Chapter 16

I stepped out of the shower and tugged on a pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt. At the last second, I caught sight of my bruised arm, so I snagged a hoodie from the bed.

Kal was stretched out on the couch, stroking Lucy who slept on his stomach.

“You know us failing was your fault, right?”

Kal frowned. “It could have happened to anyone.”

“You shot the ceiling.”

“I was aiming for its head,” he barked.

I tensed at the rough tone. Angry, he was angry. My first instinct was panic. I wanted to hide in my room. I was halfway turned around when I paused. This was not a sustainable pattern.

Kal won’t hurt me.

The thought lit me up from the inside. Instead of hiding, I faced him. “Kal, I was teasing. It’s not a big deal. We can play again.”

“I’m sorry.” His eyes flicked away from me, and his tail went limp.

I stepped closer. “What’s going on in your head?”

“I’m the youngest of five.”

“Did your siblings pick on you? I’m an only child, so I don’t know much about siblings.”

“They did, yes, but this has more to do with my soul type,” Kal said, voice tight. Lucy chittered at the lack of pets and jumped off, allowing him to sit up.

“You’re soul type?”

“I’m a creator,” he said in a growl.

“So?”

“My entire family are warriors. I’m the first one who’s not.”

I glanced at the paintings and figurines I’d liked from the moment I saw them. “Are these all your work?”

“Yes,” he ground out like he was confessing a great sin.

I stood between his legs. His tail hooked about my ankle, and his face pressed into my chest as his arms snaked around me. My muscles tensed, and for all of one second, I considered backing away, but his spicy scent tickled my nose and his hot body temperature sank into my skin, soothing me.

I stroked his hair. The long silvery-blue strands slipped through my grasp without a hint of tangle. Fisting his silky hair, I pulled his head back, and Kal looked up, his arms tightening around me.

“We can do the experience again if you want,” I said.

His chin rested against the swell of my gut. “I would like that.”

“Good because it was fun, though I don’t ever want to visit that planet.”

Kal nuzzled my belly button. I swallowed, and my dick twitched. My libido had been basically dead for the last three years, but it was waking up with a vengeance. Apparently, all my sex drive needed was a big blue alien.

“The experience will change next time, though,” he said.

“Great.”

Laughter spilled out of his lips.

Not thinking, I kissed him. Kal hauled me onto his lap. Straddling him, I wrapped my arms around his neck and deepened the kiss. Kal growled. He sucked on my tongue, and I moaned, rocking on his lap.

Kal jerked back, and I bit back a swear, not ready for this to end. I shifted closer to continue, but he darted away from my probing lips.

Panting, I asked, “What?”

“We need to talk.”

“Now?”

“Yes,” he said, though he gripped my waist.

“About what?”

“Permissions.”

“What?”

He scrubbed his hair, then seized my side again like he was afraid I would bolt, which, to be fair, I might. “I don’t know how courting is in your culture,” he said, “but my people talk about what is allowed, what is acceptable, and what each person wants. This obviously changes as the relationship grows, but I need some parameters.”

“How healthy,” I remarked. I didn’t think, no I knew, I’d never had such a healthy start to a relationship, besides the whole abduction thing.

The closest I’d gotten to a healthy relationship was with my girlfriend, Analise. When she broke up with me, she’d told me it was because she hadn’t known me. I’d never expressed my opinion or talked of my past. She hadn’t wanted to date a ghost. In my other long-term relationships, my partners had never cared about how I felt.

Not that this, with Kal, was a relationship.

“What do you want to know?” I asked.

“Can I kiss you? Can I hug you or hold your hand? Can I keep my tail around your ankle or wrist? What am I allowed to do and when? What do you like? What don’t you like? If you want to fuck, what are your preferences?” Kal asked in rapid fire like he’d been storing the questions for a while.

His questions were reasonable, but my jaw locked. I didn’t want to talk about anything. “Why can’t we see how it goes?”

