I felt like a madman, like some kind of starving creature standing before a feast. Everything in the world had shattered in the presence of a glaring clarity. It felt like I had discovered something new, as though I had opened my eyes and suddenly seen color for the first time.

I held fast to her, not ready to face this alarming reality. The connection I had felt with her was unlike anything I could have ever imagined, like finding something that my subconscious had been seeking in secret.

I felt almost betrayed by my emotions, by my subconscious. It was as if I had led a double life, like she had always been there on the edge of my psyche, hovering in my dreams, faceless, nameless, hidden behind some veil. Now, the veil was gone and I was helpless in the face of the tidal wave that had crashed down on me.

I felt alarmingly desperate for her. I wanted Tasha here with me, beneath me, around me. I wanted to suffocate beneath my need for her. I was a subatomic particle who had somehow become self-aware of the vastness within which I existed.

I suddenly understood Karun’s rather pathetic attempts to put distance between himself and Andie. I began to wonder, to marvel at the possibility that I had found a mate. I had thought the realization would occur logically, when I was prepared and expecting it. To have it suddenly hit me and with such force, was too much. It was all just too much and I didn’t know how to process it.

We were still intertwined. Her naked body was perfection. She was toned, fit, her lean muscles giving her a look of slender strength. When her long legs had wrapped around me, it had felt like our bodies existed simply to fit together.

We hadn’t spoken a word, just stared in wonderment at one another. The night had faded and we lay together in the dark, quiet. She had fallen asleep with her head on my chest. Her large breasts rose and fell with each breath, tantalizing and tempting me.

I greedily wanted to make love to her again. Had she been awake, there would have been no hiding that fact, but while she slept I lay in silent contemplation, my arms around her as I tried to both process and suppress my feelings.

I felt the heavy weight of guilt for having misled her about my identity. If she truly was my mate, if this was the beginning of something greater than I had ever expected, what would it mean to have predicated everything on a lie? At the same time, I had no idea how to go back and fix it.

Our joining had been incredibly intimate and I knew she must have recognized that, too. I had no idea how she would react to my deception. Which brought me to another startling point: I really didn’t know that much about her. But, oh, how I wanted to.

I drifted in and out of an unpleasant dream. In it, Tasha was being pulled from me by some winged creature. I gave chase, desperately trying to catch her. I caught them in the middle of a lush, green valley. Tasha ran away, terrified and cowering, as I confronted the attacker.

It was an iridescent black Infernian demon. We squared off. I shifted and attacked. As we collided, the demon sliced my throat with a wooden blade I had used as a child. I fell to the ground and the demon approached, shifting to a human form.

He approached my limp form slowly. His boots, all I could see as the blood poured out of me, crushed the soft grass. As he went to strike the death blow, I saw his face—my face. From behind the demon, Tasha shot him, taking off his head, and wept.

As I came to, I saw the faintest streaks of orange light on the horizon as the two suns of Vaxivia began their slow climb in the sky. I was still overset with confusion and alarm, but I felt Tasha stir beside me.

She reached out, stretching her arms, straightening her legs, inadvertently pressing her body against mine and pushing all other thoughts far from my mind.

She looked up at me with sleep-heavy eyes and she knew I was lost.

“Hey, you,” she whispered, her voice scratchy from sleep.

“Good morning,” I whispered back, sweeping the wavy locks off her face.

Her face was strikingly beautiful, even more so now that the makeup had worn off. She had been gorgeous before, but lying naked and a little wild before me, she was the most perfect creature I could have envisioned.

I leaned down and kissed her, feeling an incredible surge of lust at the contact. Tasha responded eagerly. She was still slightly languid from sleep and I loved the feeling of her, supple, pliant, and ready for me.

I stroked my hands lightly across her skin, rousing her senses. Lightly, I dragged my nails over the large swell of her breasts, two full, tantalizing peaks. She sucked in her breath, so I concentrated my efforts, slowly, gently increasing her need.

Her breath came in quicker pants as I lowered my mouth to one erect light brown nipple and played with it between my tongue and teeth. I put my hands to use at her entrance. She was wet and swollen, and as I stroked her, letting my fingers slip in and out in soft strokes, I used my thumb to apply pressure as I circled her tight bud.

I felt humbled by the sincerity of her reactions, by how vulnerable and open she was as I brought her pleasure. I knew I didn’t deserve her trust, and yet she had freely given it. Now that I had it, I did what I could to repay her with sensation.

I felt the ache of my own passion as she came for me, her body tensing, muscles contracting in pleasure. I locked eyes with her as she did and it was as if her pleasure was my own.

