A Kiss on Kaidava

by S. J. Sanders

  “Kaval, I meant for you to set him down, not drop him,” Val’na’kee said as she shoved her eldest son aside to help Ben to his feet.

  “I swear the lot of you go too far. You do realize the aggression is supposed to be largely symbolic? You are not supposed to actually hurt him,” she continued as she fussed over the whimpering human who was leaning heavily into her arms as if he had been truly hurt.

  Lerix looked at him with suspicion. He doubted that the brothers had beaten him all that much. Not enough to be whimpering like a child.

  “I think I need to lie down,” Ben groaned pitifully. “They may have broken something. All I know is that my entire body hurts.”

  “Of course, of course,” she murmured sympathetically as she helped him out of the common room.

  Every male in the room wrinkled his nose in distaste at the obvious, terrible performance. Even Val’ee’na watched with pursed lips, her retractable claws out on display and drumming on the table beside her.

  The mood shifted quickly as Mahuura wedged herself between her brothers and slid her arm through one of each of theirs.

  “Don’t worry. I am sure you did not damage him. Ben always exaggerates,” she added with a wrinkle of her nose and the graceful lines of her olfactory bridge. “Besides, there are better things to focus on. Lerix has offered us use of his estate gardens for the mating ceremony! Isn’t that wonderful?”

  “Be even more wonderful if you found a more suitable male to mate with,” Kaval growled, and then frowned deeply when he saw how close his friend was hovering behind his sister. Lerix felt a twinge of pity. Esha was going to have an uphill battle if he had any hope of trying to secure Mahuura for himself, even with her brothers’ distaste for Ben. It was just too ingrained into Kadesh society.

  “Is that why you came in all smiles?” Sovuul asked with a teasing grin.

  Mahuura responded by nudging her brother with her shoulder.

  “I am surprised that Lerix would extend such an offer,” Kaval said slowly.

  “Well, it was more like Cara offered, but he agreed with his mate,” Mahuura replied with a laugh.

  Sovuul’s brows arched. “I didn’t realize you two were mated.”

  “Not officially mated,” Cara clarified with an exaggerated sigh. “Lerix wanted to wait until he could organize the perfect mating ceremony for us. However long that may take.”

  Mahuura clicked her tongue in sympathy and rushed to take her friend’s hand. She shot a worried look at her brother as if he had said something to aggrieve her new friend, but the male in question grinned flirtatiously at Cara.

  “Naturally, if you are looking for a mate ready to commit now, I am very available,” Sovuul offered smoothly.

  Lerix growled, his scales bristling as he put himself between them.

  “We are mating as soon as we arrive at my estate,” he snarled.

  “Oh, are we?” Cara asked with an air of surprise.

  Mahuura bounced with excitement. “This is wonderful! We could have a double mating. They are very good luck. Kadesh females of a family used to try to mate in a shared ceremony for that reason. We will have to make some alterations to your fathee, but it really suits you beautifully just as it is and we will still match a little. I am sure the gardens will have wonderful flowers we can decorate our hair with as well. I am so happy you are getting mated so quickly rather than waiting to plan your own affair. This is rather most fortunate for me,” she gushed.

  “Oh, for me too,” Cara grinned as she winked at Sovuul. Lerix observed the male smirk as he reclined his hip against a high-backed upholstered seat.

  Lerix suddenly felt like he’d been cleverly played.

  Chapter 25

  Cara moaned as she enjoyed the water of the hot springs. It was their last night at Lominoa and they’d both agreed that it called for another visit to the diving waters before they headed back to Birol. She still wished they could find a way to ditch Ben before then, but she wasn’t going to allow him to ruin her evening.

  Lerix slid into the water beside her with a long-necked dark bottle in his hand.

  “What is that?” she asked, thrusting her chin toward the bottle.

  “This,” he said with a smoldering smile, “is Tyrnol. It is a special liquor brewed in Lominoa that I picked up yesterday while you were shopping. Said to ease woes and celebrate good fortune and the blessings of life, it is considered the elixir of Aforamaro. I bought it to reserve for the day you agreed to be my mate. This seemed like the perfect setting to celebrate.”

