The shower was little more than a stall set behind a sealed door. Life in the engineering deck could get hectic, so most of the amenities of home were built right in, just in case the engineer needed to maintain full day and night shifts. The heat of Max’s body was hot against her back, and nerves kept trying to skitter down Inrit’s spine.

It would be impractical to say that she never let anyone stand or walk behind her, but it was surely accurate that she didn’t like it. Even now, even with her denya, her fingers itched for her stiletto and her knuckles ached to let her claws shoot free. This was the cost of a life of crime. No matter where she stood, no matter who she stood with, she would never feel completely safe.

Max’s fingers skimmed lightly over her shoulder and she startled, spinning back around towards him. But because it was him, her instincts were kept in check. He was her denya. She could never do him harm. To harm him would be the same as hurting herself. Worse.

She saw tension in Max’s eyes, and a wariness like he expected her to push him away. It wasn’t the first time she’d seen it, and she was growing to hate that look.

“I can wait until you’re done,” he said gently. He dropped his hand back down so they no longer touched and the weight of his absence was far heavier than his fingers could hope to be.

“Do you want to wait?” she asked. She was no shy virgin, but humans could be so strange about lovemaking, especially human men.

Max’s eyes hardened to pure silvered steel. He stepped up close to her, invading her space until he was the only thing she could see. His fingers traced lightly up her arm until he could cradle her neck in his hands. It was a hold of power, of dominance. If anyone had tried to touch Inrit like this before, she would have cut their hand off.

When Max did it, pleasure tightened deliciously at her core.

His grip tightened. Not enough to hurt, just enough to demonstrate that he had control. Inrit’s own claws shot out and she rested her hand on his chest, the sharp points of her claws poking through the material as if it weren’t there.

Control was an illusion.

Some men might have been threatened by a woman who could tear them to shreds. Max grinned and the silver bled out of his eyes until they were almost human and bright as the summer’s day. “I don’t want to wait,” he said. “Not another second.”

His lips came down on her, the kiss just this side of punishing. Inrit’s claws retracted as she dug her fingers into his chest. His mouth was hot and his tongue tasted her like she was the sweetest treat at a banquet. The urgency of the connection left all artistry out of it. This was about closeness, about heat, about life.

She kissed him back like he held the cure for every ill and the secret to every riddle. His chest was hard and heaving and the thick weight of his cock was starting to make itself known. Inrit arched into him, pressing herself so close that only molecules separated them. Molecules and clothes.

Far too many clothes.

She pushed back against him and Max pulled back with great reluctance. Her traitorous mouth tried to follow him, but she kept her control. Barely. If she didn’t have years of experience suppressing her desires, she never would have succeeded.

“Clothes off. Now.” She was beyond verbs.

But Max had already jumped off the cliff of civilization right along with her. He ripped at his top, tossing the dirtied fabric behind him without a look. There were more layers, and if Inrit kept looking, she was going to be standing dumbstruck and fully clothed while he posed nude before her.

Not a terrible fate, if she was being honest.

But she undid the zip of her jumpsuit and peeled it off until she was only wearing the thermal base layer. The thick fabric of her outer suit had kept her thermals clean, so she was careful where she tossed them. This was a ship; nothing should go to waste.

She turned to find Max staring and the secret feminine part of her preened. His mouth hung open and his eyes blazed liquid silver. His eyes were just as telling as hers, and she loved it. She wanted to know every single one of his thoughts and drink in his every emotion. But the speckle of red on his shoulder reminded her that they had more than one reason to shower.

Sauntering to him, Inrit let her hips sway and smiled slyly as his eyes followed. Her nipples pulled tight with want and she let her hand trail up slowly until she cupped the full weight of one breast. Max leaned in, but she darted away before he could take hold. If they touched while they were naked, she’d never get them clean.

“Soap first,” she insisted.

She expected a protestation, or even an acknowledgement, but Max remained dumbstruck. Inrit walked close and trailed her fingertips gently up his arm and watched the flesh break out into delightful little bumps as he was overcome with some sort of feeling. She’d heard of goosebumps, but she’d never seen them up close.

Max clamped his hand over her wrist and kept them joined. “I have never seen anyone more amazing than you,” he said reverently.

Did the goddesses of old know this feeling? The pleasure and pain and want of worship by a stunning man who could have anyone he wanted if he only asked? Inrit flattened her fingers until her palm circled the top of his shoulder and then she squeezed. “Join me?” Looking at him was a challenge, but she rose to the task. The ship could have exploded and she would be rooted in this spot until he looked away or swept her up in his arms.

Why would she need oxygen when she had Max?

His muscles twitched beneath her hand, but his eyes remained starkly intense. “Always,” he vowed.

Even knowing that her control was on edge, Inrit couldn’t resist taking in the beauty of Max’s naked form. If the sculptors of old could have seen him, they would have given anything to memorialize his flesh in hard marble. The hair of his chest was almost a shock, even though she’d seen naked humans before. It hinted at something feral, something animal within, that his disciplined outer shell and cyborg trappings hid.

Inside, Max was just as wild as Inrit, even if he didn’t have claws.

