Page 22 of No Strings Attached (Mated Fates #1)

After hours of sitting on the floor, shock stick held against his throat by the squad leader who had tried to deliver Vi to Qlu, Bahbi had succumbed to sleep.

There was only so much worrying about his life and fretting, self-doubting, and obsessing about Vi that his mind and body could take. He gave in and drifted off, sleeping fitfully as he had done ever since Vi had left.

He dreamt about Vi and almost thought he was in a dream within a dream when the door snapped open and Vi rushed in, searching the room. Her eyes finally fell on his and she looked visibly relieved. He smiled broadly at her, happy just to see her again. She was even wearing one of the new coveralls he had made for her, her name etched into the left breast. Her entrance was shortly followed by Acken, Trak, then Caussus. Caussus…who appeared to…also be wearing one of Vi’s new coveralls. Bahbi’s smile faltered.

Vi yelled, “What the fuck’s going on in here?” She searched the room, looking at the faces of all the Trallians in their semi-relaxed and casual poses, and finally brought her eyes back to the single Trallian holding Bahbi hostage, her eyes narrowing and lips thinning. “What…THE…FUCK…are you doing with Bahbi, exactly?”

The bigger Trallian stood, jabbing Bahbi in the throat with his shock stick to indicate he should do the same, and faced Vi. “I’m holding your pet hostage.”

Bahbi stood, but his eyes traveled from Vi back to Caussus, standing there with her name emblazoned on his breast. Had Vi claimed him as her new lover? He was aware that he should be more worried about his own safety in this escalating situation, but the idea of Vi and Caussus, both wearing the clothes he had made special for her, could not be shaken. Had they exhausted each other in the bed, then simply grabbed the nearest thing to cover themselves? Or had she instructed him to wear it to proclaim to everyone on the asteroid that he was her property now? Her new partner…

Vi gaped at the big Trallian for a moment, then asked in a low voice, “Why?”

“Because…because…you never came and talked to us, like you said you would.”

Bahbi’s gaze flicked away from Caussus to Vi’s face, and he watched realization dawn on her. She said, “I’m…I’m sorry about that. We were called away for an important mission. We’ve been gone for three days and only just returned.”

Not only just , Bahbi thought, they’d been back long enough to take off their clothing and put on Vi’s new coveralls. Maybe long enough to do a lot more in between. But why assume they’d been together since returning? Vi was on that ship with Acken and Caussus for three days. Maybe the only reason Acken wasn’t also wearing her name was the fact that the coveralls wouldn’t fit him. For all Bahbi knew, she had claimed him, as well.

Bahbi watched as Vi shook off the obvious shame she felt at not having met her promises, then hardened back into the steel version of her that he admired so much, green eyes blazing.

She said in a loud, strong voice, “Release Bahbi. Now. Then we will have the talk that was promised. Refuse, and we will subdue you, put you in a cell next to Qlu, then have the talk with everyone else.”

“Not before the runt dies, you won’t,” growled the Trallian, jabbing the shock stick in harder.

Bahbi winced and saw the wince mirrored on Vi’s face. She truly was concerned about him. That did it for him. This…this… asshole was keeping him from Vi, and all he wanted to do was to go to her. He wanted it more than his next breath. At that moment, he simply wanted to beg her to keep him, no matter how many other males she added to her bed. Just please, please , allow him to continue being one of them.

Bahbi reached up, wrenched the shock stick out of the big Trallian’s hand and swept his legs out from under him. The male dropped, and Bahbi planted one knee on his chest while pressing the shock stick into his testicles, finger hovering over the button. He bared his teeth and growled, “You…upset…Vi.”

The next thing he heard was Acken booming laughter and bellowing, “Bested by a runt! That’s just what you deserve!” Then Acken had a hand on his back, saying, “You can step off him now, Bahbi. I’m going to go drop him in a hole.” Acken bent down and lifted the Trallian bodily by the back of his coverall, easily carrying him out of the room that way.

Then Vi was in his arms, squeezing him tightly, and kissing the side of his neck. He felt high on adrenaline and relief, the room darkening and narrowing down to just her body against his, her lips on his neck. He closed his eyes, bent his head down, and breathed her in. When he finally looked up again, he found himself on the other end of the envious gazes of around 50 other males, including Caussus and Trak.

Vi reluctantly let go of him when Acken returned, looking up at him and sharing something in their gaze. He nodded down at her, then said, “We will stay and have the talk that was promised. Take Bahbi out of here. We’ll see you in the morning for our first council.”

