I eyed Kier as we flew the small short range shuttle from his family estate. He’d been cagey the last several days, and it made me wonder what he had planned. Over the last two weeks, we’d settled into a semblance of normalcy living together as mates. Our union had been formally sealed and accepted by the Ahn family council just yesterday, and I suspected it had a lot to do with Gav’Ahn’s influence since Kier’s first attempt had been refused in less than an hour.

The last two weeks were as close to ‘normal’ as I’d ever gotten in my whole life.
Living in a fancy house on an estate where the townspeople nodded in respect for me. Kier went to the High Council’s offices most days with his father to push for Atavar to aid the GUP in their efforts to secure borders against a K’Tavi incursion.
I went to the Institute to continue overseeing the creation and distribution of the new vaccine and anti-viral. It was all so very stable and safe, at least as safe as a Human could be on Atavar.

The terrorists that attacked the Institute were being rehabilitated and the underground movement was being investigated. Every day new members were being arrested and sent to the rehabilitation colony the Atavarians had set up on a far moon.
Char’Vahn had recently presented me with white and red robes, making me an official member of the Institute and the first ever off worlder to be given such an honor. I had almost not wanted to wear the robes for fear of getting them dirty, but I knew it would be seen as rude not to.

When I’d gotten home and shown Kier he’d sent me the filthiest images down our mated bond. Apparently, the Atavarian garments turned him on. So in response, I let him know that I wasn’t wearing much under them. That had been a very good night among many, many wonderful ones.

Everything was settling down, becoming the picture of what I had always silently wanted and never thought I’d have. But as nice as the estate was, I didn’t really feel comfortable there. All the looks, some nice, some suspicious. The staff around all the time, the sense that I was being expected to step into whatever role Kier’s mother had filled, but not sure what that was or if I wanted it.

I knew the house was important to him, but could it be my home?

Wherever he is, that’s home, but it would be nice to have a place that was just ours.

“So, where are we going?” I asked again as I tried to distract myself from such thoughts.
“Do Humans normally send such contradictory messages regarding surprises? You have voiced quite pointedly that you liked them, and yet you are trying to spoil it by inducing me to reveal clues.”

“So it’s a surprise, then?”

“Indeed.”

I folded my arms across my chest and arched an eyebrow as I studied him.

“Is staring at me going to help you ascertain the answer, or are you merely enjoying the view?”

“A little of both.”

His lips ticked up in his version of a smirk and I felt that familiar warm touch against my mind.

”I packed a special surprise for you,” I said.

And imagined myself clad in the black and red lacy underwear I’d managed to find.

A growl rolled through my mind just before he said, “These are…tantalizing. But I thought my instructions were clear.”

”You weren’t serious about the no clothes thing, were you?”

His eyes were fiery as he glanced at me and I felt the heat unfurl from the center of my chest through my entire body.

”I will not be held responsible for ripped garments. And yes, I was very serious about those instructions.”

”And will you be similarly unclothed for the duration of whatever this is?”

“I presumed that was the purpose of a honeymoon.”

“Honeymoon? We’re going on a honeymoon?” I asked out loud, jumping up out of my seat next to him in cock pit.

“Do you see what happens when you pry? The surprise is — “

I fell onto his lap and stopped his lips with mine.

Kier must’ve engaged the autopilot because next thing I knew his strong hands were tight on my hips and he was moving me so I straddled him. He may have been utterly restrained in public, but alone with me, Kier unleashed that fire that was banked under his stoic surface. I treasured that I was the only one who knew this side of him, that he trusted me, loved me enough to show it.

“How long until we get there?” I breathed as his teeth nipped at my throat.

“Not long enough for what I want to do to you, priash.”

I shuddered as his hands skated under my shirt and pressed tight to my bare skin. It was still a shocking, delicious treat to be skin to skin with him. I hoped that never changed.

“Gimme the abridged version,” I said, unzipping his jacket and running my hands over his hard chest.

Kier growled.
“Impatient Human.”

I cupped his quickly growing phallus and grinned when he let out a hissing breath.
“Horny Atavarian.”

“You undo me, utterly. I will always be defenseless against you.”

The computer let out a trilling sound behind me and Kier wrapped one arm around my waist as he pressed a few buttons with his other hand.

“We are approaching the landing pad,” he said.

“I should go back to my seat, then.”

But he didn’t let me go. Instead, he ran his fingers across my cheek and down my throat to his favorite spot to bite me. I could feel the storm of arousal as it built in him, a powerful hurricane that I longed to fling myself into.

