Author's Note: 'Sup ~Dreamers! So I'm just getting over the flu, and therefore had some extra time to write. I really hated how short chapter 10 was, so I rewrote it! Have at it!

Bonds Beyond the Stars

Chapter 10 Rewrite

Nicole's hesitation did not fade as she kissed him, even after Lotor began to respond to her physical affections with his own. He kissed her hungrily, tugging Nicole closer as he held her in his lap, and she drank in the heat of his bare chest. Lotor was careful not to become too forceful, heeding the way Nicole's lips quivered fearfully against his own. This was likely all new to her, as he had already determined she had never before been with another, but Lotor kept himself in check. The knowledge that she was untouched and pure excited him, but Lotor did not let that fact allow him to objectify Nicole's body as some uncharted territory.

Lotor's eyes opened briefly as Nicole continued to kiss him, and it was when he saw the tenseness in her expression that he finally broke their heated kiss. Nicole averted her gaze almost immediately, unable to look at him, and she instead buried her face in Lotor's chest. Lotor rubbed warm circles into her back assuringly, hoping to ease her nervousness.

"What is it you fear of me?" Lotor inquired, speaking into Nicole's tangled tresses.

"I-I don't know," Nicole answered candidly. "If it's because you're Galra or the Prince of the Galra - I don't know," Nicole cried into his chest. "But I still want you! Ah, shit. I-I mean I want to be by your side... I'm just...not use to any sort of...intimacy?"

Slowly, Lotor brought Nicole's face up to his, carefully thumbing away her tears, and Nicole had no idea how his claws hadn't grazed her.

"...Are you willing to let me show you?"

Nicole brought her hands up to caress his own, which cupped her face as she pondered his offer.

"...Just kissing," Nicole conditioned, and Lotor was starting to find her pink flushed cheeks endearing. "Only kissing."

"Of course," Lotor allowed, bringing one of Nicole's hands from her face, and to his lips, where he placed a chaste kiss on her knuckles. "~Besides, with your lack of stamina, it is unlikely you would rise in time for training tomorrow if I had my way with you tonight.~"

Nicole's deadpanned.

"I take it all back. I don't think I can trust you after all," Nicole made to leave the room, but Lotor was having none of it, smiling down at her in his arms like a wolf cornering its prey.

"Ah, embarrassed you, have I?" Lotor teased, before using his superior strength to shift their weight, and situate Nicole beneath him, despite her half-hearted protests. Lotor pinned her wrists above her head with one arm, so that he might view her flushed face.

"Let go of me, Lotor!" Nicole demanded, struggling futilely, his name sounding foreign on her lips.

"I will once you settle down," Lotor promised, loving the sound of her voice calling out his name. He leaned into her once again, carefully, so that Nicole had a moment to ready herself. "Now relax. I shall release you once your fearful quivering has stopped."

Nicole checked, only just realizing that she was indeed shaking.

"Take a deep breath, slowly," Lotor instructed, and Nicole did. His lips were on her before Nicole had the time to exhale. Nicole met his gaze as he kissed her, Lotor's eyes half lidded with lust and desire. He let his eyes fall shut then, prompting Nicole to do the same, and she followed suit. Nicole let out a pleasured hum as Lotor tactfully moved his lips against her own, eventually parting her mouth with his. Lotor did not use his tongue - thankfully. Maybe aliens didn't know what French kissing was?-!

Oh shit - wait. Yeah. Yeah they did.

Sensing Nicole's displeasure, Lotor removed his tongue from her mouth, though he still continued to kiss her. Changing tactics, Lotor instead chose to use his free arm - the left one not pining Nicole's wrists above her - to caress her side. This earned him a content sigh, and encouraged his to release Nicole's hands, so that his other arm might wander about her body as well. His right arm fell to Nicole's left shoulder, before skimming over her collar bone, and trailing ever lower, to cup her breast.

Nicole's trance was broken, her hands flying up to remove his own from her chest. Lotor broke their kiss to whisper assurances in her ear.

