by Kate Rudolph
But I was pretty sure if I started kissing him I wasn’t going to stop. So we stayed separate on the short walk. Then I led him up the rickety stairs that led to the door to my apartment. It was small. Unimpressive. But it was all mine. And that was worth something. Once the door closed behind him, the place felt tiny.
Aldyn wasn’t that big. But he was big enough to take up enough space that I couldn’t forget he was here. And I was happy. We took off our coats and I hung them in the closet. Aldyn still looked kind of bruised, though it was difficult to tell between the markings he naturally had on his gold skin and what Evil Santa had done to him. I wanted to kiss him and make it all better.
But suddenly, I was exhausted. All of the night just crashed down over me and I realized what we had been through. How we had survived. Damn, that was crazy.
A good host would have offered Aldyn a drink. I just stumbled towards the couch and collapsed. He rushed over after me, maybe concerned for my well-being, maybe concerned that it suddenly looked like he wasn’t going to get any.
“Are you alright?” he asked, his hand going to my shoulder as if that was enough to steady me.
“We survived. What the fuck? What was that?” An evil alien had held us hostage. What even was my life? And here I was with a different alien, hoping he could soothe away all of my fears, could make me forget for the night what had really happened.
The tears caught me by surprise. I didn’t even know I was on the verge of crying until sobs wracked my body and I could barely breathe. Aldyn wrapped his arms around me and held me close. It felt nice. Nicer than I would have expected. And I didn’t want it to end. Thankfully, the tears didn’t last that long. But I knew I did not look very hot. I had always been an ugly crier. It’s why I tried not to ever do it.
I had to get control of the situation. I had to make things better. I cupped Aldyn’s cheek and leaned in close. But before I could kiss him, he grinned at me. “Where’s your bedroom?” he asked.
That was more like it. Maybe we could get things moving along.
There wasn’t really any mystery about where the bedroom was. It was only a one bedroom apartment. There was exactly one closed door. That was where the bedroom was. He laced our fingers together and tugged me up from the couch before leading me into the room. I let my body press against his and tried to imagine what it would feel like once our clothes came off. He sat me down on the bed and dropped to his knees.
Yes. This was looking up. But instead of putting his hands on me, he reached for my shoes and slipped them off before taking off his own.
Okay, he was practical. I could take that. I could take all of him.
“Lay down,” he said.
“I think we’re missing a couple steps.” It might have been sexier and more flirtatious if a yawn had cut me off in the middle of saying it.
Aldyn just waited until I lay down. And then he got in right beside me. He put his arms around me and tucked me in close to him. It was nice. Nicer than I knew it could feel.
And in its own way, it was even scarier than anything that Evil Santa had tried to do to us. Not scary in a way that meant I was going to be injured, but scary in a way that I knew something was about to change. Something massive. It was at just the edge of my conscience to ask what, but before I could grab onto the thought, my eyes drifted closed and I found myself surrendering to sleep.
I didn’t dream. Not any dreams that I could remember. Though there was half a thought about calamari. It dissolved into nothingness before I could grasp the memory. And when I woke, sunlight streamed in.
And I was alone.
Not the first time I had woken up alone in bed after inviting a man to join me. But I was shocked at how much it hurt. My stomach dropped and I ached. Why? Why had he left? Why did I care? Was I not good enough?
I had to stop thinking it. If I kept thinking about it, I was just going to go crazy. Guys always left. And besides, it wasn’t like I really knew him. We had just been thrown together in a crazy situation and that was it. There was nothing more. I didn’t even care about him. I didn’t even know his last name.
Was Aldyn even his real name? No way to know.
I would move on. And it wasn’t like we had even slept together. Well. We haven’t had sex. So it was okay. I’d be fine.
Right?
I turned over and curled up into a ball, still burrowed under the covers as if the warmth and softness of my mattress and blanket were enough to shield me from the harsh reality of the world. No one stayed.
No one cared.
I wasn’t worth it.
Was that bacon?
There were only a few things that could pull me out of my pity party and the scent of cooking meat was one of them. I threw the covers off and got out of bed. I was still wearing the clothes from last night, everything except my shoes. The shoes that Aldyn had so carefully taken off.
And there he was, standing in my kitchen and taking two sandwiches out of a bag from a restaurant that was just down the street.
“I thought you must be hungry,” he said. “I got two different sandwiches. So whichever one you like more you can have. The cashier didn’t know if you had a favorite order or anything.”
He’d gone and gotten me breakfast? I didn’t know if a guy had ever done that for me before.
I marched right up to him and captured his lips’ searing kiss. This was what we were supposed to do the night before. This was what we were supposed to do forever, a small part of me whispered. But my grumbling stomach interrupted what I was sure was going to be one hell of a make out session and I pulled back with a sheepish grin. “I guess I am hungry,” I had to say. I realized I hadn’t even eaten dinner the night before. Of course I was starving.
