Page 14 of No Strings Attached (Mated Fates #1)

Bahbi looked for the thousandth time at the violet flower Vi had tied into her hair. The flower, the one he had left for her. He sat across from her at the low, makeshift feasting table that had been set up in the garden and found it hard to look at anyone else, even as Acken boomed out another improbable story of his adventures through the galaxy and Vi laughed uncontrollably.

She had given him the sweetest smile when she came down the stairs, freshly showered, and wearing the flower in her hair. But then, the flurry of feast preparation activity had caught her attention and she had moved toward the noise and bustle. Acken had promptly called her over, and she had followed him into a side room. She had emerged a few minutes later and walked over to the huge, main blast door; Bahbi watched as she pulled it closed, waited for it to latch, then tested the security scanner. It had promptly unlatched and she had pulled it back open with a satisfied look on her face. Acken had then come back out and called to Mister Beastly, who was lounging against a rock. Eventually, he had gotten around to Bahbi and had proclaimed Bahbi to have full security access after his scan. The three Trallians managing the security controls were busy swiping and assigning.

The five kitchen Trallians had been continuously busy, setting up the table, low seats, dishes, drinkware, floating lanterns, and the like. There had been an incredible aroma of the comingled smells of delicious foods wafting out from the kitchen area for some time, and Bahbi’s stomach rumbled with anticipation. Even with that distraction, he hadn’t been able to take his eyes off of Vi as she happily wandered through the chaos, checking on everyone, flower in her hair.

She had stood by Malachite for a while, speaking to him while he pulsed back responses in the brightest light Bahbi had seen from him, yet. Then she had sat down on the ground next to Friend and Caussus, pulled Friend over between her legs, and rubbed and scratched him all over his head, neck, and back while talking to Caussus. Vi and Caussus had chatted and laughed, while Friend had looked like he was going to fall over dead from the pleasure. Bahbi had imagined Vi’s hands doing that to him, and he had developed unusual sensations in unusual places throughout his body.

After that, she had wandered deep into the garden. Bahbi had waited for a while and had been almost resolved to go look for her when she had emerged, holding hands with Kompi and snake guy trailing them both.

Next, she had sought out Mister Beastly, standing before him while taking his hand in both of hers and speaking very earnestly to him. A few times, she had even placed her hand over her heart. Bahbi had watched with fascination as she finished speaking, then wrapped her arms around his huge body, her head barely coming to the bottom of his chest. Mister Beastly had looked down at her with the most beautiful expression of affection and warmth, and Bahbi had felt his own heart expand at the sight of it.

When Vi had approached Trak, he had looked alarmed and brought his hands up in front of them, shaking them side-to-side as if to say, “no need.” Vi had caught one of them, turned it palm up, and kissed it. Then she had said something that made his head lower in embarrassment. She had been smiling deviously when she turned away, leaving Trak to look down in wonder at his palm.

Vi had scanned the room then until her eyes met his, then walked straight for him. He had smiled at her as she came. She had taken both of his hands in hers and looked into his eyes for a long moment, green eyes shining, then said in a low voice not entirely under her control, “You offered to stay with me no matter what, even to fight and die alongside me. Saying ‘thank you’ now doesn’t seem like enough to recognize that type of gesture.”

Before Bahbi had been able to speak and tell her that it wasn’t necessary to thank him, she had raised up on her toes, leaned forward, and kissed his mouth. It was only the gentlest, lingering brush of her lips, but his pulse had exploded, his eyes had widened, and his body had thrummed. Then she had pressed her body into his, cheek on his shoulder, and arms around his back, and whispered, “Thank you, Bahbi. You made me feel that I wasn’t alone then. You still do.”

To anyone else, that might not have felt like a profound statement. But it had to Bahbi. He knew alone ; he knew it very well, very personally. In fact, he knew it even better since he had encountered Vi, because she was increasingly causing him to experience the feeling of not alone , with together just in reach, and it had lent perspective to him on just how goddamn much alone he had had in life so far. The worst kind of alone—the kind where you’re still always surrounded by people.

