Chapter 13

CHAPTER

THIRTEEN

JESSICA

Two days later, I’m at the OBGYN appointment Margot set up for me. Luckily, it’s in a very swanky office instead of an exam room with stirrups.

“If it’s a fluid exchange, why don’t condoms work?”

“We don’t know, just that they don’t,” Dr. Tuane offers with a soft smile. “Just like we know that Earth’s chemical contraception methods don’t work for preventing pregnancy either.”

“But the stopper does.”

“Yes. And before you ask, the stopper was created before their reproduction crisis. It works on them, not us.”

“But the stopper doesn’t hinder the bonding process?”

Her head twists to the side like a confused puppy. “There has been no reason to look for a way to stop the bonding process.”

“I mean, I’ve slept with a lot of guys on Earth who weren’t anything like I thought they were before we’d done the deed. What happens if a woman bonds to a Sian and realizes it’s a mistake?”

“Luckily, to my knowledge, that hasn’t happened. But I only see my patients and my friends and neighbors.” She offers me an apologetic shrug.

I wonder if she’s thinking what I am—that women in bad relationships don’t always talk about it. I’d bet women in bad Sian relationships talk about it less. I don’t even know if there’s a way out.

Dr. Tuane glances toward the closed door. “What I’m about to say is just a rumor I have heard. I cannot substantiate it and I do not want you to take it as fact. Okay?”

“Okay.”

“I have been told that there have been instances where an Agency matched pair didn’t bond during their initial coitus.”

“How is that possible?”

She shrugs. “Not my patients, so, I don’t know.”

“Did they eventually bond to each other?”

“The story I heard? No. They did not. From the retelling, that was for the best. They wound up going on to rematch and did eventually bond to the other people.”

“Do you think you could remember who told you that and possibly send them, or their information my way?”

“I’ll look into it.”

I nod and make notes. Maybe Margot would know?

“So no pills, no implants, no shots.” I let her shake her head before I ask, “IUD’s?”

“The Agency won’t let you come to the planet with an IUD. A woman would need emergency surgery if her mate went off the stopper and she got pregnant.”

I nod again and look out the window before looking down at my notes again. “Their cum is sweet. Does that ever result in yeast infections?”

She chuckles, “No. Luckily that is just a trick of our neurotransmitters.”

Dr. Tuane squeezed me in between appointments and too soon, her nurse, a daffodil yellow man, pokes his head in after knocking. “Sorry to interrupt, but time’s up.”

“Thanks, Jorn.” She turns back to me. “Tonight, I’ll pull up the other information we discussed, and get the needed permissions and redact what I have to. Once it’s packaged, I’ll send it over to you, hopefully with the rest.”

“Thank you for your time. I know you’re very happily busy.”

“Yes. I very definitely am.” She stands, but hesitates halfway to the door. “Margot mentioned that you don’t plan to have children.”

“No.” I brace myself for the pitch.

“If your curiosity about the bond is because of a certain Sian man sitting in my waiting room… Kids aren’t a requirement here.” She opens her door for me. “Ask him where he stands with that before you just assume he needs them.”

“It’s kind of a prerequisite for coming here.”

“I mean, the Sian government incentivizes the Agency to bring us over to help with population numbers. The Agency fast tracks women who want kids, but once they’re here, no one is going to force them to have those kids. Honestly, most of the men I’ve spoken to don’t find children to be a requirement, just a bonus. I think we’re all in this for companionship. That and lots and lots of sex.”

I laugh with her for that. “Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind.”

Trench stands as soon as he sees me and holds the door open.

“Not a fan of waiting rooms?” I ask as we get in the elevator.

“No.” He doesn’t offer me more, and I don’t push.

“Anything else you want to see before we head back?” He asks.

“No. Ilidi City is gorgeous, don’t get me wrong. It’s a visual dream, but there are too many people and everything’s a little busy. I don’t know how you stand it.”

He shrugs. “I’m never here long.”

The drive back into the mountains feels familiar, so when he turns right instead of left, I sit up straighter—as straight as the seat’s suctioning will let me.

“Where are going?”

He glances at me. “I had wondered if you’d notice.”

“I don’t have a perfect memory, but my sense of direction is phenomenal, thank you.”

