Page 20 of 20% Stud 80% Muffin (Alien Fated Mates #1)

20

S ilky fabric floated over my legs in a direct contrast to the heavy plod of my steps, each foot dragging as if chained to an anchor. The pool lurked in front of me, its placid surface a deception. Soon it would break and ripple and attempt to swallow me. My hair was braided back so the wet tendrils didn’t turn into tentacles attacking me as I sank into the unknown depths of hell, but perspiration still soaked my hairline.

Geo’s voice startled me from my funeral march. “Makir, you barely ate any dinner. Are you feeling okay?”

At this point, a heart-to-heart with my parents would have been preferable to this torture.

“Yep. Just great.” My high-pitched voice and over-eager smile convinced no one, including me.

“Fuck, Makir, you’re trembling.” Geo’s hand cupped my elbow at first, and when my body wouldn’t stop shaking, he pulled me into him and wrapped a warm arm around my exposed back. “Hey, I won’t let anything happen to you.”

His voice—no more than a rasp—worked its magic, loosening my clenched muscles. I’m safe. With each exhale, more awareness returned. Geo wasn’t wearing a shirt. Our chests touched skin to skin, his curly black fur to my smooth torso. The scent of summer fields filled my nose, and I dropped my cheek onto his shoulder.

But my mind would not settle. With one threat out of the way, the next loomed, and thoughts shuttled through my brain like a meteor shower.

How could I have used my tail’s healing power on him? Again! But I’d been so worried about his throat after he… Why would he do that to me?

“Close your eyes.” Geo turned me away from the pool. “We’re going to go nice and slow, ’kay?” He rubbed his palm from my shoulder to my smallest finger, his other arm snug on the small of my back as he slowly slid us backward, inching toward the pool. “Tell me what Sisip said about the mittens you made her again?”

My heart ticked faster as water lapped at my ankles.

When I said nothing, he asked, “How many more orders do you have?”

Why was being in the water harder today? It had been so much easier when I’d shown Raz the pool, trying to drum up business for Geo.

“Let me try something else.” His low voice practically hummed as his lips coasted over my chest, missing my nipples. My breathing remained shallow, but for an entirely different reason now. I clutched his waist hard when he skimmed his palm over my trunks and cupped one cheek.

“Have I ever told you how much I like your silky fur?” He peppered kisses over one shoulder as the water knocked at my knees. “And your delicious scent.” Geo’s nose dipped to my armpit and nuzzled. My swim trunks grew wet. “Or your lion’s mane.” He fingered the tail of my braid .

My heart kicked into overdrive, and a long whimper escaped me.

Geo’s soft voice guided me toward the deeper end of the pool. “You’re doing great, little lion.”

I never want him to stop talking to me like this.

“Stop, would you?” I said, gazing straight into his soft green eyes now that the buoyancy of the water had leveled our heights. Geo treaded water as I stood on my tiptoes, his hands secure on my waist as the water lapped between our chests in a soft caress. “I don’t know how to deal with you when you’re like this.”

Geo waded into shallower water, then stood to support me with his hands on my waist. “Like what?”

He walked me backward until my feet lifted off the ground, and my heart jumped into my throat. “Nice,” I gasped as my breaths turned into pants, and tension built in my muscles.

Geo cringed and squeezed my waist before he broke eye contact. “So, we’re not going to swim today.”

My breathing evened out a bit at that revelation, but I wanted his eyes back.

“I want you to lie back in the water, ears under, and float. Take some deep breaths, close your eyes if you want and allow yourself to get comfortable with having your head in the water. Notice the different sensations that come while your ears are submerged.”

Panic! Fear!

I snorted in disbelief. ‘Comfort’ and ‘water’ were not compatible words in my vocabulary.

“I’ll be with you the whole time, okay? There’s no need to be scared.” His deep voice was calm, and now that he’d claimed me for the night, he’d transformed into a new person. Softer, kinder…

My voice wavered. “You’re telling me to put my head underwater, and you don’t want me to be afraid? ”

Geo lifted my legs, one arm supporting my knees and the other under my neck, and tucked me in tight so the water rocked my rib cage against his soft belly. “I’ve got you. I’m here.”

