Close Obsession (22 page)

Like at the Food Hall, the Krinar around them stared at Mia and Korum. Mia wondered if that was because they hadn’t seen a lot of humans – unlikely, given the fact that they all lived on Earth – or because they were surprised to see Korum with a charl. She decided that it was the latter. Probably it was just the novelty factor of seeing a Council member accompanied by a human girl.

As they made their way through the crowd, Korum put a possessive hand around her back, pressing her closer to him. Mia had learned over the past two weeks that it was considered a serious offense for a Krinar male to touch another man’s female, whether she was his mate or his charl. It was a strange throwback to their territorial beginnings. The Krinar were very liberal when it came to sex, and Krinar women had all the same rights and freedoms as Krinar men. However, once they entered into a committed relationship, no other men were allowed to touch the women without explicit consent from their cheren or their mate. In some cases, violating that rule could even lead to an Arena challenge.

Korum was particularly bad in this regard. When he picked her up at the lab on her second day there and saw Adam leaning over her to help her with one particular testing device, he had nearly flipped out. Mia had been impressed with Adam’s composure in that situation; instead of cowering at Korum’s rage, the young Krinar had calmly explained that he was helping Mia do her job and hadn’t laid a finger on her. Thankfully, Korum hadn’t done more than glower at him – Mia would’ve hated to see those two come to blows. Still, after that incident, Adam was particularly careful around her, always maintaining at least two feet of space between them. The last thing he needed was a jealous cheren after him, he’d explained with a laugh.

So now Korum kept her close as they walked toward the center of the giant hall. God forbid another male brush against her, Mia thought with exasperation.

As they approached the center, Mia saw a floating platform with a couple standing on it. She recognized the dark red hair of Korum’s cousin, whose union celebration they were attending. It was an unusual hue for a Krinar, and Mia wondered if it was natural or dyed. Leeta’s mate was as gorgeous as she was – tall, muscular, and with the typical dark Krinar coloring. They were each dressed in unusual robe-like outfits, pale mint-green in color, and stood completely still, just facing each other.

Hundreds of floating planks were arranged in circular rows all around the platform, and Korum led her to the front row. As a relative and a Council member, he apparently got the best seats in the house.

Looking around, Mia spotted a familiar figure a couple of rows behind them. Raising her arm, she waved to Delia and smiled when Arus’s charl waved back at her. Turning his head to see what Mia was looking at, Korum saw Arus and gave him a cool nod of acknowledgement. The other Councilor responded in kind. Clearly, the political tensions between the two had not improved since Mia had observed their interactions at the trial.

“So what’s going to happen?” Mia asked, watching as more and more Krinar piled into the building. Maybe it wasn’t quite fifty thousand yet, but it certainly looked like a huge number.

“In another few minutes, they will join together and then everyone will celebrate by dancing all night,” Korum said, and there was a wicked gleam in his eyes.

That gleam usually meant he was up to something. “What do you mean, join together?” Mia asked warily. Her mind was beginning to wander in a strange and inappropriate direction.

His lips parted in a smile, exposing the dimple in his left cheek. “Exactly what you think it means, my sweet. They will mate publicly, thus binding their union in the way of our ancestors.”

“They will have sex in front of everyone?”

She must’ve turned red because Korum burst out laughing. “Yes, my darling. But don’t worry, the robes they’re wearing are specifically designed to give them privacy. Your delicate sensibilities won’t be too offended.”

“My sensibilities aren’t delicate,” Mia hissed at him, knowing that all the Krinar around them could probably hear their conversation. Like the vampires of legend, Ks had sharper senses than most humans, with better hearing, eyesight, and sense of smell – all courtesy of their hunter heritage.

“No?” he teased, raising his hand to stroke her cheek. “You’re used to public orgies?”

Mia swatted his hand away and determinedly turned her attention to the couple on the platform. Sometimes Korum liked to play with her, telling her all kinds of naughty things just to watch her blush. Mia was not a prude, but she couldn’t help her skin’s involuntary reaction – and he seemed to enjoy that fact quite a bit.

In that moment, the hall darkened and the noise of the crowd abruptly subsided. A soft light came on, spotlighting the platform only. It was like a stage, Mia realized, her cheeks heating up again at the thought of what was to come. In general, she found the Krinar culture to be quite paradoxical; while their science and technology were incredibly advanced, some of their customs – like the Arena fights and now this bonding ritual – were almost barbaric.

A strange music, unlike anything Mia had heard before, began to play. The melody was haunting and powerful, and the underlying beat was both rhythmic and irregular at the same time, making Mia want to squirm in her seat. It was not dancing music, but there was something oddly sensual in it, with a few tones almost caressing her skin. She had no idea what musical instruments were used, but she had to admit that the overall result was beautiful. Korum had let her listen to some Krinar music before, and she’d found it to be quite unusual – but nothing like what she was hearing right now.

“This is the traditional bonding song,” Korum whispered to her. “It’s one of our oldest melodies – it dates back more than a billion years.”

“It’s incredible,” Mia whispered back, feeling the fine hairs on the back of her neck rising as the tempo picked up.

The couple – who had been standing on the stage this whole time without movement – took a step toward each other. Their arms came up, their palms joining together, and the robes that they were wearing seemed to expand and curve around their bodies, creating a tent of sorts. Only their heads were visible now, and the expressions on their faces were calm, as though they were not about to do something very intimate in front of fifty thousand spectators.

As the music continued to play, Leeta’s mate started speaking, his voice echoing throughout the hall. “For the past forty-seven years, you have been my companion, my love, my life. Without you, my future has no meaning. You are the air that I breathe, the water that I drink, the food that I consume. You are a part of me, and you will always be a part of me.”