Chuckling, he reveals, “We’re going to look at the vents.”

Vents? It takes me a second to remember… “The lava vents?”

He nods, but then the car slows. “Unless you’d rather wait.”

“Nope! I want to see them now. Let’s go.” I nudge him, as if that will make the car go faster, and he catches my hand, holding it for the rest of the drive.

We turn down another branch in the road and the pavement both climbs and descends between the yellow crags and blue ice, and when Trench stops the car, I stare at the spectacle, completely agog.

“Holy cow.”

Lava flows in thick streams down the side of the mountain, crusty and red at the edges where it’s cooled.

“Does it form a natural red glass?”

“I don’t think so?”

“We have a type of rock called obsidian. Our lava cools black and it’s basically an opaque glass. I was wondering if your lava did the same.”

“I can see if there’s a geologist at the Inniter Fields who would know. It’s a lava field on one of the southern continents.”

“I’m sure we can find the answer on the nexus instead.”

He pops the car open and I shiver. I don’t know why I expected the freezing temperatures to be gone simply because of that lavafall.

“It’s really pretty.” Steam rises up from below, and when I step to the edge of the pavement, Trench is right behind me.

“Don’t worry. I’m not getting any closer.”

“Good.” He takes my hand anyway. I don’t hate it.

He lets me look for a little while longer before tugging me toward what looks like a bunker entrance.

“No one ever comes out here, but we keep these stations secured, for obvious reasons.”

The door opens after he’s input a code and this time, I shiver from the rush of hot air. That is what I expected.

Inside is a cavernous space that looks only partially man—or rather, Sian-made.

It’s not a place meant for spending time. There is only machinery, guard rails, and the vibrant glow of the lava.

There are railings beside the deep ravine and I don’t touch them or lean over them, just in case. But the sharply cut walls of that ravine are scarred and crusted with old lava as well as the fresh flows.

“Who maintains them?” I ask, turning back to Trench, who has started fussing with the machinery.

“They maintain themselves for the most part. I check on this one every few months, and if something goes wrong, I get an alert. Other brothers check the rest.”

“How many—whoa.” I tip my head back and look up at a giant drill.

“There are seven of these. And the drills that bored them are still in place—like this one—just in case there’s a collapse and they need to be reopened.”

“This is really cool.”

He looks around the cavernous space, and I can tell he doesn’t agree.

“So, the lava just flows through here, it doesn’t do anything else?”

“No.”

“Could you set this up—geothermally, I mean—to power an electric fence?”

“I don’t think so? But I could ask Drift to look into it.”

I shrug and let him do what he needs to do while watching the streaming torrent of liquid rock.

The lava flow gets shallower and shallower until it stops.

“What happened?”

“An aperture down the line closed.” He pulls up a computer screen that shows the whole system.

“Wow. That is impressive. Those squares are where you dump the cavrinskh bodies so they don’t attract scavengers?”

“Yeah. The timing is on a set schedule, so we know how long until the next flow.”

“So, what happens when they’re not flowing? They’re just empty?”

“If there’s a storm or heavy snowfall, they sometimes turn into temporary rivers too.”

“Creepy.” I look down the dark tunnel and just imagine a flash flood.

He leads me back out, and I stare at the place where the lavafall had been. Now, it looks like red wax dripped from enormous candles.

“I’m not going to,” I make sure he heard that part before I continue, “but I want to climb out and touch it.”

“You’re right,” Trench chuckles and grabs me around the waist. “You are not going to.”

He carries me back to the car.

When the car is closed in around us, and we’ve turned back for the main road round the caldera, I say, “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For showing me all the things that are boring to you.”

“I will show you anything you want to see, Jess. Even if I find it boring. Even if I hate it.”

I hold his hand and rest my head on his shoulder as he drives us back to his outpost. I don’t want to make him show me anything he hates, but I think that’s inescapable now.

TRENCH

Jessica only waits until I have my jacket off before she pulls me down to kiss her.

“I need another sample.” Her teeth nip my lip. “And Margot sent over what I asked for.”

“Did she?”

She nods. “They’re upstairs waiting. I already cleaned them and everything.”

“Then I guess you’d better grab your vials.”

“Those are upstairs too.”

