"I remember this."
Shepard paused by one of the Archive's many holo theaters.
The theatre played back a recording of her Spectre induction, though it did the event little justice. Thane and everyone he knew had seen clips of it in the news for weeks after the event. Barely 30 years prior, humanity had been a 'hostile' intruder - or so the Council had wanted them to believe. He'd been just a boy then, largely insulated from such events.
The flickering representation of Shepard on the day of the ceremony was younger, bright-eyed but rigid in her posture as she still was. Back then he'd given her induction his cursory attention, mindful as he should be of the Council's agents. He would have laughed if someone told him humanity's first Spectre would become his Siha and confidant. And yet here she stood, fingers twined with his, watched the holo with a contemplative gaze.
"Hard to believe this was almost three years ago." Her voice was low with sentiment. "I was so different then. So... naive."
Thane squeezed her hand. "Not at all, Siha. You may not have known what you would face, but look at you. Shoulders back, standing at attention, your face set with determination. The look of a woman who means to accomplish great things."
She laughed a little and slipped an arm around his waist, tugging him closer.
"I had no idea what I was getting into."
"No, I suspect you didn't. Perhaps if you did, you would not have been so resolute. What is that human saying? 'Ignorance is bliss?'"
"Yeah. It feels like yesterday. I guess even ICT can't prepare you for everything. They never covered 'what to do if you survive being dead.'"
Thane twined his fingers with hers, pulling her back against his chest.
"A clear oversight, if they meant to equip you with armor less than suited for interplanetary combat."
Shepard laughed, looking down at herself almost as though she expected to be wearing her hardsuit.
"Infiltrator armor is all shields, little physical protection. Quick and quiet."
"Not unlike an assassin's armor," Thane murmured, setting his chin on her shoulder. "I am glad the Alliance has improved your armor in recent months."
"Sounds like you've spent time thinking about this."
He hummed, a deliberate, soundless vibration meant to pass through her where they stood pressed together. "I've had six months to reflect on memories of you. Every near miss and every uncontested victory. Your improved hardsuit is not only functional, but also a feast for the eyes. On the battlefield, you are a breathtaking sight."
Shepard pressed her cheek to his and he hummed his appreciation.
"Next you're gonna tell me you have a hardsuit fetish."
A smile bloomed on his lips. "You are... nearly correct. It would be more accurate to say I have a 'hardsuit removal' fetish."
Thane squeezed her hips to emphasize his point. He felt every shiver she fought to ignore.
"Has anyone ever told you that you're insatiable?"
"Yes," he said with a light chuckle. "A condition I proudly admit to. Although one might argue the blame is shared. You enjoy my appetite for you."
"Shut up," she said playfully.
"Do you remember our escapade after the crashing ship?" He let his palms wander up and down her sides, leaning into her neck so she could feel every word. "The evening you showed me, in explicit detail, how to remove a military hardsuit in under 20 seconds?"
Hands settled on her waist, teasing the button of her pants. With a distracting kiss in the crook of her neck, he deftly flicked it open. Her reaction was quick, but Thane was quicker. Hands grasped at his wrists as heated, eager lips moved along the side of her neck, kissing just behind her jaw.
Shepard groaned as he continued, pausing to nip at her earlobe.
"Your eyes were hungry, Siha. Fast as I may have been, you were very… eager. One by one, pieces of your armor hit the floor. Your military undersuit fit you like a shadow. It left little to the imagination."
"I- that was..."
There was a flicker of need on her voice. Nimble fingers unzipped her fly. He trusted her to stop him if he took this too far.
"Hush, Siha. I would have your attention a moment longer."
His hand slipped into her open pants, fingertips slipping over standard issue cotton underwear to feel her warmth.
"Do you remember how ravenous you were that night? Before we had even reached your bed, your mouth was on mine and you begged to feel me inside you."
Breathing rough against her neck, he ran his fused fingers firmly along her clothed sex. He could feel her pulse thundering as blood rushed between her legs, felt the heat rising beneath his touch, feminine arousal beginning to saturate her.
He exhaled over her ear, lovely strands of crimson hair fluttering with his breath. He was breathing hard. Memories of her soft, wanting body stirring him to a state of nearly painful hardness.
"How fortuitous that your lovely, skin-tight undersuit was ergonomically split for... easy access."
Thane's eyes slipped closed with the memory of her, lovely flushed cheeks and fluttering eyelids, breasts spilling out of her wide open catsuit as he took them both to the precipice of pleasure against the wall of her cabin. Pressed against him as she was, he could still taste her salt beneath his lips.
