by Amber Stuart
He shook his head again. “I won’t risk losing you. I’ve looked too long—” He broke off, his eyes stormy, and his expression revealing nothing but stubborn resistance. “It’s out of the question.”
She shook her head at him. “You came to me for help. This is how I can do that.”
“Absolutely not,” he roared again. “I won’t lose my mate after searching so long for you, certain I would never find you.”
“You’re being unreasonable. I’m perfectly capable of…” She trailed off as his words penetrated the haze in her brain. “What are you talking about? I’m not your mate.” She shook her head. “I barely know you.”
Ryland sighed, rubbing a hand down his perfectly sculpted face in a weary gesture that was surprisingly human. “Our people have a finely developed mating instinct.”
“You mean a healthy sex drive?”
He made a sound that could have been a snort or a laugh. “Yes, I suppose we have that as well, but I mean we have an instinct inside us, one science has never fully explained, that guides us to our intended mate. In many of the men born today, the instinct is dormant, and our scientists have begun to believe we’ve evolved past it due to a lack of females to keep it active.
“Perhaps it could be due to the genetic tampering of our scientists that allow any reproduction at all as well. Whatever the cause, it’s mostly regarded as an old-fashioned or out-of-place ability. I considered it the same, until I saw your picture. I didn’t have the mating flare, but I felt something that instinctively told me I would when I saw you in person and not just from a picture.”
She frowned. “When you saw my blog, you mean?”
He hesitated before shaking his head. “No, I saw you before then. When I first suspected Dr. Ha had gone rogue to undertake his operation, I tracked down all the known Earth women with Kaiser’s Syndrome.”
He shook his head. “No, that’s not quite right. More than a dozen women had already disappeared, coinciding with his known whereabouts on his supposed hiatus, and when I realized they all had a genetic mutation that he had described as ideal for our genetics in his last reports before taking time off ‘to rest,’ I determined the location of the others.”
Confusion filled her. “Wait? Were you watching Dr. Ha before he started kidnapping women?”
Ryland nodded once. “I was assigned the duty. My superior felt it prudent, considering Dr. Ha’s publically stated leanings toward coercion and kidnapping of compatible species—especially if they were technologically inferior to us and couldn’t offer a meaningful resistance.”
She frowned at him. “So you knew all the women at risk, and you didn’t warn them?”
He hesitated again before sighing. “I wanted to, but the decision was made by the High Council that we would simply observe and intercede when the timing was right.” He scowled, and a look of disgust crept over his face. “It’s my belief that there are enough people on the High Council who wanted to see Dr. Ha’s results that they deliberately dragged their feet, though that action is contrary to the decision reached by the General Council, with input offered by every Dazon.”
She softened slightly toward him. “Are you the only one assigned to this case?”
Ryland paused, nodded, and then paused again before shaking his head. “I am assigned, but I’m not authorized to act directly. I’m supposed to be observing, but when I realized they were moving into New York, I knew I had to protect you. When you posted your blog article, it gave me the perfect opening to approach you without arousing suspicion, or drawing Ha’s attention if he has someone on the Council supporting his research. If Jorvak knows you’re my mate, it might make him more determined than ever to take you.”
She ignored the bit about being his mate for a moment to focus on the question burning on the tip of her tongue. “Why would that be? Does he know you personally?”
Ryland nodded. “Quite personally. We have the same genetic father, though we were grown in exo-wombs several cycles apart.”
Her mouth dropped open. “He’s your brother?”
Ryland paused, as though processing an answer. “I suppose from a human definition, he would be my half-brother, but due to our scientists’ manipulation, we’re actually more like eighty percent of our father, and only about twenty percent of the genetic material contributed by the Dazon female who mothered us. We had separate donor mothers, in an attempt to maintain genetic diversity as much as possible.”
She rubbed her brow as she tried to absorb his words, her kinky curls clinging to her hand in the process. She shoved them away with an impatient flick of her hand. “So why would he be interested because you’re involved?” She absolutely wasn’t going to utter anything about being his mate. Jada wasn’t going to indulge the delusion—or admit to herself how much she liked the idea, though it was completely implausible and ridiculous.
“Jorvak will dismiss most unscientific things, but if he knows I have experienced the mating flare when I first saw you, he’ll know you’re a close genetic match for me, so you’re likely to be for him as well. It will make the creation of offspring that much easier, and he’s likely to want to claim you for his mate, not just as another source of eggs for harvesting.”
“Oh, goodie.” She gave a sharp little laugh. “It’s strictly a genetic thing, not because you guys are blood enemies or something then?”
He shook his head. “Jorvak and I have very little communication or interface, Jada. Familial bonds are not the same in recent generations. They can’t be due to the changes in our world and the loss of females.”
She let out a heavy sigh. “I hope you aren’t planning to persuade all the Earth women to donate genetic material to raise children with that information. It all sounds so sterile, and you aren’t even really family anymore. Most women are not going to go for that.”
He took a step toward her, and his legs were so long that the single step swallowed most of the space remaining between them. “Then perhaps you will tell me what most Earth women would go for, Jada?”