Bahbi had held her tightly, wishing the moment would not end. But it had, and she had lowered her arms and taken his left hand in her right. She had looked up at him with a fierce smile and growled, “Let’s eat!” He had laughed and allowed himself to be tugged forward.

The kitchen crew had some surprises for them. Unsettling ones. Apparently, Qlu had provisioned for snake guy and Mister Beastly so that they could be fed their more traditional fare after purchase and could be provided another meal by their buyer during the voyage home.

For Mister Beastly, it had been a raw, bloody haunch, still on the bone, of something that must have been 20 feet tall and weighed thousands of pounds. The head cook had whispered to Acken, and he had gone back to retrieve the giant slab of meat and present it to Mister Beastly. Mister Beastly had immediately sat down on the grass with it, a few feet away from the table, and began to gnaw off huge chunks. Everyone watched in horrified amusement until Vi had cleared her throat and muttered something about it not being polite to stare. Bahbi no longer wondered that Mister Beastly’s rations had not been enough for him.

The cooks had then led out a live twon to the Ophidian—one with its horns cut off, thankfully. The giant snake had immediately started wrapping around the twon, and everyone at the table looked away except Acken, who had watched in open mouthed fascination. Unfortunately, Bahbi thought, they had all still heard the noises that the twon had made.

Vi had asked the head cook, “There’s another one of those animals back there? And another one of those hindquarters?”

He had nodded solemnly, and Vi had shivered, then reconsidered and said, breathlessly, “Thank god.” The cook nodded back, just as serious.

Before she let him walk away, she placed her hand on his arm and asked quietly, “Got anything alcoholic back there? Maybe that’s the best way to start, before bringing out the food.”

He nodded in either agreement or assent, Bahbi wasn’t sure, then hustled back into the kitchen.

Shortly after that, they were all raising full glasses of gleen while the cooks brought out plate after plate of fruits, vegetables, breads, meats, and sweets. When they finished and stood to take their place as servants behind those seated, Vi had laughed and shouted, “Nope! Sit down and grab a plate, we’re all feasting together tonight. For fuck’s sake, you all made this feast! Now eat!”

Then she had looked at the security system trio, sitting still and awkwardly at the table as the former captives started digging into the serving bowls. She yelled, “You three, too! As soon as I get some food in my belly, you’re going to tell me your names and something about yourself. But first, we feast!”

She had raised her glass, tilted it, and downed the gleen, laughing and making as if she were going to slam the glass back down onto the table. At the last moment, she set it carefully down. Then she started grabbing the food that was nearest to her. Bahbi watched her. After she had tasted several different things on her plate, laughing in surprise as the taste of the things apparently did not match her expectation of how they would taste, she threw her head back over her shoulder and yelled, “Hey, Qlu, you asshole! Great food!”

A combined cheer went up from the table.

Bahbi had never had alcohol before, and now he was feeling…buzzy? His brain felt carbonated. Everyone was stuffed to the point of groaning, the serving dishes decimated, the table looking like a warzone. Bahbi wanted nothing more than to curl up right there in the grass and go to sleep, but his carbonated brain kept bubbling at him that there was something he was forgetting. He looked over at Vi, a sleepy contented look on her face as she listened to another one of Acken’s seemingly endless supply of outrageous stories, and a bell dinged in his mind.

As soon as there was a lull, he pulled himself together a little and said, “Um…I told Vi that I would remember the things she was worried about forgetting and bring them up after the feast.”

All eyes turned toward him and he looked down, feeling a little out of his depth. “Um…first…the three cargo ships on their way back and the Trallian crews.”

Vi nodded and smiled at him.

Acken said, “Oh yes, I had forgotten about them.”

Bahbi felt a little steadier and said, “The second was the buyers coming here for an auction.”