I whimpered.

“Shhhh…” His alpha voice coaxed me along. “I’m not going to let go until you relax.”

I all but stopped breathing, locked rigid. I would have been dead weight at the bottom of the pool if it weren’t for Geo holding me.

Then a deep, melodic vibration climbed from the back of his throat, and I let myself close my eyes. He was humming. I inhaled and took another breath, then another… His music, the water’s sway and his cradling arms almost lulled me to sleep. I wondered if this sensation of warmth and safety I was currently wrapped in was akin to what a youngling felt in its parent’s womb.

“You’re doing so well.” Geo kissed my forehead. “Now open your arms and legs just a little bit more.” His alpha voice projected a sense of safety that calmed me. Geo withdrew his arms.

“Geo, I’m doing it.” I grinned. “I’m floating.”

“Yeah, you are, little lion.” Water droplets beaded on Geo’s eyelashes like tiny gems, magnifying the sparkle in his eyes. “You’re doing amazing.”

Ignoring the little lion bit— because, ugh , I’m not a cat —I grinned bigger. When his gaze focused on me again his eyes shone like bright stars.

I cranked a bolt tight on the undercarriage of the hovercraft above me. The pit Geo had built for my hovery was a stroke of genius. My back no longer ached at the end of a long workday. With my high-pressure wand, I blew out the fine pink dust that had settled in the down thrusters of the machine, blocking air movement and preventing its launch. Every hovercraft presented nearly the same problem, and the monotony of this tune-up turned my thoughts to Geo .

The last few weeks had been amazing. Each time Geo had come over, he’d been so feverish with desire that his need to possess me was palpable. He would suck on my cock like a lifeline and transform into another male with his release—one who was calm and patient. That version of Geo taught me to swim.

I hummed the tune Geo used to soothe me as I maneuvered my torque jack to replace the dust-free undercarriage. Swimming the length of my pool came with ease most days now, and more importantly, my heart didn’t trip in fear when I entered the water. Never in a million annums would I have guessed that swimming would become one of my favorite pastimes.

It’s not swimming that’s your favorite pastime.

The torque jack skidded off the last bolt, nearly stripping it, and I refocused on the task at hand only to drift off again seconds later. After our lessons, we’d sit down for dinner and talk and talk and talk, greedy for each other’s company.

I climbed out of the pit using the short ladder and swept up the pink dust I’d blown everywhere before rolling the repaired hovercraft into the last empty spot in my parking lot. My fists clenched, and I muttered, recalling Geo’s remote gaze when he’d told me about his past partner, Cameron. Blanting idiot wouldn’t even agree to watch their dogs for a year.

While notching my tools back into their spots on the pegboard, memories of last night sent my tail twirling. When the moon had hung high in the sky, and we’d talked long past when we should have, he’d pressed me to the door and kissed me senseless before heading into the cold night.

A long yawn stretched my mouth. Under all the perfection, one thing still had my brain working overtime. The sex. While omegas didn’t technically need penetrative sex when not in heat, I craved the intimacy of having him buried deep inside me. Maybe it was a human thing, but Geo seemed to have no interest.

I wasn’t sure how to broach the subject. ‘Geo, I love it when you suck my cock, but am I ever going to feel you inside of me again?’ It sounded so…ungrateful? The limitations on how he let me pleasure him wreaked havoc on my omega sensibilities. I appreciated an alpha’s need to care for his omega, but I wanted that close connection with a desperation I’d never known. An omega tended to their alpha in all matters, and Geo kept stopping me.

I slid the door shut to the hatch on the pit, scrolled through my jobs for tomorrow and locked up. After showering, I cut open a graneth puff and filled it with cold mantu, eating over the sink. The closer the arrival date for the visitor shuttle his friend would be on came, the less I saw of Geo. And making dinner for one had no appeal.

My wristport chimed, an incoming video com from Jast coming through.

