Gasping, she wrapped her legs around his waist and thrust herself against him. She cried out in pleasure with every stroke. Nothing had ever felt better than to have his strength inside her. To be so thoroughly cherished by a male so sexy and strong. One who made her heart light to be near.

Scarred or not. Scary or not… he was perfection.

Hauk growled at how good it felt to be inside her again. And the fact that she was as eager for him as he was for her only added to his enjoyment. Most of all, he adored her cries of pleasure that echoed around them. The way she said his name while she rode him.

“I love you, Sumi,” he whispered in her ear.

“Kimi asyado, Dancer.”

He pulled back as she responded in Andarion. Those unexpected words, in his language, while she clutched at him, sent him over the edge. He came an instant later in a blinding wave of ecstasy. Throwing his head back, he roared with what she did to him.

How deeply she touched every part of his being.

Completely satiated, he slowly withdrew from her and quickly bathed again. “I think I could sleep for a week now.” He waved his hand to turn everything off.

“Where are the towels?”

He gave her a lopsided grin. “Don’t need them.”

She didn’t understand until he walked her through the small opening that blew their skin dry as they left the shower. “This is so strange. Neat. But strange.”

“Wait till you explore the kitchen.” He took her hand and led her to bed, which was nicely warm and toasty. “And I have a present for you tomorrow that I think you’ll really enjoy. I’d show it to you tonight, but it’s something that’s best appreciated in the daylight.”

Sumi took care not to hurt him as she snuggled up against his side. He was already growing hard again under her knee. She started to say something about it then noticed he’d fallen asleep.

Smiling at him, she brushed his damp hair back from his face and savored the scent of his skin. The feeling of his flesh against hers.

Just as she closed her eyes, she heard Eleron’s voice in a low tone.

But she didn’t quite register the words. “Repeat that, please.”

“I have the results on the tracking chip. Would you care to review them?”

Reluctantly, she pulled herself away from Dancer to return to the desk so that she could see the monitor. “What are they?”

“The tracking device was originally assigned to Keris Hauk, lieutenant commander of the Andarion armada, as part of his service pack. It was deactivated upon his reported death.”

Sumi’s jaw fell. “Deactivated how?”

“It was assumed destroyed with his unrecovered body.”

How weird was that? Especially since she knew for a fact that his body had been recovered and cremated. “When was it reactivated?”