CHAPTER 17

Chloe couldn't stop gaping at the colorful surroundings. This was like a tropical paradise on another planet, with purple, blue, and pink vegetation and bizarre-looking insects and birds. For some reason, seeing Jupiter through the window hadn't made her feel so far from home as walking through this alien forest did. Perhaps it was because here she could touch and smell the otherworldly, be completely immersed in it. It felt strange yet exhilarating.

She hadn't meant what she had told Nitiel: that he had wasted her time by bringing her to the station. Though her business plans had been postponed, coming here was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. A unique chance to explore an alien space station. Beside a Gaenthian who drove her nuts with his mixed signals, but still. Staying here wouldn't have been the same without Nitiel.

"There they are. The cibiris." He guided her to a peephole among the tall blue hedge through which moving figures could be seen. "From here you can observe them without them noticing you."

She peeked through the leaves, and he placed his face right next to hers to whisper in her ear about the cibiris. Her knees went wobbly. Was she hearing what he was saying? Absolutely not. She was caught in the magic that his voice was weaving. And the sweetest thing was that he was not doing this on purpose, like some player taking advantage of the situation. He was simply being… Nitiel.

"… closer, Loe?"

"Uh?"

"Are you ready to get closer?"

If Nitiel was talking about her getting closer to him, then heck yes! But, of course, he meant the cibiris. "We won't startle them?"

"No. It is you who may get startled, once they all come to greet you. They're curious creatures, and you're a novelty."

"Oh." She forced herself to look at the cibiris, really look at them, instead of being lost in her head with thoughts of Nitiel pulling her back against his solid chest, wrapping his strong arms around her and kissing his way down the side of her neck.

The cibiris looked like winged ponies on steroids. That was the best description for the animals grazing on a meadow of pink grass before Chloe's wide-eyed gaze. Their bodies were short and stocky, as if built to carry heavy loads, and they had a massive wingspan that would put a wandering albatross to shame. Their fuzzy coats came in various colors, but all of them were bright ones that would make a little girl squeal in delight. The various shades of pink appeared to be most common, though.

"Ah, there's Cheyda. Let's go meet her first."

Who was this Cheyda he spoke of with such affection in his tone? Hadn't Nitiel said there wasn't and had never been a woman in his life?Before Chloe could ask, she and Nitiel stepped onto the meadow and all cibiris in sight turned their heads toward the newcomers. Simultaneously.

"Uhhh… Nitiel, are you sure?" she whispered when the ten or so buff ponies headed their way. Simultaneously.

"Do not be afraid, Loe. They only wish to take your scent." Nitiel's arm went around her waist to stop her retreat. She hadn't realized she had taken a step back, but now that she could feel the hard press of his body behind her, Chloe didn't want to go anywhere.

The cibiris surrounded them, giving her a sniff then a poke with their broad muzzles. Nitiel patted the tuft of fuzz on their heads one after the other. Then they moved away, clearly losing interest, but one remained.

Nitiel cupped the wet muzzle of the bright-pink animal. "Hello, Cheyda. This is Loe Davison. Loe, this is Cheyda. The cibiri who carried me while I was recovering from a wing injury."

Chloe felt like an idiot, having felt jealous over a flying pony. "Nice to meet you, Cheyda. Um, does she understand English?"

"She doesn't need to." Nitiel sounded proud while patting Cheyda's fuzzy head. "Cibiris are attuned to emotions. They feel what you say."

"Really? Fascinating."

"You can pet her, Loe. She clearly likes you."

"She does?" All the cibiri was doing was poking her in the boob.

"Yes. She is acknowledging you're a mother, like her."

"Uhh, I'm not–"

"I'm not being literal. Cheyda herself is yet to give birth for the first time."

"Ah, okay." Chloe extended a hand, then hesitated under the cibiri's pointed stare. "Where do I pet her?"

"Here, let me show you." Nitiel placed his hand over Chloe's and guided it to the underside of the animal's muzzle. "Give her a little scratch there, it's her favorite spot."

"Mmm, yes." With his hand engulfing hers and shoulders framing hers, Nitiel was right where Chloe wanted him. Her perv-y side didn't care that this pose was straight out of a clichéd romantic movie.

The cibiri's round blue eyes, a shade lighter than Nitiel's, were half-closed in enjoyment too.

"You were injured?" Chloe forced herself to speak, before she melted into a puddle at his feet.

"Many times." His tone darkened as he explained. "This wing and leg injury, however, was the worst. I wasn't sure I would be able to fly and land safely ever again."

"Dang… So, Cheyda helped?"

