Dekkir (Galaxy Alien Warriors #1)(35)

I didn’t realize how much that very idea upset me until I spoke it aloud, and suddenly, I started sobbing. From now on, I was an enemy of Earth. Even if we survived, one day, it was going to get back to my family that I had betrayed Earth Command and joined an alien enemy. They would hate me then. My parents would be so disappointed. My mother would cry. Instead of being able to introduce the love of my life to them and invite them to the wedding, or present their grandchildren to them one day, I would be a pariah who was better off never seeing them again, because if I did, they would hate me.

“This isn’t right. I don’t know why this is happening. I never wanted to be part of a war on another race. I would give anything to make this not be happening.” I was clinging to him, mumbling into his chest as my tears soaked through his shirt.

“Do you wish you had not come here?” His query was very gentle, but I could tell there was real concern behind it.

I shook my head rapidly. “If I had not come, I would never have met you. I wouldn’t give you up for anything. But I really am going to miss my family. I wish humanity wasn’t on the wrong side of a war again. I know we’re desperate. I know Earth is dying. But if they just stopped and listened . . . The Lyrans once saved their own planet from a fate like Earth is facing. Your people could help us. We don’t have to be enemies. But . . . how in the world could I ever get anyone at Earth Command to understand that?”

“You don’t. It is not your task to change the minds of your people by yourself.” He nuzzled the top of my head.

“I know, I know.” I blinked back tears. I knew it was irrational to hope things would turn out better than this once I found out about Earth Command’s plans, but it still hurts. “How . . . how am I supposed to cope with this?”

“Handle one thing at a time, my darling. First, we must determine the best way of getting through this siege alive. After that, perhaps Tabirus will have some ideas. We still have a chance. As long as we’re alive, we have a chance.”

I struggled to calm down within the circle of his arms. It would be so easy to let go of control and just panic and cry on him. But right now, the only reason we had any time alone was that the entire fort was currently waiting for the humans to arrive. Once they made landfall, we would know where to strike out at them. Once they made landfall, everyone would be scrambling again. But for now, and perhaps the next half hour, I was with him, safe and private. And as I drew in deep breaths of his clean male scent and basked in the warmth of his body, it struck me: I could spend that time crying on his chest and despairing over the loss of everything I knew. Or I could take what might be our last chance to make love.

The same thoughts seemed to occur to him at the same time. He didn’t need to be psychic for that. Instead, he stroked my head until I tilted it back and then bent down to claim my lips, his mouth moving hungrily against mine. The coppery taste of his mouth distracted me; the sweet friction and minty smell of his warm breath left me suddenly craving more.

I responded slowly as my terror started to melt away like an icicle in a flame. My hands slid up his muscular back. He lifted me, then walked over to the nearest wall and pressed me against it. One powerful, armored thigh worked its way between my own to help prop me up as our kiss intensified until we ravaged each other’s mouths. My fast heartbeat now thundered in my ears for another reason, and I embraced the distraction with relief.

His hands found the laces on my tunic and slipped them loose, parting the leather to expose my breasts and belly. I stiffened slightly, vaguely aware of the milling crowd just outside the door. They were discussing the situation in loud voices, sorting out the minutiae of his orders before going to their posts. It wouldn’t take much for one of them to walk in on us. But Dekkir did not seem concerned. He simply kept on, running his hands over my freshly bared skin. I didn’t realize he had locked the door, until someone tried the handle and could not open it. I blinked up at him, and he smiled . . . then winked. “They can wait a little while,” he rumbled in my ear. Then he lifted me farther against the wall and started kissing my breasts and throat.

I cooed, clinging to him, the beast-scale armor strange under my fingertips. I wanted to feel his skin against mine, but there was no time. Even as he licked and suckled my nipples into hard points, even as I started to tremble as he pressed me against the wall, I felt the sense of urgency in the crowd beyond the door, in Dekkir, in myself. It never quite went away no matter how sweet the distraction, and I cursed it in my mind. Damn you, Norcross.

But then the despairing thought swept away as Dekkir’s emotions reached out and entwined with mine. His empathy was not as strong as a seer’s, but he had honed it through many years of working with the Rilleen. Those ferocious beasts would not allow anyone to ride them whom they did not love, and so he had ensured a strong rapport and strengthened his mind in the process. Now I could feel an urgency of a different sort from him: the hunger of his skin, trapped in armor, and his sweetly aching length, feeling more and more confined within his codpiece by the moment.

I moaned softly as he reached down to knead and stroke my slick, throbbing mound through the crotch of my leggings. I was starting to ache for him, to need him inside me. His breath started to shiver as he felt my need mix with his own and stoke it upward. To be a True Mate to a Lyran was to weather passions stronger than humans could manage. He growled against my throat, then settled me on the floor just long enough to strip off my leggings and boots. Naked save for the parted tunic, I reached for his belt with trembling fingers—only to have him push me away and unfasten the codpiece itself, lifting it aside.