Snake guy hissed and Mister Beastly growled from where he had been sitting in the grass, cleaning the blood out of his long, white fur with his tongue.

“The third was how long our supplies here will last for us and the Trallians we are holding.” Since nobody spoke, Bahbi continued, “And the last thing was having to do with checking out Qlu’s ship.”

Vi sat up and when she spoke, she slurred her words just a little, “And the most important thing of all: HOW THE FUCK DO WE ALL GET HOME?!”

Bahbi looked at her in utter shock. The thought that the group would separate, and each individual go home, had simply not occurred to him, nor had it likely occurred to any other Trallian. They could not go home. Ever. There was no place for them in that society. He looked at the non-Trallians and saw a similar realization on Caussus’s face. He had nowhere to go, either. Acken didn’t pick up and amplify the “home” sentiment, either, in his normal way. Everyone was looking down or looking inward while Vi looked around, confused.

“Hasn’t anyone else thought about going back to their home?”

A bright green light pulsed and temporarily blinded them all.

Vi looked over at Malachite, nodding, then asked, “Who here, besides Malachite, has a home they want to get back to?”

No one spoke, hissed, growled, or even moved.

“Oooookaaaay,” Vi said, looking around. “You know what? This was a good day. A great day! And we’re not going to end it on that note.” She picked up her glass and raised it, “TO FREEDOM!”

The cheer boomed out and back from the cavern walls.

As Acken, Caussus, and Trak endlessly speculated on ways to deal with the buyers on their way to Qlu’s auction, Bahbi watched Vi start to drift off to sleep. He walked around the table and was leaning over to gather her up and take her upstairs, when the chatter broke off.

Acken gave him a narrow-eyed look and asked, “What are you doing with her?”

Bahbi froze, halfway bent over, then straightened and said, “I’m taking Vi upstairs to bed.” He turned and pointed at the catwalk, “She claimed that first room, the one with the door propped open by a rock. I am going to sleep in there with her.”

He stood there, waiting for someone to laugh or tell him he wasn’t allowed to remain with her, but Acken raised his voice to rouse Vi and asked, “Is this true, little she-beast? Do you wish for Bahbi to share your quarters?”

Vi had nodded sleepily, her eyes unfocused, “Yes. I totally freaked out when we went in there and Bahbi went to close the door. Reminded me of being trapped alone in that fucking pod.” She looked up at Bahbi and smiled, “Bahbi said he would stay in there with me. He even dragged up that big fucking boulder to make sure that the door wouldn’t close. And,” she said, dreamily brushing her hand through her hair, “he brought me this pretty flower.”

Acken had regarded him for a moment, then nodded and returned to his conversation. Bahbi gathered Vi up in his arms and headed up the stairs.

Placing Vi on one side of the huge bed, he considered how he was going to get her under the covers. Eventually, he just went around the other side and pulled the free side up, folding the whole section over her. He remained that way for a moment, kneeling on the empty side of the bed behind her, before she reached her hand backward and grabbed his arm.

“Stay with me,” she said, sleepily.

“I won’t leave you, Vi,” he whispered. “I’ll be right in that room all night. And all the doors are open.”

“No. Stay. Here. With me.” She patted the bed behind her.

“You…you…want me to sleep with you?”

“Yes.” She patted the bed again.

Bahbi shucked off his coverall and lay down on his back behind Vi on the bed, his body totally rigid. Vi rolled backwards toward him, took his far arm, and pulled it forward. He turned on his side to follow her silent instructions, the front of his body molding to the shape of her backside—even with the heavy bedclothes between them—while Vi brought his left arm around her and pulled it so that his forearm was resting just below her breasts. Her boldness fostered his own, and he put his face forward so that it rested in the nape of her neck, breathing her scent deeply in.

Vi giggled and whispered, “Your whiskers tickle.”

Then they were both asleep.