Vi placed one hand on Acken’s massive forearm and wrapped the other hand around Bahbi’s, then led him out of the bunkroom. She silently held his hand through the corridor, into the main cavern, and up the stairs. At the door to her room, she looked down at the boulder holding the door open and said, “Please move that, Bahbi, so we can close and lock the door.” He did, then she took his hand again and led him to the bedroom, closing that door, too.

In the bedroom, Vi carefully collected her new pan-tees and coveralls from the bed, then placed them gently on the side table. She walked back over to where he was standing, confused, excited, and nervous, and slid her hand down the magnetic closure on the front of his coverall. She pushed her hands under the shoulders and pushed it back off of him. The baggy garment slid all the way off and pooled around his feet.

She ran her hands through the fur on his chest and looked into his eyes for a long moment, then said, “Go lay on the bed.”

He complied, quickly. Then watched as she slid her hand down her own fastener and wriggled out of the much tighter garment, standing in nothing but her new pan-tees. She slid those half- way down, then looked up at him and smiled, then slid them all the way off.

Vi straightened up and just stood there for a moment, eyes sliding across his body while his did the same across hers. Then she got up onto the bed on her hands and knees and prowled toward him, eventually straddling him. She leaned down as low as she could get and placed her chest right above his belly, then slid upwards so that his fur ran across her skin in the way she liked so much. She planted her hands on the bed above his shoulders, leaned down, and brushed a kiss across his mouth. He opened to her and their tongues met, and Bahbi was instantly freed of the paralysis he’d been experiencing since she had told him to get on the bed.

His hands ran down her back to slide around the swell of her ass, came back up her sides and found her breasts, thumbs on her nipples, then she was moaning into his mouth and sliding her blazing hot cunt down to nestle his sheath.

He tried to say, “Vi—,” but she put a hand on his mouth, then sat back on her heels and reached between them. He had no idea what she was doing… they weren’t in the water!

She found his sheath and took it gently, positioning it right at her opening. Then she ran her index finger through her slick folds and brought that finger up, touching him as lightly as she possibly could on the tip of his nose with it. Her scent invaded his brain and his body took over, penis emerging and sliding into her as deeply as it could, then engorging so quickly that he got lightheaded.

Vi moaned out in pleasure and threw her head back, arching over his prone body like a beautiful sculpture. He brought his knees up to give her something to lean back against, and she did, pulling her head back up straight and giving him a wickedly crooked smile as she swung her hips in a small circle. He groaned and panted.

He couldn’t stand being so far away from her, so he dropped his knees and sat up straight, one arm going around Vi to brace her while she continued her maddening hip circles, while the other slipped between her folds. He drew her closer with the arm bracing her so that he could pull one of her nipples into his mouth.

Her noises of pleasure were insistent and continuous now, and he could tell that she was nearing the precipice as quickly as he was. He pulled her in, and she wrapped her arms around his neck, continuing to swing her hips in ever more erratic circles while his finger slid up and down inside her folds. When she fell over the edge, she went rigid, threw her head back and screamed to the ceiling, while her walls clenched around him. Bahbi pulled her even closer as he also fell, nestling his face between her breasts and shouting. As their movements wound down, he fell backwards and pulled her with him, saying “Violet,” as a long, whispered exhalation. They lay together in silence for a very long time.

Eventually, Vi sat up a little and looked at his face, saying, “Thank you for my new pan-tees and coveralls. I also have a few surprises for you. This was the first one,” she gestured around the room, “no water needed.”

Bahbi was dumbfounded. How could this be possible? Obviously, he knew conclusively that it was possible, Vi had shown him in the best way possible, but why did they lie about it on Trallia? And also, how had Vi known it was a lie?

He just said, “I don’t understand, Vi. Why would they tell us a lie? How did you know?”

She shrugged, “It really didn’t make any sense that water would be required. Seemed like a myth to me, so I thought we’d see if we could dispel it. I think we have some pretty conclusive evidence, don’t you?”

He smiled and nodded.

She smiled back, then bent her head down, and kissed him. He returned the kiss and deepened it, until they were both panting.

Vi pulled back a little to regard him, then simply said, “I missed you,” and put her head back down on his shoulder, breathing her warm little breaths onto his neck and slowly sliding her body up and down to rub against his fur.

“You did?”

“Yes,” she said, into his neck. Then she lifted her head up to look at him again, “Did you miss me?”

