?? CHAPTER 23 ??
Ryle
My mate lies in my arms, worn and content, and I... I am awash in wonder.
This has changed me. I feel more warmth for her than ever. More affection. My heart is all hers.
And yet, the mating pulse has not calmed. In fact, it throbs stronger now. It demands more. It demands possession. I would never choose to harm my mate, I would do anything to prevent it... but what if there’s something in my altering that is out of my control? What if this is that bloodlust - our creators’ ultimate goal?
I wish there was someone to ask, but there isn’t. I’m the one leading the way through the dark, here. My crew will look to me for answers. But I cannot describe the wild energy that beats in my chest, nor the insatiable yearning that hardens my cock.
She sleeps soundly for a time. I know she needs her rest, and I am determined to let her have it, no matter how badly I wish to wake her and sink into her sacred center again. I examine the photos of the ancient scrawlings instead, searching for more clues about these caves. The strange shaped creatures that Maysee calls “beetles” didn’t leave behind very many clues, though. Perhaps there wasn’t much to say. Perhaps they hid down here in a state of hibernation. Or sat around the giant center tree and sang songs and ate fruit until the storm passed. I only find one more image that I can definitively say is set in this cave. Two beetles hold a much tinier beetle next to the tree. The space is contained, like a cavern - they aren’t sitting outside. And they aren’t doing anything. They’re just... being. Together. A family?
I save the photo to show Maysee when she wakes. But I have other things in mind when she does finally stir. Her eyelids flutter and she takes a long, deep breath.
I kiss her the rest of the way awake. First on her neck, and her breathing deepens more. Then lower, a trail down her chest. Her hands stroke through my hair. “Shhh,” I tell her. I plant my lips on the mounds of flesh on her chest, “titties,” I heard the women reference them, but the term made them giggle. But I don’t want to make Maysee laugh now, though. I want those sighs, those moans, I want every heated sound from her, for me and me only.
“Shhh,” I tell her, as my body and my cock pulse feverishly. I suck gently on one of her nipples. Her back arches softly and she looses a stuttering breath. Good. I want her to wake like this, with my mouth upon her, feeling me, knowing that she’s mine. I brush my thumb over her other nipple, over and over, until she’s squirming. Her fingers curve around my horns and tug.
I probe the wetness between her legs with the head of my cock. Gently, at first, in case she’s sore. But she invites more. Her knees fall wider and she tugs on my horns. I give her the kiss she seeks, slanting my lips over hers. She moans softly. The sound becomes a low cry as I slide inside of her. I loose a growl myself. The grip of her around me will be my undoing. I will sink inside and never return.
I move more slowly this time, savoring every sensation, every inch and breath and shudder. Mine. All mine. What is coming over me? She wraps her arms around my neck and I trap them there, binding them with my tail. Her eyes widen in surprise. Then she smirks, and locks her ankles beneath my ass, as if to say, “See? You are trapped, too.”
As if being trapped in her isn’t exactly what I need.
Our eyes lock as I press into her. Her gaze is heated, hungry, but something else. Some big emotions lurk there. I want them, just like I want all of her. “Good?” I ask her.
“So good,” she says. Her words are clipped, as if she can’t quite catch her breath. “This is perfect. You’re perfect.” She bites her lip.
“You will come for me.”
She nods quickly, whispers, “I’m so close.” She tugs her arms, and I loose my tail from her wrists. Her fingers rake down my back.
When she comes, it’s an ecstasy I never dared to dream of. Her mouth falls open, and she looses a cry of pleasure that I capture with my lips. I can feel it rolling through her, feel the clenching of her inner muscles around my cock, and within moments I’m coming too, spilling inside of her, mindless for many moments as I hold her tight and make her mine in the way only a mate can.
I hover over her. We’re both sweaty, but the pool is right there. Neither of us wants to move just yet. Her legs are still locked, I’m still rooted deep, though the pulse is finally calming. I brush the damp hair from her forehead. She smiles and closes her eyes.
And I recall, then, the three beetles sitting by the tree. I know what mating naturally leads to. I know how a new life is created. But that word, “family,” that’s a little different. Is that what we’re doing here? My cock pulses in response to the thought. Is that what the mating pulse wants? Perhaps there is no bloodlust in me, after all. What I want, why the mating pulse chose her, it’s the same as the ancient beetles.
Could that be why the planet drew us here in the first place? We’re here to start a family. We’re here to build a home.
?????
I’m quiet with my thoughts, and Maysee is quiet with hers. We quickly dunk ourselves in the pool, re-dress, and gather our things for the journey back. It isn’t typical for her to be so quiet. I’m starting to worry as we leave the caves, but then her hand slips into mine and she flashes me one of her shy smiles.
“So I’m your mate now, huh?” she asks. “That’s how that works?” We step into the dim morning sun. It’s hard to believe there was a hurricane, that there’s anything terrible on its way. This planet is an oasis.
“You are my mate always,” I say. “When I see you the first time. Right away.”
“Humans call that ‘love at first sight.’ It’s romantic and kind of silly.” Her eyes drop. “It’s a pleasant dream, though.”
“Not a dream. Real. I am bigger, stronger, to be a better mate. My cock does...” I don’t know the human words, so I show her a pulsing motion with my fist.
“You are bigger than the others,” she says, peering up at me through narrowed eyes. “That’s all really a reaction?”
“Yes, mating reaction, to you. For you. You are mine.”
“Yours?”