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  Oh hell, she wanted DF to be Dryce.

  Now that she was in the cafeteria, Peyton wasn’t sure where she was supposed to go. They hadn’t set up a meeting location, almost as if they’d assumed they’d know one another on sight. She walked a little further into the room so she didn’t block the entrance and grabbed the nearest table before settling down to watch the doors like a hawk. It wasn’t near any specific meal time, so the place wasn’t crowded, though a few people came in and out for snacks. Each time the door slid open, Peyton practically jumped out of her seat, but then the person would continue on to the snack bar without giving her a glance and she’d settle back down.

  The allotted fifteen minutes passed and there was no sign of DF or Dryce. She pulled out her communicator to check and make sure that he hadn’t canceled, but there was no message waiting for her.

  Seventeen minutes passed. Then eighteen. And just before she was about to go crazy and send a message to DF demanding to know where he was Dryce walked through the door. His head swung around and he caught sight of her almost immediately. Their eyes locked and she saw it in his expression.

  DF.

  Dryce NaFeen.

  Hers.

  DRYCE WAS BRACED FOR rejection. Especially given that he was a few minutes late due to an unexpected call from Sandon. He’d worried that Peyton had figured it out before he could explain, and he’d also worried that he’d walk in and she’d see him without realizing who he was.

  But there was no risk of that. She recognized him, and if the heat in her eyes was anything to go by, she wasn’t mad.

  Well, not completely mad. He could see anger in the set of her shoulders and her jaw, but under it all was a simmering heat just waiting to explode.

  Not here, though. This was far too public a place for this meeting.

  Despite that, he slid into the seat across from her and sat silently, unsure of exactly what to say. He’d had grand ideas about revealing his identity, but now that the time had come, he knew that none of them would have worked. He’d lied to her and he had to own up to that now or they would never move forward.

  And they needed to move forward. He needed her in his life and in his bed and at his side for the rest of his days. She was brilliant and beautiful and everything he’d never known he wanted. If she had just been some person he was trying to entice into his bed he would have known the right words, but he didn’t know a magic phrase to convince her that he wanted more.

  All he had was his honesty. And he could give her all of that.

  “I’m sorry,” he said before she could say anything else. “I should have told you who I was after we met.”

  Peyton let out an unsteady breath as her hands curled into fists where they rested on top of the table. “You should have told me the minute I mentioned you in our messages.” It came out dangerously low through clenched teeth, as if she was afraid she’d yell if she spoke any louder.

  Dryce nodded, but couldn’t say it out loud. If he’d told her then, she would have cut off contact, and he’d cherished their conversations. “I—”

  Peyton cut him off. “We shouldn’t do this here.”

  They were both leaning close, each covering practically half of the small table until their faces were close enough to kiss. They were starting to get a few looks from interested occupants of the cafeteria and rumors were bound to be swirling about them already. Plenty of people talked about him, but Dryce didn’t want Peyton to be the subject of gossip. It would be bad enough if she accepted their bond, and Dryce couldn’t completely control what other people would say, but he could prevent this for now.

  “I know a place,” he said. He stood and without thinking offered his hand. He about jumped out of his skin when Peyton placed hers against his and linked their fingers together. They walked out of the cafeteria together as if the Earth hadn’t just shifted beneath their feet and Dryce led her towards the temporary sleeping quarters where there were a variety of rooms available for on-call personnel.

  He entered his ID on the wall panel to reserve the room and then he and Peyton were alone.

  Tension thrummed in the air between them, but this was much different than anything that had bubbled up during the mission. For the first time they were together and Dryce was being completely honest. He was no longer split between two people, the typed messages of DF and the restrained conversation in person.

  “Don’t lie to me again,” Peyton commanded. She glared at him, finger pointed and ready to attack if he made one wrong move.

  Fire lived within her and even as Dryce didn’t want to anger her, he drank in the sight. She glowed, absolutely awash in furious light. “I won’t,” he promised. It had been tearing him up inside to do it, every word he said another knot to bind him with. And now he was free, untied for the first time in weeks.

  “Did you mean it?” She narrowed her eyes and pressed her lips together tightly as if to trap words in her mouth.

  Dryce took a step forward until they were close enough to brush against one another. He wanted to touch, his fingers itched with the need, but he kept his hands to himself. She needed to make the first move if they were going to take this somewhere else. He hadn’t brought her to this room for anything more than talk, but now that he realized they were in a private room with a bed right behind them, the promise of something more hung in the air. “Mean what?”

  Peyton took several deep breaths, her shoulders lifting and falling with each one as if she’d just run a marathon. “All of it. Any of it.”

  It hurt not to reach out and touch her. “Every single word I’ve said.”

  She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment before opening them back up and piercing him with her gaze. “Why? Why me?”

  This was the moment of truth. Once he said what he had to say, there was no turning back. “Because you’re my denya.”

  Her mouth opened but no words followed. Her tongue darted out to lick her lips. “Your mate? Me?” She backed up a step and Dryce almost reached out, but he kept his hands at his sides as if they were shackled there. “So you just want me because there’s no other choice. Fate told you that I... belonged to you or something? I’ve read about the Denya Price. I know that you’ll die if you don’t mate with me.”

