Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
Maelic
Nothing in all of Maelic’s years had felt so vreking good. Ever. He was truly blessed to have been given a mate who would do such a thing with her mouth. If she took his knot so well there, he could only imagine how she would take it elsewhere…
Maelic shook his head and focused on his task.
He swept the powdered grain off the kitchen floor while Delaney showered upstairs.
She’d gifted him another set of clothing—soft fabric with odd designs.
This one wasn’t as magnificent as the brave and noble cat.
It featured green and red orbs. Delaney had informed him that the text scrawled across the chest of the sweater had read something about ‘jingle my balls.’ Humans really did choose weird coverings.
He frowned at the mess. How had he failed so spectacularly at cooking? It couldn’t be so different from how his Mamir did it once upon a time.
He sat back on his heels. Maybe he could make her something closer to what he’d had as a child.
Maelic had managed to make something edible. No fires this time, at least.
Delaney entered the kitchen with a curious smile. She’d been mounting the tree on a stand—odd, since one would think it would stand fine on its own.
He gave her a small smile. “I prepared something other than your pancakes. I hope this is acceptable?”
Delaney chuckled and raised a brow. “It kind of reminds me of khachapuri?”
Bread with cheese in the middle?
“I did my best to recreate something my Mamir made for me as a child. I worked with what you had available. I hope it meets your nutritional needs.”
Delaney took a bite and relaxed. “Oh, this is actually really good. Lunthra foods aren’t so bad.”
Maelic chuckled. “Yes… Maybe you could join me when I return home next.”
Delaney stiffened. “I… uh, don’t know about that one, big guy.”
The rest of the meal passed awkwardly but not unpleasantly.
Maelic frowned. He was seriously considering begging the female to join him.
He couldn’t imagine leaving her here. She would lose this land—then what?
While he had no doubt she could bounce back and survive, he wouldn’t stand for his mate’s life being mere survival.
Even if she never touched him again, he would never let her struggle alone.
He’d be damned to leave her like that. X-Zone planet or not.
She stood, collecting plates. He watched the way she moved—efficient but tired. The slight slump in her shoulders when she thought he wasn’t looking.
“Want to see the tree?” she asked, voice brighter than her expression. “I wanted to wait to decorate properly, so we could do it together. Maybe even watch some Christmas movies.”
She was trying to distract herself. From what, he wasn’t sure. The farm? Their earlier conversation about Lunthra? Him?
Maelic raised a brow but nodded. He’d follow wherever she led.
He’d attempted to cheer her up this morning, but it had been more complicated than he understood. Who could have guessed there were specific decorations for a dead tree?
His eyes flicked to the stand and it finally clicked. Oh, these humans have a specific device for that.
He also noted she’d kept his choice of decoration up.
“I see you kept my work. What else could be done here?”
Delaney laughed and moved to a plastic box. She opened it and held up a glittering green glass ball. “This is an ornament. We hang these on the tree. Along with wreaths, lights, and other decorations that vary by family.” She smiled.
“I don’t understand the purpose.” He frowned and leaned forward to investigate the box himself.
“Well, Christmas trees symbolize life and family. There are many reasons to have one. I can’t tell you the exact reason, but that’s why we always put one up. It’s tradition. You put presents under it. Well—” She paused, searching for words. “For children, it means Santa and presents.”
“Santa?”
“A mythical being who brings presents to children on Christmas Eve. Comes down the chimney.”
Maelic felt a growl build in his chest. An intruder bringing toys to his young? What if they were tampered with?
Delaney stared at him. “He isn’t actually real, Maelic.” She burst into laughter.
“Oh. You lie to your young, then?”
“It’s part of the magic. Not every family celebrates this way.”
He nodded, not truly understanding but not going to push it. Who was he to question someone else’s customs?
He reached down and picked up a sprig of something artificial. He turned it this way and that. “What is this?”
Delaney looked startled, then recovered. “Oh, that’s mistletoe.”
“Mistletoe? It’s fake, but based on a real plant, yes? Is it like the tree?”
She laughed. “Kinda. You hang it on a door, and if you and someone else go under it at the same time, you kiss.”
He blinked. “Kiss?”
“I know you’re a virgin, but kissing? You don’t know what that is?”
He shook his head. The word translated through his cipherbots, but the action was foreign.
Pressing mouths together seemed risky, but he paused.