He laughed and rolled them both over so that she was under him. “Only like air, water, and food,” he said, as he began to lick her neck and behind her ears.

She wrapped her legs around his, wiggled underneath him, and said, “Do you want your next surprise?”

They had to worm-wiggle over to the far side of the bed so that Vi could open the bedside drawer; inside the drawer, she showed him a little control with a button in the middle.

“That’s surprise number two.”

“What does it do?”

“It drops the bed so we slide down that pipe into the water again.”

“Wait…what? I was in here to take a shower when the security team was working on it. They said you asked them to disable it.”

“Hell yeah, I did, the automatic dump feature. Who the hell wants to be awakened that way? I asked them to secretly build me something that would allow us to control it, so we could drop down when we wanted to. Although,” she said, a little sadly, “I think we’re going to have to turn off the heat down there and fill that pool up with fish pretty soon if we’re going to make the asteroid self-sustaining.” She thought about it for a minute, “That means, if we want a few more times down there, we’re going to have to get them in soon.”

Bahbi didn’t hesitate. He flipped them again, so she was on top, wrapped one arm and both legs around her, then moved to hit the button.

Vi yelled, “Wait!” and Bahbi froze.

She smiled at him sheepishly and said, “Let’s throw the pillows and blankets off to the side of the room first, so we don’t lose them again.”

Bahbi snorted laughter.

Now, they floated in the warm water, Vi on top. She asked, “How can we be floating above the water this high? It seems like we both should be more submerged. I mean, only my arms and legs are trailing in the water, my whole torso is above it.”

Bahbi replied casually, “Hmm? Oh, I can control my buoyancy. I’ve been keeping it high so that you’re not having any trouble keeping your face out of the water when we’re lounging like this.”

“Is it hard?”

“Um…no, it’s automatic. I just think about it, and it adjusts.”

She raised up to look at him before saying, “That’s so cool!”

Bahbi changed the subject, “Uh, Vi? Did you have them install a way for us to get out of here, or are we going to need to be rescued again?”

She laughed and pointed to roughly where the doorway Acken had uncovered was, “There should be a door release over there, and, if they followed all of my instructions, a little shelf to the side of the door with towels on it, so I don’t have to walk through the garden and back upstairs naked.”

“So, you were thinking of a way to come back down here before you left on the ship?”

“Yes.”

“To come back down here with me ?”

“Yes.”

He whispered, “Next time…facing each other.”

“Yes.”

“Um…why was Caussus wearing one of your new coveralls?”

“Hmm? Oh, we had a meeting in our room after we got back. Me, Acken, Caussus, and Trak. I found the coveralls and pan-tees when I got up to run to the bathroom. I was so happy that I squealed, and Acken ran in thinking we were under attack. I grabbed them to put them on—I was so happy to take off the Trallian coverall I was wearing, you know, since my ass was in the breeze through the tail hole. I thought Caussus might like the same thing, to not have his ass hanging out, either. So, I offered. Acken was pressing for us to go on an inspection tour of the asteroid, so there wouldn’t have been any time for Caussus to find something else to put on.” She looked up at him and asked, “Did it upset you? I know you made the gift for me, and I love them, but I felt bad that I was able to cover my ass and Caussus wasn’t.”

Bahbi shook his head, “No, not upset. Simply confused.” He had heard everything she said, but on some level his mind stopped listening at the words “our room.”

She said in a low voice, “Trak didn’t tell us you were being held hostage until we were almost done with the asteroid. I’m really pissed at him. We sat, ate, and discussed plans in our room, then went on a fucking tour of this stupid rock, and all the while that asshole was holding you with a shock stick to your neck. I came the second Trak told us, but we could have rescued you hours earlier if we had known.”

Bahbi listened to the emotion in her voice. She was furious. For him. Furious that he had been in danger, and no one had told her. She’d come running the second she found out . He pulled her close then moved them to a vertical position, taking her face in his hands and kissing her until she was breathless.

“I was fine, Vi, no need to worry. I guess all I needed was to see the concern on your face to get out of the situation myself. And Trak doesn’t realize that I’m special to you. No Trallians are special to anybody . We’re disposable. They say, ‘one Trallian is as good as the next.’ And the Trallians believe it themselves. It’s going to take everyone here some time to understand.”

