The distant lights of New York City looked nothing like Jaaxis, but Krayter was coming to think of the place as a second home. And his homecoming could barely be happier. He had his denya by his side, unclaimed though she was, and his brother waited for them less than an hour away.

The old towers of the city twinkled in the twilight and aerial speeders whizzed through the air, their own lights streams of reds and yellows that gave the whole place a magical aura.

Penny leaned forward, careful to avoid the autonav controls, and stared out of the windshield. “Does it always look like this?” she asked, each word full of wonder.

Krayter had seen supernovas from ships and walked through cities that floated in the clouds. When he’d first come to New York, he’d seen the quaint beauty, but it was nothing to rival the rest of the universe. Until he looked at it through Penny’s eyes.

Some of her wonder seeped into him and tightened in his chest, expanding in a burst as a speeder flipped and twirled, jumping from wind to wind. “Tonight is particularly nice. Sometimes a dense fog rolls in and covers the view.”

“Then I’m glad that I got to see it like this.” She smiled shyly at him and reached out her hand to take his.

Krayter gave her a squeeze and didn’t let go. Despite the distance, they’d been mostly silent on the ride from her mother’s compound to the outskirts of the city. Happily, they didn’t need to worry about weapon damage. They could take a full blast from a fleet destroyer and still drive on as if they’d been hit by a bug. Given the weight and the shielding, the smoothness of the hover was surprising. The vehicle had to be worth a decade’s wages, but Penny hadn’t spoken a word about payment for the ride.

Nor had they spoken of the denya bond. It was a whip inside him, striking hard and demanding that he take her right there. Still, Krayter remained silent. She would make her choice, and all he could do was try to win her heart.

“This is your first time in the city?” No one got that starry eyed over aerial speeders after a few trips around a skyscraper.

Penny sat back in her seat and bit her lower lip in that way that made his cock start to stand at attention. “This is my first time out of Highland Settlement. The holovids don’t do any of this justice.”

They were on her planet, less than four hundred miles from where she’d lived for nearly a quarter of a century. And yet this city was his in a way she couldn’t claim. Krayter grinned. “I want to show you something. Let me drive?”

“This isn’t some dominance thing, is it? Are Detyen men as hung up about women drivers as human men?”

He laughed. “I want to drive since I know where I’m taking you. Your skills have been more than proficient.”

“You’re too kind.” Sarcasm dripped from every word, but her lips curled up. “Just put it in the nav.” She pointed to the console between them where the car’s computer was housed.

“Don’t you trust me?” He knew he kept asking it, but he couldn’t help himself. It was a compulsion of the worst kind, and he knew that it would hurt him one day.

But not today.

With an aggrieved sigh, Penny flicked a switch and shifted control from her seat to his. This model of transport had been designed with dual driver seats. The dash in front of him lit up as the controls went active and after a short countdown, the car jerked as he took complete control.

“My mother will never forgive you if you crash and get me killed,” Penny reminded him with a violent grin.

“If you came to harm, I’m sure that I’d join you shortly in the afterlife.” He only realized what he was saying as the words came out and Krayter stared straight ahead, afraid of what Penny would say.

But she didn’t interpret his words correctly. “Then keep me safe and my mom won’t kill you.”

“You will come to no harm with me. Not ever.”

She studied him for a long moment, her eyes laser focused. “I’ll hold you to that.”

Krayter nodded and said no more. What needed to be said?

He punched in the coordinates for their destination and guided the vehicle onto one of the aerial highways that led into the city.

“Where are we going?” Now that she no longer had control of the car, she leaned her head against the window, peering out into the night.

Krayter smiled sidelong at her. “It’s a surprise.”

Penny scoffed and rolled her eyes at him. “I’ve never been here before, everything’s a surprise. So where?”

Krayter just laughed. He knew she’d love where they were going. “You’ll see.”

***

Krayter remained determined to keep their destination from her. But Penny knew New York. Not because she’d been there, but because every map she’d ever drawn to take her out of Highland Settlement eventually led here. And as they took the final exit off the aerial highway and turned onto 5th Avenue, she knew exactly where they were headed.

Central Park.

