Because other than Davies, it is the only voice I will listen to from now on.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Davies

  If only the nightmares will fucking stop.

  If only I hadn’t seen McMurtry’s body lying there in Engineering.

  He’d been shot, probably by one of our crew.

  Then again, I know if I hadn’t seen him for myself I might always be stuck in the denial phase of my grief, wondering if it really was him or someone else. Driving myself crazy.

  Crazier, I guess.

  It takes me nearly two weeks from when we return to the space station at Pfahrn to make myself get on a shuttle to travel down to the planet’s surface.

  Pfahrn is a beautiful place. I know from what I’ve felt from Olarte that he’s worried about his family’s reaction to me, but he is not going to let it deter him from what we’re about to do.

  And that is get married.

  The shuttle lands near midday, and we make our way on foot the short distance to the government center nearest the transportation center, where we stand in line.

  This is something else that I guess is universal among intelligent species—queuing for government paperwork.

  It takes less than an hour to do it. I get the feeling the government official who marries us isn’t exactly thrilled to see a human marrying a Pfahrn, but the dude can go fuck themselves.

  I don’t care.

  Then the part I’ve been worried about.

  We hire a ground transport to ferry us to Olarte’s family’s home. When we arrive, I feel the way Olarte’s hand tightens on mine as they unlock the front door and open it. While I’ve been here before, this time feels…different.

  Foreboding in a way I never felt before.

  “Is anyone around?” they call out.

  We hear a voice from a back room. “Olarte?”

  “It is I, and I am not alone.”

  We walk in and, as always, I can’t help feeling like I’m a kid in a grown-up house. Everything’s bigger, of course, because Pfahrn are bigger.

  From a hallway, Myarte, one of Olarte’s parents, emerges. “Why did you not let us know you were coming? We would have prepared a meal.” They walk over and embrace Olarte even as they glance my way.

  “Myarte,” Olarte says, “we have just come from the government office. We have officially mated and married.”

  Myarte’s gaze widens. “You have done what?”

  “Surprise!” I weakly say.

  Myarte studies me before focusing on Olarte again. “Are you sure he is how you wish to mate?”

  Olarte nods. “I am. I love him.” Olarte drapes an arm around my shoulders and pulls me close. “Did Colarmin relate to you what happened?”

  “Phey did. I am glad that you are both safe and that it was resolved in your favor. I am sure that must have been terrifying for you both.”

  “You ain’t kidding,” I mutter.

  Olarte takes over again. “I hope that this development does not cause you distress, but I love Davies, and he loves me.”

  Myarte sighs. “The heart wants what it wishes.”

  “Is that a blessing?” Olarte asks.

  “It is not an objection, although I cannot speak for others in our family.”

  We end up spending the night there. Which is more because of me than Olarte. I get the feeling if left solely up to Olarte, we’d have taken the last shuttle of the evening back up to the space station.

  “I don’t care if they don’t accept me,” I whisper to them after we go to bed.

  I’m tucked in Olarte’s arms and they are the only thing that helps keep the worst of the nightmares at bay.

  “I care, love. Because I want you to have my family’s love. It will not deter me or make me change my mind.”

  “You’re a good egg, mate,” I tease, trying to make them smile.

  “That is a good thing?”

  “Yeah.” I kiss them. “It’s a very good thing.

  “A scrambled egg, I hope?”

  I realize they’re making what passes for a little smirk at me, making me poke them in the arm.

  “Well, love, your scrambled eggs are quite good,” they say.

  * * * *

  We return to the space station the next day. I’ve got another counseling appointment, and Dr. H’looder wants to talk to us.

  Still haven’t decided if I want to go back to work yet or not, despite the increasing number of job offers hitting my e-mail now that word’s spread I’m once again on the market.

  Very profitable job offers.

  After my counseling appointment, Olarte and I go to Dr. H’looder’s office.

  He wastes no time. “My team has developed an experimental procedure you might be interested in. We think it’s possible to make it so a human can bite and envenomate a Pfahrn.”

  I’m not sure I heard him correctly. “What?”

  The Veraci smiles. “You heard me.”

  I know that’s something Olarte hasn’t outright said they’re sad about, but I can feel it from them, man.

  “Yes,” I say.

  “You haven’t heard me out yet,” H’looder tells me. “You don’t even know what we’d need to do.”

  “I don’t care. You haven’t screwed me over yet.” I’m damn sure enjoying my enhanced equipment.

  So is Olarte.

  I look at them.

  They shrug. “It is your wish, love. Your decision, not mine.”

  “When can we start?” I ask H’looder.

  “Love, do you not wish to hear more first?” Olarte asks.

  I smile up at them. “You want me to be able to bite you, don’t you?”

  “Only if it does not negatively impact you.”

  “It won’t,” H’looder assures them, then quickly lists the basics. “We’ve already had success with it regarding another human-Pfahrn couple.”

  “I’m in,” I say. “Let’s do it.”

  H’looder claps two of his hands together. “Excellent! We can start right now.”

