Page 20 of The Bride Contract (Princes of Xaavia #1)

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Chapter 20 - Kiahn

I stare at the gorgeous little human in front of me, not quite sure how to handle this situation.

She’s standing here, in my simulator - a fact that has me both nervous, and aroused. Stepping foot in someone else’s personal simulator is like… I don’t know, barging into their bathing space, or crashing into their dreams, or wearing their undergarments. It’s personal.

I’d lost the battle with myself about not using Niska’s permission tonight, and now she’s pissed at me. But the confusion has only fueled my suspicion that she doesn’t fully understand what it is she agreed to when she gave said full permission.

Which makes me feel like a dishonorable male and supremely pissed at Vel.

Originally, I’d been too caught off guard by being interrupted. And then seeing her in my brother’s clothing - it had all distracted me from realizing that she didn’t know what was going on.

And now it’s down to me to explain…

To explain how I’d just used a perfect holographic replica of her for my own release.

Goddesses help me.

“ So ,” I start, rubbing at my right horn again. “You know how we want to keep females safe from an unwanted bonding bite?”

Niska crosses her arms and gives a short, sharp nod. Her hip cocks to the side. She should not look so damn tempting in my shirt right now - not standing here in the room where I normally find all my pleasures.

“Casual fucking is not normally on the agenda for us, Niska. We cannot do these things as other species can,” I tell her, hoping beyond all hope that she will connect all the dots together so I don’t have to say this out loud.

Her arms fall to her side and her voice sounds scratchy as she asks, “do you have another contract with her?”

What?!

Wrong fucking dots!

“ No! ” I almost shout, stepping closer, even though I’m pretty sure she doesn’t want to be crowded by me right now. “This is a simulator! We use holographic clones for our pleasure.”

Peeling off one of the neuro-patches from my temple I hand it to her - willing her to understand. “These make it feel real. They send signals to our somatosensory cortex and parietal lobe, making the hologram version of the other participant feel like they’re really there. This room is also programmed with responsive atoms that are manipulated by what our minds want to feel. It’s… it’s so we can feel the sensations of mating without the risk.”

Niska stares at the used neuro-patch, and I will her to say something - anything - before I start begging the Goddesses to open up a hole in the floor and drag me under.

“You were… fucking a holographic human?”

This woman.

I pinch the bridge of my nose. “ You . I was…” my words get lodged in my throat but I force myself to look at her when I say, “I was feasting on the cunt of a holographic version of you , Niska. Because you gave me your permission to do so in our contract.” Her pretty little mouth hangs open as she stares up at me, letting my words sink in. Goddess, but she is so beautiful. I thought the hologram was pretty good, and had spent a great deal of time just looking at her. But nothing compares to this - to her . I reach forward and close her mouth with a finger under her chin, snorting lightly at the whole situation as I say, “and I was really fucking enjoying myself, too, until I got interrupted.”

“Did you fuck her-… It ?… Um… me?”

She blinks up at me like she hadn’t really meant to ask that question.

“Sorry. Never mind, that’s-”

“No, it’s alright.” She’d nearly turned away from me to leave, but I wasn’t ready to let her go just yet. “I… did not get to… uh… full mating.”

Niska says nothing, so like an idiot, my mouth decides to run away with itself.

“I licked your cunt while stroking myself to completion.”

Fuck, Kiahn, shut up .

“Three times.”

Niska’s eyes go wide.

“You interrupted the fourth.”

“ Jesus ,” she breathes, her eyes darting around while she digests all that unnecessary information I just forced upon her. I do not understand the word, but the sentiment is clear - I should have kept my stupid mouth shut - and off of her permission’s juicy cunt.

She doesn’t say anything else, and I am suddenly desperate to know what’s going on in that head of hers. “It’s for safety reasons,” I reinstate, swallowing thickly. “Especially with a breeding contract. It’s best if we use the permissions beforehand so that we’re somewhat desensitized to the act before we approach actual mating.” Niska still won’t look at me, and she still isn’t talking. “You know… to reduce the risk of biting,” I add unnecessarily.

Goddesses! Why does this little female make me so nervous?

I bite my lip to try and keep any further babbling from leaving my stupid mouth. Thankfully, Niska looks up at me and decides to talk. My first thought is that she is going to revoke her permission, which she has every right to do, but she surprises me when she says, “did you give me your permission to see a hologram of you?”

“I-”

I did.

And it’s the first time I’ve ever given out my permission to any woman.

