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Liam snuggled into the pile of pillows. The ship’s engines were too soft to hear, but when his fingertips brushed the edge of the nest, the slightest vibration reached him. He sighed two seconds before his brain registered the stretch in his ass. “What—?” Liam didn’t get any further before Ondry wiggled the tip of his tail. It pressed against Liam’s prostate, and every ounce of sleep fled. “Oh fuck!” Liam gasped.
“I believe that is the correct translation,” Ondry said in a smug voice. Then he sniffed at Liam’s neck. That should not have been sexy, but every time Ondry took pleasure in Liam’s body—in controlling it, or smelling it—Liam got hard. Every time. Liam tried to reach up and stroke Ondry’s arm, but Ondry pressed down on him, trapping Liam in the nest of pillows.
Liam wiggled and then yelped as Ondry thrust his tail in farther.
“Oh God.” Even though he was pinned, Liam arched his back and kicked out. He hit the edge of the nest with his toe and cursed again, this time in pain.
Ondry flipped him over and tucked Liam into the center of the nest. “You should not hurt yourself.”
“It wasn’t intentional,” Liam said.
Ondry’s tail slid out of Liam’s body, and Liam couldn’t contain the small whine.
“Humans break too easily.” Ondry shifted so he knelt near Liam’s knee before he brought the wounded toe up for inspection.
“At least we don’t die from swelling,” Liam countered.
“No, your skin splits, which is deeply upsetting.” Ondry laved Liam’s injury with his thick tongue.
When the tip slid between Liam’s toes, a laugh burst out. Ondry stopped, his eyes wide in confusion. Hoping to retrieve his foot before Ondry could put two and two together, Liam tried to jerk himself free, but Ondry was far too strong.
His eyes grew even larger before he tentatively licked Liam’s foot again. This time, the soft touch ran up the arch before ending between Liam’s second and third toes, and Liam lost himself in a fit of wild laughter. He was still gasping when Ondry settled his weight on top of him.
“You smell pleased, but your breathing is irregular enough to distress me.” Ondry supported most of his weight on his elbows, but he still rested enough on Liam’s chest to pin him.
Liam took several breaths before he could answer, and then he had to fall back into English. “I’m ticklish.”
“What sort of response does that require?” Ondry asked.
Liam was endlessly comforted by Ondry’s habit of asking for clarification when confused. “You don’t have to respond at all. Some humans are ticklish and some aren’t.”
“And what is the function of ticklish?”
“I have no idea.” Liam wondered if the medical database the Rownt had traded for would have that information, but he didn’t know, since it wasn’t a medical issue.
“Is it pleasure-based?”
Liam should have anticipated the question. Ondry did tend to evaluate everything in terms of how much profit it earned or how much pleasure it brought Liam. The ilsil and status were the only pleasures he cared about for himself. “A little is pleasurable,” Liam admitted. “Too much makes me feel like I can’t breathe and distresses me.”
Ondry paled. “Have I caused distress?”
“No.” Liam rested his palms against Ondry’s face. “I smell of pleasure because I liked that small amount.” He frowned as he questioned his use of a quantity qualifier with an action, but he trusted that Ondry understood what he meant.
Ondry’s cheeks tightened in pleasure. “Then I have traded your injured toe for a pleasure. That is a good trade.”
“Yes, very,” Liam agreed.
Ondry huffed, breathing deeply as his tail made another sneak attack. Liam gasped and tried to thrust up as Ondry’s tail pressed into him, forcing muscles to yield. The fullness and the pressure against his prostate nearly sent Liam over the edge. In a heartbeat, he got so hard that his cock throbbed in time with his pulse.
Liam could only make needy cries as Ondry inched his tail in and out. He tried to relax into Ondry’s hold, but every muscle tightened. He hung on the edge of orgasm, his body drawn tight like a bow. Liam clutched at Ondry’s shoulders as Ondry thrust faster. Each movement ignited fireworks that set Liam’s body on fire. He wanted more. Sex with Ondry made him greedy, and he tried to grab his own cock. He was hard and the tip was slick with pre-cum, so he knew one touch would send him over.
Ondry caught his arm, pinning it before he undulated his tail. The friction drove all thought from Liam and his vision whited out, but it wasn’t enough. He was trapped inside the need, and Ondry held him down, denying him the final release. Liam closed his eyes and surrendered to his body and Ondry’s control of it.
Gasping for breath, he floated on a flood of sensation—Ondry’s gentle hands, the soft pillows rubbing his back and legs, Ondry’s hard muscles, the cool touch of Ondry’s tongue as he tasted Liam’s neck, the firm thrusts of Ondry’s tail, the whisper of breath against Liam’s skin as Ondry huffed happily. Liam could only twitch as pleasure overwhelmed him.
