I stare up at him, understanding what he said, yet missing so much. It doesn’t seem to be a social construct, especially since there is a biological change. However, how can sex create what is effectively a second puberty? That is assuming they have a first one.
More questions. And all I want to do is kiss him. I grit my teeth and force myself to step away.
He doesn’t try to hold on to me or ask for more. Instead, his hands fall away as if he knows the moment is gone. “I wouldn’t risk having sex with you as it leads to the rut.”
His words are like a slap in the face. He doesn’t want to sleep with me. I should be horrified that he even considered it, but I’m not because there’s a part of me that wanted to do more than kiss him.
I open my mouth and close it again.
Something he said doesn’t quite make sense. “Are you assuming that sex with any woman triggers the rut? Or do you know for sure that sleeping with a human woman causes the rut?”
Because the two are very different, and if he knows for sure that a human woman cause it, that means one of the four missing women is now mated to a Honey warrior. “Oh, my God. Sabine slept with your brother." His brother, who isn’t his blood brother, but another banished warrior.
I step forward and grip the bars with my hands. “Answer me.”
He steps back, keeping the distance between us. “We didn’t know it would happen. It’s not as though we have ever seen humans before. We thought?—"
“Was there thinking? Or did my sister’s alien boyfriend want to learn what it was like to fuck a woman?“
The frustrated heat inside of me twists into annoyance. It’s a fist in my chest that wants to rip out my lungs and make me scream. How could she?
Is that the real reason the colony didn’t want the women back? They’ve all gotten with the aliens?
What if they get pregnant and have alien-human babies?
No, that won’t happen as they have their compulsory birth control implants. And the odds of us being geneticallycompatible enough to breed is so remote…well, it would be like finding aliens on a supposedly uninhabited planet.
“It was Sabine who chose him and wanted more." He steps in and wraps his hand on the same bars as mine, but slightly above. “It is always the woman who chooses in my culture. Where I am from, women are treasured, and it is an honor to be chosen." His lips pull back, revealing his orange teeth.
Has he sensed my annoyance?
Is that why he is responding with a snarl?
“He could have said no, couldn’t he?”
Tiril laughs. “Of course he could’ve. Some men don’t want to go through the rut and be bound to a woman. But Edilk liked her, and she liked him, and one thing led to another, and we were all rather surprised when his marking started to glow.”
I bet they were. Perhaps they thought human women were the safe option. Now my sister and her alien boyfriend are bound together forever. “What happens if she gets tired of him?”
Tiril’s expression turns grim. “Then she is giving him a painful end. Among my tribe, break ups are rare and only happen after an extreme transgression. But then the couple knows each other quite well before they mate.”
Huh. Even Tiril thinks they rushed.
“Then I hope my sister knows what she’s doing, and what she has committed to." She always wanted someone to be hers, and now she has that.
“He will do everything to make her happy. That is a warrior's responsibility, as no one wants the shame of being cast out by his mate.” Not just shame, though that would be the cultural component.
“I think I should finish my measurements." That will mean asking him to take off the rest of his clothes. “Do you know what it is about sex that triggers the rut? Since it doesn’t happen if you have sex with other warriors.”
I try not to think what it would be like to watch two warriors embracing, fucking.
“Are you worried that a kiss started it?”
A little. Does it show on my face? I give what I hope is a casual shrug.
“A kiss is safe.”
“And you know this because you’ve kissed a Honey woman?”