  “I noticed you because of the bond,” Dryce conceded. He would have noticed her without it, but the recognition had bloomed so quickly that he hadn’t had the chance. “But every moment I’ve spent with you, messaging you, talking to you, fighting with you,” he grinned at that, even if it wasn’t appropriate, “learning about you has made it clear that you’re an amazing person. There is no one else I want but you, denya bond or not.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Dryce’s words echoed through her mind, an impossible promise that she’d been dying to hear since she’d kissed him. Maybe even before that. He wanted her, he belonged to her. He was her mate. She couldn’t believe it, and yet she could almost feel a connection thrumming between them, reaching out from her heart to his and binding them together through something that science couldn’t hope to understand.

  She could tell that he was holding himself back; tension vibrated off of his arms as if some invisible force were keeping him from reaching out for her. It would be easier if he did it, if he were to pull her close and crush their mouths and bodies together. Then she could say that she was caught up in the moment, that there’d never been a decision to make.

  She wouldn’t need to make a leap of faith.

  Because he promised that he was looking for no other. But he’d lied before. Not about that, but about who he was to her, both by not telling her that he was DF and by omission when they’d discussed the denya bond. She should be mad about that, but Peyton couldn’t bring herself back to that anger. It had fizzled out somewhere on their walk from the cafeteria and every defense she had was crumbling at the sheer heat in his eyes.

  She’d wanted him from the first moment she’d seen him and now he said he was hers. What the hell was she
waiting for?

  She reached out and grabbed one of his hands, his skin hot under her fingertips. Dryce sucked in a breath as if the contact shocked him, and when she raised his hand to her cheek and brushed his fingers against her skin, his hand flexed. She let go, but he didn’t lower his hand, and when his other hand cupped her hip she leaned into him.

  “I’m your mate? Show me.” She’d never considered using one of these on call rooms before, but she’d heard plenty of stories. Though a part of her worried about being caught, she wasn’t about to delay this any longer by suggesting they head off the base. There was a perfectly functional bed less than a meter away and she had Dryce where she wanted him. Well, almost, but he’d be on top of her soon enough.

  That was all the encouragement he needed before he took her mouth in a bruising kiss, conquering her with all the care of a man claiming a precious gift. Her fingers dug into the muscles of his sides and she arched against him, straining for contact. The taste of him was like a drug, heady and strong enough to make her dizzy, but she couldn’t get enough. She didn’t think she’d ever get enough.

  When her spine met the hard wall she realized he’d backed her up and was crowding her until he became all that she knew in the world and she wouldn’t have it any other way. She hooked her legs around his hips and felt the hard press of his cock through all of their layers of clothing. Too much clothing. Why did they wear it? It needed to come off now. But not if it meant giving up his mouth. She’d spent too many hours with the man not kissing him that now she needed to make up for lost time.

  He devoured her like she was his last meal. And while he cherished her with every touch, he didn’t treat her like she was made of glass. He might have been more than a head taller than her, nearly twice her size in muscle, and trained since a young age to fight, but he treated her like an equal.

  If he kept doing it, Peyton was going to fall for him so hard she’d never recover.

  And if he kept kissing her like this it wouldn’t take long at all.

  Her fingers quested for naked skin, tearing at his shirt and making a sound of frustration when her own legs kept it in place. It took a little doing, but she managed to expose the teal planes of his chest and finally get rid of the shirt, throwing it somewhere across the room. It still wasn’t enough, not when she couldn’t feel him against her own skin.

  She struggled to get her top off and nearly fell over. Dryce smiled against her lips and urged her to lean back while he slowly unbuttoned her from neck to navel.

  “Your eyes are red,” she observed with heavy breaths. “I thought they were black.” She’d spent enough time studying him while they were together that she could recall every detail with near perfect memory, but his eyes had never been like that before.

  “It happens when a Detyen feels strong emotion,” he said. “And there is nothing stronger than the denya bond.”

  That declaration sizzled through her and Peyton wanted more. She kissed him again, trusting him to hold all of her weight and pressing her torso to his, reveling in the feel of his naked flesh against hers. Her bra was still a frustration, but she didn’t want to stop kissing to deal with it, not when Dryce showed her just how talented his tongue could be.

  But as thrilling as it was to be pressed up against the wall and absolutely dominated by Dryce’s control, the position had some drawbacks that made Peyton pull away and turn her head when Dryce tried to follow the kiss. He looked like a man possessed and she secretly thrilled at the fact that she had done this to him. He was mad with desire for her. No one had ever looked at her with such naked need and she could grow addicted to it.

  A distant part of her warned that she should be cautious, that jumping into this could end in pain and heartache, but that part grew weaker by the minute as her lust mounted. The world could end any day, she wasn’t going to throw this chance away just because she might get hurt.

  She unwrapped herself from Dryce, even as her body yearned for the contact. Soon you can have it all, she promised herself, but she was greedy and she could practically feel a physical pull between them like they were two magnets reaching out for each other.

