by Viola Grace
“He wouldn’t. Not if she said no.”
“You are correct, but when she’s hot, does she say no?”
He paled. “I will speak with him.”
“Do that.”
Krizt left, and Zera went over the results. Arcady was even more suitable for this project than her initial results had indicated. She was definitely the right hire to be Krizt’s assistant. Her scans from the interview had shown that she had tremendous adaptable potential, and it didn’t end with her knowing they needed coffee and Krizt drank tea.
She was poised to become something spectacular, and Zera couldn’t wait.
Chapter Eighteen
Arcady picked up the bags that had been delivered to the security desk, and then, she grabbed the dozen bags that Corianne had delivered.
It took some doing, but she made it back to the elevator, and as the door opened, Krizt was standing there. He raised his brows. “Can I help?”
“Food or clothing?” She stepped in.
He grinned. “Food.”
She handed him the bags in her left hand. “How much did you order?”
“Enough to satisfy us. You and I both exerted ourselves, and you are now providing power for the implants.” He smiled. “You will need to eat more.”
She grimaced and then sighed. “But Klauz’s will be here. We will eventually be in Aksalla.”
“Arrangements can be made. My twin and I are usually in close proximity, but I have travelled without him. What remains to be seen is if he can live at a distance to me.” He smiled.
“What about your sisters?”
“We occasionally visit them in Hyreno. They don’t run around on the dry world much anymore.”
“Oh.” She balanced her bags, and they exited on their floor. They swiped through the locks and checkpoints and then headed into his office area. She set her bags down behind her desk and knocked politely on the door. “May I come in?”
His clear desk was set for two, both on his side of the desk where the spare chair had been set. The containers were arranged family-style, and as she looked, there were no plates. Or cutlery. Just napkins and wet wipes.
“So, how is this going to happen?” She looked over the foods and noted that they were all bite-sized. “Oh. That is convenient.”
He chuckled. “Klauz can still anticipate needs even if he isn’t in the room with me. He knows us well enough by now.”
“I believe he has known you all his life.”
He smiled. “That is correct. Wipe your fingers and tuck in.”
She used the wet wipe and cleaned up before starting into the food, trying each morsel one by one before Krizt ate all his favourites. It was like a weird kids’ game where she tried to get one of everything before they disappeared.
Each portion had twelve pieces, and with both hands working, she managed three of each. Competitive eating was not her thing.
She sat back and sipped at a bottle of iced tea while the rest of the food disappeared. “Does shifting like that make you hungry?”
He paused with the last piece nearly to his mouth. “Yes, but not the way you think. He feeds off you. Every time you react to him, he charges up. I am left with the aftermath of the shift. The calorie burn from the actual transformation.”
She frowned. “So, why is his feeding off me important?”
“Because before he had you to consume, he was hungry, and it was distracting as hell.”
Arcady blinked. “He doesn’t consume me.”
“He really does. Every moan, shudder, and shiver feeds him.” Krizt chuckled. “Right now, he is smug as hell.”
“So, there are actually separate thoughts?”
“Separate instincts. An instinct looks like a thought from the outside, but it is driven by basic biology. The beast wants to mate, and he’s going to keep trying until you get pregnant.”
“I am not going to get pregnant.” She looked at him with wide eyes.
He shrugged. “He will keep trying.”
She blinked slowly. “Oh. Kay. Can we get him to stop trying?”
“His bloodline in a child.”
She brought up her bank account and bit her lip. “Okay, I have enough to hire a surrogate and then a nanny.”
He looked at her in surprise. “You would do that?”
“Um, sure. I literally don’t want to have it come out of me, but I have no problem with my genes carrying on. And his... yours.”
He smiled. “We will look into it when we are in Aksalla, but it will shape the real estate search.”
“It will? How?”
“Children need space to run and play, or so I seem to recall from my own childhood.”
She cleared her throat. “Not to be indelicate, but I thought that your temperature made you sterile?”
He chuckled. “I am... he isn’t.”
“Oh. Kay.” She spoke slowly. “Was that ever going to come up?”
“Eventually. You have years left with your birth control, so sometime before then.”
She nodded. “Right. We did cover that. Whew.”
“We did. It will not be forced on you.”
“That is the problem; it wouldn’t be force. I would be a wholehearted participant. And then, I would be wracked with depression and anxiety for the entire pregnancy. I have always known that I would never be a proper mother. Not the kind that most children think of. I have wondered if it is crueller to have the child know me as mother and not be raised by me or to be raised by me when I leave work and I won’t know what I am doing.”
He took her hand. “Well, the first thing is that nothing will happen until we are all ready for it. That includes the others if they want to remain with us.”
“Oh, that will be fun at the PTA.” She smiled slightly. She thought about it, and her eyes widened. “Ohmygod. The PTA, school events, sports teams. I would drag you to everything.”
He chuckled. “And I would go. My parents were very involved in all my schooling until we went to the training centre.”
