Chapter 37
Holly
The knot was way better than advertised.
Holly laid splayed out on her back, still occasionally jerking from tiny micro-gasms that continued to wrack her body even after Romival had climbed off her.
He stepped away to get something to clean her up and then, when he came back, he just stopped to admire the messy sight she made atop her blankets. That sight he had made of her.
Holly knew that Peony liked the knot. And while certainly Holly expected to enjoy it, like a new type of sex toy, she wasn’t ready for exactly what the knob of flesh would do.
It swelled inside, and that was obvious.
But it put pressure on all the exact right spots.
The stretch at her entrance pulled deliciously on her clit when he pulled it out, while it rubbed and pressed against her g-spot when he pushed it in.
So, each thrust was like alternating jump starts between the two most sensitive parts of her body.
And it didn’t go down. It remained swollen so long as there was pressure on it. And inside her, there was nothing but pressure. Not only from the walls of her pussy, but also from the second part of his knot that surprised her.
Which was that none of his cum came out.
That wasn’t precisely true. Some leaked out. But what squeezed past was overflow from the heavy pressure of the loads he had pumped inside her. Three times. That incredible pressure inside her was an entirely new type of pleasure that she had no defense against.
When Romival finally pulled out, the gush of cum made her gasp and tremble. It hadn’t exactly made her come again, but the feeling was similar to the heavy glow immediately after a climax.
And it made a mess. Romival had warned her, but she was not prepared for just how much was going to leak from her. Which was why he had stood to go get something to clean her up. But these blankets were definitely a lost cause.
When he spread her legs to clean her up, even that soft touch made her gasp and shudder as her overstimulated body nearly short circuited.
“Too… much…” she panted, grabbing his wrist weakly.
He just continued to calmly wipe away his mess. He was slow and thorough and, when he finished, he pressed a tender kiss to her lower belly as he tossed the rag away over his shoulder to be cleaned up later along with their clothes that already littered the ground.
Afterwards, he climbed into bed beside her.
He pulled her limp body into his arms, resting her against his chest. His three distinct heart sounds used to be so strange and alien, but it had become so comforting lately.
Hearing it, feeling the hard muscle of his chest under her cheek, made her sigh delightedly as she relaxed into him.
It only got better when he began stroking her back with the tips of his claws.
Not hard enough to scratch, but just enough to soothe.
“What changed your mind?” He asked a few minutes later before she had the chance to fall asleep, as a good orgasm always made her do. Much less five or six in a row. She lost count.
“Hm?” She mumbled, still only half-conscious.
“About my knot.”
“Oh.” A sleepy smile pulled at her lips, but she couldn’t even open her eyes. “I guess a brush with death makes you really want to experience life. And I figured it was safe.”
He chuckled. “I told you, it can’t hurt you.”
“No, I know.” She snuggled in deeper into his warmth. “I meant, I know that I’m back at the beginning of my cycle now, so I know I’ve got time until I ovulate. So, since your sperm only lives for a mark or so, I figured, why not?”
Heavy silence followed her words as he went still. Unease tightened in her chest, and she lifted her head, suddenly not so tired. The odd look on his face only made it worse.
“Romi,” she started slowly. “Your sperm only lives for a mark. Right?”
He said nothing for a long second before answering deliberately, “The viability of sperm is dependent upon circumstances. For example, if I spilled on a table, it would die within moments. If it was frozen and stored properly, it could last many, many years.”
“That is not what I asked.”
He inclined his head in acknowledgment of her words. “Within a domini female, it will only live for a mark. Maybe a mark and half, but no more.”
“Romi,” she said warningly.
He was rubbing her hip gently. “According to Donivi, my seed was still alive and viable inside you for many marks after we had sex. And your reproductive tract is a perfect environment to keep it alive and viable for a full tenday. Maybe more.”
“Ten days!? Maybe more?!” She repeated, gobsmacked. “Holy sh-… That’s enough time for me to ovulate again! What-… How-… Why did Donivi tell you that and not me?!”
“There are no secrets between mates.”
“We’re not mates yet!”
“But he knows we will be. Besides, he was also telling your guardian at the same time.”
“Is there no such thing as HIPPA here?!” She yelled in frustration, sitting upright.
