Page 87 of Cosmic Soul

Each time I vanished and reappeared since meeting Fyn, my physical awareness had grown exponentially. Though, I doubted it was wise to keep disappearing. Perversely, that was exactly what I wanted to do. I wanted to scrape Sunshine’s scales across my nonexistent skin. I wanted to kiss his lips. I wanted to feel him. All of him.

What I truly wanted was to be alive. But that ship had gone and sailed. On the other hand, if I hadn’t died all those years ago, I wouldn’t be here with Fyn right now. There was no choice between the two. I would pick Sunshine over life, over physical sensations, over existence itself.

My gaze moved upward, and Fyn was already looking at me. “Told you I would come back,” I said.

“Yes, you did.”

I went up on my toes. “Hello, Sunshine.”

“Greetings, Little Soul.”

Sliding out of his arms, I peered down at my body. I finally looked like the ghost I was. I could see through my arm to the wall and I’d turned mostly gray.

“Well, fuck.”

Fyn brushed my cheek and asked, voice grave, “How did you escape?”

“You know how.”

“You made yourself vanish.”

“I focused as hard as possible to come back to you.” My tether. How he was my tether before I’d even known he existed seemed implausible. But for better or worse, my soul was tied to Zoltilvoxfyn, and to move on meant I had to let go of him, which would never happen.

Chapter 35

My choice.

The longer Fyn touched me, the more I fought the urge to yank his clothes off and test how much I could actually feel. Maybe I could convince him to relax for a short time or a long time. I mean, this was his brother’s ship—he wasn’t going to kick us off if we holed up for a couple of days.

I moved downward until I brushed the outline of his cock in his pants. I chewed on my bottom lip, running my fingers over the growing bulge.

“Caleb,” he breathed, sounding heartbroken, not aroused.

I stalled in stroking him. “What?”

His eyes turned glassy.

“What’s wrong?”

Fyn straightened and shoved his hand into his pocket. “Yes, Dontilvynsan,” he said into the glowing touchstone. I didn’t hear the other end of the conversation, but I didn’t expect to. “I understand. We’ll be right there.”

“What’s going on?”

“Tatas is demanding your return.”

I was afraid of that.

“My brothers need us in Command,” he said. His tail flicked at me, and I followed him.

Command was alive with activity. Dontilvynsan was sitting on his stool with all of Fyn’s brothers and Monqilcolnen standing beside him. Dontilvynsan’s commander, whose name I hadn’t caught but she was rocking short black hair and dusty red scales, frantically moved her fingers over the console, and she wasn’t alone. Most of the crew was racing around or slapping their consoles.

“What is happening, Dontilvynsan?” Fyn asked.

“Tatas’s ship has powered their weapons. They are demanding Caleb’s return.”

“Caleb is not going anywhere,” Fyn growled.

Kal said, “We already know that, Bloom. He’s one of us.”

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