14. Chapter 14 #2
“That was a happy rumble!” she exclaimed, leaning over the platter to give me a pat on the cheek. “It’s good to hear.”
The touch was light and brief, but bonding oil filled my scent glands, making them ache. I didn’t want to admit how often my cheeks hurt from being overfull of oil simply because she was close by.
I knew it was significant, but I wasn’t ready to face it yet.
“So what was it you wanted to know?” she asked, settling back down. I watched her tear off a piece of flatbread, load it with fasloma, and hold it up to my mouth. Even though I was perfectly capable of feeding myself, she kept doing it.
I didn’t protest.
“I feel like I can’t trust anyone’s intentions anymore. Was it like that for you?” I asked before opening my mouth to accept the food.
“That’s what it’s like for most individuals when traveling outside their communities,” she said, then ate a bite herself.
“The bigger our civilizations get, the harder it is to be affected by consequences. I was free before they shut down my station. The owners decided it would be easy to sell me as part of the station and they didn’t even have to forge the papers because who was going to believe a human?
I’ll never be able to find them and make them pay for what they did.
The closest I’ll ever get to justice is when you beat up the Tulks. ”
As she spoke, she prepared and held up more food to my mouth, but I didn’t take it right away.
I was busy marveling at how intuitive Mika was.
I probably shouldn’t be surprised; she’d proved herself over and over again since I was injured.
Still, this whole conversation was a new level of insightfulness.
“Hey, don’t stop eating now,” she said with a teasing lilt to her voice. “Or I’ll stop talking.”
I opened wide and took the food and her fingers into my mouth. I was careful to keep my teeth clear as I cleaned off her fingers with my tongue and lips.
I thought this would make her laugh, but a strange look crossed her face that I couldn’t interpret. She flushed a little, and I detected a faint, delicate scent I hadn’t smelled before.
“I guess that’s one way of doing it,” she said after clearing her throat.
Curious, I tried to lean forward to get the scent better, she was quick to push food into my mouth again. This time when I sucked her fingers clean, she sucked in a breath.
It was clear she liked it.
“You have a very strong tongue,” she murmured.
She fed me another mouthful, her fingers soft and delicate against my lips. My scent glands went from aching to painful.
“You need to eat,” I said, because she was only feeding me and not herself. There was a perfect piece of flatbread so I snatched it up, scooped up some food, and held it to her lips. She looked surprised for a moment, then opened her mouth.
Like I had done, she sucked the food off my fingers. Her mouth was hot and wet, the soft suction drawing my fingers in a little further.
My heartbeat kicked up and blood flooded into my mating shaft. I’d never had such a strong reaction to any stimulus. It should’ve scared me, or at least should’ve made me feel ashamed for lusting after a human pet.
I’m her owner. Her caregiver. It’s my responsibility to make sure she’s safe and happy. I should find a human male for her to pair bond with. I shouldn’t be thinking about her in this way.
Except the enticing scent coming from Mika was getting stronger. Was that a human version of scent glands, showing that she was aroused also?
Conflicting emotions made me pull away when she was about to offer me another bite.
“Are you full?” she asked with obvious displeasure.
“Where is Nadia’s father?” I blurted out.
She blinked. It was obvious the question had taken her by surprise. In a way it was a surprise to me also.
“Nadia’s father? I don’t know. He works on a comet pusher and it was just an accident that we met when his ship needed to dock for repairs.
We spent a few days together and then he was gone.
When I realized I was pregnant, there was no way to contact him.
” She smiled and looked over at Nadia. “Nine months later, I gave birth to the sweetest baby girl ever born.”
“Did you pair bond with him?” I asked. I wanted the answer as much as I was scared of it.
She snorted. “I didn’t even like him that much. He was a fun time, that’s all.” Her face screwed up in distaste. “Actually, he wasn’t as fun as he could’ve been.”
Relief made me feel a little dizzy. My scent glands throbbed, and I felt a trickle of something run down my cheek.
“Oh, hey, are you crying?” she asked, reaching up to wipe at my face. I shuddered at the feel of her fingers brushing over my scent gland.
“It’s my bonding oil,” I whispered, my voice hoarse.
Nadia’s scream echoed through the corridors of the ship, making both of us jump.
“I guess someone woke up and chose violence,” Mika said with a shaky laugh as she scrambled to her feet to fetch Nadia from the nest in the bedroom.
I was left sitting there, struggling to bring my thoughts and feelings into some kind of order.
I had two more revelations to contend with alongside my new view of the Talin Empire.
First was that Mika was just as intelligent as I was, perhaps even more knowledgeable in certain areas.
Second was that I desired her, and I thought she was interested in me too.