Willow hops up and walks over to the wall. She grabs a zonnoblaster and returns. “See this?”
Everyone nods.
“This. But bigger. We can’t protect ourselves at the prison if a fleet of ships came down on us. But if we had something big to work with, we could just shoot those bastards out of the sky.”
It’s hard to imagine a giant zonnoblaster, but Willow seems confident.
I pat the back of her thigh as she stands beside me and she doesn’t even flinch.
“There’s a woman at the prison named Julie. She’s ex-military. If you can get her in contact with Ozias and Jareth, then she could help.” Willow lets out a sigh. “Mortuus may be a peaceful planet, but Earth II is not. If they come, they will bring war. Mark my words. We need to be prepared.”
Breccan gives her a clipped nod. “We’ll make communication with Hadrian and get started.” His eyes drift to mine. “As much as I need your eyes in the sky, Theron, we need Avrell treating those women more or we’ll have nothing left to protect. Make haste and collect him. But keep your attention on that ship during your journey.”
As much as I like to gloat about my importance on this planet, I know I am just one tiny piece of a big picture. Breccan commands us all—assigns us to our duties so that we may reach peace and happiness together. The mort way is to do it together.
Live.
Love.
Die.
Whatever it is, we do it as a family.
And now these females are a part of that family.
Even Willow. Especially Willow.
My beautiful one-night stand.
“You have your mission,” Breccan says before cutting off communication.
I give Willow’s thigh a squeeze, making her look down at me. Considering she’s been angry with me and is holding a zonnoblaster, I should keep my rekking mouth shut.
But it’s her…I can’t seem to help myself.
“Do the humans ever have a two-night stand?”
Her blue eyes twinkle like the two brightest stars in the sky. “They might call it a fling. Or friends with benefits.”
My cock hardens in my pants. Her eyes flit down as she takes in my state of arousal. I notice her breath hitches.
“What if I fling my seed all over your pretty, pink stomach, Willow?” I ask, my voice husky. “That’s what friends with benefits do?”
Her lips part and then she bites on her bottom lip. “If I could trust you to do that, then perhaps we could fuck away all this stress. No strings attached.”
I lift a brow and give her a crooked smirk. “You can trust me, bright star.” I drop my eyes to her lovely breasts that I can see the shape of through her minnasuit. “I can be your friend.”
“Friends don’t fall in love,” she warns, her eyes narrowing. “That’s what no strings attached means. I’m not hopping into bed with you again until you understand what this is all about.”
I don’t rekking understand why they’d want to deny themselves family and love and being mated to someone, but I also know I’m not passing another opportunity to put my cock inside her sweet, tight cunt.
So what if I have to spurt my seed all over her rather than inside her?
If it means I get to be inside her again, just as soon as my cock gets hard, I think it’s a small sacrifice I’m willing to make.
I always knew I was different than the rest of the morts.
I can evolve to make Willow happy.
I’ll do anything to make her happy.
It’s a thought that roots itself deep inside me. Willow spent her entire life searching for her mother. She doesn’t smile often and seems guarded. Happiness has been elusive as her mother all these revolutions.
She found her mother.
Now it’s time happiness finds her.
5
Willow
I study Theron as the ship hums steadily around the cocoon we’ve made in his room.
Even in sleep his expression is smug—or maybe that’s my impression considering he’s so pleased with himself pretty much all the time. His lips are pressed into a pout, one that makes me want to lean down from where I observe him and kiss him again. He’s very good at kissing, for someone who’s never done it before.
He’s very good at a lot of things, I think, and give into impulse and trace his lips with the tip of a finger.
Theron turns toward my touch, even in sleep. He reaches for me and stills when he encounters blankets, slipping back into dreams. I wonder what a man like Theron dreams of. Exploring in the Mayvina, his brother morts back at the Facility, his mother, perhaps. At least that we have in common, if not much else. Except I’ll soon be reunited with mine, whereas his is gone forever.
The familiar knot of anxiety returns, twisting in my stomach like a living thing. To counter it, as I have every time in the past two days, I put my hands on Theron. First, the wide expanse of his chest, his skin so very pale under my own hands. I’m not particularly tan, considering that I’m a redhead, but even against my skin, he’s completely without pigment.