Page 22 of Klora (Mates of the Mylos #6)
CHAPTER 22
ADRIAN
Something weird was definitely going on and I didn’t mean anything to do with the kidnapping plot. Now that I’d had food and a few hours of quality sleep, I came to realize that some things were not adding up.
I really did have to pee, so I took care of that before sitting down on the closed lid to think things through. Okay, so they were worried Humans First might come after me and the kid to stop us from identifying the rest of the group, assuming Louise didn’t throw them under the bus. So why not send me up to the ship, like they had Tyrone? Surely they had guest quarters or something! I mean, it was well publicized that family was allowed up to visit Fleet residents, so they had to have. There was absolutely no reason for the Lieutenant Commander to decide we needed to pretend that I was Klora’s match and here as his plus one at their friend’s wedding.
Unless they thought I had something to do with the whole sorry mess, but if that was so, surely Sachuu wouldn’t risk me drawing the attention of local members of the group coming to try to rescue me or something. That could endanger the guests at the hotel and didn’t fit with the responsible man I’d met. Nor did it explain why he’d have me here as a guest, free to go sightseeing. And the whole “not even a rollaway available” thing. That sounded fishy too, especially when I added in the fact that Klora kept staring at me oddly and all that itching, which now that I thought about it, he seemed to scratch an awful lot more when he was practically right next to me. Plus the little nugget where Sachuu asked me if I’d ever considered applying to get matched.
My lips parted in shock as a thought occurred to me. The matching process simply helped locate their mates in a scientific manner. Then they met and the whole scaly thing happened as they went into, what had the stories all called it? Ah, yes, a mating plumage display that was triggered upon meeting their mate. A process which had to be pheromone driven, so if they met in person, no matter the circumstances of how they encountered each other - oh, shit!
Was I his mate? Was Sachuu trying to not embarrass us both by not merely telling us so and to go fuck to complete the bond?
My eyes flew to the door where I could hear him frantically speaking in a low voice to someone.
Did he know? Was he rejecting me? Tears pricked my eyes. I certainly hadn’t expected to find myself the mate to a Mylos, but damn it, it wasn’t fair! He could have at least given me the heads up and talked about the matter! I mean, come on, he was stationed within the Bride Fleet, specifically so he could find his mate! So why not me? And he was certainly funny, kind in a gruff sort of way, good looking, and until right this moment I’d have said honorable, everything that ticked my boxes in a potential partner. And everyone knew that you both had to be a perfect match - which Sachuu probably had hoped we’d discover to be true by me taking their tests. And Sachuu trying to get me to take the test instead of spelling it out better - fuck! They were both trying to not add to my trauma, weren’t they? They’d been trying to ease me into this whole thing! And meanwhile, poor Klora was suffering!
I flung the door open violently. Fuck this shit!
Klora turned to face me, surprise written large on his face.
“I’m not a damsel in distress!” I growled up at him, grabbing the lapels of the thick terry cloth robe. “We’re mates, and that means trusting me to be able to handle my shit!” I planted one right on his lips, darting my tongue into his mouth, which was open in surprise. I caressed his tongue with my own and he stiffened, then moaned, one hand moving down to clasp me against him at the small of my back, the other cradling the back of my head as he took fierce possession of our kiss.
His tongue stroked my own and I let him take control, knowing he needed it for now. He explored every inch of my mouth, then began sliding his tongue in and out, mimicking exactly what he wanted to do with that large, hard appendage now pressed against my leg and stomach.
Holey moley, was he packing a baseball bat? That thing felt huge, and yeah, earlier, I had noticed he was well endowed, but that had to be expected. Like all of the Mylos, he was a giant compared to most humans, including me. I felt a thrill run through me. I was admittedly a bit of a size queen, with some rather impressively sized toys in the drawer under my bed. He felt like he rivaled my favorite out of the bunch, a long, thick, scaly ridged dragon cock.
He reeled his head back, releasing me, wearing a stunned expression. “Mate?” he shouted out, still questioning.
“As I was trying to tell you, that seems to be the logical explanation according to your symptoms,” a deep baritone said from the thing on his wrist. “Now, sit down and figure out how you’re going to handle this, as he’s not signed anything to legally bind you both. Don’t call me again before morning!”
“You’re my mate,” Klora said, his eyes wide.
“Looks like,” I smirked. “Wait - didn’t you know?”
He shook his head. “I thought my partial shift triggered a hormonal imbalance made worse by an allergic reaction to the local air pollution and stress.”
Okay, when he put it like that, it did seem plausible, except for the whole staring at me and getting boners thing.
A panicked look came over his face. “Mating fever!” he gasped, looking at his scales in horror.
“Mating fever?”
“If we don’t complete the bond within a few days of finding our mate, we go from full display to complete battleform, only consumed by a high fever. It ends in death.”
“Well, shit. That’s a hell of a thing to put on somebody. No wonder you guys insist on the whole ‘if matched during the tests, you’re married’ thing.” I placed a reassuring hand on his arm. “Don’t worry. I’ll sign whatever.”
“You will?”
“Yep. I’ll even take one of the tests. Sachuu suggested I apply to become a teacher within the Fleet.”
He looked immensely relieved and I got it, I truly did. I just literally told the poor guy that I’d mate him and save him from dying in whatever his battleform was. It sounded like they went completely scaly and then I remembered that debunked footage from years ago that resurfaced on social media from time to time, of a guy in a giant lizard man suit running around Honolulu. It was extremely blurry, but now I suspected it might have been genuine. Had that poor guy died? I hoped not. What a way to go.
Klora licked his lips. “Swear to me I’m right and you didn’t have anything to do with any of this.”
“This as in the kidnapping plot?” I asked him. I scoffed. “Yeah, no.” I narrowed my eyes at him. “Did you think for a minute that I had?”
“We had to consider all possibilities, but as I got to know you, it felt increasingly unlikely.”
I deflated at that, my sudden anger washing away. Of course, they’d had to look at all possible angles, but the fact that they’d brought me here pointed to them no longer believing it, just as I’d puzzled out earlier while in the bathroom.
“I promise I didn’t,” I said, standing up on tiptoe to kiss his jaw.
He drew in a ragged breath. “We can’t go to the Scholarship center until after breakfast.”
I knew that was still hours away. “We could complete the physical part of the bond now.” I lightly bit his jaw, then licked the sting away, causing him to hiss.
“Remember it was your suggestion!” he exclaimed, picking me up and carrying me to the bed, where he tossed me down onto the mattress. I gave a very unsexy yelp, not that he seemed to mind, as he was eyeing me hungrily while taking off his robe as quickly as he could.