40 Days ASR
"What did I do?" He chuckled, looking down at her as if he'd accidentally solved some intricate puzzle and needed to figure out how to do it again.
Shepard slid her hand between them. "See that little—" He beat her to the button, quite literally, and the explanation turned into a throaty moan as he rolled a talon pad over it. Swallowing hard, she cleared her throat. "Yeah, that right there is the make Shepard sing in fifteen octaves button."
He nestled back in, his subvocals rolling. "Fifteen? Hmmm, that sounds like a challenge." Looking back, he shot her a sly grin and raised brow plate that made her fingers and toes tingle then go numb.
"Oh, sweet baby Jesus," she whispered, her stomach muscles tightening in either anticipation or dread, she didn't quite know. "Go easy on me, I'm a beginner."
He nodded, a thoughtful scowl lowering over his features. "In order to approach this challenge scientifically, I need a much better angle," he announced, pushing up off the mattress. After pausing to kiss her, he moved around to the foot of the bed and settled between her legs. Then, through the teasing, his concern returned, warm and loving. Resting his chin on the inside of her thigh, he looked up into her eyes, not moving until she reached out to stroke his brow, drawing a line down his nose and mouth plate.
He nuzzled her fingers, then turned his attention to her thigh, caressing and kneading gently where her flesh was whole. "Your whole body is so damned soft," he muttered as his talons reached the inside of her upper thigh, "but right here … it's worthy of a sweet baby Jesus." He leaned in, his tongue flicking experimentally to see if he could get the same result. A sultry chuckle greeted the way her body spasmed, getting wetter and wetter. "You keep going like this, you're going to need to keep a bottle of water next to the bed."
She set her face, completely prepared to glare at him. But when he looked up, his entire posture screamed a teasing sort of cocky pleasure at being able to turn her into a mewling, soaking wet mess of want, and the glare evaporated into a cheeky grin. "Hey, Vakarian, I thought you were supposed to be … ooooooooo." Arching hard off the mattress, Shepard threw back her head, fists balling up the sheets as his hard, pointed tongue moved deeper. "Oh wow, let's hear it for explorat … oooooooh, damn. That tongue." Every inch of her skin lifted into tiny, shivery peaks of pleasure.
Garrus chuckled, his hand caressing her belly, drawing soft little circles. "I love when your skin does that."
"It's definitely showing its appreciation for your spirit of discovery." She chuckled, taking the opportunity to catch her breath a little. "That's a whole different National Geographic Society, right there." She collapsed only to feel a talon gently caressing her length, then, finding her entrance, it slipped inside a little and the sheets wadded up in her fists once more.
"This spot seems much more accommodating." He looked up to watch her eyes as he pressed deeper. "This is my spot, here?" He grinned as she let out a tremulous mewl, meeting his stare for a second before her head drew back, her hips lifting into him. "Right," he said, chortling a little, "definitely my spot."
Shepard's eyes squeezed closed, hands pulling the sheets right off the mattress as Garrus grew bolder, his talon stroking in and out slowly, pushing a little deeper with each thrust. Each movement he made—even the weight of his head resting on her thigh and his breath as it tickled through her hair—stoked the fire until her muscles leaped and convulsed with even the slightest provocation.
"Garrus … ." She gasped, his name the only coherent thought that managed to escape the tangled mess of love and desire. Need and passion ... and just raw, painfully intense sensation tossed her back and forth between them, keeping her in the air, spinning about and helpless. And at her center, the slow smoldering fire caught the faint breeze of his breath and roared to life.
A strong hand caressed her side, his voice carving its way through the fucking amazing madness to anchor her. "It's okay, Kahri. I've got you."
One half-gasp, half-sob escaped her lips, and then that tongue ... that tongue flicked and the world dissolved into crashing waves of pleasure, ice cold flipping to magma hot and back again. She cried out, at first just a vocal outpouring of release—fervent and hedonistic—but as the waves began to recede to a slow, pulsing tide, thought returned and his name tumbled out, tangled into various words of love.
Garrus watched her face, his smile pleased, adoring … and a little surprised. "Did I just make you orgasm?" he asked, not a trace of teasing in his tone or expression. He withdrew his talon, his smile widening as her entire body seized again.