He stopped, and Mia blinked to get rid of the sudden moisture in her eyes. While simple, the words seemed truly heartfelt, and she couldn’t help envying Leeta for having someone who loved her so deeply.

Leeta spoke next. “You are my mate, my love, my life,” she said solemnly. “Without you, my future has no meaning. You are the air that I breathe, the water that I drink, the food that I consume. You are a part of me, and you will always be a part of me. I will be with you for forty-seven more years to come, and forty-seven years after that, and every forty-seven years into infinity.”

She fell silent, and then they spoke together. “We are united,” they said, and their vow reverberated throughout the building.

The music quieted for a second, and then it picked up again, only this time the beat was deeper, more sexual. To her surprise, Mia felt herself beginning to get turned on, her pulse speeding up and her belly muscles tightening at the unusual, but melodious tones. She’d never imagined that music could do something like that to her.

And apparently, she wasn’t the only one. The mood of the audience seemed to shift, and Mia could sense the sudden tension in the atmosphere. A warm male hand landed on her thigh, caressing it lightly, and Mia turned her head to see Korum looking at her with a familiar glow in his amber eyes. “Now the fun part begins,” he mouthed to her, and Mia’s cheeks got warm again.

Surreptitiously glancing around, she saw that the other spectators were staring at the stage with a rapt expression on their faces.

In the meanwhile, the couple on the stage came even closer to each other. Even though Mia couldn’t see their bodies, she could tell that they had to be touching at this point. Leeta’s eyes were now closed, and she looked flushed underneath her light golden skin, while her mate seemed to be breathing harder as he gazed at her beautiful face. They didn’t kiss, and there was no visible physical contact of any kind, but Mia’s heart still pounded at the knowledge of what they were doing. The scene playing out on the platform was unbelievably erotic, made even more so by the fact that so much was left to the viewers’ imagination.

Enthralled, Mia stared at the stage, unable to tear her eyes away.

* * *

A couple of rows away, the Krinar watched Korum’s charl observing the bonding ceremony.

Her little face was pink with color, and her lips were slightly parted. He could see her small chest rising and falling with every breath, and his fingers itched to pull down her dress and expose those perfectly round, pink-tipped breasts to his gaze.

In the past two weeks, his craving had turned into an almost unbearable obsession. When he tried to analyze it logically, he knew it had something to do with the fact that she belonged to his enemy. He’d hated Korum for a long time, and the thought of taking away something he loved was exceedingly appealing.

But it went deeper than that. He found himself thinking about her constantly, fantasizing about touching her, tasting her . . . Fucking her, as he’d seen Korum do on the beach. To this day, he hadn’t been able to watch that incident fully, rage and bitter jealousy coursing through his veins at the sight of his nemesis enjoying something he so desperately wanted himself.

It was incredibly dangerous, this obsession of his. He was starting to have trouble controlling himself, and he couldn’t afford to let his true feelings show. There was too much at stake to throw everything away for the sake of one human girl, no matter how much he hungered for her delicate little body.

Besides, if he succeeded in his plan, she would be his.

Everything would be his.

Chapter 14

After the bonding ritual was over, an opaque wall rose up around the edges of the platform, hiding the couple from view, and the music quieted down.

Her cheeks flaming, Mia rose from her seat, following Korum’s example. What she had just witnessed had been far from pornographic, yet she couldn’t get the rapturous expressions on the couple’s faces out of her mind. Their sexual act had been hidden from view, but their feelings and emotions during the ritual had been on display for everyone to see. At the end, the music had reached a crescendo, and Mia realized that it was both imitating and facilitating their lovemaking.

Now everyone was standing. Glancing up at Korum, she saw that he was looking straight ahead. All of a sudden, he stomped his foot, once and then again and again. His actions appeared to serve as a signal of some kind because the hall was suddenly filled with loud stomping noises, as every person in the audience followed Korum’s lead. Uncertain at first, Mia did it too, deciding that it was probably the K version of clapping. Korum turned his head and gave her an approving smile.

The spotlight on the stage faded, and the hall gradually became lighter. All the seats rose into the air and floated away, leaving a large empty area where the spectators had been sitting.

A different song began to play, this one more along the lines of what Mia had listened to before in Korum’s house. It sounded like a mix of some kind of synthesizer, with weeping undertones and a pulsing beat. Krinar party music, Mia guessed, watching as everyone started milling about and gathering into small groups.

“What did you think?” Korum asked, putting his hand on her shoulder and looking down at her with a smile.

“I thought it was beautiful,” Mia told him sincerely, and his smile widened.

“Do you want to stay for the dancing or are you too tired?” he asked.

“Oh, no, I’d love to stay!” What kind of an idiot would she be to miss out on her first Krinar dancing party?

“Well, then, let’s go dance.”

He led her away from the platform toward one of the corner areas that apparently functioned as dance floors. As they walked through the crowd, other Krinar stepped to the side, letting them pass. Korum nodded to a few people in acknowledgment, pausing to briefly say hello and introduce Mia to a few Ks here and there. Everyone they met seemed to treat Korum with some mixture of deference and respect, and Mia realized yet again just how powerful her lover was in the K society.

When they reached one of the corner dance floors, Mia stopped and simply stared. There was no way she would be able to dance like that. Simply no way.

The athletic grace displayed by the dancers was unbelievable – and inhuman. They didn't move – they simply
flowed
from one dance step into another. It was a spectacle unlike any other Mia had ever seen, and she tried to imagine what K athletes or professional dancers would be like – if such a thing existed.

Looking up at Korum, she said wryly, “I think I'll watch from the sidelines. This might be just a tad too advanced for me.”