“Breed me?”
Breed me?Two words I never expected to hear together. Breed… me?
Hahaha.
“To fill your body with my seed and have you carry my litter until they emerge, bloody, from your body,” Darolus explains. “I will not do that to you.”
“I know what breed means!” I scoff. “Is that what you call it with the females of your kind? You breed with them?”
“I do not breed with females of my kind, I never would. I have made a vow.”
“To be celibate? Why?”
“They do not survive the birth of their litters.”
I pause, taken aback. “They don’t? None of them do?”
Despite the darkness, I can see him shake his head.
None? None at all?“How do you know?” I ask, sick at the very idea.
“Because I have seen it. I have heard the wails of them dying, and the wails of their mates. I have seen what it does to those left behind: the abject lovers, out for blood, and the few young that are left to fend for themselves. With so much pain as a result…” he sighs heavily, “I made a vow to be done with it all. No more death. Not at my hands.”
“I’m sorry. That…” I shake my head, saddened for him and his entire species. “Some must have survived if you guys still exist though, right?”
“Not to my knowledge.”
“Damn. Well…” I take a deep breath, bracing myself. I’ve never told anyone this before. “Luckily, even if you could ‘breed’ me, I can’t have kids.”
His body stiffens sharply. “You cannot have young?”
“No. I made sure it could never happen,” I reveal. “My lifestyle doesn’t need kids in it, trust me. And kids don’t need me as their mom. Also, life in space is rough, and I’ve seen how bad it can be. I never want to put another kid through that.”
“You cannot have young?” he repeats incredulously as he releases my hands. “Humans can do that?”
Carefully I reach for his cock again, stroking it softly. His scent blooms in the air and I shudder, knowing it means he’s released more seed.
“Yeah. We can. We have surgeries—a kind of medicine—that make pregnancy impossible.”
“You cannot be bred?” There’s wonder in his voice now. He seems to be taken by the subject.
“That’s not going to be a problem for you, is it?” I tease.
He’s silent for a moment. “No. That is not a problem… at all.”
Deciding it’s best not to push it after such a weighty conversation, and that more sleep might be better—for both of us right now—I let him go and lie down on my side, and Darolus shifts to curl around me. Resting against his chest, between him and the groove of his tail, I reach back and pull a hide over my naked body, then I snuggle deeper against him, knowing, at least for now, he’s not going anywhere.
“You have changed your mind?” he asks.
“Yeah.” I yawn. “I would’ve made that promise too, you know. If I saw what you saw and heard what you heard.” Maybe it’s because I know where he’s coming from, or because I’m in desperate need of some type of connection, I force the words out. “I saw and heard a lot of terrible things where I grew up too, and vowed never to be a part of it. I think I understand…” I trail off, running out of steam for more. Sharing is hard for me. I rarely do it and usually only if it’s plied from me by alcohol.
I get it, though. I’d never want to go back to the forest if I were him, nor want to let anyone from my past know that I’m still alive—not when I’d finally found my peace. If he’s worried I’ll take that from him… I won’t.
“It issss not easy, living,” he murmurs, and I smile against him.
“No. It definitely isn’t.”
“I would like to pet you more.” His voice rumbles in the darkness, contemplative, almost like an afterthought.
