Chapter 30 #3
He was still for a moment as her words registered, then some of his tension eased as the logic of the words settled.
“And just so we're both clear,” she closed the distance between them again, smiling when his arms immediately encircled her waist, “what exactly is our relationship?”
“You cannot tell?”
“I know what I hope it is, but I also know that our cultures are different, and I don't know if I can assume the same things I would be able to just know back on Earth.”
He grunted once, agreeing with her, as more of his tension eased. “Here on Turv, what we are would be called loviri tii.”
“That's old domini,” she chuckled.
“It is. It means something like, ‘owned temporarily’.”
Peony grimaced. “You know, some of your old domini phrases are so poetic, and the other half are just awful. Owned temporarily? That makes it sound like rent-a-girlfriend.”
He laughed, pressing his forehead down onto hers. “Girlfriend? What is that?”
“Well,” her cheeks burned. “On Earth, it's what I'd hope I am to you? A female who's more than a friend. That would make you my boyfriend.”
“Boy and girl are juvenile terms.”
“I didn't make up the word,” she chuckled. “It's just what we call each other.”
“Well, in my culture, you would be my loviri.”
She grimaced. “Is loviri the word that means 'owned'?”
His head tilted. “This bothers you.”
“Yeah, owning someone isn't really a romantic thing back home. It sounds wrong.”
“As wrong as referring to me as a juvenile friend in reference to a lover? That sounds worse.”
She laughed, shaking her head. “Okay, so neither word is perfect.”
“Loviri tii, as you would assume from the translation, is a temporary state,” he ran his hand up her back, tracing along the curve of her spine with his retracted claws.
“It is for lovers who share pleasures, but nothing else. They are devoted to each other for a short time but share nothing besides their flesh and ecstasy.”
“That's kind of what it means to be dating where I'm from.” She smiled, her own fingers playing with the hard, muscular lines of his chest. “And, from there, either the relationship ends, or it moves onto the next level.”
“Ah, we are similar in this respect. Lovers can either end their association, or, if their instincts prove true, they became mates.”
Peony frowned, a bit surprised by the turn in the conversation. “Their instincts?”
“Indeed.” His arms tightened around her.
“It is said that domini can always tell their mate on sight.
That our eyes can always discern them, even fully camouflaged.
It's not a perfect system. It relies a great deal on your instincts leading you true, and it can be hard to differentiate that from regular desire at times. That is why mates usually become loviri tii first before having a mating ceremony. To be sure.”
“Your people believe in love at first sight?” Peony couldn't help but smile, tickled pink by the idea that such a simple but powerful concept existed here on a completely different planet.
“Believe in it?” He chuckled as though her phrasing was odd. “Do you believe in the moons? Do you believe in the stone beneath your feet? How do you believe in something that just is?”
“It's not really that simple for humans.”
“Indeed not. Every species does it differently. How do you recognize your mates?”
She shrugged. “Depends on the couple, I guess?”
He cocked his head, confused, and she continued, trying to explain.
“Every relationship is different. Some are friends for a long time first, others get the whole love at first sight deal, others are kind of a slow burn.”
“Ah! I see where we got confused. You are still speaking of a loviri tii relationship. I am speaking of proper mates. How do you recognize them?”
Peony frowned, now perplexed herself. She hadn't realized there was a confusion. “I just told you. If a relationship is a good one through the dating period, there's a ceremony, and that's it.”
Atem was shaking his head. “No. Not a loviri. A mate. My adassi. Your domin.”
“Is my neural implant worn off? I feel like we're not speaking the same language anymore.”
He frowned at her. She frowned back at him. He cocked his head. She tried and failed to speak. They just stared at each other for a moment before he leaned back, his brow furrowing.
“Peony? Your people do have mates, don't they?”
“I mean, no one really calls them that. We're still talking about a romantic relationship, right?”
“I'm talking about The Romantic Relationship. Your mate. Your heart. Your only.”
“Oh! You mean The One!” Peony laughed. “Sure, we have the concept.”
“Concept?” He repeated, stunned.
“Yeah, sure. A lot of people talk about finding The One. Kind of on the same level as love at first sight, though. Not sure I believe in it myself.”
