“But far more handsome, no doubt,” he replied cheekily. “You may want to have Stal look at that area on your neck, so he can treat the chafing. Or you might want to simply endure it, in order to spare yourself the pleasure of his company. Either way, I have other duties to attend to, so captain, if I may take my leave...”
“Of course. Dismissed. Good work, lieutenant.”
Grenek nodded, marching off briskly. Dashel took my hand, leading me back to his cabin.
“You seem apprehensive for someone who's just been relieved of an ugly and uncomfortable symbol of oppression,” Dashel observed as the door slid shut behind us. “Is something troubling you?”
“Without that collar, I'm just like everyone else,” I answered, my voice trembling slightly.
Dashel took my face in his hands tenderly. “Natalie, trust me when I tell you that there's no one else in the galaxy like you.”
“That's very sweet of you, but that's not what I meant. Dashel, if you had to describe me to someone – physically, I mean – what would you say?”
He thought it over for a moment. “Long reddish-blonde hair, I suppose...large blue eyes...a small nose, but with a long, aquiline bridge...full lips...relatively short as Earthers go, with a frame that's deceptively thin and narrow, but quite powerful. Why do you ask?”
“Because you've just described hundreds of human female slaves and fugitives in this galaxy. And even if you supplemented your description with a holo-image of me, I'm betting that the Drakon are a lot like my own race and most others, in that they have difficulty differentiating members of the same species from each other. Am I right?”
He frowned, confused. “Perhaps, but I still don't understand what you're saying.”
“I'm saying that collar was the only real way to identify me. It was the only one of its kind, which made me the only one of my kind. With it, you could say, 'She wore a durabilium security collar of Pax design,' and it would be easy to find me. Without it, I could effectively slip away and disappear among my own kind. And I could even take your offspring with me when I do.”
“Are you saying—is that what you intend to do, Natalie?”
“I'm saying you don't know, Dashel,” I told him insistently.
Dashel shook his head. “But I do know. You would never do that. You could, of course – you're certainly smart and resourceful enough to escape, if that were your true intention. For that matter, you could probably blast anyone who tried to stop you out of the sky, even if it were half the Hielsrane fleet and a squadron of Pax for good measure. But you wouldn't. I've come to know you very well. And to trust you.”
“Why? For God's sake, why would you trust me that much?”
“Because I love you. And because I know you love me.”
The knowledge of his trust washed through me like a warm wave. Since my abduction from Earth, trust had been such a rare commodity. Daniel had trusted me, but then he died. The Pax had learned to trust me, but that trust had been conditional on how well I followed orders and ran the mines for them. I'd had to learn an extreme and immediate distrust for every other living creature I'd encountered – even members of my own species. I'd had to be prepared for them to lie to me, try to cheat me or steal from me, even kill me the moment my back was turned.
And now here was a captain in the Hielsrane fleet, a savage dragon warrior, looking into my eyes and telling me that he trusted me. That he loved me.
I felt a single tear run down my cheek. “I do love you,” I said.
“Then show me.”
He took me in his arms, kissing me.
24
Dashel
After a long and passionate kiss, I pulled away from her just long enough to delicately wipe the tears from her cheeks with my claws. She sniffled, then pulled me close again, our lips meeting gently but firmly. Her breath tasted so sweet, and her tongue softly caressed the split at the end of mine.
I felt her fingertips lightly brushing the nape of my neck, then taking hold more decisively. She didn't say a word, but her body said it all: She wanted me to hang onto her forever, to never let her go.
My hands and body spoke too, reassuring her, telling her there was no need to worry – that I wasn't going anywhere, that I'd protect her, that I'd never let her be alone again.
Her nails traced patterns over the scales on my back, a series of codes and symbols that felt like a secret language all our own. Her hips pressed against mine insistently, and she held me tighter, tighter, until I almost couldn't breathe. Once again, I marveled at the hidden reserves of strength that her compact body held. There were times when the ferocity of her nature made me wonder if she was perhaps part dragon herself.
I unlatched her space suit, sliding it down to expose her lovely shoulders and kissing them tenderly. She arched her neck, her soft moan wordlessly begging me to continue.
As though I would stop. As though I even could.
My mouth moved down slowly, my fangs briefly nibbling at her exquisitely shaped collarbone before my lips settled on her right breast. I carefully took her nipple between my teeth, feeling it harden into a pebble against my tongue. Natalie inhaled, a sharp hiss as pleasure and pain intermingled.
I pulled her space suit down until it crumpled to the floor around her feet in a shiny heap. Her nude form was glorious, a work of art, her skin as pale and sculpted as the finest marble.
I sank to the floor, pulling her down into my embrace. Her trembling fingers undid the latches on my suit until I was bare as well. How strange, to remember we'd started as captor and
