9781631055577NiKohsChosenMichaelsNC (3 page)

G

Re’Spre 2190219

G,

I got into the Academy! Mother and
Father are so proud of me! I have news: U
ncle BaRok
is in love with an Earthling! I can’t meet her, because of some Test the
Council of Elders has to put them through. We also have some sad news. Mother
lost another baby last week. I may never get another sibling, and she is so sad
all the time n
ow. Father hired a special nurse to
stay with her, since he has been promoted to Planet Security. I also heard him
talking to one of the Elders last night, and think he and Aunt SaLie are being
sent on one last mission. See you soon!

O

Re’Spre 3150219

O,

I am so sorry to hear about your
mother’s miscarriage. I know you’ve always hoped for a younger brother to play
with. I will say an extra prayer to Mother AnDoh and Father PeCei to comfort
your family. Congratulations on getting accepted into the Academy!
I’ll be happy to show you around and introduce you to
people I’ve met, who share your love of Linguistics and being a pilot. Did you
hear that TriJupe and Xaxa are in talks for the joint space station?

G

Mu’Sum 730219

G,

Thank you for your prayers.
Something awful has happened! Father is being held on Xaxa
with Aunt SaLie. Mother refuses to come out of her room, and your mother has
been very comforting to me. I know you’re coming home next month, so I’m
counting down the days. It’s so lonely with Fat
her
gone and Mother sad.

O

Mu’Sumr 730210

O,

I’ll be home in two hours. I received
special permission for an extended stay. See you soon.

Love,

G

Chapter One

Eighteen months later, present day….

“I
cannot do this. I am not ready, NiKoh. Please
leave.”
BeSai clutched the folds of her yellow robe over her breasts and burst into
tears.

NiKoh
reached for her, but she pulled away and threw herself on the bed, her sobs
ripping at his heart. Helpless, he slid his arms into his black tunic and
exited hi
s mate’s bedchamber. He paused as BeSai’s
nurse appeared in the corridor.

“Again?”
She reached for NiKoh’s arm and
squeezed it. “Your brother’s Bonding must have been too much for her.”

Anguish
welled up in his chest. “I was hoping—it has been months, AnKi
e. When will she truly be my mate again?” NiKoh heard his
voice tremor and break.

AnKie’s
silvery face reflected compassion. “We do not know. Let me console her,
then
we will talk later.” She moved into the
room and NiKoh heard her call out to his desponde
nt
mate.

He
wandered downstairs to the eating area and poured himself a goblet of his
favorite fermented beverage. He took the cup into the living area and sank onto
a golden brown chair in front of the fireplace, contemplating his life.

It has been three
seasons since BeSai lost the child, and OkVae is nearing
the completion of his studies. Three seasons—no, four, since BeSai and I last
made love. How much longer will it be?
OkVei, their only son, was at the
military academy, following in his father’s foot
steps.
Soon he will be ready to find his
Chosen
, while I wither away in sexual agony.
NiKoh’s left hand adjusted the swollen
bulge between his legs and willed his body to relax.
According
to the law, I am perfectly within my rights to seek relief with anot
her, but it has been so long since I even looked at another
female in that manner.
For the thousandth time, he wished his father were still
alive.
I do not feel comfortable discussing
this with Mother or even one of the Elders.
He shook his head and a stra
y lock of hair tickled his eye. NiKoh released his purple
hair from the leather thong and felt the shoulder length mass cascade past his
neck. Ever since participating in his brother’s Bond Test, he’d discovered a
certain freedom in wearing his hair long.
BeSai had
taken delight in grooming him and combing his thick locks.

He
sighed and flinched when a drop of cold liquid splashed on his bare chest. The
need welled up again; NiKoh gave into it, unfastened his slacks, and rubbed his
cock. He placed the goble
t on a table and closed his
eyes, picturing BeSai when they had first mated. Her dark pink hair spread out
on the carpet of green grass, silvery breasts tinged with dark blue. The
sweetness of her body as it accepted the thrust of his thick cock. Their min
gled sighs and cries as they reached toward the pinnacle—

Crash!
“Oh!”

