Page 48 of The Rebel and the Rogue

“You… the two of you, I mean, you’re claimed?” I asked Astra.

She had to be at least fifteen years older than me, her time for finding true love should have happened a long time ago. And yet it hadn’t happened until now. Until the antidote.

Barek stepped over the body and put his arm around Astra.

“Yes,” Astra said. I’d never seen her look so… happy. “I’ve wanted him for so long, but without the antidote it was impossible.”

“Until now,” Barek added, smiling. He was actually… beaming.

I was happy for them, so happy.

“Zenos can claim you now.”

I shook my head, the smile slipping from my face. “No. He doesn’t love me. He won’t claim me.”

“What?” Astra asked, confused. “Why isn’t he here with you?”

Had she just realized he was missing?

“Because he isn’t with me. I don’t belong to him. I never will.”

Her eyes widened. “He won’t bite you.”

I shook my head. “No. He doesn’t trust me.”

Her lips thinned. She glanced up at Barek, then back at me. “You’re leaving.”

“Yes. With your permission I will transport to Zenith. I love it here. I love Astra Legion, how you made me belong. How I feel like one of you. But I won’t stay and be less than everything to Zenos.”

“I understand,” Astra said. “Go with my permission. With the thanks of everyone in the legion. You may not remain on Rogue 5, but you are one of us.” She set her hand over her heart. “In here.”

Fuck, she might as well have stabbed me with her blade, it hurt that much.

I blinked, nodded, then left, headed for the transport room.

And the rest of my life.

16

Zenos

“Fuck,” I whispered, my throat dry as the desert planet of Trion. I felt like shit. My head pounded, my mouth tasted as if I’d licked the backside of a sweaty Hyperion. I didn’t usually drink to excess, but last night had called for it. Ivy had walked out on me. Not just walked out, she’d pushed me off her and left mid-fuck. Mid-fuck!

I was so blinded by my need to come that I’d watched her dress and then leave. My cock had been hard, throbbing, my balls aching with the obsessive need to fill her.

But she was gone. Her pussy was not where I’d spurted my cum. No, it had been into my hand as I’d stood there and stared at the door. I’d only tugged a few times, and I’d cupped the crown and had the hot fluid fill my palm. The release had been incredible, but it had been lacking. The hot, tight feel of Ivy’s pussy, the way her inner walls milked me.

Only when I’d taken the edge off had I been able to think clearly. Ivy had been pissed at me. When wasn’t she mad at me about something? We fought more than we fucked. It was our way. I hadn’t gone after her because I had no intention of repeating the same old argument.

I wasn’t biting her.

I loved her too much to risk her life. I was willing to sacrifice the need to claim her fully so I could see her smile. To hear her screams of pleasure. Fuck, even to bicker with her.

She was an obsession. Ever since I’d first laid eyes on her across the bar at the Transport Station Zenith, I craved her. She was my drug.

But I couldn’t give her what she wanted. No, biting her would never happen.

I’d gone to the S-Gen machine and ordered up the strongest alcohol possible and drank it until I must have passed out. I woke on my bed, still naked, my hand gripping the base of my throbbing cock, my fangs descended. Even in my sleep I wanted Ivy. My body couldn’t go hours without fucking her.

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