Page 6 of Pleasured By the Panther
That pulled a real laugh out of her daughter at last.
“Okay.” She squeezed Miranda’s hand one more time, then took a step back, then another, like she was practicing letting go. “Be safe, Mom.”
“I will,” Miranda said again, and meant it more than she had five minutes ago.
She turned back to the huge Panther Monstrum.
“Shall we go?” he murmured, looking down at her and offering his arm. “Our time together is short.”
The old-fashioned, courtly gesture surprised Miranda. Since there didn’t seem to be anything else to do, she slipped her hand back into the crook of Korrath’s elbow.
The heat of him was startling and the short, dense fur that covered him from head to toe felt silky to her touch. As they started toward the side exit of the ballroom, Miranda glanced back.
Hanna still stood there, clutching her purse and watching, her face a mixture of worry and hope. Miranda lifted her chin and tried to send confidence across the space between them.
“I need to go now,” she said quietly, half to Korrath, half to herself.
“Come,” he murmured, and the word wasn’t a command so much as an invitation.
Miranda let him lead her away, the hum of the Monstrum Mother Ship—impossible and yet all too real—already thrumming at the edges of her awareness.
5
KORRATH
The shuttle slipped free of Earth’s atmosphere with barely a shiver. Beside him, Miranda gasped softly, pressing a hand to the curved viewscreen that took up most of the front of the ship. She was radiant in the glow of the stars—her wide gray eyes reflecting the vast sweep of black velvet scattered with diamonds.
“Oh, my God,” she whispered. “I’ve never… I’ve never seen space like this before—up close, I mean. It’s so beautiful.”
Her awe was genuine and unfiltered. Korrath found himself watching her more than the view, tracing the silver strands in her auburn hair as they caught the starlight, the way her lips parted in wonder. Truly, she was a beauty like no other.
“You have never left your world,” he murmured. It was not a question—he already knew the answer from his dreams.
She shook her head, eyes still fastened on the glittering curve of Mars already coming into view. “No. Not even to the Moon. And now I’m just… flying to Mars like it’s nothing.”
He followed her gaze to the red planet, its surface streaked with dark valleys and yawning caverns. The Monstrum Mother Ship hung in orbit beyond it, cloaked in shadow and light.
“It’s like…I’ve left everything I ever knew behind.” Miranda’s voice was soft…almost reverent.
“That was our fate once,” Korrath said quietly. “To watch from the skies as everything we loved was taken.”
Her attention shifted, pulling away from the marvel outside to focus on him.
“What do you mean?”
“The Darklings,” Korrath said, his throat tightening as the word scraped free. “They came for us without warning. Creatures of void and hunger. They swallowed our universe, piece by piece, until nothing remained but ruins. They left us alive, but…” He let the silence fill in the rest.
“All your women,” Miranda said softly, her hand still against the glass. “The Monstrum women…gone.”
“Yes,” he said, the word a low growl. “Our mates, our mothers, our daughters—every last female Monstrum was consumed in the destruction of our home world. Our Mother Ship was out on a mission—we returned too late. And so we fled here, to this dimension, carrying only our warriors and our grief.”
She looked at him, her gray eyes luminous with sympathy.
“That must have been unbearably sad.”
He inclined his head slowly.
“It was.” Then he let the truth slip out, raw and unvarnished. “But I am not sad any longer. Not since I began to dream of you.”