"God, yes," she said, a soft chortle managing to muscle in between the gasps. "Either that, or you tried to kill me using my giblets as the murder weapon." She reached out for his hand, lacing her fingers with his, their joined hands resting on her trembling stomach. "Wow," she said once she started catching her breath. "That was … " Pausing, she shrugged and shook her head, at a loss for words. "... that was … dear lord, Garrus, I think my heart's going to explode." She scowled and raised her head, looking down between her legs. "And quite possibly most of my giblets as well."
"Giblets?" Garrus's brow plates peaked as he rested his cheek back on her thigh, his breath warm against her skin. "I don't know that one." His other hand caressed its way up her side, gliding over her ribs and belly.
A soft, joyful laugh answered that. "My very religious mama couldn't bring herself to use proper names for things, so she just warned me not to let the boys play with my giblets, and to certainly never let them put their giblets inside me." She squeezed his talons. "Considering what giblets actually are—I'll tell you some time when it won't destroy the mood—I was more than glad to obey her wishes."
"But, you're making an exception for me?" He nuzzled along the inside of her thigh to her center.
Her body answered for her as her knees dropped to the outside and her pelvis lifted into the soft kiss. "I think that's a pretty resounding yes," she added, just in case he needed the clarification.
Garrus let out a long, contented sigh as he settled back between her thighs, his mouth plates brushing her skin. She smiled, knowing that he was simply savouring the softness.
Then, eyes closed, he drew in a deep breath through his mouth as if he was tasting the air. A low, rumbling moan followed. "Dear spirits, Kahri, you smell … ." A soft, mewling sound trembled in the air for a second before he fell silent, returning to his nuzzling.
Shepard waited for a moment, then chuckled, low and kind, hoping to loosen the blockage cutting off his words. "Hmmm, yeah, in grade three, Bobby Treller went out of his way to tell me that I was smelly a couple of times a day." Try as she might to keep the smartass out of her grin, she failed, and held her breath, hoping she hadn't shut him down.
A fleeting smile whispered across his face, but then he smacked her hip hard enough to sting. She jumped, a soft whimper of need escaping as all the muscles through her core clenched tight, a spasm of pleasure jerking her off the mattress. When she settled, his grin came both easily and heated as he echoed her. "Got to remember that one." Smile fading to something serious and beautiful, he shook his head. "But, no, that wasn't what I was trying to say, Kahri." A grumbling sigh rolled from him as he searched for words and failed. "It's what you said earlier about not walking away. You … ."
Heart unable to watch him fumble, looking more miserable by the minute, Shepard sat up and took his chin in her hand. "Don't worry about how it sounds, Garrus. You know you can't scare me off." Her other hand closed around his, and she leaned down to kiss his talons. "Just tell me the best way you can."
He nodded. "My pari said that he knew the moment he walked past my mari on a crowded street that he'd just passed his mate." Garrus turned his face into her palm, his eyes closing. "He spun and raced after her because he hadn't seen her … he'd just caught the perfect scent … the one person in all of the galaxy who'd been meant for him. Their love has never faltered."
Shepard pressed her lips together to stop them trembling, but the tears that gathered along her lashes would not be denied, breaking free to trickle around the curve of her nose. The soft layer of awe and longing running beneath his words reached down into her, evoking new emotions; deep, 'reaching down into the roots' sorts of feelings that she'd honestly never expected to feel. Her heart sped up, fear peeking out of hiding but then excitement and joy wrestled it down while hope tied it up and gagged it. She caressed her love's face, soft touches encouraging him to continue.
"I've known it from the moment we met," he said, his eyes gleaming as he looked up into hers, "but just now, I realized that this face is what I'm supposed to see first thing every morning and last thing every night." He leaned up and pressed his palm against her chest. "This heart is the one that has been entrusted into my care for the rest of my days. And … " He lowered his head to nuzzle her belly. "... genetic impossibilities aside, this body is the one meant to bear my children. Your scent, it's the scent of the one person in all of the galaxy meant for me."
He sniffed, thick and throaty, then ducked his head, mandibles giving an embarrassed little flick. "How does that rate on the scaring you off scale?"
Oh for frig's sake. Shepard blinked hard, almost furiously, to clear away her tears and choked down the lump trying to strangle her. She couldn't just dissolve into a giant, hormonal puddle of tears immediately following her first orgasm. That mixed message could well go off like a grenade inside his head.
