They ate their meal and talked for almost an hour, enjoying the quiet solitude without fear of being seen by anyone who would report them to the Krinar or to her father.

  “Tell me something about you, Soren. Something secret,” she asked, wanting to play a game to learn more about him. In many ways, he’d lived quite a life, and she wanted to know more about him.

  “Something secret?” he mused, his fingertips playing with the stem of his champagne flute.

  “Yes. I mean, we’re going to be spending a lot of time together, aren’t we? I should probably know everything there is to know about you.”

  His gaze turned distant as he thought it over. “I was young and foolish once, determined to prove my worth. I traveled to a distant planet called Zaruth in hopes of making contact with a new species and a potential home for my people. I was captured during my exploration of their world.”

  She gasped. “Captured?” She’d expected him to share some amusing anecdote, not something so serious.

  “The people of this planet, the Kronosians, were twice my size and twice as strong. I was curious to see if it was close enough to Krina to be seeded by our people for a future home world. But I didn’t account for the native people. What Kronosians lacked in technology they made up for in brute strength. I was not able to stop them. They had developed a natural drug from a plant native to their planet. They laced their weapons with it, and when I tried to fight them off to get back to my ship, I was wounded. The drug rendered me as weak as a child, and the nanocytes couldn’t repair me quickly enough to defend myself. I was too far from my ship and couldn’t stop them when they grabbed and bound me.”

  The darkness in his eyes pulled her to him in a way she’d never expected. Her heart pounded as she imagined him, a young handsome Krinar, fighting off a horde of Kronosians and losing.

  “My ship was cloaked, so I knew they would not find it, but as for me…” A tic worked in his jaw. “I was not so lucky. They were puzzled and afraid of my arrival, taking it as some ill omen. The translating device installed behind my ear took weeks to adapt and learn their tongue. By the time I was able to communicate in their tongue, they had decided I was a danger to them. They cast me into what they called the Wailing Pit. I landed on the bones of their condemned brothers, ones who’d perished by starvation. They expected me to die after a few days without food or water.”

  Bianca reached across the table, clasping his hand tightly.

  “But you didn’t.”

  He shook his head.

  “Because of the nanocytes?”

  “Correct. There were two other prisoners there when I was first pushed into the pit. I knew they would die slowly and painfully from starvation. I gave them a quick death, drinking their blood until they passed. Their hemoglobin was just enough to survive on, but I became a shell, a creature driven only by instincts. Each time they cast someone down into the pit, I did what I had to do to survive. I killed hundreds of them—males, females, even some younger Kronosians. Whoever landed beside me, bleeding and injured, I granted them death and took the blood I needed to survive. After three centuries, the Kronosians forgot I was down there. Eventually, the bones of their people rose so high that I had a chance to climb out. I made it to freedom and dragged my weakened body to my ship and returned home.”

  “You were in that pit for three hundred years?” Bianca’s eyes widened. She could not imagine that horror. The isolation he must have felt, the crushing loss of hope…and having to kill over and over just to survive.

  “Everyone on Krina believed I was dead. Only Sef believed I was still alive.”

  Bianca frowned at Sef’s name. Soren didn’t miss it.

  “My twin and I were close. Despite the fight you witnessed, I trust him with my life. I would trust him with yours as well.”

  “But he hurt you…”

  “He got the better of me that time.” He smiled then and left her confused. “I knew I had wronged you, taking you away like that. Sef reminded me of that, and I deserved a lesson in humility. Someday, when it’s safe for us to be together in the open, I would like you to meet him again. You will like him. I promise you.” He turned her hand over beneath his, clasping her palm in his.

  “I’m so sorry that happened to you, Soren. I can’t even imagine…”

  He urged her to stand, and she came around the table so he could pull her into his lap. He buried his face in her neck, pressing kisses to her skin to soothe her when she wanted to soothe him.

  “It was a long time ago. Long enough to heal,” he whispered in her ear, then nibbled on her earlobe. “Now, tell me something secret about you.”

