Chapter 8Cetius

Chapter 8

Cetius

My little bride was clearly very curious about my cock. She looked at it like she’d never seen one before. For a moment, I wondered if Starlight Brides had sent me an untried female, but then I remembered that human males were different. They wore their cocks externally all the time.

Suddenly I realized why they all wore clothing. I couldn’t imagine having my cock and prongs exposed all the time. And their gonads were on the outside, too.

The horror! Something so precious should never be exposed to the elements. And it appeared that human males didn’t have any prongs for the female’s pleasure.

A female Thalassonian’s fertility was greatly enhanced through their pleasure. As such, our upper and lower prongs helped things along by stimulating and heightening their enjoyment, leading to a greater chance of conception. Vera had looked surprised by my oils as well. Again, it was an evolutionary trait designed to improve our chances of triggering ovulation.

My little human bride might be wary of me, but she wasn’t turned off. Far from it. Now that the initial shock had worn off, she was both curious and flushed with arousal.

Encouraged by the lingering feeling of her hands on my cock, I laid her down on the bed.It was strange to do this out of the water, but I’d manage.

“Relax, my little bride.”I stroked the inside of her thigh. The skin there was soft and smooth, so very different from our hard scales. “Our females enjoy this part. It is pleasurable for them even if they are not in heat.”

I started at her full, generous breasts, licking and kissing until her nipples beaded up into little nubs. Then I moved down her center to her belly. She had a navel, just like me. Now that I was exploring her body properly, I saw more of our similarities. No wonder we were compatible, despite their strange fleshy legs.

I chuckled when her fingers gripped my quills, urging me down lower. My little bride was impatient! At least she wasn’t afraid of me.

I let her guide me to her center, then dove into her salty goodness. Unlike our females, her slit wasn’t hidden by a vent and scales. My lower prong would fit perfectly into her tiny rear hole, although she was unfortunately missing a pocket for my upper prong.

Had I missed something? We were supposed to be compatible. I must have.

I searched her tasty folds with my tongue for a hidden pocket, licking and prodding thoroughly. I found none. Instead of a pocket, she had a tiny nub instead. I tongued it experimentally, and her hands tightened in my hair.

Aha! It served the same purpose. Her pleasure spot was just more exposed. That made my job even easier. There was no need to search for it.

I swirled my tongue around the tiny nub with firm pressure, and Vera made a choked sound like she was trying to hold back a moan. Immediately her slit grew wetter and more slippery, and I slid my thick, clawless thumb over the opening, gathering up her juices.

That was one benefit to being on dry land: there was nothing to wash away her cream, and I could have it all to myself. A good thing, too, because I was greedy. Her flavor was heady, and I wanted more. Much more.

I plunged my thumb into her velvet warmth, drawing more moans from her as she keened and arched her back. This part was clearly the same in both our species. It only took several pumps of my thumb into her depths as I suckled on her nub before her channel clenched around me, and I was rewarded with a rush of fresh wetness.

I inhaled deeply as her body quivered and shook with her release. She smelled wonderful, but the scent hadn’t changed. She’d fallen apart completely under my tongue and lips, but she hadn’t gone into heat.

That was to be expected, if a bit disappointing. The first tasting rarely triggered a female’s heat. It would come eventually as her body was primed with one orgasm after another. I just had to be consistent. My cock pulsed and complained, but it would have to wait patiently until she was ready.

Vera was relaxed now as she lay there in the aftermath of bliss. I crawled up to join her, gathering her into my arms and pressing my cock to her back, urging myself to relax. I’d take myself in my own hands later to get my release.

She reached for my cock, and I wondered if she thought she had to finish the job because of the contract she’d signed.

“Relax, my little bride. There is plenty of time for that. We will wait until you are ready.”

She looked confused for a moment, then sighed and relaxed again when I started rubbing the muscles of her neck.

Some cultures ignored the female’s needs, and until Vera learned that it wasn’t the case here, I had to be extra careful. She didn’t have any defenses or claws, so she would not be able to fight me off if I misread the cues from her body.

Our females fought back, clawing at us if they were not ready, as penetration was painful otherwise. Back when the male-to-female ratio was more even, there were some dishonorable males who didn’t care. It was frowned upon, but not punishable back then. But now, if a male was selfish with a partner, news of it would get out, and no female would ever consider him again, no matter how much wealth he had. Starlight Brides wouldn’t accept his application either.

According to the information package about humans, the females only came into heat about once every Earth’s lunar cycle, which was just a little shorter than ours. Even then, it wasn’t always consistent. With such a narrow window of opportunity, I had to make sure I didn’t miss it. I’d make the attempt every night until it was the right time. Vera seemed to enjoy it, so that was a good thing.

With Vera still languidly stretched out on the bed, I grabbed the tub and finished reapplying the rest of the salve, making sure to get every exposed inch of skin. I ignored the sound of my contact conch as it rang on the table.

When I had finished with the salve, I checked my contact conch. It was a message from Seena. She’d made a human-style meal for Vera, and it was waiting for us in the dining room.

