Page 9 of Double Her Pleasure

“I’m afraid that is another difference between our species,” he rumbled with amusement. “We tend to bond very quickly. To us, all this is normal, but I can see how that could be disconcerting for someone of another species.”

She shook her head. “I mean, sure, you’re talking of instincts that I don’t particularly possess. There is attraction, I won’t deny that, but we don’t know each other enough to feel anything more than that.”

“And it takes how long to know someone? Or that it’s even possible to truly know someone. You can spend revolutions believing that you finally know someone when something changes, and they are no longer the same person you met. Because we are all growing and changing. Instinct is merely the first step, but an important one for a life-long journey.”

“Brydis missed his calling as a philosopher,” Agor commented drily. “But he’s not wrong, and you are not either,” he hastened to reassure her. “It is true we do rely on our instincts a lot, but we also understand that trusting your instincts to guide you is the beginning of a life-long adventure.” His eyes sparkled with a promise of many years of laughter and discoveries that tempted her more than she believed she was capable of adequately expressing. He tipped his head toward the long, wraparound window filled with Jupiter’s burnished hues and the opaque colors of Ganymede set against it. “It is like coming home. None of us know what Ganymede has in store for us, but it has a promise of something great, and we can’t help but look forward to the adventure.”

Her lips twitched. It was a rather reckless philosophy, one that would doubtlessly appeal to those who flew by the seat of their pants from one decision to another. She couldn’t help but appreciate its simplicity, however. There was just something about it that made sense, and it wasn’t far from her thoughts as they settled in and opened their food. At length, she relaxed once more at Agor’s sounds of delight as he tore into his food, interrupting the weight of seriousness that had been between them moments earlier. Conversation flowed more casually from there, with regular input from Brydis until the males traded places and Brydis eased down beside her with a shy smile.

Jill had purposely eaten slower so that she still had half of her meal in her bowl to eat companionably with the scarlet twin, something that didn’t seem to escape the notice of the male as a look of pleasure briefly passed over his face. It was replaced by one of bliss in the next moment when he took a bite of his food. He closed his eyes and moaned so loudly that a tingle raced to her pussy, and she got embarrassingly wet. Jill’s thighs tightened, and Brydis’s eyes slowly opened once more to peer at her with an awareness that stirred an excitement deep within her tightening belly.

He shivered, but in the next moment, he broke eye contact and glanced around the deck curiously before taking in their view. “I am surprised that more of the humans are not taking advantage of this,” he murmured.

She nodded, polishing off her last bites of food. “It really is. I try to make it out here as often as possible. I hate being in space. A lot of it is dark and miserable emptiness with the distant lights of stars. I would still walk the decks to get in my daily exercise, but like most of the people on the lower decks, I spend most of my time in my quarters.” Brydis gave her a curious look, so she explained. “The rest of the lower levels are filled with workers waiting to get to the destination. We aren’t like the vacationers in the upper- and mid-levels. This is just a mode of getting to where we need to be. But this,” she gestured at the view, unable to keep herself from smiling at the sight of it, “this is exactly the sort of moments I look forward to. When I’m near a planet, or some specific sight, and can see the potential and mysteries of the cosmos placed right in front of me.”

Agor grinned down at her. “It seems that Brydis isn’t the only daydreamer who missed a calling in philosophy.”

She laughed. Perhaps Agor was onto something. And just maybe she had more in common with these males than she believed.

Chapter7

Agor squinted down at the human female approaching the guard station, her rich brown curls catching the interior lights with hints of burnished bronze. He might have recognized her by that alone, as fascinated as he was with her human hair, but if there was no doubt that the vibrancy of her taliazon sliding over her made his own react in awareness, drawing him to Jill. It was not surprising. The more time they spent with their talia, the more their taliazon became attuned to hers. With enough time, they might even be able to detect her approach just from taliazon sliding in proximity to theirs. If he closed his eyes and concentrated, he almost believed he could sense it now.

His eyes slid shut, and he shivered as a warm current curled around him and skated across his senses like the caress of a lover. It was faint—the lightest of touches—but that had to be her. Wasn’t it?

He blinked down at her and smiled from where he hung upside down from the high ceiling, his wings tucked tightly against his body. Though his aguila hung in a dark curtain, it didn’t seem to bring her attention to his position. From the way she was searching, she undoubtedly knew he was close. He was certain she could feel the connection of the taliazon as much as he could. It was such a marvelous spot to observe her as she made a point of walking in an aimless, casual path in the direction of the guard station as if she weren’t intentionally heading there to see them again. He loved it! As much as she tried to be subtle about it over the days, as if it were merely a happy coincidence to run into them, he knew that she was as pulled to them as they were to her. Maybe she could even see the taliazon. The thought captivated him as he continued to watch her unaware.

