CHAPTER FIFTEEN

SYREK

He closed the distance between them slowly, as if hunting a timid animal through a dense forest. Every other time, she had fled from his advances, and frankly it exhausted him. If she wished to leave, let her do it now. Not when he was riled up with want and need.

This time, she tilted her head and met his eyes without flinching. He reached a hand for her face, but when he hesitated, she spoke. “I’m ready for you to touch me now.”

It was all the invitation he needed.

The ribbon in her hair unwound with a tug from his fingers, and her hair tumbled down. He tangled his fingers into her locks and pulled her closer, until her chest bumped into his stomach. When his lips met hers, the pounding in his head didn’t matter. The ache in his bones faded. All was right in the world because he could touch her.

A groan left his throat against his will, and she murmured back. Her hand slid up his ribs and around his back, the coolness of her fingers brushing away the fevered heat from his body. Her hair tickled his chest. She was soft and pliant in his arms, and he deepened the kiss, letting his tongue slip into her mouth.

To his surprise, she broke the kiss and pulled away from his embrace.

“Don’t tell me to stop,” he whispered. “I might die if you do.”

A smile played across her lips, and to his relief, he saw desire burned in her eyes. “We wouldn’t want that.”

She tugged his hand and led him to the bed. He dragged his heels, not because he didn’t want to move their activities there, but because with her walking ahead, he could study the way the fabric of her dress swished against her rear.

Magical.

“I told you to lie down,” Mara said, her voice slow and sultry. She placed her fingers on his chest and pushed gently. Where she touched his skin, electricity radiated out, sending jolts of pleasure down his body.

“Mmm, I’m terrible at following orders.” But he lay down on his back, propping his arms behind his head. A few hours ago, his bed had been a prison, trapping him within his suffering body. When she stood at the foot of it, biting her lip, she transformed his humble berth into the most wonderful place on Haven.

His chest tightened when she undid the ribbon on her dress and let it fall to the floor. The dress was a shapeless sack patterned in orange, but it made her look like the sun. When the dress slipped off her shoulders and down her body, she became the moon, emerging at sunset. To be honest, Syrek hadn’t seen many sunsets, but he was fairly sure Mara put all of them, across every planet in every system, to shame.

She stood before him, nearly naked, soft and curvy, and absolutely delicious. Her fingers trailed down her side, and she half wrapped an arm around herself. When he noticed her shoulders hunch, he spoke aloud what was in his mind.

“You are beautiful.”

And he intended to prove it to her.

Extending his hand to her, he pulled her onto the bed, and rolled, so he lay above her and his sex pressed into her. Her eyes widened, and she gasped. The captivating expression on her face awoke something primal inside him, and he felt that call again.

Mine.

As much as he fought his attraction to Mara, he couldn’t deny it. Everything about her was sensual and rich, and when he tasted her mouth, he wanted more. He kissed her neck, and her breasts, and marveled at the way her nipples stiffened under his caresses.

His brain urged him to stay in control. To not lose himself in Mara. He knew he wandered along a very dangerous path. One false move, and he would fall. Fall into her. Fall into love. Fall into darkness.

He had to keep control of this situation, for his own sanity. For his own good. She had bewitched him, and when he was this distracted, he could only make mistakes.

And mistakes could at times be fatal.

His hands skimmed her skin as he nuzzled her breasts. When he nipped, she hissed, but in pleasure. It made his rod twitch, and it strained against his pants.

If this is a fatal mistake, then let me die happy.

She arched her back, moaned, and her legs parted as his tongue worked his way down her belly. Over the years, he’d had enough erotic encounters with alien species to know what that meant. Syrek kept going.

Beneath his hands, her ass was pliant and she gasped when he squeezed. Her hand brushed his shoulder and cupped his cheek. Her nails scraped his skin, and he paused long enough to kiss her finger tips before burrowing his face into her curls.

As expected, her vocalizations grew louder. Sex was sex, no matter the species, but unlike any other coupling he had participated in, this one mattered. He wanted Mara to have a good time. He didn’t want to linger, not when the urgency of his need threatened to wipe out any semblance of control. Yet he knew that if he rushed this, he would regret it later.

Her thigh trembled beside his head. “Oh, yes,” she crooned. “Just like that.”