"Siha..." he whispered against her ear. This time, when she shuddered, there was no hiding it. "I remember how you looked that night… half dressed and desperate for me."
Quickly, he pulled her panties aside and slid his fingertips over her clit, savoring the way she tensed at the contact. Their bodies were flush, Thane's erection pressed insistently against the cleft of her ass. He held her tighter, wanting to be sure she could feel it.
"Do you think about sex everywhere we go?" Her tone was only half accusatory, and he smiled against her hair. The simple answer was yes.
"Even if I had sought pleasures of the flesh in my battle sleep, sex is simply sex - an act of the body. Intimacy, however..."
He allowed the tips of his fingers to tease the slick heat building between her legs, and his voice shifted lower.
"I was disconnected for many years. I am never far from ready to savor whatever intimacy you'll offer."
"Manwhore," she muttered.
Thane said nothing, merely smirking in silent affirmation. His nose grazed her cheek as he skimmed his teeth along the shell of her ear, laying desire into her skin. He wanted her needy for what came next. First, however, they would need to find a more secluded corner of the Archives.
She slouched ever so slightly as he closed her fly and straightened her sweatshirt before taking her hand and stepping away.
"Siha, this way."
"Hey-"
Thane tugged her tight to his chest, touching his lips to hers just chastely enough to be innocuous. They were in full view of the archive staff milling about. The scent of her lingered around them - did she have any idea how her body tempted him?
Low enough that only she could hear, he whispered, "Unless you intend to voice your dissent, be silent."
Her jaw dropped in response, and for a moment he fully expected her to stop him. Instead, her lips closed just slightly, her breath coming in low puffs against his mouth. Cupping her face in his hand, he dragged a thumb across her lower lip. Her eyes tipped closed as the telltale flush of desire rose to her cheeks.
"Good girl," he murmured, and rewarded her with another quick kiss.
Thane's smile was innocent, but his eyes sparkled with mischief. Without missing a beat, he resumed the role of a curious tourist if only to frustrate her further.
"Upstairs. There is another archive I wished to see."
Shepard cocked a brow in response, and took his hand once more.
Together they traversed the archives. Thane, of course, remembered fleeting details the rest of the team likely had not even registered during their unexpected assault of the place. He led her to a section lined with books - real, paper books he was at once dying to get his hands on and equally uninterested in at this exact moment.
Books were an unpopular attraction of the archive, near as anyone could tell. Written histories of the asari, turians, and other races lined the shelves, along with other texts in languages neither of them recognized. It was here that he stopped, kicking a stool out of a shallow alcove in the far corner of the library to press her without ceremony against the wall.
Thane's lips crashed against hers like a man starved. Somewhere beneath his kiss, he thought he heard his name swallowed in their desperate tangle of tongues.
"If you wish me to stop, be direct," he murmured into her mouth. "And quiet yourself."
"And if I don't?" Her voice was low and heavy, eyes flashing with lust. She made no move to disentangle them. Her hands slipped inside his jacket, pulling him between her legs. Thane merely growled his approval, sucking her lower lip between his teeth.
"I will gag you," he said simply.
Shepard hooked a leg around his calf and thrust her hips against him.
"This is not a challenge Siha, I do not wish to be caught."
"Shut up." Her reply was nearly smothered in her urgent kiss.
A hand came up to the zipper on her sweatshirt, slowly peeling it down in silence. He stopped as it fell open, admiring how she arched her back into him, eager for him to continue.
Swift fingertips flicked open her pants once again and this time he dropped them to the floor before hoisting her up by her knees, pushing them up and back, spreading her wide. He had her fully pinned to the wall, her bare cunt flooding the air around them with the heady scent of her arousal. Barely noticed by either of them, Shepard's black cotton panties dangled off one foot.
Their lips met again, sinking Thane further into the ocean of his lust for her. Shepard's wide pupils betrayed the venomous effect of his saliva, but there were times he wondered if he was, in fact, the one being inebriated by her alien mouth. As his mind raced through all the ways he wanted to enjoy her body, he fought to keep his own need in check.
A hand threaded between them to free himself from his pants, flattening his hardness between them and grinding himself against her slick heat.
"I can feel your racing heart," he murmured. "This N7 designation of yours, did it cover clandestine operations?"
Her lips moved toward him but he pressed a hand against her chest, watching her face contort in frustrated need. She mewled almost silently with her lower lip between her teeth, and he saw her raise her hand and form a circle with her thumb and index finger. He chuckled - only a woman like Shepard would use tactical signals to communicate during sex.
"Very good. I expect you'll need all the discipline you possess."
