“Yes!”
“You want me? Only me? You’ll stay with me and be my mate?”
I opened my eyes and he was gazing at me. My nipples brushed against his chest the way I was arched up, my hands above my head.
I’d barely seen anything of Trion. I only knew that Outpost Nine was primitive and in the middle of the desert. Was the rest of Trion this way? Were all the people like Bertok or Mara? I longed to find out, as long as Tark was with me, by my side.
What did Earth have waiting for me? There was no match. No Tark. The decision was simple.
“Yes.”
Reaching between us, Tark stroked his thumb over my clit, once, twice, and I came.
I arched my back even more and cried out, feeling Tark stiffen above me, filling me full and shouting his own release. Thick seed shot into me, filling me to overflowing. Greedily, my body clenched and milked Tark’s cock, pulling it in deep.
“Yes,” I said.
“Fark, yes,” Tark replied, trying to catch his breath. He lowered his upper body to the side, so his heavy weight was not upon me, but kept his cock buried deep. The endorphins from all the fucking had me feeling euphoric and replete. Feeling Tark above me I felt safe and cherished and very well claimed. He released the tie holding my wrists, stroked a hand over my cheek, wiping away the silent tears that continued to fall.
“I know, gara. I know. You are safe with me.” He cradled me then, and as wild as our fucking had been, he was now a gentle giant holding me safe in the storm of my own emotions. I couldn’t hold anything back, not my desire, my pleasure, or the deepest, darkest corners of my heart and soul. And there, in his arms, I didn’t fight my emotions, because I didn’t have to. The mask society forced me to wear was gone. He’d stripped me bare and held me protected and secure in his arms.
“Promise me, Tark. Never leave me,” I said to him.
“Gara, you’re the one who’s leaving. I will contact our liaison at the program, see if something can be arranged so that I may accompany you to Earth, and bring you safely home.”
I stiffened beneath him. “Really? You can do that?”
“I will whatever must be done to keep you safe. You are mine. I understand that you must do what is honorable and right. You must return to offer your testimony, but I will not allow you to face a brutal killer alone.”
I snuggled into his chest with a happy sigh. How I’d gotten so lucky, I had no idea. But Tark was indeed the only man I could imagine spending the rest of my life with. He was my perfect match.
A slight buzz sounded in the room and I shook my head to clear it as a strange voice spoke into the silence.
“The transport protocol for Eve Daily had been activated.”
The personal transport nodule hummed against my ear and I could hear the voice clearly in my head. Had Tark heard it, too?
Tark slipped his cock from my body and yanked me up onto my knees. “What was that?” he said, all softness and pleasure from our fucking gone. His seed dripped down my thighs as I knelt on the bedding.
“I… I think it was the transport nodule and I’m being returned to Earth.”
My heart started to pound and Tark’s hands gripped my upper arms.
“Now? You can’t go. We just agreed you’d stay.” He looked frantic, as if this was the one thing completely out of his control and there was nothing he could do, no matter how much he fought or talked his way out of it.
“I want to stay with you,” I said, wrapping my arms around him and hugging him tightly.
“We can take the transporter from you, cut it out of your body.”
I shook my head against his chest, the springy hairs there soft and ticklish on my cheek. “I must put the man away. It is the honorable thing to do.”
“I know of honor, gara, but it is dangerous. You do not have to confront this killer on your own. We will contact the authorities on Earth and arrange for me to accompany you.”
“I don’t think there’s time. I should be safe. I’ll be protected by the police and the prosecutors. They will offer me their protection,” I countered.
He pushed me away from him so he could look me in the eyes. “And yet they had no faith in their ability to keep you safe before. That is why they sent you here, to me.”
“Thirty seconds to transport.”