Goose bumps rose along her arms at the animalistic sound, but she remained still. She had to believe Brassi wouldn’t hurt her.
It happened fast. He went from being a man to something that resembled a panther from Earth—if it were dark gray, bigger, scarier, and almost human-looking in its facial appearance.
He climbed onto the end of the bed, standing on all fours, his golden eyes watching her.
She examined him back, from his big paws with razor-sharp claws, to his thickly muscled limbs, to the broad chest and torso. He had a small tail that whipped back and forth. His teeth were longer now than in his other form, and she was pretty sure he could rip her to shreds if he wanted to. His eyes, though, were the same as Brassi’s as he studied her, as well.
She shoved the covers down and slowly got to her knees. “Can you understand me?”
He gave a small nod of his massive head.
“Can I touch you?”
He lowered to his stomach, sprawling on the bed.
Her hand trembled as she reached out. He had to weigh four hundred pounds, at least, and was way bigger than her. Her fingertips brushed his side. The velvety softness was gone from his dark skin; instead he felt smooth but tough.
“That’s amazing!”
He flicked his tail, and then, just as swiftly, shifted back into his man form. She jerked her hand back and watched him stretch his body on the bed. He stayed on his stomach though.
She glanced at his ass; she couldn’t resist. It was muscled and beefy, and looked human in appearance. The tail had disappeared.
Vivian let out a breath as she collapsed onto her butt.
“We’re deadlier in that form while fighting. Harder to hurt.”
“I can understand that. Can you shift if you’re not feeling angry?”
“It’s triggered by aggressive hormones.”
She took that for a no. “Can you control your shifts? I mean, of course you can. You just did. What I mean is, if you’re talking to someone and they make you angry, do you just shift, or is it something done at your will?”
He smiled. “It’s never accidental. We learn control fast when we’re very young.”
That was fascinating. “You said I needed to make a choice. What does this have to do with it?”
He held her gaze. “My kind take mates.”
“You told me that before.” Her heart began to pound. She wasn’t an idiot. He was talking about mating, something about a choice. He needed to tell her more before she assumed anything. It could be a mistake to jump to conclusions, but part of her couldn’t help linking the two of them together.
Was he about to ask her if she wanted to mate with him? The concept was scary. They barely knew each other.
“I’m drawn to you, Vivian. Both sides of me are. As a Veslor, I lock on to a female and take her as my mate. I don’t know if we’re compatible…but I want to find out if we are. I showed you both sides of me because we’re an emotional race. We not only live by our emotions, but they rule our bodies.”
She was speechless, unsure what to say. Lots of questions filled her head.
“I’m locking on to you. It’s pure instinct and emotion. It means I’m drawn to you strongly. Everything about you appeals to me.”
“We just met,” she blurted.
“That’s how it is for Veslors. We feel intense attraction, and it only grows until we fully lock on to a female and claim her.” He searched her eyes with his. “There are no contracts. Just need and desire. I want you, Vivian. Will you allow me to touch you?”
“Holy shit. You’re serious, aren’t you?”
He nodded. “I know we’re different but it doesn’t matter to me.” His gaze lowered to her sports bra, and a low growl came from him. “I long to touch you. Taste you. Copulate with you. Claim you…keep you.”
Her heart pounded faster, and she felt her body responding to his husky, raspy voice. The way he looked at her made her feel warm all over. “I need a shower.”
His eyes widened. She’d surprised him. Herself, too.
“I’ll be back.” She shoved off the covers, scrambled off the big bed, and almost ran out of the room and into the bathroom. It was cowardly to flee, but she couldn’t help it. Everything was happening so fast.
There wasn’t a lock on the door. She stripped out of her sports bra and panties, then figured out how to use the odd shower. They used water aboard the ship. It wasn’t exactly hot, more like tepid. She stood under it, trying to slow her heart, which proved difficult when her thoughts remained on Brassi.