Tugging gently on his chin, she coaxed him up. "Come here."
"But your wounds," he protested, pulling back.
A soft smile and a raised eyebrow addressed his stubbornness. "I don't care." Releasing him, she laid back against the bank of pillows. "Come here."
Lifting onto his hands and knees, he crawled up the bed until his cheek pressed against hers, as if he was afraid to look her in the eyes. "Okay, I'm here," he said, holding himself rigid and clear of her body.
"Closer," she said, ironically pushing him back until she could focus on his face. "I want your body on mine when I say this." She interrupted his protests before they made it out of his mouth. "No arguments, General, just do it."
"Aye, aye, Captain." He shook his head but he lowered himself gingerly until all but his keel pressed along her left side, deliciously warm and solid. When she tilted her head, beckoning him closer, he let out an aggravated sigh and turned a little so that the side of his chest rested against her rather than the sharp blade down its center.
"Better." She wrapped an arm around his neck and drew his brow down to rest against hers. "Much better." Tilting her head, she kissed him, just a soft, chaste peck, then pulled him down, adjusting for his cowl until he could tuck his face in against her neck. She let out a long breath, her hand stroking his fringe, a motion that comforted her as well. It seemed that the earlier, unspoken question couldn't be completely avoided. Too much time and longing and heartache lay between them.
"We haven't had any time to decompress, have we?" she asked. "Everything seems like an emergency, even us, and we haven't stopped running since I came back." Pressing her lips to the top of his head, she let out a long sigh. "You know the answer will be yes, Garrus. You're right … I've felt it since the beginning, as much as it terrified me. We might not be the same species, but the powers that be most definitely decided that we belonged together."
She pulled back and lifted his chin so their eyes met again, knowing everything she felt for her remarkable torin poured into that stare. "As for the when and the how of the official stuff, the time will appear. I'm not going to disappear on you again, love. The rain can't just erase me out here."
He lifted onto an elbow and leaned in to kiss her, his free hand wandering along her skin, his entire body trembling with passion as he moved against her. Then he balked, his body stiffening, eyes shuttering, his words measured as he spoke, "The rain can't erase you?"
Mouth open, lips moist, panting, she pressed into his hand as it cupped her breast, his thumb talon tracing her nipple. "I just mean that I'm not going anywhere. You're stuck with me." Her body undulated in slow waves as he relaxed back into her, her thighs falling open, relaxed, almost begging him to stop teasing and to climb between them. Of course, her wounds would never stand the pressure of his full weight, but still.
Kissing the sensitive hide just under his jaw, Shepard did her best to give as good as she got, sucking and nipping, her tongue teasing. Getting bolder as he rumbled with pleasure, Shepard's hand slipped down his belly to run her thumb along the top edge of the plates protecting his groin.
"So," she whispered between kisses, "how does the whole plate thing work?" She blushed as he lifted his weight off her, leaning back on his elbow. Running her lower lip through her teeth, she raised her eyebrows and caressed her hand over both plates. "Do I have to do anything to help the process along?"
A long, heavy moan ground from Garrus's throat, startling her. "Spirits, no. You've more than helped the process along, I'm staying sheathed deliberately." He moaned again as her hand rested on the seam, featherlight. "It's not easy, and it's definitely not comfortable, but once it comes out, it'll start to swell, and I didn't want to scare you or … ." Another miserable sort of grumble followed, but he shrugged. "It's different with tarins, Shepard. We'd rub our plates together, stroke one another, and I'd unsheath straight between her plates, seating there until it was over."
Shepard nodded, her fingertips stroking his face and neck, a soft, loving massage aimed at easing his discomfort. "Right. Well, human males get erect and then thrust into that much more accommodating spot until they are stimulated to an orgasm." She slipped her fingertips along the seam, both curiosity and desire wishing that he'd relax his rigid control and let her see him.
After a second, she looked up once more. "I don't think Shepard on the bottom is a good plan," she said. "And, I'd like to see your face when we do this, so that leaves lying on our sides or Garrus on his back." She gave him a teasing push. "Which is it, big guy?"
He sat up and adjusted the pillows behind him, his stare bright and eager again. She kissed him, her tongue dancing along his reassuring him that it would all work out just fine.
