by Jade Waltz
Two of his tentacles traced up my sides and wrapped themselves around my swollen breasts. I hissed as the tips rubbed my nipples, their mini suction cups pulling at them. Desperate to hold on as my arousal nearly overwhelmed me, I dug my hands into Odelm’s anemone hair. I pushed his mouth against me.
“More!”
The other two tentacles slid from my nether lips to tease my clit. His tingling essence drove me wild as the suction on my clit pushed me higher still. His tongue hit my cervix, then the three-fingered hand at the end dragged along the top of my wet tunnel—massaging, sucking.
I writhed, begging for release.
The three fingers dragged over a spot that had my toes curling. My back arched as they pressed harder, rubbing. Oh, Stars!
“Yes! There... right there!” I pleaded.
He grunted as his tongue attached to that magical spot and my eyes rolled back in my head.
I screamed his name as I wrapped my legs around his shoulders. My body spasmed as I climaxed. His tongue went into a frenzy, and I moaned as the sucking strokes inside me prolonged the orgasm. I felt my pussy clenching, spasming as I came, trying to grip something too thin and mobile to hold.
I released his hair and slumped against the wall, allowing my legs to drop from his shoulders. He slid his tentacles from me, and I jerked as they dragged across my sensitive folds. I closed my eyes as his tongue detached and slipped free. My body twitched as he cleaned my apex with his tongue.
Odelm sat back as his tongue traced his lips in satisfaction, cleaning every drop of my essence from his face.
“I see you left none for me, nestbrother.”
I lazily opened my eyes and looked in the direction Xylo’s voice had come from—I hadn’t heard the door open. He was sitting on the bathtub ledge with a smile on his face.
Odelm grinned back. “I could not deny our nestqueen her release.” He scooped me up and turned toward Xylo. “You were taking too long to return, and I had to taste her essence directly from its source.”
I rolled my eyes at their teasing. “You both act as if it’s going to vanish and you will lose your opportunity.”
“I know it is not, but that does not mean I did not want to taste you myself.” Xylo chuckled.
“Your research about human female anatomy helped. Her breasts and their nipples are definitely sensitive, and I found her pleasure rose when I massaged her clitoris. There is a spot inside that seems especially sensitive. Massaging all three at once sent her over the edge and into orgasm very quickly.” Odelm reported to Xylo.
I snorted.
“I must try this myself. Kaede recently gave me a copy of an ancient human historical text he called Kama Sutra. He stated it explained everything about a human’s sexual desire and gave many examples about how to please your partner.”
I blinked at Xylo as I hung in Odelm’s arms.
“Send me the file. I want to study it. Once our nestqueen goes into heat it should be especially useful for us both. Glorious days those will be!” Odelm said with excitement.
I couldn’t believe they were having this discussion in front of me. And how had Kaede found such a book? Especially one Xylo didn’t already have. I’d certainly never seen it in all the data the Yaarkins gave me on Earth—which was odd since their goal was reproduction and the failed experiments were used as sex slaves. For that matter, why had he given it to Xylo?
“You both know I’m right here?”
I stared at my nestmates. They fell silent as they watched me. I sensed them trying to detect my emotions and thoughts through our bond. Wiggling in annoyance, I tried to get down. Instead of letting me fall, Odelm gripped me tighter before lowering me carefully into the bathtub. My feet touched the smooth, stony bottom.
After he released me, I crossed my arms over my chest and growled, “You automatically assume there will be sex once I start ovulating again? Do I have no say in this?”
Using both hands, I splashed water at Odelm and then Xylo. They gasped as the bubbly water hit them in the face before splashing onto the floor. They stared at me in disbelief as I continued to fling soapy water at them.
I hissed, “Perhaps I will be too tired taking care of my cubs to want to have sex. Perhaps we will be dealing with whatever is going to happen and can’t have sex. Perhaps we will be separated. I don’t know. You both don’t know. Our future is unknown...”
I could feel Odelm trying to calm me through our bond.
