by Viki Storm
“You have strange customs,” I say.
“We aren’t eating it,” she says. The thing is now rubbing its head against her hand.
“Because it’s your pet?”
“Yes,” she says. I can tell that she is happy to have it. A small creature to take care of. To love. “We’ll keep it. They’re skilled hunters. It can catch the little vermin around here.” I look at its furry face and tiny feet. It doesn’t look much like a skilled hunter.
I go to her and put my arms around her. She’s still holding the cat, but when I approach, it leaps from her hands—probably remembering that I am the one who put it in the sack.
Good. It’s smart. I like the creature a little more already.
“I have to tell you something,” I say. Better not to prolong it.
“What?” she says. She pulls back and looks at me, concern plain on her face.
“There will soon be another,” I say. I put my hands on her stomach. “You are with child.”
“What?” she says. I can tell that this is the last thing she expected me to say. “How can you tell?”
“I can sense it,” I say. She is so much more beautiful with my offspring inside her—my seed growing inside her, like the sproutlings she spends her days tending to.
“That pill at the auction house?” she says, thinking out loud. “I spit it out. But—” she starts to say. I don’t let her finish. I draw her in for a kiss. I can’t wait for her belly to get large.
“It is so,” I say. “This will be a great blessing.”
“All of this,” she gestures around, “is a great blessing. I can’t believe that of all the murderous bastards in the galaxy, you were the one who found me.”
“I can’t believe of all the murderous human females hiding in closets, you were the one who tried to stab me,” I say. “Events that seem improbable to us are merely the work of the fates, weaving together the fabric of the universe.”
“I love you,” she says. “It’s sort of scary how much. It’s like an ache.”
“That is our bond. We are mated. There’s a connection forged that cannot be broken. I feel it too. It’s the yearning. The need. It feels like it will split open my ribcage. I love you too.”
“Is it love if I want you inside me right now?” she asks. I can sense her arousal—her sex is swollen and wet.
“Yes,” I say. I pick her up and carry her inside. The creature she calls a cat follows. “Bonded mates desire much physical contact to cement the bond. It’s what keeps your ribcage from splitting open with the power of it all.”
I throw her onto the bed and tear off her clothes. She’s dirty from her work in the soil, but I don’t care. I slide into her and she squeals, driving me crazy with her cries of pleasure. I thrust wildly, unable to restrain myself. She screams, and I cover her mouth with mine—tasting her and wanting more.
I feel her cunt tightening around my cock and know that her orgasm is approaching. She spasms beneath me, wriggling and pushing into me. I can’t hold it either and I let it go, releasing deep inside her.
We lie in bed for a long while, not saying anything. Not needing to. Wanting this moment to last forever, but knowing that it can’t.
What we have, the life that we’re building together, the child in her womb—it is only going to get better.
This moment is only the start.
The End
VIKI STORM lives in a drafty house filled with action figures and board games (some of which actually belong to her children). She's probably watching The Universe or The Twilight Zone right now instead of writing.