Their Rebel Mate [Helan Universe 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (3 page)

He settled for popping his mate on the ass instead. The smack of palm to bare cheek cracked through the air and left a lovely red handprint on that beautiful, masculine behind.

Thantos yelped and sat up. “What the fuck was that for?”

He moved easily into Kerek’s arms despite the smack. Kerek planted a kiss on Thantos’s lips in apology. “It was either that or tie you to the bed and have my wicked way with you.”

Thantos stretched and yawned. “I would have preferred you to tie me up,
talan
.”

He retrieved the food-laden tray and shifted around until he was propped up against the headboard. “Me, too, but then you wouldn’t have had time to eat, and that is not acceptable. Now, come lean on me and let me feed you.”

A warm, heavy weight settled against his front when Thantos obeyed his command. He picked through the slivers of cold chicken breast, choosing the very best slivers for Thantos to eat. He held the piece up to Thantos’s lips and shivered when his mate closed his mouth over his fingers as well. “Behave, or you won’t make it to your appointment.”

Thantos sighed but allowed Kerek to feed him until Kerek had judged he’d eaten enough. “Why don’t you go and shower while I clean up?” Kerek suggested.

He concentrated on gathering up their mess instead of watching Thantos get up and walk into the bathroom because he was pretty sure he wouldn’t be able to keep his hands to himself if he had to watch that pretty ass flex as he walked.

He jerked on a pair of pants, fastening them with the silver button that held the flap together at the top. The shower turned on in the bathroom, and Kerek set to cleaning up, gathering the glasses and plates, and carrying the whole lot back into the kitchen. He dumped his burden in the sink and flopped onto the couch.

The television remote control had buried itself between the sofa cushions. He dug it out and turned on the talking box. It was similar to their vidscreens but larger and not portable. He’d developed a sort of addiction to human prime-time television. Okay, a full-on addiction, but he’d never admit that to anyone.

Old sitcoms were his favorite things to watch.
Golden Girls
was probably the funniest thing he’d ever seen, and he glanced at the clock, pleased to see that it was going to be starting in a few minutes.

Footsteps on the stairs alerted him to the fact that Thantos was finished washing up and was on his way down. It was only ten o’clock, and Thantos didn’t have to leave for another thirty minutes or so, which gave them plenty of cuddle time, something that hadn’t happened in weeks now.

Thantos eased down next to him and snuggled close. Gods, he loved how easily his mate accepted his care. A normal Helan male would be battling for supremacy, but Thantos just wasn’t wired that way. Oh, he would fight to the death if Kerek needed him to, and would die without thought to save his kings and queen, but he just didn’t feel the need to always be in control.

He was the perfect match for Kerek, who felt a driving need to care and protect at all times.

Heaving a tired sigh, Thantos laid his head on Kerek’s shoulder. “What are we watching?”

Kerek drew a soft blanket over their legs and draped his arm around Thantos’s shoulder. “
Golden Girls
. Rose is hilarious. I think you’ll like her. She kind of reminds me of King Jaron.”

Thantos hummed an answer and slid his hand across Kerek’s stomach until it was tucked neatly behind the small of his back. He waited until commercial break and tugged lightly at one of the flame red war braids, more ceremonial in Thantos’s case than anything else. “I was thinking of asking King Jaron about finding someone to help teach the classes so you’re not so stressed all the time. How would you feel about that?”

The fact that Thantos submitted nearly every decision to Kerek, with the exception of decisions that had to do with his job, was something they did not publicize. And normally, Kerek would have just gone ahead and requested an audience with the king. But Thantos had built the curriculum he was teaching very carefully and was very protective of it.

A long moment of silence had Kerek convinced that Thantos would disagree, and he was just trying to figure out a way to take better care of his mate, when Thantos began speaking. “I was thinking about that, actually. I don’t know how much longer I can keep up with these hours, especially with King Jaron and Consort R’oan on our case about finding a mate. There are a few men coming on one of the ships due in soon that I would trust to teach humans about Helans.”

