Educating the Alien: Raedyn (The Azurite Series Book 1) (4 page)

8.

Raedyn was in Kla’deehk’riyah, or the Earth equivalent of hell. He was a mess of contradictions: feverish with chills while simultaneously sweating, his limbs were shaky and he was both hungry and nauseous. He was going to die. As sure as the Fier’the’yi Fho’rd would orbit the Earth tomorrow, he would not be alive to see it. His tongue was thick in his mouth and he longed for a sip to drink if he only had the energy to retrieve it. He should have called for a nurse hours ago, but his ego wouldn’t have it.

The worst part of all: he was four days overdue for his now tri-weekly deposit. The thin sheets aggravated his sensitive skin, grazing his member with light glances, causing ripples of arousal across his body. He had had a perpetual erection for an hour now though, it wasn’t distraction enough from his sickness.

He tried to will himself better. Rest. He would just rest and sleep off the unpleasantness he was going through. He imagined what his friend Brahk would say finding him in this state, sheet tented and squirming under the blanket of fever. He would laugh. And then Raedyn wouldn’t be able to show his face in the locker room of the sport’s stadium for weeks. Months even.

Gods. He should have taken better care of himself. He should have gone into the clinic at the first symptoms of illness, but he had been avoiding public places out of fear for running into Lae. He had been receiving daily transmissions and notices from her reminding him to make his deposits. He couldn’t take the nagging. There. Much better. She was an instant boner killer.

Now that his body was relaxing, maybe he could get some sleep.

---

Lexi watched the monitor outside Raedyn’s apartment for entrance. She had promised to return some materials to him about leaders of the Azurites. He had said if he wasn’t home that she could place them on his table and he would get them later. The screen registered that he was at home, but wasn’t answering.

She stepped forward, activating the motion sensor door and entered his rooms. They were neat and utilitarian with bold, dark, masculine colors and surprisingly warm. When she thought of Raedyn, warmth was not an adjective she would use to describe him. Unfortunately, physically, the room was frigid cold. He must have had the temperature set very low to create such an atmosphere.

She laid the materials on the table when she heard a noise of distress coming from the back room. In disregard of his privacy, she tiptoed down the hallway to the bedroom area of his apartment. The groans continued and she hesitated for a moment wondering if she would be intruding on a private moment before she recalled whose home she was in. Raedyn was by the book. He wouldn’t be found with a woman in a compromising position.

Slowly, she peeked through the gap in the doorway before pushing the rest of the way through. Raedyn was in pain. His hands were fisted in the sheets, while rivulets of sweat trailed down his face and chest. She was momentarily surprised to find a layer of stubble on his head, cheeks, jaw and trailing down his neck. She thought they were hairless.

“Raedyn?” she whispered. “Are you okay?”

As she approached, she felt the heat his body produced radiating off him in waves. He was burning up. He might have been in pain, but he was also feverish. She ran out of the room to retrieve a glass of water and a cool cloth. Lexi was ignorant of Azurite medicine, but assumed water and cool would be helpful. She would need to consult with a doctor soon on his behalf.

Lexi sat cautiously on the edge of the bed beside Raedyn, his face grimaced in evident pain. She continued her evaluation of his prone form and found herself drawn to the massive erection raising the sheet between his legs.

Holy mother of pearl.

She had no doubt now, that man did not wear a codpiece. She felt her face flush and another groan from Raedyn reminded her of why she was there.

She held the glass of cool liquid to his mouth and urged him to sip and he was able to draw in some of the fluid. She then pressed the cool towel to his forehead. He really was quite attractive in an Azurite way. The stubble on his face and head gave him a much more human look and Lexi longed to scratch her fingers along the short hair. Would it be soft? Or coarse? Unable to resist, she cupped his cheek with her hand and stroked her thumb in soothing movements.

---

Raedyn was dreaming. That or he was dead and in Hayir’kheed’alk, heaven. Sweet, refreshing liquid pooled in his mouth, dribbling down, soothing his scratchy throat and dry mouth. This is surely what heaven would feel like. Ensconced in the fragrance of glan’ki’tahh’hka flowers he smiled, breathing in the fresh scent, reminding him of Lexi.

A cool cloth pressed to his burning skin and a shudder of relief coursed through him. He felt himself melt further into the bed, hoping the reprieve from fever would last. Bliss, the cool cloth was his oasis in the desert. He wanted to immerse his entire body in the sensation. He thought he heard mumbled words of consolation, but he couldn’t decipher their meaning, as if spoken in another language.

