Chapter 13
Amina
She was already surprised that Myrum even wanted to go shopping. She’d expected after a short while he’d get bored and wander off. Everything on the pleasure ship was open to visit. With only the Ossisos on Tik to enjoy it, there were no lines anywhere.
There were so many things he could enjoy, except he stayed with her.
Not only was he attentive to all the interesting things she found, but now he wanted to pay for all of it! Was this some kind of goodwill gesture to the crew to help make up for going a little crazy?
If that was the case, should she assure him all was forgiven? The only one who still had any concern was Helmen, and after today she probably wouldn’t even insist he put the collar back on.
The need to reassure him had her letting go of his neck, but she didn’t drop to the floor. Leaning away from his face, she smiled at him.
“No one is scared of you,” she said.
“I would hope not,” he agreed.
She gave a little laugh. “Put me down.”
He hesitated, and for a moment she didn’t know if he was going to do it. Then he carefully lowered her to the ground. She pointed to the cargo bot. “You don’t need to buy all this stuff for the crew. The meal was enough.”
“I’m not buying these items for them,” he countered. “I’m buying them because you enjoy it. The fact that they're getting items is a secondary benefit.”
His words made her feel both adored and a little wary. She also didn’t know how to respond. Her discomfort meant she decided to use distraction instead of continuing the conversation.
“Oh look!” she said, moving further down the aisle. She plucked a Matok child's robe off a hanging display. It was a lovely shade of light blue and would probably fit her perfectly. She had one at home but forgot to pack it.
“These are great for lounging around after a long day,” she said. Not that any of the crew had much lounging time recently.
“Do you like the color?” Myrum asked. The moment she nodded her head, he pulled it out of her grip and set it in the cargo bot basket.
The pile only grew because every time she touched or even commented on something, he put it in the basket. She tried to sneak some things back on the shelves, but Myrum was hard to distract.
She stopped and faced him, putting her hands on her hips. “Are you rich?”
“That’s a difficult question to answer,” he responded.
That confused her. “How is it difficult?"
“Because within my empire I’m not rich, but when I look at the prices here I’m very wealthy.”
She’d never thought about wealth being place specific, but the moment he said it she realized it was a ridiculous question.
“Sorry, I shouldn’t have asked. I only wanted to make sure you weren’t spending everything you have on these gifts.”
“Only a very small portion,” he assured her with an amused rumble. “I couldn’t buy this pleasure ship, but I’m sure I could buy most everything in this store.”
“Don’t do that,” she said, feeling unbelievably lighthearted. Grabbing his hand, she tugged him along. “Let’s keep exploring. I promise we’ll only buy about a quarter of the place.”
To her disappointment, there wasn’t a tailor machine. There’d be no adorable outfits for Ruby.
“She’d like this,” Myrum said, picking up something she didn’t recognize. It looked like a shallow bowl turned upside down with a long flat bottom. When he turned it she could see a hole in the front. “It remains warm no matter what the surrounding temperature. Ruby would like it.”
“Not as good as tiny sweaters, but better than her not getting anything,” Amina said as Myrum carefully set it down with everything else. She wished it was a prettier color, but maybe she could decorate it! The little lizard should have shiny, colorful things, not drab everything.
They chatted about Ruby until they turned a corner and her attention was caught by an item she wanted. She grabbed it without thinking, only to have Myrum crowd close to her.
“What’s that?”
She debated telling him the truth. She wanted to be intimate with him, but partners didn’t always like to know she enjoyed using toys on herself.
Although these toys were mostly designed for Matok, they worked really well for humans.
A useful quirk of their two species that had nothing else in common!
“It’s… uh,” She felt her face getting hot. She wasn’t shy about her sexuality, so why was she having a hard time now?
He took it from her and examined it closely. Then he looked at the other items on the shelf. After a moment, he sounded a rumble she couldn’t identify.
“It’s for sexual gratification!”
