by Sy Walker
“So, I guess it’s back to my quarantine cage with me then,” she said, standing up from her cool metallic seat. She did not have any idea how the metal was cool in the steamy office and figured that the Daskani had to have fancy metal that was resistant to melting. Otherwise their space ship would not have done so well.
“No,” Zephyr said to her. “You don’t have to… I will give the order for your comrades to be released. I don’t want to be uncourteous to our guests.”
Celeste raised her eyebrows at him and looked at him curiously. She knew that she basically did not know anything about the Daskani other than the fact that they had answered humanities call and they were some weird dragon-shifters who liked things to be kept uncomfortably hot. But still, Zephyr surprised her. She had not expected him to change his mind about things so easily, and she wondered if it might have something to do with the fact that she was his mate.
“I don’t know how the rest of my people will respond to so many beautiful women,” Zephyr explained. “I thought that the cages might keep them safe… But I am sure that we can find accommodations that are more comfortable.”
“Thank you,” Celeste replied, assuming that there must be catch to this. “So, should I go back and await accommodations.”
Zephyr looked nervous again. “No, no… You…” He looked around his sparse office. “You can stay in here.”
Celeste sat back down in her cool seat, glad that she had that at the very least. It would have been nice if she could have a bed made of that metal, along with a nice tall glass of water perhaps, but she was not about to start getting greedy.
He stood up then and went to the office door. “I think that the females – women – should be led out of their cages slowly,” he explained then, pausing in the doorway to look at her. “I want this new situation to be handled as delicately as possible. My species… We can sometimes do things without thinking. I do not want any mating to happen without careful planning. That is how we plan to help your people, after all.”
She smiled faintly at him at that and gave a nod. She could not believe that her Daskani leader, was so kind and understanding. They did not want to go crazy with lust and start just ravishing the women everywhere. They wanted to handle things in a way that would ensure pregnancy, not just pleasure. Celeste found that she could respect this Zephyr guy.
And despite her initial disgust, she could feel an attraction towards him coursing through her body.
General Zephyr came back into his office a few moments later. He had a chagrined sort of look on his face, but he nodded at Celeste. “I have given the order. It will be done. The women will be released from their cages.”
“Thank you,” she said, fanning herself with a hand. “Now could something be done about the heat in here? I appreciate that you are letting me stay in your quarters with you where I can be safe, but if the temperature stays this high, like I said before I will die…”
His already big eyes grew bigger and he went to adjust the temperature. There was a thermostat-like thing on the wall. Huh, she thought. We’re not so different.
“I picked you out on Earth,” he said then, sitting down at his desk and looking at her as if he was about to start giving her a job interview. “But I suppose that it would be best to get to know you better before… we commence with anything.”
Mating. He meant mating.
Celeste blushed a bit. Now that she was there with him and partnered up and everything, she felt a bit bashful about what was to come. She had never really thought of mating with a Daskani male as ‘sex,’ but that was what it was. She supposed that she had never wanted to think about it in those actual terms because sex alone was such a daunting concept to the twenty-seven-year-old virgin. Sex with a scaly space dragon just added to the whole ‘holy crap’-ness of the situation.
The room got mercifully cooler, which Celeste was so glad of. She felt like she could relax more now, though she had no idea what Zephyr expected to happen next. There was nervous anticipation as long as he did not say anything…
“What is your name?” he asked her. She could see that small talk was a foreign concept to him, but she appreciated that he was trying.
“Celeste,” she said, chuckling slightly. “Kind of a fitting name now, all things considered.”
Zephyr raised an eyebrow, and she realized he had eyebrows.
“Because of space. Celestial…? Never mind.” She blushed a bit; embarrassed that he did not understand the coincidence of her name. Maybe it was for the best that he was not a poetic romantic or something. All of this was new to her and the last thing she needed was to be mated with Romeo.
“No,” he said suddenly. “I know what you mean now. That is interesting. My name is like…” He blew a gust out of his mouth. Thankfully it contained no fire and very low amounts of heat.
Celeste laughed. “That’s true. Were our parents hippies or what?”
Of course, he was not going to know what that meant. But his confusion made his face look much less severe; softer somehow. She could get used to his gentle, moss-green eyes and his high cheekbones. She even found his blue skin less froglike now. Blue had always been one of her favorite colors…
“What did you do?” he asked her then. “On your planet, I mean.”
She wished that their getting to know each other did not feel so much like a formal interview. “I spent most of my adult life preparing for this day,” she told him honestly. “I knew that our species was in crisis so I volunteered for the breeding program. Then I’ve pretty much just tried my best to prepare myself for it.”
A lot of vitamins and supplements had been involved, as well as some hormone treatments and close monitoring of her cycle. Celeste had almost stopped living for herself and had begun living with a child in mind. Was that sad? Yeah. But it was her destiny, too. She wanted to be a mother, especially for a species that was going to die out if she did not become one.
Zephyr gave a look that seemed to say that he felt sorry for her. “It has been that dire for your people?”
