Chapter 2
Chapter
Two
VAELITH
My mate signed the contract.
She would be mine at any moment.
I paced the length of the containment chamber, double-checking that everything was still set up and in place.
I wanted it to be perfect for her. For that to happen, it needed to perfectly fit in with my instinct to hunt her down and carry her off.
The chamber was suitable, with flat, tilled ground that was soft, so that when she ran, she wouldn't have any obstacles to fall over or that could harm her.
All the machinery had been removed from the room.
I couldn't wait to see her.
I knew I would be as gentle as I could, but there was only one thing that would bring me out of my rut, and if I was the slightest bit impatient in my intoxicated state, the size difference between my girth and her channel had the potential to be painful for both of us.
It was another reason I agreed to work with the Norratar regulations rather than slip through their considerable defenses.
They had a solution. I had to wait a period from when she signed the contract until she came to me, as she had to go through a stretching and strengthening routine to ensure her body could handle our mating with minimal damage.
Her species was adaptable, and mine had the technology to heal our mates after the initial rut, but I agreed with the Norratar regulations.
I was pleased that they provided preemptive care to prevent serious injury.
I didn't know anything about her, other than she was human, which wasn't a surprise.
My kind had a long history of finding mates on Earth, so when I made the journey to see if mine was there and found Norratar had taken it over, it was a surprise.
Not an entirely unpleasant one. Yes, the Norratar were an aggressive and protective race, and getting past their defenses to find my mate planetside would have been difficult, but I didn't have to infiltrate.
They had a system, one that had served me well and was much better than me having to roam around on the planet, avoiding detection until I found my mate.
It also prevented the need for snatching her and running off with her without her informed consent, as now she could agree to everything in advance.
The fact that my mate would be able to agree to my mating haze, rather than have it thrust upon her as a surprise when I found her, was significantly more palatable to me.
With this system in place, it was likely many more of my kind would come to see if their mates resided on Earth.
The containment chamber was vast, large enough for me to fly across without having to land for at least one hundred wing beats.
It was normally used as a farm to grow food to supplement the Earth's supplies while they adjusted to the Norratar-imposed restrictions on farming, designed to remove the toxins and unsustainability of their previous practices.
I had already paid a deposit for the repairs and sterilization that might be required, as well as the construction of a temporary den on one side of the facility.
I wouldn't be allowed to take her into my real den on my spaceship until after the initial mating had occurred without her changing her mind.
It was an annoyance, even more so since it was clear they would be collecting data on my species, but it was a necessary.
The Norratar had Earth well protected, so there wasn't any other option for me.
The temporary den was on the far end of the containment chamber, across the rippling fields.
I had been living in the temporary den to ensure it was saturated with my scent, so that when I went feral, I would use it instead of trying to get to my spaceship.
The Norratar insisted that my mate be available for an in-person after-care check-in.
It was insulting for them to insinuate that I wouldn't care for my mate properly, but the ease of their new system made up for it.
I paced back and forth, my need for her growing. I had looked for her, longed for her, for centuries, and finally, I would get to gaze upon the sweet morsel of a human that my heart would forever soar on fiery wings for.
My mate had signed the contract, and so very soon she would step through the doors to meet me.
I took a series of deep breaths, intending to saturate myself in oxygen as much as possible to enhance my breath control.
I wished to spend as much time with her as I could before I lost it to the frenzy.
I couldn't wait to find out everything about her.
She was the finest treasure, and now I would have the utter joy of being able to explore both her mind and her delicate body.
I rubbed my filed-down claws against the inside of my palm, double-checking their smoothness.
I had done a full rounding in both of my forms so that I wouldn't accidentally scratch her in my haste to tear her clothes from her body.
I took another series of deep, fast breaths.
I heard a soft click, the only warning before the hatch slid open, and my mate stepped into the chamber, and I sucked in my last breath and held it.
She was utter perfection.
My heart swelled as I looked at her, a soft ache of admiration pressing against my ribs.
Her body was a living poem, all curves and bold invitation.
The fabric of her shirt clung tight against her breasts and stomach, the faint rise of her belly visible where the hem refused to cover it, riding up to reveal its doughy delicacy.
The sight stirred something primal in me.
The curve of her hips filled the space beside her, the swell of them outlined beneath the thin, flowing skirt that brushed the tops of her thighs when she moved.
She didn't walk so much as sway, each motion a subtle rhythm of softness over strength.
Her thighs pressed together when she shifted, and the slightest tremor followed.
The light caught along her skin, drawing attention to the smooth line of her arms, the gentle dip at her waist. She was tall for a human, with long, thick legs, built with a kind of strength that came from living rather than training.
My gaze lingered shamelessly, drinking her in.
The faint sheen of warmth across her chest, the quick rise and fall of her breath as her own gaze traveled across me, the way her hair framed her face in loose, unbothered strands.
She was lush. Fertile. A vision carved for worship as well as touch.
Her softness wasn't weakness; it was abundance.
Every curve, every ripple of her body spoke of life and warmth and decadence, and I couldn't look away. I didn't want to look away.