As she came out of the fog of her release, I expected her to lie back and recover herself. Instead, it was like she had been somehow energized. Her hand snaked down my body and gripped me.

Playfully, she stroked me. “Your turn,” she said hungrily, covering my body in wet kisses.

I couldn’t form words. She explored my shaft with her tongue, swirling in a tight circle around the tip and laving in long strokes along the length, using her hands as much as her mouth.

I felt my body arching outside of my control. She looked up at me with a wicked little smile. Bathing my shaft with her tongue, leaving me wet from her attentions, she leaned forward, cupping her plump breasts together around my shaft. She stroked me slowly; it was the most erotic thing I had ever seen.

I gripped the bedclothes, feeling myself propelled toward the edge of restraint. I felt the urge to roar, to give voice to the dragon inside me. Instead, I groaned, throbbing and so close to exploding.

“Tasha,” I pleaded.

She smiled mischievously. “Shhh, it’s your turn—just lie back and let me play.”

It was clear Tasha was relishing her position of control. Incredible as it was, I realized I craved more than simple release. I craved the connection we had shared the night before.

I sat up, my body screaming at the temporary loss of her touch.

“If it’s my turn, then I want to take you with me,” I said, pulling her up and onto my lap, sliding easily into her wet heat.

She gave a little whimper at the instant pleasure of our bodies connecting. Straddling my legs, she pushed me backward again.

“I’m used to being the boss, remember?” She was unbelievably provocative as she took back the reins.

Content to be inside her, I lay back and let her take the lead. I raised my hands to her chest as she rode me hard, her breasts bouncing in my palms.

We were both gasping, clawing for release. She grew tighter around me, and feeling her so close to release drove me further. I lowered my hands to her hips, bracing and thrusting into her with even more fervor.

I felt the swell of my release as the tight muscles of her center spasmed around me. It felt so good, so incredibly right as she came with a sobbing cry and I rode the wave of pleasure with her. She fell forward to my chest and I held her as the feeling rocked through us.

I held her to me even after the bulk of the sensation had abated. Sharing breath, foreheads pressed to one another, I cupped her face, kissing her, and greedily taking what I could.

The suns had climbed a fair amount into the sky when we finally broke contact. Tasha pulled away first and I had the strongest impulse to pull her back.

Tasha sat up, pulling one of the silken bed linens up and covering the glorious orbs of her chest. She raked her fingers through her hair as she studied me and bit her lip.

“So, you probably have work today…” she said, looking at me apprehensively.

“I don’t know or care. Let’s just stay here in bed,” I replied as I crawled up to her and kissed her neck.

She giggled as I tickled a sensitive spot in the crook of her neck with my tongue. The sound of her laughter and the way her body shook with it made me hard again.

“Well, sadly, I can’t quite do that,” she said, her laugh catching on a gasp as I pulled the sheet away and caressed her core.

“You said it yourself: you’re the boss, right? You get to do what you want, and, right now, I think you want this more,” I said, sliding into her slick passage once again.

She threw her head back and moaned my name. I stroked her slowly, excruciatingly slowly, until she was straining for me, and then I pulled out. I hovered, aching and hard at her entrance, rubbing myself along the soft, pliant lips of her sex.

I knew it wasn’t fair, but I didn’t care. I wasn’t ready to let her go. “So, boss, what’s it going to be?” I lowered my head to her throat and devoured her soft skin.

Her sharp nails gripped my arms as she panted. “Ragal, please, just… take me.”

“Spend the day with me,” I said, feeling suddenly vulnerable, needing her to need me.

She moaned as I entered her just an inch. “Yes, oh god, yes!”

Satisfied, I plunged into her with more vigor, pumping with all the urgency I felt. Our love-making was like a tempest, and, in the aftermath, we were like scattered, broken trees.

She looked at me afterward, cradled in my arms. “I need to ask you something.”

I felt a small panic, but smoothly replied, “If the question is, do I want to take you again, the answer is yes.”

She quirked an eyebrow and let her hand travel down, looking a little startled by what she found.

“You didn’t believe me?”

She smiled, pleased. “Well, I won’t complain, but that wasn’t what I wanted to ask.”

“Pity.”

She laughed and then sobered somewhat. “I just, I’m wondering…what happens when I leave here?”

“Well, the easy solution is that you shouldn’t leave.”

She rolled her eyes but smiled. “But, seriously, was this… well, I wasn’t expecting to meet someone last night, but there you were, all hot and mysterious, and I don’t regret any of it. I’m just wondering, did you want to leave it at that?” she asked, trying to read my eyes.