She nodded and waited for his reaction. She had a partner find her stash of sex toys once and get really upset that he hadn’t been enough for her. That had led to an unpleasant scene. She’d hate for what was developing between her and Myrum to be over before it even started.
“Do you want this?” he asked.
Better to know now than later. “Yes.”
He didn’t even hesitate to put it in the basket before turning back to the shelf.
“There are many more items here of different shapes and sizes. Do you want any of them?” Then he picked up the other one she wanted and presented it to her.
“This one vibrates! That seems like it might cause pleasant sensations for a human.”
“I think I might love you, Myrum.”
She didn’t realize those words were going to come out of her until they hit her ears. With a little gasp, she slapped both hands over her mouth.
Myrum sounded a rumble of amusement. “Don’t worry, I know humans can mean the word love in many different ways.”
She let out a little sigh of relief. “You really don’t mind that I like to, um, use these?”
“Of course not,” he said, putting the vibrating toy in the basket and picking up another. “It’s good for humans to be able to express their sexuality. It must be hard to find partners when you’re always surrounded by family, so these toys must be helpful.”
“That’s true,” she agreed. The thought of sleeping with anyone on the crew grossed her out. She might not be genetically related to them, but she’d grown up with these Ugarians.
“Besides, even if they weren’t family, it wouldn’t work. You aren’t sexually compatible with Ugarians,” he said.
“That’s not true, humans and Ugarians are compatible," she argued.
He jerked a little and almost dropped a box set of penetrative toys in various sizes. He turned to face her.
“You are?”
“We are, and human males don’t have to go into rut to want to have sex,” she explained. “It’s one of the reasons Ugarians like human males to join in their marriages. The humans can fill the needs of the women when there aren’t any males in rut.”
“Rut?”
That’s when she realized he didn’t know anything about Ugarians. “So you guys are like humans, right?”
He sounded a confused rumble. “In what way?”
“Talins can have sex at any time, right?”
“I suppose, but there are decency laws that prohibit sexual acts in public,” he responded.
She laughed. “I don’t mean it like that. You don’t have to wait for your hormones to be at certain levels during the year.”
“Is that what you call rut?”
She nodded. “That’s what Ugarian’s call it, but there are a lot of species out there that only have sex when they are in a certain part of their cycle.
Ugarian females can be ready at any time, but the males go into rut about once a year.
In most Ugarian marriages, all the females will enjoy the male in rut. The guys love it.”
As she’d hoped, Myrum wasn’t disgusted. He seemed intrigued. “All at the same time?”
“Depends on the marriage," she answered. “Every Ugarian marriage group is a little different. They talk about it and decide what expectations are before anything happens. I know my dad is really popular with two of the wives, so he usually sleeps with them every night. But he’ll also sleep with the other wives if they ask. The way everyone discusses and agrees together is really sweet.”
“Have you slept with an Ugarian before?”
“Of course,” she answered. “But not within the context of a marriage. They have these organizations called Conveniences that are set up for Ugarians who aren’t married.
You hang out there if you're single. You get to know people and make friends. When someone goes into rut you can decide to join them without any further obligations. I’ve joined a few times.
It’s safe because I go in with other Ugarian females, and they make sure the male doesn’t get too rough. ”
Myrum let out a startled rattle. “What do you mean ‘too rough?’”
She gave him a toothy grin. “Well, I like a little biting and being tossed around, but I don’t want anything broken, so the other girls make sure I’m safe.”
He suddenly dropped to his knees in front of her, purring loudly.
“Please let me bite you!”
It seemed they had a kink in common!
Myrum
He wanted to touch her so badly his entire body shook. He’d already adored Amina, but now he found out she enjoyed rough sex. How was this human so perfect?
It was probably inappropriate to beg, but his jaw ached to open up and press his sharp teeth into her flesh. He’d be careful, he wouldn’t break skin, but god he wanted her in his mouth in almost every way possible.
She stepped close and cupped his cheeks. “I’ve never had sex with a Talin before. Is there anything I should know about?”
