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She had to admit, there was something...pleasant… about this. It had been a long time since she had allowed herself to be touched in a comforting way, and the news that had come from Marcus had not been good. Her mates were being locked away from her until she gave him what he wanted. She could circumvent it, she knew she could, but John was right. This was the time to think about escape for all off her shipmates, and John too. Bloodshed and manipulating Harewood would not accomplish it, but time...time would give her all she needed. There was Kirk, and Marcus’s daughter Carol. She had options. She just needed to bide her time.
She knew she wanted him by her side until the end, so she let him hold her as she shut her eyes and felt the warmth seep into her bones. She realized she had been touch starved, but what she hadn’t realized was even though they’d had intimate relations and slept in the same bed, this was something different. She’d kept herself physically apart as much as she could, but as she sank into his embrace, curling her feet up underneath her, she hadn’t realized how touch starved she had been for simple, physical, comforting touches.
She opened her eyes and buried her face into the crook of his neck, all but sitting in his lap now, and he ran a hand up and down her back. She let out a small hum of satisfaction at the contact, closing her eyes and inhaling the unique scent that was John Harrison. Spicy, musky and warm. The same warm she associated with his touch on her bare skin, and now, curled up in his embrace.
“We’ll find a way to free them from Marcus’s grasp,” he murmured before pressing a kiss into her hair.
“I know,” she said. “Now is not the right time, but it will happen,” she said, sinking into his embrace even more, if such a thing was possible. There was time left for her to gather her family and leave Marcus’s oppressive ways. For now, she would wait, and with John, it would be easier.