Page 39 of His Brazen Bride

He huffs. “He’s notcompletelywrong. I haven’t told you everything about my family’s past, but honestly, you and I haven’t had much time to talk.”

I blink.

“Nothing planet-shattering, I swear,” he continues hastily. “But at the moment, I have something more pressing to tell you.” He takes my hand. “The dewlight after we…bonded.” He bites his lip.

“You mean after I had the best sex of my life? You’ve ruined me for any other man, human or otherwise, Ryz.”

“Good,” he replies, his chest puffing out more. “Anyway, that dewlight, I sent Takizet, my best tracker, to search for your friends with a small team.”

“Really?!” I squeeze his hands back. “Oh, Ryz. I wish I’d known??—”

“That’s all in the past, my wife. We’re only moving forward now.”

I beam. “Any news yet?”

His expression turns troubled. “We’ve lost contact. And I’m worried. The only way his comm wouldn’t be working is if it had been removed—or shorted, like the Ocrevv did to yours.”

Oh god…

My heart pounds. “What do we do?”

“Youaren’t doing anything until you're healed.” He gives me a stern look. “Iwill continue to monitor the situation and have Zadren investigate.”

“Thank you, my husband,” I say. I want to smother him with kisses for everything he’s done for me. But for now… “I need to get out of this bed. I feel like I’ve been asleep for days.”

“You have,” he replies.

Oh, gross. I must stink.

“Why don’t we get you into the bath,” he says, reading my mind.

“How will I wash myself?”

“You won’t,” he says, his eyes roving over me. “I’llbe tending to your hygiene, my Queen. And I’m determined to clean every last dirty inch of you.”

“Let’s go.”

Many orgasms later—for both of us—I rest my head on Ryz’s shoulder in our bed. He’s stroking my hair, and I’m purring like a cat in his arms.

We can afford to relax for a while.

The Outside Forces never advanced on us: right after we returned, Ryz sent out a bulletin to the people of Ydrin and all our allies, telling them what happened. He’s sure they won’t be bothering us for a long time.

We still need to figure out what we’re going to do about the Ocrevv, though.

Suddenly, Ryz’s comm beeps and he grumbles. “I said we weren’t to be disturbed.”

“Must be important,” I say, pulling a sheet over me.

“What is it, Zadren?” Ryz barks.

“My apologies for the intrusion, but we got a location hit on Tak.”

Ryz sits up and my heart begins to race. “Where?”

“Lyrica.”

Ryz’s brow furrows. “The prison planet?”

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