  She fought off a moan. The attention he was giving her made it hard to think at all. She wondered what she could tell him that even mattered compared to his story.

  “I want to make a difference,” she said. “To help not only people, but the planet. It’s why I want to be a marine biologist. Our lives depend on the oceans, and most of us don’t even realize it. I want to help and protect the creatures that live there. If we lose the balance there, we’re all doomed.”

  She looked toward the kelp forest, and her heart beat fast with joy. “I look at the world, the colors, the creatures great and small, all living in an ancient circle of life and death and rebirth, and I feel there’s something greater out there? Something glorious that pulls all the pieces of this magnificent puzzle together. I used to think that made me feel small, but now I feel…endless. As if I’m part of all that. Each time I step into the shallows to help an injured seal or run a blood test on a sick pelican, I’m a positive part of the circle.” She laughed. “I’m not making sense, am I?”

  He caught her chin and turned her head to face him. Their eyes locked, green to golden brown.

  “You hold the universe inside you, and all the majesty that comes with it. I understand. Even as I lay suffering in my prison so far from home, I would marvel whenever it would rain upon my skin, feeling the infinite power of life in each drop. It was a small hope, but hope nonetheless, to stay alive and get home. That hope, infinitesimal as it was most days, was a constant source of wonder to me. How could I live another day if I were not destined to survive? Long after I came home, I continued to search for that destiny, that reason I stayed alive. Then, when I saw you again outside the Princeton president’s office, frightened as you were of me, I saw that same determination in your eyes to survive. That was when you became my universe, my endless wonder.”

  He touched his nose to hers, nuzzling her, his breath mingling with her own. It was like lying outside on a perfect spring day, cool velvet grass beneath her and endless blue sky above her on a day that would last forever.

  She closed her eyes as she leaned deeper into him. “How do you do that?”

  “Do what?” he asked between kisses that made her blood sing and her heart throb in a wild rhythm.

  “Make me crazy for you, like you’re the only thing I could ever need.”

  He laughed softly, the sweet sound of his delight turning her on. “Because we are meant to be, lilana. You are my charl, and I’m your cheren. Our bodies recognize each other’s unique and perfect chemistry. It’s a rare thing to feel devoted to another on all levels, not simply physical. We are special, Bianca. It’s why I defied my people to be with you.”

  He stroked her bottom lip with his thumb, and she couldn’t resist nipping him. Soren’s eyes melted into a bright tawny gold as he watched her suck his finger into her mouth. She felt him go hard beneath her thighs, and she wriggled her bottom to tease him.

  “Don’t do that,” he warned in a deep growl that might have scared her in another life.

  She let his finger escape her lips in a soft pop. “Do what?”

  “You know full well.” His eyes held a predatory gleam as he slid her off his lap and pushed her to her knees. He grasped her hair in one hand. “Perhaps I should make you take the edge off my hunger.” He nodded at the bulge in his pants.

  Bianca was eager to take him like this, to hold a measure of power over him—dominating her K lover by controlling his pleasure. She licked her lips and reached for his pants, undoing them. His thick cock stood there erect, and her body flushed as she looked back up at him. She saw the wild look in his eyes.

  “If you take me in your mouth, I can’t promise to be gentle.”

  “Maybe I don’t want gentle.” She curled her fingers around his shaft, squeezing it. He hissed out a breath. She lowered her head and licked the tip of him, relishing the salty taste of his skin before she took him inside her mouth. He couldn’t fit all the way, so she closed one hand around the rest of him while she sucked and licked and pulled. The hand in her hair tightened as he began to lift his hips in her direction. She moved closer to him at the same time.

  He groaned and pushed her head down on him a little harder, making her take more of him, but the feeling of him losing so much control that he was this desperate to fuck her mouth was impossible not to enjoy.