He wanted to have sex with her! She wasn’t even sure if that was possible. They were two different races. He was so much bigger than her. She should have peeked at his groin when he’d stripped, to discover what he had going on down there.
She opened a container on the shelf and sniffed the contents. Berries of some sort. She wasn’t sure if it was body wash or shampoo. It didn’t matter. She poured some into her palm, using it to scrub both her hair and skin. Then she rinsed and used the water to cleanse her mouth as best she could. She longed for a toothbrush.
She turned off the water and used a towel to dry, thankful Brassi hadn’t barged into the bathroom.
He wanted to mate with her. Make her his. It was crazy. They didn’t know each other well enough to make a lifelong commitment.
Then again, she had learned a lot about alien cultures. She knew mating practices varied widely.
The Crezzi were instantly drawn to their mates. They formed bonds for life without even speaking a word to their intended first. It was scent and visual attraction that brought them together. Then they bred eggs, dozens of them, and raised the young together. The Richlings took multiple breeding partners, never forming an emotional bond with anyone but their offspring. Their people were sexually attracted to each other based on strength. The weaker-born of their species never bred. They were turned into something similar to slaves, serving the breeders.
“Shit.” She stared at the door, apprehension filling her. “I can’t hide in here forever. Think, Vivian.”
If Veslors were motivated by emotion when choosing their mates, she closed her eyes, trying to be the exact opposite. Rational. She’d been trained to assess other races and to be open-minded. It was her job. Never once, though, did she consider she might be asked to become some alien’s mate.
Brassi wasn’t just some strange alien, however.
She opened her eyes. No. Brassi was the guy who’d saved her life and fought the Ke’ters to protect her people. He’d flown his ship back to rescue her when he’d learned Commander Alderson planned to murder her.
And Brassi was someone she was definitely attracted to, even though he was very different from her kind.
“Shit.” She took some deep breaths and walked to the door. “I’m not a coward.”
The door opened, and Brassi stood in the living room. He had put his black pants back on, and he stopped pacing to stare at her.
“I frightened you. Apologies, Vivian. I didn’t mean to provoke that reaction.”
“I wasn’t afraid. More overwhelmed. We’re very different, Brassi. Humans do this thing called dating, where we spend time together, slowly getting to know each other. We sometimes spend years dating before deciding to get married.”
“Years?” He looked shocked, and sounded even more so.
She nodded. “The shortest span I’ve personally ever known was a month. A couple I know met and married that fast. Then again, they worked on the same team and were basically spending all their time together. After a month, they decided to make it legal. I think mostly they decided to marry because one of them was being reassigned to another fleet ship. They weren’t civilians. Fleet workers go where they’re told and aren’t given an option to say no. The couple didn’t want to be separated, and there’s a clause in fleet contracts that states married couples have the right to be kept together. The contracts ensure they work for the fleet for years at a time, and until that ends, the fleet k
ind of owns them.”
“Slavery?”
“We don’t use that term. The fleet pays for their training, invests time and money into their education for various jobs. For that opportunity, people agree that the tradeoff is worth it. Once they do their time, they can leave the fleet to work for someone else. Most just resign another contract and stay, since it’s job security.”
“What about you? Does the fleet own your time?”
She shook her head. “No. It’s one of the reasons I decided to be a civilian worker. I paid for my own schooling with money that my father left me when he died. I wanted my choices to be my own.”
Brassi walked closer to her, stopped feet away and held her gaze. “What is your choice, Vivian? Should I ask you to sleep in the medical bay to keep space between us, or will you remain with me? As I’ve said, I’m already locking on to you.”
She bit her lip and tried to think. “What happens when you lock on?”
“I won’t be able to let you go. You’ll be mine. I’ll be yours. We mate for life.”
“I don’t even know if we’re sexually compatible.”
“We could find out.” His gaze traveled down her body. “What is Earthling foreplay? How do you arouse your kind?”
“Kissing. Touching. What about Veslors?”
“Females approach and become physically aggressive. If males aren’t interested in kind, we’ll snarl at them to warn them off. If we are interested, we wrestle and pin the females under us.”
