I stood nervously at the edge of the circle, bare but for the golden necklace with the bloodstone of my forefathers, since all of my adornments were back in Krada. All of Tulma sat behind me in this unusual ceremony to complete my partial bond. I had agonized about having Serena sit out the dance during our original ceremony, but I knew she didn’t have the physical strength to hold the bands.
I had convinced myself that our bond wouldn’t be contested even though she hadn’t danced. Finding out that every other tribe challenged it had felt like a shower of acid. Serena was my mate. Our joining by the river had only confirmed there would never be another female for me. Therefore, I was beyond grateful to my mother for setting all of this in motion. It would erase any doubt that my Serena had meant to claim me during the first ceremony.
Although we wouldn’t perform the full ritual tonight, Serena and I still showered beforehand. My chest warmed remembering her squeal of delight on our first day in Tulma when I showed the private shower and toilet I had Mandha and my father prepare for her before our arrival. It was makeshift, quickly put together to be functional. But in the future, I intended to have every tribe set a permanent one for the times my mate and I would visit them.
No female dancers surrounded the circle, no males would beat their drums, and no warrior would challenge me tonight. But our three Elders stood on the dais at the feet of the Goddess overlooking the circle which, for tonight only, had been covered with a thin mat to pad the hard stone floor.
My heart leapt in my chest, and a hush fell over the audience when the delicate figure of my mate approached from the left side of the circle and walked all the way to the center. She was wearing what I had come to call her underwear. They were in fact called a sports bra and training shorts. Both were black and hid very little of her beautiful skin. I wished she would dress that lightly more often. To my surprise, Serena was barefoot, aside from some kind of black strips of fabric wrapped around her ankles and her toes. In her hand, she held the narrow band on a stick.
She kneeled facing me, her gaze locking with mine. A silent communication passed between us. The confidence in her eyes partially appeased the worry that had been gnawing at me. Serena smiled then cast a glance at Mandha. My mate nodded with a subtle movement, giving my brother the signal to start the off-worlder music she had selected.
Serena bowed, her forehead pressed to the mat and both her arms extended in front of her. I held my breath, as the silence stretched for a few more seconds. Then the clear notes of a peaceful melody rose around us. Still in her bowed position, Serena began flicking the stick, just above the ground. The band appeared to be slithering at high speed in front of her while her free arm undulated in a graceful movement. She suddenly sat up, swirling the ribbon in wide movements all around her, a luminous smile lighting up her face.
A collective gasp of awe rose from the crowd. Our bands were too big and heavy to perform the complex and rapid movements of my mate’s ribbon. And the glowing, light-blue fabric of the ribbon in the darkness made it look like a spirit serpent was cavorting in a joyous dance around her.
Without stopping the movement of the ribbon, Serena threw her free hand back, pushing up to her toes, and flipping backward using her hand as leverage, to end up in a standing position. She then started running around the circle, performing impossible dance steps, jumps, and acrobatic movements—some of which made me fear she’d injure herself—while her ribbon drew the most mesmerizing arabesque. Watching her stand on the tip of one foot and spin around impressed me. But seeing her raise her second leg so the toes of that foot would point at the sky without losing her balance and swirling her ribbon in a frenzy took my breath away. I was feeling choked with emotions, an indescribable pride filling my heart.
And then disaster…
I watched in horror as, after pivoting a few times on herself, Serena threw her stick. My heart shattered, and my blood turned to acid as horrified gasps rose behind me. Time seemed to slow down as Serena performed a few tumbles and a twirl, then blindly caught the stick, flowing into more patterns with the ribbon.
“She caught it…” I whispered in shock and disbelief.
Just as the words left my mouth, a collective roar rose behind me followed by the sound of countless rattles honoring my mate. I felt faint as I stared at Serena’s riveting performance. She was moving faster, in tandem with the music that had become more intense, more dramatic. Twice more my female threw the ribbon, and twice more she caught it before it ever touched the floor. Both times, she barely had to look to do so—her heart knew where it would be.
No matter what challenges came our way, no matter who or what tried to tear us apart, she would always catch us and keep our bond flowing towards our joint future.