"That is the best choice, I think," she agreed. When he stopped adjusting the pillows, Shepard threw a leg over his hips, watching his face for any sign of discomfort as she settled her weight onto him a little. "This okay?"
He lifted himself further up the bed and reached out to drag his thumb across her bottom lip. She kissed it, noting that his hands smelled of her, their combined scents dumping an entire truckload of fuel on her fire. His mandibles flicked, warning her before his teasing even escaped his mouth. "Other than the fact that you're sitting a dozen centimetres too far down, you mean?"
She scowled and smacked the hand that reached up to fondle her breast, the backs of his talons slipping back and forth between it and the hard bone of her chest. "Yes, other than that. It hasn't been very long since those bastards took you apart, Garrus." Leaning forward, she kissed him. Letting her eyes slip closed, she delighted in the slightly rough texture of his tongue and the delicious sensation of his pelvis brushing against hers.
He returned her kiss, hips moving under her, a slow roll back and forth that transferred her slick, hot, wetness to his hide. Closing his eyes, Garrus moaned, loud and full as their surfaces glided over one another. "You weigh three kilos, trust me, I'll be fine."
Shepard sat back, trailing her hands down his body, teasing as she went. When she reached his plates, she stroked them apart with her thumbs. "Time to let go, Garrus," she whispered. "Time to trust me."
His eyes latched onto hers, his breathing quick and erratic. "Shepard, I just don't want to scare you or hurt you."
She nodded. She couldn't blame him for being worried after the fierce push-pull of their relationship. The only way to ease his fear was to prove it wrong. "Right now," she said, dropping her voice down low and husky, "I want you inside me badly enough to go in after it, so make your choice, Vakarian: fumbling, inexperienced fingers groping inside your sheath, or just trust me and let go. I've fought naked asari monstrosities, I'm not going to shatter at the sight of a turian erection."
Despite giving her a truly rock-crushing scowl, he nodded. "Fine ... impossible woman." Then, letting out a sigh of such profound relief that it made her heart ache, he relaxed and slipped free of his plates.
Leaning forward, she slapped his arm. "Damn it, Garrus. Next time talk to me rather than suffering to try to protect me. That had to be hurting like hell." When she straightened, she caressed the velvet soft skin with gentle fingertips, biting her lip to hide a grin when his hips lifted into her touch. "Oh, and look, you were worried for nothing, because it's just like the rest of you." She glared at him without any real heat and closed her hand around him when his pelvis rocked again. "Different, but perfect."
And it was both very different and perfect. Her palm slid up his length, her turn to be enraptured by the softness of his skin. As she indulged her fascination, she watched his face, relishing every mandible flick of delight and the wanton way his head tipped back, mouth open, chest heaving as he tried to keep from thrusting up into her hand. And failed.
Pressing her lips tight, she lifted her eyebrows, peering down at him with sharp-edged, smart ass curiosity. "Oh, does that feel better than caging it for the last hour or so?"
Growling, a heavy rumble of subvocals that set all her hair on end, he reached down, wrapping his talons around her arms. "Get up here."
"How could a girl possibly not obey such a tantalizing order?" She crawled up his body, low enough her breasts pressed against him and his erection trailed along her belly.
"Wait. Stop, Kahri," he said when he slipped between her legs. Garrus grabbed her waist, the sharpness in his voice and movements freezing her in place.
Holding herself as still as she could, she searched his face for the problem, worry slicing through her, cold and sharp. "What? Are you okay? Damn it, I damaged something, didn't I?"
Garrus shook his head, one hand pressing against her cheek. "No, I'm fine. Just give me a second." He gasped, his voice a reed floating on a river of subvocals, his breath hot and sweet against her face. "It's just … a lot of, um … . Spirits … " He leaned in to rest his brow against hers, his whole body jumping as his erection moved within the slick heat between her legs. Another almost pained grunt bullied its way out between his clenched teeth. "It's just a lot more stimulation than I'm used to." He nipped at her chin, teeth grazing her. "Damn, woman, you feel amazing … no, not amazing … different but perfect.."
Shepard grinned and kissed him. "And you're not even in your spot, yet. What's going to happen when you are?" Despite her teasing, she held herself as still as she could, letting him shift beneath her, exploring and adjusting. Her eyes closed as she savoured the new, intoxicating sensation of her torin sliding against her sensitive, deliciously aching bits.