  We’re going to need to spend the night there, so while I’m in the lab and being worked on by H’looder and his techs, Olarte returns to our hotel room to retrieve some things for us for tonight.

  They also give me some good drugs to knock me out.

  When I’m awakened, I immediately feel the difference in my canines. They’ve been enhanced with stronger material, so I can pierce thick Pfahrn skin.

  Not around the shoulders, though. They’re not that strong. H’looder’s still working on that part.

  There are other body parts where I can bite, though.

  Like the hand, under the arm.

  Base of the cock.

  They’ve also pumped me full of whatever concoction was necessary to change my body so I can produce a version of the venom.

  When we retreat to our assigned stateroom for the night, I waste no time shoving my mate back on the bed, tossing up the hem of their brahkhen to expose their pouch, and shoving their thighs apart to make room.

  “Hang on,” I warn before I tentatively nibble, and then bite down.

  Olarte lets out a cry, and I can feel it inside them as the connection takes hold the way it does for me every time they envenomate me.

  Their body trembles beneath me as I wrap my arms under and around their thighs to hold them in place.

  Inside their pouch, their cock is hard and pressing, throbbing as they orgasm and immediately start the cycle all over again, very similar to how a human male orgasms, but with the benefit of multiple orgasms.

  I silently chuckle and test our new mental connection even as I keep biting them.

  “So how’s it feel, big guy?”

  A silent whimper in my mind in reply is confirmation they feel it.

  “I’ve got you where I want you now.” I release my bite there, lick and kiss the spot, and move to a different, nearby spot and bite them again.

  Another gasp and moan from them.

  My cock is hard and throbbing, rubbing against the bed and about to explode from how sexy Olarte sounds. After the third time they come, I release my bite, sit up, and slide my cock inside their pouch, slowly stroking.

  Bracing my hands on their chest, I smile down at them. “Now we’re even,” I tease.

  They’re wearing a sexy smile and a glazed expression on their face. “I suppose we are, love.”

  I lean in and kiss them as I pick up the pace of my strokes. “H’looder said we can stay here for as long as we want,” I tell them. “Let’s bring our stuff over tomorrow.”

  “What about the hotel?”

  I shake my head. “Let’s see what else H’looder can do for us. Other augmentations. I’m game.”

  “All right,” they say. Their hands settle on my hips. “Whatever you wish.”

  I have another reason I want to hang out here. Because H’looder mentioned something else earlier.

  He thinks they’re close to perfecting the procedure so that we could have our own baby.

  I want to be parents. If we need to adopt, that’s fine, too. But if there’s a chance we could have a biological child of our own…

  Well, I’m not about to look that gift horse in the mouth.

  Olarte’s hands tighten on my hips as they look up at me. “Are you certain, love?”

  Oh, crap. They heard me think that.

  I was kind of hoping for that to be a surprise.

  I’ll have to remember that from now on. “Yeah, I’m certain.”

  Joy blossoms in their heart—okay, so maybe this not keeping secrets thing won’t be so bad after all. “Thank you, love.”

  I smile. “Gotta keep you happy since you put up with a slippery, cocky, farborn slut like me.”

  “I would not wish to live my life without you.”

  I kiss them as I start moving again, fucking them, no longer holding back. Olarte comes again, and then I explode. There is no way to explain the difference in orgasms now from before all of this.

  I used to think sex was great.

  That pales in comparison to what it is now.

  It’s a transcendental experience.

  I settle on Olarte’s chest, their arms around me and my wilting cock still buried inside their pouch.

  I feel their breath in my hair, so warm against the top of my scalp.

  “I did not know it was possible to love you more than I did earlier,” they say, “but I love you even more in this moment.”

  I kiss their chin. “You’re not so bad yourself, big guy.” I smile as they lightly chuff in amusement.

  Yeah, I now know what happiness is.

  What peace feels like.

  I finally have a home of my own, and I never have to leave them again.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  One Year Later

  Olarte

  I never knew that all my dreams could come true in such a spectacular manner.

  Dr. H’looder’s team feels that they have a reasonable chance to make our dream come true.

  Children.

  The process is slightly…awkward. We work with another human-Pfahrn couple, Simon and Mohrn.

  Mohrn is an ishblane Pfahrn, but phey are also Khalden now, through a long and convoluted twist of fate.

  That means phey are one of the most powerful residents of our planet, in charge of our region’s government. Phey are also one of the richest, and own two estates, in addition to large mining operations.

  The procedure requires Mohrn and me taking turns implanting and fertilizing eggs in both our human mates.

  Which was the awkward part. Neither Mohrn nor myself considered it “sex,” because there was a contract in place and it was a medical procedure. Both our mates willingly opted to do this, because they want to have children, too.

  There are easier ways to have children, and Mohrn and I could have carried our eggs. But because Mohrn and I are married to our mates, for our children to be recognized by our laws, only us or our mates can carry the egg.

  Except you need two Pfahrn to lay and fertilize an egg, and they have not yet perfected artificial fertilization. There is nothing in our laws that say two Pfahrn cannot undergo this process if the egg is laid inside a human mate.