  The light in the on call room was dim, barely enough to see by, and with Dryce’s blue skin he seemed to blend into the shadows. She might have made it brighter if she knew where the lighting controls were, but instead she would just need to learn him by touch. She could drink him in with her eyes later.

  “What do you want?” Dryce asked. His fingers skimmed over her shoulder and down until he found the clasps of her bra and freed her so they were both naked from the waist up. In other situations, she’d hated this part, being exposed to another person for their judgmental eyes.

  But Dryce’s eyes didn’t judge, they worshiped. And the way he looked at her made all of her insecurities melt away. She was here with him, and that was all that mattered. For both of them. There was nothing but the present, nothing but the promise of right now, and realizing that was one of the most powerful things that Peyton had ever known.

  She grazed her own hand across her stomach until she came to the clasp of her trousers. It didn’t take much to shimmy them down, underwear and all, and end up naked in front of her man. He groaned and the twist deep in her core at that sound was only a promise of things to come. She stepped out of her fallen clothes and reached for him, but Dryce put a hand on her wrist.

  “I don’t want this to be over too soon.” His voice came out low and gravelly, and the confession of how much he wanted her made her toes curl. Surely he had the control to hold back, but his eyes were still that deep ruby that only came while emotions ran high. “Lay down,” he commanded, nodding towards the bed.

  Peyton didn’t like commands, didn’t like giving up control. But when Dryce spoke like that, she wanted to surrender to him. And so she did. This thing between them was about pleasure, about joining together and confirming a bond she’d never thought possible. She didn’t need to worry that he’d judge her for doing or saying the wrong thing. He wanted her just as desperately.

  The bed wasn’t wide, clearly made for a single person, and the mattress was practically hard as a rock. She didn’t care. She was with Dryce and he was standing over her with the promise of everything in his red eyes. She could have been laying down on an actual rock and it still would have been perfect.

  But it could be more perfect if the man at her feet actually joined her. She might not have been self-conscious, but the way he was looking at her made her want to squirm. “There’s room enough for two,” she promised.

  Dryce grinned. “Is there really?”

  Given that she was touching either side of the bed with her arms, he had a point. Not that she was going to let that stop him. “We can make it work.”

  “Spread your legs.” He watched her with blatant ownership and Peyton loved it.

  Her knee tipped to the side and she stretched her other leg out, baring herself completely to him. It was wicked and wanton and nothing she’d ever played at before, but with him she wanted it too much to be shy. And she was rewarded by the dark look that came over Dryce’s face, promising her the kind of sensual prize she’d never known to reach for before.

  He knelt on the edge of the bed and rubbed his cheek against the inside of her knee, trailing kisses up her thigh and then down the other, getting so close to the heart of her sex that she arched towards him, needing the touch. But he clearly had a plan, and that plan involved taking his time. Peyton wanted to whimper as her body cried out for more. Everywhere Dryce touched was a burning ember, but it wasn’t enough, she wanted to be consumed by the flames of his desire.

  His fingers found her first, playing in her wet heat and making her moan. It was barely a touch, but she was already so close to the edge that she was almost afraid for more. She’d never wanted something she feared so much in her life.

  And then he added his lips and she was awash in sensation, writhing against the scratchy sheets of the bed and focused solely on what Dryce
was doing to her. Her fingers curled into his soft hair and held him against her as helpless noises escaped her throat, inhuman and desperate and so nakedly honest that there was no hiding anything from the man beneath her.

  Her breath caught and hitched and then Peyton cried out, chanting Dryce’s name as the wave of her pleasure crested and her body rippled uncontrollably, hurtling her towards ecstasy all at the tips of Dryce’s fingers and tongue.

  But he wasn’t done yet, and even as her mind was mush she didn’t want it to be over. Not when he was hard and ready to enter her.

  “Are you ready for me?” Dryce asked, his fingers preparing her for his entrance.

  She didn’t think she could string a sentence together, still delirious with satisfaction, but she managed a nod and a sound that might have been assent. It was enough. Dryce lined himself up at her entrance and the tip of his cock teased her. She wanted more. Needed more. Needed it now.

  And then a sound cut through the near silence of the room, an annoying distraction from what Dryce was doing to her. “Ignore it,” she urged. It had to be his communicator and whoever wanted to talk to him could wait.

  But when a second alarm joined the first, they both cursed. That was her communicator. And the only reason they’d both be called was if something had come up with the mission.

  Dryce pulled away from her and Peyton sat up, taking a long moment to survey his body. His cock was somewhat different than a human’s, with enticing ridges she wanted to feel inside of her. She leaned forward to reach for him. If they couldn’t finish this one way, at least she could give him this pleasure.

  But their communicators chimed again and Dryce backed away, putting distance between them. “If you touch me now, denya, we will both end up ignoring our duties.”

  Peyton opened her mouth to argue. Then she remembered that the fate of the entire world rested on their shoulders and the lassitude that came with her orgasm was swept away as if it had never been there at all. She went to the washbasin beside the bed to quickly clean herself before putting her clothes back on.