Alyssa - one month later

“Tyr,” I say, my voice echoing all around me. He has bounded a step ahead of me from the FMS Spitfire onto the big old space rock. At the sound of my voice he jumps and spins 360 degrees in the air, hovering for a moment before touching down again. I can see his now-trademark smile inside the thick space suit material.

“My darling?” he asks me, in English. I love that. Hearing his voice without Aphrodite’s modifiers. My Tyr might have accepted change in many facets of his life, but he’ll always be the same man. He is afraid that Aphrodite has too much power, and she might twist the meaning of his words to me, so I have been teaching him English for a month and he’s getting pretty good really quickly.

“This space suit … it doesn’t fit too well.”

He hops back towards me and runs his palms down either side of my body, frowning, and then down my front, and then down my back. He has a very serious look on his face as he cups my butt cheeks, and it makes me giggle. I go to peck him on the cheek and our space helmets ‘clunk’ lightly together instead, which always makes him crack a smile.

We have so much fun together. It’s like before Tyr the world was duller and I didn’t even know it.

“It fit last week,” he says and tuts. “On Lunar 12 there was room to spare.” He smooths his hands over my breasts, which almost strain at the expensive red and gray fabric, and his touch over my nipples makes me quiver.

I’ve been so needy. Needing him to press me down by the wrists and plunge himself deep inside me as many as four times a day, sometimes. Other days I spend all day on the video communicator to my mom and he just brings me food and kisses and tries his hardest to communicate with her in English. She thinks he’s completely adorable, it only took her a couple of calls to go from terrified for me to a little bit jealous…

This is our latest stop. An ex-outpost held by the Farsian Mahdfel in a Suhlik battle for a nearby dwarf planet. The Mahdfel won, and they evacuated fast back home to celebrate. Tyr seems to think they left some supplies here.

Including the spore cure.

Of course, it’ll take us a lot of time and some really thorough searching to make sure we leave no dusty stone unturned, because we haven’t found even a trace of the stuff the last five stops, and—

“Is this it?”

I turn from the vastness of space back to my man and see him holding up a metal box filled with vials. His face is a picture. Instantly I can tell he is high on the adrenaline of a success. A success we could really use.

The Alko trial went … well, it went. Tyr had to stop by Paxia to testify against his old boss, and it bothered him to relive the fact that I had almost been killed by his crewmate. Meanwhile, I had hung out with Cara in a freaking palace. It was astonishingly beautiful there, and Cara is a really cool girl. I can see us being friends, which is lucky since she’s the only other female in the solar system...

We hop back onto the Spitfire and as soon as it’s safe to, we whip off our helmets and kiss passionately, celebrating our victory by pushing against each other hungrily, nipping at each other’s skin.

“You have a call,” the rudimentary Spitfire AI sings.

“Tyr,” Wrax’s voice sounds out as we settle down on a comfy couch, my legs straddling his waist, my moans muffled by his neck. “Come in.”

“Don’t answer,” I whisper. He’d have to get up to press the button, and I want him here. We need to celebrate.

“He is my king,” Tyr laughs. “To screen his call might be considered treason.”

I shimmy backwards, retaining eye contact, and unzip his pants, and free his big, thick cock. I run my tongue from the base to the tip, and he twitches toward me.

“Fine,” he says, his voice lowering to a deep growl in an instant. I take him in my mouth, as much of him as I can, and get him soaked with my spit so that I can move my head up and down as fast as I can take it. I take half of him in, but any more would trigger my sensitive pregnant gag reflex. The rest of his cock is gripped in my fist as I work him.

It’s the look on his face as I swallow him that drives me wild. Soon he is gripping my hair and trying his hardest not to thrust into my throat as he fills my mouth with his sweet, delicious juices.

“You have a call, again, from Paxia.”

Tyr pulls me in close as if I weigh nothing and kisses me deeply. “You are perfect,” he tells me, and sets me down on the soft cushions beside him while he zips up and strides to the comms system.

“King Wrax,” he answers the call. “Apologies. We just returned to the ship and we will be back on Paxia within a week.”

“There is something important I need to discuss with you. Can you not return quicker?” the king booms through the speakers. I draw my knees up and listen, thrilled to pieces that our mission has been a success.

“I’m afraid not, my king, what’s the situation?” Tyr begins to pace up and down behind his controls, the glint of his feet making me smile at the few memories we have together. And the countless memories we will make in the future.

“I will do it over the phone then,” he says grumpily. I got to know Wrax well, and I think he is a good man. “Congratulations, Tyr, you are Admiral now. There will be an official ceremony when you return.” I can hear the hint of a smile in his voice. “I trust you will use your title well. The promotion will allow you to spend less time out in space.”

Tyr is silent for a moment, his eyebrows raised. Then he locks eyes on me, and we share a smile. “Thank you for the offer, Wrax, but we like being out in space.”

“Don’t you dare act like you aren’t taking the position. You will be admiral whether behind a desk or a control panel. Goodbye, and see you soon.”

The line goes dead. Tyr shakes his head slowly.

“Wow,” I say, and then lean over to press a button. “Crew, assemble!”

Tyr playfully swats my hands away while I laugh. He takes this whole leader thing a lot more seriously than I ever could, so it’s pretty fun to mess with him. The crew arrives on deck and stands staring at us.

Vyken, Axion, and Harrison the Merrel. And me. We are the crew of the FMS Spitfire, following the orders of the king of Paxia. Harrison is the first Merrel to ever serve on a spacecraft at all, let alone a military vessel, and we had to convince him that we were going to pay him, instead of the other way around, to be our engineer and keep the ship in perfect working order. Vyken and Axion testified against Alko as well, and Tyr was unsure if they would want to rejoin his crew after the betrayal from Ashok, but they scrambled for the opportunity.

And I am the onboard doctor, using my degree well. I am learning more every day about different alien physiologies from Aphrodite, who has been programmed to be a pretty great teacher. I hope one day Tyr will accept her, she makes life so much easier.

“Tell them,” I say, and nudge him.

He glances at me, and then at the crew. “I have been promoted to admiral,” he says. “I will continue to fly this ship, but there will be other responsibilities involved. Feel free to turn them down when we reach Paxia.”

The three of them look at each other, and then shake their head. “No,” Axion speaks for them.

Tyr nods. “Very well.” By Mahdfel standards, this might even be considered emotional. “One more thing, Axion, Vyken.”

The two Mahdfel turn to look at him. “Thank you,” he grunts. “Dismissed.”

They all leave, and I turn to him as he settles back down by the controls. My heart is full, my stomach is fluttering. I know exactly what he meant by that.

He means me. They found me for him. He is grateful for that.

Instead of saying anything to him, I look down and I rub my belly. “And I can’t wait to meet you.”

He sets his course and wanders back over to pull me to my feet, looking into my eyes with his powerful golden gaze. I cup his cheeks. He’s everything to me. Every day from now until the end of time, I need to be with Tyr.

“You make my world brighter,” he says right in my ear, and I press myself against him, feeling the radiating strength from within him guide me. “You are my everything. My beautiful, strong, small spaceship.”

I don’t have the heart to tell him it isn’t an Earth compliment.

Besides, I know what he means.

“I love you,” I whisper back.