“Oh, Wise One,” I purred against his lips. “I do believe I’ve excited you a bit.”
He growled again, but this time wordlessly with animalistic intent. His tongue delved through my teeth into my mouth and succeeded in silencing me as I drowned in his divine flavor. I wasn’t interested in getting down on my feet anymore. All I wanted was him, his lips and his tongue and his taste and his smell.
Someone cleared their throat nearby, and we wrenched apart. Venan’s hand slid from my rump, and I dropped semi-gracefully to the ground. Turning around, I saw the warrior I best recognized aside from Zuran, the one called Katil. He was staring over our heads as if determined to make clear he had not been standing there watching us for pure entertainment, which I appreciated.
“I am sorry to interrupt you,” he said uncomfortably, still staring determinedly at some unknown spot in the distance. “I merely came to tell you the guards are changing stations.”
“Thank you, Katil,” Venan replied smoothly. He didn’t sound the least bit humiliated to having been caught canoodling in the palace courtyard. That was fine. I was plenty humiliated for the both of us.
Katil nodded and disappeared around the corner of the palace. We didn’t move until we heard his footsteps fade into nothingness. Then, I turned back to Venan and glanced down at his crotch. He was wearing his robes, which made it difficult to tell, but I was certain I detected a slight rise.
“Oh my god, that was so embarrassing,” I whispered, bringing my hands up to my face to feel just how hot my cheeks were now.
He chuckled and shrugged. “I suppose it was,” he agreed noncommittally.
I widened my eyes up at him and asked, “You’re not at all worried about what he saw?”
“What could he have possibly seen for me to be embarrassed about? Or for you to be embarrassed about, for that matter?” he questioned with another shrug. “Romance is a beautiful thing, certainly nothing of which to be ashamed. Do humans keep romance private?”
“Kind of,” I said, still feeling awkward. “PDA isn’t something most people appreciate seeing.”
He squinted at me with incomprehension and repeated, “PDA?”
“Public display of affection,” I clarified.
His lips folded together, and he glanced up at the sky as if he was deep in thought. “Well…” he said slowly. “Perhaps we should take this inside, then.”
As quick as a cat, he scooped me up into his arms again, making me shriek with surprise. I felt airborne for a moment before my midsection fell over his shoulder, and his hand smacked my butt with a resounding crack. Then, he whisked me back inside the palace to partake in a different kind of PDA: private display of affection.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Venan
My robes felt tight, particularly in the upper arms. The last couple of months had been more strenuous than the entire time I had spent as an Elder, between working with warriors to choose a crew for the Novai mission to gathering as many spare resources as possible to give to the Novai while they waited for the mission to begin. Plus, I had also regained the muscles I had lost during my tenure cooped up in my bedroom. I strained against the fabric and stretched my arms out in front of me, looking from side to side in hopes of finding a wrinkle to explain the tightness. Unfortunately, there were none. The simple fact was I needed a new set of robes made.
“What are you doing?”
I looked up, startled by the voice in my supposedly empty room, and saw Octavia standing on the threshold. An amused smirk played on her rouged lips.
“How did you manage to sneak up here?” I asked, sidestepping her question and dropping my arms to my sides as I crossed to her.
“You gave me an all-access pass, remember?” she teased.
Of course I remembered. After my conversation with Grivil, I had taken it upon myself to speak to each and every warrior who ever acted as palace guard about Octavia. They were instructed to allow her inside anytime she wanted, regardless of whether I was there or not. I also told them in no uncertain terms that, anytime she was in the palace without me, she was to have a guard in the room with her until I returned. She was under no immediate threat of which I was aware, but I had grown so protective of her that I did not wish to take any chances and felt better leaving Ka-lik’et knowing she had eyes on her.
I bent down to kiss her, but she turned her face away and tittered, “No kissing. You’ll smudge my lipstick.”
I pretended to pout and leaned in again.
“No kissing!” she repeated in a squeal, bringing a hand up to block my mouth entirely.
