Page 20

Horek

It became clear after our encounter at the botanical garden that Quinn was avoiding me. So I cannot be more shocked to find her not only at my door, but seated within my living quarters asking me about the mating fever.

“Perhaps you should tell me first what it is you were told. That way I don’t explain something you already know.” This will give me time to gather my thoughts, but she’s shaking her head.

“Nope. I want to hear everything from you, even if Bannik mentioned it previously.”

Her response confirms he’s the one who told her. I should punish him for speaking of that which he shouldn’t have. Maybe a few extra patrol shifts will remind him to keep his mouth closed. I won’t, though, because as much as I wish otherwise, it is the females’ right to understand the type of males they will become a bride to. They are part of our people now.

“Are you trying to come up with some fabricated story?” Quinn interrupts my inner thoughts. “Or trying to avoid answering me?”

“My apologies.” I incline my head. “I was merely reminding myself that, as a future bride, you have the right to answers.”

“Oh. Yes, I do.”

“All of our male ancestors have been afflicted with the mating fever. It’s a biological reaction to the need to find a mate and continue our blood line.”

Quinn raises her hand slightly. “Sorry to interrupt, but what does the mating fever feel like? The symptoms, I mean?”

“We experience a stabbing pain in our chest and bellies and the blood in our veins burns through us, heating our entire bodies. Our claws extrude and our fangs throb with the need to sink into the flesh of our mate and mark her so every other Bohnari knows she’s ours. Mostly, we have an undeniable urge to…” My voice trails off, because talking of the fever while my heart’s fire is within reach is causing every reaction I just explained. I need to get myself under control.

“An undeniable urge to what? You can’t just stop there.”

I pause only for another moment before responding. “To fuck.”

Quinn’s mouth falls open, but she snaps it shut. “I see. And this urge to…fuck. Is it for a specific person or will anyone do?”

I don’t want to lie, but it’s not that simple. “Both.”

Her forehead wrinkles. “Explain.”

“Every symptom I mentioned isn’t the only thing that happens when the mating fever strikes. If we don’t sate it, whether through sex or by taking the kanet plant, we are hit with bouts of uncontrollable rage. Nothing can calm us. Our only thoughts are fuck or destroy.”

Quinn’s throat bobs and I have to redirect my thoughts away from imagining her swallowing my cock and back to explaining our affliction.

“Before the Bohnari stopped giving birth to females, most could find a female and be cured of the fever and madness that went along with it. There are a few rare pairings amongst the Bohnari, though, when the male finds his heart’s fire. She is the only female that continues to make the mating fever burn through him, but keeps the madness at bay.”

I pause to give her a chance to digest what I’ve told her and to ask any questions she might have. There really isn’t much more I can tell her that I haven’t already. Other than that I suspect she is my heart’s fire.

“Let me see if I get this. Every male Bohnari goes through this mating fever that causes rage and destruction until they find a mate or are killed before they do harm to your people. Since you all don’t have females, you have to take this plant, which soothes the fever and calms the anger. Do I have it right so far?”

I nod.

“If one of us becomes a bride to one of you, the mating fever and all its side effects go away. I’m assuming because the couple will be”—Quinn’s cheeks darken—“fucking as married people do.”

“Yes.”

“But there is also a chance that this bride has no affect on the fever itself, but rather is the cure for the so called madness only? These types of women are unlikely, though.”

“That is correct.” She appears to understand, which I am grateful for.

Quinn nods slowly and I can tell she is still processing things. “That still doesn’t fully answer my first question. From your reaction to me in the garden the other day, it’s clear you were under the influence of the mating fever. If this special plant is something every Bohnari takes, which I assume includes you, why isn’t it working for you?”

How will she respond when she learns the truth? It is my greatest fear and yet also my greatest hope. My mother’s voice attempts to work its way into my mind, but I knock it away. I don’t want her to come in between Quinn and me. If Quinn is going to turn me away, I want it to be her choice and not because I let my mother’s insidiousness destroy my chances.

“I believe it is because you are my heart’s fire. The mating fever has been burning out of control within me for days, and I feared the madness would take over, but it hasn’t. Even after I stopped taking the kanet powder. I needed to know.”