I growled again, turning and splashing as much water as I could all over him. Not that I could drown an aquatic species, but the splashing helped calm my agitation.
“Selena. What is the matter?” Xylo asked calmly.
Tears formed in my eyes as I hissed in frustration. I froze and turned away from them. Facing the glass wall, I stared at the stars outside of the terrarium’s dome.
“Everything I’m used to, this new life I’ve built with you both... it’s all going to end soon. Any time now my cubs will be born... and in, what, less than two days we’ll be arriving at CEG HQ? My wonderful little world is going to come crashing down...”
Splashing sounded behind me as hands gripped my hips and pulled me against a cool scaled body. Warm breath tickled my ear. “No matter what our future holds, we are bonded to you. Both Xylo and I know that our time with this crew is coming to an end. We will be by your side wherever you go.”
“Odelm is right. We will follow you until the Stars claim us once more.” He paused as I heard shuffling and a cupboard opening and closing. “How about Odelm dries you off and tucks you into bed? I will get a calming tea to warm you and we can talk.”
A weak smile flickered across my face as I rubbed my eyes. I stepped away from Odelm and turned.
“I’d like that.”
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Selena
Sharp pain woke me.
I grabbed my stomach and hissed. Odelm and Xylo jerked awake and pulled away as though afraid they were the cause of my pain. They sat up, looking down at me with worried faces.
“What is wrong, Selena?”
“Is it the cubs?”
Xylo had explained that I’d know labor started when I felt sharp pains along my stomach and lower back. He’d called them contractions. Right now, it felt like someone was stabbing me, cutting me open from two sides. This couldn’t possibly be what he’d meant! Something must be wrong...
I gasped in agony.
Every time I opened my mouth to respond, a fresh wave struck, and I was forced to close my eyes and suck in panting breaths until it passed.
“This can’t be right, Xylo. Is this what you meant by ‘sharp pains?’ Really?” I lowered my mental shields to allow them to feel my pain.
Odelm rubbed my lower back, sending soothing waves of comfort across our bond, as Xylo replied, “It is okay, Selena. I believe this is normal. Just breathe through it. We will get you as comfortable as possible as soon as this wave passes.”
After a little while, the contractions subsided, but the pressure started to build in my nether regions.
“Odelm take Selena to the bathtub and get her comfortable on the bench. The warm water should help ease the pains. Do not add soap to the water. I am going to get Kaede and we will grab the rest of my supplies from the infirmary then return with the princes and Chyox. We will all be here to support you, Selena. We will make sure your labor goes smoothly,” Xylo directed, his voice laced with authority. I knew he was in Master Scholar mode now, and simply nodded in response.
I weakly opened my eyes as Odelm picked me up.
“It will be okay Selena. We are here for you,” Odelm whispered.
Another wave of contractions rocketed through my body, and I leaned my head on his chest as I hissed in pain. My arm tightened around his shoulder and my hand fisted against his chest. Oh Stars...
He carefully carried me across the nestbed. I heard the bathroom doors opening before moisture hit my bare skin. I winced in pain when he jostled me as he swung his leg over the edge of the
bathtub. He froze.
“I am sorry, Selena. We are almost there.”
The pain was too much to allow a reply—I was panting through the pressure and slicing pain—so I just nodded. I was focused on my breathing and trying to keep calm. I didn’t see how this could possibly be normal.
Odelm must have understood since he finished stepping into the tub, lowering us into the warm pool of water. The water felt amazing against my skin and the warmth provided a measure of assistance with the pain, making me moan with relief.
My contractions passed once more, and I cracked open my eyes to look up at Odelm. He stared at me with concern in his pale green eyes.
Stroking my hair, he murmured, “I feel your anguish. I wish there was something I could do to help.”
I smiled weakly and caressed his chest. “You are.”
The bathroom doors slid open and Xylo and Kaede bustled in carrying silver cases. Xylo used his vines to stack the baskets of soap and clear some space, then they set the cases down.
“Kaede, grab Selena a cup of Osso tea. She will need to keep hydrated and the tea will help keep her calm,” Xylo commanded.
