Page 19 of Earth Girls are Easy… To Dominate
“Um, no, that’s okay,” Samulin said. “I’m sure I’ll find him.”
“Okay,” Emery said. “But for future reference, Bralix’s room is the one next door.” Emery nodded at the wall behind her, then winked. The doors after that are the bathroom, the kitchen and then the cockpit.”
“Thanks,” Samulin said, then stepped out of Emery’s doorway before she changed her mind and crawled in under the covers with her instead.
The doorway to the cockpit stood open, and she could see Phyrax sprawled in one of the seats, the chair swivelled around to face away from the large display. His hands were folded over his belly in a relaxed pose while he spoke, presumably to Bralix. On the display beyond Phyrax was Earth with Australia and New Zeeland facing them, and the moon very much in the background. Growing up with diagrams in textbooks, she’d always been under the impression the moon was a lot closer to earth than this. It could have been a digital image from a camera, or a window of some kind, but either way, it was awe-inspiring to see her home planet like this.
She should be feeling homesick, seeing her home planet like this. She should feel anxious to return.
Phyrax paused when he noticed her standing in the doorway, and his head tilted as he studied her. “Samulin,” Phyrax said gently, trying to enunciate her name clearly in their alien accent, then glanced at Bralix before returning his attention to her. He said something else that she didn’t understand, but she heard Bralix’s name.
She heard the creak of a chair, then Bralix’s head appeared just beyond the doorway as he leaned forward to see her. Samulin nodded. “Bralix,” she said, pointing in his direction.
Bralix’s eyes brightened as he saw her, “Samulin,” he said.
“Bralix,” she breathed, her chest immediately feeling lighter at seeing him. She approached, and without overthinking it, without waiting for an invitation, she climbed into his lap.
He smelled like a garden after it rained; fresh, clean andalive. Curling up in his lap with her legs to one side, she clutched his shirt in her fist and nuzzled the fabric with her cheek, and when he folded his arms around her, she let out a deep sigh.
This is where I belong.
She could feel Bralix and Phyrax studying her, confused as to why she’d sought them out, but a minute later they resumed their conversation. She let their voices, incomprehensible, yet soothing, wash over her as white noise. She could feel Bralix’s weight shift as he made himself more comfortable with her on his lap, and soon the chair started to creak rhythmically as it rocked in tiny movements backwards and forwards.
She could very easily drift off to dreamland like this; instead, she allowed herself to enjoy being held, and she realized that therein lay her answer. It wasn’t about the sex—although it was pretty fantastic. In just three days, he’d quietly becomehome.
Sometime later she heard the other chair creak as Phyrax stood. He said something to Bralix, then he put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed before he left them.
Silence fell over the cockpit, but for the rhythmic creaking of the chair they were sitting on. They were alone, and her decision made, there was no good reason not to tell him.
But her heart started to race, and her stomach clenched; telling him might change everything, and there was an even chance that the outcome could be everything she ever wanted, or her biggest nightmare.
Scraping together the courage, she cleared her throat. “Bralix,” she said, her voice small in the silence. “I have something to tell you.”
He froze, and his muscles tensed, but a moment later the rocking resumed.
“I want to stay,” she said, “but I’m afraid.”
The rocking stopped. She felt him press his lips to the top of her head, then he picked her up by her waist and repositioned her to straddle his lap. One hand on her hip, the other on her cheek, he tilted her head up with his thumb under her chin so that he could see her face. She clenched her lips between her teeth, a nervous habit to help her stave off tears, but he gently pulled her lips out from between her teeth and caressed the lower one with his thumb. “Veine groone,”he said softly, then nodded expectantly.
Taking a deep breath, she braced herself to tell him the truth.
Bralix braced himself for Samulin’s answer. He barely dared to breathe, but sensed that right then, he couldn’t afford to fall apart. Samulin needed him. He wished he was able to reassure her, but for the time being all he could do was to listen.
Then again, perhaps that’s exactly what’s needed.
“We’ve only known each other for three days,” she said softly. “That’s hardly enough time to commit to a lifetime. Humans sometimes take years before they decide to marry, and even then, marriages often end in divorce. I cannot divorce you, especially not if we leave Earth behind, and especially not if I get a creature permanently implanted in my brain instead of a wedding ring. I’d be giving you all of me, trusting you with my safety, well-being and happiness for the rest of my life, and that is terrifying, because in three days, I simply don’t know you that well. On the other hand, the only way for me to get to know you, is to make that lifetime commitment.”
Bralix took a shaky breath, but nodded for her to continue.
“I’m scared that if I agree to be your mate, I’d be your slave. It’s not even about us being different species; there are marriages on earth, between humans, where a woman would leave her country, cross an ocean to marry a man she’s never met, and end up essentially a slave in a strange country.”
Samulin took a shaky breath, then looked him in the eye. “And my biggest fear… I’m pregnant.”
Bralix blinked in surprize.
Pregnant?
They were different species. The likelihood that their genomes would ever mingle to create viable offspring were slim to none. Their genetics were very likely incompatible for procreation, which was why Bralix had already deduced that their greatest chance of raising young together would be to implant a Nef’eal egg in her body. Not being the biological parent of her young didn’t bother him, but the thought of her DNA expressed in another small human filled him with unexpected yearning.
