Page 69 of Secretly Abducted
"Thanks for keeping me."
"Thanks for being worth keeping."
I feel his smile through the bond, bright and warm as sunshine.
Home, I think as sleep takes me. This is what home feels like. Not a place, but a person. Not solitude, but shared space.
Chapter Sixteen
Alex
Thunder wakes me.
Not the violent, destructive sound from the storm that brought us together, but something gentler—a low rumble that rolls across the water like a conversation in the distance. I'm wrapped around Vel'aan, my chest to his back, our legs tangled together in the comfortable mess of sleep.
Lightning flashes, illuminating the room in blue-white for a heartbeat. In that moment, I see the rain starting—soft drops hitting the windows, running down in rivulets that catch the next flash and turn to liquid silver.
Vel'aan stirs against me, his bioluminescence flickering to life in soft pulses. Through our bond, I feel him swimming up from sleep, consciousness returning in gentle waves.
"Storm," he murmurs, not quite awake.
"A small one," I assure him, pressing a kiss to his shoulder. "Just rain and distant thunder."
He turns in my arms, blinking slowly, and the next lightning flash catches his eyes—making them shine like captured stars. "You're awake."
"The thunder."
"But you're not worried?"
"No. This one's beautiful." I brush his dark hair back from his face, marvel at how it seems to glow in the darkness. "Listen."
We lie there quietly, the rain creating a rhythm on the roof, thunder providing a bass line that vibrates through the dwelling. It's nothing like the terrifying storm from before—this is nature's lullaby, gentle and hypnotic.
Vel'aan's hand finds my chest, tracing lazy patterns through the hair there. "I've never noticed how beautiful stormscould be," he admits. "They've always meant damage, loss, work to be done after."
"This one's different." I catch his hand, bring it to my lips to kiss each webbed finger. "This one's just for us."
His bioluminescence shifts to warm purple-gold, and I feel the stirring of arousal through our bond—not urgent, not desperate, just a gentle awakening of want.
"Alex," he says softly, and my name in his voice sounds like a question and answer all at once.
I kiss him slowly, taking my time, no rush or desperation. His mouth opens under mine, welcoming, and I taste sleep and sweetness and home. The rain picks up, drumming steadier now, and thunder rolls closer but still unthreatening.
His hands map my body in the darkness—across my chest, down my sides, over my hips. Each touch is exploration rather than demand, learning me by feel alone except when lightning illuminates us both, turning skin to silver and shadow.
"I want to see you," he says against my mouth. "Want to touch all of you."
I shift, slowly moving to straddle his hips, the blanket falling away. The next lightning flash catches us—me above him, his hands spanning my waist, both of us already hard but in no hurry to do anything about it.
"Beautiful," he breathes, and his bioluminescence increases, casting us in gentle blue-green light. "You're beautiful like this."
His hands roam freely now—up my thighs, across my stomach, thumbs brushing my nipples and making me gasp. He's never had me quite like this before, spread above him where he can touch everything, see everything.
"I love your warmth," he says, palms flat against my chest. "Love how different your body is. The hair here..." He traces the trail down my abdomen. "The way your muscles moveunder your skin. These marks I left on you." His fingers find the bruises on my throat, my shoulders, pressing gently enough to make them ache sweetly.
I rock against him, just enough to create friction where we're pressed together, and his hands tighten on my hips.
"Slow," he requests. "Want to make this last."
