"That's another thing. Why is it that Zuri gets to just ask to be removed from a role that the king gave her and he does it immediately, but I get forced into it without anyone asking me if I had any interest in giving up my time and energy to fulfill a task that is not even in my station within the tribe?"
"Every Denynso is bound by duty to do as the king asks. The king also knows the importance of maintaining the sanctity of the mating pairs and is willing to make changes in order to honor those pairs and ensure harmony and security. You wouldn't understand, Zsilvia, you don't have a mate."
The anger inside Zsilvia built to an almost frightening peak and she felt herself trembling with her efforts to control herself. She nodded slowly.
"You're right," she said evenly, "I don't have a mate. I guess that's something that I'm just never going to understand."
She turned and started to walk away but she could still feel Eden's eyes watching her.
"This is about something else."
Zsilvia felt a chill rush through her at the still, unintimidated confidence in the words. Eden was truly a force to be reckoned with. Though small and delicate-looking, she had been feisty, outspoken, and brash from the moment of her first arrival on the planet. It was this that had both startled and enraptured Pyra as soon as he met her, but also what nearly threatened them being together at all. Eden had originally come to the planet as a scientist under the assumption that she would gather information about the Denynso and bring it back to the research center where she worked so that they could investigate further. At least, this is what the king and queen had understood when they gave her permission to visit and stay in the compound on the customary visitors' limits. Almost as soon as she arrived, however, she made a confession that put her in mortal danger but at the same time, saved her.
The truth was though Eden was a brilliant and accomplished scientist, her mission was actually a cover for the unethical research tactics of her boss, Ryan. This man had managed to prevent her from gaining the renown and esteem that she deserved with a combination of taking credit for everything that she accomplished and sexual harassment. He held the future of her career in his hand, and she knew it, which was why when she threatened to tell everyone about his treatment of her and that he had stolen so much of her work, he assigned her the mission to Uoria instead. She was not to just study the planet and the Denynso, however. Eden was to find a way to steal a sample of the blood of one of the Denynso warriors and bring it back to Ryan who would evaluate it to find out what was in it that made these men the most fearsome and powerful warriors in the entire galaxy. He knew that he would be able to use the compounds within the blood for a wide variety of shady purposes, including weaponization, but no one had ever gotten off of the planet with Denynso blood.
This was because the taking of Denynso blood was the strongest of the clan's laws. Even suspecting a person of attempting to take Denynso blood for the purpose of studying it and using it for anything could result in imprisonment and execution. Eden had reluctantly realized that Ryan's motivations for sending her on the mission were doubly grotesque. He knew that either she would succeed in her task and he would be the first scientist on Earth or any other planet to get his hands on the blood of the feared Denynso warriors and be able to evaluate it, bringing him greater fame, fortune, and power than anything he could have ever imagined, or the Denynso would catch her and kill her, eliminating her as a potential risk to his reputation and source of frustration in his career and his life.
Once she realized this, Eden had made the decision to confess to the king and queen and ask for their forgiveness. In exchange for her honesty, she earned not only the devoted protection of the Denynso, but unprecedented permission to stay in the compound for as long as she wanted to. Of course, within days she had bonded with Pyra and what had begun as a visit that would last a few months turned into the dedication of the rest of her life.
Pregnancy had softened Eden somewhat, but she still had the fire within her, and this combined with the perceptiveness that all of the human women seemed to have made Zsilvia know that she truly had nowhere to hide.
Chapter Three
"Zsilvia?" Eden said leadingly, "This is not about Creia assigning you George when you didn't want to be his guard, is it?"
Zsilvia felt the anger stream out of her, replaced by a feeling of sadness that she didn't even know how to express.
"No."
"What is it? You can talk to me."
Zsilvia looked around at the street where they were still standing. The others had gone in the other direction, moving toward their own homes which were on a row separate from the Denynso women.
"I don't know what to say."
"Is this about George?"
Zsilvia nodded. Eden's hand came to her belly, rubbing it gently as she gave a knowing nod. The Denynso woman had expected laughter or teasing, but Eden's eyes stayed calm and quiet.
"I know what happens to Denynso men when they meet their mates," Eden stopped and smiled, glancing down at her belly and gesturing toward it with one hand, "obviously. But what happens to women?"
Zsilvia laughed, thankful for the moment that broke the tension and helped her feel more at ease.
"Essentially the same thing, just in female form. The same intense, unmistakable attraction. The same type of intense physical reaction. Just instead of feeling aggressive and violent, it is something… different. I don't even know how to describe it. It is a feeling that I didn't even know existed until I experienced it myself."
"You feel like your entire world has just focused on that one person and that you are so completely, overwhelmingly devoted to him that you would do anything to ensure he was safe, happy, and cared for, at the total sacrifice of anyone and anything else."
Zsilvia was shocked that Eden had been able to put to words so closely what she was feeling.
"Yes."
