Chapter 16: Koriv’n

 

I snarled and thrust into my female. Nikki’s wet cunt gripped me so hard I had to fight for every movement. I gritted my teeth as her channel pulsed around me again.

She opened her mouth, but this time, no sound came out. She froze in a silent scream as her body shook from the force of her orgasm. It was too much, and I could hold back no more. With one last thrust, I emptied my seed into her pulsing channel with a roar.

I held myself above her body, panting, careful not to put my entire body weight on her. Her eyes were half-closed, and she hummed when I nuzzled her cheek. She opened her eyes, and I was lost in them again. I wanted to memorize them forever so I could see them every time I closed my eyes.

Completely exhausted, I rolled to lie down next to her, pulling her into my arms and pillowing her head with my bicep. She snuggled in and sighed.

“That was amazing,” she said dreamily.

It was. It was everything I’d hoped for. I tested my hands to see if they were stuck on her, but they had no problem letting go. I wrapped my arms around her, counted to ten, begging my body to trigger the mating bond. Then I tried one more time. Again, I had no problem releasing her.

She furrowed her brows at me. “What are you doing?”

“I’m trying to initiate the mating bond.”

She grimaced and pointed to her ear. “I still can’t hear you.”

I went to the drawers and retrieved the translator. Then I grabbed a steaming cloth from the facilities. I cleaned the inside of her ear thoroughly; then, as it dried, I wiped us both clean. Peeling the backing from the tiny device, I stuck it into her ear. The device was minuscule and lightweight, and she shouldn’t feel it.

“Thanks. Now, what’s with the weird opening and closing of your arms?”

“I was trying to initiate the mating bond. I had my fertility turned on back on the space-bound ship. When we trigger the bond”—I said “when” because I knew Nikki was mine—“we can start a family.”

Her body stiffened, and she rolled away until she was pressed up against the back wall of my sleeping nook. A look of utter panic showed on her face. She covered her body with her arms as if to protect herself from me, though I’d never harm her.

“Whoa! Back up. Mate? Family? No, no, no.” She shook her head violently. “This—” She gestured to the bed and us. “This is all I can give you. I can’t be your mate. And I definitely can’t have a baby. We’re in a bugpocalypse.” Her voice rose as she spoke. “I don’t even know you that well. We just met!”

I pressed my lips in a thin line, not liking any of the words she said.

“I can’t even take care of myself. I have no clue where my next meal is going to come from. How the hell am I supposed to take care of a kid? I didn’t even know we could—” She blanched. “Oh no! What if—”

The thought of having an offspring with me scared her. Many of the mates were hesitant, too. They were afraid of having a child during these uncertain times. I understood, but it still hurt.

“I will care for you, and I will care for our offspring. You are mine, and I know you are my mate, even if my body doesn’t yet.”

She shook her head again. “No. I’m not. I can’t be your mate. I just met you yesterday!”

I snarled angrily, hurt at her rejection of me, and she gasped, pressing her back against the wall. The scent of her fear filled the tiny sleeping nook, and I regretted my outburst immediately. I didn’t want her to be frightened of me.

“I’m sorry. I won’t hurt you. I promise.”

Krux! I was messing this up. I put my face in my hands.

She took a few deep breaths. I dared to look into her eyes again; she looked calmer.

“You do not want me.” The words sounded hollow as they fell from my mouth. Nikki was willing to follow me home. She was willing to stay with me in my shuttle. She was even willing to share sex with me. But I was not good enough to be her mate.

The change in tone was enough to get Nikki to stop and peer back at me, this time with a hint of sympathy.

“No, I mean. Yes. I—” She scrubbed a palm over her face. “Okay. Let’s back up a moment. I’m sorry I freaked out. I didn’t know I could get pregnant. It wasn’t even on my mind.”

“You can’t. Not yet. We need to trigger the mating bond first.”

“That’s when you can’t let go of me, right?”

“That’s the initial sign of a forming bond.” A bond she didn’t want.

As if reading my mind—maybe I’d said it out loud, I couldn’t tell anymore, all I could focus on was that I found my mate and she didn’t want me—she replied, “It’s not that I don’t want a bond with you. I like you a lot. More than I should after knowing you for only one day. I don’t go around sleeping with men I just met.”

I growled at the thought, but she continued.

