Chapter 22: Koriv’n

 

I woke up with Nikki passed out on my chest. Rajiv’k and Calvin were replacing the broken panel on my shuttle wall with one from the out-of-commission shuttle. I shook Nikki lightly, but she didn’t respond.

“Hey, look, sleeping beauty’s awake,” Calvin said, handing me a flask filled with the fortified vitamin drink hunters used to stay healthy and heal from wounds. He looked to Nikki. “We had to give her something to calm her down. She was freaking out after you passed out again, and Noah couldn’t get close enough to remove the bullets.”

I rested a hand on her back and felt it rise and fall with her steady breathing.

Calvin gestured to the boxes on the floor. “I hope you don’t mind, but we took your things out of the drawers in the panel before we started work. Don’t worry; she passed out and didn’t see the rings. You weren’t planning on leaving it to chance, were you? You’ve got enough rings here to propose to the whole cheerleading squad.”

When I’d done my research on human mating rituals, I’d read about how the male would get on his knees and propose to his mate of choice with a ring. I hadn’t met Nikki at the time, so I’d collected at least one ring in every size I could find. In the common sizes, I’d collected as many as I could. I’d also collected a variety of weddings bands, though I’d never found one large enough to fit on my finger.

“I only wish to propose to Nikki.” I didn’t want a whole cheerleading team, whatever that was.

I took a swig of the fruit-scented liquid. It was refreshing, and I hadn’t realized I was extremely thirsty. Healing from an injury often drained a hunter. I downed the rest of the flask in a hurry.

“Good on you. When are you going to pop the question?”

“I was waiting for the mating bond to form. But if it doesn’t, I plan to ask soon.”

Rajiv’k picked up the tray full of little ring boxes and velvet pouches and placed them into my new drawer. “Do you mind sparing one for Natalie? I never expected a mate.”

“I only need one of the fancy ones for Nikki and a pair of the plain ones for the both of us for the ceremony. We might have to join two smaller rings to fit hunter fingers. You can choose from the rest.”

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but you hunters are hopeless romantics. I’d never have guessed, watching you guys fight.” Calvin shook his head but shot me a look of approval.

The two left, and I was alone with my Nikki. She still slept, so I tucked Purrito under her arm and closed my eyes to rest some more, not wanting to wake her.

The next time I opened my eyes, big brown ones gazed back at me.

“You’re awake. Thank goodness you’re okay. How’s the head?” Nikki asked.

“Better. The medical device and sleep helped.”

She checked my side and found my bullet wounds already closed. “They weren’t kidding about you healing fast.”

“Hunters heal exceptionally fast. I woke earlier when they were fixing the ship, but you were still sleeping.”

She wrinkled her nose. “You should have woken me.”

“And interrupt the snoring? No way.”

“I don’t snore!”

She did, and it was the cutest thing. I shifted my weight, but she made no move to get off me.

“And the next time I see Cynthia, I’m going to give her a piece of my mind. That drink was spiked. She tricked me.”

“Noah needed to get the bullets out.”

“He could have done it with me next to you.” She pouted.

“We should probably get up and get some food in us.” I moved again, but she did not let go of me. “Are you going to stay latched onto me forever?”

“Yup! I’m never letting go. I’m not waiting for that slow-ass mating bond of yours. I’m doing it myself.”

I looked at her, a little confused and afraid to assume.

She beamed back. “You’re stuck with me now, mate.”

Happiness filled me, and I threw my arms around her. Nikki was finally ready to be my mate! If I’d known all it took was getting injured, I would’ve hit my head and gotten shot sooner.

“You can latch onto me forever. I’ll do everything for you. I’ll even feed you.”

I got up, adjusting and supporting her body so she clung onto me easily. I uncovered the tray of food Evie had left for us earlier and mixed an extra glass of vitamin drink for her, all with one arm wrapped tightly around her waist. Then I sat down with her in my lap and, still stuck together, we ate.

It was fun figuring out ways to do everything without releasing her, and by the time we finished our meal and cleaned up, it felt as if I really couldn’t let her go.

We lay in our sleeping nook, fed, clean, and naked, since taking clothes off was much easier to do attached than putting them back on. I hit the button for the privacy screen, and it enclosed us in a world of twinkling stars.

Nikki pressed her hips back against the front of my body and wiggled experimentally. I growled a warning.

“I’ve had plenty of rest, and the medical unit has done its job well. If you’re not careful, you’ll end up with more of me than you bargained for.”

But she didn’t stop. “Who says I’m not doing this on purpose? If you’re well enough to want sex, that’s amazing. Come get it.”

“You’ve had a hard day, and I should let you rest.”

