She was beautiful, and it took resolve to allow my second lid to recede and pay attention to something else besides the way the heat between her legs throbbed like a beacon for me to hunt. I knew my heat sensors were considered menacing for species outside my own planet, becoming nothing but a black void across my eyes that was said to feel like staring into endless space with no stars. My eyes did that the first time I saw her too, attracted to her heat.
I blinked several times to force my second lids to retract, revealing my more approachable appearance of green eyes similar to both our skin tones.
"I didn't mean to," she began, and I waved her concern off with a hand as I bowed to her. I touched a finger to my temple in reverence to the Goddess Lumei, blessing our second meeting.
Belder would consider me reckless to give my name to someone so soon, but it felt uncomfortable to keep it from her.
"On your lips, I share with you the fate of the stars, Treasure. My name is Yueril."
She lifted a curious brow at me like I had said something odd, but I straightened and readjusted my hood to cover my face in shadow in hopes that would make her more comfortable.
"Yueril," she repeated my name, and a shiver ran down the back of my legs, but I was sure to keep my stance steady so she would not notice the disturbance, or the yearning for her to say it again. I gathered comforts for her on the sleeping platform that would, on my planet, warrant the use of acknowledging my name once more, and I looked forward to it.
"Yes." I quickly realized that she must be wondering why I summoned her here, and quickly added, "I would like for you to accompany me during my stay." I groaned, as I was not usually so perplexed about what to say; or so awkward about waiting for another to say something in reply. I continued when she said nothing. "I do not mean to alarm you. I do not assume we are compatible for mating. You have nothing to fear from my company. I merely, I just..."
If she had no fear of me wishing to mate with her, then why was I so fixated on bringing mating into the conversation? I berated myself before I grunted and threw my hand to the side to show the basin of water, fresh clothes and whatever else she should need laid out on the bed. "These are for you. Do with them as you please. I will be outside when you are ready to show me around," I said with finality, and then stormed out before I embarrassed myself further.
I would have to find another opportunity for her to use my name again. As it was, I could not bear the increasing probability that she would dismiss my offering on the merit of thinking I was courting her. The door opened as I approached with a hiss stuck in my throat. Why would it be so wrong to consider me as mate worthy? Some habits never truly disintegrated. I would always be the desert scum that the princess taught to speak and dressed in fancy clothes to hide my feral nature.
Chapter five
Hazel
IdroppedthefabricI'dtied into a makeshift bag for my food on the ground as I stared at the way his scales twinkled in the light of the room, darkening in coloring as they tapered towards the top of his pants. My eyes lingered on the bulge between his legs and my shoulder loh throbbed as my core tightened and bloomed with heat I hadn't felt since the moons of Estreldez warmed my skin. I shook my head in denial at what I was experiencing, because this was what my mother only talked about briefly when she spoke of my father.
"One day you'll meet a male that sends tingles through your back loh, and warms you like only the moons can. This is the start of mating, and I pray that when you feel this, you will not be forced to give it up for anything," she had warned me.
It was a warning, because I had never met my father, and I had spied on the clan often enough to know many never knew who their father was, and our clan did not allow the mothers to keep their spawn. If you were to look after younglings, you were to take the profession of caretaker where all spawn went, to create a sense of duty and shared responsibility among the clan.
I'd often watched the males and wonder which one abandoned my mother. Which one abandoned me.
The stranger said his name, and I repeated it as my loh on my feet burned where I had cut them out in trade for survival. I figured they were less needed than the ones that absorbed more radiation from the moons, but as my whole body reacted to this handsome male, I realized everything was connected, and needing him hurt so much I believed my wounds would reopen and bleed once more.
He hissed and flung his hand out to show me supplies he had gathered before he rushed towards the door. As he passed me, I reached for him, missing by only an inch before I crumbled. I moaned in pain as my feet ached, and he stopped. The door closed just as swiftly as it had opened. His eyes shifted, and a film covered them as he pinpointed exactly where my loh were missing and crouched down to stare at me with dark vibrating orbs.
"Who did this to you?" he asked with a deep rumble.
I whimpered, unable to admit that this was my own doing.
"Forgive me," he whispered as he lifted his robes over his head and gathered me to his bare chest. His scales were surprisingly cool to the touch, but in a soothing, soft way that had me melting into his hold. I was not a small female, and he lifted me with little effort before placing me on the bed.
My hand rubbed along his chest, and I moaned a protest as he withdrew from me.
"I will tend to your wounds," he explained, and I sunk deeper into the cushions of luxury I had forgotten existed while huddled in the streets against a radiation pack.
I watched as he lifted my ankle and rubbed his fingers along my skin, then... licked my wound. I kicked at him before I could comprehend what was happening. It was a pathetic attempt at shoving him away. My muscles felt like gelatin, and my kick wasn't anything more than a small nudge to him that he easily ignored while he continued to massage my feet.
"What are you doing?" I mumbled, my words slurred. I knew my body was attracted to him and wished to make him my mate, but the way his teeth gleamed as he licked my ankle made me doubt his intentions. Was he going to eat me? My mind said maybe, but my loh tingled more as he touched me, and the moan that was working its way through my throat had nothing to do with pain. Shivers traveled between my thighs, and I felt the seam of my mating loh split as a wetness gathered there.
No, no, no, I repeated. I clearly remember him saying that our species weren't compatible, and he had no interest in me that way. I flushed with embarrassment.
"I'm taking your pain away before I clean your wounds and help you heal."
He was right. My pain was completely gone, replaced with a growing need that made me squirm.
"Are you in pain?" he asked, and I bit my lip at the way his eyes were dark and penetrating. He looked like he would tear someone apart if that would make me feel any better, and he was staring at the one responsible. Me. I had sold my loh. I had caused that pain.
But with him, it was gone.
