CHAPTER 61
I practiced the piano, a bit maudlin after Leo had left. I didn’t know when I’d see him again, and I’d already missed his cheerful presence.
The alarm panel on the door chimed, and I perked up when I saw Dakleth enter. “I love to hear you play, mate,” he said, kissing the top of my head. “You are so talented.”
“I think I’m done for today,” I said. “I’m not really in the mood.”
“That is why I have planned an outing for us,” Dakleth said.
“Really? Where are we going?” I asked.
“Come, it is a surprise. You will like it, I promise,” he laughed.
We walked out into the city. If it were just Dakleth, I know he would have flown, but I appreciated that he walked with me.
I enjoyed flying with him, but conversation was easier for both of us when we were on the ground.
We talked about our day, about the trade agreement with the Charonu, and the new products that Dakleth thought would be of interest to the Ptexari.
He spoke with admiration for his sister’s negotiation skills.
He and Kashtinela had both been part of talks in diplomatic meetings for years, but this was her first time as the lead, and both he and his father had been impressed.
We made our way to a small building in the arts district.
I loved the colorful vibe of this part of the city.
We walked into a large open space, and Malvinok came out from the back room to greet us.
“Your Highnesses! Blessings upon your house, and welcome to my studio!” he exclaimed.
“I’m delighted you made the time to come out. ”
I greeted Malvinok and asked Dakleth what was going on.
“You showed great aptitude for dancing, so I asked Malvinok to teach you more of our court dances so we can dance together,” he said.
I clapped my hands. “That would be wonderful! Thank you both! I love to learn new dances.” Malvinok returned my beaming smile. “But you must also teach me your dances, Lumanela,” he said. “The court is abuzz after your performance. Many have reached out to ask me how to learn this human art form.”
“Oh, I’d be happy to!” I said. “I can also sit in on a class while you instruct, if that’s helpful.”
In charity, we agreed to help one another. For the next forty-five minutes, Malvinok taught me Ptexari dances and chivvied Dakleth into serving as my partner so he could stand back and observe. “You’re out of practice,” he chided Dakleth.
“I was never a very motivated student,” Dakleth confessed. “But with my mate, I find I am more willing to participate.”
“Males will do anything to impress a female,” Malvinok snorted.
After a while, we switched, and I showed both Malvinok and Dakleth the basics of merengue, which, as a simple two-step, was the easiest of the Latin dances.
Fortunately, I was able to pull up some of the music Leo and I recorded for us to practice with.
Malvinok and Dakleth took turns with me and sometimes, each other.
The Ptexari didn’t ascribe gender roles to dancing.
It made sense since their males and females were about the same size.
I wondered how they would handle lifts. Who did the lifting and who got lifted?
That was a conundrum for another day. For the moment, they were having a good time.
We left Malvinok with promises to return in a week, then Dakleth took me to a nearby restaurant.
Inside, it looked like a forest, and there were bowers in the fake trees where one could eat in privacy.
I’d never seen anything like it. It made sense for a species that could fly and didn’t need ladders.
The bowers were all different heights, giving the illusion that you were alone in the forest. It was magical.
We sat on mats in our bower and shared roasted kovka and the ubiquitous Ptexari flatbread.
We drank wine made from fermented zana fruit, and I watched Dakleth over my glass as I took another sip.
He was perfectly relaxed. His crest was lowered, his eyes dark and animated.
His wings were folded as he reclined on his side.
Ptexari never lay on their backs, so this was as close as he would get - in public at least. We laughed and chatted, and he fed me berries when I lay down on my side facing him.
He snuck in quick kisses between berries.
The Ptexari called it courting. I called it the best date I’d ever been on.
He flew me home afterward, and I asked him if he wanted to come in.
He did, and as soon as he crossed the threshold, we were pulling at each other’s clothes.
He lifted me and carried me to my small bedroom.
He laid me down on the bedcushions and slowly slid my panties down my legs.
He stroked my side and dipped his head for a slow, lazy kiss.
“I love kissing you, mate,” he said. “I cannot believe the Ptexari have not discovered this.”
I laughed. “Maybe you should teach it to them.”
“I do not intend to demonstrate on anyone but you. Let them figure it out for themselves,” he said in a gravelly voice.
I felt something low in my belly tighten at his words.
I tilted my head so he could deepen the kiss.
He groaned into my mouth and flexed his wings, then moved his head lower to nibble on my breasts.
As he laved and sucked my nipples with his tongue, his hand crept down to circle my clit. I whimpered.
“Yes, mate, let me hear how my touch turns your skin aflame.”
He wasn’t wrong. I was shamelessly lifting my hips, seeking relief from his fingers. He kept me just out of reach, slowing down and easing off the pressure anytime I seemed close. “Can we try something?” I asked.
“This is a human thing you wish to try?” he asked, raising his head from my breast to look at me.
“Yes. I’d like to ride you. That means you’d have to lie on your back and let me on top of you,” I said nervously. I’d gathered that the Ptexari didn’t like to be in such a vulnerable position. I was asking a lot of him.
He eyed me a moment, then closed his wings and rolled onto his back, taking me with him. “Show me,” he demanded.