"Trust me."

"...Only if my robe stays on," Nicole conditioned.

Ah, a loophole.

"Done," was all Lotor replied, returning his hand to her breast, thumbing it with intent only after he had resumed their kissing. Nicole whimpered at a light flick of his thumb over a more sensitive spot - she liked that. Lotor took a gamble, wanting to coax more pleasured sighs and gasps from her lips, and slipped his hand into the folds of her robe, to grope her bare skin. Nicole yelped in surprise, and Lotor broke their kiss, meeting Nicole's hungry gaze as he guided her hands up to his chest, encouraging her to explore him as he was her.

"I said-"

"-That you're robe stays on," Lotor finished knowingly. "And it will...mostly."

Dipping his head down again, Lotor expertly lead yet another heated kiss, before Nicole could even think to protest, not that she wanted to. When another series of strokes left Nicole's chest feeling overstimulated, she guided both of Lotor's hands up to her neck instead.

Adjusting to her needs, Lotor began to massage either side of her neck, kneading tendon and muscle with practiced hands. Nicole dizzily responded to him, her hands moving tentatively about his arms, chest, and shoulders in anticipation, though her movements were still unsure. Eventually, Lotor decided that Nicole likely needed to breathe again, and so he broke their kiss, felling only a little unsatisfied, but pleased with their progress.

"Did you manage to enjoy yourself?"Lotor inquired deliberately, propping his head up with one hand as he watched Nicole gasp for breath beneath him, though he wasn't winded in the slightest. Watching her writhe beneath him was doing a number on his self control, but still Lotor managed to keep himself in check. All of himself.

Nicole hummed affirmatively in reply, panting before hiding her face in her hands yet again, hands that were still warm with Lotor's stolen body heat. A thought occurred to her then, and Nicole blurted it before she could think to stop herself. "Is that why the ship is so cold?"

"Pardon?" Lotor asked her, and Nicole actually found his curious expression...adorable?

Fucking shit make him stop that!

"...Ah, I was just wondering, are all Galra as warm-blooded as you are?" Nicole stammered, unable to turn back now. She hated to think of what Lotor would do to her if she tried.

"I did notice your body's lower core temperature on the scanners, though I merely assumed you had poor blood circulation," Lotor admitted. "Is the current temperature uncomfortable for you?"

"It's a bit cold if I'm sitting still, but after a bit of training I usually warm up," Nicole replied. "I guess humans ans Galra really are different."

"Then perhaps I can help you train your other muscles," Lotor offered mischievously, a wicked grin pulling his lips upward, as he suggestively kneed Nicole between her legs, "and prove to you that out species are more than compatible."

For a long moment Nicole was rendered unable to speak or think, frozen as if her brain had short circuited. When her mind finally processed Lotor's lewd comment, Nicole glared up at him, face crimson, before she rolled away from him, flustered.

"Something I said?" Lotor teased, feigning innocence as he scooted up behind her in the bed, spooning her.

"I hate you," Nicole mumbled, her voice muffled behind her hands.

"I can say with certainty that you do not," Lotor countered, reaching behind him for the tablet he had been reading from and typing something briefly. He set the device on the block like headboard piece of his bed, which acted as a sort of shelf. The lights dimmed, leaving them with only the wonderful view of the stars beyond his windowed wall.

"Shut up," Nicole mumbled, though she didn't protest when Lotor slipped a muscled arm around her waist and curled up behind her. But even through her annoyance, Nicole noticed the slightly warmer temperature of the room. Had Lotor kicked the heat on?

"Careful," Lotor warned. "You are speaking to a Prince, remember?"

Nicole only continued to grumble incoherently in response with what Lotor could only assume were human words of profanity. He loved that about her, Nicole's rebellious spirit. She was like the embers of a dying fire, harmless at a distance, but still capable of burning anyone who came too close, underestimated her. Lotor had seen that much in the Arena. Soon, he would coax her coals into flame.

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