Page 3 of Flower of Seshana (Tales from the Darvel Exploratory Systems #1)

Chapter

Three

K ethan held the small female against his chest within the safe circle of his arms as he winged across the dark sky. Although he had fallen deeper into the cave system’s shaft than he had initially speculated, he had managed to fly out from its depths quickly enough while letting out only the occasional sonic blast to clarify his position beyond what had been visible to his eyes. All the while, his female had been a warm and welcome weight within his arms, and her soft exclamation when they broke from the cave sent a thrill trembling through him.

He wondered what other sounds she might make.

An excited beat of his hearts made his pulse race in a manner that was uncommon and a little uncomfortable for him. He was certain that it was a sign. Although the female possessed an unusual appearance, the males of the Vahel were not known to be as picky as the females among the Seshanamitesh. Granted, Alexandra possessed a strange appearance even compared to an Uraliel who were generally considered the most unusual descendants of the original ancestors. Not only was she much smaller and possessing rounder features as well as a soft, thick tuft of yellowish silk upon her head, but her attire was also strange—especially the oddly twisted metal framing the translucent glass that rivaled anything that the glassworkers produced.

There had been rumors floating around amongst the hunters of a strange new people occupying the desert and constructing their massive naras out of precious ore and glass. Reports were vague, however, as they were all faraway glimpses, much of which had been inaccurate. It seemed that they did not possess round, bulbous heads like the giant burrowing zarkulth—for which he was incredibly grateful. It was equally apparent that they did not possess a chitinous exoskeleton either, but rather it was another sort of covering that clung tightly to his female’s body. He admittedly was very curious to explore what lay beneath it. Of course, if he dared, he would be left with another dilemma. He would have to consider carefully whether or not he would share such information with his brethren.

Because one thing was abundantly apparent: they were not of Seshana. There was nothing from their world or legends that looked like them, nor did Alexandra seem to know anything about how to survive. There were also the eyewitnesses who recounted seeing the great stars dropping through the heavens, after which the strange naras appeared upon the desert. It only stood to reason that they were from the skies from which even more great stars descended from and returned to their heavenly abodes. As none of the strange two-legged beings had approached the mountains, the Vahel left them alone. But if Kethan shared anything at all about his female, he was certain that it would quickly change as opportunistic males would seek to hunt mates on the sands. And there was a chance that their people would react even more poorly to the mate claiming practices of the Vahel than even the Seshanamitesh did.

In truth, it would likely terrify them if they were all as tiny and fragile as his Alexandra. And that was disconcerting.

His gavo flicked thoughtfully as he considered Alexandra’s frightening vulnerability. Even the Seshanamitesh, who seldom ascended far from their deep caverns, knew that the mountains of the Vahel were abundant in plant life. As far as he could see, Alexandra knew less than a nestling. That made her vulnerable, and that realization not only terrified him but roused a surprisingly strong protective instinct within him. It was the natural call of instinct and his fascination with the female that made his decision for him before he had a chance to think thoroughly on the matter. Instinctively his mouth parted, and he drew in her pheromones across the roof of his mouth with his tongue, and then nearly collapsed into a pile of coils as desire overwhelmed him. He trembled in place, his tail twitching with the hot need coursing through his blood. It should not be possible to be so affected. He had never felt such a strong instinct to breed before, and yet his primary sant thickened abruptly within its sheath at the first breath of her pheromones.

He wanted to fill her with both sants and keep her knotted within his coils as he repeatedly claimed her. He peered down at the meeting point of her thighs where so many legged creatures kept their vents. Although it was covered, heat bloomed beneath his scales at the sight of it so snugly encased, allowing him to freely imagine parting her legs and plugging her thoroughly while he deposited his seed. It was a base and primal instinct and felt entirely right.

He was decided. He would have the small female for his mate. And because mate-stealing was an ancestral tradition among the Vaheliska, he felt no guilt over it. That she was agreeable to coming with him just made it easier. He did feel a small amount of shame over the deceit but pushed it away. He would fly her into the Vahel and keep her satiated, fed, and bred, and she would be content to remain with him and the small matter of his deception would be quickly forgotten. Or, at least, that was usually the case. There were times that females left, but he was curious how she would accomplish it without wings to carry her down from the heights of the Vahel.

But there was one small obstacle.

Quillen.

