Chapter 33
At Last
Khar
“I reckon,” Silomarila drawled, “that two of your crew members are sleeping together.”
“What? Khar and Lily?” Vegrun blinked, genuinely perplexed. “They’re not even the same species.”
“Vegrun,” she sighed, “this may shock you, but neither are we. And since you trust your instincts so deeply, I’m sure you’d be willing to wager the ownership of the Vitro if it turns out I’m right.”
“Silomarila… my love!” Vegrun sputtered. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”
A conversation during one of the excursions, where Silomarila is yet again on the prowl for Vegrun’s most prized object
Khar could not remain in Lily’s cabin after the way they had parted.
His steps carried him to the most neutral place on the ship: the control room, a minimalist echo of the Vitro.
For a fleeting moment he could almost convince himself they were back aboard the Vitro and everything was as it should be.
Almost. Because the second he allowed his mind to drift, doubt seeped into every corner of his thoughts.
He did not know what would become of him without Lily.
Their fight had shaken him far more deeply than he wanted to admit.
It hinted at something he could barely process: that the perfect unity he felt with her might exist only in his own mind.
What if he would never be enough? The ache of her absence was unbearable, especially after finally being reunited with her again after the abduction.
Slowly, inevitably, Khar folded in on himself. He sank into the pilot’s plush synthetic-leather chair and, careful not to gouge the console with his horns, let his forehead rest against the cool controls.
What was the point of living without Lily?
He could not return to the dull, colorless monotony that had once passed for life before her.
He would never again be who he used to be, and it was not only imprinting that had changed him.
Dominance held no appeal anymore. The cold obsession that had once poisoned every part of him no longer drove him.
With Lily, he felt whole. The closeness they had shared was more satisfying than any victory he had ever hunted.
He could not surrender that. So then… what was left to do?
At some point, his spiraling thoughts gave way to exhaustion.
The next thing he knew, a surprisingly cool touch brushed his forehead. In his dream, Lily had returned to him. He did not want to wake. His eyes squeezed shut, clinging for one more breath to the dizzying warmth that dream offered.
“Khar, wake up! And you claim you are not a deep sleeper…” Lily huffed, though her voice carried undeniable warmth.
Khar’s eyes snapped open with hope, though he masked it quickly. He was no fool to believe something would resolve itself simply because he longed for it. Reality was never that kind. He would have to fight, persist, twist every obstacle until he reached what he wanted.
“Lily… what… what happened? Are you hurt? Give me one moment and I will be ready. What are the sensors reporting?” His mind was sluggish, but one thing was painfully clear: something serious must have happened for Lily to seek him out this soon.
He knew her well, better than anyone in the universe, he believed, and she needed time to process her emotions.
She would only come to him this quickly if she needed help.
A summons from the enforcers, perhaps. Or something had gone wrong with Helios.
“What?” Lily’s brows drew together in that irresistibly charming way as she tried to make sense of Khar’s frantic words. “No, Khar, that’s not what I meant. Nothing’s wrong… I mean something is wrong, but not in the way you think.”
“I understand. I will speak to my brothers. If it is not the sensors, then they must be the culprits. I knew I should have kept them on a shorter leash.”
Khar was already halfway to his feet, ready to storm out, but Lily pushed him back into the chair with no hesitation at all.
Strength meant little when it came to her touch.
He yielded instantly, sinking back down as Lily stepped between his knees and captured his face in both hands, forcing him to look at her.
“Khar, listen to me. Nothing is wrong with the ship or with your brothers or with anyone else. This is about you and me.”
Her determined, solemn gaze did not bode well for him, yet he did not dare look away.
His traitorous body leaned into her palms as if drawn there by instinct.
He had to salvage this moment somehow, win a second chance before she ended whatever they were.
Words rarely failed him. Patterns of dominance and persuasion were second nature… yet now his mind was blank.
Too blank.
“Lily, perhaps it would be better if we did not talk about this right now. Are you hungry? Do you want anything to eat?” His eyes flicked down her body in a desperate search for an excuse, then latched onto something.
