Chapter 15

Benham

The most wonderful sensation I have ever experienced is having my mate in my arms. Maeve stares back at me with those beautiful eyes, and something inside them shifts.

"I very much enjoy sharing these kisses with you," I echo the same words she said to me when she left the forge. "Is my hold too tight?"

She shakes her head. "Not at all."

"This makes me glad, because I have discovered I enjoy holding you along with the kisses."

"I'd like to stay a little longer if you don't mind," Maeve says. "But I don't want you to spend the whole time kneeling."

It would make me happy to spend all my time with my mate. Even on my knees. "I will place some other furs down and we can sit."

I unwind my tail from her waist, although I wish to keep it there, and stand. From one of the chests, I bring out several more furs and lay them beside mine but keep space between them. Maeve walks over and brings them closer so both sets touch. She sits and pats my sleeping place next to her. The trust she is granting me I will never take for granted.

Once I am seated with my legs crossed, my mate turns to face me so her knees touch mine.

"This is the first time I have sat with a female alone in my tent. I am not sure what I am supposed to do," I confess.

Maeve laughs in the pretty way I love to hear. "The is the first time I have sat with a male alone in a tent. So, we're both new at this and we can learn together. I wanted to spend more time with you, just us together. Talking. Learning about each other. Is that okay?"

I move slowly as I reach out and take one of my mate's hands in mine. I trace the inside of it and she trembles. Next I move along the outside, running my finger over her blunt claws. Her skin is so pale against mine. I lift my gaze to hers. She blinks back at me.

"That is more than okay."

"Did you always want to be a blacksmith?"

My translator doesn't recognize that word. "Is that one who crafts weapons?"

Maeve nods. "Basically. A long time ago on Earth there were men mostly who would do things similar to what you do, although it wasn't always weapons they made. But they melted and crafted things from metal after heating like you."

Her question is not an easy one to answer. "For as far back as I can remember, my ancestors were these ‘blacksmiths'. It is a tradition that has been passed down to every male born. I did not know of anything else to be."

"Do you like doing it?"

I pause to think about it, because I am not sure I have ever taken the time to wonder if I do it because it was expected of me or because I truly enjoy it. "I do. There is a kind of beauty in making something out of nothing. And what about you on Earth. What was it that you did?"

She expels a breath. "I worked in a hot factory where I stood sweating for ten hours a day making these stupid cover plates for the machines that made food for everyone in the upper tier. It was a thankless job that underpaid everyone, because they could. Jobs weren't always readily available in the bottom tier, so once you found one, you stayed there. Usually until you died."

How terrible life back on Earth was for the humans. It is no wonder they left their planet and came to Tavikh. "I am happy you are no longer in that place."

Maeve laughs a little. "You and me both."

"Did your nene also work in this…factory? Is it a tradition that is passed down to the females?"

"Definitely not." She shakes her head. "No, my mother crafted items from fabric. She would make clothes for people or fix stuff that was ripped and torn or needed to be resized. Similar to what some of the elders do. She also made blankets, but nothing like these furs."

"And you did not follow her in this crafting?"

"My skills in that area were sorely lacking I'm afraid," Maeve admits. "She tried teaching me when I was little, but everything I tried to make was a disaster. Which meant I had to find something else to do. Hence factory work. I started there when I was fifteen and I probably would have been there the rest of my life."

I send another prayer to Deeka for taking my mate away from that place and bringing her here to me.

"Do you wish for kits?" I snap my mouth shut, wishing I could take it back. Only because I do not want fear to seep into this special time together.

Maeve startles. "One day, I think. When I was younger, I used to dream of who I would grow up to marry and how many kids we'd have. But it was always just a vague thought. Until my parents both died. They loved each other so much and I wanted that same kind of love. I wanted to find someone I could fall in love with and have children with."

Her words settle between us. I want to be this someone she falls in love with and has kits with.

"What about you?" Maeve asks softly.

"If Deeka chooses for me to have kits, I will be the most blessed male. There have not been any kits born for so many seasons. Talek is among the last. But I have always had a fondness for them."

She flips her hand over and does to mine what I did to hers. With her gaze focused on where we connect, her tiny finger traces the inside of it and over the rough bumps that have hardened after so many seasons of holding and wielding weapons. Maeve turns it over and her finger glides along the back of it.

"You have such gentle hands," she says. "One of the first things that went through my mind after your mating marks appeared was how much you could hurt me with them."

Sorrow fills me that my mate would ever think I could do such a thing. But that is how the last male treated her. It is no wonder she feared me. I want to tell her that I will never hurt her, but words are sometimes not enough. All I can do is show her.

Maeve takes my hand and brings it close to her. When she places it on her chest mound, shock rushes through me. Tavikhi females do not have the plush mounds that humans do. I am unsure what to do so I keep still and wait for her to tell me what she wants. I will do nothing to make my mate fear me again.

"I just wanted to see if I could do it," she says, finally lifting her gaze to meet mine. "How it would make me feel."

"How does it feel?"

"Nice. Tingly."

Those are not the words I would use to describe it. Bliss. Paradise. The most perfect thing I have ever felt. When she removes my hand from her chest mound there is a loss inside me. Except she raises her chest covering and brings my hand back to her bare flesh.

I lied. This is the most perfect thing I have ever felt.I watch Maeve intently for her reaction. The moment there is any fear in her eyes I will stop touching her.