Unlike many males who preferred more solitary habits upon reaching adulthood outside of those rotating duties that they took on for the safety and wellbeing of their nests, Quillen had been his companion since he was a hatchling. There was no other male in all the Vahel that he trusted more, and yet when it came to Alexandra, he felt a peculiar unease. What if Quillen desired her too? What if he attempted to take her?

Kethan’s gavo trembled with unease and he clutched his female to him, ignoring her mumble of protest as he soared over the desert and the dark rise of the nearby mountains, his precious burden tucked safely against him. Angling his body, he extended his tail at a sharply dropped angle to help propel him upward as his wings suddenly beat in a rapid ascent along the shrouded cliffs that rose abruptly from the desert. Alexandra’s legs and arms squeezed intimately around him in reaction, sending a pleasurable thrill through him. He nearly closed his eyes at the intensity of the sensation but just barely managed to keep them open so to skillfully climb the sheer cliffs without incident.

The muscles in his arms and shoulders tensed at the sound of wings beating the air in approach as he banked to the left to swoop around a spiring rock formation jutting from the face of the cliff. He did not need to guess who it was. It was the wrong season for hunting the migratory beasts that descended into the desert, so there would be no hunters returning to the nara along his route. That meant that it had to be someone looking specifically for him and there was only one among the Vahel who would make such an effort on behalf of his mother. He groaned quietly to himself, his body tensing completely the moment he cleared the spire and spotted the pale green silhouette of the male he had considered his brother for as long as he could remember.

Now, however, he bristled anxiously, his gavo extending fully in silent warning as he regarded Quillen’s bright green wings. How did he not recall that they were such a vivid hue? Did humans find bright green colorations as attractive as his species did? He knew that his own coloring was well lauded and desirable, but how would it stand in comparison to Quillen?

The question rising from the inner workings of his mind gave him pause. Where had that thought come from? While there was always a playful rivalry between them, he had never doubted his own value in comparison to Quillen. But he also never had so much he could lose before.

He gently squeezed Alexandra to him, taking reassurance from the warmth and weight of her body against his. He consoled himself that it would all be fine. He just would not give the male any opportunities to steal her. At this moment, his claim on his little female was tenuous at best. All it would take was Quillen whisking her into one of the many caves along the mountains until their pheromones were firmly enmeshed and he would lose her.

“It shall not happen,” he hissed to himself.

Alexandra wiggled against him in response, her face popping up to frown at him as she planted her chin against his chest. “What won’t happen?”

He jerked his chin toward his friend. “Quillen. I will not allow him to get too close.”

Her head craned curiously as she peered over her shoulder in the male’s direction. “Oh? Is there something wrong with him? Is he dangerous?” she asked, her voice dropping to a worried whisper.

For one long moment, Kethan seriously considered lying to her so that she might be afraid of the other male and work to avoid him herself. But it seemed that even contemplating such a betrayal made his stomach churn viciously.

“No,” he grumbled. “He is a friend.”

“Then why?—”

“He is too friendly,” he interrupted sourly, drawing a melodic sound of surprised laughter from her.

The sound caught him so off guard that his wings partially closed for only a moment in the air. It was enough, however, to make the female in his arms gasp and cling to him harder as they dropped rapidly before he managed to stabilize his flight once more. Unfortunately, it all served to distract him enough that he failed to notice Quillen’s presence until the male swooped far too close overhead.

Drawing his head back, his gavo flaring with annoyance, Kethan hissed at the other male circling far too close for his comfort. Quillen’s purple eyes fell on Alexandra in passing and widened with fascination as his wings folded to make another loop around them. Unable to discourage the curious male, Kethan snapped his wings, propelling him through the air at a faster speed as he began to climb the cliffside once again.

His wings tipped, his coils fluidly whipping through the air as he flew close to the cliffs and emerging tree line so not to draw the attention of a passing zaron hunting the skies. Although the large winged predators had massive territories and encounters with them were infrequent, the Vahel learned from the time they were nestlings not to leave the nests at night when they might become lost in the fog, giving a zaron the opportunity to draw close unseen, nor to fly too high where a passing predator might spot them. The only exception was the rare mating flight when a female agreed to seal her life with a male. The risk then, and the male’s willingness to protect her, held more weight than the most priceless of treasures.

As a young male he had been bewildered at the willingness of males to take on the flight. But now, with Alexandra in his arms, he could not wait until the mating flight was his privilege to claim.