He teased her with the tip of his hardness and he thought she might combust right there. Her face was strained, neck tense, her hips grinding against his arousal. She tried to slip herself around his length and he withdrew, holding her firmly aloft by her thighs.
"Shall we see what you taste like?"
Supporting her with his hips, he bunched her shirt and bra up over her chest. He allowed one hand to wander, relishing the soft, sweet curve of her breast against his scales before flicking a thumb over a nipple just to see her expression jump in pleasure.
Lust bled into his voice. "You're going to come for me, Siha. And you will do it silently."
If she heard him, she gave no indication. Her gorgeous features were blown with ecstasy, brows drawn together as her teeth worried the corner of her mouth in frustration and desire.
"You look so beautiful like this, begging with your eyes."
Thane dropped to his knees. He held her gaze, supporting her with strong hands on her backside. He watched her hand curl around one bared breast, eyes locked with hers as he drew his tongue up her flushed, glistening slit.
"Delicious," he murmured against her cunt. As his fingers slipped into her depths, he drew his split tongue over the slick pearl of her arousal. His eyes raked up her body, watching her eyes roll back into her lashes, her hand furiously clutching her breast while he licked into her.
Thane notched a shoulder under her backside and went to work. One hand splayed on her thigh, the other hilted finger-deep in her velvet channel. Immersed in her, his whole body came alive with delirious need. He drank her in, his own sex throbbing as her softness overwhelmed his mouth, sensitive and pliant beneath his lips, slick with desire and flavored with the irresistible taste of carnality. Some days he wanted nothing more than to sample the dripping textures of her body for hours.
She tensed as he teased her, the smallest sound escaping her mouth - reminding him that they were in no such place to edge her the way he desperately wanted to. When he gazed back up at her, his eyes slit with concentration, she almost looked like a different woman. The sweet torment of oncoming fulfillment softened her hard set jaw and emerald eyes, lips plump and wet where she worried them with her teeth. Gods, the way he wanted her...
He sealed his lips around her clit and flicked his bifurcated tongue. Memory and muscle came together in the familiar rhythm that never failed to send her off in moments. And off she went - hard and fast on his tongue, stifled cries rippling back through her in a breathtaking display. Fingertips curled into fists, back arched and skin drawn tight over her sternum and breasts as she convulsed against him, a silent display of uncontrolled, tremoring need. She was divine.
Her mouth fell open as she came, and yet she remained diligent in her silence. The only sound that escaped her was a breathy whisper, a soft exhale as he slowed to a stop. He finally stood, bringing their bodies flush again.
"Such a good girl, Siha."
He slipped his slick fingers into her mouth as he ground himself against her oversensitized sex.
His voice was a sinful confession as he watched her moan around his fused digits.
"Gods, the way you taste. You bring out the animal in me."
Shepard's eyes flashed to him, sharp and focused above her flushed cheeks. She dragged her lips off his fingers in a vulgar display of challenge.
"Show me."
Knees weak, he fought for control of his own body.
"I don't recall giving you permission to speak," he panted.
Shepard only smiled and flicked her tongue over his fingers, drawing it up the narrow webbing between them.
"I said show me."
His cock twitched. Gods, how she tempted him.
In a flash of movement he wasn't sure he had even consciously ordered of himself, he retrieved her panties where they remained dangling off her foot, and pushed them unceremoniously into her mouth. Her brows shot up in surprise and she clamped her legs around him, gasping breathlessly against the fabric.
"I did warn you," he whispered.
Shepard groaned low in her throat and thrust herself against him in response. She was beyond ready. They had little time for teasing. He gave her what they both wanted, aligning their hips and sinking himself ridge after ridge into the luscious, burning heat of her body. She was desperately wet, searing with arousal. Fathomless lust clouded his mind, and he succumbed.
This time she was not so silent. Her sighs of pleasure were soft and muffled around the gag; he savored her voice, finding it increasingly difficult to care if they were found as her silken walls clutched at his cock. His world became hers, narrowed down to their every point of contact - sticky, sweat-kissed skin against his scales, plush breasts pushing at his ribs, her pulsing cunt wrapped around him like a fist of fire. Carnal desire overwhelmed him, hands gripping her thighs as he fucked her steady and hard into the barely concealed alcove they occupied.
She was a sea of flames, sweeping unchecked through every nerve in his body, scorching him in waves as he buried his cock inside her again and again. Ember-colored hair fell loose in her eyes, shining with need, her breaths coming in ragged puffs against her gag. She bucked against him - the very portrait of hot-blooded, unchecked wanting that only death itself could have torn his gaze from.
A guttural moan escaped her as he angled his hips to hit her deeper. He clamped his hand over her mouth and took her harder still.
