It was more than an hour later before she finally felt like she had a basic understanding of everything Joran was telling her.

“So, you’re telling me that your people acquired black market tech to go on a quest to find females before your species faces extinction? And this council of worlds or whatever they’re called doesn’t know that you’re here, on Earth, because you’re not supposed to approach any species until they reach some arbitrary list of developmental milestones.”

His lips twitched. “Your assessment is remarkably similar to what I said when my parents first informed me of their plan.”

“And what did they say to you?”

“Father gave me his duty, honour, and sacrifice speech, while mother claimed it was the will of the Gods.”

She blinked. “Wait, weren’t those the lines you gave me just this morning?”

Joran bowed his head, and she watched as a faint blush stained his cheeks right up to the tips of his ears. “It was.”

“I think your Gods are out of their minds. Out of an entire universe, they picked me to be your mate. What do I know about being a princess? Or a queen for that matter? I serve overpriced coffee to strangers for a living. They should have chosen someone else.”

“I don’t want someone else.” He lifted his head to stare at her with his incredible golden eyes. “The only woman I want, is you.”

She felt the truth of his words resonate through the bond they shared. Powerful. Undeniable. He meant every word, and her heart sang with hope. This was everything she’d dreamed of, but it was also more. So much more. To be with Joran, she’d have to forsake her plans to live small and simple. If she said yes, then everything changed.

Joran took her hand and gripped it tightly. “You’re still having doubts.”

“Wouldn’t you?”

He gave her a tender smile. “We’re bound together, Maggie. You know the truth of what I’m saying. Trust me. Please.”

She focused on the link between them. She couldn’t sense his thoughts directly, but she could feel his emotions. He cared about her. Deeply. He was worried, too. Worried she would say no. That he’d spend the rest of his life without her, alone.

She knew that fear intimately. She’d carried it with her since her father’s death. At that moment, she made her decision. This was her chance, and if she didn’t take it, she’d likely never have the courage to try again. She wasn’t going to let her fear hold her back. Not this time. “You’re sure?” she asked.

“I have never been more certain of anything in my life.”

“Then I guess we’re going to find out if your Gods know what they’re doing.”

He started to speak, but she raised a finger before he could say a word. “If you promise me that Lisa and Gwen can come, too. Mated or not. I’m not leaving them behind unless they chose to stay.”

A powerful sense of determination flowed through their link, and she knew without a doubt that he’d find a way to bring her friends to Pyros for her.

“If they want to leave, then I’ll make sure your friends accompany us back to Pyros. You have my word, seska.” He barely finished speaking before he had her in his lap, his strong arms wrapped around her as he crushed his mouth to hers.

His hands framed her face, tipping her head up as he kissed her with a ferocity that took her breath away. She moaned and he pressed in closer, his tongue delving into her mouth to tangle with hers as his hands left her face to take hold of her hips. Without breaking their kiss, he lifted her, turning her so she was straddling his thighs, the hard length of his cock pressed against her core.

Need coursed like molten metal through her veins, and she reacted out of instinct, grinding herself against him as she twined her arms around his neck. Joran’s hands slid up from her hips, spanning her rib cage and then sweeping up to cup her breasts in his hands. Every touch made the fire inside her burn hotter. Her clit throbbed in time to her pounding heart, and every part of her was aching with need.

Joran lifted his head and she gasped for breath, filling her lungs with cool air that did nothing to ease the heat sizzling through her.

“Tell me you’re mine,” he whispered, staring into her eyes.

“I’m yours. I will be your Queen, your mate, your everything.” She recalled the words he’d spoken to her the first time they’d been together. “And you will be mine from now until we return to the Flame.”

The smile he gave her was brighter than a thousand suns. “You remembered.”

“Did I say it right?”

“You said it perfectly, my mate.”

Pure joy surged through her, and she belatedly realized that Joran was the source.

“Why are you so happy?”

“Because I have you. I need you, Maggie. Not as my queen, or to hold onto the throne, or as the future mother of my children.” He laid his hand over her heart, then over his. “I didn’t know how empty my life was until I found you.”

She laid her hand over his and opened her heart to him. “I stopped believing in fairy tales and magic a long time ago. I thought it was easier to live that way. Then you came along and showed me that there is still magic in the universe. How else could you have found me?”

Her words were still hanging in the air between them as he kissed her again, this time with a tender passion that erased everything but the heat of his touch and the waves of need that pounded her relentlessly.

For the second time in as many days, he stripped her out of the same top, only this time he tore it off and let the tattered scraps fall to the floor. He kissed his way down her body, leaving a trail of fire from her lips to her throat to the rise of her breasts. When his lips brushed over her diamond-hard nipple, she gasped and arched her back in silent offering. He sucked her nipple into his mouth, lashing at it with his tongue until she was squirming in his lap.

By the time he raised his head again, his eyes were glowing a brilliant gold. Without a word, he helped her stand, then rose from the couch to help her out of the rest of her clothes.

“My bed is in there,” she pointed through the archway that led to her tiny room and even smaller bed. It was twin sized, and she had no idea how Joran would ever fit on it.

“We can stay right here,” he said after a quick glance. “More space.”

He pulled his shirt over his head, and all the air in the room vanished. It might have only been a few hours since she’d seen him naked, but somehow she didn’t think she’d ever get used to the sight. Unable to resist, she brushed her fingers down the sculpted lines of his stomach, tracing a path down until her fingers were stroking over the hard ridge of his cock.

“Keep going. I like having your hands on me.” The hunger in his voice amplified her own needs and she undid his pants with trembling fingers. Just like before, he wasn’t wearing underwear. His thick length fell into her hand, and she wrapped her fingers around him, stroking him with strong, slow pulls the way she’d learned he liked it best.

