FIFTEEN
Kate woke before Vaxa for once. Perhaps it was the result of nerves, given that today was the mating ceremony. She still didn’t quite know what that involved, but…she’d find out soon.
The bed was the most comfortable bed she’d ever slept in. And the largest. It needed to accommodate a seven-foot alien with massive bulk, after all. Massive bulk she was currently snuggled up against. She had never been a cuddler with Peter. They’d slept on opposite sides of the bed and kept to their own schedules.
But with Vaxa…she was draped over him like his own personal human blanket. It was like her body subconsciously sought him out throughout the night. Her cheek was pressed against one of his pectorals, using his bicep as her pillow. The metal piercing through his nipple glinted as the first shards of light beamed through their window.
She’d meant to ask him about the piercings, she remembered. Last night, she’d wondered about them, as she watched him bathe after their discussion. Her blatant appreciative gaze led to other, more pleasurable things, and her question had been lost. She lightly touched his nipple, studying the way the light reflected on his skin, its iridescent quality mesmerizing her.
“Female,” he rasped, making her jump in surprise. “Do you need to be pleasured?”
What a question first thing in the morning…
Kate bit back a smile, recovering from her shock. “No. I was just wondering about these,” she murmured, lightly touching his nipple.
He made a grunting noise, a somewhat disappointed grunting noise, like he’d wanted her to say yes.
“Do all Luxirians have them?”
“Nix, not all,” he murmured. He sounded positively sinful with his morning voice and he shifted his arm from underneath her to flex it above his head, stretching. A flood of arousal shot to her core, as she watched those finely honed, corded muscles flex under his skin. He looked down at her, clearly aware that she was turned on, and he turned on his side, his impossibly thick, ridged cock pressing into her thigh. “Are you certain, my Kat?” he asked again.
“Yes,” she said, on the verge of a damn giggle. “Tell me about your piercings.”
He lifted his shoulder, a Luxirian version of a shrug, she guessed. “It is tradition, once we complete military training. An old tradition. To be honest, I am not sure why it is one.”
“Wow, you don’t know something for once,” she teased.
His smile made butterflies swarm in her stomach. “Just this once.”
Arrogant male. She loved it.
“Come,” he said. “This span we must visit with Privanax. And I have final preparations to make. We will be gone for a few spans. Keriva will bring another finished covering for you after the first meal. Not like you will need it.”
Kate bit her lip, swallowing hard at his implication. “And what time do we leave for the Rav-rav…rav-rix—”
“The Ravrax’tor,” he finished for her. “We will depart just before the suns set.” She’d noticed that the days seemed longer on Luxiria, so they still had hours to go. “And later tonight,” he growled, pulling her close. He skimmed his hand down her body until he touched the place between her legs. “I will be here. So deep inside that we will be one.”
Her breath went shallow. Yes, she realized. She wanted that. With him, she was completely honest with her desires. And even if it didn’t make sense, why she would involve herself with someone she was very much in danger of falling for…dammit, she wanted him so bad.
“I will send for our first meal,” he murmured in her ear, inhaling her scent. “And then begins the longest span of my life time.”
* * *
The labs were near the docking port they’d initially arrived into. As the hovercraft zoomed over the vast, expanse of Luxirian land, Kate saw that they were approaching a silver dome, much like the domed homes on the city, at the base of the mountain.
They landed in front of it and Kate got her first real look at the black sand that spread over the planet’s surface. She reached down to touch it when they disembarked the hovercraft—it was so fine that it felt like silk—but pulled her hand back quickly because of the heat. She mentally thanked Keriva for the thick sandal-like shoes she’d crafted for her. Briefly, she remembered the hot sand on the first planet she’d been on, the one that Vaxa had taken her from. She remembered the chanting crowd, the paralyzing fear.
It was such a stark difference to how she felt now: nervous, yes, but cared for and safe. And she realized that she was grateful Vaxa had saved her that day. She trusted him to protect her. She knew he would.
For the first time, she wondered if there was a rush to get back to her planet, but then shook her head, knowing that this was not the time to be thinking such things.
They approached the doors of the lab, tucked just underneath the dome, and Kate realized that while Luxirians seemed to enjoy the rustic aspects of their culture, with their homes made out of mountain rock and hot springs as bath tubs, they were very technologically advanced. Of course, she’d known this. They could travel through space. But walking through the automatic doors of the labs, she was struck by how far they’d come in comparison to Earth.