Ondry gave several strong, fast thrusts as he let more of his weight rest on Liam, and that was enough. Liam screamed and fisted their pillows as he came. For a time he gasped as his body and brain slowly brought all the systems back online. When Liam complained that Ondry had broken him, he wasn’t kidding. Liam felt like a computer that had crashed, but in that moment, all his built-up worries vanished, so it was a good sort of broken.
Ondry settled next to Liam, stroking his bare skin as he waited.
“I could lie here forever,” Liam said sleepily.
“We may. There are no critical trades.” Ondry rested his head on Liam’s shoulder. Ondry’s willingness to postpone everything for him meant the world to him, but Liam knew they’d both get bored by the end of the day.
“But then we’d miss the fun in the temple.” As much as Liam had fond memories of the temples he’d visited on Prarownt, he never would have called the temple fun until very recently.
Zach Mora had made the mistake of expressing regret over leaving his family, and that had—predictably—had led to a visit to Earth. Ignoring all the automated fortifications, the ships, and the defensive lines, the Rownt ship had flown right to the inner system before requesting clearance to park a shuttle on the Mora family farm. Zach’s reunion with his childhood dog had led to a less predictable offer to bring the dog on the ship.
And that led to Liam’s source of amusement. The shepherd/Great Pyrenees mix was clearly spoiled and split his time between being dead asleep, and demanding attention and love from everyone. The Rownt did not have close relationships with animals, but Zach’s description of the dog as his “boy” had led to a sort of child-like status for Duke and a lot of confusion when it came to playing ball or chase.
Ondry was silent for so long that Liam knew he was struggling to construct a response without being critical or trespassing on some cultural bounds. “Having a carnivore in a limited space poses problems,” Ondry said. When all else failed, he returned to factual statements. Nice, safe, unambiguous facts.
Liam grinned. “Yep.”
The huff that followed made it clear that Ondry hadn’t yet wrapped his brain around having a pet. “You like the animal.” That was a little less factual, but still true.
“Yep.” While Liam rarely won their verbal sparring matches, this time, Ondry struggled to construct a response. It amused Liam.
“It is large enough to cause significant harm.”
Liam raised himself on one elbow and studied Ondry. “Are you afraid of it?”
“No.” Ondry’s nose tightened, so Liam assumed there were some negative feelings in there, even if Ondry would never question a Grandmother’s choice of possessions, or her preferences in indulging her palteia. Ondry had been too quick to take offense on Liam’s behalf to comment on Zach’s choice of pet.
“Of course not.” Liam collapsed back and let his tone make it clear that he was using human sarcasm. Other Rownt were unlikely to recognize it, but Ondry would.
Ondry whistled his amusement. “A dog is unlikely to damage a Rownt old enough to leave a parent's side. I do not need to fear a dog.” Despite his quick denial, his nostrils were still narrowed.
“Then what does bother you?” Liam asked.
Now Ondry’s tail twitched, so Liam knew something had him worked up. “Human skin is much more fragile. It could damage you.” Of course. Most of Ondry’s irrational behavior did come down to protecting Liam in one way or another.
“Duke’s a pet. He’s been around humans his whole life. And he’s a ‘he,’ not an ‘it.’”
“It is not sentient,” Ondry said, and from a Rownt point of view, that made sense. No animals were ever assigned personal pronouns because they were not persons. It made more sense than the English conventions around pronouns. The first time Liam had tried to explain why some storms or ships were assigned both human names and genders, Liam and Ondry had both ended up so confused that they agreed to dismiss the whole issue.
Liam doubted it was illogic as much as his own lack of historical data on linguistic development, but Liam would not put Ondry in the subservient position of having to ask Zach to explain. Before joining the Rownt, the human Captain Zachery Mora had been a star pupil in the diplomatic corps. The military had chosen him for his talent for languages and a submissive streak, and offered him a chance to join an alien crew.
Guilt still nagged at Liam. When he’d told Zach that the Rownt could love, but were only allowed to love a palteia—that those who didn’t have palteia were precluded from ever touching another Rownt, from curling around one or loving one unconditionally—he should have known what that would do to a submissive. Zach had immediately fallen for the Grandmother who led the ruling council of Grandmothers on the Calti.
Now that he was the palteia of a Grandmother, asking Zach to clarify something would put Ondry in the debt of the eldest Grandmother. So Liam had accepted that some human knowledge was out of their reach unless Zach brought it up during conversation.
