18. Thyros #2
Naeris didn’t pull away. She tilted her head slightly and parted her lips on a soft exhale.
The golden thread between us was no longer a hum; it turned into a roar, a living current of heat that pulsed straight down my spine and settled heavy and aching between my legs.
My cock was already hard, straining painfully against my pants, thick and insistent.
I could feel every beat of my heart in it.
I wanted her.
By the dark stars, I wanted her.
The need was so sharp it bordered on pain.
I imagined pushing her back against the cool glass of the viewport, stripping that tunic off her body, tasting every inch of glowing skin the Starmap had marked.
I wanted to drop to my knees and bury my face between her thighs until she was shaking and crying my name.
I wanted to sink into her, claim her, mark her so deeply that the universe itself would know she was mine.
My hands moved, settling on her hips, my fingers dug in just enough to feel the softness of her flesh beneath the fabric.
I pulled her closer until her breasts brushed my chest. The contact made her breath hitch.
Her nipples were hard—I could feel them through her tunic—and the realization sent another surge of blood straight to my cock.
“Thyros…” she whispered. Her voice was husky, unsteady. Her hands came up to rest on my chest, not pushing me away, but curling into the fabric of my shirt like she needed something to hold onto.
The bond was screaming now. It wanted. It demanded. I could feel her arousal through it, the slick heat building between her thighs, the way her body was softening, opening, readying itself for me. The scent of her arousal was faint but unmistakable, sweet and musky, driving me half-mad.
I lowered my head until our foreheads nearly touched. Our breaths mingled. My lips hovered a fraction above hers. One small movement, and I could take her mouth, taste her, devour her.
“You have no idea what you do to me,” I rasped, voice wrecked. “Every time you look at me like that… every time you let me touch you… I want to ruin you for anyone else. I want to bury myself so deep inside you that you forget every other male who ever existed.”
Her fingers tightened on my shirt. A soft, needy sound escaped her throat—half moan, half whimper—and it nearly snapped what little control I had left.
The stars wheeled slowly behind her through the viewport, but all I could see was her. The flush on her cheeks. The way her lips glistened. The rapid rise and fall of her breasts against me.
I was so hard it hurt. My cock throbbed with every heartbeat, leaking against the fabric, desperate to be inside her. I wanted to lift her, wrap her legs around my waist, and take her right here against the glass while the universe watched.
The last thread of my control snapped. I cupped her face with both hands, brushed my thumbs over the softness of her cheekbones, and kissed her.
The moment our lips met, the universe shattered.
It wasn’t gentle. It was desperate, hungry, centuries of longing and pain and loneliness pouring out of me into her.
A broken sound tore from my throat as I tasted her, warm, sweet, alive.
Naeris gasped against my mouth, then melted into me, her hands fisted my shirt, kissing me back with equal fire.
The golden thread between us exploded into blinding light.
I felt everything. Her fear. Her hope. The aching emptiness she had carried for years.
The way she had never been truly held, never been wanted for herself.
And beneath it all, the bright, fierce spark of her soul, reaching for mine like it had been waiting millions of years to come home.
Tears burned behind my eyes.
I kissed her harder, deeper, pouring every unspoken word into it.
I see you. I want you. I’m terrified of how much I need you.
My tongue swept into her mouth, claiming, tasting, worshipping.
She moaned softly, and the sound vibrated through me and straight to my cock, which was pressed against her belly.
I backed her against the viewport, the cold glass at her back, the endless stars blazing behind her like a halo.
My hands slid down her body, gripping her hips, lifting her just enough that I could press my throbbing length between her thighs.
She gasped and rocked against me instinctively, the friction making us both shudder.
“Naeris…” I breathed against her lips, voice wrecked. “My light… my Aelyth…”
A single tear slipped down her cheek. I kissed it away, then kissed her again, slower this time, tender, reverent, full of all the things I didn’t know how to say.
The bond sang between us, bright and pure and overwhelming.
For the first time in my existence, the darkness inside me didn’t feel like a curse.
It felt like it had finally found its missing piece.
We broke apart only when we needed air, foreheads pressed together, breathing each other in. Her lips were swollen, her eyes glassy with unshed tears and raw desire. She looked at me like I was something worth loving. And for one perfect, devastating moment, I almost believed her.
Without warning, Naeris ripped herself away.
A broken sob tore from her throat. “I can’t?—”
She stumbled back, her eyes were wide and glistened with unshed tears, her lips were swollen from mine. For one agonizing heartbeat, she just stared at me—raw, conflicted, terrified—before she turned and ran.
“Naeris!”
The sound of her footsteps echoed down the corridor as she fled.
Every instinct I possessed roared at me to chase her.
To catch her. To pin her against the nearest wall and finish what we had started until she understood she was mine.
I took one step. Then another. My hands clenched into fists so tight my nails drew blood.
No!
I forced myself to stop. My breathing came out hard, every single muscle in my body locked in brutal restraint.
If I caught her now, I would lose complete control.
I would take her—hard, desperate, unrelenting—and damn the consequences.
I would bury myself so deep inside her that neither of us would ever be the same.
I couldn’t do that to her.
Not like this. Not when she was still running from the weight of everything between us. Not when she deserved better than the monster the Abyss had made me.
I slammed my fist into the wall instead, the impact reverberating through the ship. The pain was sharp and grounding, but it did nothing to dull the ache in my chest or the throbbing need in my cock.
I leaned my forehead against the cool metal, closed my eyes, and fought to regain my equilibrium.
She ran from me.
The thought cut deeper than any blade. But beneath the pain was something quieter, something almost hopeful. Before that, she had also kissed me back.
She wanted me too, at least for those few perfect seconds.
I stayed there in the empty corridor for a long time, listening to the distant hum of the ship and the thunder of my own heart, the golden thread still burned between us like a lifeline she wasn’t ready to fully grasp.
I wouldn’t chase her tonight.
But I wasn’t letting her go.
Not ever.