Nitiel scratched the other side of the cibiri's thick neck, his blue eyes filling with warmth. "She brought me back on my feet and wings. When I was ready to give up, she refused to let me ride her so I would be forced to fly by her side. If I began losing height, she flew under me to catch me. When it became clear I would recover and I began overexerting myself in an effort to return to active duty sooner, she kept getting in my way during flight to force me to rest. Cibiris are intelligent like that."

As if in confirmation, Cheyda moved back from them and began prancing. She kept extending her wings every four steps, showcasing her beauty. The other cibiris respectfully moved away to give her space to show off.

Chloe laughed. "She's magnificent, and she knows it."

"A beauty."

Nitiel sounded dreamy, and Chloe turned to look at him beside her. He was not looking at the cibiri. His eyes were on Chloe.

"What?" she mumbled, shy all of a sudden. His focused cobalt-blue gaze brought butterflies to her stomach.

"It's just that… I like seeing you smile."

"Oh…" Yep, she was going to melt into a puddle at his feet. "The feeling is mutual."

His wings fluttered.

She turned to face him completely and bit her bottom lip in hesitation. Was this the right time to ask him whether she was the only female he had eyes for?

He turned to face her and took a step closer–

Cheyda's head slid between them like a barrier.

Nitiel chuckled and patted the cibiri's rear. "Alright, princess, we'll keep our attention on you."

Cheyda rubbed her head in Chloe's chest, nearly pushing her over in the process. "Whoa there, Cheyda. What is it?"

"She wishes to rest her head on your lap. It's a sign of trust and a good way to bond with a cibiri. But if you aren't comfortable with the idea, we can continue our walk."

"No, I want to try. I'm honored, Cheyda." Although, the cibiri could have waited a minute before interrupting Chloe's emotionally-charged moment with Nitiel.

The cibiri's reply was a shove with her muzzle that would have sent Chloe on her butt in the pink grass, were it not for Nitiel's wing catching her. The soft appendage was surprisingly strong against her back and had Chloe stabilized in a heartbeat. She immediately missed the feel of that powerful wing enveloping her when Nitiel quickly withdrew it.

"Patience, Cheyda," he chastised the cibiri. "And be gentler with Loe; her kind lack the extra stability our wings provide."

The cibiri snorted.

"She is not impressed by my wingless form, is she?" Chloe asked as she followed Nitiel's lead to a raised section of the meadow.

"Cheyda is amused. It must be hard for her to comprehend how you can stay on your two feet at all without wings to keep you balanced."

"Well, I certainly wish I had wings."

Nitiel cast a warm smile her way. "You can fly without them, Loe. Say the word, and your niel will provide a cibiri just for you. There are many younglings to choose from, we'll visit their enclosure later."

Ugh.Not that your-fated-mate-is-super-duper speech again. "Thanks, but–"

"You won't be staying?" Mirth was dancing in his eyes when he turned to face her, motioning for her to sit on the grass.

Chloe smirked. "I'm happy to hear you're starting to believe the ASI is glitching."

He shook his head but had a smile on as he sat down.

She joined him with some difficulty – her ball gown was not made for sitting on the ground. When she eventually found a comfortable position to his right, Cheyda sat down beside her in a way that reminded Chloe of a camel, minus the wings tucked close to the cibiri's body. A moment later, Chloe had a big pink head on her lap.

She giggled. "Wow."

"Are you comfortable, Loe?"

"Yes, very. This is special!" Having such a big animal, and an alien one at that, trust her so soon after their meeting, brought on a feeling like no other. "Can I pet her?"

"Of course. That is the main idea."

For a moment there, Chloe could not look away from Nitiel's smile-lit face. With his features softened by the curl of his purple lips, he was devilishly handsome. Good thing Cheyda poked her in the belly with a muzzle, or Chloe would have stared like a lovesick puppy all day.

"Sorry, Cheyda. Petting session commencing right away." Having the soft white mane of the cibiri under her fingertips gave Chloe another idea. "Hey, how about I give you a decorated braid? One fit for a princess?"

The cibiri answered with a tug at Chloe's dress.

Nitiel chuckled once again. "That means, ‘go on with it, then'. Not a very patient cibiri, my Cheyda."

MyCheyda? Chloe felt a pang in her chest, overcome by a gripping need to be claimed so affectionately too. Strange, she had never found attractive those possessive romance heroes growling ‘mine' like cavemen.

Chloe tried to focus on the braid. Her fingers itched to make something; after all, she hadn't worked with her hands for more than a day. She had only grass for the decoration, but the long pink blades would look great on Cheyda.