It was an innocuous question, but the smoky tint to his voice rendered it something altogether different. Her nipples hardened against the fabric of her oversized dress, and she struggled for a moment to draw in a deep breath as his physical proximity struck her.
“Earth women are going to want love. They’ll want to be cherished and have an equal partnership, to know the union is more than just some sort of reproductive act. They’re also going to want to be involved with raising their offspring. Most women, and men for that matter, are hardwired to care for our young. You aren’t going to find many women who will voluntarily hand over their eggs and not care about the outcome, or the child that could result.
“I don’t know what your people have planned, but if you really want this to be a consensual arrangement, you’re going to have to change your presentation and offer the women of Earth something more than a cold, scientific contract.”
He lifted a hand and hovered near her cheek without quite touching. “What should we offer them, Jada?”
“You should offer to get to know her, and to take her out and become well acquainted with the woman you plan to mate.”
“And if the mating instinct burns brighter when you touch her?” He cupped her cheek as he asked the question, his fingers lightly grazing her skin. “If it feels like your heart will pound out of your chest, and you will die if you don’t have her right that minute, will an Earth woman understand the frantic need and allow a Dazon male to bypass some of the courtship rites?”
She licked her lips as her heart raced even faster in her ears. “It depends on the woman, I guess. Some women are going to want a traditional approach, while other women are more likely to be influenced by a physical response.” As she uttered the last words, she swayed closer to him, until her beaded nipples pressed against the slippery cloth of his black bodysuit.
His entire body seem to hum with warmth, and it was making her body t
emperature rise as well. It also brought a slick wave of molten heat between her legs, and she whimpered as she lifted her hands to grasp his shoulders. “Sometimes, you’ll find a woman who is surprisingly okay with a one-night stand, even if she’s not agreeing to be a mate for life.”
He frowned. “Under the influence of the mating instinct, I can’t imagine anything but mating for life.” As he spoke the last words, his head dipped, and his lips approached hers.
It was all her, and all her choice, when she stretched to close the distance between them and pressed her lips to his. The kiss was intense and explosive, hotter than anything she’d ever known, and her already-racing heart galloped into full speed as she wrapped her arms tightly around him, and he embraced her tightly.
His mouth devoured hers, first with extreme precision before becoming less coordinated and more frantic rather than thoughtful. She was aware of doing the same, of frenzied need beating through her, and the heat of desire pulsing between her legs that urged her to seek relief with the man in her arms.
Alien, whispered a dim voice of the back of her mind, but it barely registered and didn’t matter. She couldn’t imagine any circumstances under which she would lose all desire for him. Perhaps if his golden form melted away to reveal a gelatinous blob with multiple tentacles, she might tear herself away and ran out screaming, but that seemed unlikely.
Partially to reassure herself, and also because she suddenly needed to breathe, she pulled her mouth away from his. “Is this your real form?”
Ryland nodded. “This is my species’ natural appearance, though there are variations in skin tone, eye color, and shade of hair.”
“So there are no surprises, like tentacles underneath, or anything else weird?”
He pressed his forehead to hers as he laughed. “No unpleasant surprises, though I am anatomically different from human males.”
Her stomach rippled with dread. “How? How different?”
He hesitated for a moment before stepping back from her. She felt bereft without his arms around her, but she was curious enough to fight back the compulsion to follow and wrap her arms around him again.
He pressed something on the shoulder of his garment, and it flickered like the Mr. Bland illusion earlier, before disappearing. Once the black garment was gone, or rendered invisible, or teleported to the ninth quadrant of the Gamma galaxy for all she knew, he was completely naked and bare to her visual inspection.
His body was as toned and perfect as the tight-fitting suit had suggested, but it hadn’t revealed his genitalia before. She watched with surprise and awe as his shaft, which had lain dormant against his leg, thickened and sprouted upward.
He was larger than the average Earth man, but not so large as to be frightening or make her think there was no way she could physically accept him. Moved by her curiosity, she dropped to her knees to inspect him more closely. She peered up at him through the veil of her curls before blowing them out of the way with an upward gust of air through her lips. “Is it all right if I touch you?”
His face spasmed in what seemed like agony, but he nodded in an eager fashion. “Please.”
She brought a hand to his shaft, drawing her fingers lightly over the silken skin. He hissed at the first touch of her fingers against him, and she looked up, seeing more of that pleasure/pain expression on his face. She hesitated. “Am I hurting you?”
He shook his head. “No, it just feels amazing. Better than I ever dreamed it would.”
Tentatively, she wrapped her hand around him and stroked up and down, trying to find his most sensitive spots. On a human male, it would be on the underside of the head, but he didn’t have that kind of anatomy.
The shaft was smooth and long, perfectly cylindrical with a rounded tip, and there was a small slit at the end. He produced a clear fluid, though it had a hint of golden bioluminescence to it, and she couldn’t resist the urge to bend forward and extend her tongue, running it lightly over the tip of him to taste his arousal.