He bit back a laugh and crept along the ceiling, closing the distance between them as she came to a stop at the guard station. She ducked down to peer within and then straightened to look around curiously. Still, she hadn’t bothered to look up, and he slipped closer, excitement shivering over his skin. She retraced her steps a bit and turned toward the viewing deck. Quiet as possible, Agor followed her until he was practically within reaching distance. His wings widened in preparation as he positioned himself and with a flap, he dropped, his body plummeting as he rolled through the air, dropping to the floor directly in front of her. Jill jerked back with a shriek and his wings flapped, fighting for balance, when she suddenly advanced forward and gave him a shove, sending him toppling backwards onto to his ass as he laughed uproariously.

“Fuck, you scared me! Stop laughing, you damn hyena!” She paused her diatribe and chuckled despite herself. “Idiot,” she murmured, and he was certain that it was fondness that he saw in her eyes and heard in her voice. Tipping her head back, she glanced up and her brows shot up in surprise before she looked back at him. “How did you get up there anyway?”

He grinned unrepentantly and nodded toward the grating that ran along the walls to reinforce them during atmospheric shifts whenever the ship entered or left the atmosphere of a planet. “I was bored and discovered that the grating provided an excellent opportunity to find some relief for it. I do enjoy climbing almost as much as flying. And Brydis was on patrol, not around to scold me over it,” he added with a chuckle of his own.

Not that he thought his twin would have any real reason to. He was still technically within approved distance from his post—just above it. He had a lot of practice with walking the narrow line of being technically within orders throughout the recent cycles while stuck in the ship. Sure, they still got assigned the worst duties at times because of it but hadn’t suffered any particularly noteworthy penalties—though one wouldn’t believe that after hearing his avrhast twin speak of it.

“I spent a lot of time in my youth soaring along the mountains and resting as I clung to their craggy sides,” he explained with a stretch of his wings as he rolled to his feet. “I heard that Ganymede is quite mountainous in certain regions and couldn’t wait to get a bit of practice in.”

Jill’s eyes brightened with the rapt curiosity that he had quickly come to adore. At his words, she drew in closer. “What would you do in the mountains? It is not a good farming area.”

“No,” he agreed. “I would make a terrible farmer. Thankfully, there are many occupations one can find within the rookery.” He paused, certain that she wouldn’t understand what that was. “The rookery is what we call a settled area. It doesn’t necessarily mean that they are as highly populated as some of the cities can get. On Gawallen, where we are from, rookeries are spread out over vast distances where we seldom see each other unless we make a point to visit or are going into the market. Our families mostly dealt with herd animals called valkeli that enjoy the cooler mountain temperatures and can survive easily from what grows there. It gives them a thick fleece, sweet milk, and rich meat when slaughtered.”

Her lips twitched. “It sounds like an alien goat.”

He grinned in turn. “Perhaps so. Maybe one day you can see for yourself and tell me how they compare.”

If he had his way, he intended for her to be nested up in their chosen mountainside for much longer than to look at a valkeli. He could be wrong, but he had the strong impression that she would enjoy the freedom and beauty of the mountains as much as he would. If he was retiring from his responsibilities to establish their avrhast among a new rookery, he wanted it all. A flock to check in on and occasionally move, a little nest of grifac to breed and raise, and a mate to love within their avrhastal.

“That sounds perfect,” Jill sighed, a dreamy expression coming over her face confirming his suspicions. He was sure she would be happy on his mountainside. Smoothing her hands along her sides in a subtle attempt to straighten her clothes, she looked over at him skeptically. “And almost too idyllic for someone like you. Seems to me that you would go crazy with boredom within a matter of weeks if you’re literally climbing the walls of our ship for entertainment.”

He barked out a surprised laugh and drew in closer, his wings fluffing out with his merriment. She giggled at his antics and skimmed her fingers along the feathers of one wing that moved in close to her. That light touch ruffled them in such a way that his entire body shivered, and his wings puffed in a way that released several tiny feathers, raining them down on her. Jill laughed as they caught in her hair, and his breath caught at the sight of his feathers entangled in her tresses. He could almost picture her waking in between him and Brydis that way, with tiny feathers from their wings mingled among her dark curls. The image was so real that his heart ached with longing for it.

She plucked a vibrant blue feather from her hair and brushed it along her jaw, unknowingly teasing him with an innuendo that she couldn’t possibly know as she regarded him. “And is that all? Just you and your livestock?”

“And grifalc,” he added quickly. “My family bred them, so I learned to train them. I’ll be honored to take up the tradition in their stead.”

Her smile faded. “Oh, I’m sorry. Am I bringing painful memories?”

He blinked incomprehensibly. “Painful?” Then realization dawned as to her meaning, and he swallowed and shook his head. “You misunderstand, talia. My parents are well… as are Brydis’s. There were many deaths, and we lost some nestmates—brothers and sisters,” he clarified, “but we have several surviving family members, and our parents were taken among the other elders and more mature members of our society back to Geminos to enjoy a quiet life rather than embark on our journey to colonize a new world.” He paused thoughtfully. “Though, I can imagine that they would come quickly if we were settled and invited them. They would prefer it to living in facilities provided on Geminos, I believe. My parents had little patience for the city in particular,” he observed with quiet laughter.

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