Page 42 of Chieftain
Humans could mate with other species and, thanks to the Garoot Healer, produce offspring like Dixa and Siemba. I knew of other hybrid couples in the Alliance. I'd even heard of a lone peaceful Kerzak mating with a human.
Vaktaire were different. Where Kerzak completed a blood marking with their mates, and Stranac used scent to mark their females, the mating mark of the Vaktaire was more intense.
The Valakana.
The moment our goddess Valana blesses the union between a Vaktaire male and female. The moment a Vaktaire’s heart ceases to beat to unify with and then evermore pulsing in harmony with his true mate. The moment is fraught and not without pain, but the joy of finding one's true mate is worth any discomfort.
Only a Vaktaire could withstand the Valakana. My people told tales of the tragedy of other species attempting to form a true mate connection with the Vaktaire, only to meet tragedy.
In my experience, attempting to form a true mate bond with another species proved heartbreaking. During the Romvesian-Vaktaire skirmish, my comrade Taviik met and favored a Romvesian female warrior. The female was strong and battle-honed. Even our elders thought she might survive the Valakana. I will never forget watching the hope fade from Taviik's eyes as he realized his female's heart was not strong enough. She survived the initial ceremony, lingering unconscious for days afterward, which made her death harder for Taviik. He left our home world soon after.
I could choose Emmy, like in the human custom of mating. I could care for and protect her, even father children with her, but she would never become my true mate. I could never claim her in the eyes of my people. I could never utter a prayer to Valana asking the goddess to bless my choice, as was the way of my people. To utter such words would end with her death.
"Take pleasure if you must," Charick said, his tone sad. "You will not be the first of us to fall to a human's charms. Just know that is all you can ever have with her."
I couldn't muster an answer for my friend, instead stamping away from him and into the hallway as I struggled with my decision. The metallic floor echoed my footsteps, like the hollow and lonely echoes of my heart.
I wanted her. My desire for her was a part of me now, just as the blood running through my veins. It curled along my neck and over my shoulders like smoke from a flame spiraling in the air. The memory of her sweet scent tickled my nose and caught at the back of my throat, pooling and curling toward my heart. The desire to feel the soft, sweet taste of her lips was hunger as keen as anything I'd ever known.
How her fingers flexed around my arm as we came aboard the Bardaga filled me with savage pride. When Orzon spirited her away to Medi-Bay, I nearly throttled the diminutive Framaddi, despite knowing he only completed the duty assigned to him.
She would be in her quarters by now. The stench of Lernax Centauri washed from her skin, curls still damp from her bath. I could let myself imagine her smile as I walked through the door. Would she eagerly come into my arms? Or would she be flirty and playful, making me earn another kiss?
She can never be your true mate.
Charick’s words taunted my fantasy.
Emmy wanted me. I knew that from the way she reacted when we kissed. Would she want a life in the shadows, never being seen as anything more than my mistress? Would she wanta life knowing that despite how I treated her in private, publicly, she would be regarded as less? Emmy was smart and strong, and fearless, a jewel among females. Could she tolerate being considered less?
Perhaps Charick was right, and I should suggest to Emmy that we find pleasure together without the idea of it being anything more. When the time came, we could part; her to Tau Ceti and me back to my duties in Earth’s orbit.
The problem was... I wanted more.
Much, much more.
And I knew, deep inside, where truth lived without logic, I knew I could never let her go.
Finding myself stopped in front of Emmy's door wasn't surprising. Neither was how my hand shot up and tapped on the metal sharply. What surprised me was the soft giggle preceding a breathless invitation.
“Come in.”
I waved my hand over the access panel and stepped inside.
At first, I didn't see her, noticing the tray of untouched food sitting on the low table and her discarded at the foot of her bed. Another musical navigated my gaze to the cleansing room doorway. Her vibrant curls were damp from the cleanser, and her soft skin gleamed. She held a white drying cloth around her body and gazed up at me with sparkling green eyes. The sight of her eddied every thought from my brain, along with every argument that I shouldn't be here, that she shouldn't be in my arms.
"I'm so glad you came. I've been thinking about you,” Emmy said in a low, sultry voice sending shivers down my spine.She stepped closer, and the towel around her waist shifted, barely covering her curves. I felt my heart stumble as I tried to move toward her, but my feet stayed rooted.
"I thought of you, too," I uttered with an involuntary smile. The mere sight of her had such an overwhelming effect I could scarcely remember how to speak. "I would like to learn more about kissing.”
“Hmmm,” Emmy’s smile went straight to my groin. “I think I can go along with that on one condition.”
"What's that?" At this point, I would do anything she asked. Fight a Kerzak with my bare hands, blast myself out of an airlock. Anything.
A faint sigh escaped her lips as she looked up at me, her green eyes half-lidded and heavy with desire. Her body moved towards me, radiating heat in the small space between us and a heady arousal aroma.
“This time,” Emmy began, her voice throaty and breathless. “You have to kiss me all over.”
There was only a moment to register her words before the towel fell away from her naked body.
