“Forgive me,” he said, giving her the panties. “I hope I didn’t embarrass you.”
“Oh, no—it’s fine.” She gave a self-deprecating little laugh. “There’s probably a matching bra under there too if you can find it.”
“A bra?” Liosh frowned.
“It’s like the top part of a set off underwear,” Melinda explained. “It lifts and supports your, uh, breasts.” Her cheeks were pink again but she was smiling at him in that shy way she had that showed her dimple. “Don’t the women on Tranq Prime wear any support garments?” she asked.
“Well…I believe that the tharps I told you about provide all the support they need,” Liosh told her. “Let me see if I can find this support garment you’re talking about, though.”
He reached back under the bed, stretching his arm as far as it would go but this time what his seeking fingertips found wasn’t cloth—it was cool to the touch and felt rather like plastic.
Frowning, Liosh wrapped his fingers around it and pulled it out. It was indeed, a clear plastic box. Inside it were a number of long, cylindrical objects that seemed to range in size from the circumference of a pencil, to that of a small cucumber. There were about five of them in all and they were all made of the same smooth, pale pink plastic and were all tapered at one end.
“Hmm…” Liosh looked at the box uncertainly. “What are these? Some kind of writing implements?” he asked Melinda.
But she didn’t answer and when he looked up, he saw she had gone extremely pale, though there were two spots of color burning high on her cheeks. Liosh was immediately concerned.
“Melinda?” he asked. “Is everything all right?”
“Fine. Everything is just fine.” She snatched the box out of his hand and shoved it quickly under the smaller bed, which was behind her. “So—what’s for breakfast? I can smell that you’ve been cooking,” she said brightly, clearly trying to change the subject.
Liosh looked at her in surprise. What in the world had those cylindrical objects been and why had they made her so upset? He wished he could ask, but clearly the subject upset her. It seemed at this point the best thing he could do was let it drop.
But there was one thing about them that still intrigued him—the box with the objects in it had had the same faint but delicious scent as the wispy panties he had found earlier.
Both of them smelled like Melinda—specifically, like her sweet little pussy.
Can’t believe he found those!
Melinda looked down at her plate as she ate the undeniably delicious scrambled eggs Liosh had made her. He had put soy sauce in them of all things, but somehow it worked. The eggs were some of the best she’d ever had…but she wasn’t really enjoying them.
Can’t believe he found them, she thought again. I thought they were hidden.
He found them because your idea of hiding anything is shoving it under the bed, whispered a little voice in her head that sounded suspiciously like her sister.
Jodi was always lecturing Melli about the need to be neater—in this case, maybe she’d been right. But the problem was, Melli had forgotten all about the things that Liosh had found. Maybe because she’d given up on getting them to work a long, long time ago…
“Are you well, Melinda?” Liosh’s voice broke into her thoughts and Melli looked up to see the big Blood Kindred staring at her with a worried look on his handsome face.
“Oh, fine,” she said quickly. “I’m just…just thinking about…about all the things you told me last night, about your home world.”
“You are?” Liosh smiled.
“Uh-huh. I was wondering if I could use you as the subject for my Sociology paper,” Melli said, coming up with the idea on the spot. It was actually a good idea though, since she still hadn’t thought of anything to write about yet. “I’m supposed to write about the courting and marriage customs of another culture,” she went on. “And I was hoping you would let me interview you about the Blood Kindred.”
Liosh laughed.
“Is that why you were so curious last night? I don’t know what else I can tell you but certainly, I’d be honored to be the subject of your paper.”
“Not you specifically—just your people. The Blood Kindred of Tranq Prime,” Melli explained. Now that she had come up with the idea, she was really getting into it.
“That’s fine.” He nodded. “What do you want to know?”
“Oh just things like…how do you attract your mates in the first place? And what are your marriage customs? And things like that,” Melli said.
“Well, if you want to know about our Joining ceremony, it can be rather formal—everyone has to wear the traditional dress of our people, which is a tharp of course, though males and females wear them differently,” Liosh told her. “But more important even than the Joining, is the Bonding.”
“The, uh, Bonding? What’s that?” Melli asked, taking another bite of her eggs.
“It’s the way a Kindred warrior ties his female to him for life,” Liosh explained. “It’s a way to form a permanent mental and emotional bond with the female you love.”
“A mental and emotional bond? How do you mean?” Melli asked, fascinated.
“Remember how it was when one of us wore the Think-me and we could hear each other’s thoughts?” Liosh asked.
Melli nodded. “Yes, that was amazing.”
“Well, the bond between a Kindred and his female is kind of like that,” he explained. “Only it allows not just thoughts but also emotions to flow between the two of them—which enables a sense of unity and oneness that never fades for as long as they live.”
“Oh!” Melli exclaimed. “That must be the reason you guys don’t have divorce or cheating in your culture. How could you cheat if you always had your spouse in your head?”
“I think you mean, why would you cheat when you are bound both mentally and emotionally to the female the Goddess has chosen
