Chapter 29

Xivthar couldn't decide whether to weep or scream. Whether to tear the clothes off the woman in front of him, or whether to hurl invectives at her, or furnishings.

"AHHH!" he yelled, letting her go to run his hands through his tendrils again. "I can't take this. Not now. My planet needs me and instead I've... I've... fuck!"

Sylvie reached up and brushed her fingers along his face, her expression softening fast. "Calm down. Take a deep breath and explain to me what you mean. What is this mating frenzy?"

"Zantharian males and females can have sex with one another and reach a sort of climax, but without the male releasing his seed. Zantharian females have only one egg for reproduction, and they are very selective about the male chosen to fertilize it. So while we have sex for pleasure, most of the time it isn't for procreation."

“Oh.” She sat in the chair beside him and glanced up. “I wondered why you didn’t come when we made love.”

“Now you know.” He shrugged and ran his hand over his handsome face.

"But you have a brother," she pointed out.

"A rarity. On occasion, about one in 100,000 births, the embryo splits and one egg hatches two babies."

"Like human twins."

X nodded. The fact that his mother had been able to have two children had set her apart from so many others. Yet another thing that had made her a miraculous woman.

He turned away, pacing the small sitting room, leaving the Earthling to watch him with worry in her eyes. "When a Zantharian female has chosen to accept a male's seed, she can prompt him to go into the mating frenzy. This prepares the male to release his seed and ensures that the egg is fertilized."

Sylvie nodded, motioning for him to go on. As a biologist, she understood the details of such a reproductive arrangement without him going over them.

"However, it also ensures that unsuitable males are taken out of the gene pool." He took a deep breath, anxious to reveal the depth of his anguish.

"If a male goes into the mating frenzy uninvited, and no female allows him to fertilize her egg within a few days, the frenzy will grow worse until he eventually dies. The release will push back into my own body and it’s toxic. I’ll have cardiac arrest." He shrugged, not wanting pity, but knowing without a doubt that he had to prepare for the worst.

“Wow,” she whispered and glanced down toward her hands. It was all he could do not to pull her up and kiss her hard, forcing her to comply with his needs and the demands of his body.

Xivthar stopped his pacing and returned to her, staring down into her lovely face, a face that even now made his stomach clench with need for more of her. "Do you see what's happened?"

"You've gone into the mating frenzy. Over me?" She sounded as incredulous as he felt.

"I didn't think it was possible either. You're not even my species, but the signs are all there."

He opened his hand and began ticking the points off on his fingers.

"My skin has gone black. It will remain this color until I release my seed, or I perish. It’s the fucking toxins in my body. My moods are cycling rapidly and I feel intense physical pain when I'm separated from you. I felt like my parents had passed again when I woke and you were gone. I have the intense and unbearable need to release my seed into you, to fuck you over and over until you can’t hold yourself up, nor can I." He closed his fingers into a fist and moved his hand down to his side, hoping that she couldn't see how badly he was shaking.

"So you brought me back to release your seed into me?" Her voice was quiet, confused. She was devastatingly beautiful and the idea of mating to her would haunt him until his death arrived if she rejected his need.

Xivthar laughed. If only it were that easy.

"I don't even think I can. Like I said, we aren't the same species. My seed shouldn't be able to fertilize your eggs; therefore, it shouldn't be able to be released at all. My body knows the truth of what will happen and won’t release until it’s a sound investment."

"And you'll die because of this?" Her pitch had raised an octave as her eyes widened and filled with tears.

Maybe the thought upsets her? Does she care for me?

"I brought you back because I need you by my side. You're the only one besides my brother I trust to help me root out the enemy threat before my time... expires. I hope you understand. I’ll give you safe passage as the time draws near. Just help me. Please?"

Sylvie shook her head, the blond mess upon it catching his attention and holding him there as the air seemed harder and harder to breathe. "There are several problems with your plan, not the least of which is that your people are calling for my blood. What will they do if they discover that I'm your mate? They'll never accept that I'm working for you. They'll think I did this to you on purpose."

Maybe you did, an insidious voice inside him whispered. Maybe she's forced the frenzy on you to take you out. The kidnapping failed, so perhaps they figured seduction would be a more suitable weapon of destruction.

