CHAPTER ELEVEN
Zade
Zade remembered climbing onto the reju with Ash, talking with her, stroking her, sliding into her yet again, for the most powerful and satisfying sex of his life.
He tucked her against his body, but after that he must have done something he had not done in more cycles than he could recall: He fell asleep.
That must have been what happened, because he experienced a strange sensation some time later: He woke up.
It felt very different from coming out of an induced rest cycle. This was a slow, languid coming awake, unlike the abrupt switch to consciousness the artificial way. Her warm body was still snuggled against him. He looked down at his lovely mate.
Indeed, he would not repeat the mistake of denying either of them the pleasure of each other’s bodies. Ash had been correct. What he had done was unnatural.
Everything he had been doing to his body and mind had been unnatural.
Discovering his mate and beginning the bonding experience had certainly shattered his carefully constructed life.
It would be restructured, rebuilt, and it would not go back to the way it was before.
His mind raced with a to-do list so massive, it boggled the mind.
They would need proper quarters now. No longer would a modified reju in his lab suffice.
She deserved a full suite of rooms, which his Saar-king was already arranging.
A sense of possessiveness washed over him as he gazed upon her. Ash.
It was a simple, lovely name that suited her.
Her hair spread out over the blue surface like a dark gold fan.
Her skin was flushed from their lovemaking and the soft curve of her cheek made her look younger than her age of thirty-two Earth years.
He traced a finger where a tear had rolled not an hour earlier.
“Beautiful,” he murmured, taking in the smooth lines of her, her warm, golden skin, her firm muscles and long bones.
A small smile curved her lips, although her eyes remained closed. “Zade,” she said softly. Her breath warmed his chest.
She looked so content like this—all sleepy and soft. “I am pleased to have you as my mate.”
“You’re pretty hot yourself, you know.” She stretched and yawned, unfolding that beautiful, supple body and making him want her again. “Actually, you probably don’t know,” she said. “You’re so wrapped up in your work, you probably don’t ever look in the mirror.”
“I give myself regular body scans.”
She snorted out a laugh. “Of course you do.”
He ran a hand over her hip. “I want you again,” he murmured huskily. “I think I could spend an entire cycle buried inside you and not be satisfied.”
She smiled and pulled his mouth down for a kiss. “I could live with that.”
Zade’s cock, which had been semi-hard when he awoke, rose to its full length.
Keeping his mouth on hers, he shifted on top of her.
She spread her legs wide and with one smooth thrust, he slid inside her tight sheath.
She fit him snugly, and he saw no shadow of worry or pinch of pain when he entered her.
Unlike their first time—how long ago? He didn’t know how long they had slept—her body had adapted to his length and girth.
He began moving his hips, gently at first, reveling in the punch of sensation crackling over his skin.
The intensity of it made him grit his teeth.
Sex had never felt like this before. Yes, he had other partners in the past. Some had been physicians like himself and others had been Stritta.
Sex had been for the purpose of relieving the body’s own needs.
It had been a function. A satisfying function, but a simple one nonetheless.
This, however, was different. Being with Ash brought satisfaction to a more intense level than he thought possible.
As he deepened his thrusts, made them harder, he sank into the bright, swirling oblivion that brought him closer to climax with each thrust. Her breasts jiggled with each jostle.
Her nipples were hard nubs, and her skin flushed warm with pleasure.
He lowered his head and captured her lips in a kiss.
Stars, she tasted good. His scrotum tightened up against his body, an indicator that he was to come soon.
He pounded into her, capturing the cry of her orgasm in his mouth.
He closed his eyes as the walls of her pussy convulsed around him, tightening on him like a hot vise.
Her body was a tense wire as he found his own release.
His seed flowed into her and an electric bolt of pleasure crackled over him.
His arms shook as he lifted up and slid from her, pressing a kiss between her breasts.
He had lost track of how many times they had done this.
He had ignored so many pings to his v-link communicator that he’d had to remove the thing from his ear.
Soon, someone would come looking for him.
It was just as well they took a break. Zade knew Ash would enjoy a trip to the washroom and a meal. He was hungry. She had to be, too.
Plus, he had to inject her with her anti-rejection medication and run her regular tests, then work on her leg therapy some more. Just because they were a mated pair, didn’t mean that he could stop being her physician. He scooped her up and carried her to the washroom.
“What are we doing?” she murmured against his throat.
“Hush. You will enjoy this.”
“Does it involve breakfast?” his mate inquired.
He smiled. “Yes, after.”
They enjoyed a session in a belik oil shower, which cleaned them with a softening spray of deliciously scented oils.
This was a setting Zade never used in the cleaning tube because of the extra time it took, but he saw the value of it after the confines of the tube and the oils made his mate’s luscious body slide like silk against his own.
He gazed down at her in the soft red light of the tube and could not help but notice how exhausted Ash looked.
Her skin was pale and shadows darkened beneath her eyes.
