She huffed but didn’t argue further, her body already relaxing toward sleep. I held her close, my mate, my fate, the center of my universe.
Mine. Even without the mark.
I gazeddown at Miri’s spent form, my chest swelling with primal satisfaction. Her body was gloriously marked by our passion—my seed leaking slowly from both her entrances, her skin flushed and bearing the gentle imprints of my fingers, her lips swollen from my kisses. She was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen, a goddess created just for me, brought to this jungle by fate itself to become mine. My tail curled possessively around her ankle as I traced the curve of her hip with reverent fingers.
She stirred under my touch, a soft moan escaping her lips as her eyes fluttered open. Though clearly exhausted, the heat in her gaze hadn’t diminished. If anything, satisfaction had only intensified her desire.
“Don’t look so smug,” she murmured, her voice deliciously raspy from crying out my name.
“I have earned smugness,” I replied, dipping my fingers between her thighs to gather the evidence of our coupling. The sight of my seed on my fingers, mixed with her own slickness, sent a fresh surge of possessiveness through me.
Without thinking, I brought those fingers to her mouth. Her eyes widened briefly, then darkened as she parted her lips and took them inside. The hot, wet suction of her tongue cleaning our combined essence from my skin nearly made me hard again. She maintained eye contact as she sucked, a challenge and a promise in those dark depths.
My other hand slid between her legs, finding her still swollen and sensitive. She gasped around my fingers as I plunged two of my own inside her, feeling the squelching wetness that welcomed me. The obscene sound of her well-used cunt taking my fingers made my cock twitch with renewed interest, though I knew she needed rest before I claimed her again.
“So greedy,” I murmured, slowly pumping my fingers in and out while my thumb circled her clit with gentle pressure. “So perfect for me.”
She released my fingers from her mouth with a wet pop. “You’re insatiable,” she accused, even as her hips rocked against my hand.
“Only for you, kassari.” The truth of it resonated in my bones. I had never wanted anyone the way I wanted Miri—not just physically, but completely. Her mind. Her heart. Her soul. Everything she was called to everything I was with a force that defied explanation.
I worked her body with practiced precision, watching the aftershocks of pleasure ripple across her features as I eased her down from the heights we’d reached together. Her inner walls clenched rhythmically around my fingers, her breath coming in short gasps that gradually slowed as satisfaction overtook exhaustion.
Phil, who had maintained a respectful distance during our more intense activities, now extended a tendril toward Miri’s forehead, gently brushing away a damp strand of hair. I should have felt jealous at another touching my mate, but somehow the vine’s obvious affection for her only pleased me. The jungle itself acknowledged her value, her importance. As it should.
“I think Phil’s worried about me,” she mumbled, her eyes growing heavy as post-coital exhaustion began to claim her.
“Phil knows I would destroy worlds to keep you safe,” I replied, carefully withdrawing my fingers from her oversensitized flesh. “But his concern is...appreciated.”
She smiled sleepily, the expression softening her features in a way that made my chest ache. “You’re both ridiculous,” she sighed, then added as sleep began to overtake her, “but I like it.”
Within moments, her breathing had evened out, her body going limp with exhaustion. I watched her for a long moment, memorizing the peaceful expression on her face, the way her lashes cast shadows on her cheeks, the subtle part of her lips as she breathed.
Mine. Even without the mark, she was mine.
The vines around us shifted, forming a protective cocoon that would maintain her body temperature through the cooler jungle night. Phil extended another tendril, this one offering a soft leaf filled with clear water. I nodded my thanks and took it, then looked around for something to clean her with.
As if sensing my need, a different vine presented a cluster of soft, absorbent moss. Perfect. I dampened the moss with the water and began the delicate process of cleaning my mate.
Part of me—the primal, possessive part—rebelled at the thought of removing my scent, my seed from her body. I wanted her marked by me in every possible way, wanted any creature that came near her to know without doubt that she belonged to a Legion Reaper. To me.
But the rational part knew she would be more comfortable cleaned, would sleep more soundly without the sticky evidence of our passion drying on her skin. So I pushed aside my instincts and gently wiped her thighs, her stomach, the curves of her ass where I had spilled myself.
“I’ll just mark you again tomorrow,” I murmured to her sleeping form, compromising with my more territorial urges. “And the day after. And every day you’ll allow me to.”
When she was clean, I settled beside her, pulling her against my chest so her back pressed along my front. My tail wrapped around her thigh, an unconscious claim even in rest. The vines adjusted around us, providing support and protection, while Phil stationed himself nearby like a leafy sentinel.
I would not sleep much tonight. Not with my mate so vulnerable, not with danger still lurking in the jungle. The fugitive was still out there, his presence a shadow on the edges of my awareness. I would need to hunt him down, to eliminate the threat he posed both to this ecosystem and to Miri.
Once I had secured the area, once I had reported to Legion command when communications were restored, I would ensure Miri’s safe return to Terra Prime. The thought of separating from her, even temporarily, carved a hollow space beneath my ribs. But it was necessary. She had a life there—a brother, friends, her podcast listeners who relied on her voice to bring them stories of the unexplained.
Now she had become one of those stories. The human who fell through a rift gate and found her fate mate on an alien world.
I nuzzled the back of her neck, breathing in her scent, committing it to memory. I would let her go, would return her to her world, her life. But I would follow. I would find her again. And when I did, when we were both on her world with all its comforts and familiarities, I would court her properly. Would show her that our bond was more than just jungle magic or alien biology.
I refused to entertain any other outcome. Miri was mine, as I was hers. Fate had bound us together in a way that transcended planets, species, the very fabric of space itself. Whether she wore my mark or not, whether we shared a world or were separated by galaxies, nothing could sever what we had become to each other.
She stirred slightly in her sleep, pressing back against me with a contented sigh. My arms tightened around her, my body curving to accommodate her smaller frame.
