A Civilized Mating Read online

  Like he’d told Talzec, pairing was tough everywhere. The Vytcore warriors had adapted to unmet carnal needs by taking each other. Male-to-male pairings had become the norm for many. Some lucky few, like Maht, found a birth-mate before pairing. Xav doubted Maht would take a male lover since he’d apparently found his female.

  At the thought, Xav ran his hand up and down Skye’s strong thighs and felt her jerk. She said nothing, but he could sense her angry tension growing as they moved. As the suns started to set, he made the command decision to pitch camp. They had another day before they reached home, and with the Nasuhl daring to cross territory lines, he would rather be prepared and rested than attacked. Especially with precious females as cargo, and a mated one at that.

  “We camp here. Lore, scout the area and set up a perimeter.”

  Lore nodded and left.

  “Zehn and Maht, see to the females. I’ll take first watch after hunting us something to eat.”

  He left and returned some time later, only to see the clearing empty except for a small fire and supply packs. The three moons lit a cloudless sky and enabled him to see without effort, not needing his enhanced vision to penetrate the dark. He dropped the four flehiks he’d killed near the fire, stopped to listen, then followed the sound of swearing and scuffling a short distance away. What he saw when he rounded a small cluster of boulders should have surprised him but didn’t. He’d had a feeling Skye would only fake docility so long.

  Maht, Lore, and Zhen were sitting on Skye’s legs, arms and chest while Lisa watched and encouraged her friend to win. To win?

  “Come on, Skye. You can do better than that.”

  “Lisa, shut up.” Skye let out an impressive series of Ussed swear words. “Get off me, you idiots!”

  “Female, if you don’t relax, you’ll hurt yourself.” Zehn let out an oomph when she punched him in the belly with one arm which had gotten free. “Lore, am I mistaken? Or did this luscious woman call you an idiot?”

  “She meant Maht,” Lore teased before nimbly dodging a knee to his groin. “I am most impressed at her ferocity.”

  “Suck it, dirtbag,” Skye muttered as she lay on the ground, gasping for breath. “I can’t… breathe.”

  Maht chuckled. “Ah, such deception. You utter untruths, Skye of Earth. Lisa told me all about your skills.”

  Maht hadn’t mentioned this to Xav. Perhaps Xav should question the warrior sooner than later, especially if he had information on the delectable offworlder. Though Xav could see the beauty in Lisa’s ample curves and fiery tresses, it was Skye who intrigued him.

  “Oh?” Xav said in a loud voice. “What skills are those?”

  Lisa blinked at his hands. “Oh my God. What happened?”

  He glanced down, realized she referred to the black and red blood on his hands, and wiped them on a nearby maffet leaf. “Nothing. I have found us a meal.”

  “Blesta?” Lore asked, hopeful.

  “Flehiks. Four of them.”

  Maht rubbed his belly. “Ah, my favorite.” He turned to Lisa. “You will enjoy them, sweet. They are full of nutrient and flavorful as well.”

  “Flehiks?” Lisa asked.

  Skye sighed. “They’re a cross between a rabbit and a pig. Don’t ask. They’re supposedly pretty tasty.”

  “Never heard of them.”

  “That’s because you didn’t study the eastern side of the island. Westerners are huge fans of fish and chicken.”

  He didn’t understand the term. “Chicken?”

  “Blesta, but domesticated.”

  “Ah.” Xav grinned down at her, still stuck under three amused warriors. “Are you ready to behave?”

  “Kiss my ass.”

  Zhen sighed. “She is most difficult. But her breasts are amazing.”

  “Hey.”

  Lisa narrowed her eyes on Maht, who was quick to focus her attention on his hands. “I only hold her legs, sweetling. You see? Only from your breasts will I suckle.”

  “That is way too much information,” Skye groaned. “Okay, okay. Everyone, off. I promise to behave. For now,” she added under her breath.

  Maht jumped to his feet and took Lisa with him back toward the fire. Zhen and Lore, Xav saw with displeasure, took way too much time “assisting” Skye to her feet.

