Held by Luna Voss

3

Melyta

The next week is hard. Barion and I aren’t in a fight, exactly, but things don’t feel right between us. I’m frustrated with him. Frustrated and a little bit crushed. Where the hell is the Barion I used to know? The man who took what he wanted, and didn’t let anything stand in his way?

I don’t believe that man is gone. But I haven’t seen him in a while. Ever since we failed to kill Sarizor, ever since we came here to Gerbbbexai IX with the Agusto Family, he’s been different. Less confident, more cautious. It’s as though his willingness to believe in himself has been damaged.

Around our home, of course, he’s still the boss. But even that has been waning. I’m used to being firmly put in my place at the first sign of defiance, usually with a spanking, or sometimes by being told to put my plug in and stand in the corner.

Lately, it’s just been corner time. And often, not even that. I talked back to him on purpose the other day, just to see what he would do, and all I got was a warning look, and then silence.

It’s this disinterest that hurts the most. He’s supposed to care about my behavior. Give me rules to follow, punish me when I disobey. Pin me down and knot my ass just to remind me he’s in charge.

Maybe I’ve just gotten used to it, but I badly miss his stern-but-loving dominance. I need to feel like he’s the boss, like he’s in control, like he’s the pillar in my life.

Without it, things just feel empty. And I feel lost.

And I feel something else, too, something that brings up a lot of mixed emotions:

I’m very close to my next heat.

I don’t quite know how to predict my heats now that I’m with Barion, at least not as well as I could before. Before I met him, my heats were extremely regular. But my most recent one came a week earlier than I expected it, and if this one hits soon, it will be two, almost three weeks early.

That’s Barion’s pheromones at work. I’ve been doing a little research over the last week, confirming to myself the old playground rumor that a male Voorian’s semen does indeed contain very high levels of his pheromones. Pheromones that can cause a genetically compatible female to initiate her heat.

So basically, Barion sends me closer every time he comes inside me.

The effect isn’t one-way, of course. My pheromones are having an effect on him, too. That’s why he comes so much more these days when I bring him to climax. It’s something that happens when a couple is together for a while, apparently. And it creates a vicious cycle of sorts: the more of his seed he produces, the more of his pheromones I absorb, the more often he sends me into heat.

Barion would like that. I’m pretty sure if he had his way, he’d just keep me in heat all the time, squirming, wet, and desperate for him, safe at home and mewling for his cock every time he finished his day.

But we haven’t been having much sex lately. And his desire to keep me safe is one of the reasons for my unhappiness right now.

I love Barion. I love being his vulta. I even love being in heat for him, or at least I have in the past.

But I don’t want to keep living like this, crushed under the weight of the Agusto Family, with the love of my life a shell of his former self. I can’t bear to see him withering away like this. And slowly but surely, I feel that I’m withering away myself.

So as my heat approaches, I stay quiet about it. What would be the point of telling him? He’d probably just order me to stay inside, to protect me. And I then would argue, because I still have to live my life, and he would remind me of the risks associated with going into heat in public. Of the fact that I would be easy prey for any man who wanted me. He’d make it clear that I was to stay in the apartment until my heat concluded, no ifs, ands, or buts.

And then I would either give in, or get a spanking. And either way, I’d be staying in the apartment until the end of my heat.

Fuck that.

Maybe if I felt closer to him right now. Maybe if the last few weeks had been good, filled with love, affection, fun. Maybe then this would be something I would be looking forward to, rather than dreading.

Then maybe it would be like last time. My first with Barion since he claimed me, when we were still relatively new to life in Zog. I remember feeling so cherished, so desired as he doted on me, knotted me every night as we waited for my heat to arrive, whispered sweet little nothings in my ear about how much fun he was going to have with me. How many times he would make me come. And then he did. Oh my god, he did. Our first heat as a mated couple is still a treasured memory for me. One I would like to repeat over and over again for the rest of our lives.

I’m not sure it’s possible now. Not this time. I don’t even know if it’s my fault or his. Maybe it’s just the situation.

The last time Barion knotted me, I felt so close to him. It was after my last punishment, when I drove without a license. For a glorious, brief little moment, it felt like everything was right again. Like we were back to our old selves, our old dynamic.

But even though that was just a couple weeks ago, it already feels like so much has changed. Ever since I asked him if we could run away and he refused. Suddenly, with that settled, everything has become shrouded in hopelessness. This isn’t a temporary situation, a momentary disgrace. This is who we are now. Nameless soldiers working for the Agusto Family, trapped on a planet we don’t want to live obecause we need their protection.

And with that hopelessness, that acceptance of our fall from grace, it’s like the bottom of our relationship has fallen out. We haven’t had sex since the last time he knotted me. And even though I’ve been finding little ways to disobey him, I’m no longer getting punished for it. Not really. Not by more than a look.

It’s like he doesn’t even care.

“I’m running out for some groceries!”

Barion glances up from whatever news bulletin he’s reading at our kitchen table. “Okay, drive safe. Wait— do you smell something?”

I shuffle my feet awkwardly. I’m pretty sure what he’s smelling is my impending heat. But apparently, he’s not in tune with me enough to have realized that. Oh well. His loss.

“No, I don’t smell anything. Be back in a bit.”

I grab the key chip to our car and exit the apartment. At least I get to drive. That’s fun. I’ve been looking for excuses to take the car out lately, ever since I passed my test. It’s not the most exciting thing in the galaxy, but at least it’s new. And it makes me feel somewhat like a successful adult. My family could never afford a car growing up.

By the time I get to the grocery store, though, I’m distracted by what I only know how to interpret as heat symptoms. Oops. Either it came on much more quickly than expected, or I just didn’t even notice. Not exactly ideal. I can already feel that frustrated-horny haze coming over me, clouding my decision-making.

Oh well. All it means is that I can’t dawdle. Better to get in and out quickly. I still have more than enough time to get home before my heat hits me for real.

My head swirling, I step out of the car and walk through the parking lot into the store.

* * *

Barion

I sniff the air again. That sweet, enticing scent is still lingering in the apartment, making it impossible for me to think. What is that? And why does it make my cock hard?

It reminds me of the way Melyta smells when she’s in heat. But that can’t be it. She would have told me. And in any case, she literally just went to the grocery store. If she were going into heat, she would know better than to risk putting herself in a situation like that.

Another sniff. I just can’t help myself. It smells so good. My cock twitches in my pants and I grip it unconsciously, stroking my hard shaft through the fabric. Fuck, what’s come over me? Suddenly I need to jerk off. Or, preferably, bend Melyta over the table and pump my cum into her sweet little cunt.

Actually, I think I’m going to do just that the moment she gets home. For the first time in a while, I feel legitimately horny. I hope she isn’t buying anything perishable, because I’m going to have her walking on shaky legs before she has a chance to put anything in the refrigerator.

Sniff. Sniff sniff sniff. Good lord, that smell. My whole fucking body wants it. Needs it. Needs to find whatever is creating it and claim it, own it, mark it. I don’t even understand what’s happening to me.

Yes, I do. Yes, I very fucking well do. Because it’s not like this is the first time that this has happened to me, is it? There is one specific scent that has this effect on me. One specific scent, created by one specific person.

Melyta must be going into heat.

I don’t know why she didn’t tell me. She really, really should have told me. But that’s not what’s important right now. What’s important is that my mate is in public right now, at the fucking grocery store, and her heat is about to start.

She took the car. I’ll need to call a taxi. My fingers tremble as I dial a cab service on my communicator, my mind fixated on only one thing:

I need to fucking claim my mate. Before anyone else does.