“So, you can’t have sex with me until I am ovulating?” I blinked in disbelief.
“Correct. It is biologically impossible.”
I tilted my head in question. “Is that why we haven’t had sex since I accepted your bonding spore?”
He nodded with a smile. “Yes. Even though I am not able to perform for you, your aroused thoughts and smells make it impossible to deny you the relief you need. And I derive great pleasure from your pleasure.” He chuckled again. “I have read humans are capable of sex any time—that they delight in it—and I’ve studied how pregnancy hormones can affect human females, heightening that need. Giving you the pleasure you need... not only do I experience your bliss across our bond thread, but your essence is addicting.”
“Truly, Xylo?” Odelm asked, awed. “Even more than the taste of her skin after swimming?”
Xylo closed his eyes, nodding. “It is like drinking your favorite drink after a long day. Like having a glass of water after being without in the hot sun. It is a reward I will look forward to claiming whenever she needs it.”
“So, you are saying you won’t have any sex drive until I am ovulating? That you only please me when I am aroused to sample me after I have climaxed?” I asked in disbelief, struggling to come to terms with this bombshell.
Opening his eyes and locking his heated gaze with mine, Xylo replied, “Yes. We revert to our pre-courting bond state. The court bond awakens our sexuality so we can give our bonding spore to our nestqueen. Once that happens, we have no sex drive until our nestqueen’s body signals she is in her heat-cycle. Which comes once every five years or so. Our species only copulate to create offspring. That is it. Outside of accepting the bonding spore and procreation, we are biologically unable to perform.”
“So, only once a moon—”
Odelm interrupted, “A moon?!” He turned to Xylo, eyes enormous. “She enters her heat-cycle every moon?”
Xylo burst into laughter. “Yes. Every moon.”
Odelm’s turned back to me, mouth open in disbelief.
I rolled my eyes. Surprises all around, I guess.
“Okay, now I get a bit better why Circuli treat your offspring the way you do,” I said, looking at Xylo with a smirk.
“Selena.” Odelm’s voice drew my gaze. He searched my face before locking his pale green eyes on mine. “Were you serious about accepting my bonding spore right now?”
A rush of arousal threatened to drown me at his words. Thoughts of both of them together in my nestbed...
I swallowed, hard.
Xylo chuckled. “From her thoughts, I would say she was.”
I gasped and shoved Xylo in outrage; he landed on his ass with a laugh.
“Stay out of my head.”
He grinned as his eyes twinkled with mischief. “I cannot. I will not.”
Growling, I slid my legs off Odelm’s and stood. I grabbed his hand and pulled him to our bedroom, Xylo’s laughter floating on the air behind us. Releasing his hand, I shucked my clothes and wristband, dropping them on the couch.
I turned, hands on hips, to see Odelm and Xylo standing side-by-side between the couch and the nestbed. Xylo held a silver drink in one hand and looked between Odelm and me, his eyes lit with laughter. Clearly, he was having a good chuckle at our expense. I was about to have at him, when I happened to glance at Odelm.
As our eyes met, I saw the wonder on his face—as if I were the only thing in the room. I sobered instantly. I knew how critical this moment was for him. He had been deprived of this once, when his first nestqueen had forced him to choose between his music and her. This was his second chance. Looking into Odelm’s pale green eyes, I saw how much he yearned for this—for me.
Odelm deserved more.
Ignoring Xylo’s ridiculousness, I reached for Odelm’s hand. Never breaking eye contact, I tugged him with me to the center of the nestbed.
I hesitated, suddenly unsure. Reaching up, I cupped his cheek. He closed his eyes and leaned into my hand with a sigh.
“Odelm. I didn’t ask you before I triggered our court bond. I didn’t give you a choice. Before we go any further, I need you to tell me you want this. That you want to have a permanent bond with me. That you want me.”
A deep hunger filled Odelm’s eyes, thrilling me. An answering thrum of arousal heated my core. No one had ever looked at me as he was—as if he not only wanted me but needed me, as if I were the center of his world, and once I accepted his bonding spore, I would be forever his. That thought sent a shiver through me, reawakening needs I had long since buried.
“Selena.” His voice vibrated through me. “You have pulled me from my isolation, given me hope that it was possible to be accepted for who I am. Without being forced to sacrifice a part of me. What you have given me goes well beyond what I had ever envisioned possible for a nestmate and his nestqueen. I want nothing more than to give you my bonding spore—to experience our souls touching for the first time as we join. My wish is for you to fully accept me. You are more than I could have ever hoped for as my nestqueen.”
My mouth opened, then hung there, at a total loss for words. So many conflicting emotions. I wanted to weep with joy and hold him, show him how much his heartfelt confession meant. My core heated, my center throbbing with need at the thought of making him mine. Desire hit me at full force.
The latter won.
Stepping into him, my bronze hands a beautiful contrast to his violet scales as they traced up his chest and hooked around the back of
