Chapter 8
Let me down, you green savage!
Ghauro
Iseethed in silence as Melanie and I walked to the slightly secluded area where we would be starting our mated life—a larger shed on a piece of land that belonged to my clan, thirty minutes away from my family’s village.
I let her walk in front of me, ensuring her back was covered from the potential predators lurking around now that the night was falling. They did not usually come too close from where we lived as we hunted them on sight, but we could never be too careful. I had a mate to protect and look after now.
A mate whose health and privacy was violated during the last three days, according to my sister. It made me want to pick up a fight, but the humans were already gone and my beautiful bride did not deserve to be the target of my wrath.
Naked. They had stripped her from her clothes and—
My palms hurt from the force of my fingers digging into them.
She had been reluctant to let them perform their examinations and tests, and yet they insisted.
What would have happened if Zhari had not been there with her?
Would they have taken even more liberties with the body that belonged to her?
They were lucky she was not mine yet. But once she would have submitted to me—once my seed filled her inside and dripped down the inside of her smooth, soft pink thighs, they would have to kill me before getting their hands on her without her enthusiastic consent.
Her steps slowed and she struggled to walk as we progressed through the thick forest. It was late and she had probably been up for a long time…I should have requested the mating ceremony to happen earlier, that way, she would not be so tired now…
I threw the pouch filled with her stuff over my shoulders and grabbed her hand, forcing her to stop. She turned around in surprise but her eyes were half closed, like fighting to stay open.
“What—”
She let out a high-pitched squeal as I threw her over my free shoulder and secured my arm around her thigh, preventing her from falling should she fall asleep.
“Ghauro!”
My cock—blissfully down since I had learned of what she went through and anger overcame me—stirred in my pants at the sound of my name breaching her lips.
“You are tired,” I said as I resumed our walk. “We still have a good distance to go through before we reach our home. Rest.”
She scoffed, hitting at my back with her little fists. Adorable. “Let me down, you green savage!”
I groaned at the term she used. “Am I the savage? We are not the species performing invasive examinations on strangers.”
She stopped hitting, her arms falling limp. “Zhari told you.” Not a question. I grunted in response. “It’s not that big a deal,” she said. “Gynecological exams are frequent for human women. If I get pregnant, there will be many more.”
“Not if I can prevent it.”
“Prevent what?” Melanie let out a dry laugh, not fighting to get free anymore. “The pregnancy or the examinations?”
Certainly not the pregnancy. I wanted to bury myself into her, fill her to the brim and let my knots do their work to keep and push my seed as far as it could. And I wanted to do that during all her heats, even after she became pregnant…
“They do not have the right to touch a body that is not theirs,” I stated. “It is yours. Maybe mine soon.”
“Like you know enough about human anatomy to take my health into your hands,” she muttered, either carefully avoiding acknowledging my claim or too tired to pick up on it.
Not yet. But I would soon, thanks to the book and translating glass Zhari had stolen on their space base. I took an oath to look after her, and I intended to keep it.
Her breathing was even and body completely limp in my arms as I nudged the door open with my foot.
I let her slide down my front, ignoring the arousal at feeling her breasts press against my naked chest. Once she was securely sitting on the cushioned seat of the main living area, I crouched in front of her, unable to resist taking a good look at her unguarded face.
So beautiful. It was a good thing Thanato was taking over for the next year, because this human female would prevent me from doing anything productive until I had my fill of her.
And something told me that I still would not get enough, ever after breeding her successfully.
Which was…odd. It was not common for our kind to feel this unrelenting craving while close females were not in heat.
Males’ ruts were connected to it, and it was manageable when we were alone—except for Thanato, who did not seem to have much control over his mating urges.
I never had too much trouble pushing these needs at the far back of my mind, even when surrounded by females. In over thirty years, I only acted on these urges five times. Five meaningless and mindless nights, and never interacted with the females I fucked afterward.
Except for one, who had become a damn thorne in my side, roaming around me constantly—and especially during her heats—hoping that maybe I would take her as my mate.
She was one of the few who threw a fit after Thanato and I came back from the last space meeting three days ago with the news that my bride would be here today.
She was also one of the females my mother hoped I would get with once the experiment was over.
Too bad she was not a short human with long, silky pink-orange hair and curves like I had never seen before; turns out it was my type. The kind of female who got me aching with want and need, even outside of her heats.
Five days. She would be ready in five fucking days. If she sent me spiraling out of my mind now, I could not imagine how I would be feeling then…
Her lashes fluttered against her cheeks before she opened her eyes. Our gaze met. Mine, probably curious and admirative while hers turned confused and…scared.
“What are you—”
“Are you scared of me?” I asked, resting my forearms on her knees, leaning over her, worried she would try to bolt away.
“I—well, you’re awfully close…while I was sleeping…I—”
“Are you hungry?” I interrupted. Her stomach kept making little noises…Maybe she was sick? I needed to read the book fast. I was completely unprepared to look after her like I should.
Pink flushed to her cheeks as her eyes darted to the side. “I am.”
