Free A Civilized Mating by Marie Harte Page A

drew her with him outside. She was still too dazed to worry about clothing, though he knew most offworlders perceived nakedness as vulnerability.
    “No one will notice anything odd about your nudity,” he said as he guided her down a path to his favorite cleaning spot by the river. Once there, he got into the water with her and gently bathed her in the bubbling pool.
    She moaned, obviously well-used, and let him tend to her. She looked near to sleeping when she spoke. “What exactly happened back there? Other than that I blew a hot alien, rode another sexy barbarian, and all after coming a few times with you.”
    He chuckled. “We’ve bonded, Skye.”
    She closed her eyes and sank deeper in the water. “This is not happening.”
    He’d figured she’d be difficult about the situation, so he didn’t want to burden her unduly. Not yet. But he had to make up for Talzec’s abrupt departure. “I’m afraid it is happening. Something about you and Lisa seems to be compatible with our people.”
    “Lucky for Maht he found her before you did, then,” she quipped.
    “Lisa is beautiful, and from what Maht said, kind at heart. But she is not you. Even had Maht severed the mating before it took root, I would not bond with Lisa. She is not for me.” For us—me and my alpha.
    “How can you tell?”
    “You know exactly how I can tell. You feel that intense connection with me, and with Talzec, that you feel for no other. Aside from Talzec, I do not sense others as deeply as I do you. Our energies align.”
    “Yeah, about that.” She opened her eyes wide to stare at him, and he drifted closer in the water, watching her breasts bob in the hot liquid. “So you and Talzec are close.”
    “Very.” He smiled at her blush. For such a fierce brawler, she had a tendency to be adorably vulnerable. So womanlike, yet not at the same time. He found her contrasts fascinating.
    “I mean, you blew him. Do you, um, do you guys have sex with each other a lot?”
    This story Talzec should tell, but Xav knew his lover would not. “Our females are few in number, and our warriors have needs. It used to be forbidden among our kind, but love is an energy that unites all things.”
    “I guess.”
    “Does it bother you that Talzec and I fuck?”
    She blinked at the direct question. “Um, no. Actually, it was really sexy, you doing that to him.”
    “Sucking his dick?” he asked bluntly, just to see her turn red again.
    She bit her lower lip, and he kissed it better. “Oh yeah.”
    “Talzec is my alpha, my commander in all things. We were best of friends growing up. Then he rescued Nalla from her clan, and he fell for her.” Xav sighed. “Things did not go well for them, and Nalla died. That’s when Talzec and I bonded. His need for stability overcame his resistance to what his spirit knew to be right.”
    “What should his spirit have known?”
    “That he and I shared more than a spiritual connection. We were meant to form a unit, two warriors, one female. Nalla was not for him.”
    “Didn’t you like her?”
    “I did. She was a good female. Soft, kind. But not for him. When she died, he stayed. They never truly connected.”
    “Wait. What does that mean?”
    “It means, tonan , that when we mate, we mate for life. A true joining means our spirits intertwine. When one of us dies, we all die.”
    “Oh, wow.” She stroked the water from his shoulders, bared above the surface of the pool. “When did she die?”
    “A year ago. The Nasuhl, the clan men you fought yesterday, belonged to her tribe. Their leader, Daveen, is the one who killed her.”
    “Oh boy.”
    “A war is brewing, and soon we will fight the Nasuhl and force them to pay for their crimes. Their leader would do anything to hurt Talzec. And now you are a part of him.”
    “Yeah? So why did he leave in such a hurry?” She scowled, but he sensed her hurt at the rejection.
    “Because he’s still grieving, and he’s afraid to feel again. He would never admit it,