She took a step forward, looking around the space, her entire body jiggling with such unabashed seductiveness.
I wondered how on all of Earth she hadn't been snatched up by some other male.
I was so incredibly lucky. Lucky that she was willing to leave her home, her planet, her family, just to come be with some male she had never met.
Humans had their own concept of mates; they called them soulmates, but they didn't have as reliable a way of spotting them as other species did.
The Norratar had their symbiotes that helped with the process.
For my species, long-lived and slow breeding, we sought our mates by scent, recognizing them in other species with frequency, our alien parent contributing to the appearance of our smaller forms. Finding a mate in the form of a fertile human was a blessing that was not uncommon.
She finally spotted me, her eyes widening as they fell on me, her thin lips dropping to form a cute little o as she took in the sight of my humanoid form. I tensed my muscles, presenting this smaller form of mine to her for her pursuit.
"Wow," she gasped, then she blushed and brushed a strand of hair behind her ear as she offered me an embarrassed smile. "Sorry, I meant hi. I'm Brielle. You are Vaelith? You're a lot... taller than your photo."
"I am," I said, controlling my air only to let the smallest amount out.
My predatory desires smouldered as she gazed at me with flustered eyes, her body already showing signs of visible arousal with how she pressed her thighs together, shifting slightly, how her nips peaked so hard that I could see them poking through her shirt despite her undergarments' attempts to control them.
I wanted to stretch this moment out, to feast on her with my humanoid eyes for as long as I possibly could.
"The contract said... You need me to run?" she asked as she glanced at the huge dirt expanse of the massive greenhouse, then down at her feet, where she wore bright red heels.
"Not immediately," I said, continuing to conserve my air as I spoke. I knew it made me sound stilted, but I wanted to have this chance to talk to her. "Only once I scent you. I am holding my breath so we can speak. Do you have any questions?"
She bit her thick lower lip, and heat flooded me, the prickling warning of the change.
By the stars, she was affecting me already, and I hadn't yet caught the scent of her essence from the air.
I hadn't ever heard of spotting one's mate from sight, though my kind had a heightened sense of smell, so it was unusual to see a mate before scenting her.
"What happens if I don't run?" she asked, the words coming out in a rush.
The question startled me. The sight of my kind transforming was universally considered terrifying to smaller species.
"I... don't know," I said. "Humans always run from my kind."
"Oh," she said. "Well, that was my only question. What else do you want to talk about?"
"What brings you comfort and joy?" I asked.
"Oh my cat," she said without hesitation, but she didn't stop there as she held up a hand and began counting off on her fingers.
"Cute pillows, chocolate, books, the super spicy ones as well as the steamy and the ones that are really the author just standing there patting themselves on the back with how clever they are, I love them all. "
I tapped the com-unit embedded in my wrist to bring up a screen and quickly began stroking my fingers along the holographic matrix that projected in the air, sending instructions and the list to my ship.
She paused as the screen came up, but her hesitation vanished into a broad smile as she continued to list things off.
"Spaghetti, those Japanese cakes, music, tulsi rose tea, strawberries, oversized sweaters, writing handwritten letters to my friends with super pretty gel pens, fostering stray animals, though I guess I'm done with that one if I'm going to live in space from now on, is this too many things?
I'm sorry, I didn't mean to go on like that.
I'm just a little nervous," she said, her skin flushing a little darker.
I finished sending the instructions. It wasn't exactly what I meant by the question, so I needed to be more specific with my words.
"Do you have any needs not listed in the contract?" I asked. "The additions you made to the contract were minimal."
The need to breathe was creeping up on me. My breath control was reduced in my humanoid form, and there was only so long I could stand it.
"Oh!" she looked down at the ground. "I got excited. I didn't think to add other things."
The words were lightning, illuminating this moment in their brilliance. She was excited.
I was desperate to scent her.
"You are my mate, my treasure," I purred. "I will provide for your every need, your every desire, you only need to voice them. The contract isn't to limit you, it is to ensure that our first mating isn't frightening."
She gazed up at me through her lashes, her tongue running along her lower lip before she bit it gently in her teeth. Stars, what it would feel like to have that soft mouth latch around me.
"I'm not frightened," she murmured. "I..."
She hesitated, her eyes glancing around the space as if she were embarrassed by what she was going to say next.
"Say it," I commanded.
She flushed again, the color creeping down her neck and into her blouse. Her eyes caught mine again, and the shock of that look in her eyes was so heated and determined.
"When I was little, I used to look up at the clouds and imagine someone like you was flying above me," she said, her lips parted and glistening as she stared at me, as if I were the answer to all her dreams. "I would wish you would fly down and pick me up so that I could leave the world behind and travel through the sky with you.
I'm not frightened because I've spent my whole life dreaming about running away with you. "
Her words struck a soft note in my heart, like a chime that pierced through the heat of my desire, spearing it with an arrow of what could be possible.
I knew I would cherish her because she was my mate, but her words turned that abstract concept into a present-moment reality.
She longed for me to come to her just as I longed to find her.
"Let's make our dreams come true," I growled, and took a deep breath in.