He seized her hand. “Your hand is freezing. We need to warm you up immediately. Unfortunately we cannot talk about this until you are properly warmed.”
“What is wrong with you? My hands are always cold! I can still have a conversation!”
“No. Hypothermia compromises cognitive function. We will address that first. Then we will speak.”
Lily let out a monumental sigh, then silenced his spiraling nonsense by kissing him.
Her mouth crashed into his with such firm, unyielding certainty that it robbed him of breath and thought alike.
Khar froze for a heartbeat, stunned, then growled in deep satisfaction as he answered her kiss with fervent, burning devotion.
When they finally tore apart for air, panting, the words spilled out of him without restraint.
“Did I not lose you?”
“Khar, of course not… I…” Lily exhaled, gathering herself for something heavier.
“This is strange for me. On Earth, I never felt anything like what I feel for you. It is too much. Too intense. It fills every part of me. It is hard to accept that when it comes to you, the rules I was raised with, my culture, even simple good sense… none of it matters. Because I just want to be with you.”
Khar’s eyes widened as the weight of her words struck him. But Lily did not give him time to react.
“When I seduced you, everything was so thrilling I didn’t even dare think about what came next.
And when that perfect freedom ended and we would have returned to everyday life…
then Horos took me. And through all of it, the only strength I had was the time I spent with you.
I did not want to question it. I didn’t want to think that I might be fooling myself, or that it meant something different to you. And then… Horos did things, and I…”
At the mention that Lily had “seduced” him, Khar almost barked a disbelieving laugh, but Horos’s name turned his blood molten with fury.
Still, none of that mattered now. The only thing that mattered was lifting Lily out of the sorrow clouding her voice.
He reached up and traced her cheek with a gentle touch.
His heart twisted at the sight of her uncertainty.
He would do anything to soothe her. Anything.
But how could he make her understand her fears were baseless without hurting her further?
Yet even this small gesture seemed to steady her.
Khar silently thanked every god he did not believe in, fate, or whatever force kept this fractured universe spinning, that he could see that radiant light returning to her eyes. The light that had captured him so completely.
“You know, Khar… it was easier to look for excuses than to be honest with myself. But for what truly matters, the risk is worth it. Even if it means facing the possibility that you might not feel exactly the same as I do.”
Khar could not endure another breath of distance. He swept her into his arms and pulled her into his lap so their eyes met on the same level. The words tore out of him in a rush.
“Lily, you do not understand. There is no Khar without Lily. I cannot tell you the exact moment it began, but I know it has nothing to do with imprinting. I have been your captive from the first moment I saw you. Do not think this was easy for me to accept. I fought it for a long time. Too long. But my senses finally returned to me, and I will never be able to exist without you.”
The tension in Lily’s beautiful, sweet face melted into unguarded joy and relief.
Her whole posture softened, shifted, blossomed, as if they had finally found each other again after chrono-cycles of wandering in a desert.
She leaned closer, and Khar pulled her against him without hesitation, pressing her fully to his chest.
“Just you and me, Lily. You have no idea what you have done to me. Your presence alone unraveled everything I thought I understood. I fought it at first, but I am wiser now. I was living in a prison, and you freed me. You are everything. We will do whatever you want. Go wherever you want. Just leave me a place at your side, and I will be there.”
Her smile rose through him like the first sunlight on skin after the longest, coldest night. A promise of something brighter, better, when he had begun to believe nothing would ever thaw the suffering inside him.
“We’ll do what I want?” Lily’s innocent, angelic smile shifted into something wickedly playful, as if she were plotting something deliciously indecent behind those luminous eyes.
And her scent… Khar refused to think about it, because one thought and this entire conversation would take a very different turn, one he was not entirely sure she would welcome.
“Well… in that case, I think it is time to try something I’ve been thinking about a lot these past cycles.”
Khar’s cock, which had already reacted to her nearness, strained painfully against the tight fabric of his pants. He shifted her gently in his lap, hoping to hide the immediate response to her words, though he knew it was a hopeless fantasy.