The mobile phone ringtone on his wrist pad woke him. Emilio switched on the lamp, wiped a hand over his face and checked the time that was reflected in a blue light on the wall. It was barely five. Saturday morning. Fraya and Gene’s mating day. A chill descended on Emilio at the thought even as he reached for his wrist pad and pondered the early call. Gene’s flight wasn’t due until eight. He checked the caller’s name. Suddenly, he was wide awake.
He sat up. “Fraya?” Was that a sob? His heart went cold. “Fraya, talk to me, baby. What’s wrong?”
In the week that Gene had been gone she had never asked for anything when he knew she needed help with the ceremony arrangements and her upcoming move.
He heard her take a breath. Her voice was calm when she said, “I’m sorry to have to call you, but there’s no one else.”
“What’s going on?”
“Can you come over, please?”
Fraya asking him to come over?
“Now?” His question was more an expression of concern than defining time.
“Please.”
He didn’t ask more. “I’ll be over in fifteen minutes.”
“Thank you.” The two words were a mere whisper.
He dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, grabbing a jacket as he made for the door. Was it the mating ceremony? Had something gone so terribly wrong that Fraya’s usual stoicism had flown through the window? Thankfully the streets were quiet so early on a Saturday morning. Emilio had scarcely taken the first turn when his phone rang again. He activated the speaker function and checked the screen, but it was from an unknown caller.
“Larraín.”
“Emilio?”
Warning bells went off in his head. “Gene?”
“Emilio...” His friend sounded distraught.
He had a terrible feeling. “Gene? Where are you? How come you’re calling me if you’re supposed to be in a plane over the Pacific Ocean?”
“I’m not in the plane, Emilio.”
“What the fuck is going on? Did you miss your flight?”
“I’m not coming back.”
“What do you mean you’re not coming back?”
“I can’t do this, man. I can’t go through with it.”
“Damn you, Gene. Your mating ceremony is supposed to take place in ten hours. I won’t let you do this to Fraya. Get your ass on the next jet plane back here, or I swear to God, I’ll kill you myself.”
“Just take care of Fraya, alright? I just got off the phone with her and she’s pretty upset.”
“Pretty upset? What the hell did you expect? What’s going on with you? Have you lost your mind?”
“I can’t explain it. I just had this breakdown. I can’t do it.”
“You’re a dick, Gene. When are you coming back?”
“I’m not coming back. I’m going to carry on traveling for a while, clear my mind, and try to see things in perspective. I managed to get on a team of travel writers. I’m just going to do some zone hopping for a while and see where it takes me. I should have done this a long time ago, then I would have realized...”
“Gene, please, don’t do this to Fraya. Come home, face the mess, deal with it and then you can bugger off, but don’t leave her to clean up your shit.” Concern for Fraya overrode Emilio’s selfish need to rejoice in Gene’s abrupt decision. “Don’t be more of an ass than what you’ve already been.”
“Just make sure she’s alright, buddy. I can’t cope with the wedding. I just can’t see myself mated.”
“Gene–”
The line went dead.
“Fuck!” He slammed his hand on the steering wheel and pushed the override button on the computer so he could put his foot down on the accelerator. This wasn’t the kind of humiliation he wished for Fraya. Gene should have listened to him, should have called it off before it went this far.
He parked his car in the street in front of Fraya’s drab, concrete building. Like pigeonholes, one flat was stacked on top of the other, hence the name, stack dorms. Not bothering with the elevator, he took the stairs two by two to the fourth floor. When he arrived at her door, he only had to knock once before she opened it.
His heart stood still when he saw her. It was obvious from her red eyes that she had been crying, but it was what she wore that took him aback. She was dressed in his Foreigner T-shirt and a pair of boy shorts. It wasn’t on her tantalizing legs he focused though, it was on her forlorn face. Emilio wanted to grab her and wrap her up in his arms. Instead, he calmed himself, for her sake, and stood watching her, at a loss for words.
“Thanks for coming. I’m sorry I called so early.”