Humans didn’t possess fangs or poison in their mouth cavities like other species.
His cock twitched at the idea of pressing his lips to Delaney’s soft ones.
He lifted the mistletoe over her head with a small smirk. “Does this count?”
She laughed and shook her head, seeming a little flustered. She’d kissed his cock with gusto not even a few hours prior. He raised a brow.
“Yes, it does. Alright, fine.” She laughed and leaned up, eyes drifting shut.
He leaned down and experimentally pressed his mouth to hers.
It was fine. Pleasant, even. He was about to pull away when he felt that hot little tongue of hers slip out against his lips.
He moaned and opened his mouth, granting her access.
He cupped her face, kissing her back harder, his tongue wrestling with hers, her moans going straight to his cock.
He growled and pulled back, breathing hard.
“I think I like this tradition.”
Delaney barked out a laugh, her cheeks flushed. She pulled back, still grinning, and returned to the box of ornaments.
He followed, unable to stop watching the way she moved.
They worked in comfortable silence for a few moments, passing ornaments back and forth.
She seemed very focused on assembling everything in a specific way.
His eyes caught on some wooden ones that seemed different from the glass.
He picked one up, studying it. It was shaped like the house they were currently in.
“This is beautiful carving work,” he murmured.
Delaney blinked, her eyes focusing on it with a sad smile. “Oh, my grandpa made that for Grandma. He would make one each year. It was a tradition around here.” Her eyes misted with sadness. Grief.
His chest tightened. He gently set the ornament down. “It’s beautiful work.”
She nodded.
His fangs ached as he watched her, that chemical building behind them. The bond wanted to complete itself. He swallowed it down.
Not yet. She doesn’t understand yet.
His eyes caught on the string of plastic and glass bulbs—similar to the ones that hung from the house. He frowned, lifting them. “What are these?”
Delaney turned and chuckled. Good. Best to distract her.
“They go around the Christmas tree.”
His brow furrowed, and an idea struck him. “It reminds me of that rope you utilized to dispatch me with…” He smiled deviously. “Shall I return the favor?”
Delaney frowned and took a step back. “You wouldn’t dare.”
“Oh? Is that so?”
He lunged forward and playfully wrapped his human in the lights. She stood tangled in them, glaring up at him. He gave the string a pull and chuckled.
“This looks much better than on the tree, I think.” His brow quirked up.
“They aren’t even turned on.” She snorted, seeming less annoyed than she wanted him to believe.
“Turned on?” He blinked. He noticed the metal prongs at the end of the string and it clicked. “Oh, how rudimentary.”
She rolled her eyes. “Just plug it into the wall. You’ll see.”
He did and turned back to look at her.
All the air seemed sucked from his lungs. His coremata surged painfully.
The lights pulsed—red, blue, green, orange. He couldn’t swallow the groan.
The first night. The lights on her dwelling.
His mind flashed back to stumbling from the wreckage, disoriented and fevered, catching sight of those glowing colors through the snow.
His biology had recognized them instantly—mistaken them for a female in heat.
Driven him straight to her door like a moth to flame.
And now she stood before him, wrapped in those deceptive lights, and his body couldn’t tell the difference between instinct and reality.
“Woah, what’s going on? Your eyes are doing that thing again…” Delaney asked, startled.
“Astara…” He panted, doing everything in his power to hold still and not lunge. He could feel the pheromones pouring from his lumin glands in response.
“Female Artaisans’ wings glow when in heat. And this… it’s like you’re presenting for me. My body can’t tell the difference.”
Delaney looked less startled than he expected. She smirked up at him. “Oh, so you’re going into rut?”
He pulled her closer with the string still in his hand. “Yes…”
Delaney bit her bottom lip. “Do you want to do something about it?”
Maelic’s heart stuttered. All rational thought fled.
He moved fast.
He had a willing, gorgeous female ready and bound for him. Not just any female. His mate.
The way she looked at him made thinking beyond where to take her nearly impossible. He paused.
“Are you sure?” he rumbled, leaning down to scent her. He didn’t want to remove the lights. It would be such a waste.
Delaney’s breath hitched. She nodded. “We should unwrap me first…”
“But these colors look so lovely on you…” His hand moved up her thigh. He couldn’t resist licking the curve of her collarbone. His fingers caught on the edge of her dress, his chest thrumming hard.