"What the hell is wrong with me?" Ty asked, pouring a few more ingredients into the huge bowl in front of him and going at it with a spoon with such intensity Pyra took a step back.
"What do you mean?" the enormous warrior asked.
Ty paused his assault of the cake batter and looked at Pyra.
"If you haven't noticed, my apron has a bit of a tent situation going on here and I haven't been able to think straight since last night."
Pyra glanced down at the front of Ty's apron and saw exactly what he was talking about. Though better concealed with the thick white apron hanging over him than it would have been if he was just standing there in the soft tie-front pants that were the usual wardrobe of the Denynso men, it was still pretty obvious that he had a raging hard-on. The baker shifted slightly and Pyra looked up at him with a knowing grin.
"Yeah, I've noticed. Why are you even asking? You watched me go through it months ago, then Ciyrs, then Gyxx, and now Ero. It seems that the efforts to communicate and cooperate more effectively with Earth have had a much different impact than we originally anticipated. These human women get here and the Denynso men start dropping like flies. It looks like you are the one that came under the line of fire this time."
He reached out and dipped a finger in the bowl of batter and Ty pulled it away from him roughly. Even though he was baking a cake specifically for Pyra to bring to his mate Eden, who happened to be a couple of months into her first pregnancy and constantly in the throes of either a dramatic emotional situation or a craving, Ty didn't like when Pyra stuck his fingers in the batter. Not only did it just seem pretty unsanitary, his perfectionist ways made Ty feel like it threw off the entire balance and measurement of the batter so the cake wouldn't turn out exactly as he had wanted it to when he first started baking it. In the back of his mind he knew that that was being a little bit ridiculous, but he couldn't help it. Just like the warriors couldn't shake off their compulsion to fight and protect, Ty couldn't fight off his compulsion to create and perfect.
"That can't possibly be it," Ty said, adding a few drops of dark brown liquid from a bottle he kept on the top shelf of his spice cabinet.
"Why not? I was there when Zuri got back with that new girl. Anyone with eyes can see that she's beautiful."
"Samira."
"What?" Pyra asked, running the tip of one of his fingers through a mound of sweet powder on the counter and licking it off.
"The new girl. Her name is Samira."
"Uh-huh. I guess your big old orange eyes definitely noticed that she's beautiful."
"My eyes aren't orange!" Ty protested, then picked up a cookie sheet so he could see his reflection. Sure enough, there were streaks of orange through the usual brown of his eyes. "Shit."
"Yep. They might not have made their complete changeover yet, but those eyes cannot deceive. They know that your mate has shown up, and unless you are preparing yourself to fight Ero for Zuri or you are going to break into the space shuttle and try to pry out that little flight attendant who always runs and hides the minute that the ship lands, that means that your mate is Samira."
"She can't be."
"I don't get it. Why are you so pissed about your mate showing up? You have the whole nurturing and taking care of someone thing down pat. You've been taking care of all of us warriors for as long as I can remember. And you are plenty old enough to get mated."
Ty groaned and started distributing the batter into three hexagonal pans he had placed in a row in the middle of the counter.
"That's the problem right there. I am plenty old enough, but is she? Did you see her? She looks barely old enough to be out of her mother's house much less in somebody's bed. I just don't feel right looking at her the way that I obviously look at her when she is so young."
"She's old enough to be Zuri's student, which means that she is old enough to be in college. I don't think that Zuri would have brought her here if she wasn't an adult, but if it makes you feel any better, I can ask Eden how old she is exactly."
"How would she know that?"
"They are human women. They tell each other everything. It's a little disturbing actually. I think that she had told the other girls far more than I would ever want any of them to know about me because last time I was in the room with all of them, they all seemed to be far too focused on the front of my pants. And since I am no longer in the fun pre-mating phase that you are currently finding yourself enjoying, there would be nothing to draw their attention there unless they were trying to confirm a story that they heard."
Ty laughed, feeling better now that he at least had Pyra to commiserate with him a little bit. It wasn't exactly the same thing, but they had both found themselves at the mercy of the confounding and sometimes irresistible human women who had started infiltrating their planet.
As he slipped the cakes into the oven, Ty found his mind wandering back to Samira. The second she stepped off of the shuttle from the university the night before, he was enraptured. This was something he had never felt before. While some of the warriors were known for having as many female conquests as they did battle victories, Ty had never been that kind of man. He had thought he had feelings for a couple of the females of the tribe a few times before, but even when they had sex no bonding ever occurred. Now that he had seen Samira, he realized that those feelings were nothing and that he was truly screwed. If Pyra was right, and truth be told, Pyra was almost always right, especially when it came to things that he had experienced himself, there was nothing that Ty could do about his newfound attraction to Samira. If the constant erection wasn't enough to tell him, the hint of orange in his eyes was unmistakable.
Samira was his mate and would be the only one for him for the rest of his life. He would just have to decide if he could deal with it or if he was going to let her age keep him from pursuing her and risk living the rest of his existence alone and longing for her. It was not a decision that he wanted to make.
