“I’m so ready for this baby to come out already,” Eve groaned, lowering herself down to the stool that Khiva, her mate, had made her.
Valerie smiled, helping her down and then went to get the hot water for their tea. Even though this was Eve and Khiva’s jivera tree, Valerie knew her way around it well enough.
At least twice a week, Valerie made the short walk to their home for afternoon tea. Though, unlike on Everton with black tea and simmered spices, lightened with sweet cream, the tea on Dumera was…different. One of Eve’s own makings, a blend of Dumerian root with crushed leaves from a local plant.
It tasted vaguely of peppermint, if peppermint could clear out all your sinuses and leave one with the taste of chili on the back of their tongue for the rest of the day.
Valerie hoped that she could experiment with tea blends once her garden grew in, though it was taking time and a lot of trial and error. They’d been on Dumera for a little over four months now, but some of her plants were beginning to show life—which was exciting in itself.
“Kxiwi believes you still have four or five months to go, right?” Valerie called from the kitchen, grabbing the pot they’d boiled water in and taking it back to the table. Kxiwi was Eve’s Laoti ‘doctor,’ who was helping her through the hybrid pregnancy.
A groan came from Eve. “Let’s hope it’s closer to the four month mark. Even better, three.”
Valerie couldn’t help but laugh as she sat down, carefully pouring the hot water into their clay cups partially filled with Eve’s tea blend.
“Have you and Dravka talked about children?” came her friend’s question. Eve did her best to keep her tone casual but it was pointed enough to tell her that her friend was most definitely prying.
Valerie set the pot down once the cups were filled, flashing Eve a look.
“You know his contraception implant doesn’t wear off for another four or five months,” Valerie said. “And we’re content to wait. We both want children but we’re still settling here.”
Eve picked up her cup and took a sip, making a small sound as she tasted it, a slight grimace on her face.
“What I wouldn’t give for some coffee,” Eve said softly. “You remember coffee?”
Valerie laughed, already fishing out the plump leaves from the bottom of her cup. She didn’t like hers very strong. “I never drank the stuff.”
Eve sighed, then got a focused look on her face.
“You know, Khiva’s implant wore off quicker than he expected,” Eve told her. “My pregnancy was…a surprise, needless to say.”
Valerie had thought that it was a possibility. Male contraceptives weren’t always so dependable towards the end of its cycle.
“Still, I can’t wait to see Khiva as a father,” Eve confided quietly. Then she turned her eyes onto Valerie, a secretive smile crossing her expression. “And I know Dravka will make an excellent one as well, whenever you decide to start having children.”
Just the thought filled Valerie with warm anticipation. She couldn’t wait to see Dravka as a father either. Sometimes, she got lost in daydreams about it.
“Thanks for making dinner the other night, by the way,” Eve said after a comfortable stretch of silence descended between them. “I’m not quite as mobile anymore. But our males still have to eat, huh?”
“That they do,” Valerie said. “It was no problem. Really.”
Keriv’i didn’t need to eat every day like humans. And given the nutritious food options here on Dumera—ones that made Valerie think the food resembled what had been available on Kerivu—their males could go longer and longer in between meals.
So when it was time to break their fast, the dinners and meals were elaborate affairs. And since their males worked at the firestone labs all day, the cooking and preparation fell to Valerie and Eve, who had quickly discovered early on that two chefs were much better than one. They split the shopping at the market and they alternated which jivera tree home to cook at. That was why they always took their ‘big’ meals together. It was an easier workload and it was good company with good friends.
Tavak and Ravu also joined them. So Eve and Valerie usually spent most of the day together cooking and preparing the meal because…well, four Keriv’i males ate a mind-boggling amount of food.
But Valerie liked doing it. She liked perusing the food choices at the market. She liked cooking in their little kitchens in their jivera trees, liked hearing all the little tips that Eve told her about this root or that root, things she’d picked up before Valerie had arrived. She liked watching Dravka eat her food, knowing that she could nourish and provide for him.
And, ultimately, she liked being in the company of her friends.
“Tavak was kinda quiet at dinner though, don’t you think?” Eve murmured, sliding her a small, conspiratorial smile.
“Tavak’s always quiet,” Valerie noted. “I didn’t think anything of it.”
The eldest of the two brothers had always been the…rougher one of the two. Rougher around the edges, Valerie meant. Ever since she’d known Tavak, he’d always been quiet. Then again, she knew it was because he was always observing.
Plus, he could be pretty surly when the mood struck him.
“He hasn’t had an easy life,” Valerie commented, her voice quiet. “None of them have, but Tavak and Ravu were abandoned even on Kerivu. I don’t blame him for taking longer to adjust here.”
“Oh, I think he’s adjusting just fine. I heard a rumor in the city center,” Eve said, “that he might have taken a lover.”
“Tavak?” Valerie asked, incredulous. “I don’t believe it.”
“My friend at the archives told me she saw him with someone, a human woman, and they looked—”
Just then, they heard the elevator to Eve’s jivera revving up. They’d had it put in when it was obvious Eve couldn’t climb a ladder every day in her very pregnant condition. It was also great for hauling groceries upstairs and Valerie was already going to bring it up to Dravka that they should have one put it as well.
Two males voices—voices that made them both relax—came from outside on the main platform and a moment later, two Keriv’is ducked their heads inside.
