gliding beneath his fingers.
“Have you decided?” he asked after a moment of quiet.
She lifted her chin to meet his gaze. “Decided what?”
“Where you wish to go. The ship will eventually run out of air, though the recycling system on board is much more sophisticated than usual for a ship this size.”
Her eyes widened, and she leaned back to search his face. “You’d truly allow me to go anywhere I wanted?”
“Yes.” Her body stiffened and her eyes narrowed, so he added, “And I would stay by your side.”
Her lips parted, then she let out a small laugh.
“You do not believe me?” he asked, hurt that she would doubt his intentions. “I need to keep you safe and protected. It consumes my consciousness, as you do.”
Her expression softened. “It’s not that I don’t believe you. I don’t want to be far from you, either.”
His heart flexed at those words, a lightness entering his chest. Then she went on, “But what I said about myself earlier goes for you too. They would kill you on sight if you returned to CORE space. The same goes for Tellusian space. Your eyes.”
She brushed her fingers over his forehead and down his cheek. Shivers erupted through his scalp.
Her thumb paused at his temple. “You couldn’t hide long anywhere with these beautiful eyes.” She dropped her hand, and her throat bobbed up and down in a swallow. “There is no choice for either of us, is there?”
His mind continued to race, to search for alternatives to their predicament, but no matter where his conclusions took him, there was no safer place for her than Sector Ten, taking away the choice he wanted to give her.
The sudden urge to comfort her overwhelmed him, and he wrapped her up in his arms, holding her tight.
Iax’s fingers flexed against the supple flesh of her shoulder, while his mind went to the last conversation he had with The Four.
They had been specific about his orders, his objectives, but not the outcome once accomplished.
He was completing his task, but wholly changed.
“I need to keep you safe,” he said, though it did not accurately answer her question. “No matter what The Four wish of us.”
She stiffened, lifting off him a little, until their gazes met. Her eyes jumped back and forth between his. A frown puckered her brow.
“The Four,” she repeated. “Tell me more about them.”
He went over his mission directives once more and found he did not care so much about what he was told to keep to himself when considering Wynn’s feelings.
“The Four are the ones who… guide us with core principles: intelligence, strength, loyalty, and balance. They educate, and keep the peace, and solve problems, though we all have a say in how we achieve our own contentment.”
Interest lit her eyes. “Like a government? But only four people with power?”
He tilted his chin in acknowledgment.
“Do they have names?”
“Yes. You will know them: Briar Galloway, Heath Wiseman, Leon Sweeney, and Miri Bondar.”
She tensed while he listed them, but relaxed after a moment.
“You’re right. I do know those names,” she murmured before resettling against him. “It’s so strange that they live after all this time.” She set her cheek against his pectoral, her fingers creating swirling patterns against his sternum. “How long does a Calypson live?”
He thought about it for a moment, then could only answer, “I do not know.”
Her fingers stopped moving. “Has anyone ever died of old age?”
“No.” Death was a day of great sadness in their community, and none had yet died from living too long. “Our cells regenerate, and we have not found a limit.”
She lifted her head again. “Then the rumors are true, that you can live forever.” Her expression turned heavy. “How long will I live if I’m an anomaly?”
His arms tightened around her. He did not like the thought of her passing to another plane of existence. “I do not know.” And he did not want to think about a life where he existed and she did not. “Many, many years, I hope. Lifetimes.”
Her mouth twitched, then she resettled against him. His body sighed at the skin-to-skin contact.
She flattened her hand against his chest. “There is no place for us except Sector Ten.” A new edge had entered her voice, and her echoing resolve washed over him.
He covered her hand on his chest, and a swelling emotion overtook his body. She had said “us,” joining their futures together.
With a gentle tug, he pulled her up his body so he could capture her lips with his. A groan rumbled through his chest at how good she tasted. He did not think he would ever get his fill.
He rolled her over, his body covering hers from head to toe. It would take them days to arrive in Sector Ten, and he planned to give Wynn Lambdin limitless pleasure, to bury himself inside her many times, before then.