"Where are you?" he asked. He rolled his hips front to back, sending a thousand tiny jolts of electric bliss zipping along her nerves. When they reached the end of the line, they exploded, leaving her trembling, fine beads of sweat glistening along her brow, lip, and between her breasts.
Once again, the sun burst through the dim lighting of that room on Omega, its hot rays beating down on her skin and and glowing bright against her eyelids. She opened her eyes, catching one side of her lower lip between her teeth as she shook her head. "Mmm … I'm right here with you." She moved against him a little, pressing down into the ridge along his underside. Back arching with pleasure, she let her mouth drop open, a rich moan tumbling out. And then his open mouth pressed to hers, his breath sultry on her tongue, teeth sharp against her lips.
"Sweet spirits, is that the fifteen octaves button?" He yelped, thrusting up against her as Shepard rubbed it against his tip.
"Yes, it is, and that thing you're doing there—" She let out a soft grunt as a wave of hot, wet pleasure poured through her and over him. As Garrus responded to the wash of her lust by grinding up into her, Shepard's grunt grew into a whine of sheer, wanton desire, the sound reaching a pitch and volume she'd thought impossible. "Oh god, yeah … that, right there. Holy … blessed … Enkindlers."
She planted soft, yearning kisses along his mandible as her hands caressed and kneaded, trying to ease the need growing both stronger and harder to reach every second … the need to somehow mould their two aching, striving bodies into a single being, sated and complete.
"Hey, know anyplace around here where an explorer can hire a guide?" he whispered, the tremulous thread of control woven through his subvocals betraying the raw voracity hidden beneath his teasing.
She grinned and brushed the end of her nose against his. "I know one, but she's pricey as hell and a real pain in the ass. You might just want to—"
"I like a challenge." His arm clamped around her, an intractable steel band pinning her against his chest, while the other grasped her jaw, pulling her into a kiss so deep and wide that it set her heart thrashing against her ribs.
His need … good lord, his need roared over her, a forest fire leaping across an open area to wash against new, virgin ground. For two years, all he'd wanted was for the two of them to be together, and for two years, her fear and then her death had held that simple desire out of his grasp. No longer. He deserved so much better.
Deepening the kiss, she threw herself into the fire and let it burn.
As the inferno swept her up, she slipped a hand between them, guiding him into place. A low moan drifted between them as she lowered herself slowly, wanting to savour every second and sensation. They'd only ever get one first time. Afterwards, the rest of their lives lay before them, days, months, and years to layer in all the nuances that came with love shared over time.
But that time, their first time, was for closing her eyes, clinging to her love, and discovering the sweet friction of him sliding into her depths. It was for finally feeling the barrier that kept Jane Shepard isolated and alone shatter as Garrus filled her. For gasping at the rake of his talons across her skin and the sharp, aching pressure of his keel between her breasts.
The memory of antiseptic bit deeply through the dim, blue light.
"Officer Vak—" Dr. Chakwas sighed, a thin, tight sound. "Garrus, you need to eat something. It's been two days."
In front of her, her beautiful torin clung to someone's hand, the person obscured by a stasis field. Garrus shook his head, and when he opened his mouth, a reedy sort of keen bled beneath his words. "I can't. She's afraid of the dark."
"Spirits, I love you." Garrus's oath pulled her out of her head, out of the wash of sensations—of memories?—and back into the tight, almost desperate grip of his arms.
A soft, adoring smile answered him, and she reached up, her fingertips just grazing his nose and mouth, thumb sweeping over his cheekbone and mandible. Then, closing her eyes once more, she slipped her hands over the arch of his neck, caressing under his crest and along the border between hide and plate, each touch promising an end to his waiting.
"And I love you." Her words came out in a soft cry as he thrust, and the inferno burst through her skin, searing along her nerves to burn bright and fierce in her belly. She stiffened, the brilliant light revealing all the small, dark frozen corners hidden within her heart. Clinging to her love, feeling no fear as his arms held her … so tight and so strong … she reached out to touch the next dark place.
