“Our species do love, Selena, but usually it is reserved forthe nestqueen and her Favored. The others are left in the shadows—bonded but ever on the periphery.”
“I don’t want that. You know I don’t. Whoever I take for my mates—nestmates, husbands, whatever—I don’t want to place one above another. I want to share my love equally,” I said, wrapping my arms around him and stroking the base of one of his vines.
“Yes, I do know. You said that, but now I can feel the truth of your words. I sense the kindness in your soul and feel your need to be accepted and loved.” He stepped back, searching my eyes. “Are you certain you want to accept my bonding spore right now?”
I burst out laughing, covering my mouth with my hands. He looked hurt.
“I’m sorry, Xylo. I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just... I can’t believe you just said that. It sounded so weird.”
A strange expression crossed his face, and I lightly pushed him farther into the center of the nestbed. I glanced down at the apex of his legs, but there was still nothing to distinguish his gender.
“So, how do we do this?” I gestured at his lack of genitalia.
“You have to prepare me. But I do not know exactly—you are human.”
I looked up into his kind eyes and smiled sheepishly.
“I’m only slightly more experienced at this than you. We can learn together.”
Xylo smiled, then took the lead, lowering himself to the mattress, leaning back against the pillows until his petal-wings spread behind him like a blanket. His vines spread out on the nestbed as his arms lay loosely at his sides. The position of his waist petals formed a natural seat atop his thighs.
When he met my eyes, I felt again that instant pull, that awareness, that connection I felt when I first met him.
Caring. Gentle. Safe.
He mumbled something under his breath—a curse or a prayer, I couldn’t tell.
I lowered myself onto his lap, wiggling my ass against his smooth waist petals to find a comfortable position.
The contact of our bodies felt right—he felt right. I didn’t know how to explain the instant comfort I felt with him. Perhaps it was part of the court bond. Perhaps it was just him.
Xylo.
Whatever it was, Iknewhe wouldn’t harm me.
After a life of solitude, I was thrilled at the chance to be friends—to be more than friends—with someone of Xylo’s worth. Waiting, when I knew this was what I wanted, would’ve been wrong. I’d been telling the truth when I said I wasn’t going to sever my court bond with him. Maybe this wasn’t love—yet—but it had the potential to be, and I didn’t want to risk losing it—losing him.
“Will you be mine?” I whispered as I leaned in to touch my forehead with his.
“Always.”
Closing my eyes, I kissed him. The fuzz on his lips tickled mine. I nibbled, teasing his lips, tasting. I bit at his bottom lip, provoking a gasp, allowing my tongue to sweep into his mouth.
He tasted sweet—addictively sweet. I wanted more.
His hands tightened on my hips, holding me still as I felt his vines gently trace my body. Their soft touches flowed across my skin. My nervousness and apprehensions melted away.
I sighed against his lips.
Eyes closed, I focused on the sensations his vines were arousing. They danced across my hips, winding around my thighs, flowered tips teasing my center.
I kissed my way from the corner of his mouth, along hisjaw, and down the side of his neck. His scaled skin felt cool beneath my lips. As I trailed kisses across his soft emerald shoulder moss, a powerful floral scent filled my nose.
I gasped at the sudden wave of arousal that struck me, hands tightening against his hard felt-covered chest.
Xylo slid his hand from my hip to cup the side of my face, pressing it to his shoulder. Tilting his mouth to my ear, he whispered, “My moss produces a pheromone-filled pollen. It is an aphrodisiac—one of the ways male Wudox assist their nestqueen to her climax.”
I growled in response. I could feel myself growing damp as I nibbled at the spongy moss, my hips shifting against Xylo.