Even though her fingers itched to glide down the trail of that dark hair, she forced them to be still. This journey was made only for her eyes. Rising out of a thatch of dark hair was his ruddy cock, hard and so thick she wasn’t sure that she could circle her entire hand around it.

Inrit licked her lips and imagined trailing her tongue around the prominent veins and curves, all the way to the tip and around until he was gasping beneath her and thrusting with all his might, using her and being used all in a single moment.

Max hissed and Inrit realized that her hands had gotten away from her. Not quite touching his cock, but close enough that he jerked his hips toward her.

She turned the spray of water to near scalding and the shock of it hit just this side of painful. Max stood behind her, only half caught in the spray. With the door to the shower behind him, she realized just how vulnerable of a position she was in. He could do anything to her right now, hurt her, kill her, take her. And if he turned on her, there wasn’t a damn thing she could do to stop it.

But when Max’s arm reached out in front of her toward the soap dispenser, she leaned back, rubbing her body flush up against his and delighting at the feel of his cock hard against her back.

He brushed his lips against her neck as he lathered the soap in his hands. When he swiped against her stomach, she shivered and clamped a hand down over his. If a Detyen touched her like this, he could rip her guts out with a single swipe.

But in Max’s arms, that desperate swell of vulnerability didn’t flare and it had nothing to do with his species.

Their hands moved together in lazy circles as he washed her, gliding up to the sensitive undersides of her breasts and back down, briefly brushing against her yearning sex. The water quickly washed the soap away, but nothing could get rid of the pleasure burning within her. Only when he moved to her back did she lift her hand and let him work alone.

Too quickly she was thoroughly soaped and soaked, clean of body but her mind fixated on wicked deeds. Inrit reached out and dispensed soap into her own hands, turning around and splaying her hands across Max’s broad, human chest. His muscles were hard, but almost nothing hinted at the machine beneath his flesh. Even the false skin that covered the control panel on his chest was barely visible.

He leaned into her as she washed him, his eyes drifting closed and his mouth making a delectable sound of pleasure. Inrit couldn’t resist kissing him, the water almost drowning her as it splashed beneath them.

She didn’t care, not as long as she could taste her denya.

Her hands drifted lower, but Max’s hand clamped around her wrist before she could take hold of her prize. “If you touch me, I’m liable to go off.”

“You’ll recover,” she said, but she let him wash himself with efficient dispassion. Her own eyes fluttered half-closed as he took his cock in hand and ran the soap over it, stroking once from root to tip. She licked her lips as she imagined the masculine taste of him.

Max groaned and gripped himself tighter, setting off a reaction in Inrit. She placed her hand over his, watching his face for small shifts of pleasure as the pressure from their joined hands brought him to the edge.

“You’ll be the death of me,” he bit out, almost harsh enough to sound angry.

“No,” she said, leaning in close and pressing her naked breasts against his chest. “This isn’t about death.” She bit down on the muscular skin of his pecs, just the slightest hint of pain to make the pleasure sweeter. But Inrit was careful, knowing that her teeth were sharp.

Her lover growled against her as her teeth wreaked havoc on him. He jerked into her hand, thrusting as if he was fucking her hard and fast, right up and over the crest and down again. Her pussy ached with need and she almost guided him right to her entrance.

But something held her back. Something stopped her from sealing the bond.

Max cried out as he came, thrusting and spurting against her, the air going out of his chest in a whoosh as if he were a deflating balloon. Inrit’s eyes were glued to him, this magnificent man brought to the point of weakness, of surrender, just by the gentle grip of her palm.

What power she had.

His head was bowed as his chest heaved, lungs sucking in great gasps of air. The water poured down in rivulets around them, the red light of the shower casting him in an eerie, inhuman glow.

It was a good thing she wasn’t human. She didn’t care if he looked like one or not.

She could spend a decade just looking at this magnificent specimen of a man. His muscles had been carved out of marble and the lines of his veins were like little rivers she wanted to traverse all the way to the darkest depths. And though she couldn’t see his mechs, aside from the eyes, she wanted to know that too. There wasn’t a part of him that she didn’t want to see, to feel. And looking at him like this gave her almost as much pleasure as his touch.

Something in Max seemed to read that thought. His head snapped up and met her eyes. He leaned in and brushed his lips against her ear as he breathed, “My turn.”

His arm wrapped around and jerked her close so quickly that her head snapped forward and she clutched at his shoulders to keep balance. Unconsciously, her legs parted as his other hand quested downward. This wasn’t a journey of discovery.

Max quested to conquer.

His fingers parted the wet folds of her sex, circling around and playing with her. He scraped against a particularly sensitive spot and she bit his shoulder again, arching into him.

And then one of his fingers plunged inside of her and Inrit saw stars. Water splashed into her mouth and she didn’t give a damn, not so long as Max kept touching her. His thumb flicked at the harsh point of her pleasure, amplifying the feel of his finger inside her.

Make that fingers.

He added another, stretching her, fucking her with his hand and never letting up. Not when she gasped, and especially not when she arched against him and thrust her hips back and forth, riding him.

“Come for me,” he commanded, thumb pressing down hard.

