Ka’Cit felt his throat move.
Yes.
The answer was yes.
More than anything in the world.
He wanted to see little versions of himself and his gnora running around. It was one of his life’s greatest wishes.
Nee-ya rubbed his cheek, her touch gentle. “What about adoption?”
“A—what?”
“You know, becoming the parents of a child who has none.”
His life organ thumped hard.
“You would rear someone else’s seed with me?”
Nee-ya nodded. “I would.”
Ka’Cit had to inhale deeply.
“That’s not something Merssi females do…I…I’d never considered it before.”
“I’m not Merssi. Back home, my father basically adopted a shit ton of kids that became my extended family. It’s normal where I come from.”
Hope was beginning to flare within him and he wasn’t sure if he should let himself trust that everything would be okay.
“And…you would do this with me? You would give up your happiness to be with me.”
Nia shook her head. “No.”
“I don’t understand.”
“These past few weeks have been the hardest in my life.” She brushed her thumb over his cheek. “I missed you. A lot. I wouldn’t be giving up my happiness. You are my happiness.”
“Nee-ya.” It was the only thing he could say before he pulled her into him, his mouth crashing against hers.
She melted against him, her body molding into his as he turned and laid her on the seat, their mouths locked, their tongues stroking over each other.
Suddenly, the pressure of the past few weeks came crashing down and all he could do was feel her, his gnora.
She was his.
And he was hers.
45
Ka’Cit’s lips crushed hers as if she was the oxygen he needed to breathe and Nia opened herself to him.
His hands were at the sides of her face in a gentle caress as his lips played with hers, and when she sighed into their kiss, he groaned and held her tighter.
Somehow, when he’d put her down, he’d settled between her legs and she could feel him throbbing there.
Luckily, the seat was long and wide enough to hold them both because she wasn’t sure she could wait till they arrived before things escalated.
She was mildly aware of him reaching toward the car’s controls and hitting something, but when the car began to slow down, she understood what he’d done.
They were stopping in the middle of the plains, in the dark, yet she didn’t feel a sliver of fear.
Because of him, she didn’t feel like a victim of her circumstances anymore. He’d given her a voice and with that voice, she’d found herself again.
This man.
Right at this moment, she’d never felt safer than here in his arms.
“Nee-ya,” he broke their kiss, “this isn’t the place…it’s not how I imagined claiming you.”
She smiled at that. She couldn’t help it.
“How did you imagine claiming me?”
He growled at her question and the sound was a sexy rumble she felt vibrate between them and go straight to her center.
“On my sleeping slab…in my home.”
“We can go there and do it again.”
“Again?”
“Yes, because I don’t think either of us can wait to do it now.”
Another growl left his lips as he dipped his head to her neck and inhaled deeply.
“My gnora,” he growled, and it was like a flower bloomed within her.
She knew that word.
She’d heard it said so many times at the Sanctuary.
It meant he was finally accepting this, accepting her, and until then, she hadn’t realized she’d been waiting to hear it.
“I can’t resist you. If you don’t stop me, I’m going to take you right here right now.”
“Then don’t resist…”
Even in the now-dim light coming from the hover car’s control panel, she could see his fangs flash as he growled.
Ka’Cit dipped his head and his lips captured hers in a bruising kiss. His tongue flicked against hers with feverish strokes before he pulled his lips away to plant kisses in a path down her neck.
His hands fumbled with her tunic even as she slipped her hands underneath his.
Ka’Cit growled at the contact before easing away from her without breaking the contact of his lips against her skin. The movement was enough to allow Nia to lift her arms, allowing him to take the tunic over her head.
Now topless, the cool breeze kissed her skin as Ka’Cit stared down at her.
“You’re gorgeous, ta’ii.”
The way he said it, it was like a man speaking while under a spell.
He seemed entranced and when he dipped his head to trace his tongue around her breast, Nia’s eyes rolled back in her head.
The feel of his warm tongue and the contrast of the cool breeze flowing over her nipples made her body tingle and she arched against him, her center pressing against his.
Something throbbed and pressed back against her, causing her to take her bottom lip into her mouth.
“I want to touch you too,” she managed to murmur but Ka’Cit shook his head as her hands fumbled with the clasp of his trousers.
“Not yet.” In one movement, he grabbed her hands and pinned them above her head. “Just the thought of touching you has me ready to spill. And I don’t want this moment to end.”
He ground his hips against her as if to make a point and his hardness pressed into her center.
He was right.
She could feel it throbbing and twitching even underneath the layer of clothing and the feel of it only heightened her own need.
Ka’Cit’s lips returned to her skin, trailing down from her breast straight to her hips.
He buried his face there, his nose in the V between her thighs, and inhaled her through her clothes.
“Nee-ya…” he groaned.
His hands gripped her thighs, his fingers slipping underneath the waist of her trousers before he pulled them down her legs, pulling her panties along with them.
She was finally bare before him and he growled again.
He dipped his head once more, his nose pressing into her clit and Nia fought not
