"Never hear the end of it?" The tips of his fingers tickled the curve of my cheekbones and I allowed myself to take a bit of those easy touches that came so naturally to him. I threaded my hand through the thick curls of his hair, marveling at the silky texture as I traced the waves that fell over his ears.

Esayr was quiet for a moment, still enough that I assumed he was enjoying the feel of my lingering caress. It was only when he dragged in another deep breath and then uttered a strangled groan I'd never quite heard before. "You smell too good sometimes, so much so that I think you'll kill me some days."

"What do you even me--" my question was cut off with a gasp when I feel the warm wet rasp of his tongue against my shoulder. "Your friends, Esayr! We're going to see your friends!" My exasperated laughter took the sting out of the refusal. The warm breath of his answering chuckle caused goosebumps to prickle along my skin.

He finally pulled back away from me slightly, giving me room to breathe, but it also provided me the opportunity to notice other little bits of him that lit me on fire --things I had never been quite aware of; like the way, his dark eyes looked even darker his pupils blown so wide they'd consumed his irises or the way his mouth was slightly parted, and his lips looked just a little bit abused. "I imagine it's not something you're as familiar with, whether that's because you're human or something else I'm not quite sure."

Esayr stepped back a little more and gave me a once over, assessing me in that quiet curious way, though his gaze lingered in a few choice places like my lips, the warm space on my neck he'd just vacated, and finally where the material of my shirt had pulled tight across my chest. I was gratified by the fact that his perusal seemed to stall whatever thought process he had for a moment, pausing his next sentence for a moment before he collected his thoughts and continued. "Your scent is something I'm accustomed to from our bond, all of the layers of it call to me in a way I never anticipated.

He smiled a boyish grin, "I'd bet I could pick out an item you'd touched out of a group of hundreds even while blindfolded."

Like most concepts I'd been made aware of so recently, it seemed unusual --bordering on far-fetched-- but I shoved that knee-jerk reaction back and allowed myself to take his words at face value. At the very least the idea of knowing me by scent is certainly more reasonable than the bond that flowed between us.

The idea that he liked the scent of me and knew it so easily gave me a rush of pleasure. I liked the scent of him too, though, I wouldn't necessarily say I could perceive it as easily as he could mine. But when he was nearby, or if I dropped heavily onto the couch he'd been on in our quarters I could smell that darker scent of him in the air around me.

It smelled warm and flooded all of my senses immediately. I wished I'd had something human to compare it to quantify it in a way and make it more understandable, aside from the lingering feeling of comfort. "I like the way you smell too."

Esayr's hand slid through the hair beside my ear an echo of how I had been touching him earlier. His fingers trailed lazily down the back of my head to rest at the base of my skull. With a little pressure, he'd pulled me closer to him into the middle of the hallway, "'Like' doesn't begin to encompass the depth of what I feel for even the smallest parts of you." He darted forward, quicker than I could anticipate, placing a chaste kiss at the corner of my mouth, "What I need you to know is your scent calls to me on an instinctual level, every different note of it whether it's the base that's purely you, or the scents you add to it when you bathe, or--" he paused "the heated scent you put off so easily when you're aroused."

My mind blanked so fast and I could see the flicker of concern on his face as he likely waited for some emotional blow up on my end. The whip-fast anger didn't come, though. I couldn't stop the flush that rushed over me starting on my cheeks and flooding south likely along with a wicked blush, but I didn't feel that shift of my emotions toward combatting that vulnerability.

"Are you all right, Addy?"

I turned my face into his hand quickly and pressed an easy kiss onto the warmth of his palm, "So does that mean this one smells like me too?" Ever so softly I ran the tips of my fingers along that sensitive point on his wrist.

Esayr swallowed quickly and then cleared his throat. It made me want to throw him off balance in a way I had originally thought only he could do to me, my hands itched to explore him again, but before they could he whispered, "It does...and there are some males that will be able to pick it out as well."

Some males. My thoughts flashed back to that time in the hallways when we'd happened upon Kados with his knowing smile and then just as quickly it raced forward to not a few moments ago when Esayr mentioned that Kados wouldn't let us "hear the end of it" if we went to see him. "Which males?"

He had the good graces to at least look bashful, "The scent isn't overpowering. Most wouldn't be able to smell it unless they were extremely close to one of us."

"Most?"

He nodded.

"But some will."

"Likely."

I nodded encouraging him although I was nearly certain in my guess. "Which one of your friends is it, Esayr?"

His grimace was all the confirmation I needed, but even then I was surprised by the answer. "Both Kados and Addric would notice. Addric would be...decent...enough not to stress you about it. Kados," he paused for a moment, "can be quite single-minded in his veiled teasing. I want to believe he'd keep his mouth shut, but it's never been the case before. I know this was a topic of stress for you and wanted you comfortable and knowledgeable about the situation. Luckily it's mostly only the males with Urland or Laorian ancestry that could pick the scents out easily, and those family lines tend to be fairly rare on the Aarond Form. If it helps, you won't be alone in this, they'll smell me just as easily as you, and I imagine they'd be more inclined to poke fun at me than you."

All of his words came out in a rush and it soothed some part of me that always inclined itself to the belief that I was the only person stressed or anxious in the world. The fact that this strong, confident male also had things that concerned him helped to ease that misplaced feeling of weakness. It also happened to incite a completely different reaction in me; a fierce need to reassure him and shoulder the worry that was accosting him.