As the music began to slow down, Serena came back to the center of the circle and gestured for me to come. My heart overflowed with pride and too many emotions to give them a name as I went to her. My mate circled around me a few times, her ribbon swirling in complex patterns, erasing any doubt that I’d been properly claimed and bound. The music came to a stop at the same time my female did right in front of me. I pulled her into my embrace and crushed her lips in a possessive kiss while my tail wrapped around her.
I could barely hear the rattling saluting us, or even the Elders giving their blessing as they surrounded us with their hands linked. When they parted, I didn’t stay for the congratulations and accolades of my birth tribe. All I could see, all that I cared about, was the beautiful goddess in my arms. Eyes locked with Serena, I picked her up, and she wrapped her legs around my waist. Without a word, I took her to my parents’ dwelling under the cheers of the crowd.
After what felt like an eternity, we entered my parents dwelling, and I took Serena directly to my room. I was already removing her clothes—almost ripping them off—before the door was fully closed behind me. Last night, Serena had felt self-conscious about joining with me, as she’d feared my parents and siblings would hear us. Despite my reassurances about the soundproof walls, she still insisted that we keep it quiet. To please her, I had complied. Tonight, I didn’t care if they could hear us all the way up in the orbiting docking station of the Federation. I was a properly bonded male about to claim his goddess of a mate.
Although my parents had brought in an improvised mattress for Serena last night, she had slept on top of me. But we had first made love on the mattress, as we would now to protect her from the hard floor.
I tossed her top to the floor and claimed her lips in a greedy kiss. Even as I lowered her onto the cushion, my tongue invaded her mouth. It had been so strange the first time we had kissed that way. I hadn’t even been certain that I would ever get used to the odd shape and size of her tongue or the rows of blunt teeth that filled her mouth instead of the handful of sharp ones in ours. But now I couldn’t get enough of kissing her. I couldn’t get enough of her, period.
And right now, a different taste called to me and made my blood boil with need. Reluctantly breaking the kiss, I brushed my lips down her neck to her chest. Unable to resist, I stopped at the hardening bud of her breast, my tongue teasing the dark brown circle of her areola before I sucked on her nipple. I loved the slightly salty taste of her skin owing to her previous exertion.
Although my mate lifted her chest for greater friction and placed a hand at the back of my head as if to keep me in place, I resumed my journey down to my prize. Serena’s stomach quivered as I nipped at her navel. Hooking my fingers in the waist of her shorts, I pulled them down while licking and sucking on the sensitive flesh of her pelvis. A shiver ran through her, making me purr with approval. I loved how responsive my mate was to my touch.
My only disappointment as I removed her bottom garment, was the absence of little curls around her slit. My research had indicated that humans had some there and under their armpits. Some of them even had them on their legs and most every other part of their bodies—especially the males. But Serena had informed me that she’d never had leg hair—which wasn’t uncommon for human females of her ethnicity—and that she had permanently removed the ones under her arms and around her sex so she would never have to deal with them anymore. A pity. I would have loved to know if they were as soft as the tight curls of her long hair.
To my shock, just as I was about to sate my hunger, Serena pressed her palm to my forehead and pushed me back. My head jerked up, and I cast a questioning look at her.
“Lie down,” she said, her golden eyes darkened by desire.
“But, I want—”
“Oh, you will. Just lie down. Trust me.”
Confused, I considered resisting but complied.
“Extrude,” she commanded.
“But—”
“Stop arguing,” Serena said with a frown. “I also want to taste you. We can both do it at the same time.”
My eyes widened, and a ball of lust exploded in my pelvic area, making me growl with need. I had fantasized about this from the first time I’d researched human couplings. I extruded with an almost painful groan as my female straddled me, carefully aligning her core with my face. Without any preliminaries, I dove right in and stuck my tongue inside of her. Serena shivered, and I gripped the fleshy curve on her behind with both hands to keep her in place as I feasted.