  “Hands off.” She brushed away the grass from her belly and legs, and Xav had a hard time looking away from her amazing body. He’d seen many females in his time, to include offworlders, but a rare few had such strength of female form. Even Lisa had more softness than her friend. He wanted to feel Skye again, to run his hands over her contrasts and seek the heat of her that had so pleasured him before. Would she be soft between her thighs? Sweet?

  Lore smirked at him. “Come on, Zhen. Let’s head back and help Maht. Looks like our fearless leader has things well in hand.” Lore gave a deliberate onceover to the noticeable bulge in Xav’s loincloth.

  “Well…” Zhen’s eyes twinkled.

  “Away with you two.” Xav waved a hand. Once they’d gone, he closed the distance between him and Skye. “Are you all right?”

  “Why wouldn’t I be?” She sounded defensive.

  “No reason, only that three huge warriors had you pinned to the ground. And not in a fun way.”

  She blushed.

  “Our females are close to your size, if a little smaller. None of them have ever tangled with a warrior.”

  She frowned. “Why don’t you have any female warriors? I’ve read about you Barbarians, and the books say warring is limited to the men. What do your females do all day?”

  “Much.” He looked her over, agreeing with Zhen that Skye did indeed have amazing breasts. Her nipples were hard, and when he inhaled, he caught the enticing aroma of her need on the air. So, she felt it too.

  “Why are you looking at me like that?” She crossed her arms over her chest. A pity.

  He reached out a hand to tuck away the stray strands of hair that had come untangled from the tie holding it back. Wanting to see it down, he tugged the band away.

  “Oh man. Why did you do that?” She put her hands up to catch the falling silk, and he stepped closer.

  “You are very beautiful.” He loved her blush. “Skin so fine. Eyes a lovely shade of brown. You offworlders are so…unique.” She had a speck of black in the center of a slight ring of brown that turned different shades of gold under the shadows. The moonlight bathed her in a glow, making her appear as one of his people. “Who are you, Skye of Earth, and why have you come?”

  In this instant, he could well believe her a gift from the Maker, a treasure to hold close and never let go. Had Talzec felt this way about Nalla? Such hunger, such curiosity? Xav had never before been so enamored with a female. Her energy fascinated him, because he could feel the hum of it when they touched.

  He put his hand on her shoulder and looked into wary eyes when she glared up at him. “Ah, sweet Skye, I feel so much of you.”

  “Y-you’d better stop. Feeling me, I mean.” She swallowed loudly, but he listened to her body and spirit, not her words.

  “That’s not what you really want,” he whispered, needing to taste her again. “But I will do nothing to harm you, tonan.” Tonan had slipped out of him without thought. Yet as he said it, he was shocked to realize he meant it. He wanted very much to master her…to stand by Talzec as they mastered her together.

  “What does tonan mean?” She licked her lips, and he groaned.

  “Just one small taste, then we go back to the fire. Yes?” He tightened his grip on her shoulder, then released her to run his fingers over her arms to her breasts. So light, that touch, yet he felt the heat of her to his bones. To one place in particular, now hard and throbbing between his legs.

  “Um, well…” She stared at his mouth, her eyes seeming black, the brown swallowed up by that well of night at their center. “One kiss can’t hurt, can it?”

  He didn’t want her to second-guess her answer, so he kissed her. And lost his ability to think.
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  Chapter Five

  Skye hadn’t expected the kiss to affect her so deeply. Not when she’d spent so much time rationalizing her last interaction with Xaveht. Had to be her dry spell that had caused her to go off like a rocket. What woman orgasmed from a little petting, and with an alien she’d just met, no less?

  So she was unprepared for the devastation of this kiss. God, it was even better than the last one, and she’d known to be ready for his taste. More of that damn chocolate mint, except layered with a lusty spark that drove her insane. She wanted to spread her legs wide and take him deep inside. From one kiss.

  Then the bastard groaned and tugged her even closer. Knowing he felt the same desire only made hers worse. Everywhere she touched him she tingled. He felt hot, steely hard, and those delicious muscles fit with her body as if made for her.

  “Mmm. Yes, tonan. So good,” he whispered against her cheek as his kisses trailed to her ear. “You smell so sweet. In time, I will lick you up, and we will see how wet you can make me, yes?”

