Niva laid comfortably on her side, waking slowly as Zayd’s hand caressed her hip. His fingertips roamed along her skin, light touches trailing from shoulder to waist to hip and then back again. The motion was soothing and made her think of summer days spent lying in the sun with nothing to do as a child. But she was no longer a child, and his touch inspired a growing desire within her womanly body.

She stretched languidly and rolled slightly onto her back. When he pulled his hand away, she kept her eyes closed and wiggled, encouraging him to continue his exploration of her flesh.

With a chuckle, he placed his hand on her belly and traced circles, spiraling out from her navel.

“So, you like to be pet?” Zayd’s voice hummed low with the gravelly scratch of early morning.

“Hmm.” Niva shifted her hips and rolled closer, her eyes still closed.

His hand made its way slowly up her body, tracing invisible patterns only he could see until he reached her breasts. There, instead of feathery touches, the palm of his large hand massaged her sensitive mounds.

“Are you going to sleep through me making love to you this morning?”

“Maybe,” Niva whispered, a crooked smile on her lips.

“I wonder if there’s anything I can do to convince you to open your eyes for me.” His voice was close, and his breath tickled the back of her neck. He placed kisses along the muscle connecting her neck to her shoulder, trailing down until he found her waiting nipple.

Niva arched up into him and moaned, loving the warmth of his greedy mouth as he sucked on her breast, his hand kneading the other.

“I don’t think that’s going to wake me up all the way.” She shimmied her hips against his naked body, his hard morning cock pressed against her thigh. She moved her legs, giving him something to rub against until his need for her grew into a fiery rod.

He moved up her body, licking and kissing his way until he reached her lips.

“You’re going to keep those eyes closed?”

Niva nodded with a goofy smile.

“I wouldn’t have guessed you for one who liked playing games.” Zayd moved his mouth back down her body, his tongue running slowly from her breasts down her middle until he reached her waist. His hands gripped her hip bones as his tongue danced around her navel, dipping in before licking his way lower. When he reached the top of her soft curly hair, he used his hands to spread her thighs.

Niva moaned in anticipation, rolling her head to the side and stretching her hands above her head.

“You’re like a lazy Katu sleeping on one of the rocks looking out over the sea.” Zayd kissed behind her knee, sending shivers through Niva’s body before making his way slowly up the inside of her thigh. He kissed and sucked, nibbled and licked. When he reached her entrance, he passed it over, trailing his hot breath against her growing need. Instead, he lavished his attention on the crease between her thigh and hip, sucking and nibbling on her hipbone.

“Zayd,” Niva moaned. His name fell from her mouth easily like it was always meant to be whispered in desire. The long sound of her moan stretched out his name until it became a plea.

“Are you going to open your eyes?”

Niva shook her head, her smile growing wider.

“What if I do this?” Zayd placed his tongue on top of her pussy and moved it deftly through the slit of her folds in long, delicious movements.

Niva shivered, lifting her hips up toward his mouth, begging for more.

“Would that convince you to open your eyes?”

“Maybe.”

Zayd chuckled again, his breath a hot staccato against her throbbing core. He dipped his mouth, breathing against her as his tongue opened her folds. He slowly licked from her opening to the top of her slit, where the bundle of nerves that cried out desperately to be touched lived. When he reached it, he placed his tongue flat against her clit without moving. The soft pressure, hot and warm, drove Niva insane.

She threw her head back and pushed her hips up, but his hold on her kept her still. She wrapped her legs around his shoulders, writhing and thrusting. The longer his heated mouth lay against her, the more frenzied she became. When she thought she couldn’t take it anymore, he pressed harder and flicked at her clit with the tip of his tongue.

Niva screamed, sitting up, her entire body shuddering as her orgasm began but remained incomplete. She hovered on the edge, desperately on the precipice of ecstasy.

From between her legs, Zayd looked up, his stubble brushing along her oversensitive pussy. “Your eyes are open.”

Niva laughed and fell back on the feather-stuffed pillows. “They’re open, and you win. You win everything. Just please don’t stop.” She panted with desire, and her hips moved without her direction.

At her plea, Zayd dove back in, his tongue and lips massaging her wet folds until she jerked against him, her screams mounting in intensity.

