Chapter 10 #3
“Naturally.” He looked her over carefully, interested in her reaction.
“I had to use Atem’s access to the Coalition database and their archives aren’t really set up for the kind of search I needed to run.
The leaders are letting me do this so long as I turn the program over to their archivists once I finish so they can use it themselves in the future. ”
“Romi, that’s…” She blew out a breath through her lips, throwing out her hands, looking at him incredulously. “That’s incredible! Do you realize that?”
He made a careless motion. “I’ve made similar programs before.”
“Yeah, but you did this for me. For us, I mean,” she corrected herself quickly, her face flaring his favorite pink again.
“No, I did it for you,” he assured her, watching with pleasure as the pink spread down from her cheeks to her neck.
She quickly brushed her hair behind her ear. “You don’t mean that.”
“I assure you, I do. The other humans are not my sisters. I care naught for them.”
“Romi…” she mumbled, playing with her hair. He envied her hands and longed to touch the soft strands himself.
So, he did. He closed the distance between them and reached for her with both hands, threading his fingers through her hair, over her scalp. Pushing her head back so she was forced to look at him and not let shyness avert her eyes.
“So pink. So pretty,” he whispered, entranced by the color changes.
She bit her lip, her teeth making it blanch. When he used his thumb to drag it free, it was even redder than before.
“Romi-”
He didn’t let her question him again. He brought her up to his kiss. Eager to taste her. Eager for her warmth. For the softness of her lips. For a male that cared nothing for soft things before, he was completely enchanted by this soft, little human now.
She moaned into his kiss as he parted her lips with his tongue to explore the wet cavern. Wondering how it compared to her cunt. Which would taste better? Which would be hotter? He couldn’t wait to find out.
And he would find out.
When Romival had the medical scanner delivered, he immediately tested it on himself to make sure he had set it up correctly. He was already intimately familiar with his own scans, so he would know if the machine was malfunctioning using himself as a control.
In so doing, he finally found the source of his obsession. It wasn’t from out-of-control sexual hormones as he expected.
He had laid eyes on his mate and thus had begun the changes in his brain that would tie him to her for the rest of his life.
An adjustment in the way his synapses fired, an increase in sex hormones that wasn’t outside the bonds of normal but were still elevated from baseline, a change in his brain chemistry. All of them temporary. For now.
But every time he saw Holly, the changes occurred again.
And it was like an addiction, his brain craved more of her and so he couldn’t help but go back to stare again.
If he went through with the mating ceremony, the partially traditional, partially biological driven set of steps involved in claiming Holly, the changes would be permanent.
The moment he saw that on the readout, he had been tempted to go to Atem then and there. He was her closest, strongest relative and, therefore, he would be her guardian. Challenging him for the right to take her was the first step.
But then Romival remembered how nervous Holly was.
How skittish. He had to remind himself that she wasn’t domini and that she wouldn’t understand what was happening if he fought Atem for her then challenged her to a fight to prove his dominance over her.
The instinctive steps that any domini female would respond to – either in denial or approval – weren’t instinctive to her.
So, he had to be slow about this. Careful.
He had to woo her. Romance her. Accustom her to his touch until she was no longer afraid.
Convince her of his desire until she wouldn’t think to be surprised when he showed it to her as he did now.
Prove his affections in a more prolonged, obvious way that would test the limits of his instincts.
But it would be worth it to have her. His little warrior.
For now, he contented himself with this taste of her. A small glimpse of what he could have. He would study her cunt later, and her curious pleasure organ so he could learn the best way to stimulate it to please her.
His Holly deserved nothing less than his absolute attention.
Kissing her was not like kissing a domini female.
She had no fangs to be careful of, but he did have to be careful with his own fangs.
The bottom of her tongue was surprisingly sensitive, and the organ was more dexterous than his own.
He had to learn how to kiss her properly, but, luckily, Romival was a quick study, and he took to the task with the same zeal and dedication he did any subject. More. He had to get this just right.
He kissed her, slow and methodical, until she was shaking from the effort of keeping herself up on her toes and not letting her knees buckle. Until she was panting and whimpering into his mouth. Until her hands tightened on his wrists, trying to hold on against his onslaught.
Only when he was sure she was moments away from breaking did he pull back. His eyes opening so he could observe his handiwork.
As he hoped, she was flushed fully pink again.
More than that, her lips, where her skin was at its thinnest, were plump and bright red from his attentions.
He couldn’t help himself, he released her head with one hand so he could run his fingers over those abused lips.
She trembled, her tongue darting out to taste his skin.
He growled in approval, making her tremble with desire.
His incubator beeped, reminding him that he still needed to mist those damn eggs. He sighed, glaring at the offending machine. If raising those eggs wasn’t important for agriculture and stopping the mittes beetles that ate the mushrooms, he would be severely tempted to let them dehydrate.
Except, if he did that, he would have to start all over again and those curanik eggs had been carefully crafted from the bare bones genetic code and up.
There was three years’ worth of work in those eggs and their care was of utmost importance.
Which was why they weren’t automatically misted with the special chemical concoction he made.
He needed to make sure he did it himself so that every egg got exactly the right amount of moisture.
And there was still the report and the data and the assignments…
Sighing, Romival released Holly and stepped back, giving her a regretful look as she quickly gathered herself.
