“How do you think the general is going to fare with his new mate?” Jalek asked.
“Far be it from me to criticize a superior officer’s battle plan,” I replied, “but I suspect he’s going to run into a few snags along the way.”
“Part of me wishes I could be there to see it.” With a grin, Jalek took another bite of his zendelin stew.
“Me, too, brother. Me, too.”
After lunch, I checked in with the bridge crew to make sure everything was in order, then headed back to my quarters, where I found Nora sprawled across my sleeping platform, fast asleep.
I sat down on the edge of the platform, the soft bedding giving a little beneath my weight, and watched her. It was the first time I had seen her face completely relaxed. Her lips curved and a sweet smile, and every protective instinct I had rose to the surface. I would kill anyone who dared harm her.
And that included me, I realized.
If Nora decided she wanted to go home, I would take her, even if it destroyed me.
For the first time ever, I realized that was the most valuable element of the Drovekzian mate-bond. Because it allowed us to feel our partners’ emotions, protecting those emotions became paramount.
I would do anything to ensure Nora’s happiness, including destroying my own.
And that, I recognized, was the strongest kind of love that existed.
Despite what I had said to Jayla, I did not want a typically submissive Drovekzian mate. I wanted one who was strong and feisty, willing to fight by my side to protect what we had.
I could only hope that Nora would come to feel the same way eventually.
Recognizing my own exhaustion, I finally crawled onto the platform beside Nora. Wrapping her in my arms, I dropped a kiss on her forehead.
I would simply have to prove to her that her life would be better spent with me than going back to Earth.
“Let me show you my world,” I whispered into her hair, not meaning to wake her. But when her eyes opened and she smiled at me, my heart leaped in my chest.
No matter what she decided, I was already too far gone in love with her to ever be with anyone else.
I just hope she could feel it through the mate-bond as I held her.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Nora
“Let me show you my world.”
I thought of the last man who had said that to me.
William.
In that instant, I flashed back to opening the bathroom door in the cathedral, only to be confronted by the sight of William’s bare ass as he pumped into Clara, his ex-girlfriend. I walked in just as he was orgasming, too. I couldn’t forget the reflection of the expression on his face, somewhere between ecstasy and horror as he realized I was standing there, reflecting back at me in all its glory.
My stomach clenched now just like it had then.
“I don’t know if I can,” I whispered. “I’m afraid I’ll get too close to you and end up getting hurt.”
“Shh,” he comforted me, rubbing my back. “I will never hurt you. Sleep now. We can talk about it later.”
The next time I woke, Dax was still lying next to me, but at some point, he had gotten up and stripped out of his uniform.
He lay next to me completely naked, the green of his skin and fur glowing softly in the low light of the mostly darkened room.
I ran my hands through the fur on his chest. It was soft to the touch, and I couldn’t help but rub my cheek against it.
I’d been wrong about his fur, I realized. He didn’t have it everywhere. In fact, it was almost all in the same places human males had hair.
Following the trail of fur down to his stomach, I lightly stroked across his taut, muscled abdomen, fighting the urge to pull the blanket down and check out his cock again.
When I glanced up at his face and realized his eyes were open, I gasped and jerked my hand away.
“Don’t stop,” he murmured, his voice deep and husky. The sound of it sent a wave of longing through me, and I carefully reached out to touch his abdomen.
The instant I made contact, his own need slammed into me, overwhelming in its power.
“I want you,” he whispered, as if perhaps I hadn’t gotten the message through the mate-bond.
I couldn’t decide which was stupider—giving in or holding out. But I simply didn’t care any longer. I wasn’t willing to keep denying myself. Or Dax.
“Yes.” I barely voiced the word, but it echoed between us, ricocheting through the air and my touch, spinning through us both and flashing back and forth via the mate-bond.
Dax sat up and moved to the end of the mattress. Almost reverently, he knelt on the bed, gently lifting my legs to rest on his thighs as I leaned back against the pillows. He slicked one finger against me, and I let out a soft sigh of appreciation.
He bent toward me, his tongue following the path his fingers had traced, lapping against my pussy, then my clit.
The heat of his mouth against me sent tendrils of sensation swirling through me, and I moaned aloud. “Oh. Yes,” I sighed. “Definitely more.”
“You are so wet,” his ragged voice whispered.
As he licked and sucked, he learned more of what made me moan. Soon he slipped a single finger inside me, sliding it in and out in a gentle stroking motion that matched his tongue circling my clit.
The heat at my core began to spread through me, pulsing in rhythm with Dax’s touch, until at exactly the right moment, he sucked gently, and I convulsed around his finger, shattering into a million pieces around him.
When I caught my breath enough to see again, Dax had stretched out beside me and was stroking my hair.
I reached down to stroke his erection. “I want you.”
“Definitely,” he whispered, leaning in to kiss me.
I ran one finger along the head of his penis. It jumped at my touch.
“I’m not sure you should do too much of that—I might not last long, anyway, and that will only make it worse.”