He kept going, exploring with his tongue, his lips, and his fingers. To his delight, she responded, grinding into him, guiding him. He had waited so long to touch her, and taste her, and now that he had her, he couldn’t seem to get enough. If he kept fighting the pressure building inside his body, he might explode.

“Oh, yes! Syrek!” When she gasped out his name in ecstasy, he saw stars for a moment. His head spun, and he placed his hand against the bed to steady himself.

Then his hunger pressed in.

“Feet,” he ordered. “Here.”

She raised her legs, and hooked her heels on his shoulders. He grabbed her hips and hitched her higher, then leaned forward. For a moment, he paused, knowing, somehow, that once he continued, there would be no going back. Something in this moment was clamoring for his attention, but when Mara sank her teeth into her bottom lip, he didn’t care.

He drove himself into her, making her shout his name. She wrapped around him, warm, wet, and wonderful. So tight, and so smooth, but every slight movement he made sent waves of sensation washing over him. It was almost too much, but he wanted to ride those waves to the ends of the universe and back.

Somewhere in his mind were a million words he wanted to speak to her. Words that he would only ever be able to say when he was this vulnerable. He couldn’t bear to let them escape, because if he did, they would bring with them a torrent of emotion for which he was simply not ready. He would rather drown them than ruin this delicate…

Whatever it was, he knew it was fragile.

With every thrust, he felt himself unraveling, giving in to the magic she wove around him, making forget everything else that existed beyond the confines of his bed. With every stroke, he was unmade and then reborn.

His climax approached, and the world narrowed down to the sensations washing over him, and the bliss on Mara’s face. Her mouth parted, and she gasped as he pushed inside her. Her feet locked behind his neck, and he was pulled closer to her.

“Open your eyes,” he whispered. “Look at me.”

She obeyed, giving him a view of the sultry heat in her brown eyes. Not just desire burned there. Something else did too. Something deeper. Something he never thought he would ever see in a woman’s eyes.

“Syrek,” she breathed. “My love.”

It was too much.

Inside his chest, his heart spasmed. It locked, and for a moment, the dizziness threatened to overwhelm him. Yet he felt no fear. Just a huge sense of calm and belonging.

I am hers.

How had she done this to him? Wound him up into her soul, until he couldn’t bear the thought of being apart from her? His heart resumed beating, and he came, the orgasm tearing through his body, leaving him shaky and weak.

Beneath him, Mara cried out, her hand dug into his shoulder, and he felt a glow of contentment that he had managed to carry her along with him. His arms gave way, and he rolled to the side so not to crush her. She nuzzled into him, and her contented sigh fanned out across his chest.

“That was nice,” she murmured. “Thank you.”

He would have laughed at that if he hadn’t been so exhausted. “My pleasure.”

She giggled. “Mine, too.” She burrowed deeper into his arm, and her body relaxed. “Mine, too.”

As he plummeted down toward sleep, realization clapped down on him. Beneath Mara’s breath, deep down in his chest, under his ribs, he felt an unfamiliar sensation. The rush of his blood sped up. His heart clenched and released, clenched and released, in a brand-new rhythm that… echoed.

His dormant second heart beat for the first time.

She’s mine.

She’s my Avowed.

She’s mine, because she’s my Avowed.

She was the other part of his soul. The very reason his second heart beat in his chest. For the rest of his life, he and the feisty human cradled in his arms were linked together. Through their partnership, he would grow stronger and more resilient.

Fear gripped his belly.

And I am hers.

The bonding of Avowal also brought weakness. If her heart stopped, so too would his. Their lives were bound together by unseen threads, and for the rest of his life, his mate would be both his glory and his downfall.

One day, she would choose to leave Haven. She would return to her planet, and she would take a chunk of his heart with her. The part of his heart he needed most. For the rest of his life, he would exist in two places at once. He would never be whole again, unless he was making love to her, and even then, it would be a fleeting togetherness that would vanish once she left his bed.

In a few moments of passion, she had chained him to her. Made him a prisoner on his own body, and a slave to his own heart.

I understand now why Father treated Mother in that manner.

As hard as he fought, he could not keep the exhaustion at bay, and as his eyes slipped closed, he knew he needed this fragile human to remain by his side, forever.

Because the truth was, he would always be hers, but she could never be his in all the ways he needed her to be.

Unless he forced her to stay.