"So you do believe that George is your mate."
Eden said it almost as if she had somehow tricked Zsilvia into admitting something that she had not been prepared to admit.
"It doesn’t matter what I think about him, things can never go farther with us than what we have right now."
"Why not?"
Zsilvia thought for a long moment about how to form her words so that she could express herself properly. She stepped closer to Eden.
"What's it like when you have sex with Pyra?" she asked, looking into Eden's eyes even though the question obviously made both of them feel uncomfortable.
"Why do you ask?" Eden asked, trying to avoid answering her.
"I think it will help me explain the situation to you."
"Our first time was sudden and aggressive and a little painful," Eden admitted.
"But did he make you feel unsafe?" Zsilvia prodded.
"No," Eden said, "I wasn't really emotionally ready to be with him and physically it was difficult on me because it had been so many years since I had had sex with any man much less one the size of a Denynso warrior. He made me feel absolutely safe and comfortable, though. Even when I freaked out at the end of it and had to leave and take a walk, he offered to go with me. I refused, but looking back I should have accepted the offer. That is when I was attacked by the Klimnu. Of course, if I hadn't ever been attacked by them, Ciyrs wouldn't have had to heal me, and he wouldn’t have turned me into a Denynso." Eden sighed as if looking back on everything that had happened to her since arriving on the planet, "Pyra took our bonding extremely seriously and even though it was very fast and sudden, I felt totally safe in his arms."
"And now?" Zsilvia continued, pushing Eden a little further, "What is it like now? Do you still feel safe?"
"Even safer. The longer I am with him, the more incredible it is for us to be together. It is like our minds, bodies, and souls were made to be together, and now that I have spent enough time with him to really understand the ways of the Denynso, and now that the Denynso part of me is really assimilatin
g to the rest of me and helping me to think in the ways of the tribe, I realize wholly and completely that that is the way that it is. We were made to be together, and every time that he makes love to me it is a celebration of that and how much we love each other. It is unlike anything I have ever experienced."
"Denynso men are only like that with their mates," Zsilvia said plainly.
She watched confusion across Eden's face.
"What do you mean?" she asked, her hand coming up to cover her belly protectively as if she was concerned that the comment would somehow get to her child and upset it some way.
"The warriors are known for being vicious and aggressive for a reason, and it goes beyond just the intensity that they show when they are in battle. Before a Denynso man finds his mate, he is still prone to the same sexual urges as any man. Fulfilling them, though, isn't like it is when he's with his mate. Instead, he thinks only of himself and his own satisfaction, sometime to the sacrifice of the comfort and even safety of the woman he has."
Eden got an expression on her face that hovered somewhere between confusion and sadness.
"The way that Pyra talked about his and the other Denynso men's reaction to finding their mates, I somehow didn't think that they…"
Her voice trailed off, but Zsilvia knew exactly what she was thinking. She knew that Eden had assumed that because Denynso warriors react with such physical voracity when they meet their mates, it is their first experience with sexual reactions. Of course, Zsilvia knew very well that this was not the case.
"You thought that because they are so intensely sexually interested when they get near their mates for the first time that they have never had sex before?"
Eden nodded, her eyes slightly wide.
"It…it didn't seem like Pyra was a virgin, but…"
"The reason that Denynso are so interested when they find their mates is not only to help them identify their mate, but also so that they will bond as quickly as possible. There is always a chance that intended mates will encounter each other but then not bond and lose their opportunity to be together. This is not only devastating to them, but it also means that neither of those two Denynso will ever be able to reproduce. As you may have realized, the birth rate of this species is not anywhere near as high as it should be. The warriors represent the last of the children that were born in this tribe. They cover an age gap of about 20 years, but they are all the same generation. You are so surprised that Pyra may not have been a virgin, but you yourself admitted that you are not a virgin either. I know that humans don't have the same bonding instinct as the Denynso, but it should at least have told you that there was a possibility that they could have sex outside of their bonding experiences with their mates."
"I just didn't realize that the Denynso could have relationships with anyone other than their mates. I thought that was the whole point. That the mates are so precious because they are the only other person in the world that would be able to have a relationship with them."
"That's the point that I've been trying to make. I said that they could have sex with other people before they found their mates, not that they could have relationships with them. They can't. It is not in the nature of the Denynso to be able to have an emotional connection other than friendship with anyone other than their mates. It simply cannot be done. We know that that is not the same way with humans. In fact, many humans on Earth go through several life bonds isn't that correct?"
"We don't call them life bonds, we call them marriages, but I suppose you're correct."
Eden was starting to sound upset, even angry, and that mean that Zsilvia was getting to her, which is exactly what she was trying to do.
