Fated Mate Conquered - Luna Voss Page 0,68

know she’s thinking the same thing.

Next to us, Milana is teasing Rojan about something relating to his claws. I have to remember that when she first met him, he was just some random smuggler taking suppressants. Their dynamic definitely seems to have evolved now that he’s a made member and very clearly looks the part of an unsuppressed Voorian male.

“Where do you want to go on vacation?” I ask my Fated Mate as we eat together after the meeting.

“Somewhere I’m allowed to leave the hotel room,” she replies, throwing me a playful smile.

I laugh and put my arm around her. My eyes land on the two different places on her neck where I’ve marked her with my pigment, and the sight fills me with pride and contentment. I pull Kora close to me, feeling like the luckiest man in the galaxy to have her by my side.

Epilogue

Kora

“Stay next to me,” says Turan, putting his hand on my back to guide me through the throngs of people. “I don’t want to lose you in the crowd.”

I follow my mate through the crowded market, amazed by all the sights and smells. I’ve never been to an Epeshi market before. One of the stalls that we pass is selling necklaces that seem to be made of meteorite pieces encased in glass, and I can’t resist stopping to take a look.

“Genuine meteorite,” says the salesman. “Collected off-world.”

Then Turan approaches, looking amused. “Stay next to me didn’t last for very long,” he chuckles, giving me a tap on the butt that looks playful to anyone watching, but that I know to interpret as a warning.

“But these are so cool!” I tell him, pointing to the necklaces. I’m not particularly worried about getting in trouble right now. We’re on vacation, and I know my mate is in a playful mood.

“They are,” he says, examining them. “Would you like one?”

A few minutes later I’m walking through the crowd again, wearing my new necklace. And this time, I’m under orders not to let go of Turan’s hand.

We cap off our day in the city with a nice dinner by the sea. The wind blows pleasantly as we sit on the patio of a fancy restaurant overlooking the ocean, smiling, eating and looking into each other’s eyes. It’s amazing how much more relaxed both of us are now that we aren’t smack in the middle of a mission to kidnap an enemy Vostra captain. Turan has an entire funny, very playful side to him that I’d only ever seen parts of prior to this, and I really enjoy it. I couldn’t ask for a better mate.

Right now we’re on the third day of our vacation to the Epeshi tourist world of Shej IV, and I feel more in love with him than I ever could have thought possible. He’s kind, loyal, strong, protective, everything a woman could want. He’s also a firm disciplinarian, and isn’t shy about putting me in my place. I’ve been coming to embrace the freedom that comes with submitting to his authority, and to my surprise, it hasn’t made me feel stifled at all. Mostly it just makes me feel more in love with him. We continue to talk and check in with each other about our relationship and our practices around discipline, and this open line of communication means the world to me. I never imagined I could have that with a Vostra gangster.

After dinner, we return to our hotel, which in this case is actually located in the ocean. I lean against him as we ride the underwater shuttle, watching the bubbles, the plants, the occasional aquatic creatures. The entire idea of an underwater building fascinates me, and from the first moment Turan suggested it, I knew that this is where I wanted to travel with him.

We get back to our room, which is lined with huge glass windows, allowing us a maximal view of the ocean outside. No sooner are we through the door when Turan presses me against one of them and starts kissing my neck.

“Turan,” I whimper, feeling oddly exposed as he starts to undress me against the glass.

He pulls off my shirt in one smooth motion and gets to work on the bra. “What, are you worried a fish is going to see you naked?”

I just giggle, too distracted to answer as his lips close around my nipple and he starts to swirl his tongue around it. I moan, leaning against the glass, feeling his hands creep under my