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A fist clenched in Kaia’s sternum and squeezed. She was a stupid kid with a trembling lip and a throat constricting around a sob. It escaped when she finally had to choose between drawing breath and passing out, wrenched out of her like an ugly thing demanding to be free. She bunched the dress in her fists and stared down at the reflection of her feet—God, they put her in such ridiculously high nude heels. How was anyone meant to walk in those?
“Oh, honey.” Kaia directed her blurry gaze to Petal in the mirror. “This is the one. I knew it. You look so happy.”
Happy?
Kaia batted away the tears as they spilled over her cheeks. They thought she was crying with happiness. Kaia didn’t even know what the fuck she was crying over, but it sure as Heaven wasn’t that. All she knew was that she was in the most beautiful stupid dress she’d ever laid eyes on—the kind of thing nobody in her family could dream of ever even seeing in person. They'd have been so happy if they could see how much better her lifewasnow.
If they weren’t dead. If everyone weren’t fucking dead. Ahton was all alone out there because of her. She owed it to him to keep herself together. Her brother was more important than fantasies of a life she couldn’t even fathom.
Kaia realized someone was wailing, and that someone was her, and now Petal and Orel weren’t looking so happy anymore because they realized these were not happy tears and that something was wrong. Kaia took gasping breaths as she tried to get herself under control, her chest tight and her throat prickling and dry even though her face was wet with salt.
“I… uh… Stay right there. We’ll be right back, honey,” Orel patted her awkwardly and the two women made a hasty retreat.
CHAPTER53
ORION
Orion was deep in the binders they’d scavenged when a yellow notification appeared in his vision. He blinked it away, returning to an old paper published by none other than the man himself, Peter’s father, Paul Creaton.
The name rang a bell, but that wasn’t what caught Orion’s attention. The interesting part was the fact that Paul Creaton’s byline listed him as notjustan archaeologist, but one specializing in uhyre artifacts.
Either this was all a waste of time, since an archaeologist was unlikely to know much of anything about geophysics and suitability of specific environments for habitation… Or Paul Creaton’s concern about what Orion’s mother was draggingColossalinto was of a different nature than he’d assumed.
The notification chimed again, this time a deep, intrusive orange. With a flash of irritation, Orion opened the comms.
I think you might want to get here, Mr. Halen. Miss Kaia’s having a… well, I don’t know what she’s having.The subvoc came with a burst of nervous emotion.
* * *
When the planner pointed him into the fitting cabin with a worried expression, following close on his heels as he entered, Orion had expected to see Kaia in her natural state: uncooperative. He didn’t expect to find her standing quietly on a platform with her back to him, wrapped in glorious fire.
Orion stopped in his tracks, brain scrambling to recalibrate his expectations. That was when he noticed the tremble in her shoulders and the white-knuckled fists grasping the red fabric.
He waved away the two women who’d followed him in. When they were alone, he approached Kaia without hesitation. He sensed pain tinged with a splash of something bitter as he stepped onto the platform and came up behind her. She was fraying, her aura crackling with the taste of falling apart.
The pink of her cheeks flared and her nose had turned red and shiny. Her brows were upturned, her eyes swimming with tears. Her lips, wet and irritated from the salt, wobbled, parted as she took small, shuddering breaths.
When he closed the distance between them and wrapped his arms around her stomach from behind, her wet eyes met his in the mirror. She began to pull away, but he held firm, pressing her to his chest. She didn’t try to fight. She couldn’t, not in that state.
Orion couldn’t help it. He got hard at the sight and feel of her like this, all of her defenses stripped, leaving her naked for him.
Her lashes flicked down as she felt him against the small of her back. He braced for her to pull away again. Instead, she turned in place in his arms, fingers releasing the dress she was clutching to curl into his shirt. She looked up at him.
“Ignore it,” he rasped, his voice rawer than he intended. He didn’t want to scare her. Not now. Not yet.
Instead of heeding his instruction, Kaia did something that bewildered him. She slowly lowered herself, hands tracing careful lines down his torso as she got onto her knees. The plunging neckline of the dress blended with the blush creeping up her chest. Orion frowned as she fumbled with his belt, then tugged his pants down over his hips—shy, but determined.
He remained silent, clenching his jaw as she pulled his briefs down to his thighs. He couldn’t see her eyes or her expression, only the tops of her lashes as she stared at the erection in her face. Her hot breath washed over the head, and he could already feel the spikes prickling up around the base and underside of his dick.
When she pitched forward and awkwardly bumped her lips against the head, a hiss caught in his throat. Her hands slid to his hips, grasping him for balance as she planted another small, hesitant kiss on his flesh. This time, she looked at him. A tear spilled along her temple as she craned her neck. He flicked it away with a thumb. When, still watching, she enveloped the full head of his shaft in her mouth, he had to squeeze his eyes shut, lift his head to the ceiling, and think about his forest.
Fuck. He was supposed to make her beg.
He couldn’t watch as his dick disappeared halfway in her mouth. He only felt her lips leaving a wet trail along his flesh, then his head pressing against the roof of her mouth. She drew back then, and it took all his visualization abilities to picture trees swaying in the wind instead of holding her still and forcing himself down her throat.
Orion didn’t know what this was, and he found it impossible to give a fuck. She wanted to do this. Despite his genius plan of breaking her delusion, he couldn't bring himself to refuse the offering.
He chanced a cautious glance down, pulling her hair from around her face for a better view. Her cheeks hollowed as she sucked him, bobbing her head onto his cock, then back out. It wasn’t a good blow job. She’d clearly not done this often… Maybe ever. But the sight of her on her knees before him was enough. Her inexperience only added to the thrill of it, so even when her teeth scraped the spikes that now protruded into her tongue, it sent a pleasing shudder down his spine.