“Who says a dog isn’t sentient?” Liam asked. Duke was smart and he was adapting well to the ship and the huge, strange beings who lived in it. Liam would go so far as to say he had adapted faster than Liam had.
“Do humans classify dogs as sentient?” Ondry sounded concerned.
“In the way you're talking about, no. However, he's as smart as a human child.”
“Is that pertinent to how humans define sentience?”
That wasn’t an easy answer. “Yes, for some humans. They refuse to eat any animals that can reach that level of intelligence. They’ll eat fish, but not octopus or mammals or anything that can think around problems. A few refuse to eat anything in the animal kingdom. But for the most part, I think people consider a creature sentient if it can think about itself and how it fits into the world. Some who use that definition include a few primates and dolphins, but a lot reserve the idea of sentience for humans or alien species.”
“I had not realized humans had no set definition. Was there debate about whether the Anla met the definition?”
“Not that I know of.”
“But most members of that species fail to see themselves as individuals, or their place in the universe. Only the leaders develop independent thought, and even then, their decisions are rarely based on logic.”
“Do the Rownt consider them sentient?”
“No.”
“So, they’re a non-sentient, spaceship-building species?” Liam had to admit that he didn’t follow Rownt logic in regards to that conclusion.
“Building technology is evidence of intelligence, not of ethical behavior, and we consider the latter a requirement for sentience.”
Reality never stopped reminding Liam that Rownt would always baffle him. It was as if they had little psychological and linguistic flash bombs that occasionally went off to remind Liam that they lived in different realities. This was one. Liam had no idea the Rownt considered ethics a prerequisite for sentience, especially since they had ututeh who lacked any desire to help or even interact with others. However, if ethical behavior implied sentience, that gave Liam new ammunition.
“Dogs will die to protect their packs.”
Ondry tilted his head to the side and widened his eyes. After a second he said, “That is instinctive behavior which ensures the survival of genetic lines.”
“Yes, but dogs like Duke are from species known for dying to protect their flocks. If a dog dies protecting sheep or cattle, wouldn’t that be ethical behavior?”
“I would assume that was instinct, but I would not debate such an issue with you. That is for Grandmothers older than I to discuss.” Ondry’s tone made it clear he feared showing his ignorance if he continued debating. Liam smiled, but before he could press his point, Ondry continued. “The Imshee may not count humans among the sentient races.”
“Why not?” Liam accented his question to express shock and dismay.
“They consider the ability to manipulate genetic material essential for the long-term survival of a species.”
“Do they consider Rownt to be sentient?”
“The mothers hold the genetics of all male Rownt they have chosen for mating, and may use the genetic material for multiple men to lay one clutch of eggs. That meets their minimum standard, but they do not hold Rownt in high esteem.”
“And the Grandmothers still trade with them?”
“Should one take profit only from those who offer respect?”
“That might be a problem. Still, I would prefer to avoid traders who disrespect me.” Liam climbed out of the nest and headed for the small toilet room. Their quarters on the Calti were much larger now that Ondry had secured his tuk status, but for all its impressive size, the Li was one of many Calti shuttles. The ship was much more useful when landing on a planet, but no one’s quarters were luxurious.
“I am unbothered. They have grown aggressive with other neighbors, so their lack of respect for the Rownt has provided security for Prarownt.”
“They’re aggressive? Is that why Prarownt has so many defensive satellites?”
“Not directly, but the Grandmothers many generations ago decided that if the Imshee showed both intelligence and an aggressive nature, other species would as well.”
“How did we get here from a discussion of Duke?”
“You were trying to convince me of the intelligence and suitability of a dog as a companion.”
“Humans like dogs,” Liam tried to explain. “Okay, some cultures don't, but lots of human cultures are very close to dogs.”
“Because of the historical relationship?”
“In part,” Liam agreed.
Ondry hesitated. “In less developed civilizations, they would provide a significant advantage in agrarian areas.”
Liam enjoyed watching Ondry try to work his brain around a problem in cultural values and how they translated.
“I'm sure they did, and I know farmers still use them in areas where weather makes mechanization difficult. Zach's family might have used their dogs for practical reasons.”
“But this particular animal was not used for agrarian purposes.”
That was obvious. Duke was spoiled beyond reason, and Liam wondered if it was because he’d been Zach’s as a puppy. Like many people, Zach had joined the war effort to try to earn money for his family back home. His family had gained an income and lost a son to the military. Liam understood how they could have transferred some of their love to Duke. It didn’t hurt that he was a huge, fuzzy ball of love. Liam wasn’t even a dog person, and he couldn’t resist those floppy ears and adorable face.
