Page 46 of Deserted

The ship ascended through the atmosphere, leaving The Burn behind. Through the viewing portal, I watched the desert shrink beneath us, its deadly beauty reduced to abstract patterns of gold and amber. The place where I’d found her. Where she’d saved me. Where we’d become something neither of us had expected to find.

Even bruised and half-delirious from blood loss, I didn’t let go of her. The medics aboard the frigate raised an eyebrow at our constant contact, at the way she refused to leave my side even during treatment. I growled until they stopped looking, until they learned to work around us rather than try to separate what fate had joined.

She slept at my side that night in the sterile medical bay, curled against my chest as if she’d always belonged there, her breath warm against my skin, her heartbeat a steady rhythm that grounded me more surely than any planet’s gravity.

And me?

I lay awake long into the cycle, counting the beats of her heart against mine.

Not because I feared losing her.

Because I finally believed I never would.

Three daysin Legion medical care had erased most of our physical wounds. The advanced healing chambers had sealed my side where the drone’s blast had torn through flesh and muscle, leaving only a pale line of new skin in its wake. Jas’s scratches and burns had vanished, her body restored to its full, vibrant strength. But neither medical science nor Legion protocols could sever the bond between us. If anything, it had grown stronger in the sterile confines of the medical frigate, our connection deepening with each shared glance, each brush of fingers, each night spent curled together despite the medics’ disapproval.

Now, finally released from observation, we’d been assigned private quarters—a concession to my rank and the ancient laws I’d invoked that protected fate-bonds. The suite was standard Legion issue: minimalist, functional, but with actual privacy and a bed large enough to accommodate my frame without Jas having to sleep half on top of me. Not that I minded her using me as a mattress. In fact, I’d grown to crave her weight against my chest, her scent surrounding me in the night.

The door sealed behind us with a soft hiss, and for the first time since The Burn, we were truly alone. No drones hunting us. No medics monitoring our vitals. No Legion officers cataloging our every interaction for their endless reports.

Just us. Mate to mate.

Jas turned to me, her eyes dark and hungry in a way that made my pulse quicken. Through our bond, I felt her desire—hot and insistent, too long contained by necessity and circumstance.

“So,” she said, a smile playing at the corners of her mouth as she stepped closer. “No imminent death. No Legion medicsinterrupting every five minutes. No sand in uncomfortable places...”

I growled low in my throat, the sound rumbling up from somewhere primal and possessive. “No excuses not to claim you properly.”

Her breath caught, the scent of her arousal spiking in response to my words. “I seem to recall being very thoroughly claimed already.”

“That was survival claiming,” I said, prowling toward her with deliberate slowness, savoring the way her pupils dilated as I approached. “Quick. Desperate. Necessary.”

My tail flicked behind me, betraying my eagerness even as I maintained a predatory pace. “This will be pleasure claiming.”

She backed up until her legs hit the edge of the bed, her smile growing wider. “Is there a difference?”

“Let me show you.”

I reached for her, hands settling on her hips with possessive certainty. Through our bond, I felt her anticipation, her eagerness, her absolute trust in me despite the differences in our size and strength. It humbled me even as it inflamed my desire to mark her, claim her, worship her in ways I’d been unable to in the harsh desert environment.

My mouth found hers in a kiss that started gentle but quickly blazed into something more demanding. She responded with equal hunger, her small hands fisting in my mane, pulling me closer as if she could erase the space between our bodies through sheer determination.

I lifted her easily, depositing her on the bed and following her down, my larger frame caging her beneath me as I continued to explore her mouth. Her taste was intoxicating—sweet and spicy and uniquely Jas. I’d never get enough of it.

“I’ve been thinking about this,” she murmured against my lips, her hands already working at the fastenings of myLegion-issued clothing. “Every night in that sterile medical bay. Wanting you. Needing you.”

I growled in agreement, helping her remove the offending garments that separated her skin from mine. “The medics nearly sedated me the second night,” I admitted, nipping at her lower lip. “Said my pheromone levels were ‘disrupting the medical environment.’”

She laughed, the sound bright and perfect. “Is that what we’re calling your perpetual hard-on?”

“Perpetual only for you, kassari.”

Her eyes softened at the endearment, and she reached up to trace the line of my jaw with gentle fingers. “I love when you call me that.”

“It’s what you are,” I said simply, lowering my head to trail kisses down her throat, pausing to linger over the mark I’d left on her collarbone—the physical manifestation of our bond. It glowed faintly in the dim light of the quarters, pulsing in time with her heartbeat. “My heart’s match. My fate-mate.”

I helped her out of her own clothing, revealing inch by inch the body I’d come to know in desperate moments between danger and survival. But this time, there was no sand to scrape her skin, no threat looming on the horizon, no need to rush what should be savored.

She was beautiful in ways that transcended species—curves and planes that fit against mine as if designed for that purpose, skin that flushed with arousal as I explored it with hands and mouth. I traced the line of her collarbone with my tongue, savoring the salt-sweet taste of her as I moved lower, capturing a nipple between my lips and reveling in her gasp of pleasure.

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