Her gaze traveled down his body. He was a massive alien beast man who looked positively dangerous. “Wow. Sounds violent.” She hoped he didn’t expect that from her. Her gaze returned to his. “You’d probably hurt me. I also can’t imaging attacking you. I’ve only hit men that I didn’t like, and I sure didn’t want to have sex with them.”
He nodded. “I don’t want to hurt you, Vivian. I just want you under me.”
“Then what?”
“To be inside you.”
She hesitated. “I don’t know if our, um…parts, will match up. I’m curious to find out, because I’m attracted to you. I’m just not sure about the mating part. Can we test whether or not sex is possible without locking?”
“Yes. I can copulate with a female without mating her.”
“What’s the difference?”
“It’s hormonal.”
“Like with your shifting?”
He nodded. “I can’t mate if I stay in this form.”
She felt the blood drain from her face. “You mean you shift to mate? That we’d have to bond while you’re in your other form?”
“Usually. But you’re not Veslor, and you can’t shift forms the way our females do. It’s something we’ll have to figure out. I can tell by your fear that you wouldn’t welcome me shifting to secure a mate bond with you that way.”
She felt more than a little overwhelmed. “We have a word for that. Bestiality. It’s…um…illegal.”
“I don’t understand.”
“It’s illegal for humans to have sex with…” She didn’t want to insult him by calling his other form an animal. He wasn’t one, despite what he could turn into.
“Aliens? Other races?”
“Something like that.”
“Your people also want to kill you.”
“Some of them. Not all.”
He cocked his head, his golden gaze piercing. “Earthling laws don’t matter here. We’re on a Veslor ship. Under our laws, mating is natural and encouraged if we’re fortunate enough to find our mate. Race doesn’t matter to our king. You’ll be considered Veslor once we bond. Your people can’t arrest you. I wouldn’t allow them to.”
That might be a good thing, if Abby failed and Commander Alderson got away with his scheme. Her reputation and name could be smeared beyond saving, and United Earth would put out an arrest warrant for her. She’d be lucky if she only spent the rest of her life in prison. Worst case, they’d execute her.
The Veslors weren’t allied with UE. It meant they were under no obligation to turn over a human to her planet.
That wasn’t a reason to say yes. She felt guilty for even thinking about that being a reason why she’d consider becoming his mate.
She stared into Brassi’s golden eyes and shoved all thoughts out of her head. Instead trying to focus on how she felt. The attraction was mutual. She stepped closer, wanting to touch him. Since he wanted her as well, there was no reason not to.
She lifted her hands and placed them on his velvety chest, loving how soft his skin was under her fingertips and palms. He was so firm. Muscled. Strong. Warm.
His nostrils flared and a low growl came from him. It wasn’t scary, but sexy. He reached for her, too, putting his big hands on her towel-covered waist. “Yes?”
She found herself nodding. “We’ll just take things slow, okay?”
“Yes.”
They stood there, and she realized he seemed to be waiting for her to do something, to initiate the intimacy. “We should go into the bedroom.”
He gave a sharp nod.
She backed up and let her hands slide off his chest. He released her hips, and her heart pounded once more as she turned, leading him into his bedroom. She reached for the towel and swallowed hard, tugging at the material where she’d tucked it into itself. It dropped slowly down her body.
Not daring to look back to see his reaction to her naked backside, she climbed up onto his bed and rolled over, lying flat on her back.
Vivian looked at his eyes to find him taking in every inch of her body. She felt heat flush her cheeks but she pushed her shyness back. “Am I anything at all like a Veslor female?”
He shook his head, his attention locked on her breasts. Brassi just stood there, mute, staring at her.
She inwardly cringed and sat up, resisting the urge to hide. “Am I unappealing naked?”
His gaze jerked to hers, and he made a soft, strange noise before speaking. “Not unappealing. I’m afraid I’ll hurt you. Your skin looks extremely soft all over.”