She appeared perfectly calm. Fraya turned and didn’t look back to see if he was following. He closed the door and walked close on her heel to her small lounge. The shelves, walls and surfaces were bare. Boxes and crates were crammed into the space. Customary of stack buildings like these, the walls were unpainted, an ugly gunmetal color. The floors were concrete too. When he first entered her flat a week ago, he didn’t pay attention to the décor because it was filled with people, obscuring his observation, and his head was too filled with her to notice much else. He always hated the idea of her living in this shoebox, but now that it was bare the coldness jumped at him and strangled his heart. He couldn’t wait for her to move into her new condo, a place more worthy of her.
A pot of coffee and two mugs waited on the table in front of the sofa. Fraya loved real coffee. She was a coffee-bean addict. He knew it was the only luxury she allowed herself. When she sat and lifted the pot at him he nodded and took a seat next to her.
She poured the coffee, handed him a mug and cupped hers between her hands. “Gene called.”
He wanted to say he knew, but he couldn’t find his tongue.
“He’s backed out. I have to cancel the ceremony.” The only evidence of her emotions was the way in which her hands shook lightly. “I’ve already thought it through. There are eighty guests, some who came from as far as your zone.” She pushed a list that lay on the coffee table toward him. “I’m going to need help to call them. I won’t manage to speak to everyone in time to call off the ceremony and the reception.”
Emilio looked at her face and couldn’t help to admire the way she had already taken control of the situation.
“I’ll start with the mating official,” she said, “the venue, and the caterers, and go down the list. It’ll be quicker if there are two of us working on it.”
He could only stare at her in disbelief. “You called me to help you inform everyone of the turn of events?”
He had thought after his conversation with Gene that she called because she needed a shoulder to cry on. But here she was, in circumstances he couldn’t imagine himself maintaining his calm, making decisions and taking charge. His admiration for her climbed a notch.
“I’m sorry. I couldn’t call Gene’s parents. They’ll be upset. I’m not sure they’ll be much help. I’ll deal with them after I’ve informed the service providers.”
She shouldn’t be the one facing Rebecca and Patrick. Gene could have at least come back to tell them, everyone, in person that he had gotten cold feet.
“What a grand fucking mess,” he said, fuming inside at Gene’s inconsiderate behavior.
An emotion flickered in Fraya’s eyes. When she hid her face behind her hand, he thought she was going to cry, but after a second she lifted her head, took a shaky breath, and said, “You have no idea. My future has just been turned upside down. My job at the observatory depended on this ceremony.”
He frowned. How could Gene do this to her?
She misinterpreted his expression for confusion, because she continued to explain what he already knew. “The SWO was authorized to appoint someone with citizenship for Zone 30. The international affirmative action law won’t allow a Canadian to take the position in Chile. No mating, no citizenship, no job. No moving zones.” She left her mug on the table and pulled her hands through her hair. “I’m going to have to change my plans.” She looked around the room. “I’ve given up my flat, sold my furniture.” A hollow laugh escaped her throat. “It looks like I packed for nothing.” She seemed to check herself. “But one thing at a time. I first have to deal with today.”
He was going to kill Gene with his bare hands. That job meant everything to her. It was the biggest honor ever granted a fellow. Not only would she be the youngest female in the world to claim such a prestigious position, but also the only one to enter straight from acquiring her PhD into operations. Others had to work in related institutions for years before being considered for such a placement at any observatory. It was her dream, all she ever wanted to do. All he wanted to do was to fix it for her. Besides, the land had been bought, the new site developed and the condo constructed. He stared at his coffee, deep in thought. He did have the power to fix it, and the solution that came to mind would not only be her fix, but his, too.
Again, Fraya misinterpreted his silence, because she said, “If you don’t want to do this, I’ll understand. I can ask the minister to help with the calls.”
“Don’t you have a girlfriend, someone you’re close to–” ‘To support you’, he wanted to say, but she interjected.
“No. I haven’t had much time for friends in my life, Emilio.” She gave him a wry smile. “Thanks for coming, anyway. I understand.”
As she made to get up, he placed a hand on her arm. He could feel her muscles and skin contract under his palm, ripples he noticed that shot straight to her breasts, making them peak. He knew the shiver that went through her was a painful spasm, brought on by his touch, and quickly removed his hand.