“But I’m not ready. Not yet. I just officially ended something. It should’ve ended months ago, but still, I’m not ready for a long-term commitment.” She put her hand on my forearm. “I enjoy your company. We get along well, and the sex is mind-blowing. Can’t we keep it as it is? Let’s date and see where it goes before we dive into the deep end.”

I covered her hand with mine, glad she didn’t suggest we avoid each other from now on to prevent a mate bond from starting. She wanted to stay here with me. I wanted more, but I could be happy with this.

“I’m sorry I freaked out.” She looked sincere.

“No. I understand. I have researched human courting rituals. Humans date. We will date first.” I ignored the fact that the bond would happen whenever it wanted, regardless of our agreement.

“So we’re good?” she asked, her brows still furrowed.

I hauled her back into my arms and nuzzled the side of her face with mine. She embraced me and blew out a long breath.

“Thank you for understanding. I’m not saying no. I’m just saying let’s take our time.”

I could do that. I had the rest of my life to spend with her. I’d spent months looking for my mate, researching all about human relationships. I knew humans took time getting to know each other—dating, before making commitments. Now that I’d finally found her, I was so eager that I’d ditched all my research.

We hadn’t even gone on a proper date yet. Sure, she’d joked about the trip here as a date, but that didn’t really count. Not to me.

I remembered the gifts I’d collected and left her lounging in the sleeping nook to find them. Quality chocolates had been easy to find in the beginning, as were stuffed animals. I picked a stuffed spotted cat from the small collection. I didn’t have any lions, but the cat would do.

I held it out to her, and she took it, her face full of surprise.

“I have collected many gifts. I’d been waiting to give them to the right female. If you prefer another animal, you can choose any or all if you like.” I showed her two more stuffed animals. One was a bear, though it looked nothing like a real bear. The other was a green animal I’d never seen on Earth before.

“A dinosaur!” She reached for the strange-looking green one. She held the cat and the “dinosaur” side by side. “This is tough, but I think I’ll keep the cat.” She held up the fluffy kitten. “This is adorable! I love it.”

“A kitten for my kitten. But you can choose both or any of them.” I didn’t expect her to take them all; I’d collected many, not knowing what my future mate would like. I knew that Kaj’k and Alice had a large collection of stuffed animals on their shuttle.

Nikki grinned and leaned over to look into the cabinet where I’d kept the soft toys. “I’ll keep Fluffasaurus Rex and Purrito. I heard there might be a baby boom in New Frank—er, the survivor settlement. The rest might come in handy there.”

Those were strange names, but I’d come to expect that from humans. Naming them was good. It meant she planned on being here with them, and with me, for the foreseeable future.

“We’ll give the rest to the settlement.” I made a mental note to keep a few for my future offspring.

“The ladies said something about showing me the stars. I thought it was a euphemism for sex at first, but now I’m not so sure.”

I leaned over to the sleeping nook’s control panel and turned on the privacy screen, choosing the night sky display. The moving images were taken from the first planet we’d fought the scourge on after we left Xarc. It was from long before my time, but I appreciated this first modification to the basic shuttle design made by hunters past. Even then, they’d realized we needed more than just the basics.

“Wow!” Nikki gazed up at the star-dotted ceiling, a look of awe on her face. “It’s like we are sleeping outside under the stars, but it’s the perfect temperature, and we don’t need to deal with bugs. The little annoying ones, I mean. Like mosquitoes.”

“There are other settings. Do you want to see?”

“Yes.”

The night sky was replaced by a field of dark blue and purple grasses waving in an unfelt breeze. Small white and yellow flowers dotted the landscape, and above us, the twin moons of Xarc made every little flower glimmer like fallen stars.

Nikki inhaled sharply. “This is beautiful. Like a fairytale.”

I didn’t tell her that this breathtaking place no longer existed. Xarc was long gone, destroyed by our makers in an attempt to kill the scourge. Hundreds of thousands of species, lost forever, surviving only as programs in our shuttles.

I’d fight to my death to prevent this fate from befalling the surviving species of Earth, and so would many other hunters.

Nikki stood Fluffasaurus Rex next to her head as if it stood guard over her. “What else you got on there?”

I changed the display again, and we found ourselves on a beach, the waves lapping softly onto the shore. There were no moons in the sky in this scene, but the stars twinkled above, dimly illuminating the calming backdrop.

She yawned before tucking Purrito under her arm. I rubbed her back as she cuddled into my side. With the sounds of the ocean as our lullaby, and a Fluffasaur as our guard, we drifted off to sleep together.