“Mm.” I leaned over and kissed the tip. Dax’s groan made me laugh aloud. “Okay, okay. But that’s definitely on the agenda for later, okay?”
“Yes, please,” Dax rasped, the effect of my words obvious in his reaction.
I sobbed when he removed his mouth from my pussy but sighed in relief when he moved both hands to my hips and lifted me up enough to slide me closer to him. The head of his cock pressed against my opening, and I wriggled against it, willing him to fuck me.
Slowly, he pushed into me, stretching me to accommodate him. I moaned, and he paused as if to assess what he felt through the mate-bond.
More.
I didn’t say it, but I felt my need for him pulsing through our connection.
When he was fully seated inside me, I started to pull away a little, but paused when I felt his cock flare out inside me.
“What was that?” I asked.
“My mating spikes.”
“Spikes?” My voice rose with anxiety.
His laugh echoed through the room. “They will not hurt you.”
I moved my hips, reveling in the feeling of being stretched even more. “I’m going to have to check those out later.”
“Yes. But for now…” Dax sank into me again. “I want you to come around me. I want you to come for me.”
His attention made me feel… Cherished, I realized. That was the sensation coming through the mate-bond.
Is this what true love feels like?
I smiled and slowly began rocking back and forth, accustoming myself to the feel of him inside me.
He grasped one hip as he began to move with me, his other thumb circling my clit.
Every nerve ending inside me was so sensitized that I felt it as he began to swell inside me, growing larger as he got closer to his own orgasm. I pressed myself against his hand until I clenched around him.
My orgasm broke Dax’s control, and he cried out my name as he grabbed both hips and held me tight against him, pulsing inside me, his mati
ng spikes fluttering against my inner walls, leaving me shaking.
With my heart still pounding, I leaned over and placed my forehead against Dax’s. “That was absolutely perfect,” I whispered.
“Braxen is leaving tomorrow to go in search of a mate for General Galatov,” Dax told me the next morning.
“I’m not certain I am comfortable helping him abduct another human.”
Dax gave me a solemn nod. “I understand that.” The look he gave me next was almost a little sad. “Are you unhappy? Do you want to go home?”
My instant urge was to reassure him that I was fine, perfectly happy. But I owed him a completely honest response, one in line with the transparency our mate-bond afforded us. “No. I am not unhappy. My time with you has been amazing.”
I fell silent, and Dax waited a couple of heartbeats before asking, “But?”
Slowly, a smile began to stretch across my face. “I’m not sure there is any but.”
“Really?”
I stepped closer to Dax, reaching out and touching his arm with my hand, allowing the mate-bond to echo the truth of my words. “Really.”
“So you’ll stay?”
I swallowed, allowing him to see and feel my anxiety, but in the end, I said simply, “Yes.”
Dax laughed aloud and picked me up to spin me around.
His infectious joy sparked through our bond. “Okay, okay,” I laughed. “Put me down. I’m not going to go with you to talk to Braxen.”
He set me gently on my feet. “What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to go find Lucy to see if she wants to have breakfast with me.” I gave him a shy grin. “But I’ll meet you back here afterward, okay?”
“Always.” He breathed out the word and pulled me close, capturing my lips in a kiss, his love for me pouring into me through every place we touched, filling me with hope for our future together—more hope than I had ever felt before.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Dax
Two Weeks Later
I stood at the front of the conference room, the table having been cleared out, barely refraining from nervously wringing my hands.
Beside me, Jalek stared at the odd decorations with something approaching awe. “This is the strangest mating ceremony I’ve ever heard of.”
I gave a little strained laugh. “My understanding is that Lucy had at least as much to do with killing flowers to string them up in here as Nora did.”
Jalek’s mouth twisted in dismay. “It seems such a waste. Those would make a perfect Cavalia soup.”
“Yes,” I agreed. “But they do make the air smell nice.”
“Do you suppose dead flowers have some special significance in our mates’ culture?”
“No flarking idea.”
We were both still staring up at the flowers above our heads when the door opened, and General Galatov strode in. After only a couple of steps, though, he skidded to a stop, his mouth falling open as he, too, gazed up at the floral monstrosities surrounding us. “What is this?”
At the same time, Jalek and I both said, “Earth tradition.”
“Hmmm.” The general resumed moving up to the front of the room. “I certainly won’t be having that at my mating ceremony,” he muttered.
Jalek and I gave each other smirking glances, both working to hold back our laughter.
I suspected the general was in for two worlds’ worth of surprises when he finally actually met his mate.
Met his match, is more like it.
I had certainly met my match when I jumped in to save Nora from her attacker.
She might not have been my perfect genetic match—at least not according to the scoutship computer—but she was my perfect mate. And anyway, the scoutship had been wrong. No matter what the other female’s genetic match with me might have been, it could not have been any better than the 97% match the computer aboard the Battleship Levelock had given us.
That scoutship’s computer had been flarked.
Nora and I belong together. As do Jalek and Lucy. As will the general and his mate, once he finds her.