“No, Fraya, you don’t understand.” When she looked at him, her pretty brow furrowed, he said, “Everything is paid for, everything is arranged. People have come from very far, as you have pointed out. Some have sacrificed many points. May as well give them a party.”
“You mean carry on with the reception even if there isn’t going to be a ceremony?” She shook her head. “I’m not sure I can stand the humiliation. I don’t think I can face everyone.”
“No,” he said slowly. He left his mug on the table and turned to look her squarely in the eyes. “I mean, I’ll take Gene’s place.”
Her mouth dropped open and then she paled. “You mean like mate you, today, this afternoon?”
“Yes.”
He watched her closely. She looked shocked and confused. She didn’t express her approval of his ingenious plan, but didn’t exactly show any distaste either.
She only said, “Gene...”
“He’s not coming back, is he Fraya?”
The question was rhetorical, but she said, “I know that,” in a biting way, indicating her humiliation.
Emilio knew he was brutal, but if cruelness could convince her to agree to this crazy idea, he’d have the rest of his life to be kind to her.
“He doesn’t love you, Fraya. He wouldn’t have done this if he did.” And Emilio believed this was true. No man who truly loved a woman would submit her to this kind of public disgrace. “I’m giving you a way out. Think about it. Everything will happen as planned. Only the groom will be different.”
He tried to make it sound like the most natural thing in the world, but even so, he saw her eyes cloud over with doubt. When she started to chew her lip he hoped it was the first sign of consideration, the first dent in her battle armor.
He let her digest his words, didn’t speak again, until she finally said, “But it’s impossible. It takes months to get a mating certificate.”
“Not if you have contacts. I can have one in an hour, should I wish.”
“You’re suggesting taking Gene’s place?” she said, as if she needed to repeat the phrase for better comprehension.
“Yes. That way you don’t have to cancel the wedding or your plans. You can still move to Chile with me, and take up that job as planned. My citizenship will ensure yours, as Gene’s would have.”
She blinked. “Why? Why would you do something like that?” When he didn’t answer, a look of alarm came over her features. “An arranged mating? What would you want in return?”
“Sex,” he said levelly.
Her big, brown eyes became huge. “You want sex from me?”
“You find that hard to believe?”
Her voice was unnaturally soft. “A mating is for life.”
“Does that thought repel you, a lifetime with me?” Anger pushed up inside of him. “I’ve done my homework, just as you have. I know what we did to each other, and I know it’s for life. So, a mating would solve a very tricky situation for both of us. It would end the suffering, the torturing need.”
She flinched. “Did you ... do you suffer?”
“Unlike you, I didn’t have a serum fabricated to mask the truth. I suffered.”
Even now, when he knew her life was in turmoil, he couldn’t keep the accusation from his voice. He preferred to endure it, to feel the intensity with which he craved her, whereas she had decided to trick nature and make a run for it.
“You know about the serum?”
“I know about a lot of things.”
“But how?”
“As I said, I did my homework.”
She didn’t interrogate him as he had expected. She looked at her hands. “So you want us to enter into a contract that is binding for life in order to satisfy a mutual itch? A mating cannot be reversed, ever.”
A mutual itch? He felt like dying and she called it a ‘mutual fucking itch’.
“No matter who you take as mate, Fraya, no one but me will ever ease your discomfort. It’s either living like that, with the constant need, or living with me, with no more pain. Do you honestly see yourself living a watered-down version of your passion, ruled by a serum, for the rest of your life?”
“So we mate for sex then.”
“Yes. Sex. When I want, where I want and how I want.”
She looked at him warily. “Is that your condition?”
“Yes. And think about it carefully. I won’t allow you to break another promise you make me.”
“That’s like prostitution.”
“I prefer to call it nature. We had no control over what happened to us. Call it what you want, but that’s my proposal.”
“You’re crazy.”
“It wasn’t so crazy when you warmed my bed a year ago. If my memory serves me right, you actually enjoyed it.”
He had to give her credit for ignoring his remark.
