I should be exhausted from everything that has happened today but my body is awake and buzzing. After I did all I could for the women that were found, I decided to come back here, to Koba’s room. I was hoping he’d be here but he must still be working. I’m craving Koba’s touch and the way he makes me feel when we’re together. I hope he won’t be gone much longer.

Instead of sleeping, I decide on a shower. After discovering that we confiscated some of the women and weapons without even realizing it, I don’t know what my next move is with Stosk. He expects me to deliver the capsule, but now we’ve stolen even more things from him. I can’t imagine returning the capsule will make everything fair and square. What I should have done all along is confess the agreement to Koba and let him help me figure it out.

I’m standing naked in his bathroom right now, trying to focus on our time together on Zephyrus instead. When I think about our sexy times, all of the other things to worry about fade away, leaving me with a pleasant tingling desire awakening in my body.

I step into the shower and look at the control panel, trying to remember how it all works. The buttons to turn the water on and adjust the temperature are just where I remember them. When the water begins flowing, it soaks through my hair and streams down my body. It’s easy to forget how relaxing a hot shower can be. It’s the soap making my body feel soft and clean that relaxes me and puts me in the mood for Koba’s skillful mouth. I’m massaging it into my hair when the shower door slides open and Koba steps inside, almost like he can read my mind.

The sight of his naked body has my stomach doing flips. “I can help you with that,” he says. He steps under the water with me and slides his fingers into my hair. He begins rubbing the soap into my scalp, gently cleaning the strands of my hair. I close my eyes and enjoy the feeling of his fingers.

“I thought you’d be sleeping but what a nice surprise to find you here.” He dispenses more soap into his hands and rubs it into the rest of my body. He uses his strong hands to massage my neck and shoulders while the soap lathers and slides on my skin. I ache for him to touch me in my most intimate places but he doesn’t oblige yet. He turns me around and continues to massage down my back. The way his hands slide over my skin, slick from the soap, makes my pussy ache for his touch. I always want more of him.

“I couldn’t sleep,” I say. His hands slide around from my back to my stomach. I let my head fall back and rest on his chest. When his hands finally slide up and cup my breasts, I moan softly and push into his touch.

“After such a long day, you couldn’t sleep?” He pulls my nipples between his fingers and gently tugs, rolling his fingers over my hard peaks. The tingling sensation from my nipples travels down to my core. My clit aches to be touched. I want his fingers to do the same thing, only between my legs. “That seems strange.” He continues to squeeze and cup my breasts. I open my legs so his hard cock can slide between me from behind.

“I needed you,” I say. I turn around and throw my arms around his neck, pulling him to me in a passionate kiss. His tongue slides into my mouth and I lick him greedily. I wrap one leg around his waist and let his hard cock slide against my pussy. I rock my hips against him even though he’s not inside of me yet. His hands roam all over my body and when they cup my ass he lifts me and leans me against the wall of the shower.

“I need you too,” he says. He rubs his cock against my wet pussy, over and over again. When I start to moan and beg, he positions his cock and thrusts hard into me. I cry out from being so full so quickly. He holds me tightly against the wall and starts thrusting into me. There isn’t anywhere for me to put my legs for leverage so I’m completely at his mercy. I hold onto him tightly while his cock slides in and out, slowly driving me wild. The way his cock pulses inside of me makes me quicken toward an orgasm faster than I have ever been able to before.

“Look at me,” he says, into my ear. I lift my head and stare right into his eyes. His jaw is set, outlining the strong angles and muscles in his features. His gaze is so intense I feel the need to look away, but I force myself to stay right here in the moment, with him. There’s something happening between us, a bond that I’ve never felt before. It’s more intense than just a joining of our bodies; it’s a joining of our souls. In this moment, while we’re together so intimately, I question whether I’ll ever be able to leave this man. “Do you like that?”

I’m about to lose myself in the pleasure I feel. “Yes, I like it,” I say. He’s thrusting faster and I know just a few more thrusts will push me over the edge. “Oh, I like it so much.” He thrusts a little harder and we cry out together as we come. The spasms of pleasure rack my body and they’re so intense I find myself gasping for breath.

He slowly brings us to the floor of the shower until he’s sitting and I’m straddling him, his cock still pulsing inside of me. He leans toward me until his forehead is touching mine. Once I’ve caught my breath, I lean in and kiss him, slowly and passionately. We sit on the floor of the shower, kissing, while the warm water steams around us.

Without thinking, I pull back from the kiss and say, “I love you.”