“Flames, the things you make me feel.”

He stripped off the rest of his clothes so quickly he almost lost his balance getting one sock off, and somehow that led to them landing in a breathless, laughing tangle on the floor of her living room.

They were still laughing when he moved over her, nudging her legs apart as he settled his big body into the cradle of her thighs. “I need you,” he murmured, leaning down to kiss her.

“I need you, too.” She stroked her fingers through his hair and then wrapped one leg around his hips, pulling him in tight.

Joran knew the Scorching was over, but his need for Maggie hadn’t waned at all. If anything, it was stronger and more focused. His hunger for her ran soul-deep. Looking down at his mate, he felt as if he was looking at a banquet that he could feast on for the rest of his life.

“Mine, forever.” He let his cock slide into her slick folds, priming her body with slow, teasing strokes. He didn’t take it further until she was trembling beneath him and her breathy moans took on an urgent edge. That was when he claimed her in one, slow-and-steady thrust that didn’t end until he was completely sheathed inside her.

The walls of her pussy flexed around his cock, and he let himself go. She met him thrust for thrust, their passion growing and merging until they were both out of control.

Nails scored his back, the biting sting only adding more fuel to the inferno raging inside him. He tried to slow his pace, but she wouldn’t let him. instead, she made love to him with her mouth, her tongue dancing with his, echoing the joining of their bodies.

He pounded into her, groaning her name as his orgasm built to a crescendo. She came with a wild cry, her body tightening around him as his cock thickened and swelled and his world went up in flames. He was a slave to the sensations coursing through him as he came, and it wasn’t until his senses finally calmed that he heard Maggie giggling.

“Well, there goes my damage deposit.”

“Huh?” The carpet around her was blackened and scorched. “Oops.”

“You can say that again. Is this going to happen often? If so, we’re going to need fireproof sheets.”

“I’ll learn to control it, in time.” He leaned in to kiss her. “Until then, best we avoid making love anywhere with flammable materials. I should have remembered the risk. I am sorry about the damage.”

“It’s not like I’m going to need my damage deposit, anyway. I’m not going to live here much longer, right? Shit, I have a lot to organize before then. I’m going to be busy.”

“We’ll leave for the Firebrand in a few cycles. After that, we’ll break orbit and begin the journey home. It will take some time to put enough distance between Earth and us that we can use the rift generator without being detected.”

“And how long until we reach your planet? Weeks? Months?”

“Less than an Earth week. The journey through the rift only takes a few minutes. We’ll make the rest of the journey in the normal way, and it will appear as if we never left the system.”

“Days, huh? Then we better make the most of our honeymoon. It’s going to be a short one.”

He rocked his hips, gently pumping his still engorged cock deeper into her body. “We have the rest of our lives together, seska. And I intend to make love to you every day we are given.”

She smiled up at him. “I like that plan. I’ve only got one more question before we put it into action. What does seska mean? You still haven’t told me.”

“It means beloved of my heart. And that’s what you are to me, Maggie O’Hara. You are my beloved. The one destined to claim my heart.”

She was laughing as she lifted her head to kiss him. “I promise to take good care of it, Joran Pyr. From now until the Flames claim us both.

They talked some more, and then made love in the shower where there was no risk of Joran setting the house on fire. By the time she was dressed and feeling like herself again, she still hadn’t heard from either Gwen or Lisa. The silence was worrying.

“I should have heard back by now. Is there any way you can contact Vadir and at least confirm that Lisa is with him?”

Joran nodded. “I’ll have Kash ping his ship’s computer. Even if Vadir’s still in the thrall of the Scorching, the ship should be able to tell us if he’s aboard, and who might be with him.”

“The computer? What about his guards?”

“No guards. Vadir likes to do things for himself. He’s stubborn about things like that. He even pilots his own ship. Why don’t you try calling your friends again, and I’ll contact Kash.”

She called Lisa’s number first. It went straight to voicemail again. Gwen’s rang through, but there was no answer. Where were her friends and why weren’t they answering their phones?

Joran was still speaking in Pyrosian by the time she finished the second call. She had no idea what he was saying, but when he started to smile, she felt a pang of hope that he’d had better luck than she had.

The moment he stopped talking, he tucked the device back into his pocket and grinned at her. “You can stop worrying. Your friends are fine. Both of them.”

She jumped to her feet. “Where? How? Are they okay? Why aren’t they answering their phones?”

“They’re both fine. The rest of your questions you can ask them yourself. I’ve got their coordinates. We’ll hop back to the ship, and I’ll have Keth fly us there.”

“Let’s go!” She bounced over to his side and took his hand. “Poof us back to the ship already.”

“I will, but not yet. Your friends have a request for you. They’d like you to bring them some clothes.”

“Clothes? Why would--Oh. Oh my. Both of them?”

“Both. It would seem the Gods have been busy.”

She burst out laughing. “It would seem so. Oh, this is such good news!”

She packed quickly, handing items to Joran as she raced from room to room. Cosmetics, clothes, hair brush, shoes. More or less everything she’d wished she had when she woke up on Joran’s ship this morning. When the bag was full, a wicked thought occurred to her and she darted back into Gwen’s place for one last item.

“What is that?” Joran asked as she reappeared, staring at the bright red canister she’d liberated from under Gwen’s sink.

“A fire extinguisher. We should probably invest in a few more before we leave.”

He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her in for a heated kiss. “We’ll add it to the list. Hang on to me, I’m taking us back to the ship, now.”

She hung on tight and closed her eyes as the ear-piercing shriek heralded the start of another teleportation. This time, though, she didn’t dread the journey through the void. Joran was with her, and that made all the difference.

With her mate at her side and her friends at her back, she was ready for whatever the Gods had planned. Let the adventure begin.

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