He could not push her. Her body was still healing, so all he did was clean her and enjoy the feel of her skin.
It had been a very long time since anyone had touched Zade for more than a moment.
Despite the stiffness between his legs, he allowed them to simply enjoy each other and explore one another’s bodies.
Afterwards, they ordered meals through the food port and ate them at Zade’s workstation.
She chewed a Baylan version of a sandwich while gazing contemplatively at the mass number of tablets and screens, all running with scrolling text.
Urgent messages blinked, waiting to be opened, but Zade knew which ones were truly urgent, and which could wait a little bit longer.
He was not yet ready to leave the blissful cocoon they were in. And leave it they would.
Despite the dreamy shine of Ash’s eyes when she gazed at him, he could sense the unease moving through her. “What troubles you, Ash?”
She frowned and looked down. “What makes you think I have troubles?” she mumbled.
He placed two fingers beneath her chin and tilted it up. “Because I am your mate. We can sense such things about each other.”
Her frown deepened to a scowl. “I don’t think I like that.”
“It is not a choice, for either of us.”
“Not much of this is, it seems,” she murmured, then sighed.
“I was just thinking about my life on Earth. About Shaun. About how unsure I am about some things, but certain about others.” She lifted a hand and placed it against his cheek.
It felt so good, he momentarily closed his eyes.
“I just met you, and here I am thinking about a life with you.”
He covered her small hand with his larger one. “I never expected to find a mate. This is surprising to me, as well.”
“I have loved, and lost,” she said, “and it had nothing to do with choices. He died. All those women on the retreat with me died, too.” Her face pinched. “What if I stay here with you and you die? What will happen to me?”
Zade smiled. “I will not die, Ash. Not for a very, very long time.”
“How can you be sure of that?”
“I did mention the body scans, correct?”
She rolled her eyes. “They don’t help against things like accidents.”
“There are so many ways you humans can die on your planet. Many of them are the result of bad luck or poor choices.” He hoped his words would ease her mind.
“Bad luck has been largely stripped away thanks to the careful planning of our ships.” He cocked his head, trying to discern the bemused expression on her face.
“I can calculate the likelihood of my demise, if you would like.”
“That will not be necessary,” she said. Amusement shone in her eyes. “What about poor choices?”
“Excuse me?”
“You said humans die of luck or choices. Are Baylans prone to bad choices?”
He raised one eyebrow, unsure if she was joking. “Some Baylans are. I am not.”
“Really?” she said dryly. “So you’re perfect?”
“Baylans believe perfection itself to be a flaw. It denotes a finality, or a ceasing of growth, that is unnatural to the universe.” He flashing a quick smile.
“So, no. I would not want to be perfect. We are a highly advanced species, but we still possess emotions. However, I have seen the results of poor choices on my reju tables and I, myself, have never been on one for such a reason.”
“I never doubted that.” She glanced to the door. “Zade, who knows about us?”
Zade had set an auto-respondant to his v-link, the communicator at his workstation, and to the door, alerting anyone who tried to contact him that he was not to be disturbed.
Since Zade had never been unavailable before, there would be questions about it.
He gazed at the screens, loaded with notifications from every division, it seemed, from the command center down to the scheduling official in the main medical deck.
“A few who needed to be informed,” he replied.
“I consulted with my father while you were still unconscious.”
“Your father?” Her eyes went wide. “What did he say about it?”
“We discussed options about how to handle this situation,” he replied. “Between handing you off to another Baylan physician, or keeping you here, but dampening my urges to mate with you; I chose the latter.”
“I don’t know which I would have preferred,” she said, touching his neck. “I hate that you did that to yourself.”
“I did not enjoy it.” He took her hand and smoothed his thumb over her palm.
“Although I do enjoy this.” He stood up and moved to the medication port to key in her dosage.
“Let me administer your medication, Ash. You know, by the time our bond is complete, you will not need anti-rejection medication any longer. Your body will no longer recognize your leg as a foreign entity.”
“Wow, really?”
Just then, a new alert appeared on his screen. This one, he could not ignore. He turned from Ash and opened the message.
It was from Malak, the tracker who had visited Zade before being sent to Earth to locate whatever attacked Ash.
His stomach dropped at what he saw.
“What’s wrong?” asked Ash, who could not read anything on the screen.
“It appears the creature that attacked you has done so again. Eight humans have been killed.” He scrubbed a hand over his face. “I must return to work.”
“Of course.” She knotted her fingers together on her lap. “Please find this thing.”
He swung away, feeling unbalanced, leaving her medication code half entered.
Had he not allowed his bond with Ash to divert his attention, he may have solved the puzzle of the creature’s identity by now.
On the other hand, he knew very well that the early stages of a mate bond were all-consuming.
That was normal, and he had told many a Baylan such as they struggled to adjust to the hyper-focus on sex with their mate.
Zade did not have the luxury of indulging in his mate’s pleasures. He had a job to do. Not doing it was costing lives.