The female approaching him now was shorter in stature than himself, and much thinner as well. The curves of her body were subtle, understated, but all the more lovely because of it. The swell of her breasts were modest, as was the dip from her waist into her hips. Lean and slender, she was as pretty as a doll. Pure and untouchable in the blue and white dress uniform she wore.
Hair, dark as night and sleek as a lazy river, flowed freely down her back all the way to her waist, kept back only by a blue band neatly placed on her head. Eyes, gray like a storm, shined under surprisingly thick and sweeping lashes that kissed her high cheeks with every blink. Her nose was cute and little, upturned at the end, and set over a pair of small, bright pink lips that smiled so sweetly as she finally came to a halt before him.
“Greetings,” she said happily, holding the tablet in her hand clutched to her chest.
He very nearly moaned. His knees locked so they didn’t fold under him.
There it was again. A voice so pretty it made all his feathers twitch. A tone as smooth and clear as a bell. It was completely swallowed up by the large, empty room. He wished she’d speak louder so it might echo off the walls and return to him so he could hear it again and again. Did she see the way he reacted to her? The way his tail longed to spread, his crest to rise.
Sway thought he was immune to humans. He saw and lived with two very beautiful ones on a daily basis. But this one…
“My name is Grace,” she was saying, putting a hand to her chest. Her little claws were neatly manicured to a glossy shine, the tips bright white and rounded at the ends.
Humans, very famously, lacked any natural defenses or weapons. But she had gone to the trouble of blunting and decorating what little she had. Pretty as a picture, harmless and delightful, pure and perfect.
How could she sound like that though? That wasn’t a human trait. That wasn’t anything like anyone he had ever heard speak before. How did the entire station, the entire cosmos, not stop to listen when she sounded like that?
And it was even better, even more powerful, in person. Without that subtle, almost imperceptible distortion, he was hit with the full power of her sound. And it made him lightheaded. His entire brain was swimming in the sound of her.
No, not just that. He was…
His cock was…
Inside his body, his cock twitched. Completely on its own. Without being chemically forced to rise. His body was reacting to the sound, to the sight of her. Maybe her voice was making him lightheaded, but his blood was also rushing down.
His body was responding to her. To hervoice.
Sway’s cock worked just fine. When it was stimulated, it hardened and came as prompted. There was nothing physically stopping his body from working.
He had just never cared before. Sex was a transaction. The pleasure he got from it was fleeting and, usually, against his will. He traded sex like a commodity, and maybe that’s why it had never actually interested him. He didn't feel desire and attraction typically, and he associated that with living on Rik-Vane for the majority of his life. He was never around his own species, and those people he was around were like him - murderers and killers and monsters.
Sway had even begun to suspect that he was simply one of those whodidn'tfeel sexual desire. It wasn’t unheard of, even if it wasn’t the most common state of being. It honestly made sense with his lack of interest in sex and sexuality.
But that voice, the way it sounded when she said his name, the way her lips curled when she smiled, the tilt of her hip as she adjusted her weight onto one leg; it was like his entire body had been shocked by electricity. It burned through him, setting every nerve painfully alight. Turning on systems that had long lain dormant.
He was staring. Entranced. Delighted. He didn’t want to speak because he hoped she would do so instead and grant his ears the pleasure of her voice again.
Sway didn’t realize he was doing it, however, until she cocked her head. Still smiling at him patiently. Like she expected this to happen.
Which, maybe she did. Humans weren’t that common out in Coalition space. Their species was only a protectorate. Most humans never had a chance to leave their planet, and the few that did…
The few that did leave their homeworld did so because they were mating off planet.
That harsh reminder was like being doused in freezing water. The kind that crystalized on his feathers and kept him chilly despite his best efforts.
If a human was here, then odds were that she was mated. His crewmates had come here through difficult circumstances, so they hadn’t been mated – though one of them was now. But this female hadn’t been abducted and stuffed in a box.
Which meant, likely, she already had a male that would adore her. That had the privilege of hearing her voice whispering sweet nothings to him at night. That would hold him against those high, soft breasts, her hands stroking down the feathers of his back.
That thought made something dark and revolting swirl in Sway’s guts. For no reason. He had no claim on this female. He had no right to be envious of whatever male got to hold her lovely form in his arms. To savor her sweet cries in his ear as he pleasured her. Feel the warmth of her body pressing against him as she held him tight. Or know the joy of filling her belly with a hatchling.
He hated him. This male he didn’t know, over a female he had only just seen. He wanted him gone – in the worst way that word could be defined.
Grace was frowning now. He had been staring entirely too long. He was making her uncomfortable.
With no small amount of effort, he shoved that monstrous part of him back into the depths of his psyche where it belonged. He was a civilized farasie male. He hadn’t willingly committed an act of violence since joining Tanin. He wasn’t starting now over a female he had no right to claim.
No matter how much he longed to do so.
