Page 100 of Hyperdrive

“You okay?” I ask, resting a hand on hers.

She looks over at me, a hesitant smile forming on her face. “As much as I hate the way my life started, I am glad for the struggles that made me who I am because they led me to you.”

I draw her fingers to my lips and kiss them. She closes her eyes as a tear slips down her cheek. It breaks me to see her cry when I know she’s trying so hard to be strong.

“MONA, guide us home,” I say.

“Yes, sir.” MONA opens a portal and launches us through, into lunar orbit.

I unbelt Zariah, collect her in my arms, and then settle her into my lap. “I have to confess something.”

Her eyes look up at me from my shoulder with soft lashes and a dreamy smile.

“I used to wish I was born a winged Talhuskin so I could simply fly away. I’d have given anything to be from Ferrim so I could move ferrous materials by feel. I hated that I was a serum-giver, a healer, a commodity tossed around like a manufacturing plant. It was mostly because my species was dying. I had no friends except you, and I rarely managed to get to a spaceport when you were there before you disappeared again.

“You saved me more than once. To me, you are hope. Hope for my people as much as you are for me. But you’ve done so much for this universe already that I feel like I’m trying to hold on too tightly. I just have a desperate need to protect you. But I fear my desires might stifle your true potential. Does that make sense?”

She braces the side of my face and guides my lips to hers. I savor the taste of her velvety tongue as it glides over mine. My core stirs and lights my skin.

I look away and force out a breath, wishing it wouldn’t give away the true power of her touch.

She giggles. “Elix, I love that you want me so much. And I don’t ever want to be without your sexy green ass ever again.”

The spaceport outside Earth comes into view. StarBuster is docked in a repair hangar getting upgraded with the reward money Zariah got for turning in her family plus the triple-ticket price Ruby refunded last year. Zariah tried not to take it and gave most of it away to refugee organizations, including Ihna’s medical outreach. But I’m glad I convinced her to give our new home a battle-worthy makeover.

“MONA?” she asks. “Please orbit Earth once before docking inTempest.”

“Understood.”

MONA guides my ship away from the port to circle Earth.

“What’s that for?” I ask her.

Zariah gently tugs my bottom lip between her teeth until it slips from her grasp.

My core pulses faster. When her scent changes, carrying heavier notes of musk and her skin, I know she wants me.

Zariah kisses me, mischief sparkling in her eyes. “Don’t want your species to die off.”

I hug her to me and practically run us to our nest. I’ve built it up since our family expanded, and it provides a plentiful cushion as I launch us into the pile.

Zariah squeals a joyful sound that I’ve not heard before from her. She sheds her clothes as I kick out of mine. I roll onto my bare back and guide her on top of me, savoring her plush breasts, still swollen with milk for our sons. Her hair falls around my face in a soft curtain, making her even more stunning.

I guide the tendrils from her eyes as my cock swells with hunger to feel her warmth surround me again. She wiggles her hips down over mine, sheathing herself over my rigid shaft. Her grunt of relief makes my core ache with joy.

“I love you,” I rasp.

“Love you more.” Zariah rests her forehead to mine. I can hear her heart pounding and sense it in her body beneath my hands. I can feel it in her core, the one that holds me now—her willing hostage for life.