She heard him inhale deeply. Grace jerked forward and screamed when she felt Rask’s fangs graze painfully over her. Just below her shoulder blade was soon in agony. She cried out for him to stop but he grumbled he couldn’t yet. It was part of his mating ritual, something so ancient it was buried in his memory. Grace could feel her blood drip down her sides. Rask lapped at it. She whimpered for him to stop what he was doing. Again he claimed he couldn’t, but he was almost done. She cried hat he was hurting her and she heard him swear.
“Your skin must be softer than our females,” he growled. “There should be blood; a woman bleeds her first time, but not this much. I can sense it.”
“A woman bleeds her first time but not from being bitten,” she howled.
“Yes from being bitten,” he insisted.
“Rask, please,” she whimpered. For the first time it occurred to her that part of his ritual could be eating her alive. She was terrified.
“Easy, I won’t kill you,” he soothed. “Please don’t be so afraid. I smell and feel your fear. I know what I need to do. You’ll be fine in a second. I swear it.”
Grace could feel him cut her again, then his fangs buried into her hip this time, deeper than before. Grace groaned as she felt a warm liquid invade her. Rask’s arms crushed her to him and she felt so strange. Then suddenly the pain stopped. She had no idea what had happened. She knew he was still doing something to her but there was no more pain. Her entire body relaxed until she was immobile.
With a roar Rask came within her and he slumped over her. He muttered an apology.
“What did you do?” she whispered.
“I’m sorry I hurt you. I wasn’t supposed to. This was my first time. I don’t think my species mates with their first. I think their first female fights them off once they try to release their seed.”
“Why?” Grace asked. Her entire body was submissive and welcoming, even though he had hurt her moments earlier. She felt no desire to move. Rask rolled her over and cuddled her body, warming her.
“I’m sorry, Grace. Something just took over me. I didn’t know what was happening until it happened. A male needs to learn to release his hormone with his first bite into a female. For that, he needs practice. By the time a male is ready to mate, he chooses his female with care knowing his first bite will claim her. The hormone calms her and she is unable to resist him. By then it’s too late, because she is his. I’m sorry I hurt you. You are mine now. We are mated. You wear my mark on your shoulder.”
“You mean like a date rape drug?”
“I don’t know what rape is,” he reminded her.
“It’s when a man forces a woman.”
“You didn’t fight me off,” he said.
Grace looked at him. “How could I fight you off?”
Grace lay quietly beneath him. She wasn’t angry, but she felt confused. He claimed they were mated. She felt drawn to him. She felt like a part of him.
How can that be?
One look at him and she knew he would kill anything that touched her. Her blood was on his fangs. Her finger reached up to touch one. It was razor sharp and still she felt no pain when it cut her finger. Rask sucked her finger into his mouth. His lip looked cut.
“I think our blood mixed and now flows together.”
“What was in your fangs? I felt something go into me.”
Rask looked like he was searching his memory.
“A venom of sorts.”
Rask swallowed hard like he was just as confused as she was.
“I can smell you even better now. I can sense what you are feeling more than before. You feel like a part of me, an extension, no, not an extension. You feel like my heart beating.”
“What does this mean?”
“It means we are one. Forever.”
Grace felt her tears begin to fall. “How long do your kind live?”
Rask shook his head. “My grandfather was said to have died at five thousand years old. But some are much older.”
“My kind only last a hundred years if we are lucky and we grow old quickly. By the time I’m thirty or perhaps younger, I will look your age.”
Rask smiled at her. His finger trailed down her wet cheek. “You don’t want to leave me.”
“No,” she admitted. She wasn’t certain what happened between them, but she was devastated she would have him for such a short time.
“Castians mate for life. The hormone we share is something of great importance. I wish my father could tell me what. When the women died, they were almost never spoken of again. What would be the point? They would never be back. Why be reminded of something we could never have? Most survivors of my planet are my age, never mated, who are just now in their prime. What I do remember of my grandparents was that my grandmother died the same day as my grandfather.”
“Then we will die together?” she asked with confusion. “Are you saying I’ll live as long as you do?”
“Yes. And I will live as long as you do.”
“But if your parents were mated does that mean your father is dead?”
“No. My father didn’t mate with my mother. His seed found its way into her, but she fought him off before he could mate with her. She claimed he wasn’t ready. She died before he could mate with her again after I was born. It happens often enough when a man is full of himself, or so my father told me long ago.”
“How old were you when she died?”
“Almost four. I remember her hugging me and saying she had to go. She had no choice. Something had worn off.”
“Worn off?”
“I don’t know.”
“Where is your father?”
Rask scowled and rose from the bed. “Come with me. We can wash before it gets too late.”
Grace rolled off the bed. “Rask, you need to warn your men if they find a human female. A human female can’t fight off a male Castian. All of the women captured will be mated.”
Rask smiled. “Yes I suppose they will.”
Chapter 3
“But, Rask, what if those women don’t want to mate?”