She smiled. “Really?”
“Really.” He gave her a wry smile. “It was a while ago.”
She looked at him and cocked her head. “How old are you anyway? Your personnel file doesn’t have anything listed.”
He chuckled and whispered the number and said, “Blue doesn’t crack.”
“I thought it was black doesn’t crack.”
“I haven’t been black for forty-six years. Now, it is all about the blue and the horns. Ladies love the horns.”
She got up and stroked them. “Can you feel anything through them?”
“Heat and pressure. You are making little circles.”
She chuckled and then turned to clean up the containers. “Right. You have four meetings this afternoon, and the first one starts in fifteen minutes. Head to the restroom, stretch, practice your semi-interested face, and get to boardroom six for a budget meeting.”
“Are you going to be there?”
“Dr. Yoman’s assistant is taking notes. He’s good.”
“I would rather that you would be there. At this point, it is better that you are not too distant.”
She paused with her hands full of containers. “Uh, why?”
“He gets agitated when he can’t see or sense you.”
She nodded and opened the door with her elbow and pulled it with her heel. It was practice that got her out of the office and to the break room and recycling containers while her mind spun. She didn’t want to spend the next decade glued to his side, but this could be a transient thing. He might just get used to her and relax a little.
She went out with Corianne, she went to BDC, his place, and back again. He hadn’t freaked out then, but he had been waiting for her to come home when Zera chatted with her.
Hmm. So, she was under a form of house arrest, and letting them set the implants in her body locked them together socially.
Arcady washed her hands, checked her suit skirt, and followed Krizt to the boardroom wi
th her tablet at the ready.
Dr. Yoman nodded but was confused. “Arcady, we don’t need you to do the minutes.”
Krizt said, “I asked her to be here. Item twelve on the agenda. She has an interest.”
Arcady checked, and the bio-graft project was indeed mentioned. She blinked at the budget for the project. For her. It was in the millions.
She felt a little hot and embarrassed as she sat slightly behind Krizt and took notes. They went through everything from equipment budgets to staffing levels, but when they got to the twelfth line item, the room was cleared of non-essential personnel.
Arcady wanted to leave, but her wrist was grabbed by Krizt. She remained in her seat.
Dr. Yoman asked, “Have you acquired a subject?”
Krizt nodded. “I have.”
“When will the installation occur?”
“It is scheduled for this week.”
“Your budget is excessive.”
“It is authorized by Zera, so we are good.”
“You have really found a compatible subject?”
Krizt nodded. “Tests have been run, and a prior implant of the same material shows no signs of rejection.”
“That isn’t in the file.”
“Not yet. The data accumulation has begun.” Krizt sat back. “There will be a data block by the next meeting.”
He nodded, and Arcady sat back, taking notes about the promise of a block of data.
“We hope for activation in a few weeks.”
Yoman blinked. “That soon?”
“It should work. Zera has every confidence, and my portion of making it bio-stable for our subject means that anti-rejection drugs should not need to be administered. The budget stands, and the subject has accepted the offered fee.”
“You paid them in advance?”
“Of course, so that the funds could go to their next of kin in the event of catastrophic failure.”
Arcady kept her head down. That wasn’t something she had considered. She needed a will, or her money would go to her parents, which wasn’t something she wanted to happen. She continued to make notes as the meeting wound to a conclusion, and she touched Krizt’s arm like she always did. “You are scheduled for an in-lab staff meeting in five minutes.”
He nodded. “Thank you, Dr. Yoman. I will keep you apprised of the progress.”
He got to his feet, held his hand for Arcady, and when Yoman’s eyes bugged out, she said, “It is going to be covered at the staff meeting. It is registered with HR.”
Krizt put his hand on the centre of her back and ushered her into the hall and down to the lab. “The meeting will mean I can touch you a little more overtly.”
“And me you, so brace yourself.”
He shot her a startled grin, and they entered the standing meeting. It was short and to the point. It announced open positions, new hires coming in, and Krizt and Arcady had begun a relationship that was authorized and acknowledged by the CEO and HR.
Startled gazes stared at them, and in two cases, cash changed hands. Arcady smiled, and they simply remained standing next to one another as they always did.
When the meeting was over, it was time to catch up on the experiments in the lab, and that involved another walk with his hand in the small of her back.
That elicited a few chuckles but no catcalling or strange comments. Folks seemed genuinely pleased, and that surprised Arcady.
She stood to the side during the final meeting and took notes on supply levels and staffing hours. She got up before Krizt could take her hand and waited for him to rise. He gave her an amused look, and she nodded. “I will see you back at the office.”
May as well try to get distance between them now. Get the beast used to it.
She didn’t sprint, but she walked briskly back to the office and unlocked it, taking up her position at her desk and starting the transcription of her notes into a report for Krizt.
He wandered in six minutes later, and she was bustling away. He looked at her typing and said, “When you are done, send it to me and come in, I need to discuss something with you.”
