Page 30 of I Dated a Retired Hero

Sergei nodded. “Strange. Well, I suppose I should meet with any governing bodies that want to hear what happened, and then, I will try seeking out therapy. Do we have therapists?”

“After the Uraddan wars, we obtained them.” Petrov sighed. “They became necessary for some who had survived capture and torture. I believe you qualify.”

Sergei remembered his energy filling the inside of the capsule over and over. The only light in his existence was his own power until the moment that heat had opened the capsule, and he had seen daylight for the first time in years.

He had thrust his fingers out, eager to feel air, rain, wind, or sun. Then he felt the soft touch and heard the voice telling him they were getting him out. He would be free. He listened to it as it cycled through several languages. It took a lot for him to speak, but he finally replied. She had been calling orders for what was needed, and his hands were burned, but he relished the change. His first feeling was pain, and the second was her hand.

She talked to him the whole time she was cutting him out with even swipes of her deadly hands. The water had trickled in, and she had left the top seam for last so he wouldn’t get soaked.

He could not have dreamed her. His dreams of women used to be seduction and soft hands. She was moving like a mechanic crossed with a spider monkey.

When she pried him free, he had looked for anything solid, and she would do. When he had dropped onto her, she smelled amazing. Warm and female and sweaty. When she held him and stroked him to calm him, he shuddered and began to sob, using her neck as an anchor point. She tasted as sweet as she smelled.

The armoured panels in her suit had thwarted him, but she was slim and had strength in her. His constant hunger had woken in the moments that they were in contact, but it was different. Perhaps it was tempered by the time he had spent in the canister.

He needed to work through this and fast. He wanted to find out if his hunger had changed or if it was gone entirely. It seemed to have settled the moment Litha left in a blaze of light.

Petrov cleared his throat. “I have found a few local women who will accommodate you.”

“It isn’t necessary. I don’t require it yet.”

Petrov paused. “You are serious?”

“I am serious.”

“Well then, would you like to return to the base and complete your deposition?”

Sergei nodded. “I will meet you there.”

He thanked his hosts, backed away, and let the energy inside him flash to cover every inch of him. He knew they were looking at a body filled with a gateway to a dimension with different stars, but they were respectful, even if the women looked at him lustfully. He wasn’t reciprocating for the first time that he could remember.

There was a flick of concentration, and he was back at the base he had left so many years earlier. There were a few government representatives there, and he nodded and let the questions begin.

Chapter Six

Litha woke up, hadsome coffee, and started to putter around her tiny farm. The seasons were changing, and it was time to get the seeds in the ground or, at least, in the barn.

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