Page 33 of Star Claimed Omega
She just did her job, sweeping his floors, washing his glasses, folding his linens with quiet competence, her sleeves rolled to her elbows.
She didn’t want anything from him.
This made him crave her even more, yearning for her with increasing intensity.
With every minute, the more enticing the idea of her in his life became.
He inhaled, steadying the growl that threatened to surface.
The need to mark her, to leave his spectral, permanent, soul-bound, and ethereal brand on her, twisted through him with a new ache.
It was a wild yearning, a primal instant instinct similar to the one Xander had experienced when he first met Savvine.
In that moment, in a wild tear, Santi made the call:he would make her his.
He would wait for her signal, never force her, but always entice her.
When she was ready, if she ever whisperedyesor offered her neck in silent acquiescence, he would mark her.
Binding her to him, in every way possible, to his spectral spirit, with his scar, wraith-like flames, and undying, absolute passion.
Because his life, his world, was no tower of sugar and sunlight. It was forged in steel, shadow, and secrets.
Yet he was beginning to fear that not even all the darkness in him could stop him from chasing her light.
6
Chapter 6
SOLEIL
Soleil let the door to what she called home on Deck 5 hiss shut behind her.
She blew out a breath, releasing tension from a day spent scrubbing, cleaning, and later, baking.
Her back ached, her feet throbbed, and her neck was stiff from bending over showers and sinks that had n’er seen love for a while.
The worst part of having a gig onTheSombrawasn’t the work.
It was her living situation.
She stepped into the cramped shared one-bedroom apartment and into pure chaos.
Delivery parcels sat on the floor, while dirty dishes in the kitchen sink balanced precariously in a growing pile.
Clothes teetered in the wash basin, half-folded laundry formed nests on the threadbare couch, and a trail of food wrappers led from the tiny kitchenette to the sleeping nook.
Soleil’s shoulders tightened. ‘Dammit, Lilla.’
Her roommate, if one might call her that, was more like a domestic tornado.
Lilla was a twitchy, neurotic woman who paid for her passage to Pegasi by offering her hacking skills to paying punters.
Soleil was sure the woman worked for shady scam artists across the flotilla.
Which only served to ratchet up her paranoia.
With her hair tied in a wild explosion of locs and knots, Lilla spoke in murmurs, paced in loops, and had a conspiracy theory about everything.