"Will your cibiri come with you?" Chloe asked as she worked. "To Earth, on your new job?"

Nitiel gently ran his fingers up and down Cheyda's muzzle. "No, she is not truly mine. She belongs to the flock you see around us. Whoever Gaenthian soldier in the Solar System needs a cibiri, be it for a child's flight training or during wing recovery, they have to come here.

"They choose a cibiri to assist them, but the cibiri has to agree. Sometimes a strong bond is formed, and the cibiri never forgets that rider no matter how many others ride them. I like to believe Cheyda and I share such a bond. She certainly was ecstatic when I returned here several weeks ago, after close to a year since my injury."

"Wait, you don't live and work on this station?"

"No. I've called the Venus military station my home since coming to this star system. I've stayed here only for my recovery and now that my work as a Subcommander is coming to an end."

"I see… Will you miss it? Life in space?"

"Perhaps. I am yet to find out. But the change will do me good, I think."

"Yeah…"

"How about you?" There was hesitancy in his tone as he elaborated, "Do you think you'd like life on this station?"

She sighed. "Honestly, I don't think so."

Nitiel stopped petting Cheyda, and Chloe felt his gaze on her as she kept braiding. "Loe, whatever you have on Terra, you can have here. Your family and friends can come visit at no charge for space transportation. Your favorite food, clothing, possessions – everything can be delivered to you. Nielas are denied nothing, for they are our most precious gift."

Cheyda snorted. Otherwise she stayed put, clearly enjoying the braiding session.

"Cibiris are precious too," Nitiel added, patting Cheyda's back.

Chloe sighed again. "It's not stuff that I want brought to me here. Sure, I do need materials for my business, but it's the clients who I can't have here."

"What is this business you speak of, Loe? You've mentioned it before."

"I make jewelry. Um, decorations with my hands. Much like this braid here, but with various materials sold on Earth. Then I sell my jewelry to people all over my continent; the plan is to expand to other continents as well. If I get the funding I need, now that I've left my potential investor hanging… That's what I want to do, Nitiel, and staying here makes my dream impossible. There's a website to run, clients to communicate with, deliveries to make – having my production base next to Jupiter won't do." She scoffed at how absurd that even sounded.

Nitiel stayed pensive for a while. "Commander Siriniel could move to Terra for you."

"Yeah, and resent me for the rest of his life for having cut his military career short. No, I can't do that to anyone. Just like he can't expect me to give up on my dream."

"Loe, you're fated mates. You'll find a way to make things work. Together."

She rolled her eyes. "You know, for a tough soldier with no experience with women, you sure know what clichéd romantic statements to make. But you're being unrealistic."

He grunted. "I may have no personal experience with females, but I have fellow soldiers blessed with a niela. I have also studied on the subject in school, like every Gaenthian. Therefore, I can say it is you who are being unrealistic, Loe. Everything is possible when fated mates are brought together."

"It may be so. But your Commander and I are not some star-blessed couple; we're just two names that some AI has placed on the same line of a computer code."

"How do you know? You have not met him yet."

"Because I–"I have met you, she wanted to say, but that would not go well. Not with Nitiel constantly withdrawing every time things between them got heated. "Never mind," she said instead. "Cheyda, you're ready. Three braids for good luck should be enough."

That got the cibiri on her feet and strutting over to the rest of the flock grazing nearby. They all lifted their heads from the grass to regard the pinkish braids adorning her mane. Excited sounds followed, something between a horse's neigh and a bird's whistle. That sent Cheyda into a happy run, then she took to the air with a powerful flap of her wings. The entire flock followed suit.

Chloe gaped. It was a stunning sight: the cibiris' bright colors against the blue canopy, their moves graceful in the air despite their impressive size, and Jupiter bathing them in its soft glow through the transparent dome. She laid back into the grass to watch without having to crane her neck.

"Amazing," Chloe said on a sigh, her eyes following the dips and turns that the cibiris were executing.

"You brought great excitement to the flock," Nitiel said softly from his sitting position next to her.

"Me? How?"

"You create beauty, Loe." He sounded reverent, eyes not on the cibiris but on her now.

"But…" It was hard to think with his electric gaze on her. "They're surrounded by this gorgeous scenery; surely my braids can't impress them?"

"That was beauty you created for one of them. They are used to ugly wars and harsh soldiers, not pretty decorations."

"Aww." Chloe's whole body tingled at the softly spoken praise. "If that brings them such joy, I'll stay the whole day and turn their manes into works of art. But you'll get terribly bored."

"No. I loved watching you work."