She felt his chuckling breath at her abandoned enjoyment, but she couldn’t care. She reached down and dug her nails into his shoulders as her body condensed only to the place where his tongue met her most intimate spot, and the world exploded into flashes of bright light, sending electric shocks through her entire existence.

She fell back, exhausted and sated.

Zayd moved up next to her and pulled her tightly into his arms.

She wiped his mouth with her hand, loving the lingering smell of her desire.

“Are you awake now?” Zayd asked, nuzzling into her neck, a habit he’d develop over the last twelve hours now that he had finally allowed himself to relax around her.

“I think that could officially be the best way to wake up in the entire universe. I speak from experience, seeing as how I have lived on two planets and one space station. As the intergalactic expert, I declare this to be the best way to wake up.” Niva sprawled next to him, arms and legs languid and relaxed.

“I’ll have to remember that,” he said, his hands still roaming over her body, sending aftershocks of pleasure through her.

She melted under his touch and turned to take his face in her hands. She stared deep into his black eyes and brushed the hair away from his face, revealing his scars. “I like being able to see all of you,” she breathed.

“It’s an ugly reminder.”

“A reminder of how brave you are. Of how you threw yourself right into danger and pain for someone you loved. That’s something to be proud of, not to hide.”

“You don’t really want to talk about Sotu, do you?”

Niva continued to run her fingers through Zayd’s hair, scratching her nails against his scalp and rubbing the muscles at the base of his neck. “We aren’t children. I don’t expect to be your first love. You know I came here to get away from a broken heart. We have histories, and I want to know yours so I can know you. That’s the only way we can build a future.”

Zayd closed his eyes with a sigh and pulled her tightly against him.

“If my heart hadn’t already frozen to stone, I could fall in love with you.”

“Then let me see if I can make you melt.”

She nibbled on his ear, pulling the lobe into her mouth and sucking. He wrapped his arms around her middle, their hips locked together. She lifted her leg, hitching her thigh up over his hip so she could feel his still hard erection against her belly.

“You feel so good,” he groaned and rolled her onto her back before settling himself between her legs.

She ran her hands along the slope of his shoulders, running them down the hard knots of his triceps and holding on as he positioned himself at her entrance and thrust forward.

His entry was slow but determined, the heat of his cock turning her body pliant. Still supple from her orgasm, she spread easily for his impressive girth and length. He moved with controlled precision as if he were performing a task as opposed to making love.

Niva opened her eyes and found Zayd’s jaw set hard.

She reached for his face, and he lowered his eyes to hers, the connection between them so much stronger with him inside her that she could feel his fear. She pulled him down close to her, and he rested on his elbows, allowing her to wrap her arms around his back. She rubbed the hard muscles bulging on either side of his spine and lifted her hips to meet his, causing him to let out a strangled groan.

She ran her hands along his body, exploring every scar and worshiping each scale her fingers passed over. In her mind, she could feel the old injuries and the way he relished the attention she paid to his skin.

His rhythm relaxed, their movements more natural as they floated together, connected in mind and body.

As their rhythm increased, Zayd plunged into her, pulling almost all the way out until she wanted to scream for missing the searing heat of his cock stretching her. When he rocked back, it was with a grunt and a cry.

“Let go,” she whispered

“I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You never could.”

He lifted up and looked at her in the eyes before bringing his lips to meet hers in a devouring kiss. He rose onto one arm to balance himself and rocked his body hard into hers.

She screamed out from the force of his thrust, her nails digging into his muscular shoulders as he reached depths she’d never known before. He let out a wailing cry as he released himself deep within her, and she clenched around his rock-hard cock, losing herself in the throes of passion as she worked herself against him until she found her own mind-numbing release.

He collapsed on top of her, brushing the stray hair from her face.

Niva breathed hard, enjoying the heat and weight of Zayd on top of her. Even though they’d had sex before, this was the first time she felt like he had really given himself over to her. She stroked his face and ran a hand down his chest, tracing the line of sweat beaded on his skin.

In the distance, an electronic wail broke their silent reverie.

Zayd pulled out quickly, leaving Niva empty and confused.

“What’s that?” She sat up, fear—both hers and his—skittering down her spine.

