Chapter 2
Tuvo
The tiny human male was walking away. And he was lucky he was, because if he had kept touching Hattie to her discomfort, Tuvo would not be able to control himself.
His aggression was at an all-time high after so long denying the mating urges that were squeezing his brain in a vice. A terrible pressure that tightened every time he looked at her. His perfect little mate. So beautiful and happy and bright.
And small. And soft.
Too small and too soft.
Tuvo took pride in being big and strong.
He liked that he could stand in nearly any fight and come out the winner.
Atem, Dominani of his people, was the only one who could defeat him.
Tuvo had trained him personally as they grew up together.
As he trained the greatest warrior and scholar and leader of all Turv, Tuvo had trained his own body as well.
He fought in many battles, defended many creatures that couldn’t defend themselves, and held himself with pride.
He was big and strong, and he used those qualities to the best of his abilities.
And his stupid mind had decided that his mate was the tiniest, softest, sweetest human.
He would destroy her if he tried to fuck her.
His cock wouldn’t fit in her little body.
The other females all commented on how large they found their mates, and Tuvo was larger than all of them, while Hattie was smaller than the other females.
They were two pieces designed to match but made to different sizes. He wanted her with a pain that was raking through his brain like claws on sensitive flesh. Hurtful and aching and yearning so hotly that it burned him from the inside.
He needed her. With a painful desperation, he needed his mate.
His head was being crushed from the strength of that desire.
His sac ached. His knot throbbed. His cock was always hard, and his own hand couldn’t even provide relief any longer.
He couldn’t come without his female. But he couldn’t come with his female, not without hurting her.
So, he watched her from afar. He yearned for her. He hated that he drove her away, but in a way, he was grateful. It had been so much harder to resist when she had been giving him those desirous glances and hopeful smiles.
His only consolation was her humanity. She couldn’t feel the aching pain of an unfulfilled bond the way he could. She could still live her life without him. Safe and unharmed.
And preferably away from that puny male that so obviously disturbed her.
Keith Willard. Male. Thirty-two Earth years old.
He had employment in the office of a company that crafted metal fittings for machinery.
He also spent an inordinate amount of time on the Earth equivalent of the subnet, showing off himself on social sites.
He had at least three lovirii, pleasure mates, in his past, not including Hattie.
All of those relationships ended with considerable sour feelings on both sides.
He had no history of great deeds or accomplishments.
He was, in a word, ordinary.
And he dared to put his hands on Tuvo’s mate. He wasn’t worthy.
Hattie watched the male leave her with a long sigh of relief. Then, with a smile on her face, she returned to the drink that male had interrupted her enjoying. With them separated, Tuvo began to relax again.
This entire wedding was a test for him. Because nearly all of Alanna’s female attendants were mated, Survii’s groomsmales were paired with them. By process of elimination, that meant Tuvo had to be paired with Hattie.
He had to feel her warm hands on his arm as he guided her down the aisle. He had to stand beside her as they took commemorative photos of the wedding party. He had to pretend like he didn’t want to pick her up and ravish her. To fuck a pup into her belly. To claim her as she deserved.
But he had survived both of those things without acting on his impulses. He remained strong. And he didn’t break the teeth of that male who dared to touch her despite her wishes.
He should earn an honorable name for that alone, really.
“Are you brooding?”
Tuvo didn’t even turn as Havali came to join him where he stood, leaning against the wall, present at but not part of the claiming party going on around him.
The humans put much more ceremony and pomp into a claiming than his own people.
The dancing had led into a ceremonial cutting of a large, tiered pastry that surely symbolized something but was lost on him.
“Are you ignoring me now because you’re brooding?” Havali asked, leaning against the wall with him, a knowing grin on his face.
Tuvo had to resist the urge to punch it off of him. He was on Earth and humans were peaceful. They would not understand if he started a physical fight with Havali. No matter how much the aggression would help him feel better.
“Her former lovirii has wandered off,” Havali continued, as if he were oblivious to how close he was to getting his nose broken. “This is a good chance for you to dance with her instead. Human dances are very easy to learn, I assure you.”