  Meaning it was easier for Dr. H’looder and his team to figure out that logistical issue than it was for the laws of Pfahrn to be changed in time for us to have children.

  Since both myself and Mohrn are dealing with considerable assets now—myself and Davies in terms of finances, and Mohrn in land, estate holdings, mining operations, and finances—we had to do it this way for our children to be protected and recognized by law.

  Besides, both our mates opted to accept medications to ease their anxieties and stress and make the entire thing pleasurable to them.

  But it was more than worth it, because both couples ended up with the human bearing fertilized eggs.

  And now…we wait.

  We have kept our human mates as inactive as possible over these past thirty weeks, because neither Mohrn nor I want to do anything to possibly risk our mates losing our precious blessings. Meaning no sex, which could possibly trigger contractions in our human mates.

  That frustrates our humans more than it frustrates Mohrn and me, I believe. Mohrn and I are both fine with our chosen celibacy in support of our mates because the blessings we are about to welcome into our lives are so worth it.

  Dr. H’looder assures us that with every day which passes, our chances of having healthy, thriving children grows.

  Once the eggs are born, another wait commences until they hatch, but then Mohrn and I can take turns caring for our eggs.

  There is a risk that our children might be ishblane.

  Honestly?

  I do not care.

  Mohrn’s position as Khalden means that phey have shown our people that silly, superstitious prejudices have no place in our modern society. Davies and I have enough money to support our child, if we never wanted to work again.

  But Mohrn and Simon have asked us to move in with them, at least for now, because we have all become dear friends and adopted family. Simon has also asked us to work for them, to help run their vast estates.

  My two middle siblings are still coming to grips with my life choices, but as my snarky mate has said, fuck ’em. Phey are not hostile to us, and all of my family has come to visit us during Davies’ pregnancy. I believe my parents have accepted this situation most easily of all and are finally looking forward to becoming grandparents.

  Simon’s mother and sister have adopted not only Mohrn into their family with open arms, but Davies and me as well.

  More family—and I do consider them family, human or not. My blessings have multiplied, and I know it has helped heal Davies’ aching heart somewhat to once again have a “mom” and parents in his life, and “siblings” he never had before.

  With every day that passes, my hope swells that we will have a healthy child at the end of this journey. My mate grows increasingly grumpy and fussy as our egg grows inside him, because I will not let Davies do anything. I wish for him to lie still and take no chances with his health and safety. I take care of him and his every desire, refusing to let him walk or move any more than absolutely necessary.

  At least I am not the only one who acts overprotective. Mohrn has been similarly restricting Simon’s movements and activities.

  I believe my love’s greatest irritation is our celibacy to help prevent accidentally triggering contractions. Mohrn and I readily agreed to this stipulation, perhaps even more easily than our human mates. I do not mind my chosen celibacy, because the eventual reward is a priceless blessing—our child.

  There are few memories more precious to me than lying in bed with Davies cradled against me, with my hand over his belly as I speak to our unborn child.

  When Dr. H’looder finally tells us we can resume our sexual activity because our eggs are mature enough to be born, I think Davies is going to scream when I tell him I wish to wait a little longer. Just a few more hours.

  That is in response to Mohrn and Simon leaving the house to go break their own celibacy down at the nearby river, taking the medical team with them to observe and supervise Simon giving birth.

  I choose to wait because I want the medical team’s full attention on Davies when his time arrives.

  Fortunately, Simon and Mohrn have a perfect delivery, and all sensors indicate their baby is healthy and thriving within its egg. Only after Simon delivers their egg, and they return and are once again safely back in the house, along with the full medical team, do I allow Davies to push me back onto our bed, climb on top of me, and fuck me.

  While he does that—admittedly a very pleasant sensation, indeed—I bite him, triggering his release almost immediately, followed by my own.

  As we lie there together, on our sides with Davies snuggled in my arms, he lets out a sharp gasp, followed by a low moan.

  “Are you in pain?” I ask.

  He nods. “I think it’s starting.” He tips his head back to look up at me, his brown eyes clouded with distress. “What if something’s wrong?”

  I slant a kiss across his lips. “Everything is all right, love. Mohrn and Simon’s child is perfect, and so shall ours be.” I stand and scoop him into my arms.

  This is something else I do not take for granted, because I know once our baby is here and Davies is feeling back to his old self, he will protest if I try to carry him all the time, such as I have been doing lately. He has allowed me to spoil and pamper him with the understanding that he is only tolerating it because he loves me, and because he is carrying our child.

  Normally, he only likes me to carry him if he is drunk or I am taking him to bed.

  He has no idea how much I have treasured these past months, and not just because of becoming parents. But because Davies was forced to let me do things for him and pamper him in a way I have never been able to care for someone before.

  Because he is mine. I cannot imagine loving anyone more fiercely or truly than I love him.

  Except our child, of course.

  I carry Davies out of the bedroom. On my way to our bathroom, I call out for Dr. H’looder and the medical techs that his delivery has started, and they scurry to follow us.

 

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