Page 24 of No Strings Attached (Mated Fates #1)
Bahbi thought they must have walked past every Trallian on the stupid rock trying to get back to the main cavern. Each time they passed someone, he’d see a nostril flare, then a neck-cracking swivel of the head, and eyes widening in shock.
Vi was saying, “I hope there’s some dinner left. I’m starving,” as another pair of Trallians came toward them and repeated the nostril-flare, neck-crack, eyes-wide dance. She didn’t notice, because she was looking down in admiration at the crown in her hands, which Bahbi had pulled off between rounds two and three. They were taking it to show the others and get their approval for the design.
On one hand, he felt a little strange having all these others know what he and Vi were doing together. It was theirs, no one else’s, and no one had a right to be giving them, giving her , those looks.
On the other hand, more than half the Trallians they encountered finished their little dance routine by looking him straight in the eye. Acknowledging him. It was a first for him, as a runt. And he liked it. He was proud to be with Vi, proud to be the male she had chosen, and a big part of him basked in the acknowledgment of that fact by the other Trallians.
Sure, they had all seen her embrace him yesterday in the bunkroom, but this was different. It was the smell of their mating and comingled scents that the Trallians were reacting to—incontrovertible proof that Vi chose him for all things. He was not just a “pet” as the big Trallian had called him, yesterday. Vi did not think of him that way, he was certain. Wasn’t he?
She had been driven in the fabrication room. No sooner had they settled in behind a big piece of machinery, than she had started running her hands all over his body, both over and under the fur. Then she had become methodical about it, while rocking back and forth on him absentmindedly and occasionally letting out a soft moan.
First, she had started with his neck, running her fingers down both sides of his neck to his collarbone, then out across his shoulders to his biceps. She had made appreciative little noises each time she found something that pleased her, and she had spent a long time at his pecs before continuing down his abdomen and making a “mmm” sound. She had gasped a little when she felt his musculature from his abdomen down to his sheath, then leaned backwards to run her hands along his thighs.
Eventually, he had to ask, “What are you doing, Vi? Not that I want you to stop, of course.”
She had looked back at his face a little dreamily, still lightly rocking her hips and continuing to feel his thighs. “I’m making a visualization of what your body looks like under your fur.”
“I can find you a picture of a Trallian with no fur.”
She shook her head, “I don’t care what other Trallians look like underneath. Just you, Bahbi. I want to visualize your body.”
“Um, how does it look?”
“Like a hard, lean, sexy-as-hell swimmer’s body.”
“So, you like it?”
“I always have. I’m just getting more details. You can see all of me, and I want to see all of you, even if it’s just in my head.”
“I could…I could…remove my fur.”
Vi had laughed, “No! I love your fur, and I can’t imagine how itchy that would be—for both of us—when it was coming back in.” She looked thoughtful for a moment, “Do you ever imagine me with fur…a big tail…and six more tits?” She ran her hands down in lines from her small, perky breasts to her lower abdomen.
“No,” he had said, placing both hands on her back and pulling her in so he could bring a nipple to his mouth. “In my imagination, you always look exactly like you do now. Only the many ways we can wrap our bodies around each other change.”
She had moaned and whispered, “Slide a finger in me, Bahbi,” and they were both lost.
No, she didn’t think of him as a pet, he decided as they entered the main cavern. She enjoyed him—his conversation, his body, his creativity, his personality. He was a person to her. More than that, he was her person, the one she chose to share her time, her mind, and her body with.
Acken, Caussus, Trak, and the Ophidian—no, Steev , Vi had told him—were sitting around a low table, eating. Well, everyone except Steev. Vi grabbed Bahbi’s hand and led him over. Bahbi watched Trak’s nostrils flare, head swivel, and eyes widen as they approached. Then he looked into Bahbi’s eyes, held his gaze, and slowly nodded. Trak was acknowledging him, too.
“Look at this,” Vi said, holding up the crown to show everyone. She held it by the filament, so it appeared to float above her hands. “Bahbi made this crown prototype. Isn’t it beautiful? Turn it on, please, Bahbi.”
He pulled the stylus out of his pocket and tapped the green orb, then it lit up. Everyone seemed to admire it, appreciatively.
Acken said, “Oh, that is a wonder!”
Trak continued staring at Bahbi, while Steev leaned down to gaze at it up close.
Caussus said, “Master Bahbi, you truly have a talent for elegant design.”
Vi swung toward him, nodding. “Yes, he does. Put it on me, Bahbi, so they can see how incredible it looks.”
Everyone stared at Violet in awe after Bahbi placed the crown on her. Then she promptly took it off and said, “Let’s see how it looks on Caussus.”
Something in Bahbi clenched in denial, but he fought against it as Vi walked over and placed the crown on Caussus’s head. He had told Violet that he accepted the King and Queen arrangement, and he would let the battle rage within himself, keeping it invisible to her until he won, and it became true.
Acken shouted, “All hail, the King!” and Caussus dropped his eyes, smiling.
