HIGHLANDER: The Highlander’s Surrender Bride (Scottish Alpha Male Pregnancy Romance) (59 page)

Lyssa felt a sudden sense of foreboding and could not find the words to respond properly.  All that managed to leave her lips was a string of incoherent words.

“Lyssa, please… we are losing precious time.  If you choose not to undergo the bonding, we will respect your wishes.  But if you are willing, we must bond with you
now
,” Nava said imploringly.

A whirlwind of thoughts went through Lyssa’s head about what was happening – what
could
have been happening – and why.  But Nava’s words rang in her mind like the gonging of a church bell and she knew that she could not delay.  Not even for a minute.

“Yes,” she finally managed, “whatever you need.”

Nava turned to the other Ursan beside her and spoke in the strange language of the planet that Lyssa did not understand and together the two natives approached her and settled on the bed before Lyssa could rise fully to her feet.

“Please remain on the bed,” Nava said, “this is Mava… one of my sistren.  Our work will not take long.”

Lyssa obeyed and reclined back onto her bed.

Nava settled on the bed near Lyssa’s legs, setting her tray apart and soaking up the sponge with the warm liquid that her tray held while the other Ursan, Mava, settled further up on the bed nearer Lyssa’s torso.  At once, Nava squeezed her sponge – she was certain that is what it was – and emptied it of a good portion of the warm water and began to gently wipe bathe Lyssa’s legs. 

The sensation tickled her at first, but after a few beats the feeling went away.  What lingered was something different.  It felt as if Nava was applying some kind of lotion to her skin, she could feel her flesh turning almost creamy.  Nava continued her work, washing her feet and slowly began to make her way upwards, gently pulling aside Lyssa’s new shimmering white gown and revealing more and more of her darkened legs.

Nava moved the sponge in circular motions and Lyssa felt her skin dancing under her friend’s warm and gentle touch.  As Nava applied the warm sponge to her skin, probing deeper and deeper with it towards her most sensitive of areas Lyssa felt a curious sensation surge through her everywhere that Nava had bathed her.  It was not simply the feeling of warm water upon her skin… there was something else.  There was something more…
intimate
… about it.

“That’s not just water in there, is it?” she asked.

“No,” Nava said, not looking up from her work.  “This is the genetic material that we will share with you to make the bonding easier for you.”

She eyed the steaming bowl of water curiously.  “That’s genetic material?  It looks like hot water.”

“Yes, but it is not water…  I’m afraid it would take too long to explain, Lyssa.  But just know that this is part of the formulations we have discovered through our sciences that will help you… and it will help
all
of us.”

She was confused to hear that, but the tone of Nava’s voice told her that her friend did not have the time – or the will – to make any long-winded speeches.  Lyssa chose to just accept things as they were and nodded her head.  Nava had too much to do and too little time to do it.  She simply relaxed and allowed the – bathing? – continue. 

Nava worked, applying her warm sponge to her legs and finally hiking her dress up all the way to her hips, the sponge moistening every portion of her body below the belt.  The strange tingling sensation remained, as if she had just been wading up to her hips in effervescent waters.

Mava too went to work.  Her work was just as delicate… but far more passionate, it seemed.  Mava took her tray, which also carried a large bowl upon it and poured a collection of the bottled liquids she carried into it.  She mixed the liquids together with her long and slender fingers and the resulting aroma was intoxicating.  It had the smell of roses… honey… chocolate… vanilla… cinnamon… all things that she had ever found pleasurable in her lifetime, but all rolled into one.  Or at least so it seemed to her nose.

Mava mixed the sweet smelling perfumes in her bowl with her slender fingers and withdrawing them she began to knead Lyssa’s shoulders.  If Nava’s sponge work was interesting, then Mava’s work was downright electrifying.  The second Ursan applied her sweet smelling perfumes to Lyssa’s shoulders… her arms… her hands… her neck…  It was an amazing feeling and the smell of the sweet perfume that her oils – she assumed that’s what it was – filled her up like drink.

Much to her surprise, Mava slipped her slender hands inside her dress and began to gently massage at her breasts at the same moment that Nava began to wash her vagina.  A bolt of lightning started in her pussy and shot all the way up to her throat, eliciting a second moan from her.  If this was a new kind of method for reproduction among the Ursans, Lyssa counted herself lucky that she out of all humans had been chosen to experience it.  She felt a tinge of selfishness at the thought, not wanting any other human to experience what she was feeling. 

