by Celia Kyle
She had a perfectly innocent curiosity about the act, and he could sense she was eager to explore. Vende’s cock grew thicker and longer by the second and he decided that if he moved too suddenly, he would do real damage to himself.
Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, he gently covered Dawn’s hand with his own and took it off his arm. He blinked several times and took a step back. When he looked to her, she had a pout on her lush red mouth, and her big eyes were hurt and pleading.
“I’m so sorry, Vende. What did I do wrong now?”
“Let’s go up the hall where we can sit.” Vende realized that after all that had gone down in the short time she had been here, offering a moment of rest and something to lift their energy would be welcome. Even a warrior couldn’t function at full capacity if he wasn’t well-nourished.
“Okay.” Dawn answered his question and sidestepped toward him. When those velvet fingertips touched his arm once more, he shuddered from the inside out. Goosebumps flashed across his skin so fast it hurt like being pricked by a million needles. Dawn did not even notice. She just ran her hand down his arm until she could lace her fingers with his.
He strode down the hall, so aroused by her touch that he couldn’t focus on anything except the feel of her skin on his. He just told her not to touch him… Didn’t he? Maybe he didn’t express himself properly, or perhaps she didn’t hear.
The rec room was empty and Vende was glad for the privacy. The last thing he wanted was to trip over other Preor or their mates right now.
He untangled himself from Dawn and headed over to the bench. Instead of sitting, as he expected, Dawn followed him to the bench and stroked his lower back, careful not to touch his wings. He stiffened once more and stepped away.
“I was just going to help you make the tea.” She smiled. Vende shook his head. She didn’t seem bothered by his retreat, and she had Penelope make up two cups of strong black tea, smiling at Vende as she headed for the tables and chairs. He followed warily.
“You don’t like that… caw-fee the other human women like?”
She nodded, delicately sipping her tea. “I do, but I prefer tea. I love having lots of different kinds so I can have a variety of flavors. I also like to harvest my own tea from the plants.” She shrugged. “It’s far better for you than most else.”
Vende made a mental note to find out everything he could about tea and bring her as many different kinds as he could. Just as he lifted his own cup, Dawn trailed her fingers along the bony spine on the outer edge of his wing.
He jerked in place, almost dropping the tea and spilling it on the floor. He put it on the table quickly and turned to Dawn, who stared at him with wide, apologetic eyes.
“I’m sorry. I did it again. Didn’t I? I’m just a bit slow, Vende.” She looked away toward the floor. “I’m trying.”
He sighed, wanting to take her in his arms but also knowing that would lead to him completely losing any semblance of control he currently held—which was not much. His dragon refused to calm, snarling deep inside him as it fought to claim their mate. Vende had been hiding a wild beast under his scales all this time, the dragon living a life of intense turmoil as it contemplated existence without a mate.
“Dawn. I’m going to try and explain this as best I can.” He took a deep breath, unsure of how to proceed but deciding to get right to it.
“Do you understand sexual arousal?”
She shook her head and sipped her tea. “Is that the warm feeling I had when we were kissing?”
“Yes, that… warm feeling.” Vende prayed they spoke of the same thing and she had not merely been near a heating vent. “The thing is, in me, it is a hundred times more intense.”
Her eyes shone with curiosity. “Really? That sounds… kind of amazing actually.”
He could see she was open to exploring the sensations and again, he had to fight his predator. “It is. But it is only enjoyable to me if I know I will have release. If I can spill my seed. Do you understand?”
“Oh, making baby stuff.” She reached out and stroked his wing absently. He yelped and jumped away, leaping to his feet. She frowned, her big eyes starting to tear up.
“I’m sorry! I forgot!”
“I must tell you, Dawn. Touching my wing is like touching a sexual organ. Do you understand?” He felt like he was asking for her understanding far too many times. Even when she said “yes,” he doubted she fully took his meaning.
“Okay.” She stood and moved toward him. “I really liked it when you touched me. I thought you would like it too.” She shrugged.
“I do like it, Dawn.” He stepped closer to her, holding her hands as he looked into her eyes. “Don’t you understand about climax? Those feelings build and grow until they release in a massive burst of pleasurable energy. The moment causes a peak of pleasure in both the male and female and I release seed to impregnate you.”
“You could teach a sex ed class, Vende,” Penelope put in. Vende frowned but did not answer the ship.
“Okay.” Dawn nodded firmly. “I should only touch you if I want to explore this sex thing. I think I get it.”
Vende nodded in relief. “When we are alone, when you want to explore, then we can, of course. Just don’t—”
Dawn reached up absently and drew her fingers over the wing edge again. Vende stumbled away and Dawn covered her eyes.
“I’m so sorry. I did it again. Didn’t I?”
Vende gasped for air, keeping space between him and his mate. He never imagined this could be so difficult! He wanted to take her so desperately everything else faded from importance.
“Dawn, do you understand what all of this means? Did the Knowing explain for you what’s going on here?”
“We’re mates!” she said excitedly. “The scent marker indicates a high probability of a perfect genetic match. This means offspring is practically guaranteed and it will be an improvement on both of our genes. The DNA strands will be different to both races, and a hybrid will result. But it will be a completely different type of dragon and not quite fully human, either.” She frowned a little as if the words confused her.
