The Melier: Home World (Women of Dor Nye Book 2) (15 page)

Lucia
liked
different.

When her exploring fingertips found the three buttons of his pants, she deftly popped them, and her hands pushed along his slim hips, moving the fabric down enough to free his cock. When it hit the air, it leapt, and a thin stream of the green sap squirted across her inner thigh. Zun’s lungs exhaled thickly before he groaned again, his black gaze imploring as he looked at Lucia. She had never seen him like that; almost
begging
for her to understand and
want
him too.

Lucia did.

She
wanted
him, and it scared her and felt exhilarating all at once.

Her hands pulled on his hips until they slowly, cautiously lowered to her core. He was very careful and deliberate, his fear of losing control and hurting her ruling every slow movement he made. Every maneuver was heavy, as if he was moving through the weight of water.

His troubled gaze never left hers as the tip of his cock slid through her slick folds, and he panted and tremored something awful while he gradually pressed into her. It was decidedly
slow
, waiting for her to change her mind, and she had no desire to stop him, but quite the opposite.

She wanted to touch him, pull him and
feel
with every part of her body. But she didn’t. He looked too much like he was just struggling not to rip her to pieces in his controlled state.

Lu’s lips parted, and her eyelids grew lazy for a moment as Zun stretched her. His cock had
girth,
almost too large for a human, and she felt
filled
. She released a breath as she tilted her head upward to watch him as he watched her.

Val’Zun didn’t fuck her, he made
love
.

It was strange and intoxicating all at once, and the way he stared at her while his quaking body looked like it was going to shake apart at any moment, caused something to twist in her chest. She whispered his name again and he trembled. Their bodies continued to touch and sway against each other.

“Loo-Sha,” he gasped devotedly, rocking against her. Her desire rose, and twisted, and bunched until every breath, every pant, and every visible shudder of his skin was connected to every nerve in her body. They whispered each other’s names back and forth, worshiping.

The sounds of nature and the crashing waterfall around them took the background and submerged Lucia deeper and deeper into the moment while her mind and body urged her hips to fall into that familiar, instinctive rhythm.

Her body rose higher and higher and she got lost in the black orbs devouring her. When her womb quivered and her muscles tightened around Zun’s cock, she didn’t cry out or moan, she simply gasped and let the electrifying tempest arch her spine, pull her legs further apart, and shake her body while she stared into his eyes and gushed around him.

The squeeze of her body encasing and massaging him sent him into a new set of tremors. He bared his teeth and grimaced with mixed pleasure and discomfort while he mastered his control over his body.

Zun closed his eyes then and withdrew from her. He arched over her to compensate for their height difference and buried his face into her neck as his fist clenched the base of his cock, and he came.

His tortured cry was half roar, half whine around his gasping lungs as his first eruption happened. The fluid hit the skin of her stomach so forcefully, it almost stung. It felt like she was getting hosed, and it splashed up off her skin, webbing across the grass underneath them.

Again he gasped for air in an aching cry and sucked in through his teeth as another deluge beat down in a thick, long blast. A third and final time he tensed his jumping muscles, and a searing stream discharged. It flooded around her until she was lying in warm goo.

Zun collapse atop her and she took his weight as he continued to shake and gasp.

“
A’Drast’s mane
, that fucking hurt,” he exhaled roughly like he’d been punched in the gut. His lips found her shoulder and kissed before he buried his face in her hair, panting. “And felt amazing.”

Her lips curved into a half smile while she closed her eyes and felt sated, blissful, and intimately connected to him in a new way.

Here she was, cradling a spent Zun with her body, and feeling a sense of completeness. Her arms lifted from the grass and slowly they draped around his neck and shoulders as best they could, while her legs wrapped around his torso after he scooted down. His jittery muscles continued to jump and spaz, but it began to recede more and more as her soft fingertips stroked the scales and skin of his neck and shoulders, comforting and calming him.