“Unfortunately, vi Vakara, I have to get back to work. You’re free to use my archive portal, if you like though. I won’t mind.”
She shook her head quickly. “No. No, that’s all right. I wasn’t really looking up anything in particular. I was just… looking.”
He nodded, understanding the urge to learn even if you didn’t yet have a specific topic. “The invitation is an open one, if you change your mind.”
She nodded, fumbling for the opening of her pouch to get her combot.
He watched silently as she messaged her driver, telling him that she was in Romival’s office now, but she was ready to return home.
He almost immediately responded that he was on his way, and he would pick her up in the hover off the balcony.
She started to reach out to grab the combot again, but he stopped her.
“You should keep that out,” he said, gesturing to the device. “It’s easier to get to if you don’t keep trying to put it up.”
“But I don’t want to lose it. Or drain the battery life.”
He chuckled. “You’re not going to drain the battery. It’s designed to run for an entire greater moon before it needs to be recharged. With heavy use. And you won’t lose it either. They’re keyed to follow their owners.”
“I guess,” she mumbled, frowning at the little device. Worried about it.
“Keep it out,” Romival ordered. “The rain won’t hurt it and the wind would have to be much stronger to knock it off course. Trust me.”
She nodded again before carefully resealing her pouch. Letting the little combot continue to flick around her head. She eyed it uneasily though, still worried about losing the device. An idea that seemed silly to him.
“It will be fine,” he promised, taking her chin and lowering her eyes. Focusing her back on him. “I designed it myself. It won’t get lost and if it does then the failing was mine.”
“But you made it for me. I’d feel terrible if I lost it.”
“That just means I get to make you a new one.” He grinned. “I’ve already had ideas for how to improve it. You would just give me a chance to implement them.”
She laughed. “You’re ridiculous.”
“I’m serious.” He lowered his head to give her another kiss. A short one this time. “But I really do have to return to work, I’m afraid.”
“I understand. I’m sorry I bothered you.”
“Believe me, you did not,” he smirked. “Message me whenever you’d like to use my archive portal. My door is always open. Besides, mine has access to secured information that the student panels don’t. You’d learn a lot more.”
She laughed. “I don’t think you’re supposed to offer secrets like that willy-nilly.”
“Willy-nilly,” he repeated slowly. “An odd word. What’s it mean?”
“You know, just…” She shook her body and limbs in an odd, boneless way. “Willy-nilly. Just doing it to do it.”
“That actually did not help,” he laughed at her silly representation of the word.
She laughed along with him, the smile radiant upon her face. “So, I’ll see you tomorrow?”
“Definitely. I have many more questions to ask now. Though, do you mind if I come earlier?”
“No. My schedule is pretty clear. Did something come up?”
“No. I just wanted to spend more time with you.”
He was rewarded for his honesty by her face lighting up. She giggled, the faintest dusting of pink across her cheeks.
“All right. I’ll be around my room all day tomorrow, so just come whenever you like.”
“I’ll be sure to have my questions ready.”
She nodded, looking past him through the window. “That’s my ride. I guess I better go. Don’t want to keep the poor guy waiting.”
“But he’s paid to wait on you.”
“It’s still bad manners,” she laughed, stepping around him. “Night, Romi. See you tomorrow.”
“One more thing.” He reached out, catching her wrist, stopping her before she could make it more than a couple steps.
Immediately, eagerly, she turned back.
“Yes?”
“Would you like me to teach you self-defense?”
“Huh?” She looked surprised. Whatever she had been expecting, hoping, he would say, it wasn’t that.
“Let me teach you self-defense,” he repeated, his hand trailing up to gently cover the bruise he knew rested just beyond her sleeve. “So you can protect yourself.”
She looked hesitant. “I don’t know, Romi. Have you seen me? I’m not exactly going to win any tournaments around here.”
Romival swept aside her words with a wave of his hand. “The greatest victory in any battle is to walk away from it with your life.”
She blinked. “Is that from the Omoni Otorsi?”
“In fact, it is. And it’s an important lesson.
Dying for glory is not a victory. Living to fight another battle, even in defeat, is victory.
Self-defense isn’t about learning how to fight or even how to protect yourself.
It’s learning how to get away. How to escape.
So, you can win the ultimate victory and come away with your life. ”
Holly stared at him, surprised, taking in his words. After a moment, her eyes lowered.
“Will it really even matter? What can I do against you guys?”
“Adassani took down two ratchi on her own and they were easily three times her size. There’s no reason you can’t learn to get away.”
And if he could teach her how to escape, he could begin teaching her confidence.
And if she learned confidence, then she would be able to stand up to bullies and tell them to leave her alone, to call out their dishonorable actions for what they were.
And then maybe his little vakara wouldn’t be so scared anymore.
She took a deep breath, held it, then let it go before nodding. “All right. I mean, it can’t hurt to learn, right?”
“An excellent motto,” he grinned. “We’ll begin tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?!”
“Yes. Then questions,” he confirmed, releasing her arm. “I’ll see you then, vi Vakara.”
She opened her mouth like she was about to say something, seemed to think better of it, then shook her head and stepped back.
“All right. See you tomorrow, Romi.”
“Until tomorrow,” he agreed, already looking forward to the next sunrise.