He gave her an appreciative smile. That’s exactly what she hoped she would say.
Bladen paused by one of the tables outside the café and said, “Is this table all right with you?”
“Fine.” She pulled out a chair and seated herself as he did the same. On one side of the table, there was a touch screen that flashed pictures of food plates with unfamiliar writing under them.
“So, you are looking for a feline mate?”
“It sounded secure because they are genetically matched, and they mate for life,” she explained. “I haven’t had much luck finding a mate the regular way.”
“I don’t understand that. You are very attractive,” he asserted.
“Thank you. I have no trouble getting dates just haven’t had any luck finding someone interested in a long-term relationship,” she replied. “Maybe I should just get a dog.”
“You would mate with a canine?”
Jackie laughed. “Not unless he was a humanoid canine. I meant as a companion animal since I have no mate and now I will have no roommate either.”
“Very likely. E’Dar was determined to convince Rhonna to become his life mate.”
“I’m pretty sure Rhonna was going to commit to him. They emailed extensively and talked about everything. She just wanted to meet him face to face before she committed to mate with him. He seems very nice.”
“He is. E’Dar is a good and honorable man. We grew up on Narova as neighbors, went to the same schools, and learned what you would call martial arts together. He went to law school, and I went to Law Enforcement Academy. But we have remained friends.”
“Ah, so that’s how you got roped into escorting me while they are bonding."
“I was glad to do it---especially now that I've met you,” he smiled sincerely. “I would certainly like to know you better.”
Jackie smiled back at him. He was not only gorgeous, but he was also nice too.
“This café is fully automated. As you probably determined, the touch screen is the menu. Shall we order?”
“Sure, I like most everything if it’s not too spicy. What do you recommend?”
He scrolled through the menu to something that looked like roasted meat and vegetables over rice. “This is pretty tasty and not too spicy.”
“It looks good. I’ll try it.”
“It is good. I’ll order it for both of us and some lightly sweet fruit juice to drink.” Once he had chosen their food, he passed his hand over the ID plate to make payment directly from his account.
Their meals and drinks arrived by an auto-bot cart, which transferred them to their table. Then it left. The food was steaming hot, so Jackie took a sip of the juice. It was kind of a cross between orange and peach and not overly sweet, but just right.
“Do you know if they have made progress with opening diplomatic relations with Earth?” Jackie asked.
“There is not much that I can tell you right now, but there is a lot of political posturing among the countries within your United Nations.”
“And the US?”
“We have a relationship with them, but it’s closed to the public. I can’t tell more than that.”
“Well, that’s no surprise,” Jackie laughed. “Can you tell me how the Alliance chose the US for their base?”
Bladen smiled faintly. “There was no US in the early fifteen hundreds Earth time. Just the native population. Our predecessors were probably the stuff of legends. They originally set up the base to protect the natives from non-Alliance exploitation, particularly from slavers like the Tenzari. Humanoid trafficking.”
“The internet site says there are thousands of your people living on Earth,” she said.
“There are, but they’ve assimilated into the cultures of the regions where they live. They are all humanoid---felines and sapiens.”
“Okay, so how is it that the felines are finding genetic mates on Earth. We are all “sapiens.”
“Well---not exactly,” Bladen admitted. “Felines have been coming to Earth for hundreds of years. Many mated with resident sapiens because they were the only humanoids available. Many sapiens carry feline genetic markers while having no feline physical traits. Apparently, you don’t, or if you do, your match is not in the interplanetary database---probably because it’s very expensive.”
“So, does that mean that E’Dar is wealthy?”
“He has a fair amount of resources, but he’s not vastly wealthy,” he said. “He has more than enough to provide a home and necessities for a family.”
“That’s really all Rhonna wants---but she is willing to work, too. These days most women on Earth, at least in the US have some kind of job.”
“In our society, too,” he said. “There are many women in law enforcement and just about any other occupation you can think of.”
By then the food had cooled, and Jackie picked up a small mouthful with the eating tongs. “Mmmm, this is good,” Bladen smiled as she ate with relish and started eating his food as well.
“After our meal, I thought we could take a walk in the gardens. Do you like to dance?”
“Yes, I do---but I probably don’t know the same dances you do…” she looked at him uncertainly.
“Don’t be so sure. This place I have in mind is a New York style club. As I remember, there is no right or wrong way to dance.”
