Chapter 13

Swear to god, I could feel that this ship was moving. It wasn't built that different from the other one—though our quarters were bigger and finer—but I definitely knew it was on the move while the other had been still. Like there was a rumble under my feet and?—

"I feel nothing," Ghosha said with a shrug.

"Maybe because you've done it plenty of times before." I popped another motion sickness pill, determined not to miss a dose. "You're used to it."

He huffed a laugh and patted the bed beside him, as if I wasn't headed for that exact spot. "I'm not such an interstellar traveler as you think. This is the first time I've left Nor."

"Oh." Curious, I sat cross-legged and facing him instead of cuddling back against him. "Are there other planets to go to?"

"There are several. Some friendly, some not." He leaned back against the wedge pillow that acted like a headboard and laced his fingers on his belly. "I've never been one with an urge to see the universe."

"But you came to Earth."

"Like a fool, I volunteered to solicit for sex workers."

"Why's that make you a fool?"

"I had no idea what I was getting myself into." He shrugged. "But if this worked, then every brothel would need humans to compete, even my own. I couldn't let?—"

My eyebrows hit my hairline. "You own a brothel?"

Ghosha's eyes grew wide as he stared at me. "Did I not tell you that?"

"I'm not upset, just… Wow. And, well, we haven't exactly done a lot of talking," I said with a grin.

He grinned back, and I watched his golden gaze travel over my naked body. "That is true."

Didn't mean we couldn't talk now, though. "So you're leading the cause and also have a stake in it."

"Yes." He stopped there, but I raised my eyebrows and smiled to encourage him to keep going. With a nod, he said, "I was always interested in the brothel when my grandmother ran it, but it was still a surprise that she left it to me. I realize now that I had been apprenticing under her and knew most every aspect of the business by the time she passed. When faced with the option of joining my father making bread or running a brothel…" He held his hands up like he was weighing his options and kept raising the one he'd indicated was for the brothel.

"That's really kinda cool. I bet you're a great boss." I cocked my head and had to ask, "Is your dad okay with you doing that instead of working with him?"

Ghosha shrugged one shoulder. "I'm sure he would have preferred to have us both working with him and taking over the bakery someday, but my sister chose to stay, so he's happy."

"So you have both parents and a sister?"

"Correct."

I squirmed with worry, but had to ask, "How will they feel about me as your mate? Do they know about me?"

He looked away and scratched at his neck. "They don't know about you. But," he quickly added when I gasped, "that is only because my father would call us night and day with questions and wanting to hear stories. He would be insufferable, just like he was when Kreeva met her mate."

I had zero reference for any such thing, but I was still annoyed that people we were zooming toward didn't even know I existed. "So what you wanted instead was for him to pester us in person."

Ghosha stared at me for a moment before rolling his eyes closed and groaning. He drooped where he sat and covered his face with his hands.

I gave him a little kick. "Idjit."

He groaned again.

"Kreeva's your sister?"

"Yes," he said on a sigh as he slumped back against the headboard. "Her mate is Torarin. They have three children, Haviana, Newjo, and the baby, Usara."

My heart squeezed at the thought of a baby tiger that I might be able to cuddle soon.

"What should I call your parents?" I asked.

He gave me a little smile. "They are your parents as well now, so you may call them Mother and Father."

Oof. That hit me right in the feels. I hadn't hardly thought about Mama, but Ghosha's words brought back all the times I'd wished my dad was still around and Mama was happy. That was gone now, and I'd never get it back. Yet here was my mate giving me his parents—a sister, brother, and kids, too. I had to swallow down a flash of emotion that might've been sadness or joy, I couldn't quite tell.

I didn't really know what to say, so I moved in and kissed Ghosha instead. Whatever I'd been trying to say with my kiss quickly turned into something filthier that soon had Ghosha following me down onto the bed. With his furry bulk pressing on me, I eagerly hoisted my legs up to bracket his waist, just fine with expressing my thanks or love or hopes with my whole body.