I laughed against her palm and drew back a step. “Fine, as you wish,” I conceded. Taking in the full sight of her, I immediately regretted making such a concession. She looked so exquisite she was practically edible. Her full figure was showcased in a form-fitting yet tasteful dress of a mysterious gray fabric that shone in the sunrays from my window. On her dainty feet were crimson shoes with heels so impractically high I wondered who would have been so foolish as to invent something of the sort, but they made the muscles in her calves appear more taut and lean than ever. The lush tresses of umber hair I often admired were curled into soft ringlets around her face, and they spiraled to the upper swells of her breasts with sensual suggestion. If she would have let me, I would have thrown her onto my bed and ravished her right then and there until sunset the next day.
“So, what’s wrong with your arms?” she asked, crossing through the doorframe to enter the room completely.
I extended my arms again, grateful for the distraction from her delectable vision, and winced at the way the seams gripped my flesh. “My arms are well enough. It is the robe that is the problem,” I said.
“Why? It looks good to me,” she told me. She strode further forward, her heels clicking on the floor with every step, and pushed my arms down before tugging and pulling on the shoulders. “Well, maybe it’s a little too small up here, but everywhere else looks fine.”
“It only looks fine because everywhere else hangs loosely,” I pointed out. “It seems my arms have thickened.”
She giggled. “I told you not to do all those push-ups!” she joked.
Though I had not the slightest idea what a push-up was, her laugh thrilled me to my core, and I forgot about my robes. Taking her by the waist again, I slid her to me and dropped my mouth an inch toward hers.
“Venan!” she scolded. “I’m wearing makeup!”
“Are you wearing makeup here?” I asked, shifting my mouth to hover over her cheek.
“Yes,” she responded.
I raised my chin a tad to linger near her forehead. “Here?”
“Yes,” she said again.
I slithered my way to the hollow just below her ear and breathed in her scent. “And here?” I murmured, my lips a mere pucker from her skin.
“No,” she murmured.
“Good.” I dragged the tip of my tongue across the valley and then mimicked the motion with pursed lips. Her entire body shivered against me, and I smiled with pleased delight. She was so soft, her skin smoother than cream and just as fair. Unable to help myself, I latched my teeth gently around the highest part of the tendon in her neck and suckled, drinking in her flavor.
Her hands rose to my chest as if to push me away, but I felt no pressure beneath her palms. “Don’t do that,” she whispered. “You’re making it warm in here.”
“It was warm the moment you walked in,” I purred, nibbling a trail to her shoulder.
She inhaled sharply, but then she did apply the pressure I was waiting for on my chest and said reluctantly, “We can’t do this right now, Venan; we have to go to your brother’s baby shower.”
I groaned and rocked my hips in an attempt to alleviate another pressure I felt, this one below the waistline. “Must we be there? I can think of so many other things I would rather be doing with you…”
“Yes, we have to be there,” she bossed. Her voice was stronger, and she’d regained some of her r
esolve. “Edie’s throwing it, and she’s my best friend. Plus, Zuran’s your brother. You kind of have to go.”
“I have never heard of such a thing as a baby shower before,” I complained, returning to stretching my arms in hopes of ripping one of the seams just enough to make some room.
“It’s a human thing,” she explained. “I told you about it, remember? It’s like a party to celebrate the new baby coming.”
The entire concept of a baby shower was lost on me, everything from the party’s name to its purpose. In A’li-uud tradition, a new baby was celebrated after the birth. The baby’s grandmothers came to stay at the new parents’ home for a lunar cycle to tend to the mundane tasks of keeping up a house while the mother and father spent their time bonding with the child. The baby’s grandfathers built the bed in which the child would sleep after the initial month of bonding. There were no parties or droves of visitors like Octavia told me was customary on Earth—at least, in her country—and there were certainly no gifts other than the bed from the grandfathers. In our culture, giving new parents supplies for the baby would have been considered an insult, an insinuation the parents were incapable of tending to the child’s needs themselves.