But Aldyn was smiling at me as he handed me a sandwich. Bacon and eggs and cheese and bread. Was there a better combination? I had taken two bites when the smile dropped off his face. He put his sandwich down and looked at me seriously.
“We need to talk.”
14
Aldyn
I had planned to wait.
What was another few minutes, an hour, when it came to the rest of my life? Our lives? But as I stood there in Jody’s kitchen. I knew I couldn’t wait another minute.
My body craved her. I didn’t know how much longer I could resist. But she needed to know this before we went any further. She took another bite of her sandwich before putting it down, and then she took a seat at her small kitchen table.
I sat opposite her. I would have rather held her close as I spoke, but it was probably better than we weren’t touching. I didn’t know how she would react. There were horror stories of Detyens proclaiming that they’d found their mate and their mate rejecting them. Would she? I didn’t know. I couldn’t know. But she needed to know who she was to me. She needed to know what I wanted.
And I wanted everything.
“What’s going on, Aldyn?” she asked.
I should’ve let her finish her sandwich. Especially now that the words were caught in my throat. We had survived the horrors that had been thrown at us the night before, so why did this seem harder than the actual battle we had engaged in? I didn’t know. I couldn’t know.
“Do you know much about Detyens?” I asked. Some humans were fascinated by us. They looked up every bit of information they could find. Especially a couple of years ago, when my people had helped rescue the planet from certain destruction. There was a growing Detyen population and more and more of my brethren were finding their mates each year. Did she know about that? Did she care? Or was she one of the humans who didn’t pay much attention to the aliens who were coming to this planet?
“I remember seeing a few news reports,” she said. “But I can’t say that I dedicated too much time to my research. I was busy.” She looked away from me as she said busy. I didn’t know what it was supposed to mean, and I wasn’t about press. Her life before we met was her life. I wanted to know everything she would tell me and more, but it didn’t
have to be today.
“There’s a lot to tell,” I said. I wasn’t even sure where to start. The destruction of my planet? The fact that we died if we didn’t find our mates? The Detyen Legion?
“How about you just start with what you’re trying to say right now?” she asked.
Good idea. I looked up and met her eyes. There was no holding back anymore. “You’re my mate.”
She blinked several times and looked surprised. “Your… mate? What?”
It wasn’t rejection. It wasn’t a joyful acceptance either, but it was a start.
“Detyens recognize our mates, our denyai, when we see them. I recognized you from the moment I saw you. Clearly I didn’t say anything since we were a little busy.” I didn’t know what I would have done if we hadn’t been in the midst of the crisis. Asked her to get a drink with me? Pressed her against the wall and kissed her until she begged for more? Offered her my communicator information? The possibilities were endless.
“I guess we were busy,” she agreed. “But I’m not anybody’s mate. I’m a human. Not a Detyen or whatever.”
I could bring up news reports. I could bring up the profiles that I had read in magazines. A few mated couples had sort of become celebrities after it became known. But I didn’t think that she was rejecting the concept of matehood. I was pretty sure this was more personal. “You are,” I said. “And from everything I’ve seen so far you’re amazing. Everything I could have wanted.”
“But not someone you chose.” She stood up from the table and turned around, pacing the length of the room and then coming back to rest her hands on the back of the chair. “Free will is important. You have to be able to choose who you want.”
That wasn’t the argument I’d expected. I didn’t want to fight her. Didn’t want to tell her that she was wrong. So I stood up and moved to put my arms around her. She didn’t pull away from the touch. “You don’t have to accept me right now.” It hurt to say those words, but it was true. I had time. And I would never force her. “But I think you like me. And I know I like you. So why don’t we give this a chance? See where things go? We can forget about the mating. But I didn’t want to go any further without telling you.”
Her thumb made circles against my arm, the sensation strangely erotic despite the situation. “I’m not saying no to mating. Or well, sex, I guess.” She paused for several moments and then looked up at me. “Don’t you die if you don’t mate?”
It was my turn to look away. But she was right. We did. “I’m not yet thirty. There’s no rush.”
“So if we did then would you like own me, or immediately get me pregnant, or anything like that?” She didn’t look happy about that.
“Of course not! I would never own you. You would be my equal. You are my equal. As for children? That is something we would need to discuss.” Where did humans get ideas like that?
She seemed to be considering something. I didn’t dare to hope. And then she grinned and hope bloomed in my heart.
“I guess it’s nice to know that you’re serious from the beginning. I say we give it a shot.”
15
Jody
If I let myself think about it for too long, I was going to start doubting. And by too long I meant for more than ten seconds.
Aldyn had saved my life. He had fought off an evil alien who wanted to abscond with me. And he had bought me breakfast. That made him a better boyfriend than anyone I had dated so far. That probably said more about my dating history or the kind of guys I let pick me up than Aldyn’s quality, but it was the best I could do.
I wanted him. He said I was his mate. What was the point in waiting?
Somehow in the middle of our discussion, his revelation, I had finished eating my sandwich. I shoved the wrapper aside and laced our fingers together. “Come on.”