“Well, that’s a surprise. I guess I thought things would be more---more alien here.”
“There is a lot of Earth influence on the culture here in Mars City. Many people from here vacation on Earth. The dance club owners spent some time clubbing in New York City. They thought it was great fun and decided it might be profitable here. That was a few years ago,” he explained. “But if you want to experience the alien culture there are some places I could show you tomorrow.”
“I’d like that, too,” she smiled at him.
They finished their meal in an amiable silence. When they finished, Bladen tucked her hand under his arm as they strolled away from the café. It was a short walk to the botanical garden, where Jackie was surprised to see many familiar Earth plants as well as exotic alien varieties. Earth was the closest Class M planet, so it was faster and more economical to bring samples from Earth. The so-called garden was multiple gardens adjacent to one another with paths through and around them. The two had barely explored a third of the gardens when it was time to go to the dance club.
Jackie had never been to New York City, let alone at that kind of exclusive venue. She had only seen them on TV. This one had a name she could barely pronounce, but Blade translated it to Night Players. Many of the tunes played sounded familiar, but the words were sung in Galactic common. It didn’t matter for dancing, all one needed was to find the beat. It seemed like everyone was doing their own thing to the fast songs, so Jackie danced like she did at home and Blade seemed to follow along.
As they danced through several fast songs, Jackie had to remind herself that she was in a dance club on Mars---dancing with a gorgeous, abate human, alien on Mars! Then the music stopped abruptly for a few beats then went into a slow song. She looked up at Blade tentatively, but he didn’t hesitate, took her hand, and moved in close, pulling her against him to dance slowly. He smelled wonderfully male, and the warmth of his hard body was extremely alluring. His arm tightened around her as he laid his cheek on the top of her head.
Romance was the last thing Jackie expected in Mars City. With Rhonna bonding with her new mate, she had expected to spend most of her evenings in her hotel room with a good book on her tablet reader. She had only known Blade less than a day, and he was plowing through all her defenses.
When the music stopped, she started to withdraw from his embrace, but he didn’t let her go. She looked up at him, and he lowered his head to kiss her, his tongue gently tracing her lips before he ended the kiss. A loud, fast song pounded from the speakers. Instead of resuming dancing, Blade led her by the hand off the dance floor and out of the club. They walked until they were out of earshot of passersby and Blade stopped and turned to face her.
“Jackie, you are so beautiful, and I am so attracted to you. I wish to bond with you sexually,” he said quietly, earnestly.
The fact that he wanted her was not a surprise, only that he was so direct about it. “What does that mean? I got the sex part, then what?”
“Ahh! I see. I wish to become your bond mate---to learn if we should be life mates.”
“Are you for real?” but she could see that he was even as she said it.
He slid his arms around her, pulled her close, and proceeded to kiss her long and slow. Without even thinking, Jackie wound her arms around his neck and leaned into him. She opened her mouth instinctively to his probing tongue, sighing as he caressed hers with it. Why deny it? She wanted him as much as the hardness against her belly told her he wanted her. He was not only gorgeous, but he was also a good man.
“Then I guess we’d better go back to the hotel,” she said when her mouth was free again.
Blade grinned down at her, turned to the side with one arm around her shoulders, and started walking. “I think that’s an excellent idea.”
Jackie never had sex with a man on the first date…before. But she had never met a man like Blade before. Even though it was different from the recognition between E’Dar and Rhonna, the attraction between them was undeniable. By the time, they got to her hotel room they were both highly aroused. In between deep searing kisses and they helped each other divest their clothing.
When they finally faced each other naked for the first time, Blade smiled at her as he took in her firm, medium sized breasts, defined waistline, the curve of her hip and long legs. He held out his arms, and she went into them. He hugged her tightly against him with her head resting against his shoulder. Her naked body felt warm and wonderful against him. She would feel even better with his cock deep inside her. He didn’t think he had ever been so hard.
She tilted back her head to look into his eyes. The intensity of his desire caused her pussy to contract as her desire built. There was no future or past, only now in Blade’s arms.
He bowed his head to kiss her and lifted her up, so his cock was between her legs, its length pressing against her pussy. Kissing her, he backed her toward the bed then let her down on to it. She scooted toward the center, and he followed. He started with the top of her foot, kissing, and tasting her, and worked his way up her leg to her mound. He paused to breathe in her scent and swipe his tongue up through her cleft and over her throbbing core.
