“That’s me!” he says in a wave of pure excitement only someone as genuine as him could pull off. “You’re perfect.”
I smile, knowing that this isn’t really my best work, but accept the compliment all the same.
“You should see what I can do with a needle and skin,” I laugh as I continue to paint.
11
a great honor
It’s been days since I shared the kiss with Leeenuh, and I can’t stop thinking about how she felt against me.
I tie off one restraint to an anchor point in the craggy ceiling. I get a bit of the bioluminescent dust on my hands as I do and wipe it on my bare chest. Pulling the rope to test its strength, I slide back onto my knees into the nest. My body weight doesn’t threaten to break the rope, so I’m satisfied with my work.
Leeenuh has been waiting patiently for me to rig everything up. She inspects everything with squinted eyes before shrugging and sitting down on the bed next to me.
We’ve gotten into a routine as we ready ourselves for her next heat. When we wake, I prepare food and Leeenuh uses the relief hole and brushes through her fine mane before splashing fresh water on her face and rubbing her body down with one of the torun sponges.
Her grooming habits are always interesting to watch, especially as she cares for her mane. She’s told me it’s called hairuh, but it reminds me of the Fi’len mane. The Fi’len rule the planet that the Korlyan Moon orbits. Their heads are crowned similar to Leeenuh’s, but unlike hers, they don't hold water.
When she wets her mane, it’s soaked for hours.
We mainly work on the restraints, or she helps me with storing and sorting the dried dredlin. Then sleep and repeat. I won’t pretend that resisting her isn’t a challenge, but even in the midst of mundane tasks, I’m pleased to be in her presence.
But there’s always an edge, a line I know I cannot cross. I don’t know if her heat approaches or if I’m just being driven mad when I think her scent is stronger, more enticing than before. I stare at her body. Even Leeenuh’s breasts seem fuller than yesterday.
Leeenuh has been agitated since late last night. She fidgets constantly in her sleep in the nest while I rest in the tidal pool meant for my future children’s nursery. I know the basics of matehood, that I will rut my female until her belly is swollen with my young, but there’s so much I feel unprepared for.
“It will hold,” I tell her confidently, because I know it will. I’m glad of it, as I have no desire for Leeenuh to injure herself as badly as she did before. She nods, shifting uncomfortably next to me.
“Eye tink twodaay’s da daay.” She speaks her strange human words as she wiggles in her seat. I might not understand her completely, but I know what she’s trying to convey.
I move all the faster on my last knot, pulling it taut against the ceiling before stepping back to admire my work.
“I think it’s ready for you,” I tell her with a nod before reaching for her hand as she steps up onto the nest platform. Her fingers feel like fire entwined with mine, and I swear I can feel the mating mark on her palm burning into my own. I release her hand reluctantly as she kneels, holding the rope up to her wrist and looking at me with a pleading face.
“Oh, of course I’ll help you.” I hop up next to her. I grab her small beige wrist and wrap the padded portion of the restraint around it. Looping the rope, I truss it tightly.
“Is that okay?” I ask, finding it hard to keep my concentration on the task at hand. When I lean over her to secure her other wrist, I can smell her cunt and the dampness pooling there.
I know the wrap I wear does little to hide my quickly thickening cock, but I don’t want to make her feel awkward. She can’t control the heat any more than I can control my body’s reaction to it. This entire situation feels like a punishment for which I wish I knew my crimes.
“Kitaico…” Leeenuh starts, biting in her lip in a way that doesn’t help my throbbing cock’s situation.
“What is it, Leeenuh?” I double check my work before moving onto her ankle. “It’s not uncomfortable, is it?”
“Noe, noe, it’s feyena. Eye jus wan two leht ewe no, that eye no dis is hard four ewe two, and that eyem ought so unfeelin that eye down’t si dat…eye jus wan two sayay that eye down’t myend if ewe, ewe no, elp yourself out if ewe nead two.” She’s rambling, and a pink color blooms on her cheeks and chest.
I swear once my translator chip is reactivated, I’ll never let them turn it off again.
“I don’t understand. Can you show me?”
Any color drains from those high cheekbones as she blanches a sickly white. With a quick burst of air through her nostrils, she sets her jaw in some kind of determination.
“Kitaico.” She points to me before pointing at my cock and then at her own cunt. She shakes her head. “No sex.”
I’m briefly hurt. Does she think I’ve forgotten her wishes? That I’m not better than an animal and would rut her as soon as the heat takes over? I would never do that, even if I’d love nothing more than to feel her clasping around my cock.
“I know Leeenuh, don’t worry, I am no brute!” I will keep my word with no hesitation.
“No, no. It’s okuh if Kitaico tikes caruh of imself,” she says as she points to my cock and mimes what is very much the universal sign for jacking off. Her voice wobbles less as she continues. “In act, it’s okuh if kitaico touches leeenuh, to elp wit heat. Jus no alien peen inside mi, okuh?”
“Surely I’m mistaken in my understanding,” I say, hope welling in my chest. “Do you want me to touch myself and touch you?”
“It ould ache meye heat easier eye tink, to ave ewe touch mi,” she whispers. She takes my foretentacle, already sitting in her lap, and puts it over her covered mound.
“Okuh two touch wit tentickles”—she reaches for my hand—“an hand.” But when she motions to my dick, she shakes her head no again.
“We can touch, but not mate?” My voice cracks.
She nods her head enthusiastically. I’m not sure if she’s excited to have gotten her point across, or excited at the prospect of what might happen now.
Maybe it’s a little of both.
“Are you sure?” I ask, still dubious. “Your heat hasn’t started yet, has it?”
I know the answer is no, that there will be no denying it when the heat takes hold.