“What if you want to ... do it ... but I don’t want to have sex with you? People aren’t always ... in the mood,” she said.
He pursed his lips together. He didn’t like that statement at all. “I won’t force you if your body shows me that you don’t want, or need. But if there are any signs that you’re turned on, I won’t take no for an answer.”
“Signs?”
“Yes. Signs. If your nipples are hard, your pussy wet, or if you even suck in as much as your breath, I’ll demand to have you.”
She gasped. Already he could sense all of those ‘signs’ assaulting her, by a mere mention. And he knew how much brighter she’d burn if he could lay his hands on her. He wanted to make her scream for him.
She swallowed. “You’re joking, right?”
“I’ve never been more serious.”
“But what if I don’t like it?”
“Believe me, if you don’t like it, I’ll know.” He gave her his most wicked smile. “But for some reason I think, once I start, you’re rather going to beg me not to stop.”
Fraya looked at him nervously. “A lifetime is very, very long. What if we can’t live together? What if we constantly fight, or hate each other? What if I change my mind, and want out?”
He could see the fear in her eyes. She had a point. He couldn’t keep her forever, bound to him, just to his body, against her will. Unless she was happy. If she were happy, she’d stay. Could he make her love him and give her happiness? He had to try at least, for his sake, or he’ll be a living corpse for the rest of his life.
“We’ll give it a year. After that, I’ll let you go if you want,” he said, even if it ripped his heart out to just think it. He never wanted to let her go. But he didn’t want a prisoner either. Would a year be enough for him to prove his love, to show her how good they could be together, to make her love him back?
“A year?”
“Yes. A year should be enough to secure your citizenship.”
“And then you’ll let me walk away, even if we’re mated?”
“There are some isolated cases of mates living apart, although, personally, I don’t know of any.”
Very few mates didn’t love each other, unconditionally and profoundly. He could only hope that the same would eventually apply in their case. Law demanded that a mating was honored until one of the partners died. There was no way around it.
“I promise that, after a year, should you wish, you could walk away and I won’t hold you to the law,” he said.
“Free to live my life as I wish?”
“Yes.”
“Free-free or only half-free?”
“What do you mean?”
“Free to do whatever, even sleep with other people?”
His jaw clenched. His gut contracted at the thought, but he kept his voice even when he said, “Even to sleep with other people.”
He could see her thinking, probably comparing pros and cons. He wanted to shake her and then fuck the analytical calculation from her mind, remind her how good they felt together, but he forced himself to remain still, to regard her with an air of calm he didn’t feel.
“But what do we tell the guests?” She shook her head and jumped up. “No. No. I can’t believe I’m even considering something so utterly stupid.”
“Stupid?” Oh, he was so going to tear that T-shirt from her body and show her stupid. Her denial, refusal of him, what their bodies needed was stupid. Crazy.
He shrugged non-affected, even as he gritted his teeth. He couldn’t dare reveal the intensity of his feelings, unless he wanted her to bolt and run like a hunted deer.
“It’s your call, Fraya. But you have to make it quick.” He checked his watch. “Nine hours in countdown.”
“You’re unbelievable.”
“Thank you.”
“You know it wasn’t meant as a compliment.”
“I’m sure you could sit here and think of insulting things to throw at me all day long, but time’s running out. What will it be? Giving up your dream job, or having sex with me for a year?”
She got up slowly and started pacing the floor, her lip between her teeth, her eyes fixed on the carpet.
“Fraya?” When she didn’t look up he repeated her name. He waited until she looked at him. “Why are you wearing my T-shirt?”
Her eyes darted down to the faded emblem of his once-favorite piece of clothing. She pulled at the hem. “I ... just had it.”
He lifted an eyebrow. She just had it? A small flame threatened to ignite his hope, but he squashed it. He wasn’t going to put himself up for the fool again. This time he’d take charge and remain in control. One small step at a time, until she was his, wholly and unrelenting.
He gave her another few seconds and then he checked his watch again.
“I’ve got to go.” He picked up the list and got up. “I see you’ve made up your mind. I’ll call from my place because I also have some work to do this morning. You take the first forty, I’ll work my way up from the bottom. What do you want me to say to everyone?”