“That was in your language, vi Vakara. I don’t know what that is.”
“Quite obviously.” She ran a hand through her hair, freaking out.
He sat up as well, looking over her face carefully. “You are upset.”
“You think?!”
“I don’t understand why.”
“Because you were told something about my medical history that I wasn’t even told. On Earth, our healers don’t even tell our mates things about our health without our direct permission. And he not only told you, who isn’t even my mate yet, but he didn’t tell me!”
“And that is bad?” He asked carefully.
“It’s not here?!”
“No. It’s not uncommon to tell someone’s mate or guardian something before you tell them. Or to allow their loved one to tell them outright.”
“What if you don’t want them to know?”
“Why wouldn’t you want them to know?”
“Because it’s not their business!”
“Of course, it is. How is your guardian supposed to take care of you if they don’t know what you need? Or your mate for that matter?”
Holly let out a strangled cry of annoyance and frustration.
It was another moment where her human thinking was clashing with domini thinking.
But where she didn’t mind telling Atem when she was going out with Romival, even if it made her feel like a teenager again, she had to draw the line at this free exposure of everything related to her health.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” She asked, her voice deliberate and angry but trying to keep calm as she reminded herself that it wasn’t his fault. This was a cultural and species difference, nothing they had deliberately kept from her.
“You didn’t ask,” he said, watching her carefully. “If you had asked, of course I would have told you, but since you did not ask, I assumed you didn’t want to know. I apologize. I did not realize this was something that our species differed about.”
Holly took in a deep, calming breath and let it out as she did her breathing counts. “No. It’s fine. It’s okay. I understand. Just don’t… do it again. Okay? Donivi should not be telling you about my health, but if he does, you tell me immediately, even if I don’t ask.”
He had that odd look on his face again. Her belly sank.
“There’s more, isn’t there?”
“I didn’t consider it important,” he assured her quickly. “It’s something most healers would not even tell a female or her mate since it’s so common and serves no purpose to confess. Donivi only mentioned it to me as a remark on how strange it was.”
“What?” She pressed, nervous now.
“I had successfully fertilized one of your eggs.”
“What?!” She shouted, hand going to her stomach. “Wait, am I-?”
“No,” he assured her quickly. “It never implanted in your womb. But it is impossible to tell if it would have done so successfully or not because the poisoning expedited your body’s natural cycle. But fertilized eggs not implanting is very common among the domini.”
“I was… You said you couldn’t get me pregnant without the knot!”
“I did not think I could. That’s why Donivi even told me about it. I know you’ve said that your species is prolific, but your fertility is apparently even greater than we suspected.”
“So, if you knew you can, in fact, get me pregnant that easily, why wouldn’t you let me know that little fact before I asked you to knot me! Oh, god,” she curled around her belly that was tightening with fear and the knowledge that his cum was still inside her.
“I assumed you were all right with the chance,” he said softly, sadly.
Holly’s mouth moved, but no sound came out. The truth was, she hadn’t even thought about the chance that he would be successful. She had trusted what he said about the lifespan of his sperm. She didn’t think they were going to keep secrets about her own health from her.
But they had.
“Holly?”
Turning to him, glaring so harshly he flinched back, she pushed herself up and off the bed. She snatched her dress off the ground and pulled it around her body.
“Get out.”
“Holly-”
“Get out!” She snapped, whirling around on him. “I can’t talk to you right now.”
“Explain to me what I’ve done,” he said, getting to his feet.
Holly wanted to yell, but she took in another breath and forced herself to calm.
It wasn’t easy. Not when all she wanted to do was rage and scream and demand to know why he didn’t see fit to tell her something that important.
Why he thought it was okay to possibly endanger her very life for a baby he knew she was scared to have.
But he didn’t think like that, and she had to keep that in mind.
And she could also admit that she had asked for it.
Even in the, what she thought was, extremely unlikely event of it happening, she had implicitly agreed to take on the chance that she might get pregnant.
She just hadn’t realized it was a much bigger chance than she originally assumed.
And fear of the possibility was making her lash out.
“Would it be so terrible to bear my pup?” He asked softly, turning her attention back to him.
“That’s not the point,” she replied, trying to keep her voice calm and even.