Chapter Three
When I woke up the morning after arriving on Uoria, I had a few disorienting moments when I had no idea where I was. In the first few seconds after I woke up but before I opened my eyes I thought that I might still be at Zuri's house, and then I had a moment of panic thinking that I was back at my mother's house and that the pounding I heard was my stepfather knocking on the door trying to get into my bedroom. My eyes snapped open and I saw the unfamiliar room around me and I was briefly terrified. Finally I regained my senses and remembered that I was in Uoria in my own little house, and that I was, for once, safe.
After just a few seconds of feeling calm and in control again, however, I heard the loud pounding and again became afraid. I sat up in the bed and pulled the covers up around me, pulling my knees to my chest like I always did when I felt scared. It was a protective position that made me feel like I was retracting into my shell. Too many memories of nights spent just like that in my bed at home, or in the corner of my bedroom, or even, on particularly horrible nights, curled in the closet just like that so that I could try to guard myself as much as I could.
"Samira?"
I heard my name added to the pounding and instantly recognized the voice as belonging to Ty. He was standing at the front door to my house, knocking insistently on the door and calling me. When I listened to his voice, however, I realized that it was not anger or frustration, but genuine concern and worry for me that was causing him to call out to me so loudly. I gathered my blankets close around me and hurried across the house to the door.
"Yes?" I said, pulling the door open and stepping behind it as much as I could to conceal myself while still being able to look at him.
I could see Ty's eyes scanning what of my body he could see and then snap up to mine, a look that somehow combined intrigue and shame crossing his face. He was even more gorgeous now that I was looking at him in daylight. Rather than the Mohawk style I had seen among most of the other men, Ty wore his stark white hair down and loose except for a braid dow
n the center of his head that reached to the base of his neck. I am not a small woman, yet he towered over me, making me feel small and delicate. This was something I had never felt, and I loved it. I wanted to explore more of it, to see just how powerful he was and how well he knew how to use that power.
"Ty?" I said, realizing that he hadn't said anything since I opened the door.
He shook his head hard like he was trying to bring his thoughts back into reality and gestured behind him.
"The king and queen want you to come to meet them and to have breakfast in the meeting hall. Usually human visitors have to report to them first, but since you were a bit of a surprise, they weren't in the hall last night when you arrived and said that it was fine to have your greeting this morning."
I was confused by the formality of it, and by being described as a "surprise".
"I thought that Zuri told everyone that I was coming."
"She did, but we didn’t get the communication until right before your arrival. Ero sent the message when he arranged transport back here, but the transportation officials didn't let us know until the day before you got here. "
"I don't understand. If they didn't tell everybody that I was coming, how did they have a house ready for me and how did they choose you as my guard?"
A bit of panic was starting to build in my chest. It was that feeling of being out of place and unwanted. I didn't want to be an imposition to anyone and my mind was suddenly reeling with plans for how I was going to get myself back to Earth now that the shuttle was already preparing to leave and there was no way I would be able to get back on it before take-off.
"You aren't an imposition," Ty said and then suddenly looked shocked.
I looked at him, stunned. He had just responded to what I was thinking, using my exact words to comfort me.
"How did you know that I was thinking that?"
He stuttered for a few seconds like he was trying to come up with words to explain what had just happened, and then I noticed his eyes had dropped again. Without realizing it, I had stepped out from behind the door and was standing fully in front of him. My blankets had slipped down slightly and he could plainly see that I sleep naked with the top of the blanket barely covering my nipples and the two sides wrapped around me closed just beneath the apex of my thighs. His eyes lifted to mine and felt my breath deepen slightly. I had known this man for just a few hours, but in that moment all I wanted was for him to touch me. The feeling was overwhelming, deep and intense like it was something that had always been in me but that I was just discovering.
Instead of fulfilling that wish, however, Ty turned his eyes away from me and cleared his throat softly. I gathered my blankets closer around me reluctantly and stepped backwards into the house.
"Do you want to come in while I get dressed?"
He shook his head.
"I'll just wait here."
Feeling slightly hurt, I closed the door and went back to my bedroom to get dressed. I wasn't sure what to wear. He had mentioned the king and queen, but I knew from Zuri that they weren't like the kings and queens you hear about from history classes at Earth. She described them as kind and approachable, people who associated with the rest of the tribe that they ruled with compassion, affection, and respect. Still, they were the monarchs and I didn't want to offend them with my clothing. I wished Zuri were there to help me.
Suddenly I felt like I heard Ty's voice in my head telling me that I would look beautiful in anything. It sent a shiver down my spine and brought a flutter to my belly. Smiling to myself for reasons that I didn't fully understand at the time, I draped my blankets back over my bed and dressed.
Chapter Four
Dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit.
Ty sighed and sagged back against the door to Samira's house. How could he be so stupid? Tuning into the thoughts of another person was extremely intimate, which is why it was something that only mates, with a few very specific exceptions, shared. It was part of the bond that occurred between the men of his kind and their women, and it allowed them to stay fully connected. This could be very helpful when they needed to find each other, when one needed the help of the other, or they wanted to express something private to each other without anyone else hearing it.
