"That's what's happening between us," she said warily.“Synchronization.That’s why I feel so?—”
Her voice trailed off as relief flooded me.She felt the pull between us.The need.The connection.Thank the storm.None of my people had ever met a human before.From Earth.Part of me had feared she would be unable to form the proper bond.Accept my energy.Feel the Skybond when I held her.Fucked her.Claimed her as my own."Yes.We are one now.One energy.One frequency.One storm."
"My nervous system is human.It's not designed to?—"
"Your body is bioelectric."I traced her lower lip with my thumb because I could no longer resist.Fuck me, her lips were even softer than the skin of her cheek.How could something so soft and fragile be mine?
Yet, if she were not compatible, I would not feel her presence so acutely.I would not be fighting every instinct I possessed to touch her.Kiss her.Make her mine."Apparently, there is no distinction between Earthen and Soltharran biology.We are compatible.The storm has chosen."
The silence was charged.Literally — I could feel the static building in the small space between us, the air gone thick and electric the way it did before a lightning strike.My nodes pulsed hard against my control, wanting to respond to her, wanting to close the distance between us, strip her naked, press our bodies together until the resonance had something physical to lock onto.I breathed.I held still.I waited.
"This is incredibly inconvenient," she said.
"The Skybond can feel that way," I said."Initially."
Her eyes narrowed."What does that mean — initially?"
I held her gaze and let the silence stretch, hoped her mind, and her body, felt the truth.“I will make you mine, female.Give you pleasure.Share the storm.”
Her breath came in short gasps.I watched her chest rise and fall with the power of our bond.I felt the corresponding ache in my own chest and realized, with a clarity that was almost violent, that I would cross a continent on foot to keep the desire that lived in her eyes right now from ever leaving.
She looked away first.Not ready.Not yet.
Soon.I would need to win her mind before she shared herself with me.She was alien.I did not look like she did.My skin was not soft or colored like hers.I wondered what males from her world looked like.Her shape was nearly identical to our females, but smaller.Softer.I wondered if my form was attractive to her, or if her racing pulse was only a result of the bond.I had never doubted my appearance before.Many females in the villages hoped I would choose them as my mate.None appealed.None ignited my storm nodes.They were acceptable for a night of pleasure, but not as my mate.
This female was mine.Exotic.Too delicate.An alien.But I would not argue with the great mother, the Storm Herself.She had chosen this female for me and tasked me with guarding her.Caring for her.Protecting her.Bringing her pleasure.I would answer the call.
"Is your headache better?”I knew it was.I could feel the relief in her system.But I wanted her to trust me with the truth.
“Yes.That’s incredible.”She lifted her hand and pulled the remains of the small leaf from her mouth.“Thank you.”
I stepped back, gave her room.My hands missed the feel of her flesh at once.“Tell me about yourself.Tell me of your Earth.”
The shift in topic surprised her.Her arms loosened slightly across her chest — an involuntary release of tension, there and gone.I catalogued it.I catalogued everything about her, helplessly, the way my nodes catalogued storm patterns: automatically, compulsively, in service of something that could not be ignored nor turned off.
She talked about flying.About leaving Earth — her home planet, a world of rain and wind and lightning that did not live in the bones of its creatures the way Soltharra's lightning lived in mine.She talked about choosing to leave her home world.I heard in that choosing the shape of a person who had always looked for something more.
The storm knew she had been searching for me.For our bond.
Found me.I did not speak the thought aloud.She had found me and I would not let her go.
"And you," she said."Commander.Tell me what that means here.What do you command?"
I told her about the Storm Guard.The patrols, the valley routes, the ridge territories and the rival tribes.The wild creatures, predators that would not hesitate to hunt her, were she caught out in the wild.My people did not have many enemies, but those we did were fierce and dangerous tribes.I explained the role of the warrior, of the innocent people in my village who needed protecting.
We had ships as well.Technology buried ages ago by the elders.Not because we could not leave the planet if we chose, but because we had traveled to other worlds and found them lacking.Dead or weak.Without the power that coursed through our bodies here.
She listened with her head slightly tilted.I felt the precise angle of it so acutely — the way her dark hair shifted against the side of her neck, the smooth strip of skin below her ear — that I had to look at the wall behind her to keep my voice level.Nothing helped my aching cock.
"You all patrol alone," she said."By choice?"
"I patrol where the situation requires," I said."When two or more gather, it is difficult to hide our energy from others.”
“You can feel everyone around you?”
“Yes.”
“What about the trees?”