Nightmares
Shepard awoke sometime in the middle of the night, the bleak white ceiling staring down at her as cerulean eyes tried to find focus within the starlight haze. Disorientated she froze, gooseflesh rising up along her body. Bad dreams, always bad dreams.
Pushing up on her elbows she cast a quick glance at the form next to her. The sheets clung onto his waist, leaving scaled skin bare. Thane's right arm crossed over his head, blocking out the faint starry glow that cast an eerie shadow on the rest of the room. Muscles clenched in his abdomen along with his breathing, the husk from his lungs still present, resounding painfully in his sleep. Shepard swallowed a lump forming in her throat and sighed.
Stealthily she trailed a finger along the network of veins in his arm that lay between them, the rich green dimmed down to a subtle honey colour in the opaque light. Ribbons of yearning unfurled inside her, drawing her to him in the silent exertion of his surreptitious will. Invisible ropes tied her there, surrendering to him even whilst he slept. The tug of the strings willed Shepard to never move, to nestle up next to him and let the warmth of his body lull her off back to sleep. Permanently scolded into her was Shepard's mistrust, not mistrust in Thane but in herself. Shepard couldn't be trusted, her mind played tricks on her and she was certain that going back to sleep now would only feed the fire that lurked in the recesses of her mind.
Swinging her legs out from the bed Shepard slouched, elbows against her knees the coldness of the floor chilling her heels, sending tiny pinpricks of numbing cold up her calves. Shepard sighed, rubbing the sleep from her eyes and yawning. When would she ever not be tired?
Since the defeat of the Collectors, nightmares had plagued her. The machine. The human Reaper. She saw it every night, giant electronic blue eyes and the mechanical screech deafening her. It was the same, repeating itself. She had no guns, she could only run, and she knew it was impossible to escape. Mixed in with the Collector's Base was the Prothean Beacon that had scorched visions into her mind, visions which she still could barely comprehend. There in the torment of her dreams she was suffocating in chaos and the only way to escape was waking up. Even then she was dropped into a new kind of disarray. She could never getaway.
Tiredness failed to evade her and the same paralysing fear stroked at her from the darkness. Even awake the same screech seemed to carry on, echoing inside her mind, ready to pounce on her when she next closed her eyes. Not tonight, not again, Shepard wouldn't let herself be vulnerable. Fumbling for the corner of the bedcovers she flung them back, feeling the cool air of her quarters bring her sleeping bones awake.
"Siha?" A shiver span down the length of her spine at the sound his voice, deeper and rougher than before. Shepard secretly mused to herself, the sensation of her stomach knotting the same way it always did when he was around.
She turned her head finding him sitting up, watching her attuned to the mishap of her sleeping patterns. Seeds of guilt settled in her stomach, he needed sleep. The rasp of his breathing had gotten worse, his condition progressively deteriorating exactly how he said it would. To get better he needed to rest more, relax himself and focus on his breathing. But Shepard was a nuisance to him, bothering him in the middle night afraid like a small child at the monsters beneath their bed. Of course it was different, these monsters were real, had been real and it made the prospect of surviving the outcome of the Reaper war slim to none.
Large dark eyes glittered in the shadows, an unguarded look that made Shepard burn. With a shaky breath she steadied herself biting her bottom lip; heart thudding meticulously in her chest. His face was harsh in the darkness, jaw taut and lips pressed together in one straight line almost as if he was battling a war within himself.
"I never liked being alone," She confessed, toying with the edges of the bed sheets, fingers almost trembling in the faint light, "I didn't mean to wake you." Eyes found his and the primitive glare that passed between them was provocative.
The bed creaked as he slumped back down on the bed, arm above his head and yawning.
"You aren't alone," He fished out her hand underneath the covers and tugged her to him. The rough scales of his torso scratched at the palms of Shepard's hands, rough like the thrum of his voice, still trapped within sleep, "And I was still awake."
The ache in her chest throbbed as his arm curled around her shoulders. With a grim twist of her mouth she pressed feather light kisses along his torso, nails scratching along the muscles of his stomach, following patterns of speckled black and green. Behind closed eyes the vivid dream played out, mechanical arms twisting clanging together. The floor deserted her, dropping into the bleak void of emptiness. Her heart jumped into her throat at his touch. Cool hands winding around her body, pressing her tightly to him.
"Let me help you Siha," Thane thrummed, his breath hot against the shell of her ear. Gooseflesh shivered up along her body, toes curling. He was warm and she craved that warmth. Her attention riveted to the dexterous fingers that massaged her back, kneading into the muscles and working out the kinks. Shepard sighed, forehead against his chest, listening to the vibrating hum of his heart beat and the rasp of his lungs.
Quickly his hands gripped the sides of her throat, thumb pushing up her chin and he watched her, eyes unreadable, dark as obsidian found deep within the ocean. Shepard shifted restlessly, wanting to look away before the ache built, before it smouldered her insides. He captured her lips, hands tangling in the tendrils of her hair. The lucid moan that rumbled in his chest vibrated against hers.