His cock hardened at the words meant to ease his pain. He couldn’t remember a time he had felt so cared for. The sensations were overwhelming and when a chilled hand touched his fevered cheek, raking across the stubble he no doubt had grown in the two days he remained in bed, his body rebelled. With a moan, Raedyn spilled his seed, a hot spurt of fluid coating his lower belly and the sheet atop him.

The hand stilled, but remained on his face. He didn’t have any time to be embarrassed as the wave of darkness crashed over him, pulling him into the depths of oblivion once more.

---

Lexi stilled, eyes wide and round.
That wasn’t? He couldn’t have?
Her mind raced as she watched the sheet lower between his legs and the liquid spot spread across it. He did. It would appear the iceman enjoyed touch after all. Lexi was in a bind. Raedyn needed medical attention, but there were heavy fines for spermal emissions without collection. There was no doubt Raedyn was in violation and she was unsure if there were exceptions in certain cases. She didn’t want him to be penalized for something that had happened when his body was out of his control.

Jumping to action, she found a clean sheet in his bathroom and a fresh towel. She braced herself, removing his soiled linen before toweling off the evidence of his ejaculation. It’s just a body, she reminded herself as the towel brushed his most intimate parts. His anatomy was very similar to a human male. Raedyn had a large penis, one many human women would covet and Earth men envy. That was where the similarities ended though, as far as visual inspection went, Lexi didn’t see anything resembling testicles, possibly they were located internally. Raedyn also had a small flap of skin above the root of his cock, flaccid and malleable, it resembled a small human foreskin. Lexi shrugged and tossed the towel into Raedyn’s laundry hamper. She gently fluffed the fresh sheet over the bed and tucked in the end and sides.

Finally, Lexi alerted the medical staff to a non-emergent house call. She was relieved when they arrived in fifteen minutes and took over Raedyn’s care. Lexi provided the basic information she knew and was informed they would keep her updated on his condition.

In the hallway, she found Jaime walking toward her.

“Hey Lexi. Is everything alright? You look a little overwhelmed.”

“No, I’m fine. Raedyn is sick, I just sat with him until medical attention arrived.”

Jaime frowned. “I hope it’s nothing serious. Or contagious.”

Lexi simply shook her head.

“Are you still going to the mom’s group this afternoon? I can walk you there.”

She smiled. She had forgotten her afternoon’s plans. The mother’s group was something she didn’t want to miss.

“Yes, I’m anxious to see mother’s interacting with their children. I haven’t had much opportunity to observe the young.”

They left together, Lexi’s mind still worrying about the man she left in the apartment.

“Hey. No worries. I’m sure he’ll be fine,” said Jaime. He had a look on his face that Lexi couldn’t quite decipher. “We Azurites are a hearty breed.”

Lexi smiled wanly. No, she wasn’t concerned with his health. She was more concerned about the crime she had just committed and the implications she could face if she were caught. Furthermore what had it meant that Raedyn had that kind of reaction to her touch?

9.

Raedyn awoke with a start, bolting upright in his bed before clutching his temples in agony and lowering back down. His head throbbed with what felt like the worst hangover he’d ever had.

“Ah, awake at last.”

He opened his eyes to small slits and viewed the doctor from the nearby clinic sitting in a chair beside Raedyn’s bed. The old man rose and began scanning Raedyn with a handheld implement.

“Fever’s gone. I’ll give you something for the pain. You aren’t dehydrated, but close. Here,” he said handing Raedyn a cold bottle. “Drink this, it will rehydrate you.”

Raedyn gulped the beverage, reveling in the instant refreshment.

The doctor chuckled, “Slow down, you’ll make yourself sick.”

Raedyn obeyed.

“You have the flu, believe it or not. Did you receive your vaccine this year?”

He nodded.

“Hmph. It happens. It was a good thing that your friend Dr. Phillips found you when she did. You would have had to been hospitalized if you were much worse off.”

Raedyn’s eyes popped open at the doctor’s words. “Lexi was here?”

The doctor eyed him knowingly and nodded. “She stopped to drop off something and found you passed out. She called us immediately though. Sweet girl.”

He thought back to the dream he had. The flowers, the drink, the cool cloth, her soft hand…oh, fuck. The spermal emission. Raedyn shifted slightly in bed and found himself clean and dry. Was it possible that he had imagined that memory? Perhaps he had been hallucinating?

The doctor fiddled with a tablet, sighing before speaking again. “You’re overdue again for a visit to the CR. Haven’t we already talked about this once before?”

“Is that what made me ill?”