The revelation didn't entirely level me. I'd known Kados had somehow gleaned what we'd done back in the gardens I just didn't know how he had. The fact that Addric would be able to as well logically made sense since they were brothers. The knowledge that there would be teasing about it? I thought back to the way Kados had interacted with us, granting me those knowing smiles and half-veiled innuendos. It was the same way I or anyone else in my group of friends --save maybe Natalie-- would joke if one of us had crawled in through the door at 7 AM wearing last night's clothes and a few rose petal bruises on their neck. It was decidedly on brand and for a moment it eased the worry that navigating a friendship with Esayr's Riniere would be unfamiliar.

"So I only have to worry about people like Kados and Addric then? And they're few and far between."

Esayr's nod was shy, his eyes were constantly flickering over my face trying to read the emotions he saw there since he couldn't feel them, "For the most part, yes. There are other males with Urland ancestry on the ship, but generally, our lives haven't overlapped frequently. As for Laorian, there are only a handful of males that boast a full scope of the bloodline on the ship, and outside of large gatherings I've only interacted with one, and he's off the ship currently on errands for Prince Roan." Esayr seemed to have finished his thought, but just as I was about to respond he seemed to remember another thought, "Additionally, those are only the males with a chance to smell you like I said. That number will get smaller with time."

Because they'll die? I tried to wrap my mind around any other reason why I would have to get less concerned over this topic as time went on. I bit my tongue to keep from spitting out the morbid question, instead, I allowed the more reasonable one to escape, "Why?"

Esayr shrugged like it was a simple answer, which maybe it was for him. "It's only unmated Val' people that can scent it at all. As more matings occur there will be less and less who can perceive it."

"But you said you could smell me?" That question however came out fast enough, even though I realized we weren't --in fact-- actually mated yet. The fact that I'd nearly forgotten almost staggered me; more telling than any of my conscious inner monologues was the fact that my subconscious seemed it had already made its decision.

"We're mates. I'm predisposed to notice you. There are neural pathways that get altered when a Val' meets their mate. I won't notice another person's --male or female-- scent," he paused again considering his words, "at least in the regard the kind of needful scent you put off, now that I've met you. Kados could go into a deeper explanation as to why, but --like I said at the beginning of this conversation-- he'd likely be inclined to teasing as a price for the knowledge."

I'd never experienced that stabbing jealousy others seemed to talk about in some relationships, either before this ship or since coming here. There was a part of me that was concerned it was because I hadn't encountered another female on this ship, but I wasn't certain. The knowledge though that he only would notice those things from me did settle into a dark recess in my mind easily enough, however --though I doubted with his unflagging singularity in regards to me, I'd ever really find need of the reassurance. "Ok."

"Ok?"

I nodded and my hands found their way back to his chest where I patted the spot over his breast bone, "Thank you for telling me. Now let's go see your friends."

Esayr stared at me for a moment longer before that wide boyish grin split his face. When he laughed I felt the tingle of it all the way down my spine and onto the palms of my hands. He pulled me forward and pressed another glancing kiss -- a chaste affair-- onto the crown of my head. "You're a stronger one than me, Addy. Let's go see Kayle." He stilled there for a moment, drawing in a quieter breath, not quite the deep draw of air that the last had been, but no less I knew he was enjoying the moment. His quietly whispered, "Thank you," nearly undid me.

So I did the only thing I could think of, to get us moving out of this hallway and to more productive areas of the ship than just our bed. I dug my fingers into his sides wiggling them, heading for those spots up under his arms, but he was faster than me, darting away laughing down the hallway allowing me the opportunity to chase after him.

*****A/N*****

This author's note is going to be a tad disjointed since I've had a lot of things pop up in my mind that I thought would be interesting to chat about. So here comes this train wreck lmao.

Some good Layla news on my end: I've officially been vaccinated for Covid! Because of circumstances regarding my health, I was able to get special permission from my Doctor to get my shots early!

On a different but still fun note: I don't know if I've ever mentioned it, but I've actually name-dropped the title for Laene's story in First Contact. I wonder if anyone ever noticed it or if anyone has an idea what it is. If you think you do, post a comment maybe I'll tell you if you're right.

I know people have asked for recommendations for books that I've read before and I was reminded of one of the series that inspired the interplay between human unrest and another species in my story today when I fell back into reading the New Species series by Laurann Dohner. They're 100% my guilty pleasure novels that I always come back to. There are some questionable themes in some of the books like some "blurring lines" surrounding the topic of dubious consent, but not gonna lie I've gone so far as to buy both English and French versions of the books because they're just such shamelessly glorious reads for me. But, if you do go into it just be aware of that content warning --especially for the first book-- though I do think they get better as the series has progressed.

Last update promise. I don't want to get anyone's hopes up, but, I am writing this here mostly to try a new method of keeping myself accountable. I'm better about sticking to writing when I've mentioned that I will get a part out soon on Wattpad in one way or another --whether in a comment or as a broadcasted update. So! I want to say that I'm hoping to be more active with more frequent updates in the coming month. I'm doing some fun stuff with my friend and most sincere partner in crime Prannett that I won't go into currently, but I'm excited about it nonetheless and that should keep me more active here on First Contact and eventually the other stories in this world as well.

Happy Reading

Layla