“There you are,” Dravka murmured, his gaze fastening on her in a way that made her heart flutter with excitement. “I thought you’d be here when you weren’t at home. Or in your garden.”
“Sorry, I stole her,” Eve cut in, smiling at Khiva when her mate leaned down to give her a kiss. “You’re home early.”
“We finished up a batch and I don’t want to start a new one until morning,” Khiva said. “Miss me, leeldra?”
“Entirely too much,” Eve responded, beaming up at her mate. Valerie swore she saw hearts in her eyes.
Dravka was still in the doorway, watching her. Just seeing him made her chest feel warm, made her limbs feel tingly. Maybe she had the very same expression Eve wore right now. She certainly wouldn’t be surprised.
Valerie got up from the table, happy and a little relieved that she didn’t have to finish the rest of her tea.
“I should get going,” Valerie said as Eve and Khiva turned to look at her. “Dravka and I were planning to head to the market, to see if that trader came back with more seeds. You guys need anything?”
“Ooh, pick me up some of that Laoti sweet fruit thing if you see any,” Eve said.
Valerie grinned, going to her mate. She felt his arm curl around her waist and she smelled his intoxicating scent surround her. God, how did he always smell so amazing?
“I’ll be on the lookout for it,” Valerie said and then they waved goodbye, making plans to see one another in a couple days.
On the elevator ride back to Dumerian soil, Dravka purred in her ear, “Where’s my kiss, mellkia?”
Valerie bit her lip, knowing the kind of mood that her mate was in. The insatiable kind.
When they stepped off the elevator, Valerie went to her toes and whispered in his ear, smiling, “If I kiss you now, I’m worried we won’t make it to the market.”
Dravka groaned but the sheepish little expression that crossed her face told Valerie that what she said was an entirely valid concern.
“So once we go to the market and are back at home,” Valerie murmured, “I will give you all the kisses you could ever want.”
“Promise?” Dravka growled, quirking his brow.
Valerie only gave him a small, teasing smirk, one that made his hand on her waist begin to wander down. She squealed, laughing, when he slipped his hand up the back of her dress and gave her ass a playful squeeze.
“Dravka!” she whisper-hissed, struggling to conceal her laugh.
“Kruvu?” he rasped, his eyes wide and innocent-looking. “I didn’t do anything.”
She shook her head, walking ahead of him quickly, tossing him a look over her shoulder, one that made his deep, rich, wonderful laugh float between them.
They walked in silence for a couple minutes and up ahead, Valerie could see their jivera tree come into view. She could feel Dravka’s warm presence behind her, could feel his possessive touch still lingering over the bared flesh of her backside.
She bit her lip because damn him, she wanted him. Right now. Her teasing, playful, sensual mate knew how to drive her crazy and now she didn’t want to wait to give him a kiss. She wanted that kiss right now.
When they reached the base of their jivera tree, Valerie nonchalantly tugged up one side of her thin and flowy dress. A rumbling, interested growl sounded from behind her and she smiled, letting the dress drop again. Just a little tease for her mate…
After another moment, she tugged it up again, her heart beginning to throb with excitement and anticipation. Only this time, she exposed her whole backside to him—and he’d be able to see everything since she didn’t wear underwear anymore—before dropping the material again.
She felt hands come around her hips, gripping her and making her stop at the base of their tree instead of staying on the path towards the city center.
“Teasing me, mate?” Dravka growled in her ear, pressing his hips into her back, and Valerie’s lips parted when she felt his erection, hard and thick and long. “You know how that ends up.”
“Usually with me on my back,” she continued to tease, glancing at him over her shoulder, her eyes dancing playfully. “Or on my hands and knees. Or on top on you.”
“You’re gonna be doing all three tonight,” Dravka growled.
Valerie laughed, knowing that after a long day of work, Dravka liked to unwind with her, usually inside her, and she’d teased him enough.
“I think I’ll give you that kiss after all,” Valerie told him, turning in his hands, giving him a little grin, threading her arms around the back of his neck. “You are so persuasive.”
A pleased purring trill rose from Dravka but Valerie was already pulling his head down towards her. She smiled when their lips met.
The kiss started out soft and slow and passionate. She loved kissing Dravka this way, loved the way his hands gripped her, loved the way he began to take charge, loved when he began to deepen it.
Then her breathing became ragged. A moan tumbled from her lips when he flicked his tongue against her own. A growl escaped him when she suckled it, ever so slightly.
The kiss made her head spin. It made her spine tingle and her skin feel electrified. Every kiss with him made her feel that way.
When she opened her eyes, she was a little dizzy as she met his gaze.
“I love that,” she breathed. “I love you.”
A dark chuckle rose from her male’s throat. “And I’ll show you how much I love you, mellkia. Once you climb up that ladder.”
“Mmm, I suppose the market can wait a little bit,” she murmured, her voice still a little breathless.
Dravka grinned.
“You make me a very happy male, Val,” he purred. Leaning down, he gave her another kiss, one that had her clutching at his shoulders. “Now, let’s get upstairs so I can do all sorts of wicked things to you.”
“Promise?” she whispered, biting her lip to hide her excited grin.
He growled.
Laughing, Valerie raced up the ladder to their jivera tree.
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