Chapter 13
Irreversible Revelation
Khar
“Most Registered Species show loyalty and devotion to their mates, but the Divani, as in so many things, push this tendency to its extremes. They either avoid commitment entirely and pursue pleasure alone, or they become obsessively devoted to love. From a species that brings such passion, unwavering focus, and reverence to combat, we would expect no less toward a partner. This, however, was written before the rare phenomenon of imprinting was widely understood.” — Ner’fol Vas Gorg, Universal Dating Guru: Loving Across Species
“Divani imprinting has two primary phases:
Sampling and preparation, usually accompanied by visible indicators such as darkening skin, sudden changes in body mass, or the lengthening or curving of horns.
Metamorphosis, a near-hibernative state during which involuntary transformation renders the body biologically compatible with the chosen mate.”
From Khar’s training material, Divani Biology
Every part of Khar hurt.
His entire body had reshaped itself to adapt biologically to his chosen one.
The Divani were admired across the Registered Spacefaring Species not only for their prowess in battle, but also for their reproductive potential.
Like all drastic transformations, this one demanded time and an enormous amount of energy.
Khar slept for nearly seven chrono-cycles straight, waking only long enough to shovel down a dozen calorie spheres washed down with a pitcher of water.
When he finally came to, the process was not fully complete, but the worst of it was behind him.
And he was stronger.
Much stronger.
The Divani had not become apex specimens on their homeworld by chance.
The ability to overwrite their own biological blueprint, adapt themselves to a partner of another species, and then produce viable, fertile offspring was nothing short of a biological miracle.
Not a unique one, perhaps, but a miracle all the same.
As with most evolutionary advantages, this one came with costs.
Once a Divani chose a mate, devotion followed with near-fanatical intensity. He would protect his chosen partner even at his own expense. And after imprinting, he would be incapable of reproduction with anyone else.
Such loyalty was common among sentient species.
Among the Divani, however, mate selection was constrained by another rule: neither the weakest nor the undefeated strongest could reproduce.
The first limitation was obvious. The second baffled scholars across the galaxy. The explanation that made the most sense to Khar was genetic diversification. Preventing the strongest from flooding the gene pool ensured survival.
In any case, producing offspring had never been part of Khar’s plans. That did not mean he had denied himself pleasure. It simply meant that the chase and the act had always felt hollow.
Until Lily.
His wonderful little Lily.
Now that he had time to confront himself, he understood that his fixation had not been accidental. From the very first moment, she had unsettled him. He had explained it away as something else. The more interesting and attractive she became, the more his instincts reframed her as an opponent.
Old habits died hard.
But once imprinting began, there was no more running.
And when he was finally honest with himself, the truth was brighter than any star. He had fallen for her completely, irrevocably, obsessively. For this creature who appeared fragile and proved anything but.
Khar appreciated the irony. Lily had turned him from undefeated to defeated. And through that loss, he had become stronger than he had ever dared imagine.
His muscles, skin, bones, even his horns felt denser and harder, as though he now wore armor from the inside out.
He was certain he could handle at least three versions of his former self. He was also certain that he could now overpower Lily with ease.
The amusing part was that strength no longer mattered.
It was simply a tool to make Lily happy.
It certainly did not hurt that her sitting on his face while he worshiped her with his tongue would probably not crush his skull. There were worse and less honorable ways for a warrior to die.
Still, he was not planning for a single night.
He was relieved to discover that, by all indications, he and Lily were already sexually compatible.
He had worried that he might wake from metamorphosis missing a critical anatomical feature, or discover that humans preferred to take their partners in ways unfamiliar to him.
Truthfully, even that would not have been a deal-breaker.
Some species had males who carried offspring.
Old Khar would have ejected himself into space at the thought.
New Khar only wondered how best to please Lily.
With his own, largely unchanged anatomy.
One problem remained.
He knew almost nothing about humans.
Lily had shared fragments, but nothing comprehensive. And as an Unregistered Species, humanity had no entry in the IMPERIUM database. Khar knew this because he had checked. Including the databases most citizens could never access.
