I'd never considered myself particularly religious. Honestly, I'd say I bordered on agnostic, but it was downright sinful the look he leveled on me. His eyes were half-lidded and his mouth was open just a little bit and he looked every bit like a sultry bastard. He looked like I'd just come on over and grabbed his dick and gave it an experimental stroke. And you know what? For all I know I might have.

I'd taken a moment to close my eyes and concentrate on our bond. I'd felt fucking stupid because I don't quite believe in fate or psychic connections or anything like that, but then damn if I didn't feel something. Not at my heart or the center of my chest like he'd mentioned, but I felt a tug just below my navel.

It was an odd sensation, kinda like a sudden tightness like I'd almost just tried to flex my stomach muscles. It tugged me forward --towards him. I'd focused on the foreign feeling and it became more apparent and...I don't know quite how to describe it, but it felt almost as if I followed that sensation out past my body for a minute. It was tenuous, but it was there.

After having gotten the confirmation that I needed -- not that I'd have told him -- I just couldn't resist the allure. It was there right in front of me and something itched at the back of my mind. It was a need to reach out and feel that connection, to really feel it. I'd reached out toward it again and instead of just following it as I did before I wrapped my entire consciousness around it. Like I really focused on it.

It jerked in my grip but then stilled almost pressing back against my perusal. Just as I was familiarizing myself with it even being there in the first place it fucking wrapped itself back around me, twining like I'd assume two snakes would. Then there was a wave of pleasure. Immediately I was hot and needy. I clamped my legs together and my eyes flew open.

It was him. I know he did it and I'm fairly certain I was the one who did it to him first what with mister bedroom eyes over there looking like he wanted to eat me up. I was angry and embarrassed. I don't know how to handle any kind of romantic feelings, so I did what I always do. I denied them and got angry. "I felt nothing."

I didn't get the reaction I wanted, at least not from him. One of the males behind him looked sad for a moment, but he turned and hid his face. Instead, he just looked like he knew better like he knew I was lying. It was those damn bottomless eyes of his. Even in my dreams, he looked like he could see into my soul.

He gave me a mysterious smile, "It is a shame you'd say that."

Someone in the group behind him snickered and it made me feel even more embarrassed and angry like they were in on some joke that I wasn't. It stoked the flames of outrage even higher. Why the fuck is there even a group here like this. What the fuck is even with this posse. "Take me to someone who can annull this."

"As I said before, Prince Roan is likely on his way. While I don't believe he'll offer an exit from this arrangement he can provide insight for the both of us in our unconventional joining and our future Temanus Ilharus."

"Temanus Ilharus? What is that? It's obviously something similar."

"It means Bonded Soul. It is the period after the searching has succeeded."

"So it means fucking marriage then? You're just gonna proceed as if I'm going to marry you. Wow. That's just lovely. Glad I get a say in the matter."

"You had a say in the matter when you signed the documents accepting it --" One of the blonde males quipped from the back. I looked at him and realized that I also recognized him from the leaked communications feeds.

I felt a little bold, or maybe just a lot angry, "No, Kados, I actually didn't have a say in the matter because those documents didn't mention anything about a marriage at all in the 24 pages. So, I don't quite believe I accepted this outcome."

The male looked surprised that I knew his name. Even my mate --whatever his name was-- shot a questioning glance between us.

"We are sorry that this has happened, despite the fact that it might not appear so. Legally you did accept the vague outline of the Temani Bercari and whatever it entails." A new voice drawled from the doorway.

A male stepped into the room behind me. He was large like the rest of them with long straight black hair pulled back into a low ponytail that trailed halfway down his back. Aside from being massive and cut like seemingly the rest of the Val'Dornn race his eyes were completely gold. He didn't just have gold eyes, no his pupil was gold as was the normally white part of the eye.

The effect made my skin crawl. I couldn't even tell if he were looking at me or not.

"Addison Kane, first match of the Terran women. Welcome aboard my ship the Aarond Form. Greetings and be welcome, I am Prince Roan."

"Send me back." No sense in mincing words.

He opened his mouth as if to respond and then closed it again. He turned his face to the males behind me and then back to me, "I apologize. I understand this has been a surprise. However--"

"If you're about to tell me you can't, I'll stop you right there and tell you I don't believe that." There was a breath behind me that told me I might be close to overstepping some boundaries.

The Prince's brow furrowed, but he didn't lash out. Really he just looked like an exasperated parent dealing with a temperamental child. "I was going to say it would not be best for either your health or Esayr's for you to be separated. The bond...it requires an intimacy --"

I turned to the male, Esayr, "Don't even think about it."

Prince Roan pinched the bridge of his nose in a remarkably human gesture and then attempted to continue on, "Intimacy in the sense of closeness. though, it's a greedy creature and will try to demand that kind of intimacy as well. As much as you deny it that bond is there Addison Kane. You and Esayr are two halves of the same soul and since you have now found each other your souls will not suffer being apart again, even small distances will tire and weaken you."

Now that he mentioned it, I had been more tired and lethargic the last week. I'd chalked it up to it being about time for a new fertility due, but maybe not. Maybe there was merit to what he was saying. "I don't want to be forced into a relationship I had no choice in. I know that I signed a paper, but it was woefully under-representative of what kind of outcome I should anticipate. I don't want to be considered married and I don't want him to consider me his property." I inclined my head to Esayr, unable to even say his name.

There was a beat of silence. All the males in the room looked mildly confused. Esayr broke the silence, "The Temanus Ilharus is a bonding of equals. I would be as much yours as you would be mine. Historically there is no breaking a bonding short of death, Addison. I swear to you I will not take what you do not freely offer to me."