Her light blue mane, normally coiled in neat curls, was tangled as if she’d run her hands through it repeatedly. “Makir, thank the goddess you answered. Your overbearing alpha brother is driving me to the end of my patience,” she teased, but one hand swept through the hair by her ear and pulled, revealing her underlying frustration. “You must deal with him. Just this morning, he insisted we must get a reclining nest to ease my back pain. I don’t have any back pain. Silly parenting manuals.”

I laughed. “Even if I had any sway over Bonic, how do you propose I do that?”

She threw her hands up in the air before they landed on her belly. “I don’t know.” Her shoulders slumped. “W-what if we came for a visit?”

“Are you serious, Jast?” My heart ticked with cautious optimism.

Her lips flattened, decision made, and she nodded. “Yes, I couldn’t be more serious. I’ll get him there, even if I have to threaten to visit alone.”

“This is perfect timing!” My tail flicked the air. “You can meet Geo, see the dwelling he built me, and I can’t wait to kiss your belly and meet my little nephew or niece.”

Some of the tension lifted from around her eyes. “We’ve missed you too, Makee. See you soon.”

I waved goodbye, and my heart lifted and filled with sunshine. My tail twirled, and I rushed to the spare room. Round windows dotted the space below the ceiling and lit the area with silvery moonlight. “This space will be perfect.” I piled my softest linobee pelts into the nest and replaced all the towels in the bathroom.

“Damn it. I won’t be there.” Geo’s harried voice carried over my wristport. “There’s a problem with the geothermal spring at the mayor’s, and his pool house has an inch of water on the floor.” Geo’s long sigh mixed with the shouts of his crew in the background as they instructed each other on how to stop the leak. “Count on me for dinner tomorrow, though.” His low rumble soothed how let down I was.

My disappointment that Geo wouldn’t be at the landing platform to greet my brother and Jast saddened me more than it should have, but an emergency was an emergency. So, I rid my voice of any dissatisfaction. “Get here when you can. No rush.”

The majority of the spaceport was manned by Tigs, and the one who checked me through security had pointed ears on top of her tawny head, with long white wisps flowing from each one. She scanned my ident card embedded in my wristport. “Ah, so you’re Makir.” She smiled as she waved me through. “My sister, Sisip, has shared stories of your adventures.”

“Is that what she calls them?” I laughed. “More like midnight rescues.” I waved as I passed through the detector into a hangar. Hilt drills and hammer drivers whined as I walked past the construction to the private shuttle arrivals dock and through additional security. The newly finished walls were marbled with a liquid metal encased below a clear surface. Copper and aqua alloys mixed and then repelled each other, as if alive.

Alone in the arrivals area, I wished for Geo. I smiled, picturing him buried up to his ankles in pink mud. What will Bonic think of him? The distinct whoosh of the air-lock engaging refocused me. I glanced at my wristport. Right on time. I would expect nothing less.

Bonic’s quick stride ate up the distance between us, and the next moment I was wrapped in his embrace. “Makee! So good to see you, brother.” The warmth and familiarity of his arms around me placed me immediately back on Lorne. When Jast’s smaller frame snuck around me too, I opened my eyes, surprised to be standing in the private arrivals room.

I hadn’t realized how much I longed for family until this moment. “I missed you guys so much.” My tail wrapped around Bonic’s, and my lips found the crest of Jast’s belly. “Welcome to Tern, youngling. When you get out of there, I’m going to be the best uncle ever.”

With both of their hands in mine, I pulled them toward the exit and security. Janny, Bonic’s personal guard, shadowed us, and a hover lift floated behind with their bags. “Good to see you too, Janny,” I called over my shoulder, and he tipped his head in reply.

For some strange reason, Raz also happened to be at the spaceport. He scanned the open space of the regular arrivals area, his gaze dipping between his wristport and the blank arrivals board. When he glanced toward me, it appeared he might approach for a moment, but his steps froze when he saw my brother. Odd, but for the best. The last thing I wanted to do was introduce my brother to my neighbor.

“I have so much to show you.” My gaze drifted to Jast’s belly. “It’s about half a sun, would you like to walk or hire a hovercraft?”

She faux-glared at her mate. “Don’t you start babying me too, Makee. That’s the whole reason we’re here.” She smiled. “I’m fine to walk. Show us your new home.”