She did love Garrus. He had been her friend, her best friend. Then something more when they started... no gentle word for it... fucking. But that too had changed as their feelings for each other evolved. Quickly the casual sex had more emotion than stress behind it. The night they bonded it hand't even even a thought or a question. He held her in his arms and she was smiling up at him, both of them lost in the afterglow of their passion. He simply nuzzled her and she nuzzled back. A reaction. The natural flow of the relationship. He was dedicated to her well being. They shared a life, a bed, mutual respect and care for the other. They understood each other. It was right for them at the time. She had held no regrets or second thoughts until the message of hope for Nihlus' return to life arrived in her inbox on her personal console.

The awkwardness of the following week before she finally decided to leave, had been gut wrenching. Garrus never asked her who she would choose or if she loved him. He had been beyond understanding. Even volunteered his leave from her bed for a time, but she could see the conflict in him. The worry and fear of loosing what they had together. Their relationship was special, and he could make her laugh. Nihlus had always been her center, her bastion against her demons, but they had both been her shelter from the storms of life... and excellent lovers in an arena all their own. Nihlus had always been gently aggressive, full of emotion that was otherwise bottled up and hidden. Garrus hid nothing. So when it came to his love making, it was just as much about the pleasure of sex as it was how he felt for her. Neither ever grew tired of their obsession with her hair. Though Garrus was more attentive to her breasts than Nihlus had been. The differences were subtle, but enough to make them each so opposite of the other that she felt torn between them. After the fist week of awkward glances and deeply reserved emotion Sonya began to doubt if staying with Garrus was the right choice. She was the same person she had been underneath the stress and bitterness brought on by a hard war with the Reapers. She knew he could see that. As hard as he tried to hid it out of respect for her bond with Garrus, he still loved her with a fierceness that would rival the most vicious nathak. She happened upon him one evening after savaging a destroyed Reaper for parts and resources. He was cataloging some of the materials they'd brought back with them in the main cargo hold. It wasn't as empty now.

"How's it going?" She asked casually as she entered the room.

"Fine." He answered.

"Is there anything I can help you with?"

"No. I've got it."

Sonya crossed her arms and leaned back on one leg.

"I'm still your friend even if I'm bonded to someone else." She told him

"Shepard, please." Nihlus said, keeping his back to her.

"What happened to 'Sonya'?" She shrugged.

He didn't respond.

"Nihlus?"

She sat down beside him as he placed the parts into a container for storage. His bright peridot eyes flicked to her darker obsidian ones then back to the task at hand.

"Sonya, please. I'm asking. You must leave me alone for a while."

Her heart beat hard in her chest. It was difficult to keep away from him. To have only professional conversations with him. She found herself wanting to touch him. His scent was a living memory, earth and sea and a spice that was unique to him. He stood to leave because she clearly intended to stay. He dropped the wrench he'd meant to return to it's proper place. It came to rest by her thigh.

"Will you hand that to me please." He asked.

"Come down here and get it!" She quipped.

Spirits! Was she flirting? Was her dedication to Garrus so weak?

Nihlus turned to go with every intention of leaving the wrench of the floor for eternity rather than risk brushing the backs of his fingers against her thigh. The action would evoke too much from him to hold back.

"You can't just leave it on the floor. Safety regulation states you must return it to it's place." She told him.

He hesitated. She was right. She was using rules to get him where she wanted him, where he wanted to be but could not. Surely Garrus would smell him on her even as he could smell Garrus' mark on her face. Then he realized that it was the only area where his scent marked her. She had not mated with her spouse since he boarded the Normandy. Perhaps there was hope. He returned. He was only going to retrieve the wrench. Nothing more. He bent to take the tool from the floor, but his eyes were pulled up to hers. He pressed his forehead to hers. She nuzzled back. Her lips found his mouth and the sweetness of her tongue caressed his.

"Sonya..." He breathed. "We can't..."

But he had already left his mark on her. The damage was done. He didn't pull away when she ran her hands down the sides of his face and neck, then up again to stroke his fringe. He purred into her ear as he grazed his face over hers. He felt himself moistening, his desire hardening within him. Only the fabric of his uniform kept the skin of her fingers from touching his plates and sensitive skin. He found himself relenting to his own wants without complaint or will to do anything but be with her, there, on the floor of the main cargo bay. His talons roved over the smooth, black fabric of her uniform until he found the zipper that would expose her to him. Her own wandering hands found the wetness on his pants and the hardened length that sought a wetter, tighter solitude. He groaned at her touch as her many nimble fingers found their way in and gripped him.

"Not here." He said suddenly, and scooped her off the floor to find a more private corner in the dark room.

