Page 20 of Mated on Live

“Oh, my god. You can’t feel it, can you? This isn’t spicy to you, is it?”

“I can taste the spices.”

“Not the spices. The capsaicin. It burns. Like, it’s good, don’t get me wrong. But it’s spicy. You really can’t taste that burn?”

“Not really, no.” He frowned thoughtfully. “Though, actually, now that I’m thinking about it, other species don’t tend to like allowee cooking. They do say our food burns. I never really knew what that meant.”

“Si. Es muy picante.”

“What language are you speaking?”

“Español. My other native tongue. I was raised speaking both. Not the point. I’m still wigging out over you not being able to feel a capsaicin burn. That’s fascinating to me.” She was giving him a broad smile over her stew. “Is all allowee food like this?”

“For the most part, I believe. Hard to say for sure since I don’t know what burn you’re talking about. But you do like it, yes?” His eyes darted down to her bowl and back up again. “I can get you something else if you don’t.”

“No, this is fine. Mi familia es de Mexico. I’m used to spicy food. It’s really good.” She scooped up another bite, as though to prove her point. “Still, this is way spicy.”

Serval relaxed as she continued eating. She needed to stop to drink every so often, but she told him that she liked spicy food just fine, despite her brand being built on sweets.

Their conversation through the meal was simple like that. He asked about her family from the place called Mexico. She asked about his. He told her about his mother and father and sister, how they still lived on Wav’aii, and that they often pestered him to come visit. She didn’t seem bothered by that, just laughed and said it was typical of parents and hers did the same.

Once the food was gone and they put their dishes in the washer, they sat back down and faced each other over the table. The casual atmosphere was gone, and she was giving him a searching look with her elbows resting on the table.

“So,” she started simply. “We’re mates.”

“Apparently.”

“But I haven’t triggered you yet?”

“I don’t know if you can. You don’t have any olules for me to wrap mine around.”

“Right. And that’s… a big deal. Right? You said it’s an intimate thing to your people.” She said it with such a carefully neutral tone, but he could see the hurt in her eyes.

“Do not be anxious,” he hastened to reassure her. “It’s alright if you can’t do it. We can enjoy other things together.”

“Like kissing?”

“What is that?”

She started in surprise before answering. “You know, when we, er, touch mouths. And tongues. And stuff. Kissing.”

“Oh. Right. I’ve seen other species doing that.”

“But the allowee don’t?”

He grimaced. Honestly, he didn’t see the allure of swapping saliva with someone. That was much messier than resting his cheek alongside his female’s, their olules entwining them together in the ultimate embrace, as he made love to her.

Of course, his female didn’t have olules…

“That’s okay,” she said quickly. “We don’t have to kiss either.”

He grunted in the negative, shaking his head. It was a human gesture, one that felt odd for him to perform. But, unlike his olules touching her, a kiss wouldn’t hurt him. Even more than that, it was something important to her, and therefore, it was important to him.

“We can try a kiss,” he assured her, offering a smile. “I’ve never had one. So, I can’t say if I would or wouldn’t like it. But I would like to try.”

She smiled, and he knew he said the right thing.

“And I want to try touching your olules.”

---