The
female’s exclamation, which was not his mate’s voice, yanked him back to
reality. Stickiness flowed over his fingers and sprayed his chest as he opened
his eyes to see the wide look
of horror on a young
girl’s face.

NiKoh
hastily pulled his slacks together and thrust his dripping left hand between
his leg and the chair as the kitchen door burst open and his Domestic entered
the room.

“GiNae,
I told you to stay with me.” She reached t
he girl,
who still gaped at him. “Apologies, NiKoh. She has just returned from her
studies and apparently has forgotten her manners.” She pulled the girl back
toward the kitchen.

NiKoh
found his tongue. “ViShe, would you be so kind as to bring me a towel?”

“Of
course.” The older woman pushed her daughter into the other room.

NiKoh
fastened his slacks and drained the goblet. ViShe returned with a white towel,
then withdrew back to the kitchen.

NiKoh
cleaned up his mess as best he
could,
including
the white d
roplets
clinging to his lavender chest hair.
Leaving the goblet, he gathered the towel in his hand and ascended the stairs
to adjourn to his separate bedchamber for a shower. Normally used as a guest
chamber, NiKoh had moved into it as BeSai’s depression w
orsened. Now it seemed it would be his permanent chamber. He was thrilled
BeSai had agreed to accompany him to the Bonding Ceremony, and she had seemed
receptive to his gentle kisses during the meal. But once they arrived home and
were alone in her chamber
, his once loving and gentle
wife could not accept his hands on her bare skin and turned him away. Would he
ever have a normal sex life with his mate again?

*
* * *

GiNae
wrenched her arm out of her mother’s grasp. “How was I supposed to know NiKoh
would
be downstairs? You told me everyone would be
asleep by now.”

“You
should have backed away and left him alone,” her mother admonished. “What did
that school teach you? When someone is having a private moment, you do not
watch. Things have changed since you
were last here.”
ViShe peeked out of the door, then hurried into the other room, returning with
the empty goblet. “I think NiKoh has retired for the evening. Come, let us get
you settled in our quarters.” She placed the goblet in the sink and lowered the
lights. GiNae sighed and followed her mother to their
apartment at the back of the dwelling, where she had placed her belongings in
her old chamber.

“Now,
tell me again why you are home in the middle of the semester?” ViShe seated
herself on a forest green
chaise lounge chair.

GiNae
scowled as she unzipped her duffel bag and began hanging her tunics and dresses
in the closet.

“They
would not listen to me about what I want to do. Just because I placed high in
mathematics does not mean I want to learn the ins
and
outs of planetary finance, Mother. You know me; I would rather be outside,
working with animals to train them, care for them, and getting paid to show
panneis
or
finding homes for them. I used to love it when BeSai would take me to the
Council and let
me help her with the landscaping,
even though I had trouble telling the difference between plants and weeds. I
hate being stuck inside.” She picked up several books and placed them on the
stand by her bed. “I have been ordered to spend the rest of the sea
son ‘thinking it over’.” GiNae gestured with her fingers
and stuck out her tongue. “Why do I have to think it over, if I already know
what I want to do? I stopped by RaKel’s before coming home and she agreed to
give me a chance. That is all I want, Mother.
A
chance to prove I can do it.” She went to ViShe and sat beside her, throwing
her arms around her mother’s neck. “Please do not be angry with me.”

“Angry?
GiNae, I am thrilled to have you home again. I am disappointed, but not angry,
child. And the fact you made these arrangements on your own proves you are
determined.” ViShe hugged her daughter, then stood up. “Get a good night’s rest
and we will ta
lk more of this in the morning. Will
you be joining me for breakfast?”

GiNae’s
mouth watered. “I have been missing your
po’chi’fri’
pancakes.”

