He chuckled.
She lifted her head off the bed and twisted, staring into his mesmerizing eyes. “How do we officially become mates? Is there a ceremony? Is it just having sex and saying the words?”
He slowly withdrew from her but kept her pinned under his upper body, not breaking eye contact. “We are mates. No ceremony is needed. You are carrying my cubs. I am locked onto you. Stay here. I am going to clean you. I’ve coated you in my seed.”
She could feel it sliding down her inner thighs. Coated was more like soaked. He smiled before gently getting up and walking over to a dresser. She noticed for the first time that a pitcher sat there with some folded hand towels.
Darla pushed off the mattress and stood. Gnaw returned to her, dropped to his knees in front of her, and tapped her to spread her legs for him a bit. She blushed but let him clean her with the damp towel. Her gaze lowered to his rod. He still appeared mostly hard. She knew he’d gotten off. Not only had she felt it, but he was cleaning up the proof.
“Locked on?”
He finished cleaning her. “You are the only female I will ever want. There will never be another.” His gaze met hers. “You are my heart. My soul. My everything.”
She stepped into him, cupping his face. “You’re my heart, too, and my soul. My everything. Humans use words like this to commit to each other. Like vows during a wedding. I like these better.”
“I will do this human wedding if you wish.”
“I don’t need one. I just need you.”
“You have me.”
He got up, tossed the towel back on a table by the door, and then scooped her into his arms. She laughed, wrapping her arms around his neck. “You seem to like picking me up.”
“I like having you in my arms.” He walked to the side of the bed and climbed on, putting her sideways across his lap. He used the headboard for back support. “There are things we should speak of.”
Her happy moment dimmed at his tone, and she peered at him nervously. “What is it?”
“You’ve seen me in my battle form when I killed the Elth.”
“Yes. I’m not afraid of you when you’re shifted, if that’s what you want to talk about. I accept you. All of you. I know what I’m getting into.”
“I am glad.” He adjusted his hold on her, keeping one arm around her back and placing his hand on her belly, caressing it. “We are born in that form.”
She nodded at him. “That’s what Jessa told me.”
“She knew?”
“She suspected.”
“They will be born without claws and teeth, and are slightly smaller than human infants when born. I don’t want you to fear giving birth.”
“How long am I going to be pregnant? Jessa thought somewhere between three to four months.”
“Three months. At least, the other human who birthed a cub was pregnant for that length.”
“That’s good.” She smiled. “My mom always told us that having four kids was tough because of the long pregnancies. We’re normally pregnant for nine months.”
“There is more…”
“Tell me.”
“You don’t look fearful at all.”
“I’m not. I want to know everything about you and what to expect with our babies.”
He leaned his head closer to hers. “You are perfect, mate.”
“So are you. How do babies go from your battle form into what you are now?”
“Our young are born in battle form because it is easier for them to learn how to walk, leap, and build strength. We are also harder to injure and faster to heal. Cubs like to play rough as they learn. When they reach about a year—some faster, some slower—they have learned to control their emotions as well. That’s when they can take this form. We teach them how to reach a completely relaxed state of mind.”
That confused her a little. “At just a year?”
“We are Veslors.” He shrugged and gave her a small smile. “Abby told me about human infants. Our cubs will be mobile within a week after birth. Their balance and coordination will quickly increase. The transformations we are able to do are related to hormones that are triggered by strong emotions. Maith could explain it to you better. When I am enraged, or highly fearful because of danger, my body changes into battle form.”
She thought about it. “You can’t shift right now?”
“I could, but I would have to imagine something to trigger those hormones. This is our common form. There is something else I need to tell you.”
She waited patiently.
“We are only fertile in battle form. Darla…I shouldn’t have been able to give you cubs unless I released my seed inside you after shifting. I didn’t do that. I held on to this form while the Elth forced me to copulate with you, despite my rage at them and urge to attack. I am so blessed that it happened. It makes me happy. But Maith hasn’t heard of this happening before. Though, few Veslors have ever been kept in captivity and undergone what we have. The stress, the rage over what they were doing to us, Maith thinks it confused my body since I should have shifted, but instead held my skin to avoid frightening you.” He caressed her belly again. “One day I would like to have more cubs with you.”
“Wow.” Darla took in all that information, trying to sort it and make sense of it. “So if we want more kids, cubs, you need to…”
“Transform into my battle form and copulate with you.”
She was shocked. “Is that even possible?”
“Yes. I just need to use negative emotions to shift. Once I’m in battle form, I can stay that way even if I’m no longer enraged.
