Chapter Eight
Aphrodite awoke groggily, days after their first meeting. Xexis stepped inside, the door snapping shut behind him. The floor lit up around his massive feet. She pushed herself across the sheets to give him room on the bed, but he shook his head. “Today, you leave this place.”
Oh, what does that mean? She opened her mouth to protest only to squeak as he scooped her up in his arms. One beneath the back of her knees, one behind her lower back, hoisted with no problem. She took a deep breath in. “Where am I going?”
“I imagine a bath would be nice, a real one.”
A genuine moan of relief filled her. A bath?!?! A real one.
The vivid memory of the last time she was awake, a day or two ago, when he offered to move her and it was impossible.
They opted for a cleansing rod passed over her flesh and technicians came in to wipe her wounds tenderly.
Though the masked beings didn’t speak, they were gentle and communicated through charades.
It was helpful but not ideal. There’s technically clean and actually bathing.
Aphrodite sighed with relief, “Yes, a real one would be nice.”
Xexis tugged slightly at one of the bandages around her thigh, the dried edge already peeling back from her skin.
“Plus, your medical bandages have started to rise, meaning you can safely wear clothing again…if you want.” He shrugged.
“It’s optional? But you wear pants.” She cocked her head to the side.
He tossed his head back, the startling, full belly laugh like he was gargling water filled the air. “It is insulting to walk with one's mating trunk out.”
“Trunk?” She wheezed.
“Yes, like an—” He put an arm to his nose and waved it in a mimicking of elephant’s fashion. Her eyes widened, eyebrows in her hair line as he laughed again. “Trunk, yes?”
“Is it that big?” she blurted out without hesitation.
Look, not like I’m not fucking curious. Xexis didn’t bring the topic up since that moment when she first awoke, but Aphrodite wasn’t a fool.
Xexis was a big guy. They’d discussed pro-nouns somewhere between her being coherent enough to talk and being knocked out.
And while it seemed his people didn’t abide by human gender roles, they still had gendered language to an extent.
He said it only had to do with titles and with mating.
Vet Mphrat, that’s my mate who is a female he said, then followed with Vet Karrot as masculine.
She nearly hurt herself giggling about ‘my carrot’ on and off for the rest of that day.
“As one of the trumpet bulldozers? Maybe.” He smiled, obsidian eyes twinkling even though they looked straight ahead.
Warmth bloomed in her chest as she studied his face.
Was he…teasing? She sat up straighter in his arms. He peaked down at her before returning his attention to ahead of them.
The butterflies returned with a vengeance.
“Are you joking with me?” She brushed a hand along his shoulder and relished the prickling of his skin.
Unlike human skin, Xexis’ was prickly velvet.
In one direction, it was soft and satin.
In the other direction, pins and needles.
She’d learned which direction to stroke him and found she liked it far more than she should.
He is your mate! The thought stilled her heart.
When had that become so easy to think—mates aren’t a thing… this is just…something?
“Quagmor tells me that your species is very competitive about the size of their mating trunks.” He puffed out his chest, proudly and with the same mischievous twinkle in his eyes. Xexis ripped her out of her own thoughts and planted her firmly back in her body.
“He’s…right,” She laughed, shaking her head. “Quagmor knows a lot about humans.”
“He is the specialist on humans with my people. His father is the one who taught me Anglo-saxis. Quagmor retired from the hunt and teaches younglings. Mostly language and information upon many beings, but specifically your people so when we meet, we can have proper communication.”
Not enough communication to tell me you weren’t there to kill me, apparently. She swallowed that thought. Maybe I need to get with Quagmor and adjust the human curriculum, because it’s lacking.
Aphrodite wasn’t ready to touch on the subject that she had no idea Xexis or his people existed until the moment he chased her through the ship. How do they know about us and we have no idea they exist? What am I missing?
Xexis pivoted around a doorway, and they were in a bathroom.
It was a giant, empty pool full of mini pockets and a thousand faucets of varying sizes and colors.
There were two different types of bowls on the side of the walls, one where it was questionable if it was a toilet and one where it was too high to be anything but a sink.
The door hissed shut behind them, and the words tumbled out of her mouth. “He is the one who told you how to feed and take care of me, isn’t he?”
She was genuinely curious…how did they heal a human? Was their tech so advanced it didn’t matter that they were drastically different makes and models?
Xexis stepped up to a dark metal bench and set her on it. He knelt before her, starting to peel the flaking wrap off her ankles first. “Some, yes, I did try to do my own research when I came into the knowledge you were my mate.”
Aphrodite worked on undoing the wraps over her biceps and wrists. “Xexis, that’s another thing, how did you decide I was your mate?”
“Decide? Oh, lovely mate, there is no decision. Mates are known. They are destined. They happen to us; we do not choose.” He held her leg tenderly, his obsidian pools roaming her face.
“I gazed upon you. You were out in an atmosphere with oxygen. You were with those ship people, and you were all walking upon Kilv, a planet I believe you do not know yet has its own name. You broke away from them and were sitting in the foliage, reading out loud. I heard your voice and followed, thinking you were the creature I was hunting for. Then I saw you and the knowledge came to me. Mate.”
Aphrodite scrambled silently for a memory.
Planet with oxygen, they’d only come across two.