He thought of Trak and his apparent sympathy when he believed Vi had been demanding that Bahbi give her pleasure. His willingness to take Bahbi’s place since he had previously received such demands and had experience. But then, he thought of Trak’s assumption that Vi had randomly picked Bahbi and was likely going to randomly select other Trallians to meet her needs. And his eager willingness to be first of that group. Vi broke into that train of thought.

“But you understand that it’s true, right? That you are special to me?”

“I think I’m starting to.” He wanted to believe it, but nothing in his life experience or cultural background held a precedent for it. There was no familiar hook in his mind to hang it on.

“Ready for surprise number three?”

He nodded, smiling.

“For the whole trip there and back, I practiced holding my breath to build my lung capacity.”

He looked at her, grinned, and tightened his grip while she pulled in a huge breath, and they dove.

They had wound each other up to a frenzy with the diving, between Vi shouting excitedly, “Faster!” every time he broke the surface for her to catch her breath and the undulations of his whole body under the water as he worked hard to propel them at speeds that practically felt like flying. His body was a blur of motion under the water, every movement transferred directly into the place where they were joined.

On the last surface, Vi had panted, “Shore,” and Bahbi took them over to the shallow water at the edge of the little beach. Once he was laying on more sand than water, Vi began a fevered grinding motion against him, panting and moaning out unintelligible words, with her hips tilted so that the grinding movement brought her little button in contact with his pelvis. But she was too far away for Bahbi ‘s liking.

He rolled her over onto her back and leaned in close, so their arms could lock around each other, then took over her frenzied grinding motion, ensuring each press of his body made contact with her button. They quickly fell into a rolling, rocking rhythm in the shallow water, a tangle of limbs, that had them both contracting and then exploding into pieces together.

Bahbi looked down into Vi’s dazed green eyes and said, “Sing me the song about the little dancer.”

“Can’t…breathe…yet…Bahbi.”

“I can wait.”

Her breathing was normalizing a little, now, as she said, “I really need to tell you everything that’s happened since we last saw each other, you know. There are big changes that you need to hear from me, that I need to make sure that you understand.”

“Like what?”

“Like we’re now one of the richest organizations in the galaxy. Didn’t you see those boxes of gemstones in the bedroom?”

“No, I couldn’t take my eyes off of you.”

She smiled, tilted forward, and kissed him. “And we’re an organization, now, too. That’s major. Although, I don’t know that we’re going to end up so much as a crew than as a very specialized mafia.” At his look of confusion, she said, “I better start from the beginning.”

He had taken them back out to float and Vi had sat perpendicular to him as she explained all the events and discussions since they had left on the ship with Malachite. Bahbi had been careful not to interrupt, although many things confused him, to let her tell it all. He had hoped that some of his confusion would be cleared up by the full hearing, but it hadn’t been.

Vi said, “Then Trak told us that you were being held hostage in the bunkroom, and you know everything that happened after that.”

Bahbi started with the biggest point of confusion, “So you…and Caussus…are King and Queen…of Oz?”

Vi shook her head, “Pretending to be. Oz is just the name of an imaginary place in a children’s story on Earth. We’ll be pretending to be King and Queen of a planet called Oz, one that we won’t tell anyone the location of, when we are out among people.”

“What people?”

“People who aren’t part of our organization. People on space stations, planets, ships.”

“And why pretend?”

“Because we need to be in a position of power to influence the galaxy.”

“Why influence the galaxy?”

“So that more people have a chance to be free and find happiness, like we have. I think you might have to just put that idea aside for a while until you’ve had more experience of freedom yourself. It may become clearer to you naturally.”

“No, I think I understand your desire, Vi. It’s as if you had broken free in the cage room but left everyone else in their cages to make your own escape. Or if you had freed them, but not offered the same to the Trallians here. You think that if you have the ability to improve the lives of others by your actions, then you also have the duty to do it, right?”

She was regarding him with mild wonder, but she nodded, and he continued.

“I understand the idea, it just doesn’t get generated for me like it does for you. It won’t for any other Trallian, either.” Then he came back to the point that had been bothering him most, “Why Caussus?”

“’Why Caussus,’ what?”

“Why is he your King?”

“Let’s keep the neurolinguistic programming positive here: you mean, why is he pretending to be King while I pretend to be Queen?”

“Neuro--?”

“Never mind. I chose Caussus to serve as the pretend King for two reasons. First, he and I look like a couple from the same species, so it’s believable. Also, I think we look very striking side-by-side with his white and my black hair. And second, Caussus has the vocabulary, diction, mannerisms, and background protocol knowledge needed to interact with the rich and powerful throughout the galaxy. He’s been trained to serve them.”

