Vael gives me a look that says he very much would.
I grin at him, but the smile fades fast.
The next challenge, from the looks of it, is fucked.
A narrow catwalk swings over a pit of bubbling, neon-green liquid. Strung across the catwalk are dozens of shifting red laser grids that hum with energy. And mounted every ten feet along the walls are high-definition drone cameras, their lenses zooming in and out with mechanical eagerness.
A sharp, deafening camera shutter sound echoes through the rafters.
"Welcome, Poppy and Vael-Torin, to the Promotional Billboard Romance Challenge!" Ken’s voice booms, and he sounds entirely too proud of himself. "The network marketing team, which is me, of course, reports that our current promotional assets lack romance. The viewers want passion. They want drama. They want the raw aesthetic of a vintage Earth paperback romance novel. To deactivate the laser grids and advance, you must stop at the designated photo-markers and execute a classic Earth seduction pose for the cameras. Let's see some smoldering, contestants. First position: The Seductive Cover Clinch. Begin!"
The first laser grid ahead of us begins to pulse, a countdown timer appearing in the air.
"Poppy," Vael says, his hand instantly clamping around my waist. Before I can object, he hoists me into the air like a heavy sack of grain, trying to shield me behind his bulk. "The energy fields are active. I will assume a defensive formation and crush the recording spheres."
"No, Vael, put me down. We can't fight the lasers. There’s no point. Let’s just do the damn challenge." I kick my legs, my boots smacking against his thighs until he reluctantly slides me back down. I drag him by his wrist onto the glowing pink X on the floor. "We have to play the game. Look at the camera drone."
"What is the directive?" he growls, his tail lashing the metal catwalk in tight, frustrated arcs.
"We need to look like models. We need to do a pose." I step into his personal space, grabbing his left hand. "Take this hand and put it on my hip. Trust me. This is my kind of battle, okay? I was born to pose.”
Vael-Torin’s brow furrows. He places his hand on my hip, but his grip is so rigid his fingers wrap entirely around my waist, his blunt talons accidentally hooking into the tech mesh.
"Like this?" he barks, stiffening his spine. "I am anchoring your skeleton against the wind machine."
I don’t think anyone’s ever told me they were going to anchor my skeleton, and I’m taken aback for a moment.
"Gentler. You're supposed to be holding me like you're overwhelmed by desire, not like you're condensing my bones." I grab his other hand and try to guide it toward the back of my neck.
It’s actually a total logistical nightmare. He has gotta be over six-foot-seven and built like a brick fortress; my head barely reaches his nipples. Every time I try to lean into him, my forehead smashes directly into the rigid scales of his chest.
"Lean back slightly," I instruct, panting as I struggle against his bulk. "And slide your right leg forward so it hooks between mine."
Vael attempts to listen, but his tail swings forward at the exact same time, tangling around my ankle and tripping me entirely. I yelp, slipping on the smooth metal. Vael panics, his wings snapping wide with a deafeningcrackto catch the air, and he yanks my torso back up with such force that my nose buries itself straight into his throat.
"Is this the proper pose?" Vael rumbles, breathing heavily. "Is this a sacred human ritual? A physical performance to appease your gods?"
I pull my head back, spitting a stray lock of hair out of my mouth. The wind machine is blasting at full force. Conditions are not ideal.
"No, Vael. This is just... weird. Just be glad we’re not planning a gender reveal or something. Those get dangerous. You just hold still."
I reach up, physically molding his fingers into the strands of my hair. I force him to bend his knees so our heights match up a little better. There. "Now, arch your back. Thrust your chestout. And look down at me like you want to conquer a planet but you're too tortured by love to do it."I slap his pec, and then do a little rub, because yeah, it’s a nice pec. "Smolder, Vael. Smolder. Smize! Think about my cunt!"
Vael stops fighting me.
His pupils expand until his eyes are almost entirely black, his gaze locking entirely on my lips. Okay, yeah. He isn't faking the intensity anymore. The unhinged desire in his face is completely real.
A loud camera click echoes through the chamber.
"Biometric scan complete," Ken intones. "Incredible composition! A whopping ninety-four percent raw, mass-market passion. The Fabio metrics are off the charts!"
The first red laser grid instantly snaps off, clearing the path ahead.
This is some true what-the-fuckery.
"Yes!" I breathe, breaking the pose and untangling my legs from his tail. "Come on, next position before the timer resets."
We scramble down the catwalk, dodging a sudden burst of sparks from the bubbling green liquid below. The next pink X appears ten feet away, right before a swirling wall of red laser beams.
