“Well, I don’t want to meet your people ill, so it is probably best that I stop at two.”
“Oh, it would at least take you eating about sixteen of them, Krys, for that to happen.”
Shocked she couldn’t stop her chin from dropping.
“What can I say, we have deep appetites on Kitcy.” He chuckled.
It was a sound she realized she had never heard coming from him. He was always so serious around her. Except when he was playful while they were on Earth together, but that didn’t truly count because neither of them had been in their true form or element.
“I like the sound of your laugh.”
Moving closer to her, he caressed her cheek. “Since we are mated for life, I will try to give you more smiles than frowns in the future.”
“I appreciate it. I know things have not been easy for you.” She didn’t want to tell him that even now her mother was researching and speaking to the counsel about a way they could be unjoined. If it wasn’t for the odd situation of her hair when she and Rymingten pleasured each other it would be a done deal.
She started back on the path.
“Krys, I need to talk to you about something before we reach the city.”
Halting, she faced him again and noticed the seriousness in his expression. “What’s wrong?”
“I can’t protect you here.”
“Why do I need protection? Will your King order an attack on me for my abduction of you?”
Shaking he head, he said, “I’m sure my father is not all too pleased, but he will want more answers than vengeance.”
“Then who will I need safety from?” She folded her arms beneath her breasts and widened her stance. “I am Argona, a female sorcerer who can defend herself.”
“In a battle you are tough, but this is something altogether different. And it will not just be a single opponent but many.”
Many? She wasn’t understanding what he was trying to convey to her. “For what reason?”
“Like your planet is low on males, Kitcy has an extremely low female population. This is the reason at the birth of every female she is bid on and bonded to a male with all haste. The moment she reaches maturity her mating ceremony is accomplished.”
“What does this have to do with me? I’m not an available female. I’m your mate.”
He moved in closer. “However, no male will be able to decipher this, but from our words.”
“Isn’t that enough?” Nerves were beginning to flutter in her stomach. There was something about this conversation she wasn’t caring for, but she couldn’t put her finger on it.
“No. Not for Kitcy cats. They go by scents. If a female smells available, she is available for any male to claim.”
Another step brought him close enough that she could feel the heat radiating from his chest against the back of her arms.
The urge to step back tightened her core, but she remained in her position. “What are you saying? If this is some ploy to get me to stay with the pod while you roam free around your planet, probably never to return…I’m not doing it.”
“Take off the collar.”
She now understood what he was getting at. “I can’t.”
“Yes, you can. You placed it there. You have the power to remove it.”
He was correct on that. It was her magic that held it in place. “It is the law of my people. Only the queen and council can give someone permission to unadorn a mate. When that happens the joining is over.”
“We are on Kitcy now. None of my people will understand the ring.”
Throwing up her hands, she said, “Then make them understand. It is a symbol of our joining.” She was becoming frustrated with the conversation. There was even a troubling emotion in her core, one of offense that he wanted to put away their connection as if it were shameful that he was joined to her and not the Kitcy female he had been bonded to for most of his life.
He raked his nails through his hair. “It doesn’t work like that here.” His words came out broken as if on a growl.
“Then perhaps this was a mistake and we should just return to Argona.” She tossed out.
Lowering his hand, he pinned her with a stare. “You would dare bring me all this way to my home only to snatch it away from me even as I can smell the sweet grass, see the towering mountains and taste the fruits of the land? Is such cruelty truly in the heart of my mate?”
She could see the warring emotions swirling through his features. She was not trying to hurt him. Just to allow them to survive this trip. “What do you want from me, Rymingten?”
He took hold of her arms. “Remove this collar so that I may show myself to my people with pride.”
Shaking her head, she said, “I don’t understand. You’re here.” She waved her hand up and down his body, evidence that he was here in the flesh not a telepathic image as her people could project to places. “They can touch and feel you and see that it is true.”
Beating on his chest, he said, “This is not my true self. My cat is. Kitcy people are cats that can become human, not the other way around.”
“Fine, then shift.” She shrugged. “I will not stop you.”
His jaw flexed, showing the gritting of his teeth. “I can’t.” He clutched at the collar. This thing restrains me. It chokes the life from my cat. Your father explained to me the reason for the ring…the power behind it. You all fear the warriors you have chosen as your mates, that they will harm you with their strongest ability.” His voice lowered. “However, that is not the case for me. You cannot restrain my cat, without eventually killing me.”
Her heart sank. What have I done? The question ate at her soul. It had not been her intention to hurt her mate. That was not what the ring was for. It was for protection of the Argona female and to show others the male was mated. However, now she stood before her mate, hearing that her own adornment was causing him to suffer.
Since she was awaiting the council’s decision on ending their bond, did it even matter if he wore the ring? Did it matter if she removed it? He would not even be hers before long.
