Vektal nods. "You must go slow with your mate," he warns me. "Be very gentle. They are fragile, humans…but the feel of your resonance mate underneath you is worth it."
Careful. His words echo my thoughts. I must be careful with No-rah. "I will remember, my chief. You have my thanks."
5
NORA
I wake up to gray, wintry skies with two pathetic, pale suns overhead and the cootie-thing moving in my chest. I shudder, because no one told me that I'd be able to feel it moving. I swear it feels like it's squirming or drumming or something in my chest, and I'm not sure I like the sensation.
"You all right, Nora?" Georgie asks, holding out a cake of the ultra-spicy alien food.
I nod. "I'll manage." I take the cake from her and nibble on it cautiously, and I'm surprised when it doesn't taste nearly as awful as before. That's…confusing. I look around, curious. Is my vision better? Does everything smell…louder than before? Can smells even be loud? I rub my weird chest, contemplating that. The cootie is supposed to equip us for better life out here on this icicle-crusted planet, but I didn't expect to feel different.
I do, though. It's hard to say just HOW I feel different, other than the jiggling worm in my chest. Things feel sharper, or I feel more alert. Just…different. I look around and everyone's got creepy glowing blue eyes. Funny how it looked kind of normal in the big blue aliens, but on us it looks unearthly. I try not to stare too much at the others, because I imagine I look just as strange.
A girl sits next to me, the one that cries a lot. She's got soft-looking dark hair and a pretty face, but she also looks utterly miserable. She clutches furs to her chest as we talk about nothing in particular. I'm having a hard time concentrating, because it keeps feeling like my cootie is moving. "Do you feel yours?" I ask the girl—Ariana.
She shakes her head, her eyes brilliant blue.
"Huh. Maybe I got a super-active one." I tap my chest, as if I can tell my cootie to calm the fuck down, but it just keeps on doing its thing. The wind tears at our clothing and our hair as we finish our food, but I have to admit I don't feel nearly as cold as before. It's still not quite what I'd call “comfy” but I no longer feel as if my lungs are going to freeze with every breath I take.
I'm about to point this out to Ariana, when I see movement out of the corner of my eye.
It's one of the male aliens, walking past. I think I recognize him from before, the one with the long braid and the staring eyes. He stares at me again today, and as I watch, he runs smack into another alien, who frowns and gives him a shove. The starer looks flustered, and I giggle to myself.
That draws his attention again. Ariana's saying something to me, but I'm not listening. I'm fascinated by the sight of that big alien as he approaches. For an alien, he's kinda…handsome. His horns are tall with just a hint of curl to them, and he's got a long, thick braid that falls heavily to his waist. He's not wearing the furs like he was earlier—instead, he's bare to the waist, and I can see an amazing set of pectorals and pale blue skin. He hesitates…and then approaches where I sit.
And I keep smiling at him. For some reason, the sight of him just makes me…happy. Like everything's suddenly falling into place.
As he moves closer, the cootie in my chest practically dances with delight. It moves so violently that I press my hand to the front of my tunic, startled, but I can't bear to look away from the guy approaching. I can hear the cootie in my ears, and it's moving so much that it sounds like the hum of a thousand bees. I want to get to my feet, because it feels strange to just keep sitting when everything else seems to be surging inside me.
Before I have a chance to stand, though, the guy moves to my side. He drops to his knees in front of me.
Oh.
He gives me a wide-eyed look, his gaze on my breasts. For a moment, I want to joke that my eyes are up higher, but then I realize he's humming as much as I am. That my cootie isn't squirming in my chest. It's resonating.
To him.
He's my mate.
Oh.
As I realize this, Tall, Dark and Braided puts a hand over his heart as he gazes up at me, and I practically melt at the sight.
"I'm Nora," I tell him. I sound all breathless and husky, even to my own ears, but I can't be embarrassed. Not when he's looking at me like he wants to eat me up with a spoon. Those eyes. I could drown in them. And those big shoulders. He's got strong features on his face—a large nose and wide mouth—but the more I look at him, the more I like the way he looks. The more I want to stare at him.
And he can't take his eyes off me. "I am Dagesh."
I'm pretty sure I can't pronounce it like he does. He swallows half his name in this weird, throaty sound, but more than that, I'd forgotten how deep and delicious his voice is. When he talks, I swear I feel it between my thighs. I want to say hello, but it just comes out as a little moan.
I can't even be embarrassed about that, either. Does it matter if I'm moaning? I know I don't give a fuck. All I know is that I need to touch this guy right now. Hopeful that he won't mind my impatient hands, I reach out and brush my fingers over the hand he has placed on his heart, where his khui is loudest. Mine is so dang loud it's like a drum is beating in my chest, and my nipples are so hard they feel as if they're going to stab through the leather of my tunic. "Are you…I thought mine was moving."
"It resonates," Dagesh tells me in that syrup-rich voice. "You resonate for me. You are my mate."
"Oh." Fuck yeah I am. I can't stop staring at his chest, where my hand is resting over his. He's resonating so loudly that I can feel it thrumming through my skin, and it's just making me…aroused. Actually, right about now, everything is making me aroused. I could rip off all this leather clothing right now and tackle him in the snow, and I don't think I'd care. My lips part, and I try to think of something to ask him. Anything.
My mind is a blank. I just want to keep touching him.
Does…does he want to touch me? Ever so slightly, I press on the hand under mine.
Dagesh gets to his feet. He holds his hands out to me, a clear indication he wants me to stand up, too. I do, and he hauls me up to my feet as if I'm light as air. I've never felt “light as air” in my life. I've always been the girl that needed to lose ten pounds, the girl that developed boobs before anyone else, the girl with the butt that was too big to fill out her jeans right…but with his big hands on mine right now? And the way he stares at me?
I feel like a goddess.
I'm practically beaming as I stand next to him. Our khuis sing to one another as we stand, hand in hand, and it really does feel like a song. It's like they're humming to one another, the sound becoming more urgent the closer we stand.
Then, Dagesh scoops me into his arms.
I bite back a sound of surprise, because he hefts me into his arms as if I weigh nothing at all. He cradles me against his chest and turns away from the others, walking quickly through the knee-high snow as if it doesn't bother him in the slightest.
"W-where are we going?" I ask as I slide my arms around his neck, breathless.