He’s wearing only a loincloth, as most of the warriors do, and it does nothing to disguise his arousal. Beneath the leather strip hanging from his hips, I can feel him rigid and eager, straining between us as he makes a small, hungry noise deep in his throat.
With his gaze still fixed on mine with that surprised, slightly dazed expression, he turns me and backs me up against the wall, his body still close to mine. I feel a surge of desire again, and a sudden, deep need to run my hands over him, to strip away our clothes and feel him naked against me.
I want to see every inch of him, and as he cups my face with his large hand, his gaze flicking to my lips as a groan rumbles in his chest, I’m very close to giving in and touching him. He’s the hottest man I’ve ever seen, and just minutes ago I would never in my wildest dreams have thought he’d do anything more than keep a respectful and professional distance from me.
And now he’s got me up against a wall, only my own clothing and his loincloth keeping him from sliding between my legs and feeling how wet and achingly aroused I am.
He leans forward, his breath warm against my hair, his expression one of awe.
“I had no idea it would feel like this,” he murmurs, his voice thick and heavy with desire. “I didn’t know…”
“What?” I breathe, the word an impossibly soft whisper. “Know what?”
I’m not even sure he heard me, at first. But then he answers, still holding my gaze as if he’ll never look away.
“You are my Irisa.”
My eyes go wide with shock as I stare up at him, frozen in place.
I know exactly what he means. I know what Irisa means.
Mate.
There’s no doubt about what he’s saying to me.
Something inside me lurches, pushing me toward him, drawing me like the pull of a magnet. In this moment, I don’t think about why it’s impossible, why it can’t be, why there must have been a mistake. I don’t think about the glaring reason why I can’t possibly be anyone’s Irisa, especially not Druxik’s. This tall, handsome, cocky pilot could have any woman in the universe, so why would he want me?
But none of that registers fully. My mind has gone perfectly, absolutely blank, with only the echo of his voice murmuring Irisa over and over.
I’m petite, even compared to an average human man, and Druxik definitely isn’t average. I’m shorter than he is by a long shot, but that’s not going to stop me now. I’ve never wanted anything the way I want him, no matter how irrational it is. I can feel that same desire pounding through him too, and I’m powerless to resist it.
I stretch up onto my tiptoes as I reach up to wind my arms around his neck, bringing my lips toward his. His are full, and they look soft and warm. There’s nothing in all the world that I want more than to feel them pressed up against mine, to learn the texture and taste of him.
My body is screaming for it. For him.
He mirrors my action, his hand stroking my hair as he dips his head to bring his lips toward mine as well.
And then, just as he’s about to kiss me—or I’m about to kiss him, it’s impossible to tell which—the ship lurches wildly, throwing us both sideways.
An alarm blares through the air.
6
Druxik
It feels like I’ve been jolted out of a trance.
My brain feels foggy, slightly dazed with the unexpected realization that I’ve found my Irisa. I’m flooded with emotions—shock, desire, uncertainty as to whether or not I’m ready for this, and happiness that out of all the Terran women, it’s Cora.
She’s different from other females I’ve known, in all the ways that I would have hoped to find in a mate. She’s intelligent, brave, and tender besides being beautiful. I can’t help but feel a thrill of joy that she’s the one the mate bond has chosen for me.
But the ship’s alarm cuts through both my desire and my elation.
I’ve been a warrior and a pilot for a long time, and that training runs deep. It focuses me instantly, pushing everything else to the background for the moment.
The pulsing shriek of the alarm is familiar. This particular alarm signifies an engine failure, not an attack. But that’s not much better, out here in the depths of space. We’re too far from Kalix to turn around or call for help, and not close enough to any other planet to put out an alert.
Something has gone wrong, and I need to find out what it is. Quickly.
I blink, pulling away from Cora, who’s staring up at me wide-eyed. We’re both breathing heavily, and I can feel the aching weight of my arousal, the lust pounding through my body like a second heartbeat, hard to ignore even now.
I’ve never desired anyone as much as I do her in this moment. I’ve never felt anything like what washed over me when she touched me, the powerful, all-consuming need to take her, to claim her, to make her mine.
If not for the alarm, I’m not entirely sure that I wouldn’t have claimed her here in the hallway, heedless of the fact that someone could’ve walked past at any time and seen us. I’ve known desire, but I’ve never felt an urge like this before, something that could override all of my good sense. It’s almost frightening.
As our bodies separate, I can feel some of the tension between us ease, as if the connection has severed. It leaves me feeling empty somehow, but I can’t stop to dwell on that now. There will be time to explore the bond between me and Cora later, but I have to be a pilot and warrior first.
I have to keep her and everyone else on board this ship safe.
Turning on my heel, I run down the corridor and race toward the engine room. Several of the other members of the squadron fall in with me on the way, everyone on high alert.
“What’s happened?” M’Xelni asks breathlessly, and I shake my head.
“I don’t know,” I tell him grimly. “But we’re about to find out.”
It’s immediately apparent when we enter the engine room what has happened. The mechanism that powers it has several separate, small components that spin at an incredibly high speed.
They’ve gotten jammed, which is one of the worst possible things I could have imagined.
If the pressure on the engine continues to build, it’ll cause an explosion that will most likely kill everyone on the ship. If by some miracle some of us survive, the ship would be too badly damaged to fly, the communication systems wiped out. Those of us who lived through the explosion would be left drifting in space, with no way to call for help.
“M’Xelni, Vrexen, grab the tools I need,” I direct them, my voice tight and sharp. “Zhori, help me over here. I need someone to put a direct light on this so I can see what I’m doing.”
My heart is thudding in my chest, and I remember what I thought back in the council room on Kalix when I saw the fear in Cora’s eyes as she made her argument.
Fear doesn’t mean you’re not brave. It means you’re smart enough to know what’s worth being afraid of. Bravery is doing it anyway.
I saw determination in her face then, and the memory of how brave my mate was spurs me on. Even now, as I work to get the engine running again before it blows the entire ship to pieces, it feels as if a small part of me is back in the ship’s hallway with her. I can’t shake the memory of how sweet her body felt pressed up against mine, of how close her lips were.