15. Harper

15

HARPER

W e didn’t set a time, and I haven’t decided if I’m going. Yva never mentioned it again and I think it’s one of those things where they expect the woman to make the next move. I debate about leaving my visit for a couple of days, but I haven’t been with anyone in over a year—and that was only to scratch an itch—and after that kiss I want more.

Plus, if I don’t go, he may think I’m not interested, which I am. But I’m also worried about accidentally causing the mating bond. While I sat with them at dinner, I didn’t have the chance to ask the other women anything, and I don’t want to make it obvious by pulling one of them aside. Nor do I want them reporting back to their mates and Yva.

I’m part of their group, but only just and the longer I spend with them, the more I want to stay in that group. I go to the gym after dinner, to kill some time because I don’t want to be early. He’ll be training with his friends or doing whatever else they do in their free time.

The entire time I’m working out, I’m turning over the idea of having an alien mate. I’d given up on having anyone, so to suddenly having a chance is odd…like it’s all going to be a joke or something. I don’t like the attention that comes with sitting at their table.

I don’t know enough about the mating bond, only that it is permanent for him, not me.

I’m worried about falling in love again only to lose it. What if he hates me after a year and we’re stuck together?

What if they all decide to go home?

If I’m his mate, I’ll need to go with him, or he’ll suffer and die, and I don’t want to leave the colony. Would the colony even let them leave?

Instead of working out my fears with exercise, I’m more stressed than ever. I shouldn’t have agreed to fake date him. I should’ve lied and said I wasn’t interested. But if I don’t take this chance, there won’t be another one.

I still haven’t decided what I’m going to do as I wash my hair and shower.

There are two positives from going to his room. The first being that he doesn’t want the bond, so he’s not going to chance it. The second being that I get to come with another person for a change, and he gets to come with a woman.

It’s a good outcome for both of us.

I can’t help but feel as though I’m inching toward a decision that has already been made. He chose me. He suggested this arrangement because I was too dense to realize. Or too oblivious to the way he looked at me.

The way he made me laugh with tales of growing up, of his adventures while banished. The way it was so easy to talk to him.

There was no pressure for it to be more…now there is. Isn’t there? If I don’t go to his room tonight, will things be weird tomorrow? For how long is okay for us to be figuring this out before it needs to move forward?

If I don’t go, my doubts and fears will consume me.

If I do go, I will have faced them, and possibly created more.

Instead of putting on pajamas, I pull on clean underwear, pants and a T-shirt and shove on my boots. I’m sure this isn’t the smart thing to do, but dammit, I want him. Even though the idea is more than a little terrifying.

It’s dark when I walk through the corridors of the accommodation block to where Yva’s room is. I pass a few people, but they are doing their own thing, and everyone is used to people wandering around and moving between beds, so no one bothers me.

There are people in the corridor where his room is. I either have to keep walking or knock. I’m running out of time to decide. I should’ve told him to come to my room, but Yva walking to my room so much more obvious.

Five steps…

Three steps…I’m sure the women talking in the corridor are watching me.

One step. I stop and knock and hope that he’s there. Their gazes burn into me as if they know I don’t belong.

Yva opens the door, and once again he’s only wearing the colony issue soft blue pants. I forget how to breathe at how good he looks. “Come in.”

What else am I going to do, aside from stand and stare?

He holds the door for me and gives the women a look. And it’s not the ‘I’m interested look’. Annoyance radiates off him, then he closes the door. “Some people started having conversations in the corridor so they can watch us come and go.”

“Are they spying on you or vying for your attention?”

“Both.” He takes my hands. “I am glad you are here. I wasn’t sure…”

A nervous laugh escapes. “Neither was I. It’s been a long time since I crept into someone else’s room.”

“I never have.” He’s smiling, lips pressed tight.

“Because you didn’t have a room?” I try to make a joke.

“Because I don’t sneak around. I don’t think you do either.”

“Well, I didn’t announce it.” I look into his red eyes. “I’m worried that we might do something…” I’m not sure how to say it. “I don’t want to trap you.”

“I appreciate your concern. I will be very careful because I do not want to trap you either. So as much as I want to taste you, I will not.” His tongue sweeps over his lower lip. “It will be best if you keep your pants on.”

I nod. I’d already figured that was going to be the best way to be safe. “Will you be keeping yours on?”

“You want to see some alien dick ?” The way he says it suggests he has heard it from other people.

It can’t be that different, or one of the mated women would’ve said something. When the hard length of his dick pressed against me and it didn’t feel too different. “No. I want to understand how this will work and how you’ll tell if we mess up and end up mated.”

“You say that as if it’s a bad thing.”