She nodded and said, “Yes, Doc.”
It took her four minutes to conclude the notes of the first meeting, and the next two went even faster. She sent him the three notes from the meetings so that he could alter what he didn’t want to pass along. She got up, stretched, and walked into his office.
The pheromones in the room were choking. “Wow. That is something.”
He sighed. “That is new. It isn’t something that happens under normal circumstances. I am fastidious.”
She walked over to him and relaxed as she let her body take the scent in. “You are. Aside from your beast, I haven’t caught a whiff of this scent during our interactions. Well, a little, but nothing like this.”
He rolled his chair back. “Are you stalking me?”
She paused and thought about it, putting her hands on the arms of his chair. “A little bit. Are you running?”
He chuckled as she straddled his knees with her legs straight and her back bent.
“No, I will definitely not run, but aren’t you cocky?”
She shrugged. “It’s the suit.”
He looked at it. “The skirt is rather short.”
She chuckled. “Wait until you see what Corianne bought me.”
“I can hardly wait.”
She kissed him, and he leaned into her, his lips catching hers as she toyed with him, just a little.
She lifted her head and checked the time. “Oh, dear. Quitting time.”
He raised his hand and pulled her close with his fingers in her hair.
She whispered, “Are we going to engage in the cliché of screwing at the office?”
He licked her lips, and his tongue swirled hypnotically. “I believe for it to be a cliché... you need to be on or over my desk.” He stroked her hip. “Your choice.”
She scooted her skirt up, pried her damp underwear out and down, kicking it off her feet. He picked them up and tucked them into his pocket.
She perched on the edge of the desk and put her high heels carefully on the arms of his chair. His gaze locked between her thighs, and a low growl reverberated through the room.
Arcady felt herself melt. And she smelled hot.
Krizt’s eyes glowed, but he kept his office body as he opened his trousers and leaned forward. When he got to his feet, he was a little taller but still within the dimensions of his clothing.
She grabbed his jacket and pulled him forward. “Right now, I want you, as you are. No expansion, no enlargement, and no three-inch teeth. Just you and me and you moving inside me.”
He shuddered and slid his cock into her. It went surprisingly easy. She arched back and took him deep. He paused and opened her blouse, her jacket and pulled her bra away from her breasts with two dexterous fingers. Connected to her, he pulled her up so his lips could tease her nipples. She twisted against him and undulated her hips. They strained against each other until she had cum twice before he growled low again.
She was cuddled up against him, and he slowly separated their bodies. He chuckled. “Want to head home?”
She nodded against his shoulder.
He leaned back and stroked her cheek. “You have a full charge now. That is enough to generate the wings. So, be careful.”
She nodded. “I don’t think that I am going to want to take off anytime soon. I am not great with heights.”
He chuckled and helped her right her clothing. “We should have gone over that before you got wings.”
“I will adapt. I always do.” She felt the cum rush from between her thighs and looked around for something to wipe it with. When she didn’t find anything, she grabbed his silk pocket square and used it.
He blinked. “Can I have that back?”
She looked at it with the folded moisture inside. “Um, I will launder it first.”
He took it from her hand. “Oh, I want it just as it is.”
“What?�
�� She watched him waft the square near his nose, and his eyes got a heavy-lidded look. “Males are really another species.”
He smiled. “Thank you. Now, let’s go see if any of our companions are at Klauz’s.”
“Can’t you tell through the link with Corianne?”
“Only if she wants me to.” He chuckled. “Her unity is a gift, not a service.”
“Why does she eat there so often?”
He smiled. “She lives on the fifteenth floor.”
“Oh. Right. That would do it.” She scooted her skirt down and turned slowly. “Am I decent?”
He rose up and wrapped his arms around her. “Better than decent.”
She laughed and leaned against him. “So, we have gotten the office sex out of the way.”
He snorted. “There are at least nine other surfaces here to try out and several different positions. So, here alone, we have more than thirty encounters. From there, we can move on to your office, the labs, the boardrooms, storage rooms, decontamination rooms, and like that.”
She blinked. “You have given a lot of thought to this.”
“Well, only over the last eight and a half months or so.” He straightened and tidied his clothing.
Arcady looked at him. “The pheromones have receded to a tolerable level now. It doesn’t feel like I am chewing the air anymore.”
“Grab your bags, and we will get going.”
She looked around. “Where did my panties end up?”
“I have them.”
She looked at him, and he raised his brows politely. Right.
She headed back to her desk, gathered her bags, and saw that security had had to go through all of them. Corianne was evil.
Krizt locked his office and looked at her face. “Just realized that security had to go through every bag one by one?”
“Yeah.”
She looked at him and gasped. “You told her to!”
“I thought it would be funny. It is.”
“I have to run these through security on the way out, too.”
“That way, Emery has his chance as well.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “I don’t like you very much right now.”