“Is that what your culture does?”

“I guess.”

He drew me closer. “I don’t want to upset you, but I need this. I’m on edge because I don’t know what I can and can’t do. I know you’ve made no decisions about the future, which is fine, but I need this.

“As for me, you can kiss, hug, or touch me whenever or wherever you want. I want to fuck, but I’m willing to wait for as long as you need. I like being touched a great deal. I’m very physically affectionate. I do not like being lied to, though. Such as, if you choose not to be with me and want to start another relationship with someone else here, please tell me directly. Don’t lie or hide it from me. I need you to be honest with me.”

Where the fuck did he think I would meet this person? I never left our apartment unless I spent time with Urgg, who was mated, or with Kal, who was my mate, sort of husband.

“Makes sense.”

“And you?” Kal asked, tightening his hold. My mouth opened and closed, but no words escaped. Kal waited patiently until I shrugged. “Will you think about it?”

“Sure.”

“Until then, you’re going to have to initiate physical contact,” Kal said as his hands fell away from me.

“Seriously?”

Kal lifted a single eyebrow.

“You can kiss me,” I whispered before pressing against him.

I sprawled in bed, unable to sleep. I kept rolling over in an attempt to find a comfortable position, but it wasn’t possible. I was hard, and I couldn’t calm down no matter what I thought about. My body wouldn’t relax, and my pulse thundered in my ears.

My fingers slid down my chest; I pinched my nipples, making me squirm, before I gave my dick a couple of lazy tugs. I groaned and continued pumping, spreading my pre-cum to ease the glide of my palm. Kal appeared in my thoughts, and I imagined him touching me, his long fingers stroking my shaft. The memory of his black tongue licking my fingers when Lucy had scratched me right after our bonding surfaced, and my fantasy changed. I pictured his full lips going around the head of my dick as his textured tongue swirled the tip.

I moaned his name as I spurted embarrassingly fast, splattering my stomach.

“Well, that’s a development.”

I gave my techplate and gun to Vik behind the counter, as did Kal. We’d been playing our experience every couple of days, and it had gotten more intense with each mission. Now, some of them took two or more hours to complete. Unfortunately, we occasionally had to stop in the middle. Today was one of those times.

“Sorry, my Seth,” Kal said as we headed toward the elevator. “I have to meet with Talvax about landing on Petveiti. She wants to stay for a week to give crew members shore leave. There is also the potential of picking up more passengers.”

“She needs your input?” I claimed his hand. The moment I did, his tail wrapped around my ankle.

“Not exactly. This is her ship, but I’m a member of the royal family, and this is my expedition. She wants to speak to me to ensure we don’t disagree and she won’t have to challenge for control, which wouldn’t be likely.”

Challenge?I wondered. “Why?”

“I’ve known Talvax my whole life. She’s friends with my parents, and I got to know her better when we colonized Takzil.”

“Ah.”

He shook my hand, which made a silver bracelet with a blue stone jangle. Since we’d kissed, Kal had brought home gifts for me almost daily. The first one had been this bracelet. Seeing the expensive piece of jewelry had made me uncomfortable. I’d never been a jewelry man, but Kal wore necklaces, rings, and earrings all the time, so I relented. Whenever I wore his gifts of clothes or jewelry, Kal would preen.

“Do you want to come?” he asked.

“Not really.”

“Then I will see you after. I’m meeting with Pimtimzol, though, before I come home.”

When we reached the elevator, I pushed the button for the third floor, and Kal didn’t move to push any of the others. “What floor, Kal?”

“I’ll take you back to our quarters.”

“You’re ridiculous.”

“Am I?”

“You’re being overprotective.”

“You’re mine to protect,” Kal said, head tilting to the side.

“I don’t need an escort to our apartment.”

“Fine.” Kal reached around me and pressed the button for the first floor.

I gripped the back of his neck to draw him into a kiss. We only separated when the elevator opened.