Now it was Xivthar's turn to shake his head to clear it of unwanted thoughts. No. I trust her. It isn't her fault. She hadn't even known about the frenzy.

Still, the nagging doubt had taken hold of his mind, and he couldn't let it go. The regent pulled her to his side, wanting to both punish her and plunge himself into her over and over again. She smelled like heaven, the soft scent of their sex still on her.

"Why did you leave?" He brushed his fingers by her face and pulled her flush against him.

Sylvie's eyes searched his before glancing away. "I'd fulfilled my end of the bargain. It was time for me to go home."

"So last night meant nothing to you?" He needed it to mean something. It meant too much to him. One night of passion that would cost him his life, and she treated it as if it were nothing more than an appointment on her calendar.

"Like you said," she mumbled, "we both were curious and this was one way to find out what it would be like to sleep with an alien. When it was over, I figured it was time for me to go. I didn’t want to change my mind, X. I didn't know you'd... that this would... you know."

Her voice petered out and she stood there, staring down at the floor, looking so damn innocent.

His heart felt like it was being ravaged by gnarsharks. "I might have said that before, but after what happened between us, how special it was... how could you just walk away from that? It meant nothing to you."

It wasn’t a question, but a statement of fact where he was concerned.

She looked up at him, her eyes blurry with unshed tears. "Your people will never accept me. The longer I stay here, the more you earn their scorn. Now I've destroyed you, just by giving in to my desires. No wonder your people want my blood. I can't say I blame them."

His thumb stroked over her cheek, catching a teardrop as it fell. The softness in her lit a hope inside of him.

"No, baby," he crooned, pulling her into the circle of his arms and stroking her soft hair. "There is no blame to be given. We share in this equally and yet neither of us could have known that this would happen."

"How can I help you?" she whispered. "What can we do to reverse this frenzy? Your people must have some kind of cure?"

Xivthar shook his head. "We haven't really looked for one. This is how our gene pool stays strong. Since our population is severely limited, it's important that we continue such customs. For a male to die during the mating frenzy is rare simply because most are accepted by their chosen mates. The few that aren't usually had mental health issues to begin with."

She let out a bitter laugh as a tear dripped onto her cheek. "Great, but ‘my mate has a screw loose’ isn’t going to work for us."

He knew that she was being uncomplimentary, but hearing the phrase "my mate" on her lips caused his cock to instantly harden under his sarong. Growling, he pulled her in tighter and ran his hands down her back.

Her eyes widened. "I thought you couldn't..."

"That doesn't mean that I don't desire you. That I don’t think you’re the most beautiful creature I’ve ever seen, Sylvie." He leaned in, holding her face in his hands to steady her. He brushed his lips across hers, deepening the kiss as she pressed into it. The emotions inciting riots inside him narrowed until only lust was left.

"I need you," he whispered, and moved to suck on her earlobe while brushing the back of his fingers over her bare stomach. She trembled in his arms, but didn’t pull away.

“Take me then,” she mumbled before pressing her lips to his dark chest and licking softly.

He picked her up into his arms as relief flooded him. If he weren’t capable of release, they would know soon. Either way, she would be beside him when he passed. A chime sounded at the door behind him and he let out a long groan.

Putting her down, he covered himself with the cloak and walked to the door, not quite yet willing to release the membrane. "Who's there?"

"It's Major Kremkrall. There's been a disturbance at the Ministry of Science. Reports say that the Hareema have tried to destroy the Earthling's ship."

Xivthar turned to the female. She stared back at him with eyes wide.

He'd feared allowing her to see her ship, in part because he knew she would want to leave if she could get it activated, but also because he knew she would present a tempting target to the enemy. It looked like they wouldn't be able to avoid investigating the ship now.

As much as he didn't want to put her in danger, he was sure she would insist, which she did, immediately.

"We've got to get to my ship. There could be a clue as to who's behind all of this, X."

Xivthar nodded. She was right. Despite his desire to lock her up for her own safety, he could not physically bear being parted from her.

I'll keep her safe, he told himself. Even if it costs my life. Besides, without her, I haven't got much of a life left.