“Anything else?”
“That we are heart bound, and our souls are entangled. We’ll never be apart. I look after you and you look after me.” She smiled and reached for him, running her fingers down his arm. Vende had to blink several times as she caressed him. Maybe he should give up trying to teach her to keep her hands to herself. It was becoming a waste of time.
Vende spared a thought to everyone who had tried to explain things to him. Was it this difficult? He pitied them and cursed his own confusion. This was a type of agony that a fighting dragon should not have to endure.
“Dawn…” Vende watched her face as she touched him. “Do you want to mate right now?”
She smiled and his heart leapt. Maybe he should have started with this approach. She seemed open to exploring the sensations. If she couldn’t stop touching him, it was a good sign she was ready to mate. Once they’d had their first coupling his desire would be easier to control.
She shook her head a little. “I don’t really understand. Like, everyone who talked to me about sex used euphemisms like you did. Like ‘climax’ and ‘spill your seed.’ I get that it means making babies, but no one’s explained to me what really goes on.”
Vende felt his stomach drop out as he realized he might have to explain sex second by second, in full detail. He did not even know where to start.
“Get out your sketch pad and draw a diagram.” Penelope laughed. “Sex-ed class is in!”
Chapter Ten
Dawn felt as if she were caught in a bubble with Vende’s voice tapping on her from far away. Sometimes she would have little fade-outs where she couldn’t awaken her five senses and she’d get confused and dizzy. She thought it was just an attack from her poor injured brain and waited for it to pass.
While Vende’s voice seemed to beat on her from far away, outside her skull, information inside it hamme
red away as well. Any question she had about the Preor, the Knowing attempted to answer. Right now, she was thinking about this mating business and pieces were falling into place.
For a few seconds, her body came alive. She felt tight pressure and hot aching in her nipples and deep between her legs. She was so entranced by the internal turmoil that she wasn’t sure what was happening around her.
Thoughts unfolded like the petals of a rose as they grew. Between all the shadowy, dark edges, Dawn could see herself and Vende, naked and twisted together. At first, the image confused her. The idea of being naked and pressed up against someone was too strange. Then her body throbbed. She could feel him inside her. There was a rhythm, a dance in her bones that she had never noticed before. It was like the pulsing of life that she could feel surrounded by plants in the garden, but far more intense.
Sweat rolled down her chest and she gasped for air. The Knowing blasted her with sights and sensations that came so fast she couldn’t process them.
I’m going to climax right here and now if this doesn’t stop.
Suddenly she realized why Vende didn’t want to be touched. If it made him feel like he was going to lose control of his body, of course he would find it too much. She took a breath and blinked, trying to focus on the room and pull herself out of the grip of the Knowing.
Then Vende touched her arm.
Fire lanced through her, a physical ache like a dull blade resonating deep inside. Vende backed off in a hurry and she could see his lips moving but couldn’t hear him.
The arousal gradually drained away, leaving a horrible nausea in its wake. Still not quite caught up to reality, Dawn leaned over, clutching her stomach. There was a strange rushing sound, like she was moving too fast, and then a jolt. Vende asked if she was okay, almost shaking her. She tried to draw in a breath while her head throbbed, and her stomach tried to flip out of her throat.
This is the worst headache I’ve ever had.
Dawn was used to fits of pain, hard pulsing that robbed her of her motor skills and caused her stomach to violently empty itself. Sometimes she could stop an attack from happening or make one shorter and less intense with herbs or medicines, but this one was a monster that pushed into her every cell.
She groaned, jaw slack. Her eyes were focused on the floor as she wrapped herself around her stomach and tried to endure the waves of pain.
“Med bay, Vende,” Penelope snapped. He already had his arms around his mate.
“Way ahead of you,” Vendee spat shortly.
“What the fuck, Vende,” Penelope exclaimed. “Did you just use slang?”
“It seemed appropriate.”
“Indeed, it was.”
It had only taken Vende a few minutes to move down the halls. Dawn clung to him weakly, burned by the touch of his skin but needing the comfort of his arms. When he carried her into the med bay, two Healers were there, looking through samples in the back of the room. Both hurried to the nearest bed as Vende laid his mate down.
Dawn still felt cold and sick, unable to move as the two Healers worked on her. When the red-hued male touched her forehead, she groaned and nearly threw up.
“Yazen, do not touch my mate!” Vende snapped. Yazen took a step back, understanding that the Knowing created an intense situation for both until she was properly mated. The other male touched her with deft, light movements that only served to attach equipment.
“I’m sorry,” Yazen addressed Dawn directly. “I’m Primary Healer Yazen. This is Healing Master Whelon. Have you been sick like this before?”
Dawn nodded. “My headaches. Brain… injury.”
Yazen and Whelon looked at each other, nodding.
Yazen brought over a small unit with a dozen wires and carefully attached them to Dawn’s skull. “We’re just checking your brain waves now.”
Dawn wanted to tell them not to bother. Not much went on in her head even at the best of times. She wondered if they would scan it and take pictures. Lots of doctors did, but they rarely found anything that could help her.