He pulled on his leathers in a rush. “Stay here. Don’t go anywhere.” He strode toward the door as if to leave her there, but Niva stood up on his bed, completely naked.

“Absolutely not. I’m coming with you. I can’t let you go alone. You might need a rider.”

Zayd worked his jaw, considering. “Then get some fucking clothes on,” he growled before striding outside.

As she dressed in a rush and stepped out of his quarters, she nearly ran directly into his back. He stood stock-still with an aura of tension around him, staring up into the sky.

Above them, ship lights flashed like shooting stars, and a high-pitched whizzing sound rose in the air. A second later, Niva realized the stars were metallic ships shooting from a deep, black void.

“Oh my gosh,” she gasped. “The wormhole. The humans are coming from the wormhole!”

The ships, numbering in the hundreds, filled the sky like a terrible, horrible galaxy. They streaked against the morning’s darkness, firing their missiles and shooting from their turrets. Snow and ice flew from the ground as the bullets connected. On the ground, Draqons ran, scattering as the artillery spray came toward them.

Some lay still on the ground. Dead.

To the left, a nearby mountaintop exploded, and the screams of the Draqons living in the hive dwellings there could be heard all the way in Zayd’s small valley. The alarm tripled in volume, and Draqons shifted as their mates grabbed weapons.

Zayd grabbed Niva’s hand and ran toward the control center where Maxsym was passing out guns.

“You should still be resting,” Zayd snapped as he grabbed a gun from Maxsym and passed it off to a woman waiting nearby.

“As if anyone can get any rest with all this racket,” he jabbed back, but his voice lacked humor.

Niva’s eyes were pulled skyward as another whizzing sound grew high-pitched and intense as it whisked by.

Grace brought out a box of arrows and began passing out bundles to the mated women.

Niva grabbed a bow and reached for a pack.

Zayd gripped her arm. “No, it’s too dangerous.”

“Decide now.” She stared him down, unwilling to have this conversation again. “Am I your rider or not?”

A growl rose from Zayd’s chest, and he clenched his fist as his eyes scanned over his hive. Explosions rose in the distance and more ships dove into Kladuu’s atmosphere. When he looked back at Niva, his jaw was set with determination.

“Let’s go.” He strode out into an open area and shifted into his magnificently colored Draqon.

Niva wished she could take a moment and appreciate his beauty. She had missed seeing his second form since their first flight. She ran a hand along his side, but he huffed an impatient plume of smoke in her direction.

She climbed onto his back, arrows secure in the quiver on her back, bow slung over her shoulder. She held on to his thick scales and gripped his back tightly with her thighs. The moment she thought, I’m ready, Zayd flapped his massive wings and rose straight into the sky, ascending with such velocity that she was flattened against his back.

Around them, fires had destroyed much of the dwellings. Raw rock lay crumbled in the springs, which flooded across the ground like spilt blood. A ship let out a metallic scream and went flashing across the sky, spinning nose over tail and colliding straight into a mountain. The Draqon pair who’d brought it down swooped into the air with a battle cry and dove back into the fray.

Other Draqons rose into the air with their mates shooting explosive arrows and guns at the human ships. Zayd and Niva joined them, his powerful wings carrying them over the canyons and mountains quickly.

The attack centered over the Vilkas’ mountain. They launched their own small ships, but the humans’ weapons were fast and lethal, knocking the Vilkas’ ships out of the sky faster than they could take off.

Draqons were more maneuverable and able to avoid the incoming fire, allowing them to get closer to the invading ships. The guns the Vilkas had provided took out ship wings and knocked the shuttles off course, but the real power laid in the arrows. They required precision to take down one of the human ships, but when properly aimed, they could destroy their enemy.

Niva felt a battle cry rise in her throat as Zayd soared higher, flapping his wings harder. She leaned down close to his body, letting the air rush over her, and the familiar thrill of shooting through the wind, wild and unrestrained, rose.

Zayd made a sharp turn to the left to avoid a large human ship that barreled toward the Draqons’ hive.

Using only her balance and leg muscles, Niva maintained her seat on his back as he swooped around and under the ship. She pulled off her bow, grabbed one of the explosive arrows, and pulled the string to her shoulder, targeting the human ship’s engine.