She jumps into my arms, and I carry her upstairs. The dull ache in my cock throbs harder.

When I toss her onto my bed, she giggles and then covers her mouth with her hands when it turns into a snort.

“Do you want to know a secret?”

“Always.”

She trails her hands down her sides as she lets out a sultry sigh. “I really like it when you throw me around.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. I kind of want you to take me outside when the snow is fresh and see just how far you can fling me.”

“You’ll have to settle for being thrown onto my bed.”

She pouts and says, “Fine. For now.”

Jess unbuttons her pants and lifts her feet up. “Do the honors.”

It’s always an honor to undress you. I keep my mouth shut and do as she says, sliding her pants off of her legs and trailing my fingertips along her skin.

“I should keep my clothes on for this,” she says, handing me her glasses and shimmying her shirt off. “But I really like being naked with you.”

“Me too.” I set her glasses to the side while her shirt flies to the floor.

“Good,” She grabs something from under her pillow and tosses it to me. “Let’s make sure no accidents happen.”

I turn the strangely shaped implement over in my hand.

“What’s this for?”

She spreads her legs and my cock aches. I take an involuntary step toward her, driven by a need that feels almost primal.

“That’s for me.” She spreads her pussy lips and offers me a little smile. “Apparently, Margot has a few women on her payroll that have a ‘no vaginal intercourse’ rule, and this is one of the ways they enforce it without having to think about it constantly.”

“It’s a plug?”

She nods, “I can insert it myself, if you’d rather not.”

I want my cock to be the thing that plugs her pussy.

I want to stop my cum from coming out, rather than getting in…

I want to keep her forever.

But no. This is something she needs, and I will not take anything from her that she does not want to freely give.

The shorter end slips into the wetness of her, and Jess draws in a little gasp as the base of it suctions to her pussy.

The longer end curves up to rest against her clit. A tiny power button waits for me to flick it on.

I look down at the way it covers her and try not to scowl.

“I don’t like it either.” She pulls me down to her and… it works.

My cock nudges against that barrier through my pants like my body had been target locked on claiming her. She kisses me so sweetly, I hum against her.

“I don’t want to have to worry or split my attention,” she says, drawing back and tracing her fingers over my lips. “I just want to be with you.”

She goes to her knees, hands sliding up my legs. “Do you come more or less for me than you did before?” she inquires as she opens my pants. “It feels like your volume has increased since we started all this.”

“It has.” I pull off my shirt and step out of my pants. “I couldn’t tell you how much more, but it’s noticeable.”

“Is it?” She smiles so sweetly, I curse under my breath.

“Don’t do that.”

Stroking me, she plays at obliviousness. “Don’t do what?”

“Don’t look at me like letting me fuck your throat again is the best thing on either of our planets.”

“It’s not.” She looks up at me with a rueful purse of her lips. “But we can’t have that.”

She kisses the tip of me and shivers. “Why do you taste so good?”

I don’t know, so I don’t try to answer her.

I slide my hands into her hair, holding her so that she doesn’t move on me too quickly. She still manages to take me into her mouth before I’m really ready.

How could I ever be ready for this?

“Your mouth is heaven.” And I’m going to fill it any time she asks.

She moans and the vibrations shoot straight through me. “Saints, Jess.”

Sweet and soft, she takes me into her, never shying back. My hips move, almost as if I have no say in the matter. Need has taken control of me.

The sounds, the way she rocks on me, it’s all too much.

“ Fuck. ” I say the one English curse I know, and she looks up at me, her eyes wide, lips parting. I can’t stop myself.

I paint her pretty face with cum, and her smile only makes me clench harder as another stream cascades onto her.

“Sorry,” I grip her hair tightly as the last of me pours across her chin and down onto her breasts.

“Don’t be.” She hums, stroking and squeezing my cock one more time. “I like when you come on me.”

Dragging her up my body, I kiss her.

She presses her finger to my chin, swiping my cum from where it had smeared. “Now we’re both a complete mess.” She slips her finger into her mouth and sucks.

My cock twitches and a latent gush of cum streaks our skin.

The familiar sound of a vial screw cap coming undone scratches at my ears.

“Was that good or bad science?” I ask, tracing circles on her shoulder.

“Bad science… but very, very nice.”