It had been a staple of the city for centuries, and no matter the encroachment of the buildings or the density of the population, it remained the green heart of Manhattan. These days, forests and trees were a precious commodity for most people. Highland Settlement and the surrounding areas were only so full of nature because of dedicated efforts in her grandfather’s time to preserve the area.

There were entire swaths of the continent completely barren. And Central Park still stood, arms open and accepting of any of her citizens.

Krayter found a place to park and looked over at her, smiling. “Come on,” he beckoned, getting out of the car.

As they walked down the path to wherever Krayter was taking her, Penny’s eyes nearly popped out of her head as she tried to take in everything at once. But it wasn’t the trees that held her attention. No, it was the people. There were dozens and dozens of aliens, some mostly human looking like Krayter and others that weren’t. Not at all. A collection of five glowing balls little bigger than her fist swirled around in formation. At first, Penny thought they were a trick or a machine of some kind. But as they got close enough to pass, she saw that they were covered in leathery flesh and one expanded and contracted like it was breathing.

A man who had to be nearly eight feet tall walked next to a tall human woman who seemed child sized beside him. His skin was a dark grayish blue and horns as long as her arm and as sharp as a knife shot out of his head. And no one along the path seemed to be paying any mind to him or to the glowing balls.

In one tiny dot of this city she was seeing more of the world—and the galaxy—than she’d ever seen at home. Rage threatened to bubble up as she thought of everything she’d been denied through the years, of how small of a box she’d been forced into.

But Krayter was tugging on her hand and looking at her like the world was only special if she could see it. And with him right there, it was too hard to hold onto hate. She let it go, determined to take his surprise and hold it close in her heart, right where it belonged.

As they walked into the heart of the park, children raced past them and the sound of laughter and music filtered towards them. They turned a corner and Penny stopped dead in her tracks.

Dozens of people floated around, flying through the air like gravity was nothing more than an afterthought. A child sprinted down the path and leapt, crossing an invisible boundary and flipping up into the antigrav field holding everyone up. As the young girl entered, pigtails tangling wildly, the field shimmered, and Penny noticed a line of dark stones that served as the demarcation point between gravity and antigrav.

“Do you want to try it?” Krayter asked. “It’s almost better than being on a spaceship.”

Penny looked at the flying people and then back at Krayter. She nodded, her heart kicking up in excitement as they got closer to the barrier. Kids and adults swam around like they were in a river, but part of her was apprehensive. What if she looked like an idiot?

But then they were at the border and for a moment, Penny didn’t even realize that she’d stepped over it. Then her arms started to float up and she went weightless. She flailed, one arm flying out and almost smacking Krayter square in the face. He laughed and tugged her close, easily floating her right over to him.

Up and up they floated, following a natural flow that led them up to the tops of the trees, where they bumped into an invisible border. Penny pressed against it, but could only feel pressure. There wasn’t any glass or a plas screen. “What’s stopping the field?” she asked.

“Does it matter?” Krayter responded.

No, it didn’t.

Penny pushed against the border and floated downward. She cradled her head in her hands and rested like she was floating on water on a hot summer’s day. Krayter swam a little ways off, flipping and spinning like he was the one feeling antigrav for the first time.

As she got closer to the ground, Penn flipped her legs over her head and spun around in a little ball, holding in a gasp as she turned much more quickly than she meant to. Her flip transformed into a corkscrewing turn that sent her rocketing back up towards the top of the field at what felt like a breakneck pace. But when a child who couldn’t have been older than seven sped by, she realized that speed in the chamber was a relative term.

Familiar blue hands grabbed her hips and Penny’s own fingers rested on top of her mate’s. They spun around together, her cradled up against him, their bodies moving through the air like birds in flight.

Penny twisted in his arms until they were face to face. She hooked her own arms around his neck and had to stop herself at the last moment from wrapping her legs around his hips. Not around the children, she reminded herself.

“This is wonderful,” she told him, resting her forehead against his. They swayed, as close to still as two people floating through thin air could manage.

“I’m glad you like it.” His eyes glowed red, that color of high emotion. Emotion for her, for new experiences, and for hope in this place that wasn’t quite home for either of them. But a place where they could make a home for themselves, if only she was brave enough to take that step.

Penny leaned in and kissed him, letting her lips rest gently against his own as they clung to one another on this magical night under the stars.