Zun lifted his body to look down at her and she did the same, noticing the ejaculate oozing over her body was a mix of the normal green and a dark, almost black green. Tentatively she dipped her finger in it and rubbed, trying to figure out why it was darker.

Her eyes noticed his cock that was still erect, dribbling the dark stuff and the slit was
open
. From it protruded a pale blue
stem
that matched the color of his bulging veins. “What’s…” she trailed off.

“My
root
,” Zun watched her as she watched his
root
begin to curl in on itself like a vine, and retreat through the slit that closed back to normal. His cock began to gradually deflate at that point. “You are fertile again. I did not think it wise to
implant
.” He lowered himself back against her body as he continued to look down at her with his black gaze.

Lucia’s eyes bugged. She tried to put it all together. She had wondered
why
Soren hadn’t tried to
implant
aside from that first time they’d been together and now it made sense. His egg had begun taking life and she wasn’t
fertile
any longer.

The entire situation was strange, along with the Melier anatomy. “Good idea,” she replied and a small grin tugged at the corner of her mouth. “Imagine the hot flashes I’d have on this roasting planet.”

Zun mirrored this half smile, and his chest quaked with quiet laughter that vibrated through her skin and bones. She lifted her head to hesitantly plant a kiss on his thin lips.
Warm, smooth
. She sighed against them and he kissed her back with restrained tenderness. The kiss only heightened that
feeling
she was settling into with him, and it was on her mind as they both drifted into a nap.

Chapter 10

When Lucia came to sometime later, her body
ached
. She felt crushed and for a little while, she panicked that she couldn’t move. When her eyes popped open, she realized Val’Zun was still sleeping atop her.

Her heart rate slowed and she turned her face into his neck, breathing in his scent. He was
warm
and he smelled like sweet, fresh rain with a tinge of musk from their joining. When she rubbed her lips along his scales, he began purring, and she smiled against him.

“Val’Zun,” she whispered, pressing her palms against his shoulders to try and shake him awake.

He woke with a start and lifted himself to look around for the threat. Confusion lit his features, and when he realized there was nothing to attack, he relaxed once more. She smiled up at him, her palms rubbing his chest. He lowered himself and rolled to his side so he wasn’t crushing her any longer.

“How are you feeling?” he asked, some unknown emotion lacing his tone. She rolled to her side too, with some effort.

“Pleasantly exercised,” she giggled and kissed along his clavicle, her fingertips splaying against his warm skin. “You were very gentle.”

Her lips trailed up his throat and against the underside of his jaw. His breath hitched and his pupils danced while she watched him try to once again dominate himself. She couldn’t imagine what that might feel like; always being on the edge of slipping into a lustful obscurity during arousal, unable to master your body and actions. Then again, being able to just let go and drown in euphoria… it sounded nice. And dangerous, for someone with the amount of strength and natural weapons a Melier possessed. A zip of terror stung her skin and her hand brushed along his cheek gingerly. “I knew you could do it.”

“Loo-Sha,” he frowned and his warm breath fanned her damp face. “You are too trusting.”

She snorted.

“Many things make sense now,” she smiled up at him teasingly, thinking about his insanely sensitive reaction to her pheromones when they were back on Dor Nye. “It’s not every day a male comes all over the floor in front of a girl’s family, ya know.”

Val’Zun groaned and his arousal died. Lucia chortled her amusement at his expense, rubbing her palm against his cheek and kissing his chin.

“Come,” he got to his feet and stripped his pants the rest of the way from his body. “I will bathe you.”

She took his offered hands and grimaced at the sweaty, messy state of her body. She really couldn’t go back to the palace in such a way, but she eyed the beautiful water warily. She wasn’t sure how deep it was, or
what
was in it.

“Are you sure it’s safe?”

“There are no creatures within that can hurt you, if that is what you are asking.”