Everything was pristine. They entered a chamber and Vaxa told her to stand still as a laser swept her body. He told her it was so they wouldn’t bring any unwanted bacteria into the lab and once they were done, they stepped through.
She was greeted by a series of hallways. Vaxa immediately walked down one and as they passed panels of windows, Kate snuck glances inside each room. Most seemed empty but some were occupied.
Inside one room she saw a Luxirian man, dressed in the Luxirian version of a hazard suit, it seemed, as he experienced with brightly colored liquids. Smoke filled the room so thickly that she wondered how in the world he could even see what he was doing clearly.
“Most are researchers,” Vaxa told her, “trying to find a cure for the virus the Jetutians attacked us with.”
“Oh,” she said quietly. “And Privanax…he is a researcher or a doctor?”
“Somewhat of both.”
They approached the last door of this particular hallway. This door had no window panel so she couldn’t see inside. Vaxa slid his palm on the silver pad next to the door and after a series of high-pitched chirps and beeps, the door unbolted and he pushed it open.
An older Luxirian stood near a monitor that projected a blue-hued hologram, something straight out of a movie. When she realized what the hologram was, however, she gulped. It was a skeletal image of a human body…or something that looked very much like a human.
“Prime Leader,” the man greeted, who she assumed was Privanax. He peered at the both of them over the hologram. “I was not anticipating your arrival so early in the span.”
“I see that Kirov had the foresight to give you a language implant,” Vaxa said.
“I requested one, actually. I knew that I would be in contact with the lavrix’an eventually,” Privanax said, looking towards Kate with a scientific curiosity. “I am most pleased to see you, lavrix’an. I have been studying your race most thoroughly this past span.”
“Oh,” Kate said slowly, not sure if she should be flattered or worried.
“Very interesting biology and not very different from Luxirians,” Privanax said, turning back to his hologram. “All major organs are in almost the same places. Although your body temperature is much higher than a Luxirian. Our planet must feel very hot to you.”
“Yes,” she said. “It’s sweltering.”
She thought that perhaps she’d get used to it within the month. The evenings were nice and cool once those twin suns set, but during the day…it was like Florida in the middle of summer, only twenty degrees hotter.
“Once a blood bond is formed during the ravraxia and renewed every rotation, I believe that your body will adapt to the heat with time,” he said, as though to soothe her worries. Before she could ask about that, he moved onto another question. “Are human females fertile all spans of the rotation or just at certain times? Luxirian females have,” he frowned, “or had a half lunar cycle breeding period.”
“Um,” Kate murmured, glancing up at Vaxa, her cheeks burning. He looked just as curious, gazing down at her with heat in his eyes, and she inhaled a sharp breath. “I—well, it’s technically a week…but there is a better chance for only a day or two.”
She couldn’t believe that she was talking about human female ovulation with an alien doctor/researcher while her alien lover—almost lover?—stood by and intently listened. Talk about one of the more ‘what the fuck’ moments of her lifetime.
“One or two spans?” Privanax said, his tone rising in what Kate assumed was surprise. She saw him glance at Vaxa. “I suppose I will need to run calculations on when this time period will be once I take blood samples and observe the lavrix’an. Prime Leader, you will most likely need to take an absence from your duties to be with your female when she is in heat. Or else you may miss the opportune time to impregnate—”
“We’re not here about getting me pregnant,” Kate cut in, face flaming. She couldn’t quite meet the doctor’s eyes. “I mean, we don’t even know for sure if he can get me pregnant.”
“If the Instinct has chosen you for him, then of course, humans and Luxirians are biologically compatible,” the doctor said, something she’d already heard before.
“Yes, and if that is the case…” she said, taking a deep breath. She looked at Vaxa but he certainly didn’t look like he would help her with what she really wanted to know. “Seeing as how Vaxa and I will be…intimate, I would like some form of birth control.”
“Birth control?” Privanax repeated slowly. When he realized what she was asking for, his gaze swung once more to Vaxa. “Prime Leader?”
“Give her what she wishes for,” was all Vaxa said in reply although Kate could hear the tension in his voice. Did Luxirians not believe in birth control? Had she committed some other Luxirian faux-pas?
“I will need to take a blood sample from you, lavrix’an,” the doctor said. “To ensure that our medicines will not harm you. It will just take a few moments.”
Kate swallowed, but nodded. She hated needles, but this was way more important. Privanax drew out a small contraption, steel in color, no needle in sight. When he disinfected a spot on her forearm, she drew in a breath when the contraption poked her sharply before withdrawing. It hardly hurt; it had just surprised her and the hole in her arm was so tiny that she could hardly see it.