Quinn jerks upright. “You did what?”

“I stopped taking the kanet powder.”

She rattles her head. “Why would you do that? What would have happened if it didn’t work? Would we be having this conversation or would you be dead?”

“Most likely I would be dead.”

Quinn jumps to her feet and whirls on me. “For fuck’s sake, what were you thinking?”

I rise to my feet as well. “I suspected you were my heart’s fire. I was mostly confident that I would not be consumed by the fever or the madness.”

“Mostly confident? You were ‘ mostly confident’?” Her voice rises with each word until the last comes out on a yell.

Within two steps, I am in front of her and gently clasp her face between my palms. “I am fully confident that you are my heart’s fire, Quinn. After the kiss we shared, there wasn’t a single doubt in my mind. But I needed to prove to you that it wasn’t only the mating fever that made me kiss you. It wasn’t because you were just any female. You weren’t merely convenient . I kissed you because I could do nothing else but that. You are the only female who makes my body burn out of control, but eases the destructive and chaotic thoughts running rampant in my head.”

Because she is the one and only female for me, I claim Quinn’s lips with mine. She answers me in full with no hesitation. I slip my tongue inside her mouth and glide it alongside hers. The taste of her is as sweet as her scent, and I drink it all down.

She wraps her arms around me and the coolness of them bleeds through the fabric of my shirt and soothes the heat burning through my body wherever she touches. The contrasting sensation of heat and cold goes straight to my cock and it hardens beneath my trousers.

With a soft, breathy moan, Quinn moves closer and rubs herself against my thickness. I walk her backwards until she collides with the sofa and falls onto it. I cover her body with mine, never once breaking the kiss. She quenches the thirst the fever brings.

I had no idea how desperate for this I was. I would die without another taste of her.

I rock my hips and she spreads her thighs as best she can so I settle farther into the nest between them. The heat of her cunt burns through the clothing that separates us. I curse the fabric that keeps me from skin on skin contact. I want to feel her naked flesh. I want to see it. Is her cunt the same pinkish hue as her cheeks have turned?

What about her nipples? I understand they come in various shades from the palest pink to the darkest brown. A need like no other fills me to know the color of Quinn’s. Is she as sweet there as she is everywhere? Will her nectar quench my thirst as well?

I want to know these things more than I ever thought possible. Nearly as much as I want to sink my cock into her, I want to sink my fangs as well. Every time another male sees her, he’ll know she is mine. I want her to bite me. To mark me just the same. I will proudly show it off so that every person knows I belong to her equally.

“You are perfection.” I kiss along Quinn’s jawline and nuzzle the curve of her neck.

She tilts her head to give me greater access. “No, I’m not.”

I nip at her flesh but don’t break the skin. “Don’t argue with me my heart’s fire or I will have to prove my words in ways I’m not sure you’re ready for.”

“You have no idea what I’m ready for.” Her breaths skims across my face and she arches her lower body to press herself harder into me.

The groan that rumbles out of me is rough and feral. My claws threaten to extrude and I have to will them back for fear I might hurt Quinn’s delicate body. “Why don’t you tell me, then?”

Never before I have been teased and tempted by a female. Not during any of our travels while searching for a cure for the mating fever, on any of the various planets we visited. As much as I admire several of the human females that reside on Tavikh, none of them called to me the way Quinn does. None soothed the beast roaring in my head.

“How about I show you, instead?” She pushes against my shoulders and I draw back from her.

I let her slide out from beneath me and she goes to her knees on the floor.

“Sit back and spread your legs.” Her seductive voice washes over me and I do as she instructs.

My breath catches when she scoots herself forward and her hands go to the fastener of my trousers. With surprising ease, she undoes it and my cock springs free. Quinn’s eyes widen as she takes in my length. A sudden bout of nerves hits me. Am I strange looking to her? Is my cock so much different than a human’s?

“Wow.” She licks her lips and pre-come leaks from the tip.

“Is that a good wow or a bad one?” I try to keep my voice light.

She lifts her gaze to meet mine and a smile grows wide on her mouth. “It’s a good wow. A very, very good wow.”