Chapter 16
Arbor
“There she is. Can I get a warm welcome for the brand-new Mrs.?”
The crowd whistles and applauds wildly as Hawthorne pulls our mate with him from the edge of trees.
“Normally, when a shifter takes a mate here in Trash Haven, they perform for the whole town and share that mating magic. But we’re going to do it a bit differently tonight.”
There are some definite objections at this, but I’m not imagining the look of relief that crosses others’ faces.
“Bee shifters are a bit shyer than other types of shifters, so we’re only going to be simulating the mating flight of a queen bee, and we will then face our three trials afterward.”
The thing about Trash Haven being made up of so many different species, is that all sorts of traditions have come about here.
I’ve never personally participated in a town public claiming, though I have popped in on a few just to see what they’re all about. Our last one was not too long ago between a hot cocoa shifter and his mate, and that one got pretty damn raunchy.
Everyone present had no shame in getting all sorts of frisky with their partners as the newly mated pair went at it on stage, and I saw things that night that I’m still not healed from.
We all have our own levels of comfort, and we’re sticking with ours.
Bees aren’t as sexual as other species, at least not publicly so.
The people of Trash Haven expect newly mated shifters to have some sort of public ceremony though where we share in the magic of publicly claiming our new mate, and it’s an integral part of what keeps this town so tightly knit.
Once we publicly lay claim to our mates, we are then immediately expected to pass through a gauntlet that members of the town put together.
Carrying our mate, spent from the claiming, we need to prove to the town that we are able to defend our mate from different dangers, all of which is very much symbolic and almost choreographed at this point, and not at all like the intense way they used to do it.
The town’s history is fascinating, but all these little things we continue to do keep the residents here rooted in Trash Haven.
Aster is blinking up at me suspiciously, and I can’t help but wonder if she’d forgotten how shifter matings go down here after being gone so long. Maybe she was hoping we’d forgotten?
I extend a hand to our chosen queen and get her on the stage, and Dev guides her to kneel on the satin pillow we brought purely for this.
“Our Queen,” he proclaims as he places a crown of wildflowers on her head. “You know we already acknowledged you as such, but from here on out, let there be no mistaking your role for us.
“The three of us already vowed to love and cherish you forever, to protect and be faithful. Now we add another promise.
“So long as there be breath in our lungs, we will serve you as our hive queen. From here until our dying day, we exist to serve you, to keep you comfortable, and to ensure you always know how much you are valued.
“We give you this crown as a symbol of your role in our hive.
“Traditionally, if the mating taking place were between all bee shifters, the bee queen would fly around and spread her pheromones while the drones followed behind and tried to mount her midflight.
“We will change this to suit our specific abilities. In lieu of flying, Aster, we invite you to move through the crowd at whatever pace you wish, while we admire you and follow behind.
“When one of us gets a hold of you, we will rub our antennae over you and coat ourselves in your pheromones, and feed you some honey as a symbol of what bees might actually share with their queen before passing you off to another from our hive and falling off to emulate the paralysis that typically occurs after a mating.
“When all three of us have fallen off and completed our duty, we will brush ourselves off and accompany you back to our hive to help you relax.”
The crowd is eating this shit up, leaning forward with big smiles on their faces. Maybe this is an incredibly weird thing to do at a wedding if you’re not used to being around different species, but as far as matings go, this is actually pretty damn tame for this town.
Aster finally realizes that Dev is serious and looks between all three of us a few times to gather some courage before smoothing out her gown and her crown and stepping off the stage.
The string quartet we hired to play tonight starts up a somewhat simplified version of “Flight of the Bumblebee,” which spurs Aster on even more.
She gets into the spirit of the night, not running like she’s being chased by a predator, but performing in an alluring way that a queen bee might typically do to attract her drones. My dick stirs at the thought that she must have done research, because how else is she embodying this trait so well?
With her arms twisting up around her head and her hips swaying, Aster bends forward and backward like she’s a flower blowing in the wind, closing her eyes every few steps to feel the moment on a deeper level.
Hawthorne heads out first, slinking between the guests, partially shifted with fuzzy antlers protruding from his human head and giant bee wings on his back that catch the light from the white lights we’ve got strung around the perimeter of the reception.
