Page 42 of Space Daddy and a Boy Called Twink

“Alien STDs?” he asked, cringing.

“What? No. Furkers have very impressive immune responses, so that won’t be an issue. But I did want to mention something else we experience. We have an ability to bond with our mates—it seals us with them.”

“Like imprinting?”

“I’m not sure I understand this word in the context you’re using it.”

“I used to read these stories online…gay stuff with shifters, especially wolves, and they would imprint on their mates. It wassimilar to what you’re talking about. Could be something they control, but sometimes not.”

“Yes, it’s like that. I could feel the impulse rising within me last night. I was able to control it, but the strength of the desire suggests how drawn to you I am.”

“But you also did this with your other exes, so it doesn’t sound as strong as what I’m thinking of.” He sounded almost disappointed by that, as though he wished it were stronger, which only assured me he didn’t really understand.

“It is,” I explained. “And it can only be unsealed when my mate mates with another, which has happened to me in nonmonogamous cultures, or when there’s a deep betrayal, as was the case with my last ex, who simply wanted me as a means to generate more offspring.”

Again, I was surprised by how this set him at ease. “So it’s a little different than imprinting, but I get the idea. You don’t happen to knot, do you?”

“Knot? I know that word, but again, it seems you’re using it in a context I don’t understand.”

He chuckled. “Doubt you’d be the only one. It’s also in shifter books I read. Basically, means your dick would expand while inside someone, and like with imprinting, sometimes you can control it, and sometimes you don’t.”

“Oh, yes, in my Furker form, I can do that.”

This did something to him, stirred a powerful excitement that firmed me even more.

“But in your human form?”

“No, that’s specific to my Furker cock.”

“Naughty,” he murmured in a low, sexy voice, another burst of excitement pulsing through him. “So as far as the imprinting stuff, what does that mean, in terms of what we can and can’t do?”

“We can do a lot of things, like what we shared last night, but I shouldn’t come inside you again. It’s too risky.”

“Oh…” he said, his disappointment penetrating me to my core.

“It’s just, being so close to you and orgasming, I lose control of even my best self-restraint, and it would be unwise to play with that, given the consequence.”

“That you would be obsessed with me and want to protect me? Huh. I don’t know. Could be worse. I’m kidding.”

“I can read you pretty well now. Not on all things, but I could tell that was a joke.”

He twirled his finger through my chest hairs. “As long as you’re not telling me we can’t doanythinganymore, because I don’t know that I would be okay with that. But I understand if we can’t dosomethings, even if it’s a little disappointing.”

His gaze sank, his lips curling downward in a way that made me want to take it all back and say fuck it, no matter how much it would kill me to have to leave him at some point, I didn’t care. Of course, that was the primitive Furker mind, so I pushed it back, tempering these powerful impulses.

I’d have to get damn good at that whenever we did mess around, something I wasn’t willing to give up entirely. Not so long as Twink wanted to do stuff with me.

But just as quickly, his gaze met mine again. “How about I get started on those waffles? And then maybe we can head to the park?”

Adrenaline coursed through me at the thought of spending a morning together.

16

TWINK

Over the nextcouple of weeks, Daddy and I became particularly datey. He spent most nights at my place, and in the mornings I went to the bookstore and he worked on theKaylog. He would still visit me at the café, now staying through my break so we could have lunch together. Then later in the evening, we would regroup for even more time together, exploring each other’s bodies. For times when we weren’t together, I got him a cheap phone on my plan, and while he hadn’t acclimated to texting and reading, I could call him on my break or when he was on some errand or another—I didn’t really understand all the things that went into fixing an alien spaceship, despite his attempts at explaining it to me.

During these weeks, I learned a lot about Daddy: He preferred peanut butter on his waffles over syrup, something I mentioned was an option one morning to spice things up. He became obsessed with gelato, frozen yogurt, and ice cream, and we would make frequent stops at one of the shops near the park before taking one of our lengthy walks. He didn’t enjoy the sound of dogs barking, which he earned more than his share of; it even became kind of cute after a while.