“I have to be honest: I’m still not sure I completely believe Phoebe’s pregnant,” Octavia was saying.
“You believe they are telling a tale?” I questioned, lifting a dubious brow.
“No, of course not. I meant that logically I can’t reason it. An A’li-uud and a human having a baby? I don’t even know how that’s genetically possible.”
I yanked the robe off in frustration and dug into the sleeves until I found the offending seams. Digging a nail beneath the weave, I tore through a stitch. Then, hoisting it back onto myself, I replied, “I am no expert on the biology of any race, so I cannot offer you a proper explanation, but I can tell you Zuran and Phoebe are not the first to procreate together.”
She started like I had statically shocked her even though I was several feet away. “Really?”
“Oh, yes,” I confirmed. The robe fit much more comfortably now. “Nearly every A’li-uud I know who has taken a human wife has created at least one child together. Two Elders currently serving on the Council, in fact.”
Octavia gaped at me. Her expression started to change, but I was unable to read it. Her eyes began looking distant, her lips parted slightly, and her jaw slackened. It was as if she had entered a potent daydream.
“Where have you gone?” I inquired.
“Nowhere. Nothing,” she said quickly. Holding out a hand to me, she cheerily quizzed, “Are you finally ready?”
“I am,” I said. I took her hand and, though I was still curious where it was her mind had wandered, I decided not to ask. We were likely late for the baby shower already, anyway.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Octavia
Just like the wedding, the shower was being held outside the walls of Ka-lik’et. Also, just like the wedding reception, it was being held in a grand tent. There were a few A’li-uud elements, primarily in the décor and such seeing as we didn’t have an abundance of human goods to decorate with, but for the most part, the event reeked of humanity. In a way, I found it disconcerting even though I probably should have found it nostalgic. It didn’t feel like it fit in Albaterra; it certainly didn’t fit in Dhal’at.
Venan was looking around from the moment we entered the tent, and I could tell by the expression on his face that he thought the entire concept was ridiculous. I understood where he was coming from in the sense that it was something he wasn’t accustomed to, but I hoped he wouldn’t say anything to the parents-to-be or Edie about his feelings on the whole thing.
There were round tables everywhere, each with eight chairs circling them, but there weren’t any name tags. I was glad for this because I didn’t know who Edie would’ve sat us with and I didn’t know who else she’d invited. Then again, without nametags, I still didn’t know who we’d sit with either, but the whole affair was looking much more formal than I expected and it appeared we’d end up having to make small talk with at least six other people. The chairs were the same type that Zuran and Phoebe had had at their wedding with the glowing geodes in their translucent backs, but they were only in blues and reds, most likely to represent the typical “boy-girl” hues. Instead of a dance floor, there was a bunch of free-standing, handmade games scattered around the open space where no tables had been placed. I noted a baby shower classic, the diaper game, but I wondered what Edie had used in place of candy bars, unless she’d used candy bars left over from the journey through space from Earth to Albaterra.
“You’re here!” Her shriek was recognizable without even seeing her, and I turned to see Edie flying at me across the tent with her arms thrown wide. The second she reached me, she hugged me so tightly I almost saw stars, and I gasped for breath the moment she let me go.
Rather than hugging Venan, she curtsied unnaturally. He inclined his head and cast me an amused look out of the corner of his eye. I laughed.
“Edie, you don’t have to bow to him,” I told her.
“He’s an Elder. I can’t just go in for a handshake,” she retorted, her cheeks flaming.
It was fun to watch Edie get embarrassed, because those times were so few and far between, but I felt a little bad for her at the same time and nudged Venan in the arm. “Tell her she doesn’t need to curtsy.”
“You certainly do not need to curtsy,” he said. “Especially because it looks like such an uncomfortable gesture.”
She blushed even more and pouted for a minute, but then her bubbly self returned to the surface, and she seized both of my hands in hers. “Doesn’t it look incredible?” she exclaimed delightedly. “Eric helped me set up this morning.”