Atem stepped back from her, as though she had said something so unbelievable, he needed space in order to grasp her words.
“Your species doesn't have mates?” He asked incredulously. “You cannot be serious.”
“It's something people talk about, but it's not like it's a real, solid thing.”
“Yes, it is!” He shook his head, baffled, trying to grasp what she was saying and failing. “How does your kind reproduce if you don't have mates?”
“Er, the normal way? Tab A goes into slot B?” She gestured between their crotch areas respectively.
“Not the mechanics of it. Mates are instinctive, perfect matches that tell your body it’s time to reproduce.
The person that completes you, yes, but also, if you’re fortunate, the person you're most likely to have pups with. Who makes your heart pound. Pups can be made between loviri couples, but it’s never as reliable as finding your mate.
The chemical and physiologic changes that occur increase conception chances by as much at tenfold. ”
Peony shrugged helplessly. “Humans don't really have that problem. We're pretty much equally fertile with any person. Excepting like medical reasons or something.”
“That's not possible.” His tone was final. Absolute. As though she had just declared the sky green.
Wait. The sky was green here...
Peony shrugged again, unable to think of another response.
Atem just looked at her like he couldn't understand what she was saying. “You said once that preventing pregnancy was a large worry of yours.”
“Yes?”
“If I was a human male, would you have let me fuck you?”
Peony laughed. “Sure, of course. Not without protection though.”
“Protection?” He repeated, shocked again. “Is that what you call... whatever that is?”
“Birth control? Yeah. Condoms protect against more than getting pregnant though, so 'protection' covers it better.”
He waved his hands, cutting her off. “Wait. If I were a human male, what is the likelihood that I would have impregnated you by now?”
Peony shrugged. “Pretty high? I think? I kind of lost track of days on the ship, but it had to have been a couple weeks since my period. So, I was probably ovulating. But I've always been irregular, so I can't really hold to the twenty-eight day rule thing.”
“You're fertile every twenty-eight days?!”
“Not really. I told you, I'm irregular. But in general, yeah, that's the rule for us.” Peony looked at him oddly. “That's... strange?”
“Domini females are only fertile once a year. And there's no guarantee that a male can successfully inseminate her, even during that period. Even her mate.”
“Oh. Wow. Yeah, I can see how that would be weird in comparison.” Peony stood there awkwardly as he stared at her as though she were, well, an alien.
“And any human male could impregnate you?” He asked, shocked. “They all have an equal chance?”
“Well, age and health play a factor but, yeah, all other things being equal, any guy could. Your people really can only be reliably impregnated by one person?”
Atem grunted in affirmative, answering her question, but he clearly wasn't focusing on it. “Peony, do you not realize how strange that is?”
“The One being a legitimate thing in your species? Yeah, that's pretty weird.”
“No, Peony. You're the weird one. Mates are a concept every sapient species shares. All the higher species have similar traits and characteristics because evolution favors them, regardless of the planet. The love and devotion of bonded mates is one of them.”
She fell back on her reliable, helpless shrug. “Accidental babies are a big thing on Earth. That's why birth control is so important in my species. We already have an overpopulation problem.”
Atem chuckled in disbelief, reaching out for her. Relief swept through her as he gathered her back in his arms. She had been afraid for a moment there that she had just become too alien. Though the ability to get pregnant was not what she thought would cross that line for him.
“Over population,” he repeated in disbelief. “I've never heard such a thing.”
“Really? There's no alien species out there that reproduces too fast?”
“Not one of the sapient ones, no.” He pushed her hair back behind her ear. “Rapid reproduction is something shorter lived species do. Wait, how long does your species live?”
“Eighty to a hundred years on my planet? I don't know the conversion rate.”
“A year on Turv is 483 days.”
“Really? It's only 365 on Earth. So, the difference isn't too big.”
“No. I assume that's without advanced medical technology though. I imagine, with that, you're not really shorter lived than my species. Or any of the higher species. At least your species still shares that trait. How many offspring could you produce in your lifetime?”
Peony shrugged. “I don't know. Most people choose to stop at two or so. But I heard about this one lady who had sixty kids! There were a lot of multiple births, but still, that's insane! Definitely not typical.”