"You can touch me." Her voice is soft and quiet.

"Am I not already?"

She smiles and it is a truthful one. "I mean you don't just have to keep your hand still. But only above the waist."

"Are you sure this is what you wish?"

"Yes." Again, there is no hesitation in her answer.

I tenderly mold the plump mound with its hardened tip. My eyes do not leave Maeve's so I can see what brings her the most pleasure. I rub one finger over the swollen bead. A small shudder goes through my mate, but her eyes have gone dark and she makes a soft noise I can only assume is one of pleasure. I explore the slope, kneading it, and plucking at the rigid nub.

"What is this called?" I roll over it with a finger.

"The whole thing is called a breast and the hard center is called a nipple." My mate is breathless.

Breast. Nipple. I roll it again between my fingers and Maeve arches closer. "This pleases you?"

She bites her bottom lip and nods.

Bringing my mate pleasure makes my cock hard. It presses against my leg coverings and my mating nodes leak the fluid meant to excite our mates even more. "May I use both hands?"

"Yes."

I slide my free hand under her chest covering to touch her other breast with its hardened nipple. She is soft beneath me. I gently squeeze her mounds and soothe them with tender stroking. Are kisses also for breasts? I have a sudden need to know what my keeshla tastes like.What I would not give to see Maeve's body bare, but I will be satisfied with what she has gifted me. I will not take anything she has not offered.

"Can I touch you as well?" she asks.

"You may touch me whenever you like."

My mate's gaze darts away from my face and back. "You're kind of far away and my arms aren't as long as yours. Maybe,"—she pauses—"um, maybe we could try lying down?"

"Do you truly wish this?"

"I want to try."

My brave little mate. I bring my hands out from beneath Maeve's chest covering and shift until I am lying on my side facing her. She takes a deep breath and lies down as well so we are eye-to-eye. I reach up and push her hair back behind her ear.

"What do these colors mean?" I stroke the pale section closest to her head that abruptly turns dark.

She does not speak for a moment. "When my friend hid me from my ex while we waited for the ship bringing me here to arrive, she thought it best to try and disguise me in some way. So, we colored my hair brown and cut almost all of it off. My real hair color is blonde, which is the light color. As my hair grows again all the top will be blonde and the bottom part stays brown until I cut it off."

I have never heard of changing one's hair color. "Which one do you like best?"

"The blonde. That's what color my mother's hair was, and people always said we looked a lot alike. I thought she was beautiful."

If my mate's nene looked similar to her, she must have been, because there is no one more beautiful than my keeshla. "When you are ready to cut the dark color from your hair, I would be happy to do so, if you like."

"Thank you. And thank you for distracting me so I could get used to lying here with you."

Distracting her had not been my purpose, but I am glad I was able to. "You are welcome."

"I think I'm ready to be touched again. I mean, if you'd like." Maeve ducks her head and with my finger under her chin, I tip it up.

I lean closer and brush my lips across hers. She opens without hesitation and I slip my tongue inside. Since my mate enjoys kisses, then I will give them to her until she knows she is ready to be touched again. There is no doubt when Maeve returns to her tent, I will be stroking my cock while I am thinking of her. I deepen the kiss, sweeping inside to gather up all her flavor.

Warm hands land on my chest and slide over my heated flesh. My keeshla touches me like she did at the forge, exploring the hills and valleys of my arms. She draws back and licks her lips.

"Please touch me."

As before, I slide my hand under her chest covering until I reach her breast. It is still as plush and firm as before and I play with her nipple as she strokes up and down my arm.

"Wait, stop," she says.

I do so immediately and quickly remove my hand from Maeve's soft body.

She shakes her head. "No, that's not what I meant."

Before I can ask what she did mean, she sits up and lifts the chest covering up and over her head baring herself to me. She crosses an arm over her breasts and lies back down.

"It was in the way and didn't feel right."

"What about now?"

Maeve laughs softly. "Terrifying, but also kind of good."

"It is the same for me."

She blinks up at me. "What has you terrified?"

"You. The thought that you could fear me is terrifying. I do not ever want to give you reason to."

"It has been hard for me to trust my judgment about people." Maeve reaches out and traces the mating marks on my chest. "Sage told me I should follow my gut, and my gut says you would never do anything to hurt me."

"Never," I vow.

Her eyes stay focused on my chest and then she lifts her gaze to meet mine. "I know we were going to practice more touching, but do you think you could just hold me?"

"It would please me very much to do so."

Maeve scoots as close as she can get to me with her arms folded up and covering her chest mounds. Her flesh is chilled so I bring a fur up over us and embrace her. Her breath is warm against my skin sharply contrasted by the cold nose she buries against me.

"You smell like cocoa." My mate inhales deeply.

My translator does not recognize that word in our language. "This is a good smell?"

Maeve nods and her nose rubs up and down over my chest. "Cocoa is used to make chocolate, which is a sweet back on Earth. I've only ever had it once, but it was one of the best things I have ever eaten."

"I am glad that I smell delicious to you."

She laughs. "Me too."

There has never been a greater feeling than having my mate lying in my arms in our furs. I want nothing to disturb it, so I remain quiet and enjoy the peace that flows through me. Maeve must be content as well, because she remains still and silent until her breathing becomes even. I will let her sleep for a little while, since she has said she does not get much. My eyes close as well. I will rest for only a moment and then wake her so she can return to her tent before her tribe sisters worry about her.