Page 17 of All You Need is Alien Love
My grandma comes strolling into the kitchen rubbing her stomach. “What’s for dinner? I’m starved.”
Dad chuckles. “One of your Earth favorites. Shepherd’s pie.”
Grandma Iris rubs her hands together with glee. “That’s my boy!” Then she turns to me, a gleam in her eye that makes me instantly wary. “The countdown is on. Are you and River ready for the Sanctioning Ceremony?”
I fight back a groan of irritation. At this point, I just can’t wait to get the damn thing over with. “Don’t worry. We’ve been preparing for weeks now. Besides, this isn’t some kind of test we have to pass. With or without the ceremony, River is my mate and I’m his.”
Grandma Iris looks nonplussed. “I know you’re young and thinking that I’m making a big deal out of some outdated tradition, but I’m just looking out for you both. When you and River travel beyond this planet, your Earth marriage won’t be recognized in the same way as the Sanctioning Ceremony will.”
Dark matter and damn it, but she’s right.
If River and I were going to stay on Earth for the rest of our lives without ever leaving, I wouldn’t care. But I know my mate. I will never hear the end of it if he doesn’t get his grand space adventure.
“You’re right.” I run a hand through my hair and sigh. “I think the stress from this on top of the threat Layne Madison and his cronies pose is getting to me.”
Mom moves to my side and wraps a reassuring arm around me. “Try to enjoy the event as much as you can. Just think of it as a testament to your love for one another on full display for everyone.”
I narrow my eyes at her in suspicion. “Yet you’ve been strangely reticent to discuss your own ceremony with Dad.”
Mom grabs some olives, hurriedly popping them in her mouth. “That was ages ago. Nothing to tell.”
My very direct mother is suddenly having a hard time meeting my eyes.
Dad, with oven mitts on both hands and holding the steaming tray of shepherd’s pie, snorts before he carries it to the dining room table.
There’s clearly a story there but neither of them seems eager to share. I’ll have to get River to wheedle it out of Mom. If anyone can, it’s him.
We all follow Dad and dig into our meal.
As I’m serving myself a second helping, I can’t hold back from asking the one question that’s been plaguing both me and River lately. “Do we really have to abide by this antiquated abstinence requirement for the ceremony?”
Mom starts cackling. “If your dad and I had to suffer through it, so do you.”
“Ellie,darling, it’s important to be honest with our children.” My dad gives my mother a pointed look. “We both know I handled it all far better than you.”
Mom crosses her arms and huffs. “I didn’t realize it was a competition for who could hold out with no sex the longest,darling. Maybe I should test it out on you again?”
Dad’s answering grin is slow and sensual. “Do your worst. We both know I’m going to win that battle.”
Mom curses softly and Dad leans back in his chair with a self-satisfied little smirk.
Ignoring them both, I direct my best forlorn expression at Grandma Iris. “Surely this old-fashioned rule isn’t one we still have to follow in this day and age.”
The look she gives me is amused but determined. “Nice try, Kai. I won’t budge on this. You two only need to keep it in your pants for three nights. That’s nothing in the grand scheme of things.” She waggles her eyebrows. “Besides, it makes the sex afterward out of this world.”
“Fuck yeah, it does,” Mom says around a mouthful of shepherd’s pie.
Dad turns a hot-eyed gaze her way. “Indeed. How well I remember that night.”
Mom leers at him with hearts in her eyes, her grumpiness from a moment ago a thing of the past. “Me too. You gave it to me so hard I saw stars. Then I returned the favor and did that thing with my tentacle you lo?—”
“Gah! TMI, Mom!” I cry, dropping my fork and holding my hands over my ears.
Mom’s answering smirk is wholly unrepentant. “Prostate stimulation isn’t just for gay men, honey. Tentacles are beautiful things, and your Dad and I like to pleasure each other with ours. It’s part of what makes being Iyaran so awesome.”
I cover my face with my hands and moan in exasperation. “Enough, I beg you. I don’t need to know any more about my parents’ sex life.”
Grandma Iris snickers. “I mean this in the most loving way possible, but don’t be such a prude, Kai. Sex is a natural thing. Iyarans are a lusty, long-lived people. Our libidos remain healthy and active for far longer than some other species. Why, your grandfather and I still?—”