He didn’t know which woke him, the sensation of the bed tilting or the feeling of falling. Bahbi had just enough time to grab hold of Vi before they were sliding down a pipe with a 70 degree incline, sliding for many seconds, before splashing into a very large pool of very warm water. Bahbi surfaced easily and looked for Vi. She was sinking far below him, eyes frantic and body entirely wrapped up in 50 pounds of wet bedclothes. He quickly dove, grabbed her, and pulled her to the surface, blankets falling away below.

“WHAT…THE…FUCK?!” She sputtered, looking around wildly.

They were in another enormous cavern, not quite as large as the garden cavern, with a pool stretching so far in three directions that it was hard to make out the marks on the walls left by the machinery that had created this space. In the last direction, which he had smoothly oriented them to face, was a sandy beach and another garden space, filled with trees, flowers, and shrubs. Full-spectrum artificial light filled the cavern.

Bahbi turned Vi to face him, wrapped his arms around her, then rolled onto his back to pull her atop him and begin swimming them toward the shore. Vi just looked around and gaped, totally speechless and holding on to him tightly.

He carried her to the shore, then set her down on the sand, carefully inspecting her. She didn’t seem to be injured, but she definitely seemed to be dazed. He said, “Stay here,” then headed back for the water.

“Wha…where…where are you going?” She sounded a little frantic.

“I’m going to swim around the outside edge to see if there is an exit anywhere.” That seemed to rouse her out of her daze.

Bahbi thought maybe her practical side was still catching up from their rude awakening. He didn’t wonder. Had he ever had a better night’s sleep than the one he had just had, holding her?

She stood and nodded, “That’s…that’s a good idea. I’ll do the same on the land.” With that, she headed along the shore towards the cavern wall.

They spent upwards of an hour looking for any sign of a way out. While Vi investigated the little beach, she found a number of various kinds of fruits. When Bahbi came back to the shore, shaking the water off his body and shaking his head in a negative, she had grinned and said, “Well, at least we won’t starve.”

They both ate some of the fruit, all of it recognizable from the previous night’s feast, so there was no worry that it would harm either of them.

Bahbi had put Vi to bed the night before in the clothes she had been wearing, so she was fully clothed and even still had her clever little sandals on, the ones that fastened with a huge crackling noise. After both of them had finished eating the few pieces of fruit and stared out at the pool in silence for a while, she jumped up and said something about gift hor-sez before starting to peel her clothes and sandals off. Bahbi sat up, eying her curiously.

She grinned, “There doesn’t seem to be much we can do about our situation right now, and I’m not going to pass up the chance for a nice warm bath.” As she took off running, she yelled behind her, “C’mon, Bahbi, last one in is a rotten egg!”

He sat, frozen, as she splashed into the water, dove a few feet, then turned back to smile at him. The water just covered her breasts. Surely, she didn’t mean it, did she?

“What’s wrong?” She asked.

He decided that she didn’t mean it. She probably had no idea. He tried to think of a way to explain it to her without embarrassing them both.

“Um…on Trallia, males and females do not share the same water.” Except for one thing , his mind added.

“What do you mean?” she asked, floating on to her belly and coming a little closer to the shore. He could see the beautiful curves of her ass above the water and swallowed hard.

“Males…and females…only come together in the water to…join. Um, mate.”

“Oh,” she said, her eyes big, “it’s forbidden, otherwise?”

“Yes,” he said, breathing a sigh of relief. It was short lived, only lasting until she spoke next.

“Will you tell me about Trallian mating? I can’t believe I’ve been off of Earth for more than a month and I still haven’t heard about any alien sex!” She grinned deviously at him, then her glance dropped to skate over his penile sheath and testicles, which immediately became noticeably warmer. “Also, I don’t think you’re forbidden from doing anything anymore, Bahbi. You’re not on Trallia. And I’m an incompatible alien, right? At least, that’s what Qlu and those other Trallians said.” She started laughing and said, “C’mon, you tell me yours and I’ll tell you mine. I’ll even go first.”

