Bondmate (4 page)

“Come,
have a meal with us as you consider these things.”
Byn
made the offer because he knew she had to be hungry and it was a way to prolong
their interaction. It would also distract him from wanting to rip that towel
from her body so he could start an in-depth study of human female anatomy.
Sharing food was a significant social interaction in
Alphan
society, and the idea of including Avanelle pleased him deeply. He hardly dared
hope this would be the first of many.

“I
want some clothes.”

Byn
glanced at Mat, who nodded to
him. With reluctance he left the bed and walked to the storage unit where he
retrieved some loose fitting clothing. They’d selected garments with adjustable
fittings, unsure what size their prize would be. He returned to the bed and
held out the shirt for her to assume. She looked up and reached for it with one
hand, the other still clutching the towel. Struggling for a moment, she managed
to get it over her head, but then was caught in the folds of fabric.

Byn
caught Mateen’s eye, and they
both reached to help her realign the shirt. As she slid her arms in, he wasn’t
able to resist peering down and catching a glimpse of her bare breasts. Round,
with pale pink nipples, they shook as she shrugged the garment down. She pulled
it past her waist, and Mateen tugged at the towel as
Byn
handed over the pants. Perhaps he hadn’t meant to, but his bond’s gesture left
her uncovered for a quick moment, and the sight of her sex, modestly framed by
her slim thighs and concealed by a cluster of soft brown curls, made his body
tense from his toes to his suddenly throbbing staff. She was a rare jewel
indeed. Mateen’s gruff exhalation indicated he’d also seen her, and the reality
of this, that they’d found their woman, and she was finally safe with them,
made his blood rush.

Avanelle
quickly turned to the side as she drew the pants up her legs, seemingly unaware
how much she’d affected them. She struggled with the tapes at the waist but
soon had them fastened. The top gaped open around her neck. They’d thought
human women were larger, or she was a smaller than average specimen. She slid
to the edge of the bed and stood, swaying slightly, the material falling over
her hands. He and Mat were at her sides, rolling up the sleeves and the bottoms
of the pants before she could make a move.

He
caught her gaze, and saw caution and bemusement, but fortunately no fear.

Mateen
grabbed the cold pack from the tangle of bedclothes and pressed it to her
elbow. “Come, let us eat.”

Chapter Three

Avanelle
woke up in the clean bed again. Relaxed and satisfied until she remembered her
surroundings, she tensed. Where were they? The room was darker than it had been,
and she couldn’t see a thing beyond the paleness of the sheets and a faint glow
from a light along a far wall.

They’d
fed her. Those big golden men had arranged a multitude of small dishes in front
of her, each containing a different food. Food like she’d never seen in her
life. Red, yellow, green vegetables mixed together, served alone and with sour
sauces. Slivers of meats she couldn’t identify, some charred as if they’d been
roasted over a fire, others shredded into rich stews.
Chewy
breads and grain pilafs.
It was all a wonder, and neither of the men had
eaten from any of the plates until she’d tried a bite. It was difficult not to
shove food down her throat, but she knew if she attempted too much, her long-denied
stomach would rebel.

They’d
been mostly quiet, watching her eat with intent gazes until her pace slowed.
Then they’d spoken about their home in the capital city on their planet. The
smiling one, Bynton, had described the bath and pool with such pleasure she
could almost imagine how all that warm water would feel against her body. She’d
never been immersed before. Water was too precious a substance on Earth, costly
and meted out. Evidently on Alpha, no such strictures were in effect. He’d also
told her they had a garden with trees and flowers. She’d tried to hide her
shock. The idea of living with such things boggled her mind. Mateen had rumbled
a bit about the security features he’d added to the walls and windows,
then
subsided to quiet observation. He’d checked her elbow
several times during the meal and with a deep scowl had finally allowed her to
remove the cold pack. She’d yawned over the array of sweets they’d produced,
and somehow she’d been bundled off to the overlarge bed.

Here
she
was,
her belly comfortably quiet, these strange
loose clothes on her clean body, on this soft bed all alone. Weren’t they going
to have sex with her as they’d intimated? Would she resist if they tried? All
her sexual experience to date had been furtive and without much impact. Would
accommodating these strange men be that much of a trial? They seemed convinced
some sort of connection bound them together, but they were alien, with strange
ways of thinking she couldn’t hope to understand. Granted, when she’d first seen
them staring at her as the people had rushed to gather up the heat cubes, her
whole body had flared with some strange sort of heat, some awareness of them.
But that was due to their
alienness
, certainly not
some sort of physic link. Wasn’t it?

She
sighed and rolled onto her back. It was hard to fathom. This whole episode had
been like a dream or some sort of fantasy story told over a fire late at night.
The fact that she’d even considered sexual contact with aliens was bizarre
enough to count as fiction. Usually such tales ended in the death of the
ravished woman, so she hoped to avoid that fate.

A
sound brought her out of her half-dozing reverie, and she sat up awkwardly, so
well-rested it was difficult to order her muscles to obey.

“Calm.”
Mateen’s voice
rumbled from the dark. Strange that she should know who it was so easily.
Equally strange that her heart wasn’t racing as it should be under
these circumstances.
“Are you well?”

“Yes.
Where is Bynton?”

“Checking the perimeter.
He’ll return
soon.” There was a shift in the shadows, and she felt the edge of the bed move.
He was getting closer to her, and her heart fluttered. “May I get you
something?”

“Like
what?” She truly couldn’t think of anything she needed. She was warm, dry,
clean
, fed, and against all reason, felt safe. It was so
novel in her experience she didn’t quite know what to do.

“Food,
drink, a covering … answers to your questions.”