“No. Duke was a pet. But he could still warn his family if danger was coming.”
Ondry huffed again. He was very huffy this morning. “But there is no danger within the ship, certainly none in a Grandmother's nest.”
“It's not about whether he's useful.”
“Zach likes... him.”
“Oh yeah.” Zach adored the dog. Liam had to wonder if the Grandmother was jealous. She was sharing her palteia’s affection with a lower life form.
“Did you ever wish for a dog?” Ondry asked.
“Where I lived, every kid wanted a dog.”
There was a long silence, and Liam washed his hands and then grabbed a towel to wipe off the white splatters across his stomach and chest.
“Do you still want one?” Ondry asked.
Liam turned around. “Are you horrified or trying to figure out how to trade for one?”
“Both.”
The predictability of that answer almost made Liam laugh. “I don't want the responsibility. I think people who grow up with dogs need them, but I've gotten used to a home without dog hair and late night poop walks.”
“Good.” Ondry trilled. “The Grandmother may have more patience, but I would not react well to a predator in my nest. I used human information networks to look up dogs, and far too many humans have been harmed or killed by those claimed as pets.”
Liam couldn’t argue. “If people abuse dogs or don't socialize them well, they are still predators, but Duke is a well-socialized and loving dog.”
“Who is large enough to kill you,” Ondry said, and now Liam heard the genuine distress behind the trill that punctuated every other word.
Liam put the cleaning cloth down and gave Ondry his full attention. “Humans do a lot of dangerous things, but loving a dog is not one of them. Dogs are predictable, and Duke is not going to attack me. He’s going to learn to think about me as part of his pack because I’m allied with Zach.” Allied was as close as Liam could come to the concept of friend. Zach was a friend, or at least Liam was fairly sure he was becoming one.
“Your faith in the animal's instincts worries me, given that you have already admitted that you do not have experience with dogs.” Despite his clear unwillingness to let go of the issue, Ondry headed for the bathing room.
“You worry too much.”
Ondry took clothing out of the cleaning unit. “I would normally say the same of you, but when it comes to living in close proximity to dangerous predators, that is not true. You worry too little.”
“Hey. It’s a human thing. We worry about the strangest stuff... you know, like giant aliens bringing their technologically advanced ship into our home orbit.” Liam figured that must have caused more drama than anything since the civil war broke out. However, the military had managed not to shoot anyone, and they’d quarantined the area around the Mora family farm so Zach could visit with only a few officials wandering about to interrupt.
“I'm shocked the Grandmothers came to Earth.” Liam was surprised and a little unsure about what to do. They’d offered him a chance to visit his home, and the military had offered to find his living family, but that was part of a life Liam had left behind. He’d found a lawyer to handle his money and financially help both his family and the family members of those in his unit who had helped him get his tech certification. However, he didn’t feel like he needed to reopen any wounds by meeting his mother, assuming she was still alive. He’d turned down the offer of any information. He’d hidden behind Ondry, claiming that showing too much interest in old alliances would confuse the Rownt.
“I am not surprised.”
“Which means it's logical. How is that logical?” Liam didn’t have to think long. “They were trying to show off the speed of the ship and how easily it could reach the inner system, weren't they?”
Ondry’s expression turned smug. “That will remind your people that we are not humans and our technology does not have the same limitations as yours. The Grandmother was impressed that your general wished for each of us to maintain our own manners so we would not forget the differences between us.”
“I doubt the general will understand the significance of impressing a Rownt with a millennium of experience behind her, but as someone invested in avoiding a Rownt-human war, I'm very grateful.”
Ondry finished fastening his clothing and smoothed the fabric before resting his hand on Liam’s shoulder. “The saying goes that a Grandmother does not take a step unless there are three profits in that direction.”
“So it proves something else? Does it show that she has the authority to change the ship's destination?”
“Do not all leaders? Is that something which must be proven?” Ondry’s wide eyes made it clear he hadn’t expected that answer.
“A human ship would have called back to base to ask permission to make such a large change in the schedule.”
Ondry relaxed his eye muscles so his eyes grew more round, but Liam could tell he was still surprised by the human logic. “A Rownt would not think of asking anyone for permission. However, the Grandmother makes her palteia happy.”
For a second, Liam could only stare at Ondry. She had detoured the entire ship and challenged Earth’s security measures because she wanted Zach happy? And yet, it was a ridiculously Rownt thing to do. “You guys are a little obsessive about palteia.”
“As is reasonable.”
“So you say.” Liam could admit that