“Are you hungry?” I asked.

“Yes. I think I might have worked up an appetite even though you did all the work.”

“Good. Then I did my job right. Let’s head down to eat. Seena made you some food.”

“That’s really nice of her.” She smiled, but there was still some uncertainty on her face.

She put her external gills back on, and we made our way to the dining room. Her skin now had a slight sheen to it, almost reminding me of our scales.

We found a platter on the table with a pouch of fresh water next to it held down by a rock. The plate was piled high with sliced fish and clumps of roe on a bed of sea greens. Eggs were much loved by the females of our species, and I hoped that Vera liked them too. Seena had stocked up on them specifically for her arrival.

I’d seen plates with precut food before when I was out and about in the city, but I hadn’t expected her entire meal to be like that. It wasn’t particularly appetizing to me, since it meant none of the food was truly fresh. But if that was how she liked it, then so be it.

Vera looked at her plate and then at me with a questioning look. Then, remembering that she couldn’t speak, I tried to guess what she was asking.

“This is all for you,” I said, moving her to hover in front of her platter.

Then I went to our extensive pantry to choose a meal for myself. I didn’t know how some of the prey would react to a human, and a few species did fight back, so I chose some fast-swimming but relatively docile suchees. Their only defense was their speed, which meant they lacked any sharp quills or venom, and very rarely bit.

I opened their enclosure door and set three of them loose in the room. I then selected a handful of thick, crunchy leaves to use as wraps from the greens cupboard. When I turned around, Vera hadn’t started eating yet. She was looking quizzically at my food, which was swimming around the room, moving higher and higher toward the ceiling.

Seeing me looking at her, she grabbed one of the round, juicy eggs and popped it into her mouth. Happy to see that she seemed to be enjoying her food, I went after my own meal. The suchees were particularly lively today; Seena must have just picked them up from the market. The forearm-length, silver, crunchy delights swam up near the top of the room, which was for the best since Vera and her table were at the bottom.

I swam up there too, chased one down, and stunned it. I wrapped it in a leaf and swam back down to join Vera at the table.

I noticed she’d eaten another one of those rich, fatty eggs but hadn’t touched the sliced fish. I wouldn’t either. Seafood was best enjoyed as fresh as possible.

I offered her my extremely fresh suchee wrap just as the creature was regaining consciousness. It began to struggle inside the leaf. Vera shook her head, looking shocked and more than a little disgusted. In fact, she looked almost afraid of it.

“These ones don’t bite back,” I said reassuringly. “Give it a try. Their bones and scales are particularly crispy.”

She shook her head again and focused on her plate, picking up a leaf and wrapping a few slices of fish in it. She took a tentative bite and chewed.

My suchee was thrashing up a storm now, so I took a bite before it could destroy my perfect wrapping skills. Vera finished her wrap but did not go back for a second one, although she did continue to snack on the juicy eggs.

The suchees stayed at the top of the room, which was usually where I fed anyway, since up there it was more open without all the enclosures, but I decided I’d bring the next one down to the bottom so I could be with Vera. It was just at this point that a pouch of fresh water floated up from the table, and Vera came chasing after it, kicking her finless legs.

Ahh, it floated. No wonder Seena had weighed the pouch down onto the table. I did find it harder to swim in freshwater whenever I’d gone up into lakes and rivers of the large islands in my travels. Fresh water was too light, and made me feel heavier.

I plucked it out from the water and handed it back to her.

Her eyes were wide as she gazed around the room. The lower level of the dining room was small, since the enclosures took up so much of the space, but up here, it opened up so we could simulate the hunt when chasing our prey. It wasn’t the same as the real thing, of course. It was still an enclosed room, and the types of prey we kept on hand weren’t what we’d find in the open ocean, but it was still enough to get our appetite going.

The last suchee swam in large circles, too dumb to realize its imminent demise until I gave chase. But soon enough, it also went down the gullet, and I was full. Just in time, too, because below us, the door opened and Seena made her way into the room. She didn’t bother staying down by the enclosures but instead swam up to greet us.

“Ah! I’m so glad you two are enjoying a meal together. I wasn’t sure how much you needed to eat, Vera, so feel free to leave anything you don’t want, and I’ll take care of it. I’m not picky like the Thalassonians. My food does not need to be moving for me to eat it.”

I made a face at the mere mention of still food. Still meant dead, and dead meant inedible.

Vera pointed to the plate and then grasped one of Seena’s tentacles, baring her teeth in a friendly manner the way her kind often did, and nodded.

“You’re most welcome, my dear.” Seena patted Vera’s hand. “Why don’t you two head out to the gardens for a walk while I clean up in here?” She turned to me. “Vera was out there with Cetia yesterday looking at all the wonderful specimens you brought back from your travels. You should tell her all about them, and the places you’ve been to where you picked them up.”

I hesitated. Details of my travels tended to bore people. Most were only interested in the riches I brought back, not my collection of fauna and flora.

But Vera’s head was bobbing up and down very excitedly, which I knew was the human sign for yes. So I took her by the hand and guided her out and into the gardens.