Vaxa reached out a hand to stroke her shoulder as Privanax went over to a lab set-up on the opposite wall. He poured the drop of her blood into a rounded tube of green liquid and then clicked it into a huge metal contraption on the bench.
Vaxa was quiet next to her and she peeked up at him. She could sense that he didn’t want her on birth control. He’d as good as told her last night that he wanted to get her pregnant, but until she could sort things out in her head, this was the way it had to be.
Privanax returned to them a moment later with a firm nod. In his hands was a gold cuff and she looked down at it in confusion.
“I will keep your blood sample for future research, lavrix’an. I hope you do not mind.”
“No, of course not,” she said.
“This is our ‘birth control,’” he said to her, fastening the golden cuff around her wrist. “The chemicals under the band seep into your skin at a constant, carefully timed rate to prevent the seed from catching in the womb. Keep it on if you wish to deter pregnancy.”
The gold gleamed harshly against her light skin and she stared down at it, nodding. “Alright.”
“I must caution you, lavrix’an,” Privanax said, glancing at Vaxa. “If the Fates will it so, not even this will prevent you from getting pregnant. The Fates sometimes know what is best for us, even though we do not see it for ourselves at the time.”
Kate swallowed and looked up from the band, placing her hand at her side. She wasn’t one for religion, but she could respect that these Fates were important to Luxirians and their culture. “Thank you. I’ll keep that in mind.”
Privanax nodded and then glanced at Vaxa, his pupils flickering between the two of them. “Once you return from the Ravrax’tor, I will have done more research into the human race. If you would not mind, lavrix’an, one span, if you can spare it, can you come to me? I will have many questions, I am sure. It is very rare that we encounter a new species. It is very…exciting. Perhaps in studying your reproductive biology, it can help our own females.”
“Yes, of course,” Kate said. Even though that would make for one interesting conversation, if she could help them, she would. She remembered Keriva, remembered the flash of loss across her face when she’d admitted that Luxirian females could no longer conceive.
“Thank you, lavrix’an.”
“We must go,” Vaxa said, placing a hand at the base of her spine. “We still have much to prepare for.”
“The Fates watch over you,” Privanax said, inclining his head.
Kate glanced once more at the golden cuff around her wrist and then they departed.
* * *
Vaxa was right. There was much to prepare for. By the time, they finally boarded the hovercraft as the suns slowly began their descent in the sky, Kate had been washed, preened, put in a dress that was on the verge of being transparent, her hair styled in an intricate braid/knot at the base of her neck, all by a small team of Luxirian women, all of them older, except for Keriva.
By the time Vaxa had finally returned from who knows where, she was ready to escape the clutches of those women. Except for the way his eyes lingered on her body, which he could clearly see through the dress, Vaxa simply held out his hand to her and growled, “Come, female.”
He led her to the hovercraft parked on the terrace outside. Kate breathed a sigh of relief that the heat had subsided at least a little bit, but she was self-conscious about her body. Not that Vaxa could see it—hell, he’d seen it on a daily basis for the past week—but that the Luxirians would be able to from below as they passed through the city.
“Which direction are we going?” she asked him, trying to calm her nerves. It turned out that she didn’t need to be self-conscious after all because Vaxa brought her around in front of him, her hips pressed into the console, much like yesterday after they’d landed on the planet. He drew his arm across her breasts, covering her while simultaneously pressing her more into his body, where she could feel just how hard he was.
Tonight, he’d finally inch that cock inside of her and not for the first time, she wondered whether they would even fit, if she’d be able to accommodate the sheer size of him. Because she wanted to. She so wanted to.
With his other hand, he gestured towards the expanse of Luxiria, where she could see mountainous regions rising out of flat lands, where the twin suns were sinking into the sky. “Ravrax’tor. Where our people first settled and where the Fates first unleashed us onto this land. That is where all mating ceremonies take place.”
“And where we will be sleeping?” she questioned, a little unnerved about sleeping out in the open. While she would love to see the night sky from a different planet, she didn’t want to when there were possibly dangerous animals lurking around. She was pretty sure that this rah-vrax-tour was where they hunted big game.
He dragged his lips across the top of her exposed ear. She shivered, a wave of sharp arousal resonating through her. She clenched her thighs together, amazed by how much she desired him.
“You will see,” was all he said. He powered up the hovercraft and then they shot into the sky. Below, all throughout the mountain city, Luxirians had gathered to see them off and their cheers and cries heralded them as they raced across air.