Page 35 of Her Alien Warrior
"I doubt he'd fire you from your internship for liking him," I assured her. He didn't seem the type.
Becky rubbed her face. "I'm hiding out here, so I don't accidentally run intoher. I only saw her in passing a few times, but I tingle all over when I do. I know, I know," she shook her head, "General Sou-el told me that humans are more susceptible to alien pheromones, which is why I'm avoiding her all together."
"Wait," I stared at her with confusion, "Who are you talking about?" She clearly used the pronoun 'her' and wasn't talking about General Sou-el…
"Uh, no, weird. I've seen him eye-fucking you when you weren't looking, and I'll have no part of that."
I sighed with relief, and Becky grinned at me in recognition.
"Leaveit to you, mom, to pick someone not even in the program to be interested in."
"I'm nervous," I admitted. "But, let's talk about who this general is?" I wanted to know more about who she was interested in, and I didn't realize she was interested in girls the same way her sister was? That was news to me. She never really seemed interested in anyone before, male or female.
Becky's elation sobered. "You thought you wouldn't meet anyone you liked, and return to dad? Mom," she sounded like she was chastising me, the roles reversed from parent to child, "I talked with dad," she began, and I knew she was going to say what I already knew going into this, her hand landed on my knee in support, "He just wants you to be happy."
I choked on a sob. Why did Tyler have to be so fucking perfect? He was a soft place for my soul to land after so many heartbreaks. The reason I was so healed to even be here at all, was because he loved me. My best friend, and I was betraying him. Why did my daughters have to be so perfectly understandable and supportive? She was focusing on me instead of telling me more about her interest in this general.
"No, no, no," Becky soothed, trying to wipe at my cheeks, and I felt even more awful for putting this on her shoulders. What a mess I was. She should be able to talk to me about anything, and I was here talking about my own troubles. "I didn't mean it that way. He loves you and told me he should have let you go a long time ago, but he was selfish and comfortable. He gave me a bighug and told me he wants all his girls to find passion in life and not settle for less. He was what you needed to be ready to love again, and you're still his best friend. Make mistakes, be passionate, and maybe one of those times you'll find the kind of love we all hope for."
"When did you become so wise?" I hooked her head with my elbow and brought her into my chest to squeeze.
"Whatever," she said with a chuckle. "Just stop crying. You're probably getting snot in my hair."
"Gross," I joked and rubbed my chin into the top of her head to pretend I was wiping my snot on her. She pushed away and playfully batted at me to stop.
I took a deep breath and asked her seriously, "Tell me more about this general of yours?"
"Later, I'm not really ready for that. Hence, hiding out in my room. But maybe, if I still see her when I'm on Trillume… when she's off duty, maybe?"
I assumed this general was a necia warrior and instead diverted to what we would both have interest in, "Do you have a file on necia customs? I was wondering how you go about dating a warrior?"
"You've come to the right place," she boasted, confirming my suspicions that this general was a necia warrior. "They are a very open species when it comes to mating. I've been observing some of the other groups and it gets hot in there when a couple decides to bath each other. So, you have to be okay withpublic displays of affection, and please for the love of my future eye-sight, make sure I'm nowhere near your activities with General Sou-el. I'd like to still have eyeballs by the end of my internship, and I'd rather not pluck them out by seeing you do stuff."
"How do they handle children in these scenarios?" I wondered.
"Ah, spawnlings," she said with a nod, "Everything I can find so far makes me think they have a designated area for bathings and during ceremonies they are kept with elders until they are initiated into the tribe, like a coming-of-age ceremony. But they certainly don't hide their activities from the spawnlings, it is considered normal like it is in the animal kingdom on Earth. Privacy is a social construct, and many of the rooms here are never locked, excepting offices that may have sensitive information or supplies.
"They even accept more than one mate for procreation if their chosen mate is the same gender. Apparently, warriors think it a great honor to be chosen by a same sex mated coupling and give their genetics to their offspring."
"Being a species with honor, they have a lot of trust that their tribe will respect their laws," I mused, thinking of the trust that would take to not lock their doors, or share their mates with another.
"Most of the ship's warriors are on some kind of suppressant that holds back their instincts to rut when around a compatiblemate. Even the attraction studies have warriors on suppressants, so that they comply with their laws involving consent of species that can't defend themselves against ancient rituals of courtship."
"Have you already seen warriors in rut?" I asked in surprise.
She giggled. "Sorry, that's not very professional, is it? I have access to a bunch of videos and files on mating and attraction that I'm allowed to study. When the commander dismissed me, I came back here and studied. They have a ritual called Rakture where the mates fight each other and it's meant to prove the male can defend their mate, but also prove the female is capable of strong offspring. It goes until first blood, where if the female mate makes the male bleed first, they have a choice to bathe in their victory, but if the male makes the female bleed first then they can claim their right to bathe in their victory. Females are known to be stronger than the male warriors, so for a male to get first blood is a sign they are either strong or the female approves of the mating match.
"Pretty remarkable, right?"
"It sounds like a documentary on animals," I admitted with concern. I was not a warrior with any skill to battle for a mate like that, and if that was a tribal expectation I was screwed.
"They also have Rakturan rituals where they prove themselves to already mated warriors. It's a less violent practice, where they make offerings to one another, and eventually do a claimingritual in front of the tribe where the warriors prove no one could take care of the mate better than them."
"And how do you do that one?" I asked, a little too eagerly.
"They trade tokens of blood with one another, so their connection grows. When both have traded in blood then they prove the bond is formed by having one of the mates run away, and the other must hunt them. They claim them with the tribe as witness."
My heart raced thinking of Sou-el tracking me through a forest while I had no intention of hiding from him. A smile tugged at the sides of my mouth and though I'd never been chased before the idea wasn't all that unappealing. But we weren't on a planet with a forest, and I'd known him for less than a week. Thinking about rutting, and mating are two very different things. Was I ready for something like that?
