That makes him bristle, and before I know it, the big Trixikka is stomping down the ramp after his female, his feathers quite literally ruffled. I watch them bicker for a moment or two before Mavyx throws his hands up and storms over to the tree line on one side of the clearing, Alana trotting along behind. When I look back at Rynn, he is already watching me, a soft smile on his face. "What?" I ask, amused.
He shakes his head as though clearing himself from pleasantly lazy thoughts. "Did you find what you seek, my mate?"
"Maybe," I tell him, chewing my lip. If this long-shot of a plan doesn't work - if Alana definitelyispregnant and there's no stopping a baby from coming, I will tell him (with Alana's permission, of course). I can understand her trepidation about the Trixikka, but I know in my heart that my Rynn would make it right for her if I asked him to. If I asked him to order Mavyx to justdealwith it; your mate has a baby that's not yours - get over it. He would. He would protect Alana's child because it's the right thing to do. I suck in a breath and turn in my seat to face him. "I did find something interesting though." Alana has stomped off into the forest to go and find both contraceptive plants but something I read about one of them caught my eye - apparently the more reliable of the two.
"Oh?" Rynn asks, sliding into the seat beside me.
I press a few buttons, bringing up the hologram of the first plant we found in the database. "Do you know this plant?" The leaves are large and colored a beautiful emerald green so deep, they’re almost black but with looping veins of bright neon pink.
"Yes, I have seen it in the forests."
I give him a wry grin. "Well, according to this-'' I point to a wall of text that most likely looks like utter nonsense to my Trixikka - and would look the same to me, if it weren't for my translator, "- this plant has powerful contraceptive properties. It says here, when ingested regularly by the male of any species, his sperm becomes dormant until effects wear off."
Rynn looks at me blankly.
I lean in. "If you were to eat this plant and then-" my hands make a gesture as if willing him to catch on. He doesn't of course. "If we were to have sex, you wouldn't be able to get me pregnant,” I pause, wondering if he knows the meaning of my words. “You wouldn’t be able to…put a baby in me… It would be safe... I think."
Rynn blinks. Once, twice. "Are you saying, my mate... that if I eat this-" he waves a big hand at the slowly rotating 3D image of the plant, "- you will let me spend my seed inside your sacred cunt?"
I snort-laugh, he looks so awed by the idea. "Ok, first off, you need to stop calling it that. And secondly..." for some reason, my heart hammers in my chest as he looks at me like that. I swallow. "...Well, yeah."
Rynn leaps to his feet and gets perhaps three steps away before he's whirling back to grab me and haul me over his shoulder again. "Rynn!" I squeal. "What are you doing?!"
"We must find this plant immediately."
I can't help but laugh at that.
It isn't until we are out of the ship that he halts in his steps and puts me down, ducking his head to meet my eye. "You are sure, my little-light? A plant would do that?"
"I think so, yeah. I mean... that's what the database states. Says it's pretty powerful too, but there's always a chance it could fail."
Rynn's big, warm hands glide all the way from my shoulders, down my arms to take hold of my hands. God, I love the feel of him, even just the smallest of comforting touches. "And if it fails, my mate? I know you do not want younglings just yet and I do not want to press you-"
"If it fails, it fails," I say, smiling brightly up at him. "I know you'll be with me no matter what happens." My heart feels light with the possibilities for our future and I can see Rynn feels it too - that together, we could do that. We could have a family and everything would be ok. Reaching up, I curl my hand around the back of his neck and urge him to lean down. I love that he comes so willingly. With my big winged alien lightly pressing his forehead to mine, we both close our eyes. "I know you're not going anywhere," I whisper.
"Never, my mate," Rynn answers, swaying us gently. "You have me until the end of my days under the twin suns." I open my eyes and he's already looking at me, those turquoise eyes of hissointense. His voice is hoarse as he adds. "And even after that."
Forever and ever, then.
I like the sound of that.
We walk together into the thick of the jungle, my hand nestled safely within his. It only takes around twenty minutes or so, but when Rynn finds a small crop of bushes featuring the very same leaves we’d seen in the hologram, he promptly yanks a handful off in his fist, and shoves them in his mouth, chewing them down like an animal, all while his gaze stays firmly locked on me. Honestly, it’s enough to make me giggle.
“How much of this plant should I consume?” he mumbles around his mouthful, then swallows it down with a wince. “Just the leaves? The stems? The roots too? I will eat it all.”
I shake my head, smiling. “I don’t know.”
Rynn tears another leaf from the bush and shoves it in his mouth, his eyes drop down my body leisurely as his chewing slows. I watch him swallow and prowl toward me, morphing from eager playfulness to focused predator within the blink of an eye. “When will you allow me to fill you, little mate?”
I lick my lips. Rynn tracks the movement, a gleam in his eye that makes me shiver… and get ideas. “You’ll have to catch me first,” I say, taking a step back as Rynn stalks forward. His skin-stars pulse all over his huge body and the end of his tail twitches. He likes the idea of chasing me, I think. Good. I like it too.
“You think you could escape me, my mate?”
I cock my head and smirk, taking another backward step. “No… but it would be fun if you let me try.”
“It is dangerous out there,” he counters, moving forward. He’s not wrong, but he’s not telling me no, either.
“You’rethe most dangerous thing in this jungle,” I say, arching a brow, watching how Rynn’s big hands flex at his sides. “Do you like the idea of hunting me down,mate?” I ask, a thrill shooting up my spine at the way he audibly sucks in a sharp breath. I take another step back and this time he doesn’t follow. “What will you do when you catch me, I wonder?” Even from here, I can see Rynn’s pupils are dilated, like his very being - his biology - is preparing him for the hunt. Taking another step backward brings my foot down on a dry twig, making it snap under my weight. Rynn’s eyes dart down quickly before they’re back on my face and he crouches down, looking ready to pounce. I eye the bunched muscles I can see at his shoulders now, and how tightly he tucks in his gorgeous ink-black wings. My heart is hammering a mile a minute inside my chest but it feels good - exciting - like I’m about to board a rollercoaster. “Close your eyes and count to twenty.”