Only one where she had time to walk away from her team and sit in the greenery.
One of her favorite things was ditching her crew to read a book somewhere.
Anywhere, really, where I could hear myself think.
She remembered a planet, reading a book outloud to her drone.
Her mouth hung open “That was…a year ago.”
“Year? Oh! Yes, you see time in years. So, yes, some time ago.” He nodded his head as if it weren’t a shocking confession.
“And you, what? Were just following me around?” She sat back, putting a hand to his jaw and forced him to lock eyes with her.
He shook his head, pulling his face from her palm. “I have many responsibilities and duties, but I was not about to let my mate disappear into human space. I had many watch over you while I figured out our hunt and filed the appropriate paperwork.”
She was speechless as he undid all the wraps around her body.
He left her in only a few straps of fabric across her body.
Xexis stepped back, keeping his eyes downcast to give her space.
Aphrodite stood, shakily holding onto the covers over her nipples and clenched the piece over her curl covered cunt.
He analyzed her with narrowed eyes. “I was lied to.”
“What?” She huffed, glaring at him.
“The indention in your torso, that knot of flesh in the hole, that is not a mating organ is it?”
She choked on her own saliva, stumbling forward.
He immediately caught her in his four arms as she shook with laughter.
It stung at her sides, and the stitches weren’t happy.
But she genuinely laughed. Shoulders shaking, head tossed back, legs weak, she fell into him snorting.
“My belly button is not a mating organ.”
She clenched her thighs to keep from peeing herself. He grunted, holding her to his chest while she laughed. Tears collected in the sides of her eyes. Wheezing, she gasped for air. “Who told you it was a mating organ?”
“Doesn’t matter,” he grumbled, his skin around his face and chest darkening.
She gasped, “You’re blushing.”
“What?” His eyes darted away.
“Your skin! It’s doing what humans do when we’re embarrassed.”
“I am not embarrassed,” he scoffed.
Aphrodite sat back on her heels, sobering her giggles.
He’s kinda cute when he’s embarrassed. He stared at the tubs, chest puffed out and faux pride in place.
She put both hands to his chest, feeling her wraps fall away and leaving her skin against his.
He deflated instantly. His attention returned to her face as she stroked, soft side down, against his chest. “It’s alright, I wouldn’t know what to do either.
I appreciate you being careful of my organs, mating or otherwise. ”
“I am careful of you, Aphrodite.”
She shivered delightfully again, eyes fluttering closed.
His top hands cupped her cheeks. She wasn’t sure if she could open them again.
Not while he was looking at her like that.
Not in a way she’d never had before. Even intimate partners, lovers, exes; she’d never been stared at by anyone the way Xexis memorized her face.
It burrowed through to her belly and left its presence inside her for hours later.
Eventually, she opened her eyes, and he was still gazing at her.
“I’m tough,” she squeaked, faking strength in her spine. “You don’t have to be careful of me.”
“I do,” he purred, closing their faces together.
Oh I’m in trouble. Her legs weakened as she leaned into him fully.
I have a thing for him! I’m attracted to him!
I’m in so much fucking trouble. Two arms held her, clutching her tightly.
The others held her jaw, she didn’t want to look away.
Their foreheads touched and her skin broke out in goose bumps again.
His favorite. Two fingers of his traced a design through them, connecting the dots.
“For when I'm not careful of you, will only be when you ask it of me.”
“I’m not sure what you mean,” Aphrodite choked. She couldn’t keep air in her lungs.
“The mating hunt is often only the beginning of our hunts for each other.”
She swallowed, her voice tight. “Oh.”
Her heart skipped a beat as she was wrenched off her feet and up to his full height.
Naked and incredibly vulnerable, yet she’d never felt safer at the same time.
He wrapped her fully in all four of his arms before he walked them to the tub.
Putting her into one of the small pockets surrounded by faucets, he did so with incredible tenderness.
She shivered, unable to react as the water rushed out.
Steaming water, thick with the scent of eucalyptus and mint, filled the air.
He knelt beside the tub, staying at eye level with her.
Aphrodite found herself talking before she could stop. “No one has to die on this one, right?”
“Not unless they interrupt.” He cupped her face once more before pulling away.
Note to self, Xexis is touchy. Really touchy.
Xexis continued as he climbed up to his full height once more at the ledge of the tub.
“It is insulting for someone to stop me from claiming my mate. And when I am hunting, I do not suffer insults.”
Her gaze followed him, his shadow looming over her. “And when you’re hunting me, if I wanted you to stop?”
His face warmed with that twinkle in his eye. All arms crossed over his chest. “My mate merely needs to win or give in when she’s ready to be claimed or wants it to stop. At any time.”
Wish I’d known that before…you killed everyone.
She nodded, unable to speak more as he left the bath completely.
The water cut off, leaving her neck deep in green-tinted water.
Lilypad-looking plants glided out of slits on the side of the tub and floated around.
Dusty particles bobbed in the water. After testing them by catching them with her fingers, they released more scent.
Bath beads? Aphrodite relaxed. Thick moss drifted up out of the tub and she used it like a sponge.
She glanced to the side and found a jar.
Unlike the healing goop, she found this one clearly labeled in the thickest chicken scratch.
Soap for hair and flesh of humans. She appreciated the honesty.