A second warming sensation coursed through her body and she arched her back reflexively as Mava and Nava both continued their work.  Lyssa noticed that the same warmth that she had noticed in Nava’s flesh when she had first met her was still there.  But under these new ministrations it seemed to have increased tenfold.  More than once in her life Lyssa had felt that strange sensation of having her hair stand on end, and usually brought on by the strangest of sensations.  The sensation was much the same here… but better.

And just as quickly as it had begun, it was over.

“There,” Nava said.  “You are ready.”

Lyssa opened her eyes, unaware that she had closed them at all from the strange bliss that had washed over her.  That Nava had spoken at all had also barely registered.  “Pardon?”

“You’re ready to meet our spouse,” Nava replied as she set her sponge back into her tray and Mava too began to gather up what she had carried in. 

Lyssa looked at Mava, and then to Nava, uncertain of what had just happened.  She sat up on her bed and found that her limbs felt weakened, but still filled with the same tingling sensation that she had been experiencing only a moment before.  “I am…?  You mean… that’s all that you have to do?”

Nava looked at her curiously, her darkened eyes pulsing.  “You were expecting something else, perhaps?”

Lyssa tried to formulate the words to explain what she had been expecting, but for the second time today she realized something important: she didn’t know
what
she had been expecting.  She most certainly had not been anticipating – what she could only describe as – a sensual massage. 

“No…” she managed to say, feeling her voice tremble slightly.  “No… I was…” she shook her head, electing to abandon any attempt to explain the thoughts that had crossed her mind.  “Well… what happens now?”

“Come,” Nava said, picking up her tray.  “He will be expecting you.” 

Chapter 4

Nava passed her tray over to Mava and the latter disappeared into the many halls of the treetop mansion.  But Lyssa followed her hostess through a second hall and down a flight of stairs to a large pair of doors that looked to be carved from some kind of wood that she could not identify. 

“This is where I must leave you,” Nava said.  “He is waiting within.”

Lyssa could only nod.

“Before you go,” Nava said, her voice becoming gentle, “I must be honest.”

“About what?” she asked.

Nava gave a deep and mournful sigh.  “Time is growing shorter, but I must say what I feel before you enter into this room.”  She folded her hands.  “I was opposed to this procedure that my spouse has conjured from the very beginning.  I believed it was dangerous… to the point of even being life-threatening.  But his will is the will all of us – even his children – must follow, for his is the dominant intellect.  I was not keen on the idea of sharing him with a… human.”

Lyssa felt surprised to hear this, but was able to gauge that her friend – she knew and felt that Nava was indeed a friend – had more to say.  And she wanted to hear it.

“But as I studied your culture… your ways… I found that you were primitive… vile even with your wars and your genocides and how you eventually overcame the last pieces of nature on your planet.”  She paused, her eyes pulsing.  “But I also came to admire you for your accomplishments… your music… your art… the means by which you create.  These were concepts unknown to us and therefore they were things that we lacked.  And though you were brought to us as a… a…”

“As a mail order bride?” Lyssa supplied.             

“For want of a better definition,” Nava replied apologetically, “but yes.  I felt a sense of uncertainty.  There was no guarantee that this procedure was going to succeed and I was opposed to the idea until the minds of one of our trees arrived at the solution.  But here I stand, you and he are about to make scientific history and I find that I am… jealous.”

She’s jealous?

There was a noise that sounded something like a moan through the doors that drew both of their attentions, Lyssa nearly jumping at the sound of it.

“Our time is up,” Nava said, taking hold of one of the handles to the door and pulling it back and providing a wide enough gap for her to pass through.  “One final piece of advice,” she added.

“Yes?”

“Be strong… no one, not in any of the known star systems, has ever accomplished what you will achieve here tonight.  And I am certain that you
will
achieve it.”

Lyssa smiled at her friend’s confidence and slipped in through the open door.

The inside of the next room was dimly lit, only lights from the outside shined in through the open doors.  But from behind her the door closed shut with a loud clang and Lyssa felt that she had suddenly been enclosed into her own pocket of night.