She stopped. She crossed her arms over her chest and stared at him with the look he had seen on her face when she had regained consciousness after falling into that cold stream. It was like a pair of iron hands around his heart, wrenching it dry.
“The truth,” she finally said. “Tell them the mating’s off. That Gene got cold feet.”
“That’s half a truth,” he said, his anger at her rejection spilling into his tone.
She looked pained. “What else is there to explain?”
“Let’s see. Maybe the fact that you fucked me behind Gene’s back, made promises you never intended on keeping, and don’t love Gene?”
Her voice was little more than a whisper. “That’s not true.”
“What are you going to tell Patrick and Rebecca? That you and Gene never loved each other? That Gene was happily banging away his ex-girlfriend while you cheated on him with his best buddy?”
“Stop!” A sob escaped her throat. “Stop. Please.” She dared to look at him and his resolve almost wavered, but instead of giving her the words of solace he ached to, he hardened his heart. Right now, he was a manipulating bastard, but it was his only chance.
Her shoulders slouched. In that moment, he knew she was defeated.
“Tell them you’re my new mate,” she said softly.
He nearly closed his eyes in relief, but only narrowed them. “Are you sure? Because I won’t let you change your mind once you’ve agreed. If it’s a yes, you will walk down that aisle at five today, and you will say yes to everything I want you to promise.”
He thought she looked downright scared when she said, “But the promises will be a farce.”
His anger flared again. “I’ll write my own vows, baby, and you’ll say yes to them, so think carefully about what you’re about to promise.”
Her stance was suddenly more controlled and she seemed to be her old, calm self again. “Are you helping me, or punishing me?”
He gave her a sardonic grin. “A bit of both, I guess. But think of it this way–my punishment will involve you being tied down and my mouth in your delicious pussy.”
Her eyes widened. It looked as if she wanted to speak, but she only stared at him, her beautiful, pouty lips slightly parted. He watched her tummy contract. If he didn’t get out of her flat now, he was going to take her with an intensity that would scare them both, before either of them had signed any mating agreement.
Emilio threw the list back on the table. “We need to get a move on if we’re going to get a mating certificate.” His eyes lingered on the boy shorts. He’d break any man’s neck that got a glimpse of the curve of her bottom that showed from under the cotton border of the hot pants. “You better change.”
“Give me a minute,” she said. “I’ll change into something more appropriate.”
There couldn’t be anything more appropriate than his T-shirt on her perfect body.
“Fine. I’ll call Dr. Lavigne, a friend of mine. She’s got an office in town. We should be able to have a certificate within the hour. And then we’ve got to call the medical center to change your tattoo.”
All female mates wore the family emblem of their husbands on their left wrist, as a symbol of commitment. The only exchange would be the gifts they would hand each other as a token of their love during the ceremony. There was so much he wanted to give her. But he couldn’t think of anything that would match the gift she was going to give him–his name on her wrist, proving to the world, and himself, that she was his. But what he wanted from her most, was for her to love him like he loved her, and in order for her to do that, she first had to admit to everything she had been denying up to now, starting with the fact that she needed him. Didn’t she know he could see it in the very way her body trembled?
“You need me. I can see it,” he said, voicing his thoughts.
“I don’t,” she said stubbornly, hugging herself.
“If you’re in pain, I can fix that now, Fraya. You only have to say the word.”
“I don’t need you to fix anything. This is only a hormonal imbalance, so don’t flatter yourself.”
Yes, maybe it was only a physical need as far as Fraya was concerned, but his wanting ran a lot deeper, and he was sure that hers would too, if she’d only let it. They’d start by eliminating that damn hormone treatment. As long as she used it to lessen her desire for him, she’d never admit to him, or to herself, how much she needed him.
He saw a repeated shiver run over her body, but steeled himself as he watched her leave the room. Yes, he wanted to give her the world, but he also needed to take. He needed her more than he ever needed anything in his life. She will learn to love him. But first, he had to tame his obstinate mate. Revenge was going to be sweet ... and hot.