I know the rules about saying I love you. The guy should always be the one to say it first and you shouldn’t say it too soon, etc, etc. But it feels so right and I don’t know how much more time I’m going to have here with him. It seems really important that I tell him how I feel. How he has made me feel safe and loved, even though this experience started out as an absolute nightmare.

I’m relieved when he says, “I love you, too.” I didn’t expect him to say it back, and it feels really good.

We’re lying in bed together a little while later when he says, “I have something I need to tell you.” He’s holding me in his arms, running his fingers through my hair. I’m so relaxed from the hot shower and sex that I was really close to nodding off.

“Okay,” I say, quietly, letting my fingers trail over his chest. “I need to tell you something too.”

“I need to get this off my chest and then you can tell me. And since there’s no easy to way to say it, I’m just going to say it. As you know, I’ve had someone working on figuring out how to get you back to Earth.”

“Yes,” she says, quietly, anticipating what I’m going to say next.

“I spoke with him tonight and he figured out that the Atronox traveled through a wormhole to get to Earth but it collapsed once they returned through on this side. Without the wormhole, there’s no way we can return you to Earth in this lifetime.”

I lie still next to him and concentrate on the slow rise and fall of his chest as his words sink in. I can’t move and I can’t think of what to do or say. My heart is pounding slowly in my chest, but it’s loud enough that it seems to echo around the room. I concentrate on the way Koba’s finger slowly trails up and down my arm.

There’s no going home.

In the back of my mind, I always knew this was a possibility. I shouldn’t be surprised but there’s something about hearing it out loud that makes it real.

Koba shifts in the bed so he’s looking into my eyes. “Say something,” he says. His fingers hesitantly touch my cheek.

“I don’t know,” I finally say. And it’s true. I don’t know what to say or think. I don’t know what to feel right now.

“You might not want to hear it right now, but I will take care of you. I will give you everything you need. I will make this your home. We can make a home here, together. You will never want for anything.”

Once he says the words, I realize I’ve secretly been hoping he would say something like that to me all along. But now that the possibility of going home is gone, I’m left with a strange feeling inside. I mean, I know I truly love him, but I still need time to process everything else that has happened.

“Will you just hold me?” I ask.

He kisses my forehead and tucks me tightly in his arms. I close my eyes and try to block out all of the things going through my mind so I can get some sleep. It doesn’t work.

“What did you want to tell me?” he asks.

“It isn’t important,” I say. Instead I just want to lie here quietly in his arms.

“Okay, tell me when you’re ready.”

Hours later, long after Koba has fallen asleep, I’m still lying in bed, trying to figure out what to do with this information. How am I supposed to handle the fact that I’ll never get to go home again?

When I get to the point that my thoughts might drive me crazy, I finally decide to get out of bed and go for a walk to clear my head. One thing about Lunis Station is that it never shuts down. It’s not like I can go for a walk through the quiet halls to try to get a little alone time. Instead, I wander around the corridors until I end up in front of the Station’s laboratory. I don’t know why I’m here. Maybe it’s the curiosity of finding out where they’re keeping the capsule and what it is exactly. Knowing why Stosk wants it so badly could help me decide my next move.

No one is inside the lab when I step in. I’m careful not to touch anything because everything looks like it is extremely sterile in here. The long white tables throughout the room are empty except for the last one. The capsule is being kept inside of a clear container and, from what I can tell, it is locked up tightly. It is hard to wrap my head around how something so small is worth so much. There must be a reason that Stosk wants it back so badly.

Past the table are large windows that look out over the vastness of space. It’s so surreal looking out there and seeing nothing but stars. Not to mention the spaceships. It still seems like a dream, and yet I don’t need to pinch myself to know that it’s real. Koba makes it real. Discovering that this is my home now hasn’t hit me as hard as I expected it to. Home for me has become a transient concept. When my mom died, I moved on to try to find someplace that could become my new home. And all this time I’ve been waiting to return to Earth so I can return to my home. It never occurred to me that my home could be wherever Koba is. With him I’m not alone. He is my new family now. As soon as this realization happens, I know that I can’t go through with stealing the capsule. I need to find Koba and tell him what Stosk wants.

A sudden feeling of no longer being alone makes me turn to look behind me. I gasp when I see someone standing there, his face covered in a dark mask. How he got here without me hearing, I have no idea. But I’m not able to think about it long. In the next moment he reaches out and puts his hand to my face. I try to recoil out of his reach but he’s too quick. With my first breath to scream, my limbs become numb and I fall to the floor. I have just enough time to feel the fear in my heart before everything goes dark.