Chapter 3
THREE
ZANDAOR EXLITH-ORVANIS-ORKITH
I had a problem.
Róisín grabbed two towels and led me into one of the private chambers.
There was enough room for four or five people to stand, a small bench built against one wall, and another empty cubby built into the wall.
The room was covered in small rock tiles that formed different geometric shapes, organized in a sequence of increasing mathematical complexity.
There was no way she wouldn't see the signs of my arousal once I stripped down, so I waited to see what she would do first. There were far too many possibilities for me to decide to take any action.
She could tell me how to use the controls and then leave.
That in itself would be a form of relief, as I desperately needed to relieve the tension from the walk over here.
The reactions of the other males was extreme, and combined with the intensity of my attraction to her, there was a chance that my scent wasn't just from my ships hygiene facility failing me.
She cued the door to slide shut behind us, tucked the towels in the cubby, then turned to face me.
Her arms crossed her body as her hands grabbed the bottom edge of her shirt. In one swift motion, she pulled it up over her head and tossed it into the cubby with the towels. Under it, she was wearing a device that covered just her breasts, and the soft pale rolls of her belly were exposed.
My mating appendage stiffened even harder. It had been uncomfortably hard since the moment I saw her, but the deep throbbing made me realize I needed to say something.
But she was an alien.
How was I supposed to explain this? I didn't even know if my scent affected her. It would be easy to explain this to another of my own species, but just because words had the same meaning didn't mean that phrases did.
I lifted my hands and covered my face like I had seen her do earlier.
When I lowered them, the color of her skin on her face and neck and chest had changed from a light pink to a darker shade, and her arms were crossed across her belly.
"It isn't embarrassment," I said quickly. "It is because the sight of you arouses me, and there is a strong possibility that I am emitting pheromones, and I thought I should let you know before you removed more clothing."
"Pheromones?" she asked. "You mean your smell?"
Her eyes widened.
"What do these pheromones do?" she asked. "Why are you emitting them?"
"It isn't a conscious action, and I am not certain I am emitting them, as it is not something I've done before," I said.
"It is something my kind does when we find a deeply compatible partner that we wish to form a family niche with.
The scent is mildly unpleasant to anyone but our potential mate, who then emits a compatible scent or a repulsing one. "
"Would your scent have an arousing effect on others?" she asked.
"It would only arouse my mate," I said. "Again, I'm not certain I'm doing it, as I haven't emitted the mate scent before, but the reactions of the males on the way here were…
strange. I know for certain that I am attracted to you, and pairing that with their reactions…
that would explain things. I am happy to wash with you or wash by myself; my arousal is my own problem to deal with, and I am not communicating anything more than that; it's just that my arousal will become obvious when I remove my clothing.
My body's reaction to you isn't any form of expectation. "
I felt awkward explaining far more than was necessary; such things were obvious in my culture.
My visible arousal was not a request, nor was it an expectation of her consent.
But the ship's rules were clear, and the existence of the ones regarding mating implied that such things were not obvious to everyone on board.
My mission was too important to jeopardize.
Róisín's arms relaxed, her hands moving to her hips as she looked at me.
"To be clear, you're saying you want to mate with me?" she said. "But you don't expect me to want the same thing?"
"Essentially," I said. I could explain that if I was emitting the mating scent, it wouldn't go away until it was matched or repulsed, but that embarrassing issue wasn't her problem to deal with.
There had to be alien medics on board. After I showered and confirmed the scent wasn't going away, I could find a medic who could help with a pheromone blocker if that was the issue.
"Thank goodness," she said, a sigh of relief in her heated words. "Take off your clothes."
She reached one hand behind her back, and the garment that was covering her chest suddenly sprang loose, and my arousal spiked, hard and fast at the sight of how her flesh tumbled free, falling down to flatten and dangle against her body.
She tossed the fabric into the cubby, letting her two mounds greet the air, the small peaks on them standing to attention even as they swung loose.
I almost tore my shirt, ripping it off over my head.
I knew she hadn't said specifically what she wanted, but it didn't matter.
If she was happy to wash with me while I was openly aroused, I wasn't going to turn down her company.
Either I would have a delightful release to this sudden intense attraction to an alien, or I would have a torturous time behaving myself and spend some time alone later imagining things had gone a different way while I worked out those feelings with my hands.
Both would make a fun moment in time to look back on, and there were so many options between those two extremes.
Perhaps she would let me find some release while staring at her.
Perhaps she would enjoy teasing me and making me suffer.
Perhaps she would be brisk and professional, and all I would get was the sight of her beautiful body.
Whatever happened, it could only be casual fun. She was an alien.
She couldn't be my mate.
I had all of my clothes off in seconds, violently throwing all of them into the cubby. My mating rod bobbed in the air, twitching as her eyes dropped to it.
She let out a small sound, and her breath came faster, her eyes locked on me as she licked her lips. Then she grabbed the edge of her leggings and pulled all of her lower coverings off.
As she did, an aroma filled the air, and my knees buckled.
The hard tiles pinched into the skin of my knees as her smell enveloped me, my anticipation of lighthearted enjoyment spinning on its head and crashing into the walls.
I let out a groan and heat flared through me, pleasure clenching around my mind like a vice, and before I knew it, my abs were clenching as a small burst of seed shot out to honor the moment.
I caught it in my palm before it hit the ground.
The only place it belonged was inside of her.
I needed to be inside her. I needed to pin her against the wall, kick her feet apart, and sink into her as she screamed my name.
No, this couldn't be happening.
"Did you just…?" she asked, staring at my hand. "At just the sight of me?"
"But you're an alien," I said, horror washing over what should have been the most joyous moment of my life. "It isn't possible."
As I stared up at her, studying the strange differences between us, the sheer beauty of her strangeness, I saw all the ways we were similar. I saw the glaze in her eyes, the way her nostrils flared as she stepped closer to me, the telltale signs that my scent was affecting her.
"What isn't possible?" she breathed out, her nostrils flaring as she took a deep breath in. She let out a small groan, her eyelids fluttering as she tilted her head up for a brief moment and sucked in several deep breaths, my scent intensifying in the small room.
I had to be sure.
"My apologies, Róisín," I said, fighting against the desperate urge to fuck her, take her, mount her. "But by any chance, is my scent arousing to you?"
"Yes," she moaned out. "You smell so good."
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
My horror and joy grew together, climbing up and over each other as they fought for dominance, creating a mishmash of conflict that clawed at my heart.
I had travelled vast distances, journeying into the far reaches of space to find allies against the rising darkness that was attempting to consume my civilization, and instead I found the one thing that had evaded me all my life.
But it was against the rules.
I finally found her, and I couldn't take her; I couldn't have her, or I would jeopardize the very reason I came all this way in the first place.
I couldn't break their rules and regulations right after agreeing to them.
I was the first representative of my species, and they would judge those who followed based on the integrity of my character.
I had to show that I respected their clearly laid-out boundaries.
"I need you," she said, stepping forward, her hands reaching for me. "I need you inside of me."
"Róisín, no," I said. "Stop."