Zun led her to the water, stepping in first and she followed. The bed of smooth, tiny pebbles pressed into her feet and she was glad it wasn’t slimy goop, like some of the swimming holes in Curra. It always gave her the creeps thinking about what the slime between her toes might actually
be
.

The water was nice and cool, immediately comforting her hot skin, and once she waded to her hips, she stopped but Zun continued to pull her along.

She began to protest, but he didn’t let her go. Her toes were no longer touching the pebbles but he held her up against him until he was standing in water that reached his chest. She quickly dunked under the surface to soak her face and hair, and then her wet arms looped around his neck to keep her afloat.

“You are safe,” he reassured her, tasting the droplets of water dotting her temples and cheekbones. She shivered and sighed when his lower arms held onto the flare of her hips while the upper pair rubbed along her front and back, gently washing away the evidence of their joining.

For a span of time she closed her eyes and just
lived
in the moment. Her senses took in
everything
; the way Zun’s hands felt against her, the scales and skin of his neck and shoulders beneath her fingers, the scent of him mingled with the heady plant life lacing the air, the crashing of the tumbling waterfall… everything.

Her eyes opened once more when she realized something.

Zun still hasn’t asked me to pair with him.

Lucia nibbled the corner of her mouth.

How does that work anyway? Does sex seal the deal?

If not, you just gave it up fo’fwee.

She groaned.

“What is wrong?”

She looked into his concerned eyes and swallowed.

“Why haven’t you asked me yet?”

“Asked what?”

“To mate me,” she hedged. “Soren told me he gave you
permission
.”

She rolled her eyes at how ridiculous that even sounded. Her grams was going to piss herself cackling once she found out she would be bringing home
two
mates, one of which seemed to love arguing with her. She wondered momentarily if there were even
partnering
ceremonies that allowed two mates. Nova would be bounding with joy, she imagined, if she got to plan two ceremonies.

But he still hadn’t asked.

“That is what has happened here,” he replied slowly, his brow pulling down in confusion. “You do not accept me?”

Her eyes lit up with understanding and she shook her head rapidly. “No, I do!”

Do you?

“Yes, I do,” she spoke aloud and grimaced at herself.

Zun’s confusion slowly lifted and a curious smile split his lips, causing her to laugh.

“You are strange,” he whispered.

“Sorry, no refunds.”

His forehead pressed to hers as they soaked in the weight of the moment and thought about how different their intertwined futures would now be.

****

When Lucia next woke, it was to harsh whispers, sniffing, and growls.

“Did you implant?” Soren rumbled lowly.

“No,” Zun replied, incredulous. “Did you?”

“No. We have no seetkut fruit.”

They supposed it wouldn’t be
okay
to implant again since they didn’t have seetkut fruit, and not because oh, maybe she wasn’t ready for another youngling?

Don’t mind Lucia, boys. Her pelvis isn’t still recovering or anything.

Really. Rude.

A cramp rolled through her abdomen and she groaned aloud that time. The two beasties stopped their growling and whispering, and then began their sniffing down her body. When they got closer to her legs, she heard Soren sneeze loudly, and Zun gag with disgust.

“It smells awful,” Zun choked out. “I will get medic Tuzon.”

She felt him get up off the bed which surprised her since she hadn’t realized she was in a bed, or that he had been sleeping beside her. No wonder she was too warm. How did she get from the cushion she’d fallen asleep on to the bed?

“People are trying to sleep here. Specifically me,” she mumble-grouched and then held a hand over her aching middle. “What are you talking about?”

“You are
bleeding
.”

The lights hazed on and she groggily pulled herself up and brushed her wild hair from her eyes. The golden sheets between her legs were crimson, and still wet with
her
blood. She moaned with loathing.

“
The Curse
,” she scrambled to get up. “I didn’t think it would come so soon. Sorry about the sheets--”

“You are not wounded?” Val’Zun stood in his sleep pants, plugging his nose. Soren pulled back the linens while she got to her feet and ran to the cleansing room. She would find their reactions funny, if not for the fact they followed her and were now scrutinizing as she sat on the
throne
.