ViShe
smiled. “That is good, because I plan to make some in the morning.” She kissed
GiNae. “Sleep well, daughter
.”

“I
will.” GiNae watched her mother exit her chamber, then rose to finish
unpacking.

Later,
as she lay in bed, her mind went back to the sight of NiKoh with his hand
wrapped around his cock. GiNae felt a warm, tingly feeling begin in her stomach
and prog
ress throughout her body. No stranger to the
mating habits of
chictraws, dogas,
or
panneis,
there was a strange curiosity about
seeing her mother’s employer masturbating. Late at night, she had listened in
fascination to the whispered confessions in the da
rk
from the other girls at her school, and enjoyed reading some of the racier
books circulated by the older girls. GiNae’s own experience was limited to the
films shown in school and the fumbling of one boy who had singled her out as
his professed Chosen.
The relationship hadn’t worked
out; she enjoyed his kisses, but his rough attempts at anything further had her
shying away. Her
Chosen
would be patient, and when he touched her breast, there
would be an aching for more, not the uncomfortable and overwhelmi
ng desire to shove her knee into his groin. No, her
Chosen
would be gentle, and leave her wanting to please him in
any way possible.

GiNae
sighed and closed her eyes, letting her hands roam over her body and between
her legs. NiKoh’s face appeared in her b
rain, and she
pictured his hands touching the secret places she’d discovered several months
before. Wait—
NiKoh?
Not the cute boy she drooled over in
her Applied Mathematics class? GiNae jumped from the bed and ran to the
washroom. Her face held a tinge of
purple as she
washed her hands and splashed cool water on her face. Why was she thinking of
NiKoh? The man was a good fifteen years her senior, and mated.
But
if he was mated, why did he do that in the living area and not with BeSai?
This made no sense. Th
ere was no denying it; her body still hummed from the
pleasant climax. But anything more was forbidden until she reached maturity,
which was still two seasons away. GiNae chewed her lip. If it was forbidden,
then why did the other girls her age happily enj
oy
the company of their Chosens? Or was it just because she hadn’t found hers yet?
I must talk with Mother about this. Or
at least RaKel.
GiNae dried her hands and face and returned to bed.

*
* * *

NiKoh
woke in the early dawn from a strange dream. He wa
sn’t
sure what had awakened him, but whatever it was, his heart thumped with a
staccato beat of great fear. A trickle of cold sweat dripped into his eye; he
flinched and wiped it away. He sat up, fighting the blankets tangled around his
legs and sent out t
elepathic feelers to everyone in
his household. He sensed AnKie sleeping peacefully and BeSai dealing with a
dragon in her dreams. Other live-in staff slept with pleasant thoughts,
including ViShe and her daughter—wait. GiNae’s dream reached out to him.

C
autiously, he allowed his mind to probe further. Normally,
this was a practice frowned upon, but with his military training, this was a
good time to sense the enemy’s true thoughts. Ignoring the fact she was not a
direct threat, nevertheless he took it slo
w, so she
would not sense his presence. He knew how far to go in and when to back off.

A
delightful image of her entered his mind. Fully clothed, she bounced on the lap
of someone sitting beneath her, head thrown back with a look of ecstasy.
Suddenly, NiKo
h saw her hand between her legs and
hastily shut off the probe, squeezing his eyes shut. Okay. He could attribute
that dream to fact she had witnessed him self-pleasuring himself earlier. As a
schoolgirl, she was naturally curious. And the fact she wore cl
othing in the dream meant she was untouched, a good thing
for ViShe.

NiKoh
swung his legs over the side of the bed and entered the washroom to splash some
cold water on his face. He couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling though. Shrugging
into his black robe, h
e exited his chamber and padded
down the corridor to the master chamber. No one responded to his request for
entry, so he gave the master command and entered. BeSai slept fitfully, moaning
and twitching in the center of the bed. AnKie lay in the twin bed,
snoring softly. NiKoh checked the washroom; everything
seemed to be in order.