“Did you want to mate?”
“No.”
“Are you sorry?”
She sighed dramatically. “That’s not the point.”
Rask led her outside into the darkness. Grace stumbled and he gripped her elbow.
“They will be happy they have mated. Their joining will give those females years of life. Thousands of years they never would have had before.”
“Thousands? What if they decide they don’t love each other anymore?”
Rask frowned. “It’s impossible. We didn’t just mate, we joined. Giving up each other would be harder than giving up the air we breathe. It’s never happened.”
“What if their mates die? Something tells me that you have that shield for a reason.”
“It is virtually impossible to kill a male Castian. It was why our women were killed; a poison infected our waters that killed off only the female line. It was done discreetly over a long period of time. Because it wasn’t harmful to males, our shields didn’t register the threat. A great deal of my home planet is covered in water. By the time we discovered the poison, it was too late. It was made to make the male of my species suffer. We mate for life. Many males died with their mates because of their connection through our mating ritual. Our shield protects us from disease, but our females had no such shield. By killing the females, they killed us. We could no longer reproduce either. I bet the Tonans didn’t expect us to find a viable replacement.”
“So what we did was the equivalent of getting married when you bit me,” Grace muttered. “We have no idea if I can get pregnant.”
“No we don’t, but in time, we will find out.”
“Why use poison on the females? Why not just shoot them or stab them?”
“I’m not certain. I’m afraid I don’t know much more about our females. There was something that protected them from those things you mentioned, but not poison taken internally.” Rask refrained from saying his father would get angry when he had asked too many questions. Finally, he had stopped asking altogether, even about his mother.
“Doctors couldn’t think of something?” Grace asked.
Rask scratched at his head. “What’s a doctor?”
“Someone who takes care of you when you’re sick.”
“What’s sick?”
Grace stumbled then recovered. “When you don’t feel well.”
Rask was confused. “I always feel well.”
“Did the women not need doctors to give birth?”
“There is no sick on my planet. A male shield protects him from almost everything. As for women giving birth, I have no idea. Why would a woman need help to have a tiny baby?”
“Rask, that tiny baby comes out of the tiny hole you stick your huge cock in!”
“Ouch.” That had him thinking.
A baby comes out of there?
He supposed it was something he would have to see to believe. Grace tripped again. “Grace, what is wrong with you?”
“It’s pitch-black out here. I can’t see anything,” she snapped and fell against him. “Why didn’t you say there was a rock there?”
“You can’t see in the dark?” That was a surprise.
“Can you?” she asked.
“Of course.”
Rask stopped and stood her before him. He was able to see as plain as day. His shield took energy from the two suns during the day giving him the ability to see at night. He wondered thoughtfully if female Castians had been blind in the dark. An inkling in the back of Rask’s mind wondered if they had been blind at night and the male of his species hunted for their mates at night. Perhaps that’s why a Castian’s armor is pitch-black. That was definitely something he wanted to ask his father.
Rask waved a hand in front of Grace. Her stare remained blank. Rask knew she wasn’t lying, since mating and perhaps even before they mated, she would be unable to tell him an untruth, but he wanted to see just how blind she was in the dark for future reference. He would need to know how much protection she had to have. Rask blinked and his armor enveloped him. He purposely kept the tattoo lights on his face dark. Rask raised a huge talon and swung at her. Grace didn’t blink, much less move. Only her hair ruffled as his claws came within inches of her cheek.
“We better hurry, Rask. I just felt the wind pick up.”
Rask didn’t know whether to chuckle or feel concern. His armor dropped and he slung her over his shoulder. He then strode quickly to their wash domicile. Once inside, Rask called for the lights. Then he set Grace on her feet.
“This is beautiful,” she gushed and spun around to take everything in.
Rask supposed it was. It was a replica of his homeland where he had washed as a child. Deep green and red lush vegetation grew in abundance around a large pool of water. A small waterfall cascaded downward from above. The pool water was the color of the sky. Grace wandered over to the waterfall and looked up.
“Where does the water come from?”
“Grace, it’s a hologram.”
“Really?” she whispered. She began to strip off her clothes. Rask winced when he saw the bloody mess he had made of her shoulder.
Taking her hand, he guided her into the cool, clear pool. “Do not drink it; the water will make you sick.”
Grace looked concerned. “Is the water here deadly to females as well?”
“No. The rivers and lakes here are pure. Our enemies wouldn’t have poisoned this planet. There was no need. It’s only about three hundred years old. By the time it formed, our women were gone. As for this pond, we had no choice.”
“Why?”
“The Slocks kept getting in and our shields would go up so our toes wouldn’t be bit off. It’s impossible to wash encased in armor.”
“Slocks?”
“Little creatures with webbed feet and jagged teeth.”
“Are they in there now?” she asked with concern. “I think I’ve seen one of those. Their teeth are nasty.”
“No, the chemical repels them. Don’t worry.”