Smiling hesitantly, he stood up and walked towards the water, then dove in and surfaced next to her, on his back. “OK, you start.”

“Well,” she said, then stopped to think. “You’ve seen me, so you know what human females look like. Human males look a lot like Caussus, only they have testicles where his have been cut off.”

“Wait, WHAT? Caussus’s testicles were cut off?”

“Yes. He’s what we call a eunuch. He was made to be a servant, so they probably took his testicles so that he wouldn’t have any drive to escape or get out of his situation.”

Bahbi muttered, “I’m glad they never thought of that on Trallia.”

Vi looked at him sympathetically, then went on. “So, males have a penis like that. When they are aroused, it gets hard or erect. They put it inside here,” pointing to her secret, mysterious sex, “and slide it in and out until they orgasm and ejaculate. If the timing is right, their sperm finds an egg and a baby starts growing.”

“And this activity is not done in the water?”

“Um, well, it can be. But it usually isn’t. It usually happens in a bed.”

“And how often? More than once per year?”

She laughed, “If you find someone you enjoy being with, you can do it as often as you like.”

Bahbi didn’t understand anything about what she had just said, so he pushed it aside for a more pressing question.

“And there is pleasure?”

Vi looked at him, “Yes, usually. It depends on the partners and how attentive they are to each other’s needs. Tell me about Trallia. Maybe that will help me understand what is causing your confusion.”

Bahbi thought, “Well, once per year there is a mating event. All eligible females are paired with warriors, and they join in the water.”

Vi looked at him, “Eligible females?”

“Females carry a new litter and raise them for 15 years, after which they are eligible for a new litter.”

“Um…okay. And warriors? Warriors are the only males who are allowed to mate?”

“Yes.”

“And it is done just for procreation? You don’t have sex with each other for fun and pleasure? For love?”

“No.”

“So, let me understand this. Since you’re not a warrior, you have spent your whole life knowing that you would never mate, never be allowed to be with a female of your species?”

“Yes.”

She frowned and her voice became lower, “Tell me about the mechanics of Trallian sex.”

Bahbi pointed unselfconsciously at his penile sheath, “In the water, we align our sexes. The penis emerges, enters the female as deeply as it can, then inflates so that it locks the two together until the mating is completed.”

“When is the mating completed?”

“When the male has ejaculated three times and the female has, hopefully, climaxed at least once. The longer it takes, the bigger the litter. When the penis enters, it triggers her ovulation. It is hoped that she will reach climax at least once so that the male’s seed is drawn more deeply into her and reaches more eggs.”

“Hoped? Why only hoped? Can’t the male use her sexual pleasure centers to bring her to climax?”

“Only one is known for females, and it is very deep inside. Males whose penises do not reach it for their assigned partners are removed from the list of eligible males.”

They both went quiet for a moment, lost in thought.

Vi broke the silence, turning to lock eyes with him as she said, “You know, from what you’ve described, you don’t sound entirely incompatible with me.” She smiled crookedly at the look of shock on his face, “I’m not entirely opposed to the idea of giving it a try and finding out. How about you?”

Bahbi’s brain exploded as he stared at her, utterly without the ability to speak, so she continued.

“I mean, we have the water here. We enjoy each other. We’re in a weird little secluded asteroid paradise with no way out. We might even just eventually die here. I can think of worse things to do with our time than try out a little no-strings-attached alien sex.”

Bahbi just looked at her, then croaked, “Strings?”

“Yeah, like pledges of love, commitments of ‘forever,’ promises about what comes next, that type of shit. Let’s just try to give each other a little pleasure. When’s the next time you think you’re going to be stranded in a paradise grotto with a ready and willing alien female? I say we just take what the universe is offering us right now, enjoy it, and say ‘thank you.’”

Bahbi surged toward her, seamlessly catching her and rolling her onto her back while he floated above. Then he smiled sweetly down at her and whispered, “Thank you.”

He had never been so excited, or so utterly terrified, in his entire life.