  She took it all, loving the way he spun out of control. Just before she expected him to come, he pulled her up and turned her around. He swept a hand across the table, smashing dishes and extinguishing candles as the vase of flowers splashed water everywhere. He bent her over the table and shoved her dress up over her hips. He tugged her panties down to her knees and rammed himself deep inside her. The angle of penetration was new, and she groaned at being so suddenly and unexpectedly stretched and filled, but she was so wet and it felt so good for him to be inside her that it didn’t matter.

  He fucked her raw, gripping her hips hard enough to leave bruises, but she didn’t give a damn. She’d just heal up later. It felt amazing to be owned by her dark Krinar lover, to feel him use her, giving her pleasure in return, all the while knowing how much he cared for her, how precious she was to him. A woman could get high on such thoughts alone, but Soren offered so much more. Sweet, intoxicating passion pounded through her heart, chest, and head in exquisite harmony with Soren’s body. As the release hit, all she saw was a blinding, glorious galaxy of stars shattering into bursts of color against the backs of her eyelids.

  Waves of ecstasy rolled through her as the orgasm continued for a full minute. When he finally joined her in climax, she felt his release heat her insides. He expelled a panting rhythm of breaths against the back of her neck. He murmured soft words in his native tongue, creating a deep lullaby of sensuality as he brushed gentle fingertips through her hair and over her ears and neck.

  “So sweet, so tight and hot, my little Bianca,” he purred before he withdrew from her.

  Her inner walls twitched over and over, leaving her stinging and aching for him to fill her again. He chuckled as he ran a finger between her wet folds and then inserted it into her. She whimpered, desperate for another release, yet never wanting him to stop this tender torture. He cupped her ass with his other hand and gave it a playful smack. She yelped, then sighed as he soothed the spot, still slowly penetrating her with his finger, soon drawing a second climax from her. It was softer than the first, but it made her knees weak. She gripped the edges of the table, writhing in pleasure until at last it faded.

  “Oh God” was all she could say in a breathless pant as he wiped her clean and pulled her panties back up. Then he sat back down and pulled her across his lap once more, cradling her as she burrowed into him. They had broken through some barrier, some limitation she hadn’t even realized existed until tonight. It had pushed her beyond her comfort zone, and she liked it. Perhaps a little too much.

  “Bianca,” he murmured. “Malenkai sovenyah.”

  “What’s that mean?” she mumbled against his chest.

  His laugh warmed her clear down to her toes. “It means ‘my endless wonder.’”

  “How are you so perfect?” Bianca asked as he carried her through the darkened aquarium.

  “Because I was made for you,” he answered. “The universe has destined us for each other.”

  She had no doubt that he was right.

  She was only half-awake when he carried her to his ship. She blinked, slowly watching the setting sun disappear beneath the horizon. Soren pressed something on the ship’s console, and everything around them vanished. This was new. The ship wasn’t just cloaked on the outside but on the inside as well! They were flying through the air with nothing blocking their view of the ground below. Bianca gasped.

  “It’s rather pretty to fly like this—if you aren’t afraid of heights,” Soren said.

  Bianca’s stomach fluttered, but she reached out, feeling the ship’s seat still holding her securely in place, even though it looked like she was flying over clouds. She finally convinced herself to relax. Her eyes started to close again, and before she knew it, she was dreaming of them flying away from Earth and into the stars.

  When she finally opened her eyes, she was being tucked into her dorm bed by her handsome Krinar lover. He had already put her in her PJs and pulled the blankets up to her chin. He saw her open her eyes and trailed a fingertip down the length of her nose and over her lips. She reached up, catching his hand, holding it close.

  “Stay,” she whispered in the quiet, dark room.

  “I wish I could. But in time we won’t be separated like this, I promise. Sleep now.” He brushed his lips over hers, and she fell asleep, still tasting his kiss and dreaming of the wonders she would see in the galaxy by his side.

  Soren entered his home in DC and scowled. Sef was there, seated on his couch, watching his TV. His twin was watching a show called The Bachelor and laughing darkly.

  “Can you believe this? Look at these women. Fake, idiotic fools. Who can’t see through their vapid nature? Where are the genuine girls with curves and brains?” He picked up the remote to hit mute.