The credits started rolling on the screen, and Thantos sat up, stretching his arms over his head and arching his back. The joints in his spine cracked, and he groaned. “I should go,
talan
. I’ll be back by one or so.”

Kerek nodded and drew Thantos down for a quick, blistering kiss. “Make sure to take your bodyguards. I think I’ll sit in on your lecture tonight if that’s okay.”

“Mmm.” Thantos offered his lips for another kiss and then another. And another. Their bodies fit together perfectly, and Kerek groaned into Thantos’s mouth.

“And how do their scientists know for certain that human females can carry a Helan child?”

The voice now coming from the television was a familiar one and had their passionate encounter grinding to a sudden halt. Kim McManus, one of the human women responsible for organizing a rebellion when Helans had first made contact, was on the nightly news, making yet another speech about how crazy they were and why women should not sign the registry to be considered for being a potential Helan mate.

They exchanged looks, and Thantos pulled away reluctantly. “And that’s exactly why I need to teach these classes. We need to put to rest all the rumors that people like Kim keep spreading. I guess the only problem right now is that Ms. McManus is right. So far, we don’t have any proof that humans can carry our children.”

He could have slapped himself in the forehead. How could he have forgotten to tell Thantos that their queen was expecting? He quickly explained the happy situation and enjoyed the look of awe and relief on his mate’s face. “But don’t say anything to your classes quite yet. Consort R’oan asked me to make the announcement, and I haven’t had a chance to draft one. I’ll be calling a press release for early next week. Is there a time that’s best for you?”

Thantos told him his schedule, and they agreed on a time for the following Tuesday.

He gave Thantos one last kiss, agreed to meet him at the lecture hall, and watched him leave the house.

Grabbing his vidscreen, he flipped through the functions until he came to the writing screen. He settled down at the table and began drafting the announcement he had been waiting his whole adult life to make.

Thantos strode into the lecture hall and began checking the cameras. This talk would be broadcast in more than fifteen countries, along with DC citizens who wanted to come to the late lecture. All in all, he was expecting around twenty people live and a couple of thousand via satellite. There were always those people who walked in instead of signing up, though. At first, they’d tried to limit the attendees to the ones who’d registered, but that kind of went against the idea of open and honest communication. Now they just increased the security.

Once everything was set up to his satisfaction, he pulled a sheaf of pamphlets out of his case and laid them on the table. He’d discovered that humans liked handouts. They liked something tangible that they could hold. He guessed it made things seem real.

The door opened, and people began to trickle in. The majority of them were women, but there were always a few males in attendance. He hadn’t quite figured that one out, but then again, he figured there were always those men who wanted to hear about the sex part.

The sex part. Ever since King D’Arik had made him announce the true nature of the relationships that human women were expected to enter when they were matched with their Helan mates, at least one person per session asked about Helan sex. There was something so strange about standing in front of a group of people and discussing threesomes. It was even more awkward if someone asked him a question about his own sex life. It wasn’t like he had any experience with threesomes yet.

Kerek walked in and took a seat in the front row. It was the first time he’d attended one of these lectures, but Thantos was grateful for Kerek’s presence nonetheless. He smiled at Kerek and handed him one of the pamphlets. “Just in case you wanted some reading material,” he joked.

His lover rolled his eyes, but he took one anyway, unfolding it and perusing it with interest. “These are really good,” he commented. “Very informative. You did a great job,
talan.
”

He grinned at the compliment. Kerek knew exactly what was in those pamphlets. He helped to write them, for god’s sake. But he was always making sure Thantos knew how proud he was of him. Thantos didn’t
need
the praise, but it was nice anyway. “Thanks. We’re going to get started in just a few minutes. Just pass those back, will ya?” He handed Kerek a sheaf of pamphlets and went to stand at the front of the room.

