Page 12 of Mated on Live

If it all worked out, there really were no losses here.

The meeting room on the starship was a simple thing. She would call it a lounge, with seating along two walls, a table in the center with more chairs, and a cute, yellow plant in one corner. There were three cameras set up in two corners and one pointing at the door. Sophie waved high to them, beaming, as she set the box of chocolates on the table.

Then she turned, adjusted her skirt, her top, her hair. She fluttered her hands nervously, shifting her weight from foot to foot, and she waited.

It didn’t take long.

Movement in the hallway outside, beyond the sliding door, made her stiffen. She licked her lips nervously. The door beeped, then whooshed open.

And there he was.

The male that stepped in was gorgeous, in an absolutely alien way.

His skin was such a pale blue, it bordered on white, while his hair was a deep, navy blue. The sharp contrast startled her. The long, thick locks, each about the size of her two of her fingers put together, were held back in a loose tie. And they were moving!

They weren’t locks at all! He had tentacles on his head. They were as long as her hair, reaching, past his shoulders, with one of them out of the tie and framing his unusually shaped face.

He had two eyes, a nose, and a mouth, but there was something about the way that they were shaped that just wasn’t human. His eyes were too big – golden brown, but more gold than brown, with a large, round pupil. He had no eyebrows, and his lashes weren’t lashes. They weren’t hairs, they were little barbs connected by webbing that winged off of his eyes. His nasal bridge didn’t slope in, but stayed round and straight right to the slits that were his nostrils, over a pair of thin lips. But his cheekbones were high, and his jawline was strong, leading back to a pair of ears that were topped with fins, like his eyelashes.

Aquatic. He was definitely aquatic.

He stepped into the room, walking with his head high, strong and confident. His body was muscular, more broad and powerful than she would have expected from a swimmer. But maybe she just didn’t have the right perspective considering how much taller he was than her. As he got closer, her head fell back, and she had to look up at the man.

Male.

Alien.

“Woah,” she breathed, without really thinking. His brow, though hairless, still rose as he looked at her, an appreciative gleam in his strange eyes.

“Hello,” he greeted in strangely accented English. She had gotten the Standard language imprinted in her head, and he had gotten English, so they could speak to each other. He chose English since they were on camera.

Sophie giggled, nervously pushing her hair behind her ear. He was gorgeous. “Hi.”

“Funny?”

“What’s funny?”

“You’re laughing.”

“Oh, I was?” She giggled again, belly tightening was nerves and excitement.

Her mate? Right? This was him? Her soul had chosen correctly because the whole merman on land vibe was doing wonderful things for her.

“I believe, at a first meeting, a handshake is the standard human greeting,” he said in a deep, sonorous voice, reaching out a hand. And he had webs between his fingers! More than that, he had a fin right there on his forearm that was tipped with a hard, bony spike at the end.

“Right, yeah,” Sophie gave him her hand, unsurprised by the electricity that sparked up her arm when he gently shook it. Not quite how it was supposed to be done, the movement was too smooth, more like a wave than a shake, but his skin was warm, and his grip was firm, and his fingers were long. All she could think about was having that hand on her body.

His clothes were simple. A pair of black pants that flared around his thick boots. They were tight on his thighs though and highlighted a wonderfully large bulge right there at his groin. His shirt was white, like hers, with three-quarter sleeves up past his forearm fins. It seemed to wrap around his torso, a ‘V’ at the top showing off his smooth, hairless chest.

Simple, but the outfit was doing everything for him. Every line of his body was highlighted to its best, showing him off like he was ready for the runway.

“Can I have your name, pretty female?” He asked, tempting her like a fae of old.

And it was a trap she was happy to fall into. “Sophie. I’m Sophie.”

“You are… more beautiful than I expected,” he whispered, his voice low and appreciative.

She giggled breathlessly again, all her usual charm and ease completely gone as she looked into those golden, inhuman eyes. She had no idea she was into this, but now that she was confronted by it, her entire body tightened with need as all her hormones pointed directly at him like – yes, this is what we’ve been after the whole time.

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