Matched

Myeong & Roco

Roco left the pair of Zibons, taking her hand and kissing it. 'We can go if you want.'

Myeong straightened, apparently unaware she was staring hard at the floor, the hair shielding her face. She forced a smile. 'Not yet.' And she pulled Roco over to the new group.

Aisha smiled a slightly nervous smile and angled her face away, trying to hide her mark.

'How are things?' Myeong asked her.

'Good. Well. Thank you.' The little Rictorian grinned.

'I forgot to ask you, how did it go with your mother?'

Some of the light died from the girl's eyes but not completely. Something like hope held in her smile. 'Not good. She-she was scared. But Quinton thinks we can con-contact her again. If the mission goes ahead ... When the mission goes ahead.' She went to touch her belly, then stopped herself, her hand faltering away.

'How did your meeting g-go? With your husband?'

Myeong and Roco looked at each other.

Roco grinned. 'I beat the shit out of him.'

Roco felt Myeong struggling not to smile. The night they'd returned from Earth, Roco had dreamed of his encounter with Paul. Myeong had been there too, standing behind him in a pale nightdress, her dark hair flowing over her breast, her dark eyes shining.

Roco had spoken about it the next day. Myeong had stared at him, dumbfounded, before admitting that she'd dreamed the same dream. A shocking thing. Even now, Roco felt a tingle of unease. Not only could they read each other's minds but they could be in each other's minds, interacting with each other. Roco had never heard of such a capability before in any bonded partnership. The good thing was, Myeong hadn't had a nightmare about Paul since.

The little Rictorian stared up at Roco, wide-eyed.

'He deserved it, of course,' Roco added.

'And how are things with you—with your pregnancy?' Myeong said, stumbling a little over her words.

Aisha gave a small smile. 'Well. It's-it's so early still. I don't f-feel like I'm pregnant. Q-Quinton says that Z-Zibon women don't have too-too many side effects.'

'Oh, well, that's good.'

Quinton came over from his chat with Zibry, his long blonde hair draped over his shoulder, grinning at them all. He took Aisha's hand, kissing the back of it. 'But we don't know for sure that will be the case with a hybrid pregnancy. We must watch and wait.'

Aisha looked at him in surprise. 'Did you—did you hear that?'

'Kind of. I felt what you were saying.' His forehead screwed up. 'Perhaps our bonds are getting stronger.'

Myeong and Roco looked at each other meaningfully.

'Is that normal?' Aisha asked.

'I'm not sure. I've never been bonded before.' He shrugged, then smiled. 'Does it matter? The closer I can get to you the better.'

The little Rictorian grinned at him. Then they leaned in to kiss each other. They kissed and kissed and didn't stop kissing, Quinton's hands travelling down her back to her backside. Grinning at each other, Myeong and Roco turned away.

Suddenly feeling hot in the groin area, Roco slid his hand into Myeong's.

They didn't need to speak.

*

They hadn't even made it to their room before they were kissing passionately, their arms wrapped around each other, their lips seemingly unable to detach from each other. They were stumbling as they made it to the corridor leading to their room.