  “Wet?” she rasped.

  He grabbed one her hands and snaked it down the front of him under his loincloth.

  She started. He felt slick all over. When had he lubed himself up?

  “When we want, we grow slick. It helps because we’re so much larger than our females.”

  Good night, how was she supposed to respond to that? Not only was the guy hung like a horse, he was thoroughly lubed, so he’d fit even easier. She clenched her hand around him, her fingers not meeting due to his girth. Who knew she’d find a tiny sliver of boyfriend heaven up in the stars?

  Xaveht took her hand away and wiped it on her own belly, exposed by her cropped tank. “Now you will smell like me.”

  She didn’t smell a thing. Nothing aromatic about the guy, at least not that she could tell amidst the sweet flowers and crisp scent of the tropics around them.

  Xaveht kissed her again, gentling his hold as he slowly pulled back. To her embarrassment, she leaned into him so much she nearly fell when he completely withdrew. He steadied her, and her cheeks blazed with heat. She wanted to look away, but she’d never been one to avoid necessary confrontation.

  She met his gaze, noted that spark of red then blue in the center of his eyes and watched it slowly fade as he watched her. “What are you doing to me?”

  “Doing?” He ran a callused finger over her cheek, looking down on her. Man, he was tall. And hot. And lickable all over. Yeah, I’m apparently hooked on barbarians. And I’m supposed to help Lisa? Get it together, Skye!

  “You know.” She crossed her arms over her chest and regained her balance, breathing evenly. “Making me feel…attracted to you.”

  “I do not know about making you do anything.” Xaveht grinned, and her knees threatened to buckle. “I do know that you’re very interesting, offworlder.”

  “Skye.”

  “Skye.” He seemed to savor her name. “You smell of summer rains and crackle with the power of lightning deep inside. I can feel your energy seething. It calls to mine.”

  She blinked. “Wait. You can feel energy in others?”

  “Of course. All Ussed can, even our weak westerners have such an ability.” He paused. “Are you saying your people cannot? But I felt you earlier. We were tied. Phelthar.”

  She didn’t understand the word. “Phelthar?”

  “Yes, the state in which we are tied to all things, or to one thing in particular.” He stared down her body with a grin. “I would be tied to you in other ways as well.”

  Her face burned. “Ah, well, yeah. See, that’s what so weird about you. I don’t normally just kiss anyone, you know.”

  His grin widened. Shoot. “That is good to know indeed.”

  Before she could try to make up for admitting a vulnerability, Lore returned. He looked from his leader to her, took a few subtle sniffs, then shared his own shit-eating grin.

  This is so embarrassing.

  “Our meal is ready.” As they passed, she heard him say to Xaveht, “So she is off-limits?”

  “Yes.”

  A simple answer, and one that felt like an admission of ownership. Slavery had been outlawed on Earth over a thousand years ago. So why did the notion of belonging to the huge barbarian flip her switch like it was Christmas?

  They sat down around a small fire, Lisa practically in Maht’s lap while he fed her from his friggin’ hand.

  “Geez, Lisa,” she muttered and took small bites of surprisingly tasty, tender meat. Those rabbit-pig things tasted pretty good.

  Lisa ignored her, smiling shyly up at Maht.

  “Ah, the play of new mates.” Lore grinned at the couple, then looked at her and Xaveht. He motioned to Zhen, said something she couldn’t make out, then turned with Zehn to stare—and laugh—at her.

  “What?” she snapped.

  “Such spirit.” Zhen nodded, mischief in the small curl of his lips. “I don’t know if Xav can handle her by himself. No doubt Talzec will be needed to tame this one.”

  “Tame who?” A second mention of this Talzec character. Already she didn’t like him. Skye would have stood and forced Zhen to explain himself when Xav put a hand on her shoulder, stilling her.

  “Easy, Skye. Pay no attention to the droning of an akla.” Akla—beelike creatures known for their steady, melodic humming. As far from a hardened warrior as a butterfly was to a hawk.

  “Akla? Great leader, such words hurt.” Zhen didn’t look hurt, grinning like a madman.

