The way she stared at her ship—our ship—with such wonder made me realize she truly had not believed any of this was real. Until now.
Maybe she hadn’t even believed I was real. But seeing the Valor?
It was sixty feet of Velerion graphite composites, metal and tech that could fly through three sector grids in under a minute. Advanced jammers blocked everything from communications to missile guidance systems. The weaponry was the most advanced in the galaxy with two rotating laser cannons mounted beneath each wing as well as guided missile systems at both the front and rear of the craft. Combat pace at half the speed of light and short-range travel just shy of light speed. The starfighter craft was fast, deadly, and the only technology Velerion possessed that could hold Queen Raya’s Dark Fleet at bay. We just didn’t have enough of them. Nor enough pilots to fly them.
This ship, the Valor, had been waiting for her. Waiting for her to finish her training and become the Elite Starfighter she was destined to be.
She was more than a pilot, more than a pawn in the war between two planets. She was mine. I wanted more than to kiss her, to hold her in my arms. I wanted to watch her come alive beneath me instead of beside me in the Valor.
I touched the back of my neck where my mark matched hers. Where the black crest in my skin indicated that not only were we Elite Starfighters, but members of a pair bond. How had my other half been across the galaxy all this time? She’d been living her life, unaware that Velerion even existed.
I knew her through the training program, through the simulations, but having her before me, running her hand over the side of her ship, climbing the retracting steps to peek into the cockpit, I saw more than the Elite Starfighter. I saw Jamie Miller.
Her curvy body. The soft skin. The long dark hair I’d tangled my fingers in as she’d slept off her journey from Earth to the moon base. I’d held her as she’d rested, savored the weight of her in my arms. The heat of her skin, her scent. Watching her now, my cock hardened, lengthened in eagerness to learn her in all ways.
As I had on Earth, I needed her consent, needed to ask for another kiss. For more. Her body hummed for mine. I could see it in her eyes, in the flush of her cheeks. She’d accepted our bonding and agreed to come here. Once she got past the awe of a new planet, she would discover the depth of our partnership, that we weren’t just an Elite Starfighter pair, but forever matched. One.
And so I watched her, the curiosity on her face. The eagerness. The happiness as she looked over the ship. She turned on the top step, looked down at me. That gleam was now directed at me.
Her dark gaze raked over my face, my shoulders, took in my chest, every inch of me, then worked its way back up to mine. Her eyes held admiration. Wonder. Which meant, fuck… she was as intrigued by me as I was by her.
As the first Starfighter from Earth, I was the first Velerion who had a pair bond from that planet. We were unique, and the typical mating rituals didn’t apply. All I knew was that I wanted her. Had wanted her ever since I’d first glimpsed her training avatar all those months ago.
If I wanted to scare her off, the best way to do that wasn’t to tell her she was on a far-off planet, but that I’d dreamed about her, ached for her… even stroked myself while imagining her as mine. She’d saved me in ways she’d never understand. I’d endured the mission on Syrax because I had held on to the hope that she would succeed. That she’d graduate.
That she’d be mine.
Now she was. Mine. Looming before me. Looking at me in a way my body loved. That I craved. Needed.
Her pink tongue flicked out and licked her lower lip. And then she jumped, a gleeful sound escaping her lips.
I caught her instinctively, one hand around her back, the other cupping her ass. She locked her legs around my waist.
Her gaze met mine, and then she kissed me.
Holy fuck, this was it. Everything I’d ever wanted but never imagined was in my arms. Her body was so small compared to mine. Soft where I was hard. Curved where I was angular. Sweet. Lush. Perfect.
How could I be so possessive and protective of a female I barely knew? Yes, I’d told her we’d known each other for months through the training program, but it was different being truly with her. She was real, and I had my hands on her ass, my tongue in her mouth.
She was like fire in my arms. Ravenous. Wild. With one hand still cupping a lush swell of her ass, my other curled into her hair and tugged. Held her in place as I took over. A little moan escaped her, and I took advantage. Yes. Fuck, yes. This.
She was more than I’d envisioned. More than I’d fantasized about.
I shifted and pressed her into the side of our ship, rolling my hips so that my cock rubbed between her thighs. Only our clothes separated us now instead of light-years of space.
She moaned again.
I groaned.
A whistle pierced through my need, and I broke the kiss. I turned my head to the side, took in the grinning Gustar, and remembered we weren’t alone. I growled at the Starfighter.
Jamie might be mine, but I would not take her for the first time—or any time—where others could see her like this, so lost in me that she’d forgotten where we were.
She wasn’t the only one.
Releasing the hold on her ass, I lowered her, and she set her feet on the ground, leaned her head against my chest. A small, very feminine laugh escaped her swollen lips.
I kissed the top of her head. An innocent gesture, but I didn’t want to stop. Couldn’t. Lowering my head a touch farther, I whispered in her ear, “I had no idea a starfighter would get you hot.”
She shook her head, then tipped her chin up so her eyes met mine.
They were filled with need. For me.
“Alex,” she whispered, and her gaze dropped to my mouth.
Yeah, she was right there with me.
Just my name in that sexy way and I was about to come. Right here in the docking bay, surrounded by techs, mechanics, and shuttle pilots going about their business.
“Jamie.” I took a very deep breath and hoped the lower temperature inside the docking bay would cool me down. No luck. “I want more. That kiss. Fuck. I want you. Just like I did on Earth.”
“Except I want to remain conscious this time,” she said, a hint of a grumble in her words.
I didn’t blame her. The last thing I’d wanted to do was to knock her out, inject the cipher implants nanoparticles, and bring her to Velerion. I’d wanted to carry her to her bed and make her mine then and there. The only thing that had given me satisfaction—and instant possessiveness—was watching the matching Starfighter swirl appear on her neck.
“Want more?” I would have asked that about taking the starfighter for a joyride, but now it meant something else entirely. “The only way you’ll pass out this time will be from too much pleasure.”
Her gaze heated even more, as if that was exactly what she wanted.
“Yes,” she breathed, and I didn’t wait, just took her hand and tugged her past the long row of ships to one of the support control rooms. The lights came on automatically, and I kicked the door shut behind us. The hum and noise of the flight crews and repair teams were cut off by the door’s seal. Slapping my hand against the wall, I initiated the locking mechanism.
Now we were alone. I glanced around at the small space. There was nothing in the room, no furniture. All four walls were covered with either blinking lights or color-coded wires. A mission command specialist would know each one in specific and elaborate detail. There was no soft bed, but I didn’t need one. All I wanted was to be alone with her… immediately. This was the nearest bit of privacy I could find.