Celeste nodded. “Somewhere along the line, my people got wasteful and cocky… Not that I’m thinking you should take my story as a parable or anything, but I suppose such a thing could happen on any planet.”
“We are not wasteful,” he said. Each time he spoke, the words came out almost as if it hurt for him to say them, like his lungs were on fire. Oh. Oh, she assumed that was probably exactly what it was. “We are stingy, I suppose. But we do not let things go to waste.”
“Yeah, you’re probably the opposite of how the men on my planet are… or used to be. They probably wish they could still be that way, though.” Celeste tisked a bit. “So, what are you a general of?”
Zephyr blinked slowly. If he could blush, he would have. “I am the general of the Fertility Enrichment Program, Daskani chapter,” he stated. “Mostly I am in charge of the males and making sure that they follow our strict protocol. Before we learned about the FEP, I was captain of a battleship, a star destroyer.”
Celeste looked at him, open-mouthed and impressed. She had not been paired with some lesser Daskani; she had the real deal. And he had chosen her, out of all those young ladies… “Why did you choose me?” she asked without being able to stop herself. “I’m a nobody and you’re practically a Daskani leader.”
He smiled at her then, a sharp-toothed, amphibian smile. “I am a Daskani leader,” he said.
She placed her hands on his desk and looked him in the eye. “Well, Daskani leader, will you please turn the temperature down a little more? Your Earthen mate is sweating through her clothing.”
Zephyr stood up and made a show of turning the thermostat thing down even more.
“I can’t wait to see what your planet is like,” Celeste said, unzipping the top of her purple dress so she could air out her breasts. She hated sweaty boobs. In so doing, she revealed the edges of her black lace bra, which Zephyr did not seem to mind. When he came back to her, he could not stop stari
ng.
Instead of sitting behind his desk, he opted to sit in one of the cool, metallic chairs beside her this time. “I suppose that you could say it is on the hot side,” he said. “But no worse than our ship when you first arrived.”
“Oh great,” she said, rolling her eyes a bit. “…That was sarcasm.”
The alien spoke English remarkably well, though there were quite a few things that he did not understand. Celeste had not even expected him to be fluent in English, though, so this was turning out better than anticipated.
“Do you have hunger?” he asked her suddenly. “Would you like some food or a drink? We do not have what you are used to, I am sure, but it is better to nourish yourself than to go without. It will be a few days until we are back on Daskan.”
Before he said the last part, Celeste was all set to modestly decline, but she knew that it would be a far better idea to eat whenever offered than try to try to keep up appearances as some kind of graceful flower. Zephyr clearly did not go for that kind of thing anyway.
In her preparation, she never learned how to date a Daskani. She only learned how to treat her body well so that she could successfully and easily conceive.
Then again, who were those Earthen doctors to try and teach us about conception? Celeste thought. They did not exactly prevent or foresee this whole panic…
She realized that Zephyr was staring. She had not answered his question.
“Yes, please. I am not really a picky eater. Though I guess there’s going to be a lot of changes soon, so, heh heh.”
What if there’s just an infertility crisis because no one wants to have sex with dorks like me anymore?
Zephyr gave her another smile that was all fang. “Okay. I will try and go easy on you with my selection. Please do not feel obligated to eat it all.”
He left the office again then, and she heard what sounded like a key turning in the lock.
“Oh shit,” she said under her breath.
Despite not being in a cage anymore, she was still a prisoner on this ship. She had forgotten that. She belonged to Zephyr now. Even though she saw some likeable qualities in him, it was going to take her a while to feel fully comfortable with him. She wondered if he would give her a chance for love before he tried taking things to the next level.
CHAPTER THREE
Daskani Courtship
It took a while for General Zephyr to return to his office, but when he finally did he was carrying a large tray full of food. Celeste was excited just to see him and not be in solitary confinement anymore. The Daskan food did not actually even smell that displeasing to her. It smelled a bit like the bread aisle of the grocery store. She could not remember the last time she had been to the grocery store, but the memory of that specific aisle stood out to her for some reason.
Zephyr placed the tray down on his desk and sat beside her again. The food that he had brought for her seemed to be predominately pastry-type foods, but there were a few Jell-O-like substances as well. Celeste looked from the food to him and grinned. “Thank you, this looks perfect.”
She had never been a big fan of vegetables anyway. She immediately began eating, letting out some pleased moan sounds which let the alien know that she enjoyed and appreciated the meal he had provided.
Now that she was on the ship and with her mate, Celeste did not have to worry about her intense meal regimens and watching her hormone levels. All of those things which made the concept of conceiving more serious and daunting to her. Now that she was General Zephyr’s mate, she could rest easy… as odd as that sounded.
“I probably should not ask what these things are made from,” she said as she ate. “So, I won’t.”
Zephyr smiled at her a bit. There was no doubt in her mind that he would have informed her about each ingredient if she had asked for more information. “I am glad that you like them,” he said instead. “I promise you that I selected only the things that I recommend and thought you would like.”