“So, you wish for me to take it off. So you can be yourself before your people.” She wasn’t asking a question of him, more speaking to herself in an attempt to come to grips with her own disappointment in herself for choosing so hastily when she saw him in her mind. Something about him had struck her core and caused an emotion to grow inside of her. She would have done anything to have him…allow that feeling to grow. Next time she would do research on the planet and the man.
“That is not all.”
She leaned back against the trunk of the tree behind her. “What else could there be?”
“I must mark you.”
“Again with this. I am an Argona warrior, a majji, I can take care of myself.”
“You shouldn’t have to…not in this way.”
“What is this marking? And why if you have wanted the boon to return to your planet did you not already see it done?”
As he turned away from her, she watched the lift and fall of his shoulders as he drew in a large breath. “I have not been completely honest with you.”
“About?”
He caught her gaze over his shoulder. “All the ring restrains.”
Her heart felt constricted. She was almost afraid to hear the rest. Swallowing down the lump in her throat, she asked, “Which is?”
Facing her fully, he began, “The night of our joining you asked me about my issue…why I released none when I reached my pleasure.”
She recalled that conversation. It had been the catalyst for her going to the queen with the first sun rise. Glancing down at the violet grass between her feet, she said, “You told me your people did not produce anything.”
He cupped her chin and brought her gaze back up to meet his. “That is not true.”
“Then why wouldn’t you give me…your mate…the substance needed to produce an heir? You are not the only one who has honor to uphold with your people. Breeding is one of mine.
”
A shadow crossed his eyes—shame, hurt, guilt—she didn’t know.
“You control that. The power is in your hand.” His thumb caressed her chin. “If I even attempt to shift this thing on me would kill my cat instantly. However, my cat is my true form and my essence is linked to that. If we conceive a child, it will be born of flesh and shift to a cat soon after and remain that way for a starlight month.”
Now guilt was at her door. What she wanted and desired most she had hindered getting. She had to admit to herself that she didn’t fully comprehend Rymingten’s species, but she had a major choice to make.
“Imagine if while we were on my planet I put a garment on you that you could not remove. This garment had the ability to cease your majji gift.”
Heat shot through her. “Is this your plan?”
“No.” He shook his head and lowered his hand. “I would never do that to you. I understand and I’m not afraid of your power. I trust you not to use it to harm me.”
“I wouldn’t.” She raised her chin.
“Neither would my cat.”
Decision made. She would be dragged before the council upon their return, but she would take whatever punishment they doled out to her. However, the collar had to come off, for both Rymingten’s sake and any offspring they would possibly have a chance at creating.
Stepping forward, she placed her hands up along the sides of the ring. She began to chant the words to remove the binding spell on it. Leaning into him, she placed her lips along his in a gentle kiss. A kiss between mates was always the finishing of a spell. She felt the rings begin to part in her hands and she pulled them away from Rymingten’s neck.
As if feeling his freedom, he pulled her close and deepened the kiss. Just as he had done during the ceremony but with more passion.
The two halves of the ring slipped from her hands, forgotten, as her mind and body were taken over by the intensity of his desire. His tongue swirled around her mouth, caressing and taunting. It drove her mad with need. Such a small thing as a kiss could be her undoing, but it was. Wrapping her arms around him, she palmed the back of his head and held him close.
A growl came from him, rumbling somewhere deep within his chest.
They moved and she felt the press of the tree at her back.
As they continued to kiss, the heat of need blazed and began to consume them both. Soon clothing was a hindrance to them. They lost track of space, time and anything but each other.
It amazed Krysteena how that happened. How every time they touched they were drawn together. Skin to skin, his body felt wonderful pressed against hers. The only thing she could think about and desire was him. She couldn’t draw the effort to wonder how far they were from the inhabitant dwellings; how far from the field where they had parked. Were people coming out to meet them? Would they find her and Rymingten in such a compromising position? She didn’t know and didn’t care.
She pulled her mouth from his, and almost whimpered, but she had to get the words out, they practically burned on her tongue. “Inside me. I need you inside me, Rymingten.”
Every part of her needed him. To the point she couldn’t breathe and she couldn’t think. Every part of her being was focused on him. Who had she become? She had once been a strong independent warrior female and now, with one joining ceremony something had changed in her. Melded her to him. Her mate.
The man standing before her was nude and powerful. He was taller than her, full of muscles that rippled and bulged when he walked. She had touched and tasted every inch of him with relish and pleasure. They didn’t have that kind of leisure time now, but she would settle for whatever she could get.
“You will have me. And I you.” As he stepped toward her, he kissed her again, pulling her close and pressing her bare form to his.
She was just as toned physically as he was; however, next to him she felt feminine and delicate. If someone would have asked her if she would revel in feeling smaller than any man, she would have given off a resounding ‘galaxy hell no.’ But with Rymingten nothing about her seemed normal.