“Who’s Eric?” I asked, looking around as if expecting to find someone wearing a Hi, My Name Is… sticker.
“The Corporal I’m dating, who do you think?” she demanded.
Ah, there it was, the name of the mysterious Corporal. For some reason, he seemed less mysterious now that I knew he wasn’t just known as “The Corporal.”
“Well, that was nice of him,” I commented.
“Wasn’t it?” she gushed. “Anyway, Phoebe thinks I went overboard, but how many times do you get to celebrate a human-alien baby?”
According to what Venan had told me before we left the palace, at least a handful of times. I didn’t want to suck the air out of her balloon, though, so I just nodded and smiled and said, “Yeah. It looks great, E.”
“I’m glad you think so. I can totally do this for you when you two have a baby,” she teased.
My eyes instantly went to Venan, and I found him looking back at me. We stared at each other for a moment over Edie’s head, both of us digesting what she’d just said and both of us clearly afraid to laugh out of fear of offending the other while simultaneously being afraid to scold her out of fear of scaring the other. It was quite the dilemma.
“Unless I find out I’m pregnant tomorrow, I think you’re going to have to give the decorations back before then,” I finally replied with as much lightness as I could.
She leaned extremely close to me and whispered, “Oh my god, does this mean you’ve finally slept with him?”
“No!” I hissed back. I was terrified Venan could hear us, especially since A’li-uud had much better hearing than humans, but, if he did, he didn’t act like it.
“But it’s been months! You’ve had to have done something by now!” she pressed.
I tore her away from our little three-way circle with a look at Venan to indicate I’d be right back before whispering harshly, “Doing something isn’t necessarily the same as sleeping together.”
“So you have fooled around!” She was absolutely giddy.
“Yes, we’ve fooled around, but, no, we haven’t slept together, and can we please not discuss this at a baby shower?”
“Okay, okay,” she agreed, grinning. I knew I was going to get the third-degree later about
everything Venan and I had done as far as something, but at least for the moment, I was relieved from her barrage of questions. “I’m going to go check on Pheebs. Sit at the table by the diaper game; that’s where Eric and I are.”
She boogied away with her hips swaying and her arms swinging gaily at her sides, and I returned to Venan. “Sorry about that,” I apologized. “She’s…Edie.”
“Does that thing I do with my tongue on your neck constitute fooling around?” he asked, his eyes sparkling playfully.
I heated up all over and smacked him gently with the back of my hand. “Venan!”
“If you are not certain, we could do it right here and ask Edie’s opinion,” he continued. He reached for me, managing to snag my hip with his fingers before I twirled out of reach.
“This is a baby shower!” I reproached, doing everything I could to hide the smile threatening to burst across my mouth. It didn’t matter how much I tried to hide it, though, because he always knew when he was getting to me and this time was no different. He raised the same fingers with which he’d reached for me and crooked them repeatedly, motioning for me to come back to him. I shook my head stubbornly as the smile finally broke through. “No, I’m not getting near you. You’re getting fresh.”
“I will chase you clear across this tent if that is what it takes,” he threatened. My insides rolled over themselves with surging lust. “And, if I catch you, I am going to do a lot more than kissing to a lot more places than your neck.”
Part of me actually wanted to test him, if only to satiate the roaring beast of need within me, but I wasn’t stupid. He wasn’t kidding when he said he’d chase me if he had to, and he definitely wasn’t kidding about what I’d be in for when he did. Tentatively, I toed my way back toward him inch-by-inch, monitoring his expression as I did to ensure he didn’t become the animal I knew to be lurking under his composed exterior. When I was near enough for him to reach, he snapped his hand out to grab my wrist and yanked me to him. His mouth closed over mine and claimed me in front of every single guest who’d entered the tent. Despite nagging proprieties, I melted into the kiss.
Venan: A Paranormal Sci-Fi Alien Romance: Albaterra Mates Book 7 (The End) Page 18