She moaned and raised her hips to encourage him to continue, but he went on to explore her other leg from the top to the bottom and back. He paused at her center again and briefly teased her clit with his tongue before kissing and tasting his way over her belly and rib cage to her breasts. Her nipples were already puckered into hard peaks even before he started sucking them, alternating his attention from one to the other.
Jackie moaned and sighed caressing his head and shoulders. Pleasure from the stimulation of her nipples surged directly to her sex. It made her eager for him to slide his hard shaft into her velvet chamber. She sighed wistfully when he left her breasts and dragged his mouth down over her belly to her pussy. He parted her outer lips and pressed his open lips over her clit, gently sucking and lapping at it with the tip of his tongue.
Her pleasure was excruciating, and she cried out, digging her fingers into the bed cover. Then he slipped two fingers into her opening, sliding them in and out while his mouth worked her nub. By then she was nearly babbling incoherently as her orgasm built. She crooned loudly when her release came, and her inner walls contracted against his fingers and her hips raised and lowered with each one. A new wave would come each time he flicked his tongue over her core.
He stopped when he could wait no longer for his release. He moved over her, and she drew her knees up and opened her thighs to cradle his hips as he slid his shaft deep inside her. She made inarticulate sounds of pleasure as he began thrusting in and out of her. She stroked the smooth skin of his back with her hands and raised her hips upward to meet each thrust.
They stared into each other’s eyes with heightened awareness as their bodies surged and ebbed together. Mirrored in their eyes were a sense of oneness and the seeds of a deep abiding love that would last a lifetime. They climaxed within seconds of each other and lay joined for a long time afterward kissing and caressing.
“You are mine, and I am yours,” Blade whispered.
Jackie smiled at him and said, “I am yours, and you are mine.”
“That is what the felines say when they bond sexually with their meomee,” he told her. “If I were feline, you would be mine. I feel like we should be.”
“Me too.”
Eventually, they parted and laid together, Jackie’s head rested in the hollow of his shoulder with his arm wrapped around her shoulders.
“When I get to Earth, I will be working undercover in Washington, DC. Would you come live with me there?”
“I will have to find a new job, but I would like that.”
Blade's and Jackie's shuttle landed at the secret Alliance base in West Virginia. There, Blade picked up his assigned car, and he drove them to Washington, DC where his new apartment was located. Traffic was heavy, and travel was slow within the city proper. They were stopped at a traffic light when a deafening noise began. It sounded like a combination of a freight train, a tornado, and thunder all at once. The air around them crackled with energy. It went on for about twenty minutes.
Jackie screamed as a beam cut away the road in front of them. Although Blade was sitting right beside her, he couldn’t hear the sound. The strange beam didn’t stop at the road. It sliced through the sidewalks, buildings cutting out a huge square of real estate as far as they could see, and at least three hundred feet deep. Everything in front of them was just gone, the road, cars, buildings, pedestrians all gone.
When the sound stopped, their ears were ringing. A shiver of fear ran up and down Blade’s spine while Jackie sobbed beside him. “Oh, my God. Oh, my God!” she cried, “What the hell just happened?”
“I think it might be Drayids. This is how they subjugate and annex less advanced worlds.”
“They killed all of those people?”
“Yes,” Blade murmured grimly. “They’ve probably killed millions all over this world. They don’t just hit one populated area. They usually hit several main urban centers in the world they intend to conquer.”
“Oh, my God,” Jackie repeated. “If this light hadn’t been red, we would be dead.”
“I know,” said Blade. “I need to go back to base.” He looked into the rear-view mirror and saw that people were making U-turns and heading back the way they came. In a matter of minutes, he could back up far enough from the chasm in front of their car, so he could turn around and head back to base. It was even slower going back because people were in a panic to get away.
The further from the city they went the less snarled traffic was. Within minutes of the alien attack, someone from the Alliance base commed Blade to return there just as he expected.
#
Raptor One was one its way back to their normal patrol area outside the Sol system. There was nothing more Captain Marrek could do to promote diplomatic relations between the Alliance and the multiple governments of Earth. No one knew how long they would squabble before deciding whether to cooperatively open relations with the Alliance
Never mind that the Alliance was more advanced both technologically and militarily than all Earth nations combined. They had the power to force Earth to comply, but it was against Alliance policy to force any world to join the Alliance despite the advantages they could offer. The Alliance would wait for them to make that decision on their own.