Garrus stepped away from the circle of people and leaned down to press his talons against the box at their center. She started to follow, but then he caressed the smooth, gray metal, and suddenly she felt like an intruder. "Shepard was brave. Loyal to a fault. Infuriating. Terrified. Honourable. Strong . . . so much stronger than she believed. Perfect in her flaws . . . and I loved . . . love her." He swallowed, the rigid, violent movement painful to watch, and closed his eyes. Unable to bear his isolation for another second, she stepped to his side, slipping her hand into his.
The moment flashed like lightning between one gasp and the next. She lifted into Garrus's embrace, her arms wrapping around his neck, her mouth open and pressed against his mandible. She ran the flats of her teeth down the edge … how did she know that he loved it when she did that? How did she know that her flat, impotent teeth could pull a cry of bliss from him that they'd hear down at Afterlife?
His much more impressive teeth nicked the skin under her ear. The slight pain just tossed her higher, and her lover remained too caught up in the dance between their bodies to respond with his usual concern.
His thrusts deepened, his body apparently deciding it liked the human method of intercourse. Her muscles rolled with his every movement, her body gripping him tight as he withdrew, then spreading open to draw him back. Oh dear lord, the delicious friction … each stroke more intense than the last until she cried out with each. The fire roared higher, daring her to reach for the next patch of shaded truth.
Garrus set the book down at one end of the cushions and laid down. He spread a couple of blankets over himself, then tucked a pillow between his head and his cowl. Closing his eyes, he breathed in, the expression of twisted pain and love on his face telling her whose pillow it was.
She curled in against him, her back pressed into his front, trying to feel his warmth.
"I had so many plans for us," he whispered to the air. "I didn't want to scare you by laying out everything I saw for us, but I never intended to let you get further than an arm's length away." She rolled over to face him, still tucked in as tightly as she could manage. His laboured breaths passed through her as he continued, "If we died in flames, fighting Reapers, we'd die together, wearing one another's coillasi. If we survived, and ever saw the end of war, I thought maybe we'd live somewhere quiet, put down the guns, and who knows ... maybe even have a family." The soft keen broke the air again and he curled around the pillow, pulling it in against him.
Garrus thrust into her hard and fast, her whole body rocking with the force of his passion, each movement promising a release that drew so close … so painfully close. He stiffened against her, his subvocals keening, matching her cry for cry.
"Garrus." His name tumbled from her, begging for him to end the frantic climb, to punch through the glass holding completion so tauntingly out of reach. "Please."
"Spirits, Kahri," he rumbled, his mouth pressing against the hollow under her jaw where her jugular groove began. "I … spirits … I'm just about … ." His words disappeared into a deep cry of needful bliss. Then it was her turn to moan as his tongue traced a long, slow path down her throat. Damn, that bloody amazing tongue.
Garrus followed Anderson down the aisle, straight and proud as he parted the presidium crowd. Shepard strode beside him, her hand tight in his. After a quick glance around her memorial, wondering who the council thought they were burying, nothing she saw had the slightest bit to do with her, she focused on her torins. Poor Nihlus, wounded so deeply his soul bled out, and Garrus … so strong, so beautiful even in his grief.
"You can do this," she whispered to him. "You can lead these people and win this war. I know you can. Take care of my people ... your people, General Vakarian."
Garrus pulled in a deep breath and nodded. He stopped at the entrance to the park and turned back to look at her hologram. "Spirits, you would have hated this memorial, Kahri." He laughed and took a deep breath, his shoulders settling. "I thought I'd lost you," he whispered, staring at her image, "but you're right here. You'll always be right here." He backed up, following Anderson. "Let's show them."
As she crashed closer and closer to orgasm, the images sped up, flickering past so fast they barely registered before disappearing.
"I'm going to … ." Garrus gasped, his breath hot on her cheek and lips as his mouth returned to hers. "I'm so close, Kahri." He kissed her, and then his one hand slipped down between them, the pad of his thumb brushing over her. "Yes?" he asked, pulling back to look into her eyes.
"Ohhh, yes," she said, the word a heaving sigh. "Except, more: harder, faster … whatever, just more."
"Okay," he whispered, his mouth still brushing hers, bringing with his touch the brilliant sun, sweet breeze, and the sighing grass.
Her torin stretched out along her side and curled his arm under her neck. Shepard burrowed in against his side, smiling, completely content and happy in a way she could never remember feeling.