"The point is that humans can have emotional connections with multiple people, even fall in love several times in their lives. That means that they can have sex with people other than their life partners and it can be loving and nurturing. Denynso are not like that. The bond that they have with their mates is something unique and precious that they can only experience that one time in their entire lives. The sexual urges that they have before that bond are purely personal and selfish. It is not about connecting in any way with the other person, and has nothing to do with giving any sort of pleasure to the other person, which means they like to engage in it in the way that they engage in all of the activities that they love."
"And there is nothing that a Denynso warrior likes better than going into battle," Eden said softly as if things were starting to make sense to her.
Zsilvia nodded, catching Eden's orange gaze and holding it so that the woman would process would she had told her.
"I was one of the women that would go along with the desires of the men because I wanted their attention. My first experience was horrible, but for some reason I kept doing it with the other warriors whenever they decided that I was what interested them, what would appease them in that particular moment. I know that it doesn't make any sense and I can't explain it to you. All I can say is that there was something about their attention, no matter how violent and aggressive they were, that validated me. One night the warrior who was the leader before Pyra approached me. I felt like it was quite an honor to have him want me, considering how important he was."
"Even though you knew that he wasn't after anything from you but sex?"
"Yes. I told you, I can't explain it. Looking back, I can't understand how I could be so blind as to put myself not only in that situation, but willingly and openly in that situation. I offered myself into it. Now the warriors are not as reckless and demanding of women as they once were. To be completely honest, it is possible that Pyra was a virgin when he met you. I don't know that for sure, but the way that the men are now, most of them don't interact with the women at all until they find a mate. They put everything into their battle. If they do decide that they are going to have sex with a woman who isn't their mate, they aren't kind to her, but they are at least respectful of her ability to dictate when and how it happens. That wasn't what it was like then."
"But I thought you said that you went with the warrior willingly."
"I did, but after the first two times on the same night, I was finished. I didn't want to be a part of the experience any longer and I wanted to get as far away from him as I possibly could. He didn't think that it was a good plan for the evening, however, and made it very clear to me that he was going to do whatever he wanted for as long as he wanted to do it. By the time that he was finished, I didn't think that I was going to survive. To be completely honest, I hoped I wouldn't. It was seriously that horrible."
"I'm so sorry that happened to you, Zsilvia, but I don't understand what that has to do with why you can't be with George if you believe that he's you're mate.
"I don't just believe that he's my mate. I know for absolute certain that he is. That doesn't change that I'm terrified to get anywhere near him."
"It wouldn't be like that with George, though. He's not a Denynso. He's a human."
"That's exactly my point, though. You questioned that I would have sex with someone who I knew was only after me for that purpose and absolutely no other. It horrified you to think that I would allow myself to be used that much. George is a human, which means that he doesn't have the concept of bonding, yet he was willing to go right ahead and have sex with me within just a couple of hours of meeting me. He hadn't even had the chance to have an entire conversation with me, which means that he was only after me for the sexual fulfillment of it, just like the warriors were."
"That's not true. The reason he wanted to have sex with you immediately could have been that he was as overwhelmed by his feelings for you, the same as your feelings for him and he just couldn't contain himself."
"How can you be so sure about that?"
"Because I was in his position when I came here," Eden said sternly and Zsilvia felt herself close her mouth sharply, cutting off the words that had been trying to make their way out, "I was a human who knew nothing about the Denynso or their
mating habits. I didn't know anything about the idea of bonding, much less that I would discover my mate here within just a few minutes of landing on the planet, and that the same day I would bond with him. If someone had told me that before the shuttle took off when I was still on Earth, I would have told them that they were crazy."
"But you admit that you didn't like Pyra when you first met him."
"No, I didn't. Not at all. In fact, I couldn't stand him. That didn't matter, however, when we had our first kiss. No matter what type of emotions I was going through right then, I felt a draw toward him that I had never felt toward anyone, and it was like I absolutely had to have him right then. I didn't care that I didn't think that we would ever get along, or that I thought it was ridiculous and even a little bit offensive that Creia and Theia thought it was necessary to give me a Denynso babysitter to watch over me while I got used to being here, or even that I didn't think that I was going to be on Uoria for more than just a few months. None of that mattered to me at all. All I cared about was how much I felt like I needed to be with him."
"He could treat me the same way that the warriors did when I was younger."
"I can tell you from experience that the majority of human men aren't like that. There are plenty that aren't very nice and that are extremely disrespectful toward women, don't get me wrong. If you ever feel like you need to get everything that happened to you off your chest to someone who knows what you are going through, I suggest you have a talk with Leia. She knows what you went through. They aren't out for sport, though. If George had been interested in nothing from you but sex, he wouldn't still be paying attention to you like he is."
"He pays attention to me?"
The words were both startling and thrilling to Zsilvia. She had been trying so hard to not let anyone else notice what she was feeling when it came to George, but it hadn't occurred to her that any of them might notice that there was something going on with him.
Alien Romance Box Set: Uoria Mates II Complete Series (Books 1 - 10): A Sci-fi Alien Warrior Invasion Abduction Romance Page 24