Three Months Later… #2
So far, no one in Valhalla seemed too panicked about it.
Though the lines at the comm terminals grew longer each day, buzzing with theories and logical explanations, everyone was confident that things would be sorted out by next month, when the first supply replenishment was scheduled to arrive.
Commander Davis and all the sector directors had assured the colony that all was well.
Provisions would last at least a year if growth continued as projected.
And if shit hits the fan, Davis had said—using the exact phrase Joe had used before shit had, in fact, hit the fan—during one of the morning briefings the week before, we’ve got a super soldier in love on our side.
After lunch in the dining hall, they headed to Zoology at Valhalla’s north end.
Nora unwrapped the bacon slices she’d saved from her sandwich and hurried past the other livestock—chickens, rabbits, goats, cows, and two alpacas—toward the enclosure at the very end. “Hi, sweet boy,” she cooed, crouching low on the hay-covered floor.
Lucky perked up, thrusting his nose into the air to sniff.
“Me again—I brought your favorite.” She tossed a slice into Lucky’s cage.
He let out a short grunt, giving her a weary look. One of these days, he might even develop the ability to talk and tell her to fuck off.
This was their ritual. Nora would make an offering, hoping for the chance to just pet him. Lucky would accept the food but growl the moment her fingers—recklessly, Airik would complain—slid past his bars.
Lucky glared at her but used his tail to swipe the treat closer to where he sat in the back corner of his prison. Except this time, his tail paused. Purple-and-blue fur poked through the bars. His glowing green eyes were locked on Nora, his chin tilting up and down.
A tiny nod.
Without thinking, her hand darted between the bars, stroking the little part of him that he’d offered.
“Thank you,” she said, fighting back tears. Though he didn’t seem to remember her yet, she didn’t want her emotions to overwhelm him or this moment. She was certain they were still connected, even if it was hidden beneath pain.
As soon as Airik stepped onto the walkway, Lucky growled, flicking his tail out of Nora’s hand.
Airik froze. “I’m sorry, ooshi-ti,” he said, backing away.
He pressed a hand to the bite scar on his left arm—a gesture he made often, especially at night when Nora watched nature documentaries before bed.
Airik would stare at the cushion she had set out for Lucky at the foot of their bed and mumble more to himself than to her, I left him.
Both of them. He thought he was forgotten—I felt it. Abandoned.
But Nora would always lift his face back to hers. I don’t think so, she’d reassure him. You said he was a weapon and part machine. Maybe his programming was somehow reset and he needs a little time to recalibrate.
Lucky huffed now, pulling her out of her thoughts and letting her know he was done with today’s visit.
“I’ll be back tomorrow,” Nora whispered, stepping back. “Maybe we can go for a walk. There’s so much I want to show you.”
The late dinner was lab-grown salmon and rice.
She ate, realizing the last chance she would’ve had to eat real meat, other than the eel from Ed’un, was Joe’s sandwich from Gemelli’s.
What a missed opportunity. Her head sank to the table, lulled by the soft murmur of other colonists in the dining hall and by the effort it took to wish that Joe was okay.
“Soon,” Airik whispered, pulling her into his arms and knowing what she was thinking. “The ship will gain power soon, and I will find him for you. He will be okay.”
Having a plan helped to settle her.
“I know… Just a couple of more months, right? Then we can go?”
“Yes,” he promised, standing and preparing to carry her. “But now you need sleep.”
“I can walk on my own,” she insisted, jerking her head up from where it had been resting on the long communal tables. Treatment days drained her already waning energy.
“I know you can, cheranna, but you don’t have to.” Airik lifted her into his arms. “Please, let me help you.”
“Well…” Nora sighed. He’d put her down if she asked, but maybe her energy could be put to better use. To have the best thing the universe had given her. “All right,” she agreed, settling into his warmth. “As long as you fuck me harder when we get home—since you’re saving me the strength and all.”
Airik practically raced them back to their small dwelling in the family wings, where married couples and families lived.
A simple apartment layout with a small kitchen, a bathroom and shower, a living room, and a bedroom.
Two large windows overlooked the Martian landscape of rocks and mountains in the distance and a clear black sky where she’d seen the Milky Way for the first time in her life.