“Fuck rest!” She turned in my arms to face me. “I thought I was going to lose you today. I was so scared. I want you now, Koriv’n. I want you on me. In me. All over me. Show me you are here. Show me you are real.”

She pushed herself up and gave me a little shove. Amused, I rolled onto my back and watched her as she straddled my hips. I grinned up at her, appreciating the shape of her body. I palmed her breasts, rolling a nipple between my fingers. She hissed and ground against me as I rose to attention.

I pulled her down to my mouth and covered her nipple with my lips. I tugged on the little bud and swirled my tongue around it. I released it and moved on to her other breast, giving each pebbled nipple fair attention. She moaned and reached down to line us up.

“Not yet.” I pulled her higher to straddle my face.

I licked my lips, eager to taste her. Covering her lower lips with mine, I explored her folds with my tongue. She moaned and gasped above me, her legs shaking on either side of my head. I plunged my tongue into her depths and circled her little nub, the one that made her react, with my thumb. Her knees tightened around my horns as her pleasure grew.

It felt powerful to know I had this effect on her, that I had the ability to make her focus on nothing else but us and where we touched. It didn’t matter what happened outside of our shuttle. Here, there was only love, and happiness, and pleasure.

I rubbed her clit in small circles, and her channel tightened and pulsed around my tongue. Her whole body shook as she cried out her release.

I moved her down my body again, lining the tip of my cock up with her slit and pushing her hips down onto mine. Another cry escaped her lips, the sound aimed at the stars dotting my shuttle, and I held her there, letting her get used to my size. She stayed there, shaking and panting, the slim column of her throat on display with her face tilted to the ceiling.

“Ride me, Kitten. Now.” I gave her ass a light tap, urging her to move. The sound echoed in the sleeping nook. “Yes!” I hissed as she rocked her hips.

My fingers dug into her rounded bottom as I gripped her hips tightly and set a punishing rhythm. Just because she was on top didn’t mean I wasn’t in control.

Her hair had escaped the tie that held it and was a mess around her shoulders. She rode me hard and frantic, her body wild and the look of pleasure on her face completely unrestrained. She was magnificent, and I couldn’t look away. I wanted to memorize her forever like this.

“So beautiful. You’re mine, Nikki. Mine.”

Unable to stay upright, she fell forward over my body, catching herself with her palms on my chest.

“Wrap around me.”

She did, and I rolled us so I was on top. She looked up at me through half-closed lids and licked her lips. I caught her tongue and suckled, and her hands shot up to my horns, gripping them firmly.

I started moving again, slowly at first, pulling out and pushing back in deliberately, enjoying the feel of every swollen section of my cock sliding into her depth. I loved the way her pussy wrapped around each head-like portion, closing in, hugging me tightly before opening again for the next.

Nikki had other ideas.

“Faster!”

She rocked her hips hard, urging me to fuck her harder. I resisted at first, keeping my movements slow and deliberate. She pounded on my shoulder impatiently, needily.

“Please,” she begged.

I tilted my hips and thrust in hard. She rewarded me with a breathy scream. I thrust again and again, driving into her welcoming body. Pleasure surrounded me, surrounded us until there was nothing left but the two of us in the world. The only sounds I heard were her cries; the only scent I smelled was her lust. She was everything that had ever existed, and she was everything that ever would be.

“I love you, Kitten. I love you.”

With her pinned under me, I drove into her hard. All she could reply with were sobs as her channel squeezed and pulsed around me. Unable to hold back anymore, I exploded, filling her with my seed. She milked every drop from me until it felt like I had nothing left. She’d drained me of everything.

I collapsed on the bed, rolling her so she lay on top of my body, my arms wrapped tightly around her. She took a big breath and sighed, a happy sound filled with satisfaction. She lifted her head up to look me in the eyes, and I peered back, wondering how I’d ever lived without her.

She kissed my face and kept kissing, leaving dozens of little kisses all over my cheek and chin.

I chuckled. “Stop! I’m not going to have a face left.”

She replied by doing the same to the other side. “Yup, it’s totally gone. No face at all.” She laughed and tried to roll away.

My arms didn’t release her. They couldn’t. I focused on my hands, willing them to leave her body, but they held on as if glued.

“No way!” Nikki exclaimed, catching on to our plight. She laughed. “I can’t believe it’s happening now.” She wrapped her arms around me, holding me just as tightly as I held her.

“Believe it.” I was suddenly afraid she hadn’t meant what she’d said earlier, that her change in position regarding us being mated was temporary. “Are you happy with this?”

“Yes!” Then she was sobbing against my chest, but I wasn’t worried now. She wasn’t sad. She had a smile plastered on her face, and she held onto me like she could never let go.

I’d finally found my mate.