He lifted her up, their warm skin sliding against each other. His body was hard against hers but she felt the difference in the roughness of the tree bark along her backside. She didn’t care and pressed her hips forward, urging him on.
Gripping her thighs he spread her wide, making room for himself.
Palming the back of his head, she deepened the kiss as she parted her legs further and wrapped them around his hips.
He moved forward, thrusting his cock into her.
Her scream of pleasure came out broken and smothered by his lips pressed to hers. The feel of his cock—thick, long and hard—stretched and filled her. It would have robbed her of her breath had she not been fed air from Rymingten through the kiss.
His groan, growl, purr filled her mouth. It made her body tingle from her lips to her toes. Her clit throbbed and heat flooded her sex. The build of her energy in her core was happening again. The tingling burn of her scalp let her know that the red tones were happening again to her hair. She hoped the queen had answers for her when she returned to Argona.
Rotating her hips, she glided her pussy along his shaft and squeezed his length tightly.
Answering her movement, he pumped harder into her, slipping out to the crown then pressing forward in one smooth shot.
Leaning away, she drew her mouth away from his. She needed more air. Gulping it in, she became dizzy from the man and the light sweet air on the plant. She didn’t know if the decadent scent was coming from the fruit tree they were fucking against or the vibrant, lush grass around them, but it began to fill her and heighten her arousal. Her sex was creaming now so much she could feel the slick slide of his cock and the stream of warm liquid coating the inside of her thighs.
This joining between them was more intense than the long night they had spent in each other’s arms. Something was different. Everything seemed to have changed.
“I need more. More,” he growled. Dragging her legs higher toward his shoulders he claimed her body. He pressed so deep her mind went blank for a moment.
Colors burst and swirled in her mind. She gripped his arms tightly for purchase, requiring something to ground her and keep her from soaring into space—him.
Her desire began to increase, and her body quivered with the pending release. She didn’t want the pleasure to stop. If she spent every moment of her life in this moment, in this place, in this man’s arms she wouldn’t care.
Then something happened. A pain, not just one but multiple piercings stabbed into her and along her shoulders. The sharp, pricking sensation morphed from the sting dug deep into her shoulders as fire ignited from those points.
Even as the fierce sensation radiated throughout her body she began to tremble, shake and spasm into the greatest completion she’d ever experienced. On top of that, the roar shattering the air around her came from Rymingten as he tossed his head back and thrust deeply, filling her womb with his heat.
Everything around them paused. When she slowly returned to some sense of reality around her, he was staring at her. His piercing gaze seemed to search her face for something, even as his features appeared to be relaxed—almost peaceful.
“Are you all right, my mate?”
Unsure of how to truthfully answer that question, she gave a short nod. Her body was still buzzing and throbbing all over and her thoughts were disjointed, attempting to make sense of what seemed to be senseless.
Moving away, he held her hips until her feet were firmly planted on the ground.
“Thank you,” she mumbled, still out of sorts. She stepped away from him to locate her clothing that was scattered around the base of the tree, mingled with his. As she started to dress a whimper broke from her lips as the durable material of her travel suit brushed the raw skin of her back. It felt as if she had removed a layer of flesh along the bark of the tree during their intemperate escapades.
She couldn’t help but glance toward the
tree to see if any of her skin hung there.
“Krys..?”
“I’m fine.” She called over her shoulder, still not turning to him as she attempted again to right her clothing over her upper body. “If your planet has a medic center, I may need to take a short visit there. Nothing more.”
“There isssss no need foooor that. It isssss my responsibility tooooo heal your markings.”
“My markin—” Her words fell away as she faced him. Not the man, Rymingten, that she had expected to see standing before her tall and imposing. Instead a massive cat, bigger than any animal they had on Argona, was a few feet away from her. His head, practically the size of a boulder, was on level with her chin. His lean, grey-and-black striped body was broad with muscles evident all over. What captivated her was the undulation of his tail, as long as her braid, that whipped and rolled behind him as if it had a mind of its own. She knew this cat, not because Rymingten had just been in its place, but because it was a larger version of the house cat he had been on Earth. On that planet he had been not only smaller, but a fat cat as well, appearing more of a nuisance and comical to her in that form. There wasn’t anything remotely humorous about his stature now. A sense of awe overtook her.
This feline was also the same one she had studied and watched from afar when she came to the planet to capture her mate. He’d fascinated her then as he fascinated her now.
“Dooooo not be afraaaaaid. I willlllll not hurtttttt you.”
Odd to see the cat’s muzzle move and have Rymingten’s voice come out of him.
“I’m not afraid. I know it is you.” She held her suit close to her chest and kept her distance.
“Goooood. Now that the ring isssss offffff, I can take my true form and greeeeet my people in honor.”
“I’m glad for you.” She wanted to move forward and stroke his fur, but she retrained herself from submitting to the urge. “For me, meeting your kinsmen may pose a bit of a problem since I may not be able to cover myself before meeting the medic.”
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