I sat up and straddled him, rubbing my pussy along his length. He was wet, and so was I. The friction felt delicious on my clit. He groaned. “That feels incredible,” he admitted.
I lifted myself and grabbed his cock, then eased him into my entrance. I threw my head back, it felt so good. I started to move slowly, up and down, back and forth, even a little circle with a swivel of my hips so he could get used to it.
Dakleth closed his eyes. “This is heaven, little mate.” Groaning, he opened his eyes and thrust up. “Watching your breasts bounce as you ride my cock is my new favorite thing. I do not think I will ever get enough of this.”
“You’re not afraid of being vulnerable like this?” I whispered.
Dakleth scoffed. “You’re a tiny thing, and you weigh half what I do. You could not harm me physically if you tried.”
Well, now I was insulted. I slowed down and narrowed my eyes.
He sat up, shifting me in his lap, still wrapped around his cock.
“Do not be angry at the truth, my love. You cannot harm me physically, but my hearts are in your hands. No one has more power over me than you do. When you are sad, my hearts break. When you are angry with me, I feel like I have been cut by a thousand knives of glass. Without your attention, I wither like a zana bush dying of thirst. You could wound me with a cutting word or glance. If you left me, I do not believe I would ever recover.”
He kissed me and stroked my face. “I come alive when I see you smile, mate. Seeing you dance or play your music fills me with such joy. I never knew I could feel this way about another person. I love you, my beautiful mate. And that love is a fearsome thing.” He kissed me deeper and thrust up into me, and my hips bucked in rejoinder.
We made love slowly with me in his lap, bodies pressed close together.
We kissed with our eyes open, and I felt the bond bloom slowly in my chest. My eyes widened in surprise as I felt him take root - felt him become an indelible part of me.
“I feel the bond,” I whispered, as he thrust slowly into me.
“Then you feel my hearts. My devotion to you. My endless worship. I have felt it from the first moment I laid eyes on you, Andrea of Earth. I am sorry for how I hurt you in my ignorance, but this bond? I cannot regret it,” he averred, sincerity ringing in his voice.
“I don’t regret it either,” I said, giving him shining eyes. “I don’t regret you. I don’t regret us.”
He groaned and rolled me over so I was on my back, in one smooth motion. He dragged himself out slowly, and I moaned. He pushed back in and began a slow, smooth rhythm that held me on the brink of insanity. “Faster, Dakleth, please!” I begged.
He started pummeling into me. His strength - he was thrusting so hard I had to put my hand up to the wall so he didn’t drive my head into it.
But it felt so, so good as his cock pushed its way past my tight walls.
I fluttered around him, and he growled, driving himself even deeper until I could feel him bumping my cervix.
The pain I normally would have felt goaded me even further, providing a counterpoint that magnified my pleasure. “I’m going to.. Dakleth…” I panted.
“Yessss, mate,” he said, driving into me.
He brought one hand to my clit and started rubbing.
“Look me in the eyes. Look at me and call my name when you come apart on my cock,” he demanded.
I opened my eyes and found his. The eye contact was intense.
I felt the bond connecting us both. My lust was reflected in his, and it was an endless feedback loop. “I’m…”
“Come for me,” he commanded, and I detonated.
I screamed his name as I convulsed around him.
I squeezed his cock so hard, he winced, then groaned as he fucked me through it.
“Gods, you are milking me,” he said as he held me around the waist and used me like a fucktoy for his cock.
“I love fucking you,” he whispered in my ear as he leaned down to cover me.
“I should tell you how beautiful you are and how much I love your mind, but sometimes I just want to shackle you to the wall so I can fuck this cunt whenever I want. Make no mistake, Andie, my cock wants to live in this pussy. I hope you are prepared for this level of obsession.” His words pushed me into another orgasm.
I bucked and thrashed against him. I arched my back as I screamed, and white spots showed behind my eyelids.
“Yesss,” he hissed. “No one will ever make you come like this. Just me. Say it.”
“Just you,” I whispered, spent. His hips bucked erratically as he lost his rhythm, then stilled, as he spilled inside me. “Ungh,” he groaned and bit my neck.
“Ow!” I protested.
“Sorry,” he mumbled, and kissed the bite mark. “Too good. It is too good,” he chanted as he emptied himself. He rutted into me with tiny thrusts of his hips as we both felt the twitch of our aftershocks. “Mmmmmmm” he moaned as he finally stilled.
His tongue laved at the bite mark.
“Did you draw blood?” I asked, a little alarmed.
“No, I did not break your beautiful skin,” he assured me. “Although you will have quite a bruise. No one will doubt what you have been up to.”
I slapped his chest as he slipped out of me. “You brute!” I said half-heartedly. I could feel his smugness through the bond. It was strange, feeling someone else’s emotions in there with mine. It might take a bit to separate them.
“I am not sorry I marked you,” he said. “It is satisfying to know others will see it.” He kissed me there gently, and I sighed. He was so….male.
“Do you need to sleep?” he asked. “If so, I will stay with you.” The Ptexari did not experience the same lethargy humans did after sex, so he was sweet to offer.
“No, I’m fine. I probably won’t go to sleep for a couple of hours yet,” I answered.
“Good, then we can do that again,” he said, as he slid down my body and started lapping at my clit. Oh my, I thought as I slid back into bliss.