I could feel my cheeks heat at even the slightest insinuation of something as small as a relationship between us. Damn Charlotte and her accurate nickname: the shy bashful virgin.

"You are already considered mates in the eyes of our deities, the claiming ceremony I was to preside over for you does not define soul matings. The souls do that, and yours has chosen." He pointed his finger to my head, my heart, and then enigmatically let it drift down to point at my stomach --the exact place I felt the tether drift to Esayr. "While the concept is foreign I do have the gift of premonition. You'll find happiness here, Addison Kane. Though, I foresee your need for options. By Val'Dornn law you and Esayr are mates and as he said there is no breaking of that holy connection save death. However, we will put off the ceremonial tying of tethers, also known as the claiming. You have the period of half an Earth year to prove that the will of your collective soul has no power over you. If you remain unbonded at the end of that time you may return to your planet a Terran woman."

"My Prince!" Esayr surged forward until he stood right behind me.

He was so close I could feel his heat radiating through my back. That skittish squirmy feeling was back.

"It is unconventional and is only offered to Addison Kane as I intend to remedy the miscommunication." Prince Roan's gaze drifted to the other males in the room and I noticed they'd stepped up as well, seemingly to defend their friend. The Prince's odd eyes met mine again, "But know this, Ms. Kane. I will not forbid Esayr from following you to Earth. He will not interfere with your continued lives, but I cannot condemn any of my people, you included, to death. And you will die if you choose to separate yourselves. I cannot say how long it will take to happen, only that it certainly will."

"How do we remain unbonded?"

The Prince smiled a dazzling smile, "Refrain from...how did we put it earlier...a certain kind of intimacy?"

"Six months?"

"Six months." He nodded.

I just have to go 6 months without sex. I've already gone 23 years what's another 6 months?

"During that time you will be living as a mated couple with your own housing and accommodations in the mated district. The ship will show you the way. I wish you both the best of luck Esayr and Addison. Happy mating. I would guide you myself, but I must attend to media outcry this whole ordeal has caused."

Prince Roan sketched a bow, which was odd seeing as he was the prince after all, and then disappeared back out of the doorway.

Wyland the male that led me here in the first place and kindly disregarded the fact that I threw up on his shoes disappeared after him.

That left me alone with Esayr at my back and the rest of his friends lurking behind us. They must hate you. You just thoroughly rejected their friend in front of their literal prince.

"While we wish it were under better circumstances, Addison Kane, we are certainly happy to see you. You embody a lot of hope not only singularly, but for our race as a whole." Esayr's friend's voice was a soothing almost immediate response to my thoughts.

I turned and peeked past Esayr, I felt skittish and some baser part of me was comforted by his presence between me and his friends.

The one that spoke had light blonde hair and the lightest blue eyes I'd ever seen.

He introduced himself as Kayle and mentioned something called a Riniere, which I gathered to mean a close group of friends. One by one the others introduced themselves and murmured their assurances that they were pleased that Esayr had found me. One after the other, Kayle, Laene, Kados whom I knew, and his brother Addric.

None of them stepped closer and none offered to shake my hand. I almost wondered if they thought that Esayr would bristle at the contact, he certainly looked tense since Prince Roan had declared the allotted time frame for me to avoid this bonding. Six months.

You just have to hold out for six months, Addison. You can do this. It almost seemed doable as I stood there in that small room. I felt jittery whenever I was close to Esayr, but it was bearable. What wasn't bearable was when he gently grasped my elbow and leaned to murmur into my ear from his position behind me. Every hair stood on end and his breath tickled warm against my throat. It caused my nipples to tighten beneath my thin cotton shirt. Subconsciously I tilted my head, offering more of my neck to something as simple as his breath.

I realized he was waiting on my response, but I was just staring at his face, "What?" My eyes kept flicking down to his lips. They were too full. No man deserved to have such kissable lips.

"The ship. It's waiting to guide us."

"O-oh. Ok."

He gave a light tug on my arm that he was still holding in a gentle grip. His friends were smiling now.

We followed recessed lighting down what felt like 1000 miles worth of hallways. it lead us to a quiet section of the ship. We hadn't passed another soul in ages, "Where are you taking me? There's no one down here." Reasonably I knew I should feel threatened, but the feeling didn't surface. Quite the opposite actually. I felt safer the closer I was to Esayr. Half of me was annoyed, the other half of me purred at the closeness.

Esayr's voice was quiet, "We're in the mated quarter. No one is here because there are no mated couples on this ship anymore. We are the only ones save possibly two or three others. We are...very blessed."

He said it like he genuinely believed he'd been blessed despite everything I'd put him through. A door opened for us off to the left.

I felt the tears only seconds before they started spilling down my cheeks. I wish he'd found someone more understanding. Someone who was more willing than me. He wasn't a bad or undeserving male. He deserved someone better than me that would meet him halfway. Someone who wasn't as skittish or easily stressed by even the most chaste of romantic actions.

His warm hands wrapped around my face and turned me to look at him. There were tears in his eyes as well, I realized.

"Addison Kane. It's customary only to declare ourselves at our tying ceremony, but I will tell you now because you need to hear it. You are the only creature in this universe I have ever and will ever want. You are the very thing I have dreamed about since I could dream in the first place. You are the reason I have traveled the galaxies. I have not simply been searching, no I have been searching for you. I did not embark on a Temani Bercari to find a mate I did it to find you. From the day that I even saw your picture until we both have turned to dust and our bodies have returned to the creators that made us I am yours. I will wait forever if that will please you, but always know that you have my heart. Always know that you are my soul."