Chapter 12 #3
"It will never be safe," I said. "Not completely. But we can live our lives in safer areas of space. I won't take on missions like this, not with a family on board."
"That is good to hear," she said. Then she nodded, as if she had made a decision. "Does your medical unit have any options for birth control for my species?"
I quickly looked through the files.
"Yes," I said, surprised. "But only for males of your species."
"What about your species?" she asked.
"With the exception of shell-locked individuals seeking professional help, my species doesn't prevent procreation," I said. "Taking care of offspring is considered an easy and fun thing to do. Much simpler than keeping an aviary or hosting crew."
She let out a sigh and rubbed the bridge of her nose for a moment.
"Cock blocked by alien breeding obsessions," she muttered. Then she dropped her hand away from her face. "Wait, you mentioned that you are shell locked, and that shell locked individuals will pay for mating to fix that condition. Does that mean if we mated, you wouldn't be shell locked anymore?"
"Yes," I said, keeping my answer simple even as a nervous shudder fluttered in me.
I wanted to tell her everything, but it couldn't be just set out there, at least not by me.
If she asked the right questions and came to the answer herself, then it wouldn't be me accidentally pressuring her.
It would be her making the decision on her own without any input from me.
"What does it mean if you aren't shell locked?" she asked. "What is shell locked?"
"It is this," I said, using a filament to point at my restrained core.
"When my kind focuses on the rapid growth of our neurofilaments, we get locked into place.
Mating can provide enough stimulus to the root of the connections to free our core.
If I weren't shell-locked, I would be able to move my core around the entire ship, making it nearly impossible for any hunter to capture me, given how large I am.
I can reform and regrow my neuro filaments faster than they can cut through them without risking killing me, and without my core being trapped in one place, their efforts will always be in vain. "
"Wait," she said, her tone turning sharp.
"Are you telling me that if we..." she waved a hand at my still hard mating appendage, making the missing word clear.
"Then the part of you that has eyes to see the contamination can move around and help me deal with it?
That our safety will be dramatically increased because you won't be as vulnerable anymore? "
The end of her sentence rose up fast as a dagger, her brow furrowing as she glared at me.
"Yes," I said, not sure why she was demonstrating signs of being upset. I had done the right thing.
"Why wouldn't you tell me that?" she demanded, putting both her hands on her hips. They landed on top of the neurofilament I had wrapped there, and for a moment, I thought she was going to push it off of her, rejecting my touch, but she didn't.
"I didn't want you to choose to mate with me because it would improve our situation," I said.
"So you took that choice away from me by keeping information that was important for me to know away from me, again," she said.
"I didn't keep it away from you," I said. "I just told you."
"Lyrien," she sighed. "I don't want to have to ask to be told things that are important.
What if I don't know enough to ask like this?
Keeping information from me is never a good idea.
I get that you wanted me to choose you for the right reason, but I'm the one who gets to decide why I choose anything in my life, and I can choose it for whatever reason I want.
Just because my cake comes with a side of ice cream doesn't mean I don't want to eat the cake. "
"I didn't think of things that way," I said, following her reasoning and understanding her point of view. "I didn't realize I was so worried about protecting your choice that I limited it."
"The way you thought about it was sweet," she said. "But in the future, will you default to telling me more rather than trying to protect me because of your ideals?"
"Yes," I said. "I will."
"Good," she said. Then she pursed her lips as her eyes dropped down to my erect member. She was silent for a long moment, just staring at my dick with an intense look.
"Maria?" I asked, feeling exposed and a little bit concerned about that look.
"There is no guarantee you'd knock me up, right away, right?" she said.
"My seed is strong and healthy," I said, feeling the need to defend myself. "I will be able to breed you any time you wish."
"But the research facility tried and failed to work with my eggs," she said as she tilted her head to the side, her eyes flicking up to my face. "So it isn't guaranteed."
"I assure you my kind is highly capable of cross-breeding with other species, just as yours is," I said. "I will make an excellent mate."
She frowned at me.
"I'm saying it is unlikely," she said, emphasizing her words.
"I don't think that statement is based on logical thought," I said.
"Lyrien!" she groaned as she stepped forward, back towards my center. I let go of her rather than extend my filaments further into the room and move them around more than I had. This area hadn't been cleared yet.
Her hand reached out and covered my mouth. I could still speak through my vocal projectors, but I didn't. She wanted me silenced, so silent I would be.
She leaned her face close into mine.
"Say yes if you consent to me fucking you," she said, then she lifted her hand.
"Yes," I said.