“Thank you for everything, Kayog,” Susan said with a grateful expression.
“Indeed,” I replied, nodding at the agent.
“Expect your belongings in a day or two, with a little wedding gift from the agency,” the Temern added, with a wink for my mate.
“Okay,” she replied, her face softening in a way that I found intriguing.
The agent waved goodbye, his wings shifting as he slowly walked away. I turned back to my mate, who once more looked uncertain and slightly intimidated. I could understand those feelings. It had to be frightening to uproot oneself and move to a foreign planet to live among strange people of a completely different species.
“Come, my mate. It is time for you to discover your new home,” I said, picking up her bag.
She gave me a shaky smile and followed me outside.
Chapter 3
Susan
As I followed that beast of a male I’d just married, I kept reminding myself that Temerns didn’t make mistakes with their matchmaking. I wasn’t a social butterfly, but I’d never felt this awkward around a stranger. He knew nothing of humans. Nothing! It struck me once more as pretty reckless on his part to have agreed to marrying a species he was this unfamiliar with. What else was he this frivolous about? On top of that, he didn’t seem particularly impressed with me or interested either. Frankly, I rather felt the same about him.
To be fair, I couldn’t complain about his appearance. Granted, he didn’t exactly fit in my default definition of beauty based on human aesthetic. However, as a lizardman, Olix’s features were harmonious. I’d always liked a tall man, and my husband towered over me by a good head and a half. Despite being extremely muscular, he wasn’t bulky with excessively bulging muscles as bodybuilders sometimes got. His mostly green scales were quite beautiful, some of them shimmering like emeralds under the sun, while the black scales shone like the finest obsidian. There was something elegant and lethal in the way he walked, silent and fluid like a predator.
During my flight here, I’d read everything I could about the Andturians. Their propensity to walk around naked bothered me to no end. At least, their tails hid their butt cracks and the males had retractable dicks. A good thing, too, considering the decorative loincloth Olix was wearing really didn’t hide much. Otherwise, the slightest gust of wind would have exposed the goods. An anatomy essay on the Andturians allowed me to see that the way the scales fell in front of their female’s vagina also hid the slit. It wasn’t out of modesty but a natural adaptation to prevent unwanted stuff from getting in.
In direct contrast, the farming colony on Meterion was quite prudish. Although it had lost its religious colony status over the centuries, some of the old ways of the Pilgrims had endured. We didn’t expose our naked bodies to others, and we didn’t sleep around. While purity was no longer a requirement, whether for a male or female, many of us—including yours truly—waited to be married to lie with someone. It was in large part due to the difficulty of accessing contraceptives and the importance of birthright when it came to land inheritance. Impregnating a first or second daughter was a good way for a man to elevate his status and living conditions.
And now, my first time getting laid was going to be with a male who didn’t even know what a kiss was. Fan-freaking-tastic…
I wasn’t totally clueless. I’d kissed a man or two, given a few hand jobs, although never any blowjobs. But what was my wedding night with Olix going to be like when, by all accounts, his species didn’t do foreplay? Their females self-lubricated on demand, and the males usually took their females from behind. They just got straight down to business: wham, bam, thank you Ma’am. I could only hope we’d have some time to discuss the how and why before doing the deed.
Will he even be able to get it up for me, considering how unimpressed he was by my looks?
Being a woman had its advantages. While I prayed he wouldn’t split me in half, as long as he was gentle, the burden rested on him. Worst case scenario, I’d just lie on my back, close my eyes, and think happy thoughts while he performed his duty.
However, all such wandering thoughts came to a screeching halt when, only a short walk from the spaceport’s main entrance, I spotted a massive beast, looking completely out of place amidst a series of personal shuttles. It looked like the offspring of a razorback mixed with a rhinoceros on steroids. It had the face of a rhino with the two central horns, but the snout of a boar with a pair of extra-long and thick tusks framing its maw. From a distance, its skin resembled the rough one of a rhino, but on closer inspection, it turned out to be thick scales in various shades of light grey to almost black.
The creature’s terrifying looks didn’t faze me, but the width of its back would have me almost doing the splits. And the pointy ridge of its spine, interspersed with bone spikes—rounded though their tips were—would wreck my hoo-hah and my butt just sitting on it while stationary. I didn’t even want to imagine what it would do to my nether region once it started galloping.
I had noticed Kayog’s distraught expression when Olix had mentioned we would be riding to his village on a mraka. I had imagined some crazy speeder flying so fast we’d crash into a tree or something. But this?
Olix’s proud smile as he came to a stop next to the creature faded the minute he looked at me. I didn’t need a mirror to know what horrified expression my face clearly displayed.
“Do not be frightened, Susan,” Olix said in a gentle voice laced with worry.
Under different circumstances, I’d be enjoying its deep, grumbling quality, with a slightly sibilant undertone. My husband had a rather sexy accent as he spoke Universal.
“Despite his appearance, Haju is a gentle creature with people,” Olix continued. “He is a well-trained mount and will take us home quickly and safely.”
“I… I’m not scared of his appearance,” I said carefully. “But I don’t see a saddle on his back.”
Olix recoiled and gave me an almost offended look. “Only younglings use saddles, and even then, rarely. Do you not trust my ability to remain steady on a mount?”
“Oh, I do not doubtyourabilities at all,” I replied quickly. “ButIwillneverbeableto ride that creature as is. He’s much too wide for me, and his spine will wreck me down there,” I added, my face heating as I gestured in the general area of my nether region.
Olix’s lizard eyes widened as he stared at my crotch with dismay.
“Why would it wreck you?” he asked, confused. “Our females ride them all the time without any problem. I will hold you, too.”
“Like you, your females have scales down there to protect them from the hard edges and texture of that creature’s scales. I’m soft skinned like this everywhere,” I argued, pinching the skin of my forearm to show him. “When it starts galloping, it will be like hacking at the meat of prey with a rusty knife, except that meat will be my private parts. It will split me in half, and I will die in horrible pain.”