Now it was time to return to his little human.
Before he did, he took the edge off. It would not do to pounce on her the moment he saw her again. At least this way, he could confirm that everything still functioned as intended.
He also ensured that Lily’s solitude remained uninterrupted. Especially by tall, grasping, shameless carrion birds who had somehow secured secretarial positions beside star-billionaires.
Lily had asked him to speak to Vegrun, and he had done so.
He reported an erachni infestation aboard the Vitromium, a particularly dangerous parasite that nested in power cabling.
Vegrun feared erachni. At his age, at least half of his tentacles were more machine than flesh, and erachni were lethal to both.
Khar was not lying by much.
The previous chrono-year, while working alone, there had been a minor incident he never reported.
He had followed protocol, shut down the grid, sterilized the ship sector by sector, then replaced the logs with data from a standard chrono-cycle.
If Vegrun heard the word erachni, he would not allow even his most trusted aide near Vitro.
That meant seven uninterrupted chrono-cycles of freedom.
At the end, Khar would restore the old logs. No one would know.
A perfect excuse.
He had saved it for something special. What could be more special than letting Lily rest before seeing him again?
She could not know what he had done. Still, he felt repaid when she unknowingly handed him the vital information he needed.
Khar was not naive. He knew Lily found him at least somewhat attractive. But when she admitted that he had appeared in one of her sexual dreams, it took every shred of discipline not to sweep the table aside, pull her into his lap, and take her in front of the entire concourse.
Perfect. Innocent. Greedy little thing.
He would reward her.
Soon.
When she was ready.
That part mattered.
Khar’s life had always been war or preparation for it. That was precisely why he was not a mindless brute. Survival required strategy. He was a cold-blooded tactician, tempered by a thousand engagements, now embarking on the most carefully planned conquest of his life.
Objective: seduce Lily without frightening her with the strangeness of the situation or the intensity of his desire.
Until she wanted it badly enough to reach for him first.
Khar wanted Lily happy. If she chose celibacy, he would obey. He would probably have to castrate himself to survive it, but he would do so without hesitation. Fortunately, that would not be necessary.
Reconnaissance complete, he moved into phase two.
As they walked back to Vitro after their shared lunch, Lily stretched.
“That sunlight felt amazing,” she said. “I did not realize how much I missed it.”
“You could use the light deck aboard Vitro,” Khar replied. “It is usually set to the Lizon-8 nebula pattern, but the feature exists.”
Her eyes lit up. “You think Vegrun would not mind?”
Khar shrugged. “Why would he? The deck requires a daily maintenance cycle when idle anyway. If your work is done, there is no reason not to.”
“Tomorrow,” Lily said with sudden determination. “Khar, let us go over task assignments.”
He swallowed a smile.
Greedy, enchanting little human.
* * *
The next chrono-cycle Lily set a merciless pace.
She tore through their shared morning tasks, then all but evicted Khar from the control room, ordering him to make the rounds and install Vegrun’s newly requested features ahead of their next departure while she handled the coding. Khar grumbled, loud enough for her to hear.
In truth, he enjoyed every second of being ordered about by her.
He stayed busy for most of the cycle and barely caught a glimpse of Lily.
That was why both of his hearts nearly vaulted out of his chest when he finally spotted her on the light deck.
She lay stretched out on her stomach on a recliner.
Utterly relaxed.
Naked.
Except for a narrow strip of fabric that somehow managed not to diminish the sight at all. If anything, it framed her curves with deliberate cruelty.
Khar approached with practiced calm.
He lowered himself onto one knee beside her, not too close. He would not crowd her.
Lily cracked one eye open at the sound of his steps and glanced at him sideways.
“I finished my part, Khar. You are not dragging me away from here.”
He chuckled under his breath. He had no intention of spoiling this for her. Mostly, he was considering whether, if he did not bury his face between those soft curves immediately, he might simply expire on the spot.
He restrained himself.
Not here.
Not now.
He also wanted their first time to happen aboard Lily’s own ship, where she felt safe. Because that was what he wanted for her.
Safety.
Absolute safety.