Atem was so shocked, his camouflage flickered. “Six...ty?”
“Yeah. I don’t think it was exactly sixty, but it was around there.
It was a really odd and high number. I think she, like, set the record or something,” she hastened to reassure him.
“If someone gets to five kids, people begin wondering how many they're going to have. Ten would be considered way too many for most people.”
“Ten?! You could produce ten pups so easily?!”
“I mean, it was never a goal of mine,” Peony chuckled. “But I suppose, yes, theoretically, I could. How many can a domini female have?”
“I think our record birth amount for a female was seven. Most never produce more than three or four. That's about how many most couples strive to have.”
“Oh, three? That's not too bad.” Peony smiled. “I wouldn't mind three kids.”
Atem growled, swooping her up into his arms and taking her to the bed. “If I could give you my pups, Peony, I would not stop at three. I would strive to keep your belly always full.”
“Calm down,” she laughed as he laid her down, immediately covering her body. “Birth is a lot of work. I feel like three would really be pushing it.”
Atem smirked, extending his claws so he could rip through her top. She cried out, partially in protest and partially in arousal as the fabric fell apart, revealing her breasts.
“Nonsense. We have none of this birth control on my planet, and if you're fertile every twenty-eight days, I see no reason why I can't impregnate you the moment your body is finished preparing after the previous birth.”
“Oh, that’s all?” She teased, laughing. It was a harmless conversation, since she knew it wasn't possible between them, but the idea was at once ridiculous and arousing.
She could have countered with how traumatic birth could be, how much work a baby was, but those were too real for the moment.
He was getting off on the idea of impregnating her.
She could see it in the burning of his eyes, feel it in the roughness of his hands as he clawed away her skirt.
And it was doing magical things to her lady parts as well.
Both the idea of an alien knocking her up, and Atem's reaction to the idea. So, she played along.
“On Earth, we call that keeping a girl barefoot and pregnant,” she said, licking her lips. “Is that what you want from me, Atem?”
“Barefoot and pregnant,” he repeated, growling as he placed a kiss along her collarbone.
“I rather like that visual. Is there more of you that will be bare, besides your feet?
Your body always available to me whenever I want you.
Always ready so I can bend you over whatever you're standing near and breed you whenever the desire strikes me.”
“Yes,” Peony moaned, her back arching up into his mouth as he kissed his way down her body. Pausing to play with the hardened peaks of her breasts for only a moment, teasing more than pleasuring them, before continuing on his mission. “Always dripping and eager for you.”
“I can feel it,” he growled, his fingers trailing through the wetness of her lips, just barely teasing apart the damp flesh. “Is this how you'll be for me, vi Peony?”
She tried, then failed, to form a response as he began circling her clit with the slightest pressure. A tease that made her groan and rock her hips, trying to get more.
Atem ignored her efforts, continuing to kiss slowly down her body. Nipping at the underside of her breasts. Kissed the gentle slope of her belly. He nuzzled her there. Kissed her again. Then continued downward.
Peony shivered with excitement as he moved over her mons. His fingers spread her nether lips, giving him an unobstructed view of her aching pussy. He stared like he was enchanted, eyes burning as he slowly licked his lips. He savored the moment before he dove in.
Peony had other boyfriends go down on her before, but it was always done with a distant sort of resignation. Something they felt they had to do. One guy had even made exaggerated gagging noises to get out of it – admittedly, he wasn't with her long after that.
Atem started with a long, slow lick, from her bottom all the way to her clit. He moaned, his eyes rolling back like he had just tasted the sweetest candy. Before she could ask if he was okay, he was back. Licking, sucking, grunting, feasting.
“Krik, vi Seerin,” he moaned, his lips popping off her throbbing clit. “You're so sweet. I could spend marks feasting between your thighs.”
Peony chuckled breathlessly, her fingers running through his hair as she undulated her hips. “You don't have to try so hard. I'm a sure thing.”
Atem moaned, not even having lifted his head. “You're so perfect. You tempt every single one of my senses. I can't believe you're real sometimes.”
She nearly admonished him for empty flattery again, but he began to suck on her clit once more and the words were stolen before she could voice them.