The Casualty «Dukat/Damar & OFC» 🔞 ✔️

30. Restoration

Watching Arem walk away again was hard, but at least there was a good chance he might come back one day. Nyran clutched her earring, eyes glued to his tall figure until he disappeared outside the building.

"I kinda wish I'd picked worse back then," she sighed when she felt Damar lean into her back and embrace her. "If I stumbled upon another Skrain Dukat, I wouldn't feel half as bad now."

"Dukat wouldn't have followed you so loyally," Damar objected. "This man is another league."

He looked pale and strained, so Nyran slipped under his arm and led him to their quarters. They collapsed onto the sofa, both trying to catch their breath.

"Combined with the fate I brought upon my family," Damar continued grimly once he could speak again, "I honestly feel like the villain here. For wanting you and for having you."

"Please, don't," Nyran stroked his face. "Arem was entirely my fault. And it's not like you had your family killed so you could be with me. You tried to keep them safe. Your opponents just had the upper hand. You're having a bit of a survivor's guilt, that's all."

"Nyran," he breathed, hiding his face in his palms. "I watched the security recordings at that console today. You could've died. And it wouldn't make me a bit guilty for surviving, no. It would make me splatter myself on the sidewalk beside the palace. Remember when you said you owed me your life twice? Well, you don't. I owe you. I owe you for keeping me alive against shitty odds... And for each day you inspired me to get up and fight when I felt like giving up."

His words made her well up. When she gently pulled his hands away, there were tears in his eyes, as well. She planted a wet kiss on his lips and he would not let her go. Despite exhaustion, being so close to each other, with their emotional memory rooted deep within the hell they had gone through, filled them with urgent want, acute need to feel one another, to be anything but separated.

Tangled, they slowly slid to lie on the sofa. As soon as Damar hovered above Nyran propped on his arms, though, his face contorted with pain and he collapsed next to her.

"Maybe we really should wait," she breathed, worried, but he shook his head.

"I'm fine," he lied literally through gritted teeth while still battling his weakness. Nyran chuckled softly.

"Okay, but at least let me do the work, how about that?" she smiled and helped him sit up, so she could straddle his lap.

"I wanted to explore your body," he sighed. "Touch and taste every inch of you."

Nyran shivered with the thought alone. She ran her lips along his jaw ridge and made him gasp.

"It's just our first time, not our last," she whispered into his ear, caressing his neck ridges. "It doesn't have to be perfect, does it?"

Her hips began moving in circular motion over his lap. He instinctively grabbed her sides and pressed her closer. She could feel the strain in the front of his pants.

One of his hands shot up and weaved fingers through her hair. He did not pull, like she was used to, instead he gently nudged her to bend lower, so their lips would meet. He had never kissed her like that before; his kisses were always soft and gentle, loving. He surprised her with force and passion, virtually taking her breath away. She held onto his hair and let him devour her mouth.

He caressed the length of her bare legs until he got up to her hips under the skirt of her dress. She could tell he was a little shy: he knew what to look for generally, but had no idea just what it would look and feel like on her. She could not wait to show him around.