It took a moment for her eyes to properly adjust to the darkness, but she was able to gauge that there was a little light emanating from somewhere here in the darkness.  It was coming from overhead, but it was faint, as faint as candlelight from a high chandelier in the ceiling of in a vast hall.

“Welcome,” said a man’s voice.

Lyssa almost yelped at the sound that had come from unseen corners of the room.  She turned in the direction that the sound had come from, looking for a body to go along with it.  But she saw nothing there, only darkness that the faint light could not lift.

“Hello?” she said softly.

“I apologize for the setting,” replied that same man’s voice.  “But it is necessary for my – Oh! Forgive me – for
our
work.”

Lyssa felt herself blush.  “Setting the mood, are we?”

The man’s voice was filled with delight as he responded.  “I had not thought of it that way, but I’m delighted that you did.  You really are a keen intellect, aren’t you?”

“Top of my class,” she said, her eyes probing the darkness for some form to address, but the voice she looked for – and the body that owned it – seemed to be moving around in the darkness where she could not see him.

“I know… that was why I chose you… and other reasons.”

“I’d love to hear them… but Nava said that our time is short?” she said, wondering if she was sounding rude.

“Nava is correct about many things… but I have a few moments to spare before…” he paused, “well… I don’t wish to spoil the surprise.”

“A surprise?”

“Yes… you’ll see momentarily.  But for the moment, why don’t I find my manners and introduce myself?  I am Riju.  I own this tree.”

“And nearly twenty thousand others like it,” Lyssa said, turning on her heel and looking for the man that had brought her here. 

“Yes… but I prefer to be acknowledged for the accomplishments of my brood rather than how many trees I own.”

“That’s why I’m here,” she replied.

“Yes…” Riju replied, his voice seeming to circle her.  “I read your papers on recombinant genetics and xeno biology.  Very impressive subject matter… some of the points you made remain a matter of lively debate among some of my progeny.  But others… they saw the merits of your aims and were able to bring us together here and now.  It was for your intellect that I chose you.”

She smiled, feeling the pride within her swelling.  “And if it wasn’t for your… request… I have to admit that I thought that I would never get off my world.  I’m glad you chose me.”

“As am I,” Riju said approvingly.  “You are better than I had hoped you would be.”

Lyssa blushed, though she felt certain that he could not see it for all of the darkness around them.  “It was an unusual request,” she admitted.  “Many of my former collogues thought that I was beyond insane for even wanting to try it.”

“More fool them, I say.  Most great ideas are met with skepticism until they are proven.  Your world is filled with such instances.  Fire… electricity… flight… harnessing the power of an atom… all of these were met with ridicule if I remember your history well enough.  I do recall that many of the great inventors of your world were also regarded as mad until they proved the validity of their hypothesis and their inventions.  I believe it is safe to say that we are attempting nothing less.”

“And if we fail?” she asked, hoping that she didn’t sound doubtful.

“If we fail… then we simply have helped pave the way for others who might walk our path.  No great scientific achievement was successful on the first try.  The road to any success is paved with early failures, is it not?”

“I can’t argue with that.”

Riju moaned in the darkness. 

“Are you okay?”

“I am well,” he replied, though he sounded breathless.  “The process is nearly complete… we have a few more moments at the least.  I would like to spend them discussing you.”

“Me?”

“Yes,” he said interestedly.  “You were not the first, nor the only woman, from your world to be interested in what I am trying to achieve here.  Some of my brood would argue that you were – forgive me for saying so – not even the most qualified to be here.”

“Then how did I get the job?”

He chuckled… a genuine sound, as if it could have come from the mouth of a real man.  “Because there was something in your application for – what do your people call it – mail order brides?  Yes, that’s it… there was something in your wording that fascinated me.”

“And what was that?”

“Well, of the many applicants, all were keenly intellectual and were interested in developing what I am so determined to achieve.  They had a way with words… with mathematics… sciences… but they all seemed to be lacking one very crucial element.  An element that I have observed is unique to your species.”

“And that is?” she prompted.

“Curiosity,” he said matter-of-factly.  “From your application, I could tell that you were just as sharpened on the science and biology of my work here as the rest of them.  But you also expressed more than just a desire to see the end result of your work.  You wanted… more.  And that is why I chose you.”

She rocked joyously on her feet.  “I’m flattered.”

“I’m pleased to know it,” he replied.  He winced in the darkness but before she could ask if he was harmed or not she heard something that sounded like a sigh of relief from him.  “Ah… at last, it’s done.”