"You feel so good, Shepard. So wet for me, so tight… Gods..."
Thane buried his face in her neck to muffle his own groan of pleasure, snapping his hips into hers, palming her breast in one hand. For seconds there was only the soft sound of their bodies meeting over and over.
"If you only knew- Siha- how good it feels to fill you." He panted against her, willing the words to leave his mouth. "To be the one to flood you with release and mark you for my own."
Her answering moan vibrated against his hand, her breaths coming hard through her nose as she lost herself to his pounding body. Thane groaned into her neck.
"I confess I thirst for this," he panted. "Knowing even as we walk back to your ship, the remnants of our encounter are still-"
Teeth clenched, he searched for breath.
"-still slipping from your depths, pooling between your legs."
Thane shuddered with the recall of their first time together. He had watched her fingertips trail over her sex, through the fluids of their joining - a sight so lascivious and visceral it drove all thought from his mind. Overcome with renewed need, he'd spread her once again and claimed her until sleep took them both.
The memory spurred him on. His grip tightened on her thighs and fucked her with abandon.
"You are mine, Siha."
Thane choked down a shout through clenched teeth as he came. Mouth clamped down on her shoulder, his voice vibrated through her skin so deep he felt it in the crush of her ribs against his chest. If they'd been heard, he hardly cared. He emptied himself inside her, gasping as his climax stole the breath in his lungs until they breathed hard and heavy into one another against the wall.
His hand slowly fell away from her mouth, taking the gag with it.
Shepard exhaled. The sound was luxuriant. Satiated and soft. The sound of a woman well fulfilled.
"Siha..." He panted into her skin. "Siha..."
"Fuck." She trembled in his arms. "Holy shit."
He withdrew, reluctant to leave the velvet heat of her body, but ever aware they had likely been far too reckless on this particular adventure. She aided him, tugging her clothes back over her breasts as he slid her pants back over her hips and set her slowly on the ground. Her legs were stiff, and she slid down the wall to the floor. He joined her in contented exhaustion.
They sat side by side against the wall like that for several minutes, all heavy breaths and clutching arms colored with soft whispers of affection.
"I don't even remember what we came here for," she said finally.
Thane cleared his throat.
"I believe your exact words were: 'I wonder what the archives are like when my clone isn't fucking them to hell and back.'"
She laughed at his crass impression of her - a side of his humor he showed to no one else.
"Not sure I intended to fuck ourselves to 'hell and back,' but I'll take it."
He chuckled quietly against her, finally having gained control over his breathing.
"It will be a good memory, I think."
"I can't believe how fucking horny you are."
He cocked a brow at her.
"You made no attempt to stop me."
"Wouldn't dream of it, Krios."
They sat together in satisfied silence.
"Come on," she said. "Let's see the rest of the archives." She offered a hand and he took it gladly, standing beside her. "...and then maybe we can go for round two on the Normandy." Her eyes flashed as she smirked back at him.
This woman would be the death of him. He loved her more every day.
"Got any weekend plans?"
It was 8:30 at the Archives, only a half hour longer till closing. Isek made his way across the upper level in their nightly sweep for unauthorized devices. His omni-tool pinged in agreement as he swept a five-fingered hand over a cluster of workstations. All clear.
"My sister will be visiting from Sur'kesh," Gatan said from the other side of the atrium. "She's expecting a child with her bondmate."
The pair were well out of line of sight, but Isek raised a brow. The salarian sounded less than pleased.
"The asari?"
Gatan grumbled audibly. "Yes, it seems that way."
"Why so down? That's great for them."
"Goodness, no," the man scoffed in his characteristically aloof way. "Asari, in our family? My sister is wasting her days in mindless hedonism."
"Well, tell her I said congrats then." The human rolled his eyes. "Asshole," he muttered under his breath.
"Do you assume you are a regular fixture of my interfamilial conversations?"
"What, you mean you don't tell your folks all about your human buddy from work?"
"You have some nerve, thinking-" There was a gasp from the corner of the floor. "Good gracious, what is that?!"
Isek looked over just in time to see Gatan shuffling out of the library shelves with his cane extended, pushing something soft across the floor.
Was that a rat? A shed insect skin?
It was too dark to get a good look. Isek hurried over.
Gatan was already on a call with C-Sec, demanding a forensic team be dispatched right away. The human shook his head. The next time they had a real emergency to deal with, he was sure the salarian would disintegrate.
But he couldn't help but laugh when he saw what had gotten his fellow staffer so upset.
There on the dusty floor was a pair black cotton panties.
Thank you for reading!