The doctor shook his head, “No. That will make you uncomfortable, but not physically ill. I see you are at 4995 and it’s been over three weeks.” The doctor removed his glasses and sat back down in the chair, reclining and propping an ankle over a knee. “I’ve been a doctor for many years, there’s not much I haven’t seen. Many times I’ve witnessed young men racing to the finish to get on the partner list to finally slow down at the end, unsure if they are ready or not. Let me give you a piece of free advice.” He leaned in toward Raedyn. “The system we have in place is very good. Even if a man enters the queue, the powers that be can sense whether he is truly ready to be paired. They don’t match people willy-nilly. They take their job very seriously and only combine a male and female that they believe are completely compatible. Are they always right? No, sometimes circumstances change that makes a pair separate. But, we must trust the system.” The old man patted Raedyn’s knee as he stood. “Of course, that being said, I have also met some very happy rebels,” he winked. “Present company included. I’ll check up on you tomorrow, get some rest.”

---

Lexi’s sides hurt from laughing so much. The adorable children of the mom’s group she was visiting pulled no stops as they showed off their skills on the jungle gym. They coaxed her from her seat to push on swings, catch at the bottom of slides, and spot during monkey bar crossings. She collapsed in a heap on the bench with a few of the other mothers.

The woman asked to be called Annie was nursing a baby and another mother named Cl’ien fed a toddler something out of a jar, the third woman, Jaihl, kept her eyes glued to a child tottering on a balance beam.

“Do you have any questions for us?” Annie asked. “Jaime said you might.”

Lexi smiled. “I don’t really. I prefer to observe and question if anything comes to mind,” Lexi paused. “Actually I thought of something. Are Azurites naturally hairless? I thought you were, but I saw a friend of mine with stubble and am curious.”

Annie and Cl’ien exchanged glances with raised ridges.

“No,” answered Jaihl. “We all have hair. Women on our heads and men. Well, men, all over,” she laughed. “Azurites have long used depilatory oils to remove hair and slow growth.”

“How well do you know this man with stubble?” asked Annie, smoothing a hand over her baby’s head.

“He’s a friend. Why?”

“I’ve never seen any man’s hair but my husband’s,” Annie replied, switching the baby from right to left breast in a swift movement.

“Sometimes,” Cl’ien whispered, “D’hav’ind lets me rub the oil on his skin.” She smiled sweetly like it was a secret she saved. A special thing between her and her husband and Lexi thought that perhaps it was.

“I imagine it must be hard. To separate the love for your children and the touch from your husband. You are all so loving with the young ones: holding, hugging, kissing, and petting. I don’t know if I would be able to turn it off. Especially when they reach maturity and it’s expected,” Lexi mused.

“We’re not as cold hearted as you depict us,” Jaihl replied with a harshness in her voice and Lexi blanched. “You can’t understand what it was like for so many generations to have a difficult reproducing. We gave up. We gave up on having all this,” she said waving her hand around the playground. “Yes, we’ve had to make sacrifices, but it has all been to protect this.”

“I am so sorry if I offended you. It was not my intent. I do have a difficult time understanding,” Lexi placated. Jaihl made her feel small. She needed to remember that this was a different culture.
I’m so out of my league. Earth would have been better sending an anthropologist.

“Think of it this way,” began Annie. “Think of our relationships as arranged marriages during the time of Regency England. A time and place in Earth history where men and women did not marry for love or romance and oftentimes married after very few interactions with each other. Sometimes they grew to love each other and sometimes not, forming partnerships. We have the same here. More often than not, couples grow closer when they are given children and closer resemble current American marriages.”

“Thank you,” said Lexi. It appeared that the Azurites knew more about Earth than Lexi should assume. She also shouldn’t assume that because another culture was different from the one she knew that the people in it were unhappy.

Annie nodded.

“So on another note,” said Lexi, ready to break the tension, “What about sex?”

Annie coughed on her drink before blushing, Cl’ien covered her little ones ears, and Jaihl grinned like the cat that ate the canary.

“My partner and I engaged in physical intimacy once,” said Jaihl, leaning in and whispering. “It was magical,” her eyes widened on the last word. Then she straightened as her daughter approached.

“Did you see mama? Did you see me on the beam?”

“I did dear one! You were magnificent.”

The ladies weren’t able to have any further discussion on the topic of sex after the interruption. All the children in their presence seemed to need something or other and they decided the play date had concluded.

Lexi left the park with her head swimming. Three wives had just dispelled everything she had learned through dossiers. The information she gleaned on Earth about the Azurites had not been completely accurate. She wasn’t sure if it was to protect their culture from humans, or if it was an attempt to depict what they wished their culture proclaimed. One thing was certain though: the Azurites were becoming more and more human in her eyes. Lexi wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.