Page 18 of Nita’s Bounty
“Don’t you want children of your own someday?” I ask him. Then suddenly I realize I have no idea how old he is. He could be half my age! Would it be fair to rob him of a family? “Even if I could have children, I’m close to being too old now anyway.”
Without hesitation, Shuvo shakes his head. “No. I’ve never given much thought to having pups of my own. I always suspected that children would never be in my future. It’s widely believed that Negura are incompatible with other species, as far as reproduction goes. Even with humans. So, once I left my home world, I knew my chances of ever being a father were over. And now, I realize that may have been a blessing. So, no, I can honestly say I will not miss what was never meant to be mine in the first place.”
I sneak my arms around Shuvo’s waist and bury my face in the side of his neck. “This is crazy, but…. I think I fucking love you,” I whisper.
Warm fingertips tap the bottom of my chin, lifting my head so I can look up at him. Soothing his palm across my cheek and then over my hair, he says, “I’ve loved you since I saw you walking through the concourse on Lux.” He whispers it to me in his own voice, without the communicator. The words are soft and halting. Then he brings his mouth to mine in a toe-curling kiss.
***
CHAPTER 12
***
SHUVO
We come out of hyper a safe distance from Lux, then head straight for a nearby station where I’m able to find a cruiser capable of taking Nita and me on to Vuloria.
Turns out my crew isn’t in any hurry to see us off. In fact, they follow us around the station while we procure what we need for our journey. They add their input in whatever necessities they think Nita will need until we can reach our new home, despite her objections, all the while showing us vids of Madam Althea’s rantings over the bounty hunter channels. She’s put out at least two contracts with obscene payouts since we escaped, which Nita does not find nearly as amusing as we do.
“Shuvo! We need to get going, and I can’t expect all of you to buy me so much!” Nita hisses at me under her breath. I’m holding an armload of things she looked at with longing and then moved on from. My female is hardly impulsive or extravagant, and all the items she’s turned away from are reasonable purchases. Well, most of them.
I flash her a feral grin as my fingers slide over a silky nightgown I just plucked from a display. When she saw it, her breath caught, and her eyes flared wide just before she glanced over at me. When she caught me watching her, her cheeks turned rosy and she hurried away. I can’t wait to see how she looks wrapped up in this scrap of sheer silk.
Shaking my head and holding back a grin, I push past her and drop my armload on the sales counter. Even after purchasing the cruiser, which will easily get us to anywhere we need to go—and quickly, if need be—I still have plenty of wealth to afford anything she might need or want. And, besides that, it’s my honor to be able to care for and spoil my mate.
“This is ridiculous,” she grumbles at me as I hold out my wrist for the salesperson to scan. “You just bought a freaking spaceship, and this is the third store we’ve been to. I had so many credits on Lux. I hate that I had to leave all that behind, and I can’t contribute.”
I give my proud female a soft look. Indeed, she must have collected a fortune during her time on Lux. Unfortunately, even if she had access to them, those credits would be easily tracked if she tried to spend them.
I nod my thanks to the salesperson, taking the bag of our purchases in one hand and Nita’s hand in my other. As soon as we’re out of earshot, I lean down and brush my lips against the shell of her ear. “I want to,” I whisper, loving the way she leans her body into mine, the way her skin prickles with little bumps and her cheeks turn pink.
When we get back to the ship, the entire crew is waiting for us, and a raucous cry rises up when we step on board.
“What’s all this?” Nita laughs as she looks around.
“A proper bounty send-off,” Bran announces.
“It’s bad luck not to celebrate the beginning of a new adventure!” Crank adds.
They are full of kurving shit—there is no such thing—but I also know they love nothing more than an excuse to throw a party.
Upbeat music starts playing through the speaker system, and we’re pulled inside the ship as drinks are handed out. I sniff cautiously at the mug in my hand and relax when I realize it’s my favorite brew. Beside me, Nita takes a tentative sip of hers and makes a face. When she looks over at me and realizes I’ve been watching her, she takes a second sip and pretends to enjoy it.
I shake my head and smile. Soon we’re both caught up in the celebration. My crewmates certainly know how to put on a proper send-off, and before long, Nita is wobbly from too much drink and singing along to the music. My female is beautiful with a throaty voice that makes my cock hard, but she can’t sing. But that fact doesn’t stop her from tilting her head back and belting out terrible translations that are painfully off-key.
Before long, her cheeks are rosy, and her eyes have a glassy appearance. My heart flutters in my chest as I watch her dancing and laughing. When she turns that smile at me, I’m lost.
I pluck her half-empty mug from her fingers, and she lets out a disgruntled, “Hey!”
After handing her mug to the nearest person, I lean down and put her over my shoulder, where her squeals are drowned out by the sudden cheer that goes up all around us.
“What are you doing?” she gasps as her hands slap half-heartedly at my back. “Put me down!”
I have no intention of doing so. Instead, I give her ample bottom a swat telling her so, which garners another cheer from my crew. With a wave, I grab our bags and head for the exit. Bran whispered to me earlier that our new cruiser had been “made ready for us.” I’m not sure what that might mean, but I’m anxious to find out.
“Bye! Thank you!” Nita calls out over my shoulder, and as soon as the door slides shut behind us, I’m running, weaving through the docked ships to our new cruiser.
It’s only “new” to us. In fact, it’s not much to look at and has seen better days, but it’s sound and has everything we need.