“If you’re asking whether I could, after last night and this morning, be content with just that…” I kissed her passionately. “Let me assure you, ‘leaving it at that’ is the furthest thing from my mind.”

Another hour later, it was already late-morning, and realities became necessary to address. We started with breakfast.

I used the service panel to order food. Charles had arranged our accommodations, creating a line of credit for us that would be paid through our galactic trust once we could reconnect with our ship.

Sharing a meal with her was far easier than I had expected. We lounged and ate. We chatted casually, talking about our research interests, vehicles, and her aerospace manufacturing business on Vaxivia, which I was genuinely interested in.

“I have to tour our newest factory this afternoon. You’re welcome to join me, if you want,” she offered, surprising me with the invitation.

“I would love to,” I replied and she looked pleased.

We finished our meals, and, while she used the refresher chamber, I ordered something for her from the concierge.

She came out. “Well, I need to get back to my place and get some clothes,” she started, as a buzz came from the door.

I walked over and retrieved the package. “Whatever you prefer, but I took the liberty of sending for this.”

Tasha looked surprised and blushed. She opened the package and pulled out the crisp charcoal gray suit and white silk blouse.

She looked impressed. “It’s perfect, thank you.”

“I’ll admit, the impulse was selfish,” I added.

“How so?” she asked, looking confused.

I stepped closer to her, reaching into the opening of her borrowed robe. “Well, if you dress here, we’ll have more time for this…” I said as I lifted her onto the counter in front of me, pressing my body to her.

She laughed, wrapping her legs and arms around me. “By all means, be selfish.”

So I was.

We barely arrived at the factory in time. I had been very selfish, in fact, and it took some crafty piloting for us to arrive in time.

It was a large, plain building on the outskirts of Steel City. Tasha greeted the foreman and factory manager, going over logistical details for the first few minutes, then we walked the floor and the manager showed us several new prototype vehicles that were set to start production.

As we toured the facility, I was impressed by not only the smoothness of the operation, but also by Tasha’s involvement. She was more knowledgeable than the foreman and suggested several tweaks and corrections to the assembly system.

It was clear she was intimately involved in every aspect of her business. Even more clear was the fact that the quality of what they were creating was important to her.

We walked the floor together, her foreman and manager dropping behind to attend to several of her suggestions.

“So, what do you think?” she asked, looking eagerly to me.

“You run a tight, efficient ship. It’s very impressive. I didn’t realize how involved you were with the design and construction of your product line.”

“Thanks! And yes, it’s important to me to be involved in the technical side of things. One, I love it, and two, if I understand the product and the accompanying manufacturing needs, I can make better, more informed decisions on the administrative and financial end.

“Part of the reason my father was able to build this company so well is because he was an engineer to start and he understood the science. He wasn’t just some suit in a boardroom, cutting programs or funding blindly. He had his finger on the pulse of our company, and still does, he just can’t be as involved on a daily basis.”

It seemed as good a time as any, so I asked, pushing through the guilt, “Given your interest in developing technology, I wonder if you’d like to join my team on our current project: tracking a bit of alien technology here on Vaxivia.”

She looked intrigued. “Alien technology? On Vaxivia? That’s certainly news to me, but yes, I’m definitely interested. What sort of technology is it?”

“My team and I have a contact who has strong reason to believe a ship crashed near a small outpost west of here. We have been working on tracking the wreckage and what we believe may be life pods.”

“Wow! That sounds fascinating. I’d love to have a look at an alien aerospace vehicle. I’m always interested in improving our flight and navigation technology. Are you committed to a client for the findings?”

I felt uncomfortable lying, but there was no turning back now. “Actually, no, our interest is more personal. I’m hoping to build a ship from the wreckage we recover. It could add significant value to our business. I believe the ship may have stealth programs that could possibly shield against Earth Federation detection software.”

“Really? I’d love to get a look at what you find, if you’d be willing to share the knowledge. I don’t want to impose. I understand business is business, of course.”

“Well, perhaps we could benefit each other. I’d be willing to give you first look at the tech we recover if you would be willing to participate in rebuilding the ship.” It all hinged on this and I held my breath.

“Hmm. Technically, I think there might be some red flags with militia ordinances…” She paused and then cracked that mischievous grin I was growing quite fond of. “Of course, Steel City is not officially under militia jurisdiction, so if you were to bring the remains back here, we could construct it within the city boundaries and bypass militia restrictions.”

“You’re quite the little rebel.” I smiled.

She laughed. “Well, you don’t successfully run a major operation like this without knowing how to work around obstacles.”

We walked back to the front of the building, chatting and laughing. Now that her cooperation was ensured, it was time for her to meet my brothers.