He twirls a few times as he approaches Aster, who has decided not to be self-conscious about this at all. She wiggles her ass at him as he reaches for her, spinning her out and in before dipping her.
I watch his antennae trace the sides of her face and neck and slip through some of her hair, making her laugh as it tickles her.
He reaches into his pocket and opens a tiny jar of honey that he tips into her mouth while supporting her neck, just enough to coat her tongue in, before kissing her, smiling against her mouth and falling to his knees.
She looks confused for a moment when he pulls away from her, but then must remember what comes next, because she dances out of reach while he sways and falls over, and the process repeats with Dev.
It’s a profound moment to be a part of, my hive and my mate all claiming each other in the way that thousands of bees have done so, to some extent, throughout history.
After all the years of separation, all the nights that Dev, Hawthorne, and I only had each other to console ourselves, we now are a fully-fledged and acknowledged colony.
My heart is fit to bursting as Dev completes his role, swiping a stray drop of honey off the corner of Aster’s mouth as he falls to his knees, reaching out for her as she twirls backward.
I give her a moment to get back into the music, which the quartet is playing on repeat until we’re done.
Each time the musicians start the piece again, they pick the tempo up a few clicks, so by the time I step off the dais, the music is almost frantic, and the need to chase down my queen and corner her is thrumming through my blood.
I call my own antennae and wings forward, trying to quickly acclimate to the strange weight of them in this form, and cut straight through the middle of the guests to reach Aster.
I step gingerly over the prone bodies of both Hawthorne and Dev before getting to her, but the little vixen laughs and begins to sprint.
The crowd begins to cheer her on as she runs through them, avoiding where Dev and Hawthorne lie so that they cannot stop her.
I’m not predatory whatsoever, but the promise of rubbing my antennae all over her and kissing her after feeding her honey is spurring my feet faster and faster, until Aster can no longer keep up and I nearly tackle her to the ground in my haste to reach her.
I immediately begin rubbing my face up and down the column of her neck while my antennae do their thing, my wings flitting happily behind me as Aster’s naturally floral scent floods my system.
I have a difficult time getting my hands to cooperate as I pull a small jar of honey from my pocket, and she has to help me unscrew the lid because I’m so worked up.
I have half a mind to say fuck it and whip my dick out right here and slide her dress up to her hips and rut her into the ground so I can give her my semen instead of honey like my bee wants to do, but I can do that later when we’re in the privacy of our own home.
With threats potentially still out here, I can’t afford to be completely paralyzed without shelter, leaving the rest of my hive vulnerable.
Feeling bold and breathing heavily, Aster makes me groan out loud when she plunges her tongue into the jar to slurp up the small bit of honey I packed before I can give it to her myself.
I hold myself above her for a moment, willing time to suspend so I can memorize everything about this woman beneath me, exactly the way she appears right now.
Her skin is flushed from running and dancing away from us, her cheeks pulled into an enormous smile from the affection the three of us have been bestowing on her, and her eyes a little hazy with need.
She’s got this gorgeous black eyeliner winging the corners of her eyes and a dab of shimmer at the corners of her eyes, her deep pink lipstick mostly gone after the entire events of the night.
She brings her slim fingers up to my face and kisses me one final time, putting a little extra oomf into it as she does.
She pushes on my chest to encourage me to fall over, rolling with me so she can pin me down before rising and passing back over Dev and Hawthorne and making her way back to the dais.
I count to a hundred before rolling over so I can join with my hive again and try to cover up the erection she basically forced me to have, but when I try, my body begins locking up as if I’m paralyzed for real, and judging by the murmurs of the crowd, the same thing seems to be happening to Dev and Hawthorne.
Somebody screams, then the crowd gets up and flees en masse, nearly trampling me where I find myself trapped.
My breaths come faster and faster as I try my best not to hyperventilate, but I can’t see my mate, can’t see my hive mates, and everyone that was near me has fled in panic.
There’s the sound of fighting nearby, bodies hitting each other and calls of pain, but it’s just muted enough that I have no idea who’s participating or who’s winning.