He set her down, then turned to lock their door—a combination of human-made locks and a security interface he’d taken from the ship—shutting out the rest of the universe. Next, he turned on the soundproofing system he’d installed, another pilfered tech from the ship.
“Because even your screams are mine.” Airik turned the knob to the maximum sound-dampening setting.
Nora bit her lip, liquid desire pooling between her legs. “Will there be screaming?”
Airik turned, his breath heavy from running across the base and his eyes bright. He dropped his sword onto the floor in front of him, then issued the command to activate it. “I will earn your screams.” He unbuckled his belt and unzipped his trousers.
Nora’s mouth watered as his erection sprang forth, already dripping with come. She swallowed, craving the rush of energy they’d discovered eating him gave her, as if he fed her life from his own body.
“Take your strength from me, my love.” He stroked himself once from tip to base, then brought a drop for her tongue to take. “As much of me as you need.”
She took his finger, sucking hard. A tingle zipped down her spine, into her toes. Her mind flared with the vibrant sensations of life on Airik.
Furiously, she unbuttoned her dress, but apparently not quickly enough.
Airik grabbed the two halves over her chest and tore them apart, sending buttons clattering on the floor.
He caught her, pulling her into the weightless column created above his sword, then flipped her upside down, with one arm around her so her belly pressed against his chest.
They liked it this way—using one of the most powerful weapons of the Veynari so Nora could suck her husband’s cock. A magic only he could command.
“Okay?” He let out a long, hot sigh over her clit, palming her ass.
Her body, already buzzing with more vigor, grasped his length with both hands.
Nora gasped as he spanked her hard, then followed it with a bite. “Okay, Nora? That was twice that I asked.”
“More than okay,” she panted, then quickly took him into her mouth.
Groaning, Airik let the tip of his fang brush against her, the vibrations of his tongue and lips rippling through her clit and core. He spread his hands across her ass, squeezing as he buried his face in her. Licking her like she was ice cream on a hot summer day.
They devoured each other, two lovers possessed. So bewitched by the wonder that was the other that it would have been a crime to leave even a drop for the rest of the world to have.
He bucked into her mouth, losing control.
“Inside me,” she cried out, popping off his cock, knowing he’d feed her more of him after he filled her.
“As you wish,” Airik said, using his new words. Nora writhed in the weightless warmth before he grabbed her ankle, spun her upright, and kicked the sword out from under her.
Their bed was plush and bounced as Airik tossed her onto it.
He had bought them the nicest sheets available, using the second-highest salary on base, which he’d negotiated for himself with Commander Davis.
Actually, he had threatened to leave for Earth, taking Nora, all his weapons, his ship, Torren, and Lucky—now seen as assets, with him.
Davis, eager to have Veynari tech and fighters on her side, had wisely anticipated that the empire that had lost them would come searching, and begrudgingly agreed.
Nora’s wild wolf that refused to be tamed without compensation.
Airik peeled off his clothes, ducking to clear the air returns near the ceiling. This base wasn’t built for a man like him.
He grabbed a jumbo condom from their bedside drawer.
It didn’t fit him well, but he insisted on using it.
Pregnancy was still too risky given Nora’s current health, so even though she wore a contraceptive ring—the implant had been removed to avoid further damage to her veins—Airik wouldn’t finish inside without protection.
Nora caught his wrist, stopping him. “Inside me,” she said firmly. “All of you. I can take it.”
His muscles flexed, still holding the foil packet.
“Please,” she whispered, needing him to trust her. “Iris said I’m getting stronger. My kidneys are almost back to normal.”
“Your breath—your lungs. Not enough if something…goes wrong.”
“Would a baby be…wrong?” She brought his hand to her belly, which had filled out again since her forced diet on Ed’un.
His hand pressed against the curve beautifully—every part of him fit against her like a dream—and he let out a low groan.
She wanted it to be more rounded by what he’d do to her.
She hadn’t wanted to have this conversation just yet, but…
she wanted a child. She wanted to be the mother of Airik’s baby and to make him a father.
To build their own hope and a family that would be kept safe in a way they hadn’t been.
And she also wanted the explosive feeling of Airik inside her, the charged climax that only happened when he fucked her raw.