  Cara giggled as his tongue lapped against her neck before she turned and wrapped one arm around his neck as she took a healthy swallow of the liquid. She coughed for a moment, her eyes watering, as the heat hit her belly.

  “You aren’t mad that you aren’t getting months to plan some terribly extravagant mating ceremony, are you?” she asked.

  Lerix sighed but then shook his head and smiled. “I always thought it was females who wanted months of planning for a ceremony, and here I have a female who would probably do it with nothing more than a house wrap on,” he chuckled.

  Cara stuck her tongue out at him. A house wrap was similar to a caftan, a sheer swath of fabric just thick enough that she couldn’t see her the shadow of her sex or nipples but too thin for her to feel comfortable parading around in it anywhere. But during the hottest hours of the day, nothing beat it for comfort. Thanks to Mahuura, she now owned several house wraps in different colors for lounging where few would witness it.

  “Come on, be serious,” she insisted stubbornly.

  “No, I am not mad,” he chuckled. “It works far better in my own selfish interest so that all the males of Birol know without a doubt whose mate you are.”

  She skated her hands up his chest as he took a long pull from the bottle.

  “Ahh, a little possessive, I see.”

  “A little,” he agreed with a lopsided smile.

  For a moment, Cara imagined what he must have looked like as a youth when he’d decided to leave Kaidava to seek his fortune and freedom among the stars. Before he’d become a hardened merciless killer. She saw a mischievous male with an easy smile. That hard edge still peeked through from time to time. She hoped that it would be less often now that they were no longer running for their lives, but she suspected there would always be something of an edge to him no matter how much time passed.

  After one last swig, Cara set the bottle on the ground near her elbow just as she leaned forward to wrap her arms around her mate’s neck, her breasts pressing against the chest. He gently leaned back so that they floated together in the deeper water, his dark hair and her blond hair shimmering in the water around them as the strands mingled and spread out from their bodies.

  “I love you, Lerix,” she said quietly.

  His yellow eyes opened, the narrow pupil dilating as a warm smile lit up his face.

  “I love you too, Cara,” he murmured.

  With one hand, he tilted her hips firmly against his as his lips brushed hers. He slid the thick length of his cock inside of her as they glided through the water together back to the rocky edge.

  ***

  Lerix reached back to grasp the smooth rock wall and turned them together so that he could sit on the ledge, her legs straddling his hips. His hands slid up to her shoulders, his fingers wrapping around them at either side of her neck. With a grunt, he pulled her body down as he lifted his hips, plunging his shaft once again deep within her as Cara threw her head back with a loud gasp that echoed in the cavern around them.

  They rocked together, his cock plunging in and out of her as he lifted her hips and pulled sharply back down again onto his lap. His sex was eager for hers, the morol sacks swollen with its pheromone-laden oils. The soft, warm grip of her channel massaged the sacks with every eager thrust, pushing his pleasure higher. Lerix couldn’t remember joining with a female ever being like this.

  His tail burned with the never ceasing need to complete the mating bond as
his tail-blade pushed through the tip. It was torture, but he was determined to wait. He hadn’t done much right in his life, but he wanted to do this by the custom of his people. He would wait until they were blessed before his family and the gods before he allowed himself to sate his burning need to claim her completely as his own.

  The heat of the water splashing over them with every thrust and rocking glide of their bodies further intoxicated his senses. His pace picked up as he lifted his hips in rapid pumps, eager to meet with every descent of the wet cunt sucking him deep within her body. She dropped faster and harder as he shifted his grip to her hips, guiding her movements. A low resonating sound began in his chest as the pressure mounted between them. He knew he wasn’t going to last much longer.

  He slipped his knuckle between their bodies, pressing it against the nub of flesh and his mouth sucked a nipple deeply. It was just enough to send Cara crashing over her own crest of desire. Her cunt gripped him with a strong, pulsing grip, seeking his seed. With a savage growl, he gave it exactly what it desired. His sack drew up tightly seconds before his orgasm, causing the muscles in his lower back to seize even as he rocked up into her, grinding against the mouth of her womb as his cock jerked repeatedly with each release of his seed.

