Page 100 of Claimed by an Alien Warrior

He worshipped her body from her toes to the top of her head, trailing his lips and fingertips over her soft, sensitive skin, lingering in every spot that elicited reactions from her. She accepted his attention without shame, without self-consciousness, and caressed his body with equal reverence. When he slid into her heat, she welcomed him.

As their pleasure built, he saw the entire universe reflected in her eyes — all the joy, all the potential, all that was good and hopeful and kind. He saw Zoey. His Zoey. His kun’ia.

When they climaxed together, it was the merging of two souls, of two beings who belonged to one another, who’d found each other despite the impossible distances between the stars and galaxies that had separated them.

They lay together afterward, with Zoey atop Ren, bodies still connected. He knew in that moment without any doubt that the place didn’t matter. So long as he had her, he would be happy.

Zoey rested her head upon his shoulder as she idly traced his chest scales and scars with her fingertips. Her fingers slowed, and she flattened her palm over his heart.

“I didn’t think it was possible in such a short time,” she said softly, “but I love you. I wanted to tell you, wanted you to know, just in case…” She rubbed her cheek against him. “I wanted you to know before you left.”

“I’ve heard you saylovebefore. What does it mean?” he asked. She’d called sexlovemaking, and he’d not entirely understood it, then.

“Come on, Ren. You know what it means.”

“I want to know what it means toyou,kun’ia.”

“It means…everything.” Zoey raised her head and met his gaze. “It means I would go anywhere with you, do anything for you, make any sacrifice necessary to protect you because you meaneverythingto me.”

He stared into her eyes and saw her words reflected,magnified, in their gray-blue depths. “I love you, also.”

“You don’t have to say it because I did. I’m not… I wouldn’t hold it against you. I know you care about me, but—”

“Iloveyou, Zoey.” He combed his fingertips through her short hair; though it was different, it was stillhers, still beautiful. “I claimed you as my own long ago.Kun’iameansmy mate.”

Her eyes widened. “That first time we…?”

“Yes. As you slept afterward, I decided that I would take you with me when I left, if you wanted to come. But the more time we spent together, the more determined I became to take you regardless. I vowed to protect you, and this planet ceased to be safe for you when I entered your vehicle that first night.”

He cupped her cheek with his palm and smiled at her, brushing the pad of his thumb over her cheekbone to wipe away a freshly-spilled tear. “Did you really think I would abandon you after all this, little human?”

Her lower lip trembled, and she threw her arms around him, shoulders shaking with her sobs.

“I did,” she mumbled against him. “I never thought…”

He wrapped his arms around her and held her tight, smoothing her hair with one hand. “I should have told you, Zoey. I didn’t want to burden you with the choice, when we had so much farther to go.”

She raised her head and smiled, bringing her lips to his. He tasted the salt of her tears, the sweetness of her skin, everything that was Zoey.

“You’re really going to bring me with you?” she asked.

“Yes,” he promised, and then hesitated. “As long as the ship actually works.”

“We’ll find a way, Ren. That’s what we’ve been doing all along. One problem at a time, one day at a time.”

He kissed her again. “Yes, my mate. We will find a way. One day at a time.”

Chapter Twenty-One

Charles Stantz stood with his hands flat on the desk, leaning forward. The command trailer was quiet but for the hum of computer fans and the soft crackle of voices over the headset draped around his neck. He’d stopped paying attention to the comms more than an hour ago — not long after he’d sent everyone, Fairborough included, outside. They were only getting in his way. Fairborough’s team could find the pieces, but they were no help in putting those pieces together to solve the puzzle.

Without taking his eyes off the monitors, he reached up, loosened his tie further, and plucked the cigarette out of the corner of his mouth. He flicked the ashes from its tip onto the floor and tucked the filter between his lips for another long drag. His lungs burned. A looming cough tickled his throat.

He hadn’t smoked in ten years.

Blowing out a lungful of stinking smoke, he shifted his eyes between the screens. The nicotine dulled the edge on his nerves.

It had become increasingly troubling that Stantz’s imminent success — the recapture of the Fox and the subsequent reverse engineering of its alien technology — would be credited to the director’s leadership of the Organization.

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