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I step into Orien’s personal space.

He registers the movement instantly, his amber eyes dropping to my face.

“Take me home.”

Orien’s brow furrows. He scans my expression, his gaze darting to my pulse point, calculating my breathing. He searches for a threat, a panic attack, a reason for the sudden command.

He finds none.

His eyes widen as he reads the volatile emotions consuming me. A breathless, disbelieving laugh punches out of his chest.

“Yes, Commander.”

We cut through the crowd. I don’t bother offering political pleasantries to the nobles parting ways for us. We leave the palace grounds, stepping off the manicured stone and onto the pathways winding through the bioluminescent forest.

The noise of the celebration fades behind us, replaced by the rush of the lower lakes.

Orien catches my hand. The static shock bites our skin, but he pulls me into the shadow of a massive, glowing blue canopy. He backs me into the rough bark of a tree.

His mouth crashes down on mine.

The kiss is feral. Urgent. I wrap my arms around his neck, dragging him closer, opening my mouth to let his tongue sweep inside. My hands tangle in his dark hair, pulling hard. He groans, a low vibration that rattles my rib cage, his large hands gripping my waist to lift me onto my toes.

We make it to the transport skiff in bursts, breaking apart only long enough to navigate the path. The silence inside the vehicle is deafening, heavy with the terrifying magnitude of the line I just crossed.

The heavy wooden doors of his estate slide open, and we cross the foyer, heading straight for his private quarters.

The doors seal shut behind us.

I pull my jacket off, letting it drop to the stone floor. Then I move to the top button of my blouse.

Orien steps into my space. His large, warm hands cover mine, stopping my fingers.

“Let me,” he murmurs, his eyes burning with an intensity that threatens to incinerate the room.

I drop my hands to my sides.

He unfastens the buttons one by one. His knuckles brush the skin of my throat, tracing the rapid beat of my pulse. The cool air of the manor hits my chest as the fabric parts. He pushes the shirt off my shoulders, and it falls down my arms, pooling at my wrists.

The left sleeve drags over my jagged white scar.

I don’t flinch. I don’t hide it. I let the blouse fall to the floor.

Orien looks at the bare skin of my arms. Then he looks at my face, reading the deliberate choice in my posture. He hooks his fingers into the waistband of my trousers and unfastens them, pushing the fabric down my hips.

I kick off my heels and step out of my trousers.

Then he strips off his own clothes with brutal efficiency. His dress uniform hits the floor piece by piece, leaving him completely bare.

My breath stalls.

His body is a masterpiece of alien genetics. Broad, heavily muscled shoulders taper down to a narrow waist. The lines branching across his chest and down his abdomen glow with a fierce, molten-orange light.

And then there’s his cock.

He is fully erect. The heavy shaft curves slightly upward, thick and lined with pronounced, textured ridges and bumps. Amber light pulses through the thick veins running beneath the surface, throbbing in a way that makes my mouth water.

“You are staring, Maggie,” he purrs, the lethal smirk returning to his lips.