“My sex organs are similar in shape to a human’s, although a little bigger,” he said. He wanted to grab her around the waist and rub his scent glands all over her. He dug his claws into his palms. The pain helped to keep him centered. “I don't have any penile spikes or anything like that.”
She moved her face close to his. “Could you control yourself?”
How did he answer that? He wanted to say yes, but there was always a risk when two different species were intimate.
“I would do my very best to only do things you like,” he answered. “To be sure, you should have Desur put the collar back on me. It would be easy to knock me out if there were any issues.”
“I don’t want to have to do that again,” she muttered. Her words caused a vague memory of her in his arms and then a sharp pain in his neck. He dismissed it. Even if she was the one who drugged him, he was thankful she kept him from hurting anyone.
It made him confident to know she was willing to do the hard task if necessary.
“I want you. I think I wanted you the moment we first met on Polkor,” she said.
“I feel the same,” he murmured, his rumble dropping to the lower, slower sexual one. His shaft was filling with blood, painfully contained within his mating pouch.
Her eyes drifted closed as she pressed her mouth to his.
His eyes fell closed also, allowing his senses to focus on the feel of her lips on his. As when she’d kissed him in his cabin, her lips were the softest thing he’d ever experienced. Her taste was exquisite.
She rubbed her fingers over his cheeks, making his scent glands weep bonding oil. His oil soaked into the skin of her palms, and their combined scent filled the air.
That new scent unlocked something deep within him.
Nothing was going to be the same ever again.
“Excuse me.”
Gis’s familiar voice made them separate and look over to see him standing a polite distance away.
“Gis?” Amina said, her voice husky. Then she let out a little aggravated sound. “Why do people have to keep interrupting us?”
“I don’t know anything about other instances,” Gis said, keeping his eyes focused on the floor. “But you are in a public space right now. I was contacted by the pleasure ship’s steward to ask if the two of you would like one of their specialty rooms.”
“What’s a specialty room?” Myrum asked.
“Ships like these don’t have sex workers, but they offer themed rooms if you want to bring a sex worker on board to enjoy yourself,” Gis explained. “Or if a couple wants to have some fun in a novel or different place.”
He was so tempted to say yes, but it struck him as demeaning. Amina deserved more than a room rented only for sexual activity. She deserved something beautiful and romantic, like all the little things Tarquin did for Lena.
Amina’s hands were still on his cheeks. He took them in his, kissed them, then stood up and let go.
“I need to speak to Gis alone for a moment,” he said. “Please pick out all the toys you would like. I’ll make sure you get to enjoy them all.”
Her mouth dropped open a little, then she burst out laughing. “Challenge accepted,” she said and started going through the collection on the shelves.
A few strides brought him to Gis. He spoke quietly to keep Amina from hearing him. As he gave Gis instructions, the Ossiso took notes on the information square he always had in his hands.
“I understand,” Gis said after Myrum was done. “I’ll make sure everything is as you asked. I won’t disappoint either of you.”
“Excellent,” Myrum said. “Please include your time in the bill. I want all your effort to be rewarded.”
“I’m not allowed to do that,” Gis said, and risked a quick look up at Myrum. “But I have a request for your captain. When I ask her, please back me up.”
“If it won’t put anyone in danger, then I’ll do that,” Myrum agreed. “But my word doesn’t carry that much weight with Helmen.”
“You’re the entire reason they are here,” Gis argued. “She’ll listen to you. I can tell.”
With that, he turned on his heels and strode away. Myrum returned to Amina.
“What was that about?” she asked, nodding to where he and Gis had been standing and talking.
“You’ll find out later,” Myrum said.
“Oh, a surprise!” Amina said. “I love surprises."
“Good,” Myrum said. “Let’s continue shopping, but no more kissing.”
“Yeah,” she agreed with a little sigh. “Next time we kiss I want to be in a room with a locked door and all the furniture moved in front of it so we can’t be interrupted."
“Excellent idea,” Myrum said with an amused rumble. “I’ll make sure that happens.”