Free Allies (Warriors of Karal Book 5) by Harmony Raines

match his any day.
    Niko groaned, and his rhythm changed. He jerked into her, short thrusts as she came around him, and then the head of his cock seemed to swell inside her, and he stopped moving, as if their bodies were fused together as one. Then she felt his seed spurt deep within her, filling her, as she clung to him, so many sensations flooding her brain she was overwhelmed. A strangled sob escaped her throat, and he held her close, and kissed her, whispering words she did not understand, as if she were a child he was trying to comfort.
    She had forgotten that the Karal spoke their own language, that they only spoke English because they needed to communicate with humans, or so her mother had told her. So what he said was unknown to her, but the sentiment the words conveyed crossed any language barrier, and she felt loved and cared for. More than she had for the last six years of her life.
    They lay together for a long time. Niko pulled the blankets over them, which she was grateful for, because after their lovemaking, she became cold, despite the feel of his warm body next to hers. It was as if they were cocooned in this new, special world that they had created between them. All thoughts of her past seemed far away, and thoughts of their future together were tantalisingly near. But she tried not to read too much into what had just passed between them; after all, this was what she was here for.
    Petra knew that she could not let herself fall into the trap of thinking that he was in love with her, when all this, all that had passed between them, was simply his need to procreate. His prime was driving him forward: he needed to make a child within a short period of time. The Karal were only fertile for a handful of years throughout their long lives, and his time was now.
    At last he moved, sitting up and saying to her, “Are you hungry?”
    “Starving,” she said.
    “Then let us eat. It won’t be much, but it will be enough to keep us satisfied.” He stood up and she smiled secretly to herself, thinking of how he was more than capable of keeping her satisfied any time. But this was not the time for lovemaking, and her stomach rumbled in agreement.
    He fetched the pack into which he had packed food earlier in the day, naked, as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Petra, however, had lost her nerve, and although she blamed it on the cold night air, she swaddled herself in the blankets to hide her body. Then she waddled after him, down the ramp, to sit on the beach, watching while he collected firewood and made it into a pile. Then he lit it, using what looked like a flint and steel, and she saw the first glowing embers, which slowly grew into a blazing fire.
    She moved closer to it, and he came and sat beside her, after retrieving his clothes and dressing. It was a shame for him to cover his body, because she liked looking at it. On the other hand, she was glad he felt the cold too. It made her feel less of a wimp.
    He opened the pack and passed her various fruits, and some bread. It was all delicious, although in the dancing flames she had no idea what the fruit looked like and probably would never recognise it again. But that didn’t matter, she just closed her eyes and savoured every mouthful, and when she opened them, she tilted her head back and looked up at the sky and saw the magnificent stars of Karal for the first time.
    “Wow, I had no idea there were so many stars up there.” She took another bite of the bread and chewed it slowly; it was too good to rush.
    “If the skies of Earth were clear, you would see this many stars. But they would not be the same stars.”
    “Have we come that far, then? The journey through the wormhole didn’t seem too long, but I guess in light-years it is.” She chewed thoughtfully. “Do we have many wormholes to go through to get where we are going?”
    “We have four to travel through. Two are almost immediately after each other. They take us into very deep space