Vi was gazing raptly at the crown on Caussus’s head when she said, “Oh, Bahbi, it’s even more magnificent than I had imagined when it’s worn.” She turned and walked back to him, then wrapped her arms around him and said, “Thank you.”
Bahbi found that he couldn’t say anything under the intensity of everyone’s admiration and Vi’s affection. He just nodded and looked down.
Vi pulled away and said, “Sit down, I’ll go grab us some food.”
Steev was explaining his conversation with the King and Queen of Serpentia while Vi and Bahbi sat side-by-side and ate.
Vi asked, “So, they want to meet us on the space station? To see you and check us out?”
Steev said, “Not just that. The King and Queen only leave Serpentia once or twice, maybe three times, in their entire reign. We require others to come to us for most of our diplomatic relations and trade. It is considered the highest honor to receive them, and they wield that power like a club, demonstrating their favor for only a few rulers while demonstrating their dismissal of all others. Ogobian broadcasting will be all over this event.”
Vi was thoughtful, “So I guess you told them the story we’re selling instead of the truth, huh? They think you’re aligned with the King and Queen of the mysterious planet Oz, not just some rag-tag group of freed slaves?”
Steve nodded, “Of course. We don’t want the truth to reach anyone outside this group, do we? But I did tell them that the King and Queen of Oz saved me from the fate of auction and slavery. They were very relieved and eager to show their appreciation. Mind you, not relieved about me personally, just relieved that there is no Ophidian royal in captivity or sold into slavery. It would diminish our power and capacity for threat if one of us were sold into slavery and that fact known throughout the galaxy.”
“Your mom and dad don’t sound very nice, Steev,” Vi remarked.
“They are not. But Serpentia can be a powerful ally of Oz,” he smirked.
“And such an alliance can benefit us how?” Acken asked, leaning in.
“Well, for one thing, we have traversable wormhole technology from a fixed location to a movable one. We use it for real-time communications during galactic travel, mostly, but it can also be used to quickly emplace a major force of Ophidians anywhere, anytime. I lost my endpoint device before Qlu captured me, so I have asked them to bring me another one when we meet. If you can establish an alliance, we might have an Ophidian army behind us if, or more likely when, we need it.”
Acken sounded deeply impressed when he said, “Oh, yes, we must have that alliance.”
Vi looked back to Steev, “OK, so let’s talk protocol and how to impress your parents.”
Steev hissed out a laugh, “Well, first of all, you should know that they are offended by clothing. Since we don’t wear any, they feel that others are attempting to hide their true forms from view when they are received by royal houses draped in pound after pound of fabric.”
“Wonderful,” Vi sighed, “naked on intergalactic TV.”
Bahbi read Vi’s dejected body language and asked, “How about body jewelry covering…um…certain places?”
Steev thought about it, then said, “That should be fine,” and flicked his head toward Caussus. “We’ll need to do something with Caussus, anyway, something that keeps his missing testicles a secret.”
Bahbi glanced at Caussus’s groin and nodded, “I have an idea for both him and Vi. Can they wear blades?”
“Yes,” Steev said, “it would be strange if they didn’t.
Everyone went quiet for a moment, then Steev continued, looking at Vi who had perked up at the idea of having some covering, “Now, secondly, you’re going to have to stop fucking Bahbi starting now, or they’ll smell Trallian all over you at 100 feet away, like I did yesterday and today, and the game will be up.”
Vi deflated again and glanced at Bahbi. He could see her emotions cycling through embarrassment, disappointment, and confusion.
She looked back to Steev and said, “Wait, today, uh…doesn’t need any clarification, but yesterday when I talked with you, I had taken a shower. You mean…you could still smell…his…um…him…on me?”
Caussus shook his head and Acken said, “I, for one, cannot. Thankfully.”
Trak snorted and said, “Easily. Any Trallian can…and everyone probably has, by this point.”
Vi looked down at her hands.
Steev said, “Yes, I could smell him then almost as strongly as I can smell him now. It would be much better if you spent the next few nights fucking Caussus and carried his scent.”
Caussus’s head whipped around to Steev while Bahbi watched Vi’s downcast eyes widen, and he held his breath waiting for her to answer, panic threatening to overtake him because he recognized that Steev might just be right.
She shook her head, still looking down, “Yeah, I’m not going to do that. No offense, Caussus,” she said, with a glance at him, “but my sexuality doesn’t work that way. I only have a sexual relationship with one male at a time.”
Steev’s head and upper body swayed side to side as he said, “I didn’t suggest otherwise. I recommend you stop fucking Bahbi and start fucking Caussus, not that you fuck them both together.”
Acken nodded, pointed at Steev, and said, “Yes, that seems like the best option. This could be an important alliance.”
Vi was turning red and getting flustered, “No! I mean, my sexual relationship is with Bahbi now, and it will still be with him after we get through this thing with your parents. I won’t be fucking anyone else in between! If I need to smell like Caussus, maybe I can wear his dirty coveralls or something before we meet with your parents, Steev. But I won’t be having sex with him or anyone else just to make this act convincing.” Her eyes met Bahbi’s and her voice was confident when she next spoke, but there was a question in her gaze, “Bahbi and I can stop between now and when this goddamn meeting is over.”