  “Sef, aren’t you supposed to be on assignment?” Soren acted calm, but he feared Sef could sense his deception through their twin connection.

  “Not yet. I leave for Kansas in a month or so.”

  “Ah, so you’re going to bunk with me in the meantime.” Soren headed into the kitchen to get some juice. Sef followed him.

  “You don’t want me spending time with you?” Sef said, half teasing. “I can always return to the Krinar Embassy in DC and stay there.”

  Soren faced him. “If you wish to stay here, you know you’re more than welcome.” He meant it, and he knew Sef could feel it through their link.

  “You’ve had quite a night for someone who hasn’t been reassigned a new political post yet,” Sef observed. He leaned back against the counter opposite his brother, crossing his arms over his chest.

  Soren almost laughed at his brother, who was dressed all in black. Black shirt with some human band logo, black jeans, and biker boots. Black was a very violent color among the Krinar, yet both he and Sef found it appropriate to wear that color while on Earth. Part of him had never cared for the soft, pale colors that were commonplace in Krinar cities. It was one more thing that had made him suited to his position as ambassador. He understood Earth culture, had spent years studying it, and had found there was much to like.

  “I’ve been going out, trying to get Bianca out of my system, as they say.” Not that he ever could, but there was an element of truth to his statement that allowed him to say it with conviction. He used his hand to summon the controls in his home, and the wall opened up, providing him a fresh glass of juice. He retrieved the glass, and the wall sealed tight.

  “Hmmm…that must be hard to do, given that you keep seeing her every night.”

  Soren stopped and lowered his glass.

  “You smell of her, brother. And sex. You forgot to bathe tonight.”

  Soren cursed. Sef was right. He had gotten lazy tonight. But then, he hadn’t expected company.

  “Are you going to tell Arus?” It wasn’t really a question.

  Sef shrugged. “I follow orders. I had my initial orders to separate you. He hasn’t told me to keep you separated, nor did he order me to keep tabs on your movements.”

  “But I thought you agreed it was a risk to peaceful relations?”

  A dark humor lit his brother’s eyes. “Like you, brother, I feel we should take any humans we want, especially if they want us. No one, not even the president or the Council, should stand in our way. Bianca wants you, so by rights you should be able to take her as a charl. She does want you, doesn’t she?”

  Soren sighed. “She does. We belong together, but I do not know how to claim her without causing a diplomatic crisis with President Wells.”

  “And the Council,” Sef added, laughing. “You’ve got major problems, brother.”

  “You could stop laughing at me and actually help,” Soren reminded him.

  Sef stroked his chin thoughtfully. “Give me some time to think it over. Oh, you’d better call Mother and tell her you’ve taken a charl. You know she would love it—Father will too.”

  Soren snorted. “You only want me to distract them because Mother still pesters you to retire from your guardian duties.”

  “Perhaps,” Sef muttered. “We aren’t a hundred years old—you’d think she would let us live our lives and not mother us.”

  “I hate to remind you, Sef, but mothering is what she loves to do. Now leave me so I can shower.”

  Sef headed for the door but paused. “I did have a message for you from Arus, however. He wants you to attend a state dinner tomorrow evening with President Wells. You will have to cancel your plans with Bianca, whatever they may be.”

  “A state dinner?” Soren was shocked.

  Sef nodded. “I think Arus is trying to find a way to get you and the president to speak diplomatically again. I believe he wants to help you find a way to keep Bianca. He’s a good friend.”

  “He is indeed.” A prickling of guilt underneath Soren’s skin made him frown. He owed Arus much more than he imagined, and yet here he was sneaking behind his back with Bianca, defying the Council and threatening their peace with Earth.

  Soren stayed in the kitchen, thinking about what he could do. Perhaps he would have an opportunity to speak with President Wells privately. There had to be a way to convince him that Soren would take good care of Bianca. Because if he couldn’t, it might cause an intergalactic war that could annihilate the humans in the blink of an eye and destroy all the Krinar plans for peaceful coexistence.

 

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