Page 52 of Holiday with the Aliens

He did. “There’s something weird about us, Detyens, I mean. We built up huge civilizations, kingdoms, and empires, we traveled the galaxy and met hundreds of different species, maybe more. We created great art and loved with all our hearts. And despite all that, we’re doomed to die when we turn thirty if we haven’t yet bonded with our mates.”

“M-mates?” She’d come across the concept before, but never like this. Humans didn’t rely on predestination to choose their partners, and the idea that she coulddieif fate didn’t intervene in time was horrifying. “You called me denya.” It was barely a whisper, but she and Tav were so close that he had to hear every word that came out of her mouth.

“For a long time, Detyens only found their denyai in other Detyens. But recently…” he paused and seemed to gather his courage. “Recently things have changed. And we’ve begun to find the bond with humans. I don’t know why now, or how it works, but it does. There’s even a small group of Detyens that want to start a settlement on Earth in the hopes that they will meet their mates that way. And I called you denya because the moment I saw you, I recognized the connection. You are my mate.”

Even though they were separated from everyone else in the restaurant by the privacy booth, Molly was glad they weren’t having this conversation in private. She wasn’t sure what she’d do if they were alone. Her first instinct was to jump up from the table and accuse him of something, she wasn’t exactly sure what. Her sense caught up to her instinct and made her wonder what she would have done if the first thing she’d heard out of Tav’s mouth was some belief that she was his destined mate and he wanted toclaimher, and she could easily guess what that meant. She would have run away screaming.

And the longer she thought, the more she remembered what that first look at him had been like. It was like she’d known him her whole life, had wanted him forever, and time was just catching up to that fact by introducing them.Finally.

Wait.

Everything screeched to a halt as the other part of what he said became clear. “Youdieif you don’t meet your mate?” Her stomach roiled and then dropped as she imagined the galaxy without Tav in it. He was a shining light, a bright spot in her world, and even if they only knew each other for this short week, she liked to think that he was out there, living it up and thinking of her every so often.

“We die if we do not bond with our mates before our thirtieth birthdays.”

“Bond?” She raised her eyebrows. “Like marriage?”

“Like sex. No, not like sex. Actual sex. Detyens tend to fuck first and ask questions later. Emotional compatibility often follows the bond, but survival is imperative.” He looked at her straight on, a note of defiance mixed with vulnerability clear on his face. He expected her to reject him, to tell him this was all too much, too soon. And, logically, it was.

ButemotionallyMolly had been ready for this from the first minute she saw him. “Were you going to tell me last night? Before we went to bed?”

Tav broke the connection of their gaze and reached for his drink. “I don’t know.”

How would she have taken it? Her skin sizzled with energy, heart rate going double time as a cascade of possibilities washed over her. It seemed wrong, somehow, to have such consequential sex if she didn’t know the full story. But if he’d planned to keep it casual, despite the bond he claimed tied them together, maybe Molly didn’t need to know.

No. That was a bunch of bullshit. Sheabsolutelyhad a right to know. He wanted to bind them together in some way special to his people, and that was her choice to make. “You should have told me before.”

“I am now.”

Silence washed over them and when a robot delivered their meals their silence continued as they ate. Molly felt blindsided. But Tav looked shell shocked. She could hold this against him and turn the rest of their acquaintance into a winter of frigid politeness, or she could accept what he was telling her and give him a chance. What was the Detyen principle? Sex first, love later? If her libido got a vote, it said they had a point.

And her heart was already warmed to him.

“What happens next?” she asked after she pushed her plate aside.

Tav looked up. “After what?”

“If we accept this bond between us, if we… seal it. You said emotional compatibility comes later. But you are leaving the station, and I’ll be going, well, somewhere.” Really, it was getting dire. She’d sent out proposals to several space stations and planets and had yet to hear back. After the party, Molly didn’t have another place to go. “Is this just going to be a fling that happens to save your life?” Her eyes drank him in. It would be no hardship to lay down under him and let her body do the saving. No, that would be herpleasure.

Tav reached out a hand and Molly tentatively placed hers on top of it. She liked the warm feel of his skin against hers. “Come with me,” he offered. “Even if it’s just as transport to your next job. Don’t let this end before it’s run its course.”

“And if it doesn’t?” It was a scary possibility to think about, butfatewas involved and Molly knew that wasn’t a creature to fuck with.

“What doesn’t?”

“This thing between us. If it doesn’t run its course, if we… fall for each other. What then?” She was standing at the edge of a cliff, ready to jump if he just said the right words.

He squeezed her hand and raised it up to his lips. “Then we figure it out. There is no greater blessing than the denya bond. And I would do anything to make you happy, so long as you wanted to stay.”

It could have gone worse. Or, perhaps, it couldn’t have gone better. Molly didn’t run away screaming, and when it was time to return to their duties, she’d held his hand as they traveled through the hallways of the station. Tav had hope, and it was a terrifying thing to possess for a Detyen. His life had been certain to end until he made it to Honora Station, and now his entire future rested on the shoulders of his denya. It was her choice to make, to save him or let him perish. To see if she could love him, or to spite fate for its heavy hand.

In a fit of optimism, he’d left Juuno in charge before leaving the ship for the day in the hopes that he could dedicate himself to assisting Molly. Whether that meant he’d be returning to his own ship, or going back to Molly’s quarters for the night, he didn’t know. But judging from the heated looks she sent him while he worked, he thought the night might end with them together. And even if she wouldn’t fly away with him when this whole thing was over, he’d make this night one to remember, one to hold up to all future nights and wish she could live it over again.

He’d make it worth it for her to take the chance on him. He’d told her that the emotional connection often followed the physical bond, but his heart already ached for her as much ashis body did. He wanted to hold her and take her worries upon himself, to make the world a safe and sheltering place for her and give her the stars and all the planets of every system his ship passed through. He’d never understood the purpose of romance before, but now Molly made him see.

“What are you thinking about?” she asked as the night brought their work to an end.

He couldn’t resist touching her, and rather than pull away, she leaned into him. “You,” he confessed.

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