  The agitated water teased the sensitive delicate scales that he possessed around his genitals as it splashed around them, still rolling around them from the frenzy of their joining. He gasped against Cara’s skin as she shuddered against him.

  Lerix was surprised when her pale arm lifted past his head and reach behind him, returning a second later firmly gripping the bottle of Tyrnol. He laughed softly, kissing his mate, enjoying the taste of her lips and drinking from them for a long moment before he pulled the bottle from her fingers and took a long swallow. Then, because he was not a greedy mate, he tipped the spout against her lips so that she too could drink her fill.

  Back and forth, they drank together.

  They kissed one another.

  And joined again and again late into the evening until they were both too tired, and slightly too drunk, to more than stumble to their rooms as they leaned heavily on each other.

  Chapter 26

  Esha lurked in the dark hallway that led into to the rear garden. The hour was late, and the entire household was asleep. His Mahuura had gone to her room hours ago. The change in plans for the mating ceremony was a mixed blessing. In one claw, he wanted his mate happy and having a mating ceremony of her dreams was important to him. In the other claw, this destroyed all the carefully made plans he’d made since he caught sight of the female.

  How was he going to get rid of that sniveling male now?

  A loud thunk and a curse pulled Esha out of his reverie. A smile spread on his face as he heard the growl of an approaching male.

  “Blessed gods damn you, Esha. Why did you insist we meet you here in the dead of night?” Kaval snapped, and then he grunted when Sovuul ran into his back.

  “Sorry,” the younger male whispered as he stepped to the side so that he was no longer standing on his brother’s tail.

  Kaval flicked his tail with annoyance and huffed.

  Esha grinned in the dark, knowing the males wouldn’t see it. All they were able to see were the glowing twin embers of his eyes. He sometimes forgot that his friend had difficulty in the deeper shadows of the night.

  “My apologies, Kaval and Sovuul. I merely wanted to ensure that we have absolute privacy for this discussion.”

  “Why?” Sovuul whispered as he crept up beside his brother, gingerly making his way over as not to bump into anything.

  “I wanted to discuss the human with you.”

  He saw Sovuul frown.

  “Why do you want to talk about Cara? She is a sweet little thing, I agree, but Lerix would slaughter anyone who even tried to breathe on his mate—much less try to take her for his own.”

  Kaval laughed dryly. “Aside from the fact that she obviously loves him and wouldn’t give you the time of day, you mean?”

  “Yes, aside from that. But it does make me curious about looking for a human mate of my own.”

  The older brother grunted in agreement.

  Esha made a sound of exasperation. Of course his friends would think immediately of human females.

  “Not Cara,” he hissed. “I speak of the male, Benjamin.”

  “What about him?” Kaval said, aggravation behind his tone now.

  Esha knew that this was a delicate moment. He needed to declare his intentions to his friend without sparking any instinctively hostile reactions. He knew plenty well from listening to Kaval over the years, that male Kadesh were very protective of their sisters and did not approve of larger males attempting to mate-bond with them. Although he understood the reasoning and would likely share the sentiment if he had a smaller female as his offspring or kin, he wasn’t going to surrender his mate.

  “I wish to remove him from the picture,” Esha declared boldly.

  Both males erupted into laughter.

  “Good one, Esha,” Kaval said.

  Esha glared at his long-time friend.

  “I am perfectly serious. And with the plans for the ceremony changing, I need your help to accomplish this.”

  Both brothers looked at him in alarm, their mouths dropping open.

  “Are you serious?” Sovuul hissed. “Mahuura would kill us.”

  “Not to mention our mother. She has been looking forward to having one of her children mated for years now. I have had to listen to her disappointed lectures every revolution, on my birthing day, in fact. Bemoaning the fact that I am getting older and still haven’t provided her any grandchildren. The fact that Mahuura found a mate so quickly not only makes Mother happy but makes my life more pleasant.”