"I love your distractions," Shepard hummed echoed by his velvet laugh filling up the room, warding away every bad dream. Lips traced hers again, his tongue grazing lightly along her bottom lip. He tempted her with the promise of a kiss he was deliberately withholding from her and Shepard responded with an irretrievable groan, hands at his waist, "More than anything right now."
His breath blistered along her neck as he rolled on top of her, pinning her beneath him with a form that reverberated dominance and danger. He watched her with heavy lidded eyes, almost trying to pry away the sleep that tried to cling onto him. Bending forwards, the tip of his nose brushed along hers, the parting of his lips and Shepard could taste him along with the air she breathed. He kissed her fiercely almost desperately as if he were drowning in her and she were his life-saver, giving him the air that he longed for.
Her hips arched without volition, body straining for his. Emerald fingers languidly followed the curve of her breasts, the dip of her stomach where muscles clenched underneath his touch. One rigid finger traced over the camber of her sex, dipping and parting her slick cleft. The rush of breath escaped her lungs and Shepard rolled her hips out to meet him, eyes fixated on those two dark orbs that hunted her. A smile played along his lips, and he pushed into her, parting the swollen tissues and listening to the inevitable sigh that left her.
He settled his shoulders beneath her thighs, lifting her legs and wrapping them around him. His breath was feverishly hot and Shepard squirmed beneath him, a groan of anticipation seeping out into the air. With the tip of his tongue he tasted her in one languid lick making her thighs twitch and her body to tense.
Whimpering in desperation, Shepard rocked her hips into his teasing tongue, holding onto the last slither of her sanity. She bit the back of her hand, the other clawing into the sheets beneath her, eyes clenched tight panicked at how plainly he was toying with her. She groaned and he groaned, vibrating against her with a resonating thrum of a voice that had her bones trembling.
The dark cast of the ceiling was almost blinding, tiny white stars and static enraptured her vision. The familiar light of the fish tank and millions of tiny burning suns illuminated her quarters. The small square of dark space above her bed was haunting, light years away there were species, people, aliens, whatever, and she was trapped staring out into the empty void where she had suffocated.
Soaked with her on arousal Thane crawled over her. He held her gaze, forearms against the bed, kissing her stomach. Shepard blinked away tears that she hadn't known had crested at the corners of her eyes. She swallowed hard and with a raspy breath she begged him to fill her, to wash away everything.
With a shift of his hips he thrust into her, shoving her up the bed. Thane let out a throaty moan, desire ebbing from him. He bruised her with cajoling kisses, sucking at her skin leaving red marks that tried to cover the scars that littered the canvas of her skin. Shepard convulsed ecstatically around his length, eyes clenched tight blotting out the hell of dark space that glowered at her from above.
"Look at me Siha," The cadence of his rough voice was timed perfectly with his relentless thrusts, "Look at me when I make love to you." His demand made Shepard's eyes flutter, eyes that were as dark as sapphires found his.
"Please," Shepard begged softly, "Harder."
He drove into her, his cock rubbing against a sweet spot, fused fingers twirling over the sensitive bundle of nerves whilst the other tugged on her nipples. Shepard bucked into his next thrust; gritted teeth eliciting an uncontrolled mewl. Thane rolled into her again, igniting the fire further, making Shepard burn for him. She made a plaintive sound, fingers clawing at his waist as she urged him deeper and faster, rivalling her hips to the speed of his.
Shepard's neck arched as his lips drifted to her throat, he nipped and kissed her, dipping his tongue into the shell of her ear before kissing the soft spot behind it. He brushed back wisps of dark hair, bringing his lips to hers and kissing her reverently, tasting her, licking deep into her mouth.
Thane quickened his pace, his breath a dry rasp as he fought away the thundering pain in his lungs. Fused fingers rubbed circles over her clit, shocking her system with an overload of sensation. Shepard's body jerked, teeth biting into the back of her hand she silenced her moans. Waves of heat pulsated through her. Her cry was muffled, first by her hand then by Thane's fervent kiss. He tasted sweat on her lips, her sex contracted around him and with a growl he came with her, thrusting deep and hard riding out the final waves.
He rolled from her, the coolness of the air making her miss his languid warmth. He brought his arm around her and cuddled into her. Thane kissed her chastely with the passion of a creative soul. The soft scratching of his scales massaged her palms as she trailed patterns along his side with a finger. Sleep hooked at her, snatching at her heels and pulling her under.
"You will never be alone." His voice thrummed in her ear, the deep resonating husk shelling shivers along her body. Those words of his only served to seat loneliness in her bones. The quick rasp of his breath echoed his future, the future that she upmost resented. Shepard sighed, feeling weariness cling to her. She begged for pleasant dreams, begged that Thane's warmth would always remain.