Princes are often discreetly given permissions by various females, it comes with the status, and, even though I do not let it go to my head, I know I’ve inherited decent-enough looks from my mother’s side, so I am never without freely-given ‘options’. But it’s never been expected of a prince to reciprocate in the exchange of permissions. It’s somewhat of a security risk, and a privacy thing, too. It’s a kind of unspoken rule that higher ranking males in our society receive permissions, but do not dole them out.

Things differ a little when a breeding contract is involved however. Just like the male can make use of his bride’s permission to desensitize himself before the act, the woman may also request his permission so that she might get used to being touched and mounted.

“ Yes ,” I answer her, wetting my lips as I eye her. “I granted you my full permission in our contract.” The thought of her actually using it, though? I use the heel of my hand to readjust myself in my pants.

“Show me.”

I… do not know how to react to this.

My cock seems to have an idea, though.

I must take too long to answer her, because she’s back to crossing her arms over her chest as she stares at me, a challenge twinkling in her pretty eyes. “Show me how to use this thing. I want to know.”

I cock my head at her. Why the fuck do I find this little demanding creature so delightful when she’s bossing me around? “You know, this is my simulator,” I start, leaning forward ever so slightly. “And using someone else’s simulator is not really the done thing.”

She lifts a brow at me and hooks a finger over her shoulder. “Just show me how it works and I’ll go use your brother’s back in our rooms.”

The growl that erupts from my chest is low and more menacing than I’d intended it to be, but I reach forward and hold her dainty little human jaw in my hand, forcing her head to tip back so she is looking at me, and only me. “ You will not. ”

I’d be surprised if my brother’s simulator even works. Az’s pro-athlete status as well as being a prince means he has females practically throwing their permissions at him wherever he goes. He’s had to upgrade his simulator twice in the past five years and even though everyone jokes that it’s from overuse, there’s definitely some truth to that. This ship hasn’t had any such upgrades, so I assume he’s been going without on this trip. Which is… surprising.

But that’s beside the point.

The point is that the thought of my Niska using another male’s anything makes me want to break things.

“I will have your own simulator commissioned when we arrive home. For now,” I say, reaching into my pocket for two new neuro-patches, “you may use mine.”

Niska holds her breath as she stares up at me while I carefully attach the patches to her temples, watching as the tiny blue lights come to life. “Now, with your mind, think the command ‘access my acquired permissions’. There will be only one; mine .” And I would like for it to stay that way.

Instead of following my instruction, Niska steps away from me and asks, “how many permissions have you ‘acquired’ ?”

“More than one,” I shrug. Is she jealous? My lips almost twist into a smirk at the thought before I’m reminded that she’s not Xaviann. She’s human. Suddenly, my mood plummets. “How many males have you…” I can hardly fucking say it, my voice hoarse when I finally do push the words out, “… let touch you .”

Her gaze holds mine and it’s like she knows exactly what she’s doing when she echoes my own damn words back at me. “More than one.”

More than one.

My fists clench of their own volition, and in an effort to calm the fuck down, I clear my throat and tell her, “access my permission with your thoughts, Niska.” I can’t allow myself to dwell on the fact that other males have not only touched her, but they have pleasured her, and been allowed to mount that gorgeous body of hers. I try to quell the hot, angry feeling for now. Maybe I’ll find something to break later.

There’s a few seconds where I wonder if she is defying me because nothing happens, but then, in front of us, an exact holographic replica of me appears in the white room. I’ve never seen one of myself - it certainly is an odd experience, but I’m more concerned with what Niska thinks of it.

I hear her suck in a breath as she takes a half-step back. My hologram flickers a little in front of us. “Try to hold onto that image of me in your mind,” I tell her. “It gets easier once you are used to it.”

“I don’t really know if I want to get used to it,” she comments out loud, as she starts to move tentatively, slowly walking in a circle around the second Kiahn in front of her. She has conjured an image of myself that is exactly as I am now, without a shirt and with my pants still hurriedly pulled up to my hips. My holographic clone turns his head to smirk at Niska as she comes back in front of him. “He moved,” she breathes, seemingly in awe at this very small gesture.

“He moved because your mind must have requested that he acknowledge you somehow.”

My hologram suddenly disappears. “Where’d he go?” Niska looks at me, her expression almost laced with accusation, like I was the one to banish the other me.

“Concentrate on wanting me,” I tell her.

And Goddess above , I know how that sounds. And, I know how I want her to take it.

Concentrate on wanting me, my pretty little Niska.

Her gaze drops to my mouth as her lips part. For a second or two, it’s just me, her, and that rising heat that seems to appear whenever she looks at me this way.

Then, my clone flickers into existence once again.

And this time, he’s naked.

And fully erect.