He shook his head and nuzzled his way down her jaw. "You and your stories," he whispered against her neck.
She sighed and closed her eyes, pressing into his solid warmth. One day it would end, and her world would crash down around her, but maybe … just maybe … not that day.
Her body responded and not subtly, the fire bursting forth like a star going nova. She mewled, shrill, breathless, the sound building to a cry that bordered on a scream. Her heart thundered as her body arched hard, muscles tying themselves into knots of pure bliss.
Lightheaded and reeling, she pressed her brow against the sweating hide of his neck and clung to him, one hand around his neck, the other clamped over the hand still rubbing in slow, light circles. In return he wrapped himself around her, her truest, safest place in the galaxy.
"And they had to live as refugees in Callor and Katrana's lands?" Shepard laughed. "Smart cookie. I imagine that Katrana found him completely irresistible after that." She pulled back, reaching up to trace the lines of his face with tender fingers. "I would have. Love a torin who uses what's between his ears." She leaned up and looked at both sides of his head. "Or in the case of turians, I suppose … ummm … aural canals? Tympanic membranes?"
He dragged her back down and rolled over to pin her down as he kissed her. Passion and joy roared through her. The taste of his mouth, the solid weight of his body laying over hers, and the way his talons caressed her all combined into a heady, intoxicating brew. Too bad he'd find it all empty one day and never return.
She shoved that aside. "Did they end up joining their states and finding their happily ever after?" Shepard whispered, nibbling along his mandible between words.
Breathing like she'd just run fifteen klicks in full gear, Shepard began to ease down from the full rigor of breaking orgasm, her body rippling with slow, deep waves of pleasure. She wrapped around him, her body helping coax him to his release, and then he called out, his voice rich and rumbling with layers of love, devotion, and euphoria.
His subvocals rolled through her with enough force that aftershocks sent her arching into him again as he spilled into her. She gripped him tight as he collapsed back, pulling her in to nestle against his chest. Limbs tangled, she lay draped over him, his swollen member deep inside her, pulsing softly. He buried his face in the curve of her neck, breathing hard and ragged against her skin.
"Dear spirits, woman," he whispered, letting out a long, decadent groan, "I think you may have killed me." One hand stroked up her side to cup her breast, caressing it with the gentlest of touches as he moved softly within her.
She let out a long breath and lifted up, bracing her arms against his chest. "I didn't drag your hypothermic, pathetic, Roger-smashing butt off Haestrom just to kill you on our first night together, Callor." A slow smile answered the confusion, fear, and blossoming wonder that played across his face.
Leaning forward, she kissed him, long and slow and sweet, the most wonderful, comforting sense of connection setting in, roots anchoring her in that new, off-kilter-feeling life. "I discovered why I don't recall any sort of afterlife." She drew back just far enough to look into his eyes, her heart thumping hard as she watched him sort through what she'd said.
Garrus's grip on her loosened and fell away, his body freezing under her. "Kahri?" he whispered, her nickname sounding very much like a prayer.
She grasped his hands, the fear in his voice demanding that she comfort it, to wrap him in the same wonderful peace that she'd discovered. Drawing his talons to her lips, she said, "It's because I never once left your side, love. I stayed with you through it all."
(A-N: Not much to say here, except … sorry. Yeah, it was long, but it was important to them. Sorry if you hate love scenes. I do try to keep them romantic rather than smutty. Thanks as always. *hugs*
theherocomplex is someone I truly cherish as a friend and fellow-writer-guide. She is writing a fantastic story called Ghost, Ghost, I know you live within me. I highly recommend reading it if you aren't already. Although her story also has Shepard sticking around as a spirit, that is where the similarities end. I have no desire nor intention to tread upon her toes. The stories are very different stories, our Shepards are nearly polar opposites, and this is the extent of my Shepard's dead archives.
I am examining questions of the soul, what makes people what they are, naturally the idea of spirits or ghosts is going to come into it because Shepard had to go somewhere, or did she? I received a guest review on FFN saying I plagiarized hero's story because of these last few lines. It's sort of surprising considering how different our stories are, but I wanted to address it, because I have no intention to do any such thing. She is my favourite writer in the known galaxy, my friend, and one of the people who beats this story into shape.)