But it soon proved challenging as my mate’s delicate hand closed around my length and began to stroke me. The wet heat of her tongue licking my shaft, teasing my spikes, and circling around the head had me moaning as liquid fire bubbled in the pit of my stomach. When she finally took me in her mouth, I nearly spilled. Serena’s hand squeezed and stroked the base of my penis in counterpoint to the movement of her head bobbing over me. My abdominal muscles constricted painfully as I battled to rein myself in. I couldn’t find my release before my mate.
Slipping one hand between my female’s thighs, I rubbed her little nub while accelerating the speed and strength of my tongue making love to her. I especially focused on the little bundle of nerves inside her that always had her toppling over the edge of bliss in no time. Fearing I might still lose the battle, I raised my tail near Serena’s ear, extruded my rattles, and produced the mating sound that acted like a powerful aphrodisiac.
Within seconds, my mate cried out, throwing her head back in ecstasy. This reprieve allowed me to regain partial control. As she rode the waves of pleasure, I slipped out from under her, holding her still on all fours as I positioned myself behind her. That, too, I had fantasized about. It was impossible to join with Ordosian females that way. I pushed myself inside my mate, the searing heat of her tight sheath closing all around me.
I hissed with pleasure, my spikes aching to kick into action. I silenced the urge, giving my mate time to adjust to my girth as I slowly pumped in and out of her. There was something raw and primal about holding my female like this as she submitted to my possession. Serena moaned, and her back arched as she began to rock back and forth in counterpoint to my own movements. Holding her hip with one hand, I caressed her back with the other, letting my claws out to gently scrape her skin.
Serena emitted a strangled cry and turned to look at me over her shoulder. The look of pure lust she gave me echoed straight in my groin. She licked her lips in such a lascivious fashion, the memory of the way it felt swirling around my length when she pleasured me with her mouth slammed into me with dizzying violence. Something snapped inside me. Holding her hips with both hands, my claws digging a bit too forcefully into her tender flesh, I started pounding into her. Serena threw her head back and shouted out with bliss.
On instinct, I leaned forward, slipped my left arm in front of her chest, and lifted her while still thrusting frantically into her. Still kneeling, her back against my chest, Serena twisted to look back at me. I captured her lips in a passionate kiss. My right hand reached for her clitoris, and I allowed my spikes to undulate inside of her.
My mate instantly went off. I swallowed the shout of her climax and tightened my hold around her as spasms of ecstasy rocked her. Like with every time she found release, my mate’s inner walls clamped down on my penis, trying to force my orgasm out of me. I resisted and pursued my attentions until my mate came down from her high.
I released her only long enough to lay her back on the mattress before burying myself deep inside of her again. This time, my gaze never left my mate’s beautiful face as I plowed into her. Goddess, I would never tire of the way Serena looked, her face dissolved in an expression of pure bliss, the way she writhed beneath me—her pelvis gyrating as she met me thrust for thrust, her throaty voice spurring me on, chanting my name, and begging for more—to take her deeper, harder.
I never saw her climax coming. It swept her away so suddenly, I got caught in the tidal wave. I cried out, my seed shooting into my woman with such strength it left me dizzy. My loins were on fire. Each spurt another shot of liquid ecstasy pouring from me. I hadn’t meant to lock with my mate. The head of my penis swelled, sealing my seed inside Serena to increase the chances of conception. At the same time, I felt my mating hormone sac empty itself, sending another shiver of bliss down my spine as it poured into my female. It would attempt to regulate Serena’s hormonal levels to facilitate conception.
It was a pointless endeavor at this time. My female wasn’t in her fertile period—her scent told me as much. Even though I hadn’t intended to do this, I reveled in the connection. I turned us around, cradling my trembling mate in my arms. How I loved the feel of her like this, her body slick with sweat, thrumming from the pleasure I’d given her, clinging to me as if she wished we could be even closer, fused as one body and soul. She seemed so fragile, so vulnerable, and so trusting in her abandon.
I gently caressed her damp hair as she sighed with content, her head resting on my chest. I tightened my embrace, my heart filling with affection and longing as pictures of my mate swelling with our offspring danced before my mind’s eye.
I closed my eyes and fell asleep wearing a wistful smile.