Inrit didn’t want it to end, not now, not so soon, but when he added in his third finger she was done. Light exploded behind her eyes and she tasted something metallic in her mouth.

Blood, she realized. She’d come so hard that she’d lost control, lost her thoughts, and scored him with one of her sharp teeth.

But Max didn’t pull away. He cradled her neck close and rocked her as she came down, her sex still quivering around his fingers.

“Gods,” Max said.

Gods indeed. Once her legs stopped shaking, Inrit pulled back, the emptiness a disappointment as he slipped his fingers out of her. His cock was already getting hard again and she knew that if she made just one move, they could seal the bond this instant.

Instead she stepped back and let the water wash off the sweat and fluids. Not yet, she knew. She could feel it in her blood that it wasn’t the right moment.

A moment later, she turned off the water and watched Max step out of the shower stall behind her. He was as much a mystery to her as he’d been when they stepped inside, but she wanted to know him so bad that it cut a hole deep inside her.

Could hollowness be a good feeling? Inrit wasn’t sure. As she pulled on a fresh jumpsuit, she could feel the slight tremor in her hands. Moving made it less obvious. It was like someone had taken a giant spoon and scooped out everything inside her, leaving her fresh and clean and nearly weightless. Despite the water and soap of the shower, she still caught the subtle hint of Max’s scent embedded in her skin.

She breathed in deep, drawing it inside like a drug. Like air. If she wasn’t careful, she could become addicted to him.

She didn’t want to be careful.

When she stepped out of the corner where she’d dressed, Max was still pulling up his top. The red marks her nails had made dotted his shoulder, but were healing quickly. She wanted to mark him with her claws. Not to hurt him. She wouldn’t go deep. But she wanted everyone to know that he was hers.

Inrit had heard that Detyens grew possessive of their mates. She never expected it to hit her so quickly.

Max met her eyes and grinned. His still damp hair held a bit of a curl and the gleam in his eyes was almost boyish. But her body remembered Max as all man. She grinned back.

“I’ll celebrate whoever decided this room needed a shower,” he said. He stalked towards her as he pulled a white tank top over his head. She watched as it swiftly covered each of his defined abs and felt the loss of that male perfection.

But then Max was only a step away and Inrit could reach out and touch him, feel the soft, warm flesh under her fingers. She didn’t think she’d ever get sick of touching him. Or tasting him. She leaned forward and planted a kiss on his bare shoulder before rolling her head to the side and looking up at him. Even to her, her gaze felt soft and a little dreamy. If she wasn’t careful, she was going to lose all of her badass composure around him.

If she hadn’t been flush up against him or looking right at his face, Inrit might have missed the blankness that washed over him for a long second. It dissolved as quickly as it came, but he stiffened beneath her. She wrapped one arm around him, placing a comforting hand at the small of his back.

“That one was just a second,” she said, mind whirring with all the times that a single second could spell his doom. If that happened in a fight, he was as good as dead.

He nodded and said nothing. His arms came around her and he hugged her tight.

Inrit didn’t know how to comfort him. She didn’t know what comfort was. Should she tell him that everything would be alright? Suggest they find a doctor specializing in cyborgs? Promise him that she’d tear apart space until they found something, anything, that could fix him?

It was a terrifying realization. In such a short time, he’d already come to mean so much to her. And she didn’t even love him, not yet. But she could tell she was barreling towards it head first. Standing in his arms, she made the choice. She wasn’t going to hold back from him. He might be doomed, but until her last breath, she was going to find a way to fix him, and to keep him.

If that meant she had to kidnap a doctor, fine. Return to piracy, so be it. So long as he was safe.

Max rested one of his palms against the back of her head and rocked back and forth. “We need to seal the bond between us before…”

“Don’t talk like that,” she cut him off. Belatedly she realized that he might have been referring to her impending death and not his own. Nevertheless, she kept talking. “We aren’t going to do things just because time may not be on our side. When we seal the bond between us,” because there was no question about that happening, “we’ll do it because we want it. Because we’re ready.”

He kissed her forehead and let her go. He slipped his arms through the openings of his jumpsuit and zipped it up. His eyes were hard silver when she looked again, his expression grim. “I don’t want to put you at risk by delaying.”

And I don’t want to take away your incentive to survive. She didn’t say it. She hadn’t even realized she was thinking it. But as the thought bounced around in her mind, she realized that it was true. If they sealed the bond before he had a chance at survival, Max might lose his will to live. And she would not doom him.

“The captain said he was going to send me some plans to look over,” Max said. “Will you be coming back to the room tonight?”

Inrit shook her head. “I’ll be here for hours yet. And I’m sure there are some maintenance reports for me to see to by now.” She didn’t want him to leave, but she needed him to go. Her mind was in turmoil and she needed to get some control back, needed to think things through.

Max nodded and kissed her swiftly. “Don’t worry about me too much,” he said. “I promise that I’m one tough bastard. The Consortium Corps couldn’t end me. I can fight through this, too.”

She squeezed his hand and let him go. Inrit watched as the door closed behind him and stood frozen in place for several moments. She took a deep breath and swung around to face her control panel. It was time to get to work.

Time to save her mate.