“You might hate me in a year.” Or I might hate him.

“I doubt that.” He runs his fingers through my short hair and leans in to kiss me. His lips are a whisper away from mine. “In part because of the way the mating bond affects warriors.”

“That doesn’t bother you? That your biology makes your love your mate?”

“Is that a bad thing?” His lips brush over mine. “That a warrior craves his mate and will do anything to please her?”

It sounds too good to be true. A man devoted to me and my happiness?

His tongue flicks over my lower lip and I open my mouth, sinking into the kiss. I want to believe in this little fairy tale. That I get to be happy with a…he’s not a prince…but he was before he was banished. I suck in a breath, and he draws back.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Only that I get my very own prince.” My own happy ending.

“Prince?” He’s not wearing his whisperer.

“Your mother is a chief, a ruler, which makes you a prince.” And if he’s a prince, does that make me a princess?

“Ah…is that important?”

I place my hands on his chest, loving the way he feels beneath my hands. “No, only that it’s like a fairy tale. Which isn’t going to mean?—”

“Like Cinderella? Did I say that right?”

“How the fuck do you know that story?”

“We tell stories around the fire while we eat the evening meal. The human mates shared the tales they grew up with and we shared some of our fables.” He tilts his head and looks at me. “I am more than happy for you to be my princess.”

He scoops me up like I weigh nothing and places me on the bed, then moves over me, caging me with his body. “Or would you prefer to be on top?”

“Um…this is good for the moment.”

“I have been informed that human women only have one pleasure bump, so if I am not finding it through your clothes, please let tell me.”

“Pleasure bump?”

He straddles my thighs and runs his hands over my breasts, my ribs and my hips. I want to take my clothes off, to hell with safety. His hand pauses over the junction of my thighs. “Where pleasure builds until you come?”

My brain catches up with his words. “Just one…your women have more?”

He nods. “I have several on my shaft. They became more pronounced after going through rut…” He hesitates. “Which is the start of the mating bond.”

“Rut?” The palm of his hand presses against me. I lift my hips to grind against him, showing him where my clit is and where I want to be touched.

“It is like a second puberty, because a mated warrior experiences physical changes.”

“Such as?”

“They become stronger, and their pleasure bumps become more pronounced.” He moves his hand, finding just the right spot with his fingers. “It has been much harder to continue beating my brothers when we fight, now they have mates.”

“Changes that will help you protect and please your mate.”

He nods. “I can smell your arousal, and I really want to pull down your pants and lick your pussy.”

As much as I would like him to do that, I don’t think either of us is quite ready for a permanent mating bond. “Why don’t you come here?”

I wrap my fingers around his biceps and tug him closer. He moves over me, supporting his weight with one hand. One of his thighs drops between mine and the hard length of his cock presses against my belly. I wiggle up the bed until it’s where I want it.

He roles his hips as if he is fucking me, and his lips find mine. My panties dampen, and I ache to be filled. I close my eyes and imagine him thrusting into me, stretching me.

Yva pushes my T-shirt up, and his mouth closes over my nipple. I gasp as he sucks. His hand cups my pussy, as if he intends to finger-fuck me through my clothes. I chase the edge, my eyes squeeze close, and then I come with a groan.

“I want to fuck you.” He rocks back, sitting on his heels, rubbing his hand over the straining length of his cock.

I sit up and tug his pants down, freeing his dick. Fuck. It is big and thick and does not look like a human dick. There are bumps along the top and a ridge along the underside. I can already imagine how good he’ll feel inside me, fucking me.

Pre-cum leaks from the tip.

He fists the shaft and strokes.

“I want you to fuck me too.” And if it wasn’t permanent, I’d be shimming out of my pants already. I lean in and lick the head of his cock, tasting his pre-cum.

He gasps, but doesn’t stop me. “If you keep doing that…”

I know exactly what will happen if I keep going. So that’s what I do, aware that no one has ever sucked his dick. I lick and tease as he strokes. The head of his cock pushes past my lips as he thrusts into his hand. And I watch him fall apart as he comes in my mouth.

I swallow what I can, but some spills over my chin.

He pushes me back onto the bed, kissing me, and pressing his fingers to my pussy like he wants to delve inside. His tongue fucks my mouth, like he doesn’t care about the taste of his own cum on my tongue. Lust pools in my belly.

“That’s it princess, come for me again. I can’t taste you, but I can revel in your moans.”

It all becomes too much. My body curls as I come, and he keeps going drawing another one out of me. My heart is beating fast and I’m barely breathing. Yva flops onto the bed next to me, one leg thrown over mine as though he doesn’t plan on letting me go.

Instead of being trapped, I feel safe. Like this is where I belong.