Ryland’s pre-cum was thinner than she remembered a human male’s being, but much sweeter. It wasn’t a fruity or a candy type of sweetness. It was simply indescribable, but syrupy and delicious. Drawing back, she looked up at him to tease gently, “Perhaps you won’t have to woo the Earth women after all. If they know how good you taste, they might come supplicating to you on their knees just to drain you dry.”
His skin seemed to flicker, going from light golden-brown to deep bronze for a moment. It was a whole-body effect, but it reminded her of a flush. Was he a little shy about such things? Remembering his comment about it being better than he’d expected, something clicked. “Um, Ryland?”
“Yes, Jada?” His expression was contorted, and his fists clenched tightly at his sides, as though he was barely hanging on to his last shred of control.
“Have you ever done this before?”
He shook his head, gnashing his teeth together for a moment as the chords in his neck tightened. “There are only a few females available for procreation, and none of them mate until their fertility has dwindled. At that point, the highest ranking officials are entitled to offer for them, to care for the females through retirement until death, but the average male doesn’t have a female partner.”
She paused to swirl her tongue around the tip of his penis again, unable to resist sucking for a moment to draw out his sweet fluid. His harsh groan of pleasure also increased her own, and it was difficult to tear herself away to continue the conversation. “What about with each other? Do Dazon men mate with each other?”
“It’s become more common from necessity, but many would still prefer a female mate.”
She hesitated. “Do you have a boyfriend or something?” She wasn’t going to be a cheater, even if it wasn’t considered cheating in his society.
He shook his head. “I experimented a bit as a youngling, but it always felt hollow. It wasn’t what I wanted, or what I craved. There was little difference between pleasuring myself or being pleasured by a partner. Without the mating flare and that intense emotional experience, it’s simply a different form of physical release, and it wasn’t enough for me, so I chose celibacy and self-pleasure.”
She nodded, understanding that. While she had never experimented with anyone from the same gender, she had certainly had her share of disappointing lovers, often reaching the conclusion that it was simpler just to stay home with her vibrator than try to go out and meet another disappointment. Even Barry, whom she had planned to marry, had been only all right in bed, but nothing spectacular. He’d seemingly had so many other things going for him—stability, a grounded outlook, and readiness for a family—that she had considered the sex part unimportant.
Now she considered herself an idiot for ever thinking that way, and it wasn’t just because she’d discovered the truth about Barry. After going eight years without sex, she’d come to realize how much she’d missed it and how much she deserved really good sex.
She had a strong feeling Ryland could certainly provide that. He just might need a little coaxing or coaching. She licked his smooth shaft again before asking, “How far did your experimentation go? Has anyone done this before?” Jada rolled her tongue around the tip of his shaft to punctuate the question.
He groaned and arched his hips forward before saying, “No,” in a choked voice.
It was a little intimidating to be his first, but also endearing and sweetly sexy. Determined to give him pleasure, she opened her mouth as wide as she could and slowly sucked his cock inside. He moaned, and his entire body spasmed as his hands gripped her hair tightly in what seemed to be an instinctive reaction.
She withdrew before sliding her mouth down again, taking as much of him as she could until he breached the back of her throat and reached her limits. She ran her hand up and down the exposed root of his erection, the part where her mouth wouldn’t reach, as she enthusiastically sucked and bobbed her head. His taste was addictive, but his responses were even mor
e so. He looked like he was almost in pain from the amount of pleasure he was feeling.
With a guttural ground, his hand tightened in her hair, and he pushed her closer to him seconds before his shaft spasmed between her lips, and more of his sweet nectar flowed into her mouth and down her throat. She drank all of it down, sucking lightly to coax more from him until he sagged forward, clearly spent for the moment.
Carefully, she disengaged, making certain she didn’t scrape him with her teeth as she pulled back and sat on her calves, looking up at him. “Did you enjoy that?”
The hand holding her hair loosened, and now he started stroking her thick ringlets instead of holding them. “It was amazing. Thank you, Jada.”
She smiled him at him and took the hand he extended to help her to her feet. He was completely naked, and she was still fully dressed. It was a little unnerving, and she felt oddly vulnerable even though she was the one wearing her clothes. “How do your people mate?”
“Like yours.” His eyes had darkened to the shade of burnt honey, and his skin was definitely a darker golden than it had been before the blowjob.
He bent his head to kiss her again, and she offered up her mouth willingly, their tongues stroking each other. His hands roamed over her body, and she pressed closer to him in her eagerness to feel her skin against his. It might have been his first time with a woman, but he seemed to know what he was doing by the way he stripped her clothes with no fumbling, even mastering the hook on her bra his first try.
“I want to take you to your bedroom now. May I, Jada?”
With a nod, she took his hand to lead him there. She managed to take two steps before he picked her up and whisked her the rest of the way down the hallway and through her bedroom door, closing it behind him with his foot. He laid her on the bed, draping her so that her legs were splayed, and her arms were widely spaced and elbows tucked behind her.
He joined her on the bed a moment later, his fingers playing with the elastic band of her underwear, which was the only garment she still wore. She regretted they were plain white cotton, but he didn’t seem to care.