Kaede nodded and stepped out just as the princes arrived. Xylo cracked open the cases and started arranging equipment.
“I heard it is about time for our guests of honor to arrive,” V’dim announced cheerfully.
“This will be history-making. The first interbreed offspring to be born and we are here to witness it,” Z’fir rejoiced.
A hiss escaped me as the contractions started again. I wouldn’t have believed it possible, but they seemed stronger than the last round.
“Odelm. Take her to the bench and sit behind her. Let her lean back and use you as a cushion—support her body as much as you can.” Xylo explained for the benefit of the new arrivals, “Our goal is to keep her calm and give her as much comfort as possible. Humans had natural births in warm water—it is supposed to help her body relax throughout the process of her labor.”
The room fell silent and I closed my eyes as I felt Odelm do as Xylo had asked. I lay along his body, his arms supporting my upper body, his legs along the outside of my hips—my own personal nest. His tentacles loosely wrapped around my chest and arms, stroking, trying to give comfort.
When the contractions passed, I opened my eyes just as Kaede walked in with a cup of the Osso tea Xylo had requested. Chyox and his two assistants trailed behind him. The bathroom was getting crowded. Xylo concentrated on a portable device he’d set on the counter beside the sink, preparing for what was to come.
Kaede handed the tea to Z’fir, who waded into the bath to bring it to me. Guess he didn’t want to get his black suit wet.
I snorted.
As I reached out to grab it, another wave of contractions hit, and I sucked in a pained breath. My back arched as I tried to find some way to ease the stabbing agony.
Oh Stars... I’d really thought labor couldn’t possibly be that bad. It hadn’t sounded unbearable from Xylo’s descriptions! I mean, I’d survived all the testing and painful experiments the Yaarkins had put me through, right? And I’d really expected this to be easy by comparison. I’d been wrong. So very ishing wrong. Stars began to dance before my eyes.
I heard a splash, then Xylo was in front of me, reaching for my hands, staring into my eyes, forcing me to focus.
“Breathe, Selena. Deep breath. Take one for me, please...”
I gasped, sucking in a lungful of air.
“Remember, breathe. Short, panting breaths is what I read helped. Don’t hold your breath... that’s it... in, out, in...”
I allowed Xylo’s calm voice and fathomless teal eyes to guide me as I settled back into a panting rhythm. It really did seem to help, and the contractions gradually eased. When I’d been quiet and relaxed for a few moments, Z’fir stepped forward to offer me the tea with a worried smile. I cradled the warm cup gratefully and drank it down, mouth parched from all the panting.
As Xylo headed back to his portable machine, he said, “Keep a cup of tea always to hand. Whenever she is able to drink, we need to get the Osso tea into her—both to keep her hydrated and to help keep her calm. Hopefully help a little with pain management.”
The princes and Kaede nodded to one another. Apparently, they were taking responsibility for that task. I drifted for a few blissful moments, comfortable in Odelm’s arms. He stroked my arms, my hair, rumbling soothing words. I smiled... then gasped as I was hit with another wracking wave of contractions.
Several hours passed, and I was a panting mess. Chyox had now joined us in the pool and was washing my face with cool water after each round of contractions as Odelm held me and stroked my sweaty hair. The pain had gotten worse, but there was still no sign of the labor progressing to actual delivery.
I was starting to get a little cranky, despite the calming blanket both Odelm and V’dim were keeping over the room and its increasingly worried occupants. Even Xylo had started to look twitchy as he punched at the screen in front of him.
“Xylo, isn’t there anything you can do for the pain? It’s exhausting me... and if I’m hurting now, I don’t even want to know what it’s going to feel like once I’m pushing. Please tell me you have something,” I begged.
