Page 113 of Right Next Door
Almost. She came to a halt. Looking over her shoulder. Smiling as she gathered her skirt in her hands, heart thumping excitedly in her chest.
The way he looked at her. Like she was every fantasy come to life, like he wanted to treasure and devour her in equal measure. It tingled along her skin like a caress as she laughed, her own gaze moving up and down his body, appreciating him.
His black fur really did look good in white. The robe he wore was half off, one shoulder completely exposed, revealing the arm she had worked so hard to braid. Displaying, with pride, the marks she had placed upon him. There was only a small bit of embroidery on the sleeves of his robe, but she recognized fellbud flowers depicted in black thread. His jewelry was all silver, encrusted with diamonds, including the nasal filter that seemed so prominent on his face today.
He stepped towards her, a gleam in his eye that heated her all over. She almost forgot their script as he reached for her.
Chapter 40
Tsok
Tsok knew what to expect. They’d practiced and rehearsed this already. The lines they spoke were traditional ones, adapted a bit to fit the modern need for them. But, other than that, this was all to be expected of a kreecharma ceremony.
Including the turn Misty did to prove she was unharmed. Not just to show off her unmarked, unbroken body, but to show, in movement, that nothing bad had befallen her.
But the way she did it…
Misty chose not to wear a dress that was either fully human or kreecharma in style. Instead, she combined them. The open shoulders with a low, wrapped style bodice was very similar to kreecharma female formal wear. But the tight sleeves down her arms, ending in a silver ring that slid over her middle finger was only human. There was a tie around her waist in the kreecharma style, but it tied behind her back, ending in a long train over her skirt in a human fashion. The skirt was open in the front, all the way to her thighs, like a kreecharma robe, but the skirt itself was long, flowy, with a train in a totally human way. The skirt was completely embroidered with floral designs like a kreecharmarobe, but it was the same color as the skirt, visible only in the slight shadow cast by the very small difference in height and texture in a distinctly non-kreecharma way.
The gown she chose was primarily black – the skirt, the bodice, the majority of the embroidery, all shimmering black satin that hugged her body from the waist up. But it was trimmed in beautiful, delicate, white lace that peeked out along her bodice, at her hands, along the hem of her skirt. The tie around her waist was white as well. A pop of bright contrast that highlighted the entire outfit, and the gleam of delight in her eyes as she smiled, spinning.
As she spun, her skirt lifted clear off the ground. And as it whipped around, bright white sparks came flying out. Harmless, pretty lights that made her gleam like the night sky but greater. His stunning mate, a vision of celestial divinity, spun around in front of him. Laughing brightly, silver rings clicking at her neck. Silver piercings dotting her face.
And there, over her nose, a little, human sized nasal filter. It hooked around her nose piercings, diamonds gleaming over her nostrils exactly the same as his. He knew it was going to be there. That she would be wearing one to take it off formally tomorrow, but it was a completely different thing to actually see her wearing it.
It looked so good on her. She was so unbelievably beautiful.
And he couldn’t wait to rip the darling, offending thing away.
He felt deliciously like he was stalking towards her as he closed the distance between them. Everything in him demanded that he grab and take her away. There were too many eyes on them. Too many other males around his unmarked female.
He wasn’t in his rut, but he was accepting his instincts. Embracing the primal part of him that his people had beentrying for centuries to suppress. Hundreds of years that didn’t at all compare to the millennia of evolution that lay dormant but waiting in his body.
It was a fight to keep himself under control, but he did allow himself to put an arm around her waist and pull her into his side. She didn’t seem at all surprised by the movement though it wasn’t part of their rehearsal. She smiled at him so enticingly, the yearning for her burned in his chest like a deep, aching, wonderful pain.
It was an effort to rip his eyes from her to address the gathered crowd. He had to actually think about what he was supposed to say, the script driven from his mind by the soft warmth of her body molding so easily to his.
“We thank you all for coming and bearing witness to our mating!” He declared confidently. “I am Tsok, and it is my intention to claim this female as my mate!”
“I am Misty,” she piped up immediately, her hand running up his back. “And it is my intention to claim this male as my mate!”
They stepped to the edge, and that part of the balcony detached, lowering them to the ground. They stepped off together, approaching the High Imperium. They were waiting there at the front of the crowd, their expression completely concealed, but Tsok was somehow certain that they were both pleased and amused by the entire ceremony.
The officiant was a position from the human ceremonies. Kreecharma mating celebrations didn’t have need of one since, traditionally, they had no vows to make. They would have just presented themselves and their mating to the audience and the party would have begun.
But this was where they incorporated human traditions.
“Your Imperial Excellency,” Tsok started grandly, heart pumping with excitement. This wasn’t his custom, but he could feel the power of it imprinting into his bones. It might not be their tradition now, but this was the start of their future.
The start of owning and belonging to his female. And all his instincts were shrieking. For the first time in his life, he was eager to listen to them.
“Would you do us the honor of witnessing our vows?”
The Imperium’s combot flashed. “It would be my pleasure and privilege. Tsok, are you here willingly and without coercion or bribe?”
“I am,” he assured them.
They turned ever so slightly. “And you, Misty, are you here willingly and without coercion or bribe?”