  “Kaval makes a good point. I get the same lecture every revolution. Besides, mother does seem to like the male,” Sovuul agreed with a grimace.

  Kaval snorted. “No, she likes having a youngling to care for. The male is like a Kadesh male of less than sixteen revolutions. She wouldn’t like it so much when the younglings came and he still needed pampering. She is just eager for Mahuura to be settled and happy, and for little ones to be running around.”

  “If she still got the mating ceremony and the potential of younglings, does the male in question matter?”

  Silence descended as both brothers frowned in his direction.

  “And how do we accomplish this exactly? Kadesh males don’t have pheromones to ensnare other males for their sisters. Any male that would respond to our pheromones wouldn’t really be interested in lying with a female.”

  “Besides, hunting for a mate for my sisters just seems a little—” Sovuul shuddered in disgust.

  Esha growled. “You aren’t hunting a male for your sister. Mahuura is mine. No one is going to mate her but me.”

  Immediately both brothers bristled with anger. He wasn’t too worried about Sovuul; the male was much smaller than Kaval. It was his friend that he was more worried about. He didn’t wish to be set against him if the male attacked in deadly earnest.

  “You know that is not our way,” Kaval growled. “We do not allow large deadly males to mate with our females. Mahuura needs to be able to control her mate while they are bonding.”

  “Is that what you really want for her?” Esha challenged. “To have to control a male and forcibly keep him by her side? Is that what you would want for yourselves? Or would you rather have what Lerix has? A mate who wants to remain with you. Does Mahuura deserve that?”

  The growls silenced as the Kadesh brothers thought about it.

  Sovuul sighed. “He is right, Kaval. I wouldn’t want to have to live my life chasing after my mate and keeping her practically chained to me. It is one reason that I haven’t attempted to capture a mate. It isn’t fair to leave Mahuura to do her duty with a male such as Benjamin. He is not worthy of our sister.”

  Kaval rubbed his horn-base and muttered under his breath, but finally he capitulated. “You are right, So
vuul.” He narrowed his eyes at Esha. “Are you saying that you can be that kind of mate to Mahuura?”

  Esha nodded, relief relaxing the clenched muscles along his spine. This was going better than he could have hoped.

  “How can you be so sure that Mahuura is interested in you?”

  Now Esha bristled with insult. Though not literally like the Kadesh males, he felt the fine hairs along his neck raise with agitation.

  “Trust me—she desires me. She would willingly mate with me without Ben in the picture. I am certain of it.”

  Sovuul surprisingly voiced support for him. “Esha is right. I have seen the way Mahuura looks at him. If she weren’t already engaged in the mating process with Benjamin, and if not for the rules we tend to use with our females, she likely would have been all over Esha by now. Besides, unlike you, Kaval, I have been here as she has grown. Mahuura prefers males that our females typically avoid.”

  Esha didn’t like thinking about Mahuura lusting after large males, but still, he was appeased that it worked in his favor for swaying Kaval to his side now that Sovuul seemed to be on board.

  “Kaval, you know the Ikoru. If I chose to, I could act in the traditions of my species. Her aura draws me as only a compatible mate would. According to the ways of the Ikoru, I would steal her and return to my homeworld with her. However, I do not. Not only because I respect you, my friend, but also, I do not wish to hurt my mate. Her life is here on Kaidava, and all of our young will be Kadesh. I am asking for your help.”

  When Kaval’s shoulders finally relaxed in surrender, Esha knew he’d won his friend’s support.

  “Very well, Esha. I have known you for many revolutions. I know you would make a good and honorable mate for my sister. Far better than the human she has acquired. So I will help you.”

  The younger Kadesh nodded his head eagerly. “Me too. But how are we going to do it? It is not such an easy thing. We would have to get him completely offplanet from Birol so that no one suspects anything.”

  “Perhaps I can be of assistance,” a female voice smoothly interjected as Val’ee’na stepped around the corner from where she’d been lurking.