“…Explain please. I’ve never seen anything like this.” Whelon’s voice drifted through the aching darkness and severe nausea. She tried to speak but it hurt her temples too much.
“We only just met.” She heard Vende speaking near her and felt his touch on her hand. “I do not know much. She had some kind of accident when she was a youngling. To use her words, she’s ‘a bit slow.’ I don’t know what this means.”
“It refers to serious brain damage, Vende,” Whelon said gravely. “It can mean someone who can’t catch the joke first time, but I think in Dawn it means much more than that.”
“I seem to recall others calling me slow and my assurances that my wings were fleet,” Vende muttered. Dawn wished she could laugh. She and Vende truly were a match.
“What is this scar?” She felt Whelon move her hair, very carefully not touching her skin.
“I do not know,” Vende answered, confused. “We have not gotten to know each other yet. She hasn’t had a chance to tell me.”
Dawn tried to open her eyes. She managed to blink and flicker her eyelids but couldn’t do more. She couldn’t talk to these doctors and tell them all about herself.
“You should have some information,” Yazen said carefully, “from the Knowing. It goes both ways.”
Whelon leaned over Dawn, his clothes rustling as he did so. She heard faint little beeps as he swept a small object over her head.
“Yazen,” he said. “Come and look at this.”
Yazen stopped looking for injuries on Dawn and came to the monitor.
“I don’t believe this.”
“Nor do I,” Whelon said.
“What is it?” Vende almost yelled. Whelon gave him a stern look.
“She was very badly brain damaged, Vende. A lot of centers in her brain simply had no blood flow and the cells died. There was too much scar tissue for some of the blood vessels or nerves to reconnect.”
Dawn felt Vende’s hand on her forehead, and then his lips touched her cheek.
“Is she going to be okay? What’s happening?”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if your Knowing is incomplete,” Whelon said thoughtfully. “The Knowing works on the genetic link appearing through the extra sensory layers. It’s driven by the energy behind the pulses of the nervous system and the electrical charge of the heart and brain.”
Dawn managed to get her eyes open, even though it felt like being stabbed in both sockets. She reached out, wrapping her hand around Vende’s.
“The information from Dawn would be fragmented at best. It looks like you’ll have to get to know each other the old-fashioned way.”
“But what’s happening to me?” Dawn croaked. Whelon looked at the screen again, shaking his head as he looked back to Dawn.
“Sections of your brain are waking up. Blood flow has been restored. The library of information imparted by the Knowing needs a considerable amount of memory and your body is changing itself to accommodate the data.”
“Why does it hurt so much?”
“It’s the mother of all migraines. I’m sure you’ve had them for years as blood flow was diverted from other areas into the dark spots, but this is different. Every single crippled brain cell is being rejuvenated. I’m guessing at this rate, your brain will be fully functional in a few hours.”
Dawn wanted to be excited about this new information, but she was just in too much pain. As a new, sharp ache lanced through her temples, she leaned over and almost hurled off the edge of the platform. Whelon quickly gave her a shot and she relaxed, just a little.
“What did you give her?” Vende snapped.
“Pain killer, anti-inflammatory. With a muscle relaxer. She needs to rest, Vende. I’m not sure what we can do for her, but she must be monitored carefully. She could have a stroke or an aneurism.”
Dawn heard Vende’s wings rustle, and then his warm arms were around her. She felt no desire now, no confusing sensations. She was simply
warm and safe. The pain gradually lessened, and she relaxed into Vende’s arms.
She knew he wouldn’t leave her, not for a second. She could drift away on this ocean of pain, but she’d never be lost. Vende would be with her forever.
Under the certainty of this, Dawn drifted into the darkness inside her mind. No matter what else happened, Vende would be there waiting for her when she woke. That was the only thing she needed.
Chapter Eleven
Vende lay on the platform beside Dawn, holding her as close as he dared. Her brow furrowed as she slept, her face twisting in bands of pain, and he had never felt so helpless.
He pushed up to his elbow and looked his mate over, hating the paleness of her skin, a stark contrast to the short brown hair that dusted her face. She was such a delicate thing that he couldn’t stand the thought of her suffering.
Vende still did not comprehend what Whelon and Yazen had told him. He could not figure out how his mate was still alive if she had such severe brain damage. He touched the wide scar above her ear and was amazed by its depth. Her skull had been cut right through the bone!
Apparently, the Knowing was changing the state of her injuries and it frustrated him to not have all the answers at hand. The two healers had wandered off to work in other sections of the med bay while Dawn struggled to heal, and he tried to take it as a good sign that they weren’t worried by her condition and overly attentive.
However, his dragon was full of rage. His muscles twitched as he tried to lie back down, and he knew he was too tense to be any comfort. He sat up and slipped off the ryaapir platform and instead held one of her hands lightly. He wished they were on Earth and near an open window. He would hurl himself into the skies, transform into his beast, and test his wings against the winds to wipe his mind clean of this emotional trap. He simple couldn’t leave her.
She murmured and turned, making him jump and refocus on his mate once more. He muttered her name and stroked her hair to see if she would awaken for him, but she did not.