I can feel him pressing against me—alien anatomy that’s familiar enough to want and different enough to make my pulse race with anticipation. His skin burns against mine, several degrees warmer than human normal, and the scent of him is overwhelming this close, making my head spin with need.
“The bond happens during climax,” he explains, his voice strained with the effort of maintaining control. “You’ll feel my mind touchingyours, know my thoughts and emotions as clearly as your own. It can be overwhelming—three years of waiting, of wanting, of loving you from a distance.”
“Ja’war.” I pull his head down until our foreheads touch, seeing myself reflected in his pale alien eyes. “I trust you. Completely. I want all of it—the bond, the claiming, everything you’ve been holding back.”
Something shifts in his expression, possessiveness and tenderness and desperate love combining into something that makes my heart stutter. “Then let me show you what forever feels like.”
When he finally enters me, it’s slowly, carefully, giving me time to adjust to the sensation of alien anatomy claiming human flesh. The stretch is perfect, the subtle ridges and differences making me gasp as new nerve endings light up with pleasure. His thumb finds my most sensitive spot, circling with alien precision as he fills me completely, and the combination of sensations threatens to overwhelm my enhanced nervous system.
The bio-panels around us flare brilliant white as our neural patterns synchronize, the ship’s consciousness recognizing what’s happening and responding accordingly.
The feeling is electric—literally. Some combination of alien biology and claiming bite effects makes every point of contact between us feel like touching lightning. When he moves, sensation cascades through my hypersensitive nervous system in waves that threaten to drown me.
“More,” I gasp, wrapping my legs around his waist and pulling him deeper. “All of you.”
His control snaps. The careful, reverent claiming transforms into something primal and desperate, three years of denied hunger finally given permission to burn. He moves with alien strength and precision,finding angles that make me see stars, learning the rhythm that makes me cry out his name in languages I’ve never learned.
The dark circulatory patterns on his skin blaze brighter with each thrust, and I watch in fascination as similar patterns begin to appear on my own skin—faint but visible, pulsing in rhythm with his heartbeat. The claiming bite is changing me, making me compatible with his biology in ways that go beyond human understanding.
The scent of us fills the air—salt and musk and that alien pheromone cocktail that makes my brain short-circuit with need. Every breath brings more of him into my lungs, marking me from the inside out as surely as the patterns appearing on my skin.
“The bond,” he gasps against my neck, his voice strained with approaching climax. “It’s beginning—can you feel it?”
I can. Something alien and wonderful brushing against the edges of my consciousness, offering connection deeper than physical touch. His mind reaching for mine, three years of longing and desperate love and absolute certainty flooding through the growing link between us.
“Yes,” I breathe, opening myself to the sensation. “Show me everything.”
His movements become more urgent, more desperate, three years of careful control finally shattering completely. The careful rhythm transforms into something primal and demanding, his alien strength evident as he drives into me with increasing intensity. His breath comes in harsh pants against my neck, punctuated by those rumbling sub-harmonic growls that vibrate through his chest and into mine.
“Fiona,” he gasps, my name torn from his throat like a prayer. “The bond—I can’t—” His words dissolve into a sound that’s purely alien, a keening cry of need that makes my soul ache with recognition.
I feel myself tightening around him, the enhanced sensations from the claiming bite building to something beyond human comprehension. His thumb works frantically against my most sensitive spot while his hips snap against mine with desperate precision, and I can feel him losing himself in the claiming as completely as I am.
“Now,” he growls against my throat, his fangs scraping my skin. “Bond with me now—”
The climax hits like a supernova, pleasure so intense it whites out every thought and leaves me floating in a sea of pure sensation. My body convulses around him as he drives deep one final time, his own release torn from him with a roar that’s part triumph, part surrender. But underneath the physical release is something far more profound—his mind merging with mine, alien and familiar simultaneously, as he spills himself inside me with shuddering completion.
For one perfect, eternal moment, I feel everything he feels: three years of watching and wanting and waiting, love so deep it’s rewritten his understanding of purpose, relief so profound it brings tears to both our eyes. And beneath it all, the absolute certainty that this is right, that we’re meant for this bonding, that the universe itself has conspired to bring us together.
When awareness returns, I’m sprawled across his chest, boneless and glowing—literally glowing, I realize with distant amazement. The dark veining patterns have appeared on my skin too, no longer faint but clearly visible, pulsing in seamless synchronization with his.
“Holy shit,” I manage.
His chest vibrates with silent laughter beneath my cheek. “That’s not typically how the bonding ceremony concludes.”
“What’s typical?”
“Formal vows. Declaration of intent. Sometimes a blood offering.” His hand strokes down my spine, making me shiver. “But I prefer your version.”
I raise my head to look at him, seeing my own satisfaction reflected in his alien features. “So we’re bonded now? Official alien mates?”
“By every law on Guxaria Prime and seventeen other worlds, yes.” His expression grows serious. “Do you regret it?”
Instead of answering with words, I kiss him—soft and thorough and full of all the feelings I can’t quite articulate yet. When we break apart, his circulatory patterns are blazing with contentment.
“Never,” I say simply.
We lie there for a while, learning the rhythm of being bonded, minds brushing against each other in ways that should be intrusive but feel as natural as breathing. Through the viewport, stars continue streaming past in ribbons of light, carrying us toward our destination and whatever comes next.