“The more I have you, the more I want you,” he whispered. “It is illogical and wonderful.”

“I feel the same way. And I hope it never changes.”

He slowly let me go and I managed to buckle myself in just as before the shuttle began its descent. I hadn’t been paying any attention to where we were going, but now I looked out the front to see a vast plain of grasses and wild flowers that glittered in the moonlight. We were headed for a large, wide hill that had a small structure on it and a rudimentary landing pad in the middle of a newly cleared space. It all looked as if it had been constructed within the last week. Unlike the estate, there were no vast buildings and well-kept gardens. There was no road for land vehicles, no town or mountains in the distance. It was wide open under the clear night sky.

When we landed, Kier led me out of the shuttle and into the newly cleared space. I looked up in awe at the sky, awash in stars and planets. Without any of the light pollution that the estate and town produced, the stars were brilliant above me. A sweet scent filtered to us in the air, which was cooler here and the subtle presence of night creatures buzzed and chirped around us.

“What is this place?” I asked as Kier led me away from the shuttle.

“My father bought the land for my mother, for a better observatory. But he was never able to give it to her. Instead of letting it go to waste, he has given it to us as a matting present.”

“What?”

He looked down at my small hand between his large ones. A ribbon of nerves fluttered to me and I realized that Kier was very nervous all of a sudden.

“I know everything has been so fast,” he began, “we have not had the chance to discuss what we both expect of our lives going forward. I would like to remain in the Gex-Corps and I assume you would as well.”

“Yes.”

“Atavar may seem like a strange place to build our home, what with everything that happened, but I hope that we may yet forge a new and better future for my planet. For our…”

“Children?”

His green eyes blazed when he met mine, and he nodded.
“Do you want them?” he asked.

“I used to not be sure, but with you? Yes, very much.”

“I feel much the same. With you, I can see myself becoming the kind of male that would be able to love a child the way I needed to be loved. I am a better male with you beside me.”

Now the tears were falling down my cheeks and I shook my head at him with a trembling laugh.

“For such a serious guy, you are a romantic at heart.”

“I will take that as a compliment.”

“Absolutely.”

“I want to build a life with you, Chloe. One that is in the stars and below them. I want to explore the galaxy with you, and come home to a place with you. Would you be comfortable building a house here, making this our home when we are not on a star ship?”

I looked around at the moon lit beauty around me and tried to think beyond my immediate emotions.

Atavar would not be an entirely safe place for Humans for quite some time. There would always be a threat, but I had a feeling that it would start to lessen now. Perhaps that was foolish, wishful thinking, but my gut told me it wasn’t. What Kier and I had done with the vaccine, with uncovering the group of terrorists and his aunt’s connection to them, that had affected the Atavarians. Char’Vahn and Gav’Ahn had made sure it was known far and wide that I had been instrumental in helping cure the new strain of the Lavat virus. And then I made sure it was known that it was Kier’s difference due to being half human that helped me discover that. The High Council was resistant to accept the logic of it all, but they could not stand against it for long.

Things were changing, little by little. In twenty years, what would that look like?
And it wasn’t as if I had any real attachment to Earth. I’d only been there a handful of times. If I was honest, it might’ve been comfortable due to its high concentration of Humans, but it wasn’t home.

Not like Kier was.

And if he wanted to build a home here, if he wanted to build a life here with me, then that was all I needed.

“I would love that.” I slipped my arms around him. “Yes, Kier, I’ll build a home here with you.”

He let out a long breath and gifted me with a rare actual smile.
“I love you,” he whispered, as if he still could not quite believe it.

“I love you too.”

His lips danced over mine, slow and firm until I was dizzy. Without another word, he swept me into his arms bridal style and walked toward the small structure I’d seen when we’d been descending. At first it looked like one of the pre fab homes that the GUP sent with colonists, but as we got closer, I saw that it was a bit more than that. This one was larger for one thing and outfitted with isometric locks, Atavarian solar panels, and what looked like solar siding. It was two stories instead of one and the windows appeared to be reflective, so that it was cool during the day and warm at night.

“I read that Human females are supposed to be carried over the threshold,” he said as he pressed his thumb to the lock on the door.

“You did research about Human wedding customs?”

“Mostly regarding the honeymoon.”

“I can’t wait to see what else you learned.”

He set me on my feet just inside the small house and the lights went on automatically. Off to the left was a simple stair case to what I assumed was a loft. The bottom floor looked like one big open space, quite a bit larger than what it looked like from the outside. A sitting area with a comfortable couch and small fireplace sat in front of me. As I stepped into that part of the room, the fireplace flared to life and the lights dimmed as the electric candles scattered around came to life.

