speaking. “I like all that. What do you say we turn in early tonight and sleep in tomorrow?”
Happiness sings in my chest. “You wish to maximize the amount of time you spend breeding with me.”
Cuddling up on my chest, she looks up at me with a heated expression. “That’s exactly what I want. Now that we’re mates, we can have all the sex we want. It’s just good clean fun, right?”
Slipping my claw through her long ironed hair, I dip my head. “I want to start clean and end up a dirty, sweaty mess.” She laughs because she has used this expression with me before.
My queen’s voice turns serious. “Why don’t we start on the right foot by discontinuing the suppressor?”
“You wish to breed me?” I can’t help how my voice deepens with emotions. To spawn little ones again has been one of the dreams I have kept locked away, for fear it would not happen.
“I’ve been reading the database, and Draconian young grow at an accelerated rate. They’re adults in a little less than half the time it takes a human child, right?”
“Yes, my queen.” I am almost too emotional to speak. “I am not a queen maker, but I do not think that will matter so much to you since you already have a little queen.”
She laughs at my phrasing. “Chantel is not little. We use the word daughter. I noticed there is not a word for daughter in Draconian. Sire is father. Scion means child, usually male. Dame means mother. There is literally no word for daughter.”
Throttling back my feelings once again, I explain. “There was no need, for warriors were not permitted to speak to or of female offspring. They were beyond precious to the Vithacan parasites that used our queens as hosts. Female children were handled exclusively by their dames.”
“I hate those damn parasites.”
“As do I. Let us not think upon them anymore. I have withdrawn myself from the pools of warriors going on the next mission in favor of staying close to my clade. Now is the perfect time for spawning, my queen.”
“Come, let’s see if we can find someone in the healing unit to remove the suppressor.” As we move through the battleship, I feel like this is the point of demarcation between my life as a warrior and my life moving forward as a mate. Stealing a glance at the beautiful queen who has at long last chosen me for her own, I know which segment of my life will hold the most joy and happiness.
Staked
Juliet
Within ten microns, we’re back in Borak’s clade quarters and moving quietly through the common room to his personal chambers. The healer assured us that since it hasn’t been that long since he took the suppressor, it probably didn’t have enough time to deeply embed itself in his system. Therefore taking the antidote should neutralize the suppressor relatively quickly. He even suggested there may be a rebound effect where Borak’s fertility is heightened.
I still can’t quite get my head around the fact the Draconian males spawn. I’ve seen some of their little ones, and they’re absolutely adorable. They look like fat little cherubs with roly-poly bodies and scrawny arms and legs. Their little wings are all different. Almost none of them have feathers, but they come in all shapes and sizes.
The one thing I’ve never seen is their eggs. Apparently Draconians are super protective of their unborn hatchlings. No one gets close until they have the gathering that honors them breaking out of their little shells. I haven’t been invited to such a gathering yet, but I’d love to see one.
I shift gears when we get to Borak’s personal space. He doesn’t even turn on the lights, because he has enough of the glowing crystals laying around to cast a soft glow over the room. His bed is huge, but I remember we’re not having sex there tonight. We’re doing the stake thing. My body almost goes up in flames when I think about having kinky sex with my hot alien soon to be husband.
Borak doesn’t waste a single minute. He draws me right into his arms, and his lips are on mine before I can get a word out. God, this man can kiss. He also smells fantastic. Better than he ever has, in fact. I get so lost in his expert mouth that I almost miss the fact that he’s divesting me of my clothing.
I laughingly push both hands against his chest and his hands