Page 13 of Kailirex (Brides of the Mylos #6)
CHAPTER 13
KAILIREX
My mate was a sex goddess, there were no two ways about it. I had a feeling when I finally got her into a bed, we’d light the sheets on fire. Actual fire, with the embarrassment of causing an alarm to go off and our entire deck to be evacuated. Not that the thought had me reconsidering taking her. No, instead, it made my cock grow even harder just thinking about how everyone would then know she was mine. Deep down, I knew I was being ridiculous, of course. The only burning likely to happen might be a friction burn if we ended up on the rug instead of the bed at some point.
I took a deep breath, closing my eyes as I savored the feel of her hand in mine, grounding myself. The itching was pretty intense still, so I reached over with my free hand to scratch my arm. She batted my hand away, using her other hand to gently rub where I was scratching.
“You don’t want to break the skin,” she chided me gently, her eyes still glued to the vid playing.
She was right of course, and I risked irritating my skin. Scraped scales were no fun to deal with, as I’d discovered during my cadet days.
I turned my attention to the story and immersed myself in it, which did a good job of helping me not notice the mild irritation of my scales slowly erupting. The vid had just finished, the Mylos warriors triumphantly receiving accolades from the Council for thwarting an evil pirate cartel decimating a remote sector.
“That was awesome! I cannot get over how much more realistic your fight scenes look! Zap! Clang! Pow!” she enthused, standing up and waving her arms around in punctuation.
“Hey, what’s going on?” came a cheerful voice from the open hatchway.
“We just finished watching this totally awesome sci-fi movie!” Stella excitedly informed her brother.
I sniffed the air appreciatively, scenting the food they’d brought. The smell grew stronger as Tillin came the rest of the way in. It was then I noticed that Piloris was carrying both suitcases, so I hurried over to relieve him of one.
“I had it,” he grinned, “but thanks.”
“Put them in the storage compartment over there,” Tillin gestured towards a tall storage cupboard as he handed my mate the bag of food. “Your hotdogs with your preferred fixings are in there as well as a Feast for Four from the deli. I ordered extra matzoh ball soup for you and he included reheating instructions so you can enjoy it tomorrow.”
“Thank you!” she gushed and I glared at him seeing the way my mate looked at him in adoration.
He coughed. “Well, the feast is for you guys to eat once you come out of your rooms. A celebratory meal. Um, strap yourselves in and if you want to stow the bag, it should fit in one of the compartments over the seats.
I plucked it from her fingers. “I’ll do it. They are at Mylos friendly heights.”
She laughed. “Yeah, I’d have had to stand on the seat, so thanks, babe.”
I preened at the endearment, turning and bending to quickly peck her on the lips before getting to the job at hand.
“Someone's possessive,” Eric murmured to her and she giggled.
“Yeah, but I think some of it is just because of the intense urge to complete our bonding,” she whispered back.
Eric sat down in one of the seats and she sat down next to him, Piloris taking his other side. I stopped to help buckle her in, demonstrating how the harness worked.
“That looks complicated,” Eric said, plucking at his own straps in dismay. Piloris turned and immediately began fastening him in while I took my place on Stella’s other side, quickly buckling myself in without needing to look, knowing it by rote.
“Preflight checks complete,” we heard Tillin say as he started the engines. “Air traffic control, this is Mylos Shuttle PR-310A, requesting clearance to take off.”
There was some back and forth and then we got permission to lift off.
“Xeranos, show our guests the view outside,” Tillin requested and the sides of the saucer became viewscreens showing us a 360 degree view around the saucer. “How’s that, folks? I thought you might enjoy the view, especially as we’re having to fly out over the city before taking an upward trajectory several miles out over the Atlantic.”
“This is incredible,” Stella said, turning her head to drink everything in. Her brother Eric was doing the same, and like me, Piloris was instead mostly watching his mate’s reaction.
“I had no idea the walls could become windows,” Eric said, sounding awed.
“They’re viewscreens, actually,” Piloris informed him. “We don’t put anything translucent on our ships, preferring to go with solid panels and their strength. Cameras outside show everything and the inner walls are impregnated with nanoparticles which reform to display the images as required.”
“I’ll pretend I understood any of that,” he laughed. “I got cameras, fancy screens made to look like windows.”
“That’s pretty much it,” Piloris laughed.
“The walls within our quarters will be the same,” I said, eager to impress my mate. “You can choose to have it display a static mural, or look like a window with a view anywhere in the known universe where there is a feed, and it will stream so it looks like we are there.”
Her mouth fell open. “So I could ask Xero to show us outside and we’d see Earth from space or the view from another direction if that’s what I wanted, or have it look like we were next to Saturn, or at a beach resort in the Bahamas?”
“Or at the Great Wall of China, or the Pyramids of Egypt, or one of the many worlds in your home quadrant?” Eric added.
“Yes to all of those,” Xeranos replied.
“Oh man, how are we going to choose?” Stella lamented.
“We’ll have to sit down and decide weekly themes,” Eric told her solemnly.
She nodded. “Great idea.”
“As always. Stick with your big brother. I’ve never steered you wrong yet!”
“Look, it’s the Statue of Liberty. You know, I’ve lived in New York my entire life, but I’ve never seen her from the air. Come to think of it, I’ve only visited once.”
“Fourth grade,” Eric said. “I remember because that was when I went too. Fifth graders went to the symphony and ballet, sixth graders to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.”
Stella laughed. “That’s right. Guess having it like that made it easier for our teachers.”
I thought back to my own education. “My fourth year as a young at school, we went to the ancient temple in our city dedicated to Jurith, goddess of family. There they told us how one day she would speak to the stars and guide us to a mate if we were worthy, and we would rear young.”
“What if someone did not wish to be a parent?” Eric asked. “Not everyone does. Not speaking for myself - I dreamed of someday getting to be a dad.”
“Good, because I want many,” Piloris declared.
“Oh, Mom will definitely love you,” Eric told him, kissing the side of his faintly scaled jaw.
“It is true that some do not wish to rear young,” I said. “But it is rare for a Mylos to feel that way. Even if one never finds their mate, it is common for a Mylos to adopt. But if they do, they still help contribute to the welfare of all young in some manner.”
“That’s nice,” Stella said.
“How many young?” Eric asked his mate, eyes dancing. “One for each of your fingers,” Piloris declared.
“Oh, damn!” Stella laughed, covering her mouth to try to stifle her laughter as Eric stared at him in shock.
“Beginning vertical ascent,” Tellin informed us and nothing more was said for several minutes as we watched the clouds being left behind, then flames as they danced along our hull, and finally broke through to the beauty of the endless sea of stars, with Earth and its moon and the distant figures of satellites, space stations, and our Fleet visible depending on where you looked.
“Three,” Stella told me suddenly. “I’m willing to have three and I already have their names picked out.”