Bahbi nodded reassuringly and held her gaze, but he felt the same uncertainty that she did.
Upstairs they stood, hand in hand, looking at the bed together and frozen in place.
Vi was the first to shrug it off. She laughed and turned to him, saying, “It’s not like it’s been forever. It’s only been a few hours! C’mon, let’s just go to bed and get a good night’s sleep.”
She began to peel out of her clothes and Bahbi did the same, then they each went to the opposite side of the bed. Vi laid down on her side, watching him, and he mimicked her, keeping a couple of feet of empty space between them as they held each other’s gaze.
He growled, “I hate this, Vi. It doesn’t feel natural to be this far away from you.”
She smiled, then rolled toward him, nestling her backside up against him. He slid one arm under her head and the other around her waist as she pulled the covers up over them.
“We’re going to need to practice keeping our hands off of each other, anyway, because there won’t be any privacy for us on the ship. At least as long as we’re using Qlu’s ship. And it’s going to be a long time before we have our own ship, with private quarters for the two of us.”
Bahbi stroked a hand from her waist to the slight swell of her narrow hips, heart expanding as he registered her assumption that they’d continue being together indefinitely into the future, even after they’d secured a ship of their own. He desperately wanted to ask her about that, but he couldn’t bear the idea of her qualifying the statement or bringing up their promise to not require each other to make any promises.
But she had told everyone downstairs that she was with him, only , and expected to continue to be with him, only , after the meeting on the space station. That knowledge alone should be making their brief period of celibacy easier, considering his previous assumption of lifelong celibacy. But he kept feeling a relentless drive, a need to make her body feel as good as her words had made his heart feel. She had claimed him, in front of the others, and rejected the idea of being with anyone else, for any reason.
He made up his mind right there, scooping her up in his arms and carrying her to the shower.
“What are you doing, Bahbi?!”
He stood her up, then got the warm water running on both of them. “I’m going to help you get my smell off of you and keep my promise from this morning. I’m killing those two birds.”
“Killing two birds with one…stone,” she corrected as he began to slowly lather her shoulders and breasts and her words transformed into soft noises of pleasure. “But…oh…what about…um…you?”
“I will use this,” he said, as he soaped down her belly and around to the round cheeks of her ass, “as a valuable opportunity to teach my cock some control.”
She snorted out a laugh that changed into a moan as he moved to stand behind her and run his soapy hands down into her mound. She arched backwards into him as his fingers slid through her slickness, and it didn’t take him long before he had her crying out. Bahbi ran a continuous mantra in his head of stay inside, stay inside, stay inside to his cock.
He finished washing, rinsing, and toweling off a now sleepy, dreamy looking Vi, then carried her back to their bed and returned them to their snuggled position. Stay inside, stay inside, stay inside.
He whispered into her ear, “I guess I won’t make you beg tonight after all. You look very sleepy, and I’m going to need more practice with cock control. This is much harder than I thought it would be.”
She laced her fingers into his where his hand rested under her breast and whispered, sleepily, “After we get through this, maybe I’ll be the one that threatens to make you beg.”
STAY INSIDE!
It was a very long night, with little sleep, so Bahbi designed adornments in his head. When it was time, he got up, dressed, then woke Vi. She looked up at him groggily, taking in his coverall and his stance above her.
“Leaving already? You don’t look like you got much sleep.”
“It was fine,” he said, leaning down to brush a kiss on her lips. “I’ve got a lot of work to do before we get underway. I’ll be busy all day.” He looked down at her with a frown, “Um, please don’t come into the fabrication room today. I don’t think I can see you in there without thinking about yesterday.” He smiled at her, roguishly.
She laughed, “Yeah, I don’t think I can, either. I’ll stay away. See you tonight, though?”
He nodded, kissed her again, then left.
It was well into the night cycle when Bahbi turned off his work lights and left the fabrication room, happy and satisfied with his day’s work. He thought Vi would respond very well to the things he had made today, and he definitely thought that anyone who laid eyes on her and Caussus would want to be them, worship them, fuck them, or run away from them. He couldn’t wait to fit them both tomorrow and see his handiwork in full.
The main cavern was empty, so he went straight up to their room and stopped short in the doorway to the quarters. Vi was wrapped up in a blanket from the bed, one side had slipped off her shoulder revealing that she was bare underneath or just in pan-tees. She had dragged a side table around to be inside the enclosed space of the sofa, and two uneaten meals sat there. She had waited for him. Fallen asleep while waiting for him. His heart swelled as he stood in the doorway, watching her sleep. He had never imagined himself belonging with anyone, just belonging to them as property—a slave. And even if he had dared to imagine it, his imagination never would have even come close to presenting him with a feeling of this depth and breadth.
She must have felt him staring at her on some level, because her eyes fluttered open and slowly focused on him standing there in the doorway. She smiled, sitting up and rearranging the blanket around her, “You’re finally home.”
He nodded and started to purr, emotion welling up in him as he closed the door and went to her. He was finally home.