  Xav scooted closer to her on the downed tree on which they sat, his entire left leg in contact with hers. She moved away, giving them some space, and thought she heard him sigh.

  “Now, Maht,” he ordered, “tell us what happened earlier today.”

  Skye said, “I—”

  Xav placed a firm hand on her knee, and the contact sizzled before he removed it. “No. Maht must answer for his actions. And he will begin with why he took an offworlder from the West, that place from which we must never raid for fear of breaking an age-old treaty.”

  Maht looked nervous. For a guy who seemed to have broken his tribe’s main law, he hadn’t been too repentant while banging her best friend. Lisa held onto his hand while he spoke, and Skye had a bad feeling she wouldn’t be taking her friend anywhere without Maht by their side.

  “I was stationed as security at the resort.”

  “This we know.”

  Maht nodded. “I spent my time like I normally do. The visitors and attendants always want a ride, but they do not trigger the instinct.” Ride? Instinct? “Until I saw Lisa. She had been transferred to act as liaison to our guard. The first moment I looked into her eyes, we connected.”

  “Phelthar,” Lore murmured, and Zhen agreed.

  “Perhaps this is only your body lonely for a female,” Xav offered. “She is most comely.”

  “No. I know the difference between release and phelthar. This, with Lisa, engages all of me.”

  Xav stroked his chin. “I was afraid you’d say that. Considering that even from here I can sense your mark, I do not think Talzec will part the two of you.”

  “Thank you.” Maht bowed his head.

  “But… I am not sure if you will be allowed to stay. Breaking the treaty is not something we can hide.”

  “But she wants to stay with me. She is here of her own free will.”

  “Yeah?” Skye cut in. “Then why am I here? She sent me a message to come rescue her.”

  Maht turned a stricken gaze to Lisa, and for a moment Skye actually felt sorry for him. “Is this true, sweetling?”

  Lisa sniffled. “I’m sorry. It’s just… This is so confusing. We haven’t been together long, and you were talking about keeping me here. I mean, I’m from Earth. I work at Welcome. I don’t know anything about your culture. Heck, Maht. I barely know you.” She absently rubbed her belly, and Skye wanted to groan, because the satisfied look on Maht’s face was impossible to miss.

  “Ah, now I understand. So much so soon. It threw me as wel
l. We do not normally take to offworlders. Finding you, as much as it is a joy, is a shock as well.”

  The intimacy building around the couple felt real. Like a force field of affection and protection at the same time.

  Skye frowned and stared harder at them. In the light of the fire, she could almost see lines of light connecting the pair. She blinked and concentrated, wondering if perhaps this planet was enhancing her psychic abilities. That or the weird meat she’d consumed had the same effect as certain hallucinogens at home.

  Maht continued, looking away from Lisa to Xav again. “The needs were pressing. I confess I could not wait to arrive home. We settled into the yernax point and I lost myself between her soft thighs.”

  “TMI, buddy.” Skye didn’t need to look at Lisa to feel her friend’s discomfiture, so she focused on her stick of meat.

  “And then?” Xav prodded.

  “Then the noise of intruders distracted me. I heard the female—” he nodded at Skye “—talking with warriors I did not know. I felt danger, and then a Nasuhl entered our post.”

  “This means war,” Zhen muttered.

  Lore nodded.

  “When I left the hut fighting the intruder, I saw Lisa’s friend fighting another of the warriors.” He sounded surprised, which didn’t help Sky’s ego any. “She took him down.”

  Lore gaped at her. “She did?”

  “It wasn’t you?” Zhen asked Maht.

  “I fought the one, but she defeated the other. Then she came after the one I was fighting with.” He frowned at her. “She defeated him too. Enemies so close to my new mate triggered the instinct even more. I have the vague impression of pinning Skye to a tree, concern for Lisa my only goal. Skye then battled me. I have no idea what else happened until Xav woke me.”

  Now everyone was staring at her, and Skye felt the way she had at home. Not fitting in, alien among her own kind. Women didn’t possess fighting skills. If anything, their intellect had risen to surpass most men’s. So to find a “throwback” like Skye, who aligned more with fighting skills than cerebral pursuits, hadn’t painted her in a very good light.