Behind a stack of crates along the back wall their frenzied hands and wonton desperation removed their clothing. It had been so long since she looked up into his white streaked face and piercing green eyes. When he pushed his way inside her, she realized how much further his ridges extended out from the main shaft than Garrus'. She cried out at the sudden pressure of him stretching her to fit him.

"Shhh..."

He hushed her gently as other parts of him were not so gentle. His need grater than his desire for tender passion. He was not unkind, but his rhythm was more desperate and his thrusts were harder, deeper and more primal than she remembered as he rolled his hips against her. It only encouraged him more when she moaned and arced her back, fully exposing her breasts and the 'N' shaped scar on her chest to him.

"Spirits...!" He breathed.

He moaned and purred. His eyes closed as he enjoyed her. Then he felt her lips and the heat of her mouth on him. The sensation built intensity and a fire within him. He arched as he neared completion, then he would back off and wait for the fire to subside a little before building up the heat again. Over and over he teased himself until evidence of her climax darkened the floor and his own proof that orgasm was near sought purchase. Then he hovered over her, positioning her hips and let his unique anatomy tickle the swollen bud of her arousal. Nihlus watched her writhe beneath him and listened to her gasping moans, feeling himself cling to her until he could hardly stand it. He could feel her dripping lower lips and her quivering swell. Sonya closed her eyes to concentrate of feeling him feel her. He could feel himself throbbing, aching to be within her and release the flood. His own wetness was clear and sticky and over produced, glazing her and himself with it's shine.

"Uhg...spirits... !" He gasped when he finally thrust himself deep within her.

Everything was so intense. He could feel every texture inside her, every movement, even her pulse, as she rode him moaning and breathing his name. Her orgasms were dynamic and powerful. Her back arched, fully exposing her lonely breasts. He eagerly eased their solitude with his hands and his tongue. Moments later he allowed himself the release he so desperately needed to be relieved of with a growling purr. He dug his talons into her hips, thrusting hard into her quivering tightness. She cried out with great ecstasy on the cold floor. They both panted in the dark as he knelt over her fragile yet durable human body. He ran his fingers through her damp hair and slowly receded from her hot, sticky folds that were spread wide for him. She sat up before he had completely left her, wrapping her arms about his neck and pressed her lips to his mouth.

"I love you." She breathed.

Nihlus tipped his head forward and nuzzled his forehead to hers. Both cherished the moment with eyes closed, breathing each others air. Bonding for the second time. When he felt satisfied of his scent on her, he opened his eyes once more to gazed lovingly into hers. He couldn't have been happier than he was in that moment to have her in his arms once again, loving him.

Sonya smiled, but it faded quickly as her mind returned to her. The blacker pupils of her eyes shrank in the surrounding darkness of her iris'.

"What about Garrus? Spirits! What have I done?"

He cradled her to him like a mother holds her child. Her legs wrapped around him even as he remained pulsing inside her leaving his seed in her womb.

"He doesn't have to know." Nihlus told her.

"How? He will smell you all over me." She replied.

"Use soap that is not oil based. If you hurry my scent will not be able to cling to you." He told her. Then nuzzled her neck and chest.

"Or you could remain bonded with me."

He dared a look at her face with the suggestion. He didn't really understand everything about how human bonding worked, what influenced dedication, but he knew sex was important to them. He hoped the throbbing in her loins now would help to persuade her decision as she shuddered in his arms.

"I have to shower." She told him.

She quickly dressed and left him alone and sorely disappointed once more in the darkness of the cargo hold.

Garrus never noticed the scent of Nihlus on her. He only too happily took her in his arms that night when she drew him to her bed. He filled her the way only he did and loved her with a hard, raw passion. He purred and growled over her, pawing and lapping at her roused pink nipples. He nipped at her ears to make her arch her neck so he could lick her throat. He bit her shoulder to hear her cry out. He plunged deep into her to feel her quiver and hear her gasp. He brought her to orgasm to hear her moan is name before he quelled her screams with his teeth. He was a vicious, but generous lover. He waited until her open, reddened sex was swollen and glazed before he released himself into her, shuddering over her quivering body and spilling his seed deep inside her. The head of him pushed against her a little harder until he had emptied himself into her.

As they lay together she curled against him. His plates were hard, but comfortable. Her thighs burned from the chaffing, but she had cream for that. The new scratches, bites and nicks hurt, but it soothed her to feel them there and know they were from him. The sound of his satisfied purrs was a beloved song as it rumbled through her. She fought sleep until it over powered her, living the moment for as long as possible while he ran his talons carefully over her scalp.