He was looking at me with an expression I couldn’t quite describe. Awe came kind of close. But I didn’t know how to deal with that. Awe was terrifying. And it was sure to wear off. But I wanted to grab onto this thing for as long as I could and hold it close. I felt sure of Aldyn, sure that there was something real between us. I just had to give myself over to it.
But I was also nervous in a way I had never been nervous before. This wasn’t like the impersonal and barely satisfying encounters I had given up on years ago. This was the start of something real. Something that could last forever.
Aldyn tilted my chin up and our eyes met. He gave me a crooked smile that made my heart flip over. “We’re not going to do anything you don’t want to do,” he said.
I wanted to do it all. And a small part of me just wanted to tug him back down onto the bed and cuddle for the rest of the day. But certain parts of my body were screaming at me to do more. To make a move. To demand that he get down on his knees and worship me.
Maybe we’d save that for round two.
The time for hesitation was over. I tugged my shirt off in one smooth motion and shimmied out of my pants. It didn’t take much more to have me standing completely naked in front of Aldyn. His mouth dropped open, and this time I wasn’t imagining it when I saw that his black eyes were red.
How was that possible?
I didn’t really care.
Whatever tricks came from him being a Detyen, whatever quirks there were with him being an alien, we would figure that out later.
Right now I wanted to figure out something much more fundamental.
Compatibility.
Were we right together?
Yes. I didn’t need him thrusting between my thighs for me to figure that out. But I wanted it. And I was done waiting.
“Take off your clothes,” I told him. I didn’t know what had him hesitating. Especially not with the bulge I could see straining against his pants.
Aldyn didn’t need to be told twice. His lips found mine and it was like a dream. He set my body alight in ways I didn’t know were possible. We tumbled back to the bed and he took control. I didn’t like giving it up. Especially today. Especially now. But it was different with him. He made me feel safe. He had already proved that he was going to stay. And so I let myself surrender to it.
When his fingers found the heat of my core, I let out a gasp and spread my legs even further. And when his lips followed quickly, I couldn’t stop the curses that I let out even if I had tried. Not that I wanted him to stop. I never wanted him to stop.
He needed to keep going. To do more.
And he did. It was wickedness. Wantonness. And I wanted more.
It didn’t take much for me to start gasping, breaths labored as my body rippled around him. And still he had not planted himself inside me. I needed to feel all of him. To feel joined in that most fundamental way.
I looked down at him and those eyes of his were still red when he saw me. He slowly kissed his way up my body, and I could feel the tension in his, his unfulfilled arousal. “We can wait,” he promised, his voice raspy with want.
“Make me wait another minute and I’ll do… something.” I could barely think past the pleasure and Aldyn didn’t need to be told twice.
And then it was even better. Our bodies joined, moving in unison. This kind of connection should not have been possible, not between the two of us. We came from different ends of the galaxy. Different species. But somehow it was more right than ever. And as he emptied himself into me I could feel some sort of awareness snap into place.
The bond he had talked about. I might not have recognized him from the first. But I knew it now. My mate.
It was like there was a cord embedded right under my heart and I could almost see it, could feel it reaching out to Aldyn. Was it real? A physical connection that I couldn’t quite see? Metaphysical? Weird alien bullshit?
At the moment I couldn’t care. I was drunk on pleasure and just wanted more.
We lay together, limbs casually entangled, and in that moment I was very happy that I had been held hostage by Evil Alien Santa.
It had brought me close to Aldyn. Had brought me this im
possible thing that was blooming between us. This thing that was going to grow stronger every day.
It wasn’t love. Not yet. But even after just a day together, I could feel the embers beginning to ignite. One day. Probably sooner than I’d be ready to admit.
But I couldn’t stop smiling. For the first time in my life, I was ready.
And my body was hungry for him.
I looked over at Aldyn with a grin. “Want to go again?”
He smiled and kissed me.
16
Jody
One Year Later
Every year.
I did this every freaking year. Three days before Christmas and I still had a ton of gifts buy. What was I thinking?
At least this year I wasn’t doing it alone.
“Do you have your defense spray?” Aldyn asked.
I tapped my front pocket where the small canister fit snugly. “Yup. Do you have the anti-security measures?” I asked.
He held up a small tablet. It was supposed to be able to disengage force fields. It wasn’t exactly legal. But it wasn’t illegal either. And given our experience, I wasn’t taking another chance.
“Knife? he asked.
“Oh yeah.”
“Shopping list?” I asked.
“All of the teachers are on a list. Plus the gifts you’re giving for your class. We can do this. No getting held hostage this year.”
“No getting held hostage,” I agreed. I leaned in and gave him a kiss. We laced our fingers together and headed for the entrance of the store.
It had been quite the year. From our first night together followed by that magnificent first day together. And every day since then. It wasn’t that we never fought, or never disagreed. It wasn’t perfect.
But it was pretty damn close.