A small kitchen was on the opposite end of with a table and chairs between the sitting area and kitchen. Just beyond was a door that led to a small porch. It was a simple starter home, a cabin really.

And it was perfect.

“Welcome home, Chloe,” he came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist.

“This is home,” I said, running my hands over his arms. “Anywhere with you, Kier. You are my home.”

“As are you to me, priash.”

His mouth descended on the sensitive area where my neck met my shoulder and he nipped, pressing his lengthening fangs to my skin but not breaking it yet. I could tell by the way he growled at me that he was hungry for my blood and a rush of arousal heated my blood.

I wound an arm up and clutched a handful of his hair as he made his way up my throat, his hand finally clasping around me. Kier turned my face to meet his and seared my lips with a firm, thorough kiss.

I was so lost in his mouth on me, his mind flooding mine with the fire of his need for me, that I didn’t notice his hand slipping beneath the waist of my pants until he was cupping my cunt.

“Mine,” he growled against my mouth, “all mine.”

“Yes,” I moaned.

Our minds began to caress one another as his fingers deftly moved my panties aside and he found my clit. I shuddered against him, my knees going weak as he worked me with hard circles. His phallus was pressed to my back and I could feel the nodes pulse even through his pants. I wanted to turn and take him in my hand, but Kier held me fast, controlling me.

So I imagined it.

In my mind, I took his phallus in hand and rubbed my fingers on either side, activating his nodes. Kier let out a sharp hiss of air and jerked behind me as the images continued.
As he drove me to the precipice of a release physically, I did the same to him psychically. Just as I knew he was about to burst, he withdrew his fingers from me and I whimpered at the loss.

“Kier—” I breathed.

But his only response was to rip my pants down the center seam and jerk them off my body along with my panties, a rush of cool air hit me. I began to undo his pants next, but he beat me to it, his engorged phallus springing free. A clear stream of pre-cum dripped off his tip and I couldn’t help myself. I bent down and licked it.

“Later,” he said in a raspy voice. “I want your tight channel around me. I want to spill into you.”

His hands gripped my bare ass, and I jumped up onto him, wrapping my legs tight around his hips. Our mouths fused in a tangle of teeth and tongues as our minds danced together. A wall hit my back, and I grinned, reminded of our very first time together.
He growled again, remembering what he could of his rut fever. I thought he might try to recreate it when the head of his phallus rubbed against me and I threw my head back on a deep groan.

“So wet,” he nipped at my breasts through the shirt, “all for me.”

My words were stolen as he sucked one of my sensitive nipples into his mouth as he also stimulated my clit in his mind. Over and over he brought me to the edge and withdrew until I was near tears, shaking and begging him to relieve me.

His lips feathered light and slow over mine, hands on my hips. One moment I was teetering between bliss and denial, and then he was slowly lowering me onto him.
At first, just his broad tip. Then one node, then two. Over and over.

Plunging deeper and retreating, the ribbons of our consciousness spun and writhed as our bodies did. Kier eased into my mind as he did my body, letting us both savor our joining.

When he yanked the neck of my shirt to the side, ripping the seams, and pressed his mouth to his favorite spot, I was panting in breathless need for his bite.
The sharp sting was muted as his sweet venom brought about a fiery pleasure and he snapped his hips, the first movement that was hard and fast.

Then we were both lost.

I met him with a downward plunge as he thrust up, our bodies slapping in time with my gasps and his growls as he fed from me. It felt at once like hours and seconds as our minds drank deep of every drag of flesh, every exhale. When his knot slipped into me, our combined release sent me screaming as he emptied hot spurts into me.
When the gold and red ribbons of light began to fade in my mind, and I was a little aware of our surroundings, I realized that I was crying, and Kier was kissing away the tears. I clung to his strong shoulders and breathed him in.

Kier didn’t need to ask if I was alright. There was nothing hidden from him, no part of me that was not laid bare. And as he could see all of me, I could also see all of him. Every time we were together, it came easier and easier for him. Seeing his most hidden, most secret parts was more precious to me than sharing his body, and I let him know that with each soft undulation of my lips against his, each second my legs stayed wrapped around him.

“My priash,” he whispered, brushing hair from my face.
“All yours.”

“I am honored you wish to build a life with me,”

I grinned down at him. “It’s one hell of a way to christen a house, that’s for sure.”

“We have only ‘christened’ as you say, this part. There are many more places to explore. This, like our life together Chloe, is only the beginning.”