Page 31 of Kameer's Mate
I gulp past the burning in my throat. “Yes. He always spent time with me and my sister. He was a genuinely nice man, and I miss him.” I don’t add that he was nothing like my father. I don’t admit he was the only person who would sometimes stand up to my father and successfully talk him down from his rages.
A long silence stretches between us, and I try to remain quiet and not show any interest in Kameer’s life or his past or his late family members, but fuck it, I’m starting to feel like an asshole.
Maybe it won’t hurt if I ask him just a few questions about himself. I mean, maybe I won’t like what I hear. Maybe I’ll learn something that will make it easier to dislike him.
“So,” I begin in a cautious tone, “what about you? Do you have any family members in the Darrvason fleet?”
His visage hardens a bit, though I don’t get the sense that he’s angry at me for asking. He gives a rare slow blink andglances out the viewscreen. Then he returns his gaze to me, and there’s no mistaking the haunted look he’s wearing. “I lost nearly everyone I cared about during the war against the Yelltzins,” he finally says. “Including my mate, Xersonna. We were mated for but two moon cycles before I was called to fight in the war and…” His voice trails off and his fingers tighten around the utensil he's holding.
“I heard about what happened to planet Darrva. What the Yelltzins did. I’m so sorry. I-I didn’t know you had a mate. I didn’t realize you were old enough to have been mated back then.” I mean it. I am sorry. I cannot fathom the loss of life and the collective grief the Darrvasons have suffered. Yes, humankind had to leave millions behind on Earth, but it happened several decades ago, well before my lifetime, and I’ve met very few people on theJansonnawho remember what it was like.
His lips twitch as a faraway look descends on him. “I was barely twenty when I mated with Xersonna, and she had just turned nineteen. We were betrothed for several years, an arrangement made between our families, when she went into heat and I took her as my mate.” He leans forward. “Most Darrvason males are older when they claim a mate, but our females are usually around nineteen. But her father didn’t care about my age. I suppose he cared more about my fortune and the engineering feats I’d already performed to help our people.”
“When she went into heat? I don’t quite understand what that means.” A flush overtakes me, and I almost regret asking for clarification, but I’m suddenly too curious about the mating practices of Darrvasons to keep silent.
“Our females reach maturity at the age of nineteen, and not long after this birthday they usually experience their first heat. They are given to their mate at this time.” When he notices my continued confusion, he adds, “Heat means she’s sexuallyreceptive and ready to mate, and she’s ovulating and could easily become pregnant.”
“I think I understand.” My face has never felt hotter. “Thanks for explaining.” Well, I guess that’s why the Darrvasons want human females in thenineteento twenty-five age range, even though humans traditionally reach adulthood at the age of eighteen. “So, then you’re about forty-five, or forty-six years old?” I think I remember hearing that Darrva was destroyed twenty-five years ago, and if he was twenty when he mated with Xersonna…
“Yes, I’ll be forty-six in three moon cycles.”
Wow. I hadn’t realized he was twice my age. But at least he’s not old enough to be my grandfather. I push away thoughts of Ned. I also try not to think about the fact that Kameer is only four years younger than my father.
We finish our meal and clean up, neither of us saying much. I sense he’s lost in thoughts of the past, and I can’t help but wonder if he’d loved Xersonna. I don’t have the courage to ask.
There are a lot of things I don’t have the courage to ask Kameer. Like whether he killed Ned or perhaps ordered his death. And whether he’ll restrict my time spent with my family once he learns what an ass my father can be. Or if he’ll be reluctant to let me visit the human settlement if there’s unrest.
After the kitchen and dining room are clean, Kameer lifts me in his arms and carries me to the bedroom. He settles a heated gaze on me, and his nostrils flare as he inhales deeply. My pulse quickens and I flush. How am I getting excited already? Why can’t I stop it? Do Darrvason females have it worse when they experience their first heat?
A scary thought hits me. One that I never considered until now. What if Kameer gets me pregnant soon? Oh, God, there would be no leaving him if that happened. Even without the formation of the heartbond, he’s so eager to breed me (as manytimes as safely possible—his exact words) that I doubt he would ever part with me if I gave birth to his child.
But how can I stop him? Locked in his quarters, I don’t have access to any methods of contraception. Not that I really know much about that sort of thing.
A growl resounds from Kameer’s throat as he sets me down next to the bed. My heart races faster and heat spasms in my core.
He’s going to claim me. Even though I’m still sore from yesterday’s numerous mating sessions, he’s going to claim me. Because he wants a blasted heartbond to form between us, and because he wants to plant his seed in my womb.
I tremble with need as he begins to remove my clothing.
“Pretty human, I am going to rut you sofluxxinghard.”
Chapter 16
KAMEER
I hadn’t plannedto tell Mandy about Xersonna so soon, but when she’d inquired about my living family members, of which there are none, I couldn’t in good conscience omit a mention of my late mate. We’d shared a heartbond, and though our mating union was short-lived, I had cared for the female. I had grieved her death.
As I finish undressing Mandy, I turn her in my arms and immediately become lost in her dark brown eyes. There’s an intimacy between us that I haven’t detected before, a mutual understanding. I believe our talk over dinner, when we spoke of departed family members, served to bring us closer.
We both know loss. We both know pain.
My gaze rakes over her petite but curvy form, and another growl leaves me when her nipples harden as she shifts in place and presses her thighs together. The scent of her arousal hovers thick in the air, and my mouth waters as I consider having a taste. But my dual shafts are also aching, and I’m eager to beburied deep in her tight little pussy, eager to pound her until I spurt my seed in her depths.
Not only is the heartbond more likely to form if I rut her frequently, but she’s also more likely to get with child. I run my hands down her stomach as I imagine this part of her growing to accommodate a baby.Our baby.
How many offspring will she manage to birth?Fluxx, I can’t help but wonder, and I find myself looking forward to becoming a father, far more than I had with Xersonna, though I experience a stab of guilt for this particular thought. Perhaps now that I’m older and have a better grasp on life and understand the pain of loss, starting a family holds more meaning for me than it did in my youth.
“You are beautiful, Mandy.” I’ve complimented her loveliness numerous times, and she usually doesn’t respond or react in any way, but she surprises me now with a tiny smile.