She wondered if soft meant squishy. Was he calling her chubby? She wasn’t one to work out, and aside from Big M making her learn to defend herself, she wasn’t exactly the physical type.
Her gaze darted to his arms, chest, and stomach. Brassi didn’t seem to have an ounce of flab on him. He was all muscle and tight, dark skin.
Don’t panic. Misunderstandings happen when two alien races talk, she mentally reminded herself. “Should I get dressed?”
“NO!”
Chapter Eleven
Vivian jumped over the loud snarl.
Brassi dropped to his knees. “Apologies! Don’t fear me. I just worry I’ll hurt you. You appear so fragile.” He lifted his hands toward her, showing off his fingernails. They weren’t claws at the moment, but he did have some thick, sharp-looking nails.
“You won’t.” She gave him a small smile. “We’re going to take things slow, remember? Let’s start with how I’m different. What are your females’ bodies like, besides the fact that our skin textures are different?”
His gaze lowered to her breasts, and he touched the flat disks on his own chest. “Yours are larger and seem delicate.”
She glanced at her breasts and reached up, cupping them, giving each one a good squeeze to demonstrate. “They won’t fall off.” Her smile that time was wider.
He growled low. “The centers are stiffening.”
He was talking about her nipples. “That happens when they’re caressed, or if it’s cold.”
“Does it hurt?”
She shook her head. “No.” She pinched one to show him. The nipple tightened even more. “It feels good for most females, actually. As long as it’s not too rough or the skin isn’t broken, it’s pleasurable.”
He walked on his knees to the end of the bed but paused there, placing his hands on the mattress. She studied his features. He didn’t look disgusted, just intensely curious.
She released her breasts and grew bolder, spreading her le
gs and pulling her knees up. His gaze lowered, and another low growl came from him, even sexier than the last
“How about here?” She lay back a bit, using her elbows to hold herself up so she could watch him. Next, she put her feet flat on his bed, lifting her hips a little as she spread her legs wider. It was brazen to show him her pussy, but it was the quickest way to learn about each other. She was all for that. “Are humans much different from Veslor females here?”
He nodded. “You’re pink. Our females are dark.” He lifted his body, crawling onto the bed.
She held still as he drew closer. The bed dipped, and she had to tense her abs to keep from being knocked flat. Brassi lay on his stomach as he inched between her spread thighs. She had to part them even more. He was a huge guy with wide shoulders.
He scooted up until his face was directly over her sex. He didn’t look at her face, too intent on staring at that most delicate part of her. He adjusted and reached one hand toward her.
She relaxed as his velvety hand stroked her inner thigh.
“So soft,” he growled.
“So are you.”
That caused his head to jerk up, and his eyes widened.
She smiled. “You feel good to me. Your skin.”
He inhaled. “And you smell nice…but not needy. How do I change your scent? Do you become oiled when you are ready to copulate?”
Oiled? She thought about that a moment. “I get wet. Yes.” She pulled her arms out from under her, reclined fully, and smiled. “Okay. Human woman sex lesson.” She looked down at him. “Ready to learn?”
“Yes.”
“I’ve never touched myself with someone watching before, but I know I learn faster if I see how something’s done. I’ll show you what makes me wet, and my scent will probably change. Actually, I’m sure it will. I know your sense of smell must be way better than mine, and even I can pick it up when I’m turned on.”
“Show me.”
His voice had come out deeper, and she liked how gruff it sounded. Maybe that was a sign of him being turned on. He sure didn’t seem turned off by her. That was a relief.
She touched her breasts again. “They’re sensitive. Basically, most parts of me are with the right touch.” She slid her hands down her ribs, over her stomach, and stopped her pussy. She hesitated, reached up, and wet one of her fingers by licking it. “Dry touching in this area isn’t very comfortable. This helps.” She reached back down and gently touched her clit. “This is extremely sensitive, and will turn me on super-fast. It’s also how I get off.”
The Gorison Traveler Incident (Veslor Mates #1) Page 12