The fact that he could already connect with Samira was startling to say the least, considering they had never even touched each other much less bonded. Now he had been dumb enough to not only listen to her thoughts, but reply to her both speaking to her and sending his own thoughts to her. He knew he was probably scaring the hell out of her, or at the very least making her think that she was crazy. He hadn't even decided yet what he was going to do about these intense feelings he was experiencing for the stunning but so young woman that was now dressing in the house behind him. This was not a good time to start toying with her by listening to her thoughts and sending her his without her understanding what was going on.
He had been chastising himself for a few minutes when he felt the door give way behind him and fell back. Samira let out a scream and he turned as he fell so that he came down on his hands rather than on his back. His fall had caused her to fall and land on her back, which meant that he landed over her, his hands on either side of her and his face level with hers. They lay there for a few tense seconds, staring at each other. Their breaths came out ragged, mingling between them and surrounding them with a sound that only partially concealed the pounding of their heartbeats.
Ty could see something flicker in her eyes. It looked like desire and when she licked her lips, he almost lost the control he had been struggling so hard to maintain around her. She was even more startlingly beautiful when he was this close to her, but she still looked so young. He felt like he would be taking advantage of her if he gave into his craving for her at that moment, and if he did that he would never be able to forgive himself.
She was not tiny like Eden, Eliana, or Leia, but taller like Zuri. The extra inches made it so that their bodies lined up perfectly and he had to move extremely carefully to get out of the position hovering over her so that she didn't feel his raging cock pressing down on her. It was like it had a mind of its own, straining against his pants as it tried to get to her, just knowing that hers was the body it was made for.
"I'm sorry," he muttered, climbing backwards and standing up.
He wanted to reach down to help her up, but he worried about being able to maintain his self-control if he touched her in that moment. It was already taking everything that he had not to sweep her off of her feet and carry her back into the bedroom where he could spend the rest of the day bonding with her. He didn't want to test his capacity to withhold himself if he touched her skin, even just her hand, in that second.
"It's alright," she said, standing up and brushing herself off, "I'm sorry I didn't realize you were leaning against the door."
He looked at her fully and saw that she had put on a pair of tight black pants and a black shirt that hugged her curves and dipped low over her breasts, creating an enticing swell of cleavage. His mouth watered and he felt his heart start to pound. They needed to get out of her house as soon as possible.
A few minutes later they were walking through the compound toward the meeting hall. Ty noticed that she was able to keep up with him without struggle thanks to her long legs and a fast pace that made her breasts bounce and her long, thick hair sway across her back. Suddenly she turned to him.
"You never answered me when I asked how the house was ready for me if nobody knew I was coming until right before I got here."
"That house was originally intended for Zuri. It was the one chosen for her when she came here the first time for her teaching position, and when she left so suddenly it was just left there without anybody living in it. We assumed that whoever took her place as the new exchange program professor would end up moving into that house, but then we found out that Ero had gone after her and that she would be returning with him."
"So if tha
t is the house that was supposed to be hers, where is she living now that she's back?"
Ty glanced at her strangely. He assumed the human girls would have filled her in on all of the gossip from the planet, especially the mating between Zuri and Ero considering she was Zuri's friend.
"She's with Ero. She's his mate, that's why he went after her."
"His mate?" she asked, sounding surprised.
"They didn’t tell you any of this?"
"Everything was kind of a whirlwind. I wasn't even expecting to see Zuri again for months. I had no idea that she had come home so quickly after leaving. I was staying in her house after an issue with my stepfather and she showed back up, and then the next morning Ero got there and it was all very fast after that. I didn't ask any questions."
He could see the hurt and fear in her eyes and felt the need to comfort her. Ty lifted an arm and rested it gently around her shoulders. He worried that she would pull away from him or be intimidated, but she didn’t. Instead, she seemed to relax a bit at his touch. She stepped a little bit closer to him so that her hip brushed his as they walked.
"May I ask what happened with your stepfather?"
He wasn't even sure what the term meant, but from the way she said it he could tell that whoever that man was, he had done something terrible to her. Samira must have noticed the hint of uncertainty in his voice because she glanced up at him with a smile.
"You don’t know what a stepfather is, do you?"
Part of him wanted to pretend that he did so that he didn't look dumb in front of her, but at the same time, he knew that the goal of the exchange program with Earth was to bring humans over so that they could educate the Denynso about the cultures, customs, and history of the planet and its people so she was probably not surprised that he was unsure of some of what she said. Finally he shook his head.
"My mother and my father got divorced when I was pretty young, then she married…," she hesitated as if she couldn't bring herself to say the word that was right at the tip of her tongue. She closed her eyes and let out a breath, "she married her second husband, which is what a stepfather is. Does that make sense?"
Another Uoria Holiday: A Sci-Fi Alien Warrior Holiday Romance Page 32