“So, you will be a couple? Life partners?” It was just as he had feared when he saw Caussus in Vi’s coverall.

“No. I will not be intimately involved with Caussus. We will not be romantic. We will pretend to be a couple in public, only . Here or on the ship, our relationship will be the same as it is now. When we’re pretending to be a couple, I will likely have to touch him or be mildly affectionate with him, but that will be an act, a show, pretend.”

“He will not be in your bed, then? You will not mate with him?”

“No. Absolutely not.”

“Is there anyone you wish to mate with?”

She looked at him in confusion, then looked down to where they were still joined, then looked back up at his face with a raised eyebrow.

He snorted a laugh in spite of his worries, “I mean, except for me?”

“No.”

“Truly?”

“Truly.” She brought her body down to his and they wrapped their arms around each other.

Bahbi whispered, “Don’t touch him any more than you have to,” and Vi laughed.

She asked, “What do you think about our decision to choose Trak to be in command?”

“I think it is a good one. He has a lot of different skills, knowledge, and experience. It will also make it easier for you to command Trallian crews. He will understand how to tell them things in ways that make sense to them.”

“Are you wondering why we didn’t pick you?”

“No. I really don’t have anything to offer on a leadership team. And I don’t have any experience other than caring for a litter. You would have been crazy to pick me. But I do wonder why you wouldn’t let Acken and Caussus give me the job of taking care of you. Of making you happy. I would be particularly good at that job, because it’s all I think about—ways to make you happy, make you smile, or cause you to kiss me.”

Vi chuckled, “I certainly won’t ask you to stop thinking that way, because you’re very successful in finding ways to make me happy or cause me to kiss you. But that’s not a way to find yourself, by living for someone else. I’m very excited, Bahbi, for you to have the freedom to discover yourself—what you’re capable of, what you enjoy, what you want to fight for. I didn’t want you to turn into an appendage of me. That happens on my planet with some women—females—who end up being defined entirely by the man they stand beside. She lives for the sole purpose of keeping him happy and is defined entirely by her success in that capacity. That’s bullshit.”

“I don’t really know what I’m capable of?”

“Did you know that you were going to get yourself free from that hostage situation before you did it?”

“Um, no. That surprised me.”

“See?”

“I think so. So…it will make you happy if I find things that make me happy, even if those things have nothing to do with making you happy?”

“Yes, exactly.”

“But I can still do things that make you happy because that makes me happy?”

“Yes, and I can, too.”

“Hmm. You know, when I was making your pan-tees and coveralls, my mind went crazy with ideas of beautiful clothing I could make for you, especially when I saw all of that pretty fabric in the fabrication room. And when you were talking about fashioning Malachite’s emeralds into adornments, I could see a lot of possibilities for those, too. Maybe that’s something I would enjoy and be good at?”

“Maybe,” she mused. “I’m going to want the whole royal entourage to be wearing the same fabric whenever we go somewhere in public, so that we’re all united by that and recognizable as together. Do you think you would enjoy designing the clothing for everyone: me, Caussus, Acken, and anyone else who might be by our side for those events?”

Bahbi thought about it, and could easily picture matching clothing options for everyone, including the Trallians, who might be in the royal party with Vi.

“Yes,” he said, “I’d like to try. Can I?”

“I think so, yes. I’ll talk it over with the other three in the morning meeting. For the jewelry, I would like a recognizable design that we all wear, too. Maybe it’s much bigger for me and Caussus, to show our position, but I’d like a smaller version to be worn by each and every member of any royal party. I want that to be a symbol to everyone who sees us that every member is valued enough by us, no matter what their species, to warrant a piece of expensive jewelry.”

Bahbi was nodding.

“It’s a big job, Bahbi. Are you excited by it?”

“I am. I’ve never had the freedom to create things that are beautiful, only functional. I made everything for my following litter, everything they ever needed, but those things were always basic and durable. I’m excited by the idea of making beautiful things that serve no other purpose than to be beautiful. Do you want to be conservative or flamboyant?”

Her eyes sparkled as she pulled back and looked at him, “I want us all to be head-turningly, startlingly shocking. When we walk in, everyone gasps and they can’t figure out if they want to be us, worship us, fuck us, or turn around and run away from us. How about that?”

Bahbi’s eyes lit up, then he growled, “I know which one I want.”