“Where
are you?” She’d watched them
before,
trying to
interpret the looks they’d given each other and her. It was disconcerting to
speak to someone she didn’t know well in the dark.

A
sliding sound and the bed pad moved. She felt his body heat and then the
slightly rough pads of his fingers along her hand. “Can’t you see me?”

“No.”
She shook her head and turned towards where she thought he must be.

“That’s
right. Your eyes require slightly more ambient light to be effective.”

She
jumped as he touched her cheek, one finger stroking. A wholly unexpected
prickle of heat scattered over her skin. She heard him breathe, and his other
hand traced along her hair hanging over her shoulder.

“What
are the women like where you’re from?”

Why
she asked, she wasn’t sure. It just seemed odd to her that these big, healthy
males had come all the way to sad and dying Earth to find a woman to inhabit
their bed. He was silent for a beat, and she worried he was going to refuse to
respond.

“They
are beautiful.
Tall and strong.
Proud.
Rare.” Mateen’s fingers were now tracing along her earlobe and the sensitive
skin below it. These
Alphan
women were everything she
was not. A pang of inadequacy pushed aside the tingling sensation his careful
exploration of her neck had roused.

“Do
you … have you…?” She couldn’t think how to phrase her question. She simply
didn’t know how their society worked.

“Have
we looked for a partner among our own kind? No.” He drew closer. She could feel
his hard thigh pressed to hers. She could draw back and impose some distance,
but he was touching her hair again, threading his fingers through it in a way
that made her want to lean closer and sigh.

“Why not?”

“Because we are warriors.
Fighters.
Part of our code is that we journey to Earth when
the time is right, to find our mate. Defend her when we return. Prove our
worth.”

One
of his hands brushed up against her hip, and she shook, automatically reaching
in the dark to cover it with her own. He was warm, his fingers thick and strong
under hers as they stilled.

“Is
this not allowed?” His whisper gusted along her cheek.

“I
… what do you want to do?” She was so used to fending off unwanted clutches and
grabs from desperate men that her caution had been automatic. Mateen didn’t
seem desperate, but rather curious, almost gentle. As if a golden, horned demon
would be gentle with her.

“To touch you.
I like it. Does
it bother you?” His frank questions disarmed her. This was so unlike what she’d
feared.

“No,
it doesn’t bother me. I just wonder why you want to.”

“I
find you attractive.”

“Even though I’m human?
Not
Alphan
?” She wasn’t tall, strong, or golden. His hand moved
to her waist, his fingers curling towards the small of her back even as she
kept hold of his wrist.

“Do
you find me unattractive because I’m not human?”

Oh.

“I
don’t know. I’ve only just seen you for the first time today.” She didn’t want
to insult him and was in fact, quite confused in her thinking. She blamed the
ample meal and the ever so slight caresses he was giving her. She was too soft
and warm to keep up a barrier between her thoughts and her mouth.

“Illumination
increase
twenty percent.” Mateen barked out an order,
and she jumped again. Suddenly she could see him, seated on the bed next to
her, his face a few centimeters from hers. A handsome face, somehow the golden
shade of his skin didn’t strike her as odd anymore, and his bronze eyes were as
mesmerizing as a cat’s. At least, as she imagined a cat’s would be. His horns
were barely noticeable, and in all honesty, she was now more intrigued by them
than repelled. He watched her for a moment.

“Our
anatomy is nearly identical, and our DNA is compatible. I believe both Bynton
and I are adequately symmetrical to indicate our vitality and genetic
viability.”

“Yes,
you seem healthy,” Avanelle breathed this out, completely confused by his
statements. They were quite clearly discussing the potential for fucking, but
in the strangest, most clinical way she could imagine. Where was the grabbing
and growling she’d anticipated? Men wanted to take and dominate, to pretend
they had some control over a chaotic world.

“Perhaps
you worry about physical conformity.” With this, Mateen slid off the bed and
pulled at his clothes. In a few quick movements the loose tunic he’d been
wearing was tossed on top of a chair. Avanelle’s mouth went dry. Broad chest,
ridged abdomen, thick and bulging arms; Mateen looked like an idealized statue
of what a man should be. He reached for the fastener on his trousers but
stopped when there was a clanging noise from outside the bedroom.

“Bynton,
please come in. Avanelle and I are in the midst of a discussion.”

Within
a moment, Bynton was there, his eyebrows raised as he took in the sight of her
crouched on the bed and Mateen standing half-naked in front of her. He was
wearing tall boots, the armor she remembered striking to no effect, and a sleek
black coat that swept the floor behind him. Without a word he reached for his
garment and shrugged out of it, the slippery-looking material stretching over
his broad shoulders as he moved. Mateen waited as his companion shed his armor
and tunic. The room felt too warm, and Avanelle tugged at her shirt, making
sure it still covered her.

Bynton
was as well-structured as Mateen, if only slightly less heavy. Standing side by
side, they seemed as formidable as a wall. As one, they reached for their
trousers, unabashedly stepping free of the garments to reveal soft knit shorts
distended by sizeable bulges. If she looked closely she could make out the
curve of their—

“Wait!”
Avanelle held up her hands, suddenly afraid, this strange discussion taking on
a very immediate urgency. She wanted to see and yet wanted to close her eyes.

“You
find us unattractive?”
Bynton’s
voice conveyed
disappointment. Mateen
straightened,
his hand at the
waistband of his shorts.

“No, not unattractive.
Hardly that.”
Avanelle wasn’t sure what she was thinking.
They were beautiful in a strange way, close to a human ideal, but slightly
different, different enough to give her pause and tempt her at the same time.