“What is?”

She heard the sound of something upon the ground… something that sounded like footsteps.  “You recall what I proposed in my original agreement?  Specifically the portion of xeno-bonding?”

“Shared genetic traits, yes,” she said, feeling like she was suddenly back in school and being grilled by an overbearing professor.

“Well… one of the hives in the trees that I own stumbled upon a brilliant notion that gave rise to the possibility of our present circumstances.  You see, while most organisms in the galaxy share common traits – being carbon based… requiring water and oxygen – that sort of thing, they discovered that similar genetic traits were not enough to achieve what I was hoping for.  As it so happened… something
less
was required.”

“
Less
?” she asked, uncertain that she had heard him correctly.  “What do you mean?”

She felt fingers close gently on her shoulder from behind her.  The suddenness of the feeling nearly made her jump.  But she managed to maintain her composure and looked down at where the hand had landed… and she nearly did jump when she saw the hand that rested there. 

It was human.

Slowly she turned, taking in every inch of the arm that owned that hand.  She found it connected it a very strong arm, full of muscle as if it had been tuned for the whole of its owners’ life.  It was covered in some kind of… fluid? Not, not fluid… it looked more gelatinous.  It wasn’t slime, at least not exactly… but it was certainly thicker than water.  Her eyes trailed on and even in the dim light cast from high overhead she could see a figure standing close behind her. 

The figure of what was indeed a
human
man.

He stood naked before her, his skin was pale and his entire body covered in the strange substance that made his body glisten.  Her eyes drank in the sight of so much flesh and she felt her own body beginning to respond to such a sight.  Lyssa was no virgin.  Even scientific minds were possessed by bodies driven by biological needs and she had sampled the delights of the opposite sex more than once in her lifetime.  But she had never before encountered a specimen so well built.

Not to mention so pleasantly displayed.

His legs were thick, full of muscle.  His cock was an impressive length and girth.  His abs looked handsomely toned and she almost chuckled at the thought that she could iron a shirt on his belly.  His chest was filled with swelling pectoral muscles, his shoulders were broad, his arms just as swollen with strength as the rest of him. 

Then her eyes took in his face.

His looks were not displeasing.  His chin was well shaped and pointed, there was even a small cleft in his chin.  His hair was lightly matted in whatever the substance was that he was covered in, turning long dark locks into small but thick ropes on his scalp.  He looked, for all intents and purposes… human.

Everything about him looked perfectly normal for someone of her race… except for his eyes.  Even in the dark, with very little light to illuminate him, she saw that his eyes were as dark as an Ursan’s.  There were no whites there, nor was there any iris to be colored.  The whole of his eyes were black, as if he had been born blind.

“R-Riju?” she asked nervously.

He nodded and grinned, showing a set of perfectly new teeth.  “Yes.”

A small gasp left her lips.  “You’re… you’re… human?”

He froze, the grin on his face turning sour.  “You are… disappointed?”

Her eyes went up and down over his body once again as if she had never seen a naked man before and she very nearly did laugh out loud at his presumption.  She shook her head.  “No!  No, not at all!  It’s just…” she lost the words somewhere between her mind and mouth.  She could think of nothing to say, but there was plenty she could think of doing.  Lust began to replace logic, but she found that it was held in check only by a simple scientific curiosity that was quickly on the wane.  That curiosity compelled her, allowing her to find a way to indulge both science and sensuality at once.

She reached out and touched his muscular chest with the tips of her fingers.  The strange substance that he was caked in was warm to the touch… perhaps there was some other attribute other than his eyes that belonged to his natural form.  She traced invisible lines with the tips of her fingers up and down his chest.  She drew circles around his abs and even let her fingers drop down to gently stroke his cock.  He responded to such stimuli as any man would.

“I… I wasn’t expecting a…
human
,” she said, marveling at this transformation.

“Part of the science,” Riju said, his eyes watching her intently though his body lightly shuddered under her touch.  “It’s what we discovered about what it is that we’re trying to accomplish.”

“How’s that?” asked, circling him, her eyes surveying his muscular back and equally appealing ass, her fingers still gliding across the surface of his warm skin.  The paleness of his skin contrasted so deeply against the darkness of hers, she found that that too held some additional appeal.