Chapter 7
Chapter
Seven
CELESTE
Conflict spiraled through Celeste. If the food-related nickname bothered Daphne, she didn’t show it. Her level of confidence was baffling as she set aside her notebook to pour each of them a glass of wine.
“I don’t play games,” said Daphne. “Let’s enjoy dinner and see where the night leads.”
Celeste had been on this planet for decades and never encountered a human so at ease with her.
Humans naturally experienced a low-level discomfort around her unless she saturated them with pheromones.
Once the pheromones subsumed their instincts, they flung themselves at her, eager to be devoured.
Daphne had neither of those reactions. She’d peeked beneath Celeste’s human facade and not only invited her to a dinner date, but prepared food tailored to her palate.
She’d never been so flattered in her life.
Not knowing what else to do, she smeared some of the pate across a cracker and popped it in her mouth, surprised to find the mix properly spiced.
“How did you procure human meat?” She had to know, because Daphne didn’t have her abilities.
If there was so much as a whisper of any illicit activities the woman committed on her behalf, she’d scrub them from existence.
“Oh, that.” Daphne patted her mouth with a napkin. “I was careful. I disabled the security cameras to the lab and harvested from a cadaver.”
Celeste made a face. “From dead meat?” There was an odd aftertaste, but it wasn’t rot. Not a bad flavor either. She found it interesting.
Daphne shrugged. “You told me there were no dietary restrictions. I hoped that extended to chemical preservatives. Cadavers are heavily preserved for teaching purposes, so I figured they’d be more like cured meats. Hence the charcuterie board idea.”
Humans could preserve their dead? The effort her little morsel had put into the meal was so thoughtful.
Celeste took a sip of wine, humming at the perfect match in flavors.
No one had done something like this for her before.
For all the human media she’d absorbed over the years, she hadn’t realized, deep down, that she pined for someone to wine and dine her.
It was too much. “Why do you like me?”
Daphne’s brows drew together. Celeste could see the careful thought she gave the question in her expressive face.
“I knew the moment I met you that you were a predator. Something inhuman. I was fascinated. But my intrigue shifted.” She took a sip of wine.
“I wondered if it was your scent that started it. There was a definite biological reaction when you were close. Except it lingered after.” A shy smile lit her face. “Then you ate Candace.”
Celeste stared at her. “I was going to eat you,” she murmured, surprised by the pinch of guilt in her guts.
Daphne shrugged. “But you didn’t. You’ve had several opportunities now. Instead, you ate the bitch who bullied me. Sweetest thing anyone’s ever done for me. Consider me smitten.”
Something bloomed in Celeste, a simmering heat that tingled through her fingertips.
Human appearances were something she’d studied at length.
She’d crafted her human guise to lure, but Daphne, in her sensible button down and slacks, was simply herself.
Her dark hair hung in a pair of adorable braids, her bangs neatly parted.
There was a light dusting of freckles across her nose, the barest touch of makeup on her face.
Nothing remarkable, but Celeste thought she was the prettiest human she’d ever seen.
A human she desperately wanted to survive this date as much as she wanted to taste her.
Celeste kept eating, unwilling to waste Daphne’s efforts, while she mulled over how to properly seduce her little morsel.
What if her human caught an eyeful of her true form and it snapped her mind?
What if Celeste slipped up and her hunger took control?
It was beyond sweet of Daphne to feed her, but this was not enough to fill her up.
She started when Daphne’s hand settled over her human one, her fingers warm and delicate where they rubbed circles against her wrists. “You look nervous somehow. If you don’t want to pursue this further, we don’t have to, though I hope we can remain friends.”
The uncertainty and hopefulness in Daphne’s face melted her hesitation. Celeste grabbed Daphne’s hand and shoved the table aside. Her human emitted a small squeak as she pulled her onto her lap.
The little morsel sat with her legs astride, but Celeste wanted something more intimate.
Daphne stiffened with a gasp when Celeste slid her hands under her butt and lifted her with ease.
She maneuvered that slim human body to straddle her, sitting chest to chest. Celeste cradled her face and searched those dark eyes for a hint of fear.
She only found delight as Daphne squirmed in her lap.
Her heated core rested against Celeste’s stomach, that mouthwatering scent perfuming the air between them.
Daphne wrapped her arms around Celeste’s neck, all her silent desire and anticipation humming against Celeste’s senses.
Human media taught Celeste many things, but watching wasn’t the same as doing. Celeste breathed her in, the scent between her legs mingling with the remnants of their meal to a dangerous effect, but the moment she brushed their mouths together Daphne’s quiet demeanor vanished.
She plastered herself against Celeste, groaning into her human mouth.
Daphne opened for her; the inside of her mouth was like slick velvet.
Her smaller curves molded against Celeste, the mortal warmth catching fire, heating beneath her hands.
The scent of her intensified, her thighs trembling against Celeste’s hips.
Celeste needed more, but she had to endure this slow sweet torture for such a beautiful morsel.
Her tongue shifted in Daphne’s mouth, a hint of her true self breaking through as the texture and length changed, slipping further down the human’s throat.
Daphne gagged slightly, before she unleashed a soft whine and swallowed around Celeste’s invasive exploration.
The sensation rocked through Celeste, an exquisite squeezing pressure, intensified by Daphne’s fingers tangling in her hair.
Nothing prepared her for the riot of emotions Daphne’s reactions roused within her.
More, she needed more. But she needed to reassure herself first.
Carefully, she reshaped her tongue and pulled back to make sure Daphne hadn’t suffered any ill effects. Alarm stirred at the tears dripping down the human’s face. She brushed them away, gently pinching Daphne’s chin. “Are you okay? Did I hurt you?”
“Did you—was that a tentacle down my throat?” Her voice was oddly hoarse.
Celeste nodded, uncertain how she’d react, but a wide grin split Daphne’s face.
“That was fantastic.” She pressed forward, nuzzling against Celeste’s throat.
The gesture was almost sweet until Daphne’s tongue slid over her skin, a warm wet glide that moved down to trace the curve of her breasts.
Celeste wheezed, her control wavering further when the human’s hands danced down her back to dig into her hips.
“Daphne, wait—” Celeste choked out, when those blunt human teeth sank into her flesh.
Her reaction was instant as it was unexpected.
Tentacles tore through her flimsy human facade, wrapping around her little morsel’s wrists, ankles, waist, lifting her until she was suspended in the air.
Hunger rolled through Celeste as she rose from the chair, somehow maintaining her human upper body.
It was the fear of scaring Daphne that had her clinging by a thread.
She lifted her torso higher to peer down at the human, trying to gauge her reaction.
Daphne’s chest heaved, lips swollen and red. She stared up at Celeste, a glaze of desire in her dark eyes. “Your tentacles are pink. I couldn’t see their color before,” she rasped. There wasn’t an ounce of fear in her.
Celeste smiled at her. She could alter the perception of her tentacles to whatever color she wanted. “Pink is pretty.”
“Pink is pretty,” Daphne echoed. There was a softness in her expression that caught Celeste off-guard. “You are so beautiful,” she whispered.
A tremor ran through Celeste’s tentacles. Her human hand shook as she brushed Daphne’s increasingly disheveled bangs off her face. Her hand slid down that smooth jaw, pressing a thumb to Daphne’s soft, plump lower lip. “Do you trust me?”
It was a ridiculous question. How could this human trust her? But even as she asked the question, she held onto a desperate hope.
Daphne nipped at her thumb. “Yes,” she said without hesitation.
The hunger inside her shifted in intensity to something more earnest and possibly more dangerous. Celeste was going to devour this human, over and over.