She set one of the pasties down on the tray and licked her lips. He had not provided any utensils, so it was not like she should have felt embarrassed that she was eating with her hands, but still she felt a bit bestial, especially once she was sitting there licking red sticky stuff from her fingertips.
“So, what do you Daskani like to do for fun?” Celeste asked. She did not want to let the small talk die, especially because she was going to have her whole life to spend with this bruiser. It was important to her that she know what she was getting into; not that she would have much say if he said something that she might have considered a ‘deal-breaker.’ Now that he had chosen her as his, she would not be able to escape him even if she wanted to.
“Fun?” he asked her, as though he had never heard of the word before let alone said it.
She nodded. “Yeah. You know. Enjoyment? Pleasure?”
Zephyr motioned to unzip the front of his pants and she stopped him with a hand, laughing. “No, no… I mean besides sex. Besides instinctive behavior. What makes you happy?”
He blinked at her. This was clearly a foreign concept to her alien husband. Celeste sighed a little, feeling sorry for him. Zephyr did not have hobbies. He did not even know what hobbies were. At least, he did not know what they were and therefore could not articulate them to her. Same thing, really.
“What do you do when you’re not leading on space ships?” she asked him, taking a new approach to the same basic question.
Zephyr looked away from her in thought. “I like to fly…?” he said, sounding as if he was asking if that was okay with her. “I like to fly above Daskan. The views atop the mountains are particularly spectacular.”
She smiled, imagining him flying high over his molten planet. The idea of doing such a thing was strange – alien – to her, but she could understand how it might make her dragon mate feel happy and at ease. “You make it sound better than I will probably think it is,” she said, laughing a little. “But I am willing to try it, if it makes you happy. That’s a hobby, my friend.”
“Hobby,” he said as if he was trying out the word, tasting each of the sounds the letters made in his mouth. “My people do not know hobby. We only know directives and initiatives.”
Celeste worked on finishing her pastry, deciding that she would save some of the food for later. She was bound to feel hungry again before the ship landed, and she was willing to bet that Zephyr did not know anything about meal schedules.
“Well,” she said when she was done, wiping the corners of her mouth with her fingers and then licking them with her tongue to make extra sure that she had not missed and crumbs or bits of sauce. “I plan to make hobbies your new initiative.”
She gave him a flirty little smile. Now that she had been fed and had been treated to a comfortable atmosphere in his office, she felt much better. Celeste knew that she was there for one purpose, and she was starting to warm up to the task…
“Are you going to be my hobby?” he asked her, breathing heavily now that they were alone without distractions.
Celeste shrugged her shoulders. “If you want me to be. I kind of want to be your passion.”
Zephyr knew what that word meant. She should not have been surprised. Like the young women of Earth, the Daskani had been raised to think of conception and sex. Besides flying, that was probably all that was on Zephyr’s mind. And Celeste did not have a problem with that for the moment.
Without saying anything, he brought his giant arms around her and pulled her onto his lap. He kissed her lips and, carefully, slipped his tongue into her mouth. She could feel his fangs when she moved her tongue around his mouth. He was big and ferocious, and hers.
Celeste allowed herself to be lost inside his kisses and caresses, off on an adventure that involved giving in and letting go and not being afraid to try things even if they might be scary. Her eyes were closed and she thought of nothing but him. This beastly, fire-breathing alien. She had wanted to hit him earlier. What had happened to that?
The other girl
s were not with their mates. In fact, she was sure that the other girls had not been officially claimed yet. That just made this even more special. Celeste was the first to be chosen, and the first to go to bed with a Daskani.
Her mother would be so proud.
Well, maybe proud was not the word. But relieved, certainly.
Celeste made out with Zephyr as long as he wanted to, which ended up being quite a while. She enjoyed it, oddly, and wondered if he was enthusiastic about kissing her and tasting her mouth because he had not really done so before. With an Earthling or otherwise.
Suddenly, before she could fully wrap her head around the fact that they were making out on a spaceship after essentially just meeting each other, Zephyr stood up and lifted her into his arms. The office was not exactly a big one – big enough to contain his bulk and that was about it – but it did not matter. He set her down on his desk and then proceeded to remove the other contents of his desk’s surface with one mighty blue arm.
Communicators, cups full of pens, his name sign… All of it went crashing to the floor. But he did not care. He paid them no mind. He continued to kiss her and lick and suck at her face and neck as he climbed atop the desk and joined her. She was very glad that the thing was made out of that cool metallic substance, for Zephyr would surely break a wooden desk. Especially with the way things were going.
He took hold of her dress’s zipper and slowly pulled it down, bringing his hand inside her dress without fully removing it. He gently massaged her skin on her waist and then his large hands found her breasts. He jerked back a bit and looked her in the eyes. Celeste grinned at him and placed her hand on top of his there, urging him to continue to grope her to his heart’s content.
And grope he did. Zephyr went back to kissing her for a bit, kneading her breast with his strong but somehow tender fingers. Before long, he had his other hand on Celeste’s other boob and then it was a party. He swiftly removed her dress not long afterwards, so he could get a good, long look at what she looked like naked.