Page 13 of Orri

I was in heat, nearly going insane from the force of it, and Orri…he helped me. Again.

Did this guy have a savior complex or something? First he rescued me from the kidnappers, then he personally took upon himself to watch over me during my heat.

Most of all, I remember how he loomed over me, all alpha and power and force, but still let me call the shots. Asked if I was all right. And only then did he give me what I wanted. What I needed.

I roll over in bed, realizing that I’m still naked, but there’s a blanket around my shoulders and a pillow under my head. That must be his doing, too. My heart warms a little at the thought. Not in the painful burning way that my heat had, but a soft, gentle warmth that fills me from the inside out. Despite everything, it feels nice to be looked after and cared for.

I know Orri is definitely not my mate, and I’ll probably be sent to someone else once they can find a match, but my mind still wanders. What would it be like to be with him for real? What kind of father would he be?

I shake my head at the ridiculousness. A sweet scent floats through the air, and immediately I recognize it as Orri’s.

So he’s still here.

I didn’t expect that, to be honest. He could have done the ol’ wham, bam, thank you ma’am, but he didn’t. He stayed. And that said a lot about his character, whether we were assigned mates or not.

My heat is finally under control, but my pussy still aches from the night before. I’d never taken a dick that big, and near the end Orri wasn’t exactly gentle. It was exactly what I’d needed, though, and I came harder than I ever have in my life. With that thought in mind, I flip the covers aside and slip out of bed, padding to the dresser when my bare foot steps on something hard.

With a pained hiss, I hop on one foot, looking down to find the offender. And just like that, my world shifts all over again.

* * *

I’m standingon the pier with Bjornick, looking out over the clearest sea I’ve ever seen. Waves of sea grass flow in the wind. Little waves lapping at the shoreline with a calm, steady motion. An alien seagull calls out above us, and the smell of salt hangs in the air. It's a quiet, perfect moment.

I’m peering down into the crystal depths when I see something wash up on shore. It’s a shiny violet color, as smooth as glass. Forked prongs stick out in all directions, sprouting out from a wide base. It might be sea junk to some people, but to me, it’s beautiful.

Bjornick sees me looking, because of course he does. “Do you like it?” He asks, pointing. “That’s coral all the way from the Shadow Sea. It’s rare to see it wash up here.”

I nod, simply enjoying listening to him talk. And before I can say anything else, he hops off the pier and onto the sand, picking up the piece of coral and handing it up to me. “For you,” he says with a smile on his face. “Let’s go home.”

* * *

The coral.The rare coral that Bjornick gifted me that day at the beach. We must have knocked it off the table last night in our haste. My chest seems to cave in on itself, the grief fresh and raw as I pick up the sharp object and hold it carefully in my hands.

But now it’s not just grief. There’s something else there that hurts almost as much, if not more.

Betrayal. Guilt.

I squeeze my eyes shut, already feeling tears welling up. What was I doing? Bjornick gave his life to protect me only days ago, and here I was hopping in bed with another man. Did he really mean so little to me?

Did this gift and all it represented mean so little?

My chest heaves and I rush for the bathroom, slamming the door closed before I let out a long, shuddering sob. Bjornick gave so much for me, and where was I? Leaving his gift, his promise on the floor while another man smeared me with his scent during a heat that should have been when Bjornick and I conceived our own child.

I should have known better. Maybe I should have gone back to the ISA and let them handle it in the med pod that had felt like a coffin after all. First losing Bjornick, and then this, and then an inevitable third male after they found me a suitable replacement…

Was this all there was for me? Constantly running, constantly hopping from one man to the next, never finding a place to belong?

Because that’s what happened to me on Earth, too. That’s how I ended up here in the first place. I lay the coral on the counter with shaking hands and it slides into the sink, resting there against the drain.

I dare not look at my distraught expression in the mirror. I know I look like a total mess after all I’ve been through the last few days. Attacked, kidnapped, injured, threatened, rescued, unconscious, mad with heat, and then last night, screaming out with more pleasure than I’ve ever known…

With a growl I step into the huge walk in shower and tug at the knobs. There’s a million different dials, soaps, and lotions, but I don’t care about finesse right now. I just want the biggest waterfall possible to wash away my pain. My grief. My sins.

Blasts of water pour out of every spout. Some of it’s red hot, some of it’s ice cold. A slippery drizzle of shampoo foams up and drips down from one of the nozzles near my head. There’s so much going on, so many sensations at once, but at least it’s something I can focus on other than my pain. I adjust the knobs till the temperature’s bearable and stand there under the spray with my washcloth, letting the tears fall.

I scrub and scrub at my skin. Try to cleanse myself of the memories and the pain. But the harder I scrub, the more it seems to cling to me. To crop up in my memory, again and again.

* * *

---