I had not seen Nora all morning long—another ridiculous Earth tradition. No wonder she had run away from her last mating ceremony. If it had been half this involved, I didn’t blame her. It was a wonder any humans ever ended up together.
But she had sworn it was bad luck for me to see her before the ceremony. “And besides,” she had said, “I have a surprise for you.”
When she appeared in the doorway, I instantly saw what she had meant.
She wore garments almost exactly like the ones she had been wearing when I picked her up in the nature preserve on Earth.
Almost.
Because whereas that clothing had been pure white, this wedding dress matched almost perfectly my clan colors—the color of my beast’s form and of my skin. Her pale skin glowed against the black and green fabric.
Oddly enough, she also carried a cluster of clipped flowers like the ones hanging above us, tied together with a ribbon in the traditional soothing colors of our walls.
It was the perfect blend of human and Drovekzian culture, and it was all I could do to keep from rushing to her.
Ours, my beast growled, sending me images of carrying Nora back to our quarters to fuck her senseless.
Later, I promised my beast, and he subsided—but not before sending a wave of sensory memories to me from the last two weeks. The way her pussy tasted when I licked it, the way she writhed and moaned beneath me as I pounded my cock into her. The way she had taken each individual mating spike into her mouth and sucked it until my cock was too swollen to fit inside her—and the way she had then sucked the tip of my cock until I exploded into her mouth.
I shifted uncomfortably, trying to adjust my growing erection as my beast chuffed in amusement.
Sometimes my beast was horrible.
Nora made her way to me slowly, preceded by Lucy, who insisted on sprinkling dead petals on the floor and humming something that might have been a song.
When Nora reached me, she handed the dead flowers to Lucy and took my hand. I leaned toward her, wanting nothing more than to kiss her, but she whispered, “Not yet. The kiss comes at the end of the ceremony.”
I nodded. We had agreed on the traditional vows of a Drovekzian ceremony and the various trappings of a human ceremony, so at least when General Galatov began speaking, the words were familiar to me.
“Welcome honored clowder members and Drovekzian clans,” the general began. “Here today we witness the mate bonding of Lutro Dax and Nora Marlin. They hereby proclaim the completion of the bond that shall tie them together for eternity.”
Normally, that would be the end of a Drovekzian ceremony, and the party would begin.
Alien cultures have alien ways.
I smiled as Galatov recited the next bit from Nora’s Earth traditions.
“Do you, Dax, take Nora to be your bound mate forevermore?”
I frowned, trying to remember the correct answer. “I do.”
“And do you, Nora, take Dax as your bound mate forevermore?”
“I do,” Nora replied.
“Then you may exchange rings.”
Earlier that week, I’d had to tell Nora that the ring she wanted me to wear would almost certainly get lost when I shifted. So we had compromised. Instead of placing a ring on my finger, she looped a long metal chain around my neck.
When I shifted, it became a collar—a sign of domestication on Nora’s world, but now a symbol of love for both of us.
Similarly afraid that she might lose a chain from around her neck, Nora had opted for a ring.
It didn’t matter to me. I didn’t need the outward symbols. But my mate did, and I was happy to give her anything she wanted.
When that part was over, the general said, “You may kiss the boo-ride.”
“Bride,” Lucy and Nora hissed at the same time.
“Bride,” General Galatov smoothly corrected.
Human ritu
als were certainly more ornate than Drovekzian mating rituals.
I guess that’s necessary in a world where it’s impossible to be certain how much your mate truly loves you.
As I captured Nora’s lips with my own, I was left with no doubt whatsoever that she loved me. I felt it echoing through our mate-bond. I could not wait to begin the rest of my life with my perfect match, my amazing mate.
Still kissing her, I scooped her up in my arms and headed back to our quarters.
She broke away from our kiss, laughing. “Aren’t we supposed to stay and have a party?”
“We can get back to the party later,” I growled, my beasts dangerously close to the surface. “But now that it’s official, I cannot wait any longer. I need you.”
Nora wrapped her arms around my neck and made a contented little noise as she pressed her lips against mine. “I think that sounds perfect, tiger of mine. I’ll go anywhere with you. As long as we’re together, I don’t care about anything else.”
Epilogue
Braxen
“Unholy cordrodites,” I breathed out the curse as I took new readings on the small blue and green planet below.
Commander Dax and Captain Jalek had been right about this place. It was an utter wastehole.
I hit the cloaking mode on my ship and ducked lower for a closer look.
The whole damn planet was dying. They were poisoning it.
General Galatov might have missed the glances Jalek and Dax gave each other when he mentioned how thankful his human female mate would undoubtedly be to be taken off this hellhole and brought into the larger galactic community.
But I didn’t miss the looks. For some reason, those two thought Earth females would be just as happy staying where they were.
That was clearly insane—but having heard some of the mating ceremony preparations Lucy and Nora had been making, I did not put it past human females to want to stay someplace that was horrible.
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