Our bond was still a vital need that thrummed through me, like an itch under my skin I couldn’t scratch that slowly grew to consume me, even with the closeness I had to Chomper and the recognition I’d felt for Sparkles. I leaned into Captain’s body, relishing the skin contact as he cleansed the blood and checked me for wounds again. Nothing I had with them came close to the feeling of complete and utter need I had for him. I’d been forced to do many things with many different aliens, but I was thankful Captain was human.
He was everything, and nothing about him felt like anything but sheer comfort and bliss as we touched. I gasped and leaned in as his hands slid down my back. “More.”
“Promise you’ll be more careful.”
“I was walking around the house.” I pushed back, looking into his eyes. “Nowhere is perfectly safe, you know that.”
His eyes were intense as he stroked them down my cleft, stealing what little bit of focus I had left. I closed my eyes, groaning and falling against his chest again. “Just promise.”
“Uh-huh.” He had me helpless and writhing in the bathing room, against the wall, and in our bedroom for the rest of the night.
Morning brought light to the world and new clarity to my brain as I woke from the haze the synthgar brought to our bond when Captain touched me with his expert fingers—nearly as good as mine. I turned and faced him in the bed.
“Why are you so insistent that I stay safe? Have you heard from Freska and the others?”
Captain grumbled, rubbing a hand over his whiskers. “Huh?” On the planet, he didn’t always wake quickly and ready to stave off every problem that might have arisen in his absence from the command center on the ship.
“What do you know that I don’t know?” I asked again in a new way.
“Is that supposed to make sense?” Captain yawned. We hadn’t gone to sleep for a while, and I knew Aparoe had Chomper, so we could sleep in. Of course my brain had finally woken up and now adrenaline flooded through my body.
“What. Are. You. Hiding?”
Captain sighed and rolled onto his back. I sat up and focused on him, ignoring the way pulling the bedding to wrap around me left him deliciously bare. I didn’t get distracted by the scars, or the warm skin coating the sinewy muscles on his arms that he brought up to rub his eyes and over his short hair, or the rasp of the two in the quiet.
I waited.
It was something I had gotten very good at doing.
Finally, he turned his head and looked at me. “The planet where we used to stop to resupply has been razed. The pristine surface? Not so pristine. Someone has destroyed that world.”
Anyone could have knocked me over with the slightest touch. “What? But… we stopped the people returning the victims of the experiments. We exposed the Elites for who and what they are. Their plan to rule over the universe wasn’t exactly original, even if they did have technology and time no one else has had before.”
“What we also did was create a lot of chaos, Kohen. That’s why we’re hiding. I swore I’d keep you safe. We thought that whatever happened that caused you to ingest Sparkle’s egg and combine your DNA with hers was random, but now it looks like it wasn’t. Someone was probably looking for her.”
“I don’t get it. What makes me so damn special?” I snapped. “I’m just a kid from a hellhole planet whose parents didn’t want to keep feeding him. I survived.” I stood, unable to sit any longer. I paced, uncaring that I was naked. “It doesn’t make me special, it makes me stubborn. And maybe stupid!”
“You’re not any of those things, Kohen.” Captain followed me, grabbing me and forcing me to a halt.
“I don’t want to always live with a target on us, with people planning to do things to me or with me I can’t control!” My voice cracked. Damn it. Why couldn’t I hold it together?
“You won’t. We’re going to figure this out. Freska found a whisperer left behind to report any visitors to the planet. You know she tagged and reprogrammed it as soon as she got close enough to give it her personal touch.”
“But you’re saying there’s someone else out there who is behind a secret plan who wants to experiment on me.”
“No, what we know is that someone destroyed a planet you’d been on. We know that Sparkles came from there. We know Chomper is pretty damn unique. You know that I will do whatever it takes to keep you safe, and we both know our crew has our back.”
“That’s—”
“Everything.” Captain’s hold on me was physical and emotional, giving me the sturdy connection I needed. “We’ve defeated Elites, Kohen, Elites! Whoever thinks to challenge us will learn just why we won, and they did not. Okay?”
I took a deep breath. “Okay. But stop hiding things from me. Again.” I gave him a look.
“All right, all right.”
“We can’t make the same mistakes as before,” I said. “Maybe we need to talk to everyone. Bring them here. Introduce them to Chomper. Get everyone’s ideas on what to do.”
Captain made a face.
“We’re not on the ship anymore. We asked our friends to help us.” Gnawing hunger started to beat at me. “Chomper’s awake. You ready?”
“Do we have to put clothes on?”
“Yes.” I pushed him away. “Claws, fire breathing? Not to mention, Aparoe’s still here and we need to get ready for more guests.”
“One of these days, I really am going to get to go away with you and spend days without clothes. Days upon days upon days,” Captain said.
I forced a smile. “Sure.” Want more flash?
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