“I am not dancing with Hattie.”
“You should. Might help you stop brooding.”
“You’re trying to make me fight you, Havali.”
He laughed, unconcerned. He knew that Tuvo would not risk the treaty they were attempting to establish by frightening the humans with domini aggression. They were such a soft, gentle species. They didn’t tolerate violence well.
“Perhaps, I’m just looking out for Hattie’s best interests. And yours. I know you’re-”
“You know nothing,” Tuvo snapped with a growl.
Forcing himself to keep the sound low so as not to frighten the humans.
They were definitely a prey species. Predators, but prey all the same.
Their intelligence and adaptability were surely what made them apex creatures on this planet for it certainly wasn’t any physical capability.
Havali wasn’t at all disturbed by his temper. “Come. There’s apparently a human tradition we’re meant to participate in.”
Tuvo frowned, his tail lashing at the air. “I thought we had finished those. The pictures were supposed to be the last thing. We’re only supposed to party after that.”
“Yes, and the females were giggling riotously when they told me,” Havali smirked, “so I do believe they’ve kept it from us on purpose. Come on. All unmated males must attend, and since you refuse Hattie, you qualify.”
All unmated males? He was not unmated. He had a mate. That he refused to touch.
Grumbling, he pushed himself off the wall and stalked forward.
Someone had brought a chair and Alanna was sitting on it.
The entire dancing space had been cleared, giving room for her and her mate.
The females were tittering their excitement, the males were rowdy and encouraging, yelling words Tuvo couldn’t understand at Survii.
He was still working on his English. Tuvo wasn’t unintelligent, but he had little skill for learning without proper neural imprints. He knew only a few basic phrases in the human tongue, but it didn’t help him now.
Hattie was there, across the dance floor. Tuvo watched her so closely, he almost completely missed the tradition unfolding before him.
Almost. It was very hard not to notice when Survii stuck his head under Alanna’s skirt.
Tuvo ripped his lower eyes from Hattie – his upper eye never leaving her – and stared in shock as Survii used his teeth to obtain a garter from around Alanna’s thigh.
It was apparently a whole thing for the humans as they cheered him on with salacious calls that needed no translation.
Tuvo was so confused. He thought humans were supposed to be, on the whole, modest. They were highly sexual as a species, but in social situations, they did their best to hide that.
He wasn’t sure why they denied that part of themselves, but he considered it similar to the way that the domini fought in non-lethal ways to control their aggressive impulses.
A means of control over a wild part of themselves that kept society functioning.
That was completely gone now as Survii molested his female in front of everyone. And she appeared equally delighted and embarrassed. The crowd was encouraging. It was very strange.
It only got stranger when Peony explained what was happening.
This ritual was the first part of some kind of passage of good fortune.
Alanna was to toss some flowers like the ones she carried down the aisle at unmated females.
And then Survii was supposed to surrender that cloth he just pulled off Alanna to the unmated males in a similar way.
The two who caught the items were considered to be blessed and the next to be mated.
Or something. Turv didn’t really understand things like fate and fortune – the domini did not have those concepts in their history.
He knew about them only because most other species did.
He was still trying to understand the ceremony when Alanna tossed her flowers.
And Hattie caught them in the air.
His chest immediately tightened. The urge to growl rose in his throat. She was the next to be mated. He was her mate. They should do it now.
But no. They couldn’t. He couldn’t.
But he certainly couldn’t allow one of these other males to do so either.
He was so focused on her, he almost missed the moment that Survii suddenly tossed Alanna’s garter towards him. He caught it purely by reflex, identifying it only after the silky fabric was already in his hands.
And the room burst into laughter. Survii, apparently, was supposed to throw it randomly, not toss it to a specific person.
But Tuvo refused to relinquish the item.
It was his now. He did not care about the fortune thing, but he did care that this object was the mate to the object Hattie now held. The two of them were bound in the meaning of the ceremony.