He glanced up from his device with a worried look, studying me. “I am afraid we simply do not know what drugs humans used for pain management—or at least not how they relate to our own medications. We have not wanted to test our painkillers on you while you are pregnant. That is far too dangerous. We have scoured the Yaarkin medical records looking for any research that would indicate an option they had tested on humans. We have not been able to find anything.” Xylo’s vines waved wildly with his agitation. “How they could have experimented on humans for so many years without any information on mitigating pain... ”
I knew how—they simply hadn’t cared. Why waste time on something so irrelevant to them? I sighed. Even now the ishing frax Yaarkins were causing me harm.
“That’s it? All the studying about humans and their labor, and there’re no options? There must be something better than tea and keeping me calm! Please, Xylo...” I pleaded.
“We have tried everything I know for certain will help. There were a few references in the Earth texts to other possibilities, but they are long shots, and...” he trailed off, looking uncomfortable.
“Please Xylo! What options?”
“There were alternate texts, not medical references... they called it homeopathic medicine. Ideas that had been around before technological advances in medicine and had been observed to sometimes help. There was a theory that arousal helps blunt pain, but I had not wanted to suggest...”
There was silence in the room but for the sound of my panting.
“I am—”
I cut off as another wave of pain washed over me and panted through it, cursing across our mental bond.
As it ended, Kaede walked over—fully dressed in his uniform, probably hot as hell in the steamy bathroom atmosphere—to set another cup of Osso tea on the edge of the bathtub. He backed away to the farthest wall again, where he had been standing silently for hours, out of everyone’s way. Z’fir grabbed the tea and brought it to me. I smiled and sipped as I returned to our discussion.
“Are you saying these texts suggest that my being... umm... aroused during labor can help mitigate the pain?” My cheeks were on fire as I avoided looking at anyone else in the room.
He nodded, slipping back into his role as detached Master Scholar. “Yes, the references were not conclusive, and I could find little mention in established medical journals—which is why I had not brought it up—but we are out of options. And I am not sure the aphrodisiac properties in either Odelm’s or my essence will be sufficient since you are not ovulating. It will not be nearly as strong as it was during bonding—"
I cut off his dithering. I was willing to try this, even with an audience. “It’s fine. It’s worth a shot, if it might help. Where do I sign up? And what do we ne
ed to do?”
He gave a sharp nod and came forward to the edge of the tub as he said, “We will try my moss combined with Odelm’s tentacle tips and see if it is enough...” He paused, clearly thinking. “Perhaps Odelm’s tongue...”
The other Circuli in the room shifted, obviously a little uncomfortable. Z’fir climbed out of the water to join V’dim. I forced myself to ignore the crowd and looked up at Odelm.
“Are you both okay with this? I’m willing to try almost anything at this point. I terrified about this getting worse and not being able to handle the pain.”
Odelm looked down at me with a smile in his pale green eyes. “Of course, Selena. If there is any way at all we can help, we want to. It is hard seeing you suffering.”
I reached up to caress his cheek as I angled my body to face him. Then groaned as another wave of pain swept me under. As I panted, struggling to focus, Odelm bent and pressed his mouth slit to my lips. His tongue slid along the edge of mine, three-fingered tip grasping eagerly. The sweet-salt flavor exploded across my taste buds, though it was clearly lighter than before. My tongue tingled, warmth and sensation spreading down my throat.
As the contractions eased, I pulled away and lay back. It had helped a little, though I couldn’t tell if it was the distraction or Odelm’s essence helping most.
I turned as Xylo came up beside us and stroked my arm. “Any help, Selena?”
“A little.”
He smiled with relief.
“Bite my moss as well. We will need to flood your system with as much of our essence as we can, since it is weaker.”
He bent to me, pressing a kiss to the side of my head as I closed my lips over his shoulder. The unique herbal scent that was all Xylo flooded my senses as I crushed his moss between my lips and teeth. My tingling arousal blossomed, deepened and I shivered. I felt Odelm’s tentacles sliding between my thighs beneath the water, pressing into me and the tingling warmth spread.
I moaned. As another round of contractions began, I panted through it. But somehow, the edge of the pain had morphed to a bite of pleasure. I sucked in a deep breath at a particularly sharp contraction. The pain was far from gone, but maybe... maybe it was a little more manageable?