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Jace’s breath ghosted over his face as the young man had moved closer to him. Now there were but inches between them. Jace’s lips looked pinker, plumper and were slightly parted. His breathing came in shorter, sharper gasps.

“I’ve never been with anyone Khoth. I mean, I told you that. So I’m not sure how this all works,” Jace told him. “Thaf’ell. Human. Altaeth. It’s all unknown to me. I wouldn’t let the Osiris tell me what to expect though, because I want to learn it from you.”

“Learn from me?” His heart raced.

“Yes. I want to make love. I want you to teach me how to please you,” Jace said. “And I don’t want to wait. Can we do that? Do you want that too?”

The Thaf’ell in every situation but with their mates and closest family members used words to get across all communications. But when they were alone with those their Xis were connected with they rarely spoke at all. They acted. They showed. Because in this, all was revealed where words could conceal.

Khoth grasped Jace’s chin lightly and slowly pulled the young man towards him for a kiss. He gave Jace enough time to pull away--his touch so light that it could be broken with a simple hesitation on Jace’s part-- to give Jace the chance to show him if the action was unwelcome. Because that was the thing about actions. Once they were done, they could not be taken back. But Jace did not resist.

Their lips met and Jace was his. Khoth curled an arm around Jace’s back and brought the young man flush against him. Their bodies molded together. Their chests rose and fell with one another’s as their breathing synced. That tingling along his spine increased and Khoth’s mouth went dry. Was this really happening? Thaf’ell spoke of this sensation when finding one’s mate, but how many really experienced it? He thought few. His parents couldn’t have, because he could never leave Jace, no matter what the young man might do.

So dangerous to be like this. Completely at the bidding of another. There is no me. Just us. If that is what Jace wants. I am powerless to change what I feel.

Khoth needed to feel more of Jace’s skin. If he was to teach, he had to learn. He had already begun studying Jace on the Osiris. But there was so much more yet to be discovered.

Jace wore only a white, long-sleeved shirt and black pants. They’d stripped him of everything else so that he could sleep. Boots, socks and jacket lay over a nearby chair. One of Jace’s bots had checked them both, eliminating all traces of Khul, but still Khoth wanted to throw these clothes out and begin fresh. They held memories of what had happened here.

Khoth’s hands ran up the back of Jace’s shirt, lifting it off, as his palms slid over silky skin. His study of human biology might be for naught now. Jace was Altaeth. So he would have to observe Jace very closely to understand what gave him pleasure.

Jace lifted his arms up and the shirt was easily shucked off and tossed to the side leaving Jace just in pants. Jace laughed as his hair stuck up on end. He tried to press it down with one hand, but Khoth knocked that hand away. He ran his fingers through the golden brown locks. There were hints of copper that glinted warmly in the sun. So different than Thaf’ell hair, which was always white or silver. Khoth pressed his lips to Jace’s temple.

Khoth pulled back for a moment to look at Jace’s naked chest. He’d seen it before, but now he could truly linger. Jace had a graceful V-shaped torso. Broad at the shoulders and narrowing at the waist. Thaf’ell bodies did that too, but they were longer and their waists were thicker, too.

Had the Thaf’ell looked like Jace? Looked so human? Or had they hidden their differences with technology until their descendants showed nothing abnormal on the outside? They were clearly heroes and leaders of humanity. Maybe villains, too. People who moved the world as they had once ruled the universe.

Jace’s nipples were peaked and a warm brownish-pink color. Khoth could not help tracing the softer skin of the right areola with his index finger. Jace let out a soft grunt as the nipple hardened more. Khoth wanted to feel that nub harden on his tongue. But he had to look and see all first.

Jace’s muscles rippled under his skin as if Khoth’s gaze was a physical caress on his body. The flush on Jace’s cheeks flooded down his throat and extended to mid-chest. Khoth allowed his fingers to trail along the dips and swells of muscles of Jace’s belly. Dark hair began just above the waistband of his pants and lead lower to where his sex must be. Khoth wished to follow that treasure trail of hair to its final destination. But he had to look and see all first.

He followed the lines of Jace’s ribs around his sides. Jace’s skin tightened with the touch of his fingers. Khoth got up fully on the bed. Jace tried to turn with him, but Khoth indicated he should stay put. Jace’s head swiveled around to try and watch him as Khoth circled him.

Jace’s back was lovely. The graceful sweep of his spine. The way the muscles attached to bone. There were no ta’na there, though Jace could have covered his back with Thaf’ell tattoos based upon what he had done since before even becoming the Pilot. There were no birth ta’na either that would glow like his glowed now upon finding one's mate. Khoth swore that there must be a lightshow going on under his clothes. He spanned Jace’s back with his hands, resting his thumbs on either side of Jace’s spine. He wished there was a faint glow. But no, there was not. Altaeth must not have that.

Unless I am not his mate, but no, he is mine so it is just a difference between us. That is all.

Perhaps he could convince Jace to tattoo this flesh, pick a design that was just theirs with meanings all their own. He would ink Jace himself. The intimate press of the needle against skin. He would ease Jace’s pain with kisses and strokes. He would wipe away the blood as the ink took hold.

“Is everything okay?” Jace whispered.

“Yes, it is,” Khoth answered with the barest breath.

The words were so hard to form. But he must assure his mate that all was well. Jace was so new at this. So new at everything. He was brave and willing, but Khoth had promised to teach. He must have control here despite wanting to lose it all.

The short hair on the very back of Jace’s neck attracted Khoth. He wondered if Altaeth necks were as sensitive there as Thaf’ell’s were. He lightly blew heated air along that delicate skin. The hair rose and Jace shivered.

Yes, just as sensitive.

Khoth allowed his fingers to glide down Jace’s spine again until they reached the waistband of his pants. There was a dark space where his fingers could reach below the material. He allowed his fingers to dip inside, out of sight, and saw goose flesh rise on Jace’s arms. High color lit up Jace’s cheekbones. His pupils, too, were more black than blue. He looked over his shoulder at Khoth in that way that caused Khoth’s stomach muscles to tighten and his own sex organ to harden.

The dar’nac around the base of his sex stirred to life. They pushed against the material of his pants, questing for Jace’s cock or an opening to Jace’s body. Desire caused his skin to flush a deeper blue. If Jace could have seen his back, he would have witnessed the birth ta’na burn as brightly as the sun along Khoth’s spine. It was so natural. Not a thing to be feared. Not a thing that one could control either.

He pressed his front against Jace’s back, kissing Jace’s bare shoulder, biting it a little before licking the wounded spot. Jace moaned and pushed against him. The dar’nac surged and his organ lengthened another inch. Compared to humans, Thaf’ell’s male sex organs were thinner, but longer and capable of movement even when fully engorged.

Neither male humans or Thaf’ell had birth canals, but his research told him that just like between male Thaf’ell that they could join together easily in other ways. Jace might be Altaeth, but he was still seemingly built this way. Khoth held Jace closer to him as his sex throbbed and ached. He had to strip off his pants soon so that he could be fully engaged. Would Jace want this?

He had said “make love” so yes, he did. But again, Khoth would be careful unlike how Typhon had been with him, taking his own pleasure first before Khoth’s. Pushing him into things that--though deeply pleasurable--have left him lost and wanting at the same time. He would not have Jace feel that way. With him but alone. No, they were together. They were as one. Jace would never feel afraid or alone in this.