“It’s rude to stare.”

They didn’t blink.

“It’s just menstruation.”

Blink.

“This is normal?” Soren cocked his head while he and Zun warily stayed back. “You are not hurting?”

Lucia planted a palm against her face.

“No, this happens monthly to human women,” she waved a hand and slouched, resting her elbows tiredly on her legs as she yawned and tried her hardest not to fall asleep while she sat there.

“You bleed from
there
for no reason?”

They shared a horrified look.

“Yes- no,” she yawned again and shook her head to try and wake herself before going on to explain the entire process so they would stop looking at her like a lab experiment gone wrong.

The entire time they knew her she’d been pregnant, and she still couldn’t believe
it
had come so soon. She was still feeding Lenny, and from all the books Nova had shoved down her throat it seemed unlikely she would get her menses for a long while after birth.

What a crock.

“Why would you
shed
your womb?” Val’Zun paled and swayed.

It dawned on her that maybe Melier women didn’t have menstruation since the males of their species carried the eggs. A sleepy grin pulled at her lips as she thought about males
menstruating
.

Imagine how whiney they’d be!

And all of those emotions.

They wouldn’t know what to do with themselves.

“Why does it…
smell
like that?” Again Soren took a step back and he too plugged his nose.

It was Lucia’s turn to be horrified.

“
Excuse me
?”

“It is…
different
from your pheromones,” Soren’s nasally voice replied.

“It is foul,” Zun said bluntly and rubbed at his stomach like he might hurl while still clogging his nose. Her face felt hot with embarrassment as blood pooled beneath the skin of her cheeks and across her nose.

“Out!” she yelled and pointed at the wall.

Rude!

For an entire week following that embarrassing night, it only got worse each day. Zun had disposed of the sheets
and
the mattress immediately after he and Soren had left the cleansing room, replacing it with a new mattress and topping it with some sort of fitted, liquid resistant covering.

Apparently the
odor
she was emitting was extremely wicked to their sensitive noses; all traces of her
normal
pheromones had disappeared or been masked for the duration of her menses. Lucia couldn’t even begin to understand how the hell that was even possible.

They can’t seem to decide if they like your scent or if they’re repelled by it.

I know! It’s confusing.

It wasn’t just Zun and Soren she had to worry about, but
every
Melier within scenting distance. After the queen loudly announced she lost her appetite at third meal the first night, Lucia opted to not return the rest of the week. She ate her meals in the suite.

The only ones who
wanted
to be around her were Lenny, and MoMo. She felt like one of the women on ancient Earth that would close themselves up for a week, and hide. Maybe that was how it came to be called
the curse
. It would be fitting, if so. Lu had never fully thought it to be just that until she was essentially
shunned
by the Melier folk.

Soren and Zun at least made an effort to comfort her and actually still slept on either side of her each night, though she detected their stifled breathing.

That was
in addition to
her foul mood. She had never had such a case of madness in all her life, but she deduced it had to be because of how everyone around seemed to be widely avoiding her. That could put
anyone
in a bad mood.

To her further humiliation, Val’Koy one day began to
describe
what the odor smelled like to him before Gi’Ren punched him in the gut to shut him up. Which then turned into a large brawl between the two and they wrecked the suite only to laugh about it afterward as they both lay in the mess they created.

Lucia had been sure her eyes were the size of dinner plates in her reddened face.

And next month, she would have to do it
all over again
. When the rest of the family realized this, the crude and awkward comments about humans made her want to crawl under a rock and
die
. It was flustering, knowing the
entire
palace would know
when
she was menstruating, and intentionally try to avoid her because of how she…
smelled.

She purposefully comforted MoMo and spoke to him in a high pitched voice, as pet lovers do, just to goad the queen. As if to say,
‘I’ve got your precious’
.

Take that.