Page 80 of You're Not My King!

We went from standing at a distance, eye-fucking each other, to him catching me as I launched myself into his arms. He spun as I wrapped myself around him, clinging on for dear life and kissing him for all I was worth, over and over and over until his lips were swollen and slick, and his hard dick throbbed against my thigh.

Fuck, I was so happy.

How could I ever have thought that Earth would bring me more joy and contentment than I felt here? With Vo’ak.

I seriously could not have wished for more.

“I’ve missed you so…” Kiss. “Fucking.” Kiss. “Much.”

“Yes, I can tell,” he rumbled, amused, nuzzling my hairline and inhaling a greedy lungful of my scent. He hummed in pleasure. “My mate is eager for me, I sense.”

I melted into his touch, certain parts of my body perking with interest. It felt good to have him beside me again, his smell, his voice, his touch. There was truly nothing better than this. “Always.”

“As I am for you, more so than typical,” he said, but contradicted his words by setting me back on my feet.

I pouted up at him. “Then… hut?”

He chuckled fondly, cupping my cheek in his large, clawed hand, his rings cool against my flushed skin. “I shall take you until you are sore and squealing, little creature, do not fret. But first, I have a gift.”

Hm. I guessed I could be patient and ride him until he was cross-eyed after gifts. “You brought me a present?”

“Yes.” He let go of my face to fish in one of the pockets of his harness, bringing out what looked like a tiny gadget. Two tiny gadgets, in fact, both flat gray disks about the size of a silver dollar with lights dotted around the edge. It reminded me of my granddad’s hearing aid, but without the actual earpiece. They were very out of place here, on a planet with literally zero technology, but that made it even more exciting, like we were the first to discover fire.

“What are they?”

“Help us understand,” he answered vaguely, and my brow furrowed.

“Understand?”

He nodded and pinched one of the devices between his thumb and forefinger before placing it behind his ear. There was a beat of silence before a click sounded and Vo’ak winced. He offered the other disk to me. “Trust?”

I chewed at my bottom lip. “Does it hurt?”

“For a moment.”

I reached out to take it, trusting Vo’ak completely and curious to know what the gadget did. I mirrored his actions, pressing the disk behind my ear and waiting. The same flickery noise happened—louder, as if echoing right inside my ear—before a sharp sting had me flinching. It was like needles shooting into my skin and hooking, adhering the device to my neck. I panicked, but Vo’ak curled his fingers around my nape and squeezed, soothing me.

After another moment, the pain subsided, and a weird sensation rummaged around in my head before settling. “What was that?”

“I am told they are named translating devices,” he said, and I was so busy pawing at my new addition that it took a full second for me to realize he had spoken in his own tongue. “It connects to nerves and converts the language as the sound waves travel through the ear canal.”

I gaped at him, blinking rapidly. His lips were moving like a character in a dubbed movie, the words reaching my ears in English. “You… We can understand each other?”

Vo’ak’s grin was a heartwarming thing, so relieved and honest. “Yes,” he said, stepping into my space to kiss my forehead. “All that we had yet to learn shall now come naturally to us.”

No more lessons? Fuck yes.

I appreciated the hell outta people who took the old-fashioned route to learn a new language, but my lazy and easily frustrated ass was delighted with the shortcut. I beamed up at him, the sting of happy tears prickling the corners of my eyes, but I held them back. “Cool!”

My mate’s brow creased. “I can warm it for you, if you would like?”

“Oh, no, I—” My smile widened, and I looped my arms around his shoulders. “It’s amazing. I’m so happy. Not just about this, but in general. You make me happier than I’ve ever been, so thank you for that.”

“No need to thank me, c’karuucha. You deserve everything I am able to give. And more.” With that, he bent down to kiss me, slow and deep, and for some reason, I couldn’t help thinking back to the night I was taken, how I’d been so sure the universe was once again shitting on me from a great height.

Fuck, if I’d known all that would land me the guy of my dreams and a second chance at a good life, I would’ve broken into NASA and attempted communications a looong time ago.

“I may request several more for the other clans, but apparently they take months to acquire and program.”

---