Because Ghosha was wearing some sort of rubbery claw caps pretty much all the time, he was able to reach for the lube and get a couple slick fingers in me himself. Lord help me if he ever lost one inside me, but I loved the things for how they dulled the threat of his claws and let us have moments like this. Sure, his claws were exciting as hell and sometimes I wondered if I'd really mind a scratch or two, but that they let him play with my ass and rev me up was real fine, too.

"Ugh! Fuck me. Ghosha!" I couldn't help riding his hand and that wasn't nearly enough.

He chuckled and moved back so he could flip me over like I weighed absolutely nothing. Immediately, I tucked my legs under me and stuck my ass in the air, head down on the bed and biting my bottom lip. He didn't waste a second on plunging that fat cock of his up my ass, all those little bumps pinging away at my nerve endings.

Ghosha wasn't interested in a slow fuck, and I was glad for that. He leaned on my back and his hips worked me over like the pistons in a race car's engine. I couldn't do anything but fist the bedding and try to keep breathing while he punched wails and hollers out of my throat until I thought I'd go hoarse.

He was the one to come first, and that surprised me completely. Like it knocked me off the climb to my own orgasm because it had never happened before. I didn't complain or anything, especially not when he rolled me over and settled between my spread thighs.

Watching my reddened cock slip between his fangs, feeling it move along his scratchy tongue as he took me in, always made my breath catch. He hummed like my cock in his mouth was pure bliss, closing his eyes as he started sucking. All I could do was take shaky breaths, but then I felt him ease three fingers up my ass. I yelled for that shock of pleasure and couldn't help riding them while I fucked his mouth, too.

I didn't last long at all, coming with a cry and feeling him swallow everything down. He seemed reluctant to take his fingers out of me, and I whimpered a little with their leaving. But having Ghosha cuddle me up, all that hard muscle and soft fur surrounding me, was just such perfection. I fell asleep to the sound of his contented purring.

I wokeup to see Ghosha on his tablet beside me. For a few minutes, I just watched him as he worked, his brow drawing down, his head cocking to the side. I knew I stared like a statue when I was thinking hard, but Ghosha moved around a lot. There was so much to see when I looked at him.

Sitting up, I scooted in close and kissed the corner of his mouth before noticing what was on his tablet. "Who's that?" I asked since there was a human man's photo and all kinds of stats beside it. "Oh, is he one of the volunteers?"

"He is, yes. I narrowed down the list of volunteers to specifications I desired and am reviewing their applications. When I find one I want to hire, I make an offer." He tapped the offer button under the man's photo.

"What makes…" I peered at the name at the top, "Conner a good choice for your brothel?"

Ghosha pointed at the stats side of the screen, but it was in Norlish and I couldn't read half the words. "His kinks. I have a few clients who enjoy a submissive partner who's willing to be restrained publicly or in private. I'm sure Conner has received many offers given that."

No wonder I couldn't read those words—not exactly on the beginner's vocabulary list, were they?

"So that's what you think about as you look at them? What your clients might want?"

He flipped to the next person, a woman with lavender hair and a vining tattoo on her neck and shoulder. "I'm considering several factors, but client needs are a priority. For this woman, her tastes are rather mundane, but her appearance is unique." He made her an offer, too.

"Does everyone get the same offer?"

"Yes, of course."

I couldn't resist putting him on the spot. "If we hadn't been mates, would you have made me an offer?"

He set the tablet aside and hauled me around to sit on his lap facing him. "Once I discovered you were untouched, I would have made you a very specific offer."

"Oh yeah?"

"Mmm," he said and reached down to grip my asscheeks. The caps on his claws let him hold on without scratching me, and I really liked that. "I would have devised an auction with the highest bidder winning your virginity. You would've become a millionaire."

"A millionaire, huh?" I tucked in close as his cock slowly pushed free of his sheath and crawled up our abs between us. "You think my ass is worth millions?"

"You don't?" The pad of his finger teased my hole. "Sweet Squire, the experience of initiating you is a priceless one. I will treasure it for the rest of my life."

I kissed him and petted his fur, real glad my Ghosha was the one to win me.