Those tingles turned into sparks. "You did?"

He nodded, eyes brimming with warmth, lips curled into the softest of smiles.

Forget the sparks: Chloe's body was on fire. Before she knew what she was doing, she pushed herself up and cupped Nitiel's face. Then crushed his lips with hers.

He went as still as a statue. His lips were pliant but his body was rigid. It was like a bucket of ice on the flames burning in Chloe.

She pulled back, her face hot with shame. "I'm sorry–I shouldn't have–Forget this happened–"

His hand cupped the back of her neck, and then he was kissing her. It was a hungry, demanding, intoxicating kiss. Chloe forgot how to breathe. She forgot where she was: there was only the feel of his lips against hers. Exploring different angles at first and then, once he quickly got the hang of it, kissing her senseless with nips and tongue. Nitiel might have no practice but he sure made up for it with theoretical knowledge and desire to put that to good use. Oh, boy, what good use…

Chloe had no idea when she had ended up lying on the grass with Nitiel partially on top of her, lips locked in a desperate kiss and his leg between her thighs. But she didn't care. All she cared about was Nitiel never stopping. She was light-headed, she was burning, she was craving him like water in an endless desert – she had never felt like this before, and she couldn't have enough.

She wrapped a leg around his as high as she could – damn that restrictive long dress – to keep him where he was. But this time around, it seemed he didn't intend to pull away from her. His hand left the nape of her neck only to grab her hip and press her lower body closer to his. Nitiel's length pulsed against her belly, the fabrics of their clothes unable to hide how she was affecting him.

The hard evidence of her power made Chloe bolder. She sucked on his bottom lip and moved to pepper his face with kisses before giving his pointed ear a nip. His wings spread wide over them as he groaned. Then he began nibbling his way down her neck, his mouth hot even through the dress' material as he followed a path to her breasts.

It was Chloe's turn to moan as his lips locked around a nipple. She was so happy she had left her bra in the cabin, since its black color would have been visible through the light-blue dress, but why, oh why did the dress not have easy access at the front? Ties to cut open with his claws, a bodice to rip with his big hands? The whole dress had to come off for Nitiel to suck on her nips.

He grumbled his displeasure as he reached the same conclusion. But did that stop him? No, thank God, no. Nitiel simply proceeded to what he had access to: the apex of her thighs. With a few quick motions, he had her dress bunched around her waist and her black panties on full display.

Chloe blushed at the realization those panties were of the granny type: comfortable but not what she would wear when planning to get laid. Would he laugh at her?

He growled. A tearing sound followed, and her undies were no more. Her only pair of underwear on the station.

To hell with her panties! Chloe needed something else to cover her pussy right now and–

"Yes!" she cried out as his mouth landed right where she wanted it.

She grabbed hold of the dress around her waist to ground herself, because he was making her fly right now. On a cloud of bliss that had her writhing on the grass and crying out his name. She watched, mesmerized, how his head bobbed between her legs, hands keeping her thighs wide open for his sensual attack.

The feathers of his wings, which he had spread over her lower body as he devoured her, were tickling her feverish skin in the most tantalizing of ways. His horn nubs against her inner thighs were another delicious sensation taking her higher and higher.

To hell with Gaenthians with swirling or pointed horns! To hell with human men!

"Nitiel, right there!"

"The clit, yes. I'm going to suck on it until you come on my tongue, Loe."

"Oh, fuck." He knew human anatomy? He talked dirty in bed? He had to press his tongue against her clit just once to make her come, then.

But he did more than press his tongue to her clit. He circled the little nub until Loe's head was thrashing on the soft grass, her body on fire. He alternated between sucking on it and tongue-fucking her into a frenzy. And when he finally pushed a finger inside her and caught her clit between his lips, his gaze on her feral with lust, Chloe exploded on a scream.

"Nitiel," she whispered when she could catch her breath. Her voice was hoarse and her body was spent in the best of ways. She had never come so hard before.

He was kneeling between her legs, big hands on her thighs, wings extended, eyes drinking her in, spread out for him as she was. His expression was raw with need. It looked like when the Subcommander let go of his impeccable manners, he was a beast. But a beast hungry for her pleasure who Chloe was not afraid to sacrifice herself to.

"I want you, Nitiel. All the way," Chloe said, just in case he wasn't sure she was consenting to everything.

He growled and took hold of her thighs. "You will come for me again, Loe. Then I'll have you on my cock, screaming my name as I fill you up."

"Fuck yes!"

Just as he was lowering his head to her pussy, a growl sounded. From the shrubs nearby.