Slowly, the room began to fill up. They had been provided with a relatively small room, and the twenty or so people who had shown up did an admiral job of taking up space.

He did a quick inventory of the screens in front of him. All of them were already streaming live to him, and he would turn his own camera on as soon as the lecture started. He checked that the captions were working properly. The first time he’d done one of these satellite lectures, it had been a disaster. While the translator located in his brain had been able to decipher each of the questions, he didn’t have enough experience with many of the languages to accurately answer them.

He’d been at a loss as to what to do until Kerek had finally demanded that the lectures would be available with subtitles. Now he spoke in English, and the subtitles did the translating for him.

Everything seemed to be in order. He nodded to the technician, who began streaming the lecture live to several different countries, and spoke directly into the camera. “Hello and welcome. My name is Thantos, and I am the Helan ambassador here on Earth. The purpose of this lecture today is—” His thoughts promptly stalled when the door to the lecture room he was speaking in opened, and Kim McManus herself walked in and slid into a seat in the back row.

He cleared his throat and picked up where he left off. “The purpose of this lecture tonight is to help explain our situation and to tell you a little bit about our culture. Hopefully, this will make the decision of signing the registry a little easier.”

Kerek had noticed his small pause and turned to see what had caught his attention. His mate’s body stiffened, and Thantos knew he’d spotted the petite blonde woman sitting in the back. He turned back again and sent him a reassuring smile and cheeky wink.

Thantos relaxed muscles he didn’t even know had tensed. Kerek wouldn’t let him fall. His mate was always there to catch him, whether he needed it or not.

He slowly went through the population crisis the Helan race was going through. The thought of his ancestors breeding their women’s ability to bear female children right out of the race still upset him. Trying to explain the problem to humans always made him itch, but it was important for these people to know just how dire their situation really was. But he was always relieved when he could move on to more cheerful topics.

“We searched numerous galaxies and hundreds, possibly thousands, of planets for a species capable of bearing our children. The gods blessed us the day we found your planet.”

Kim shifted around in the back, and Thantos paused. Would she say anything? He was quite sure she wasn’t here to profess her intention of signing the registry.

But she stayed silent, and he was able to continue. “Of course, we are hoping to make an alliance with Earth. We have already provided agricultural technology to help ensure that no one goes hungry and to make sure that everyone has access to clean, potable water.

“We have transported hundreds of doctors to help dispense medications and have eradicated many of the more common diseases, including AIDS, several types of cancer, and multiple sclerosis.”

He tapped a screen in front of him and brought up an image of the several star ships that were orbiting the planet. “As you can see, we’ve brought in numerous troops to help protect Earth in the event of an attack from a hostile species.”

Wrapping up his discussion, he handed the pamphlets to Kerek and motioned for him to pass them back. The screens set up in front of him showed the handouts being passed around in the remote lecture rooms. “Are there any questions?”

A pretty raven-haired woman raised her hand on one of the screens. “Yes, Hong Kong participant. You have a question?”

She answered in a language he’d had trouble with from the beginning. The translator in his brain lagged a few seconds but eventually caught up with her question. “I have heard rumors about the nature of Helan relationships. Is it true that human women are expected to be in a ménage relationship with two Helan males?”

He didn’t know why he was still surprised by the fact that this was the first question. It was always the first question. Literally.

“Historically, Helan’s society was much like yours. Relationships largely consisted of one man and one woman. Our species tends to have high sexual drives…” It was the first time he’d been able to say that phrase without blushing, although Kerek was gazing at him knowingly. “And with the decrease in our female population, we have turned to each other.”

“So the answer is yes, then,” she replied.

He cleared his throat and felt the heat that signaled a blush begin to work its way up his neck. “Yes. Most Helan males have a mate of the same sex, and human women would be involved in an intimate relationship with both males.”

If anyone asked him about the details of Helan sex, he might die. One of the doctors that had been brought over would be a much better candidate to discuss such things. Maybe he should look at having a physician available to answer those types of questions.