Good. Hungry meant she was not sick. I stood, walking to the open kitchen area. I kneeled in the middle of the room and pulled open the tile and shelves attached under it.
Remembering the list the human male had given me, I selected the fruits, cheese and some dry meat they knew were safe for their species. I had been collecting and hoarding these like they were precious for three whole days, worried that I would poison my mate on day one.
I sat back on the floor in front of her and Melanie surveyed me with parted lips, lifting her legs to fold them against her chest. She did not stop staring as I cut open the fruit, removing the thick red skin and cutting around the seed before handing the yellow fleshy bit to her.
“It is duri,” I said when she did not pick it, eying the fruit like it would grow teeth and eat her instead. “Do you not have fruit in your home land?”
“I—yes we do. They’re watery and don’t taste good, but…” She grabbed the small piece and brought it to her nose while I sucked the juice from my fingers. Her eyes flared and she looked away, the flush deepening on her cheeks. Maybe she has a fever. “It smells good.”
“Tastes good too. Not my favorite, but duri grows everywhere and is safe for humans.”
It finally landed in her mouth and her eyes widened. I forced myself to stay firmly seated on the floor when a haunting sound came out of her throat. I handed her another, eager to hear it again. Why do I like this sound so much?
“Oh, yeah. We don’t have anything like it on Earth.”
My head tilted to the side. “Earth?”
She swallowed the bite and I gave her more. “The planet humans come from. It’s a stinky dumpster fire and food is basically poison—but at least, it feeds you if you have enough money for it.”
Fascinating. “I did not understand half of what you just said. What is a…dumpster fire? Why would food poison you? What is money, and why do you need it to feed?”
Her face fell. Did I say something wrong? The only humans I knew were the ones based in our system. The ones who were responsible for the Zodiac Fertility Program.
“The place I come from is dying,” she answered, a grim expression crossing her face.
“Nature is gone and sky-high metal and stone buildings took its place. Most humans are constantly sick because of the bad quality of the air and food. I never had a fruit that didn’t taste like water and animals were treated so poorly that they all died and we stopped having meat to eat hundreds of years ago.
As for the money…it’s what we need to have things.
You can’t get food, medical care, clothes—nothing without it. ”
This place sounded awful. How could people accept to live like this? “How do you get this precious money?”
She muttered under her breath, fumbling with her empty hands. Empty. I hurriedly gave her slices of cheese and dry meat.
“We need to work. Some are fortunate enough to be born in a family that already has lots of it.”
“Work?” I asked.
She shrugged. “Something we do most hours of the day.” Her face became somber as she chewed on more food. “I used to be cleaning some rich family’s house.” She paused, noticing my confusion. “Rich means they had a lot of money.”
Oh. “A family that worked a lot then.”
Melanie’s dry laugh echoed in the silent room. “Oh, no they did not. But it doesn’t matter, I lost that job not long before I came here.”
Okay, I did not understand then. How did they have money if they did not work? Did she not say humans needed to work to acquire the precious thing that allowed them to feed—poison themselves?
“Anyway, how do you buy food here?”
It was like our translators were turned off. “Buy?”
“Humans use money to buy food and other vital things,” she clarified, surprisingly patient. “How do you get yours?”
“We search and pick our fruits and vegetables,” I said, cutting and handing another fruit. “Hunt for our meat. Trade with others if we have too much or if we need something else.”
She looked down at the clothes that hugged her body like they were made to display her beauty. “What about clothes? You can’t hunt for those, right?”
“Farms are held by elders. They grow the fibers used for the fabric and they trade what they make for food, since they are too old or tired to hunt and pick up their own fruits and vegetables.”
She pointed at the last piece of cheese in my hand. I gave it to her and she wiggled it in front of my face. “What about this?”
“Same.” I titled my head to the side. “Elders raise the tamable beasts that produce the milk and turn it into cheese. Then trade with other things to have what they need, and so on.”
She munched on it and narrowed her eyes pensively. “That makes a lot more sense than what humans are doing on Earth, to be fair.”
“It does,” I agreed. “This money and work thing is nonsense. People should not have to—buy their life. Or poison.”
A small, genuine smile stretched her lips and I could swear my heart stalled. That was it. The most beautiful thing I have ever seen.
I gave her the last piece of meat and waited as she ate it like it was a rare delicacy. My mate had been starving all her life. I would make sure she never missed on anything ever again.
“Do you want more food?”
Her smile widened and she shook her head. What does it mean?
“No, I’m good,” she said at my—once again—obvious confusion. “I’m tired, though.”
I rose to my feet and leaned over her, picking each of her arms to place them on my shoulders before sliding my hands beneath her thighs.
She gasped as I straightened up, pulling her off the cushioned seat and up against my chest.
“Wha-what are you doing?”
“Time for sleep.”
Five days. I could do it.
As I walked toward the smaller room at the back of the house, I kept repeating it to myself. I could share a bed with her and wait. Wait until fucking her would bring her pleasure and not pain. Damn heats coming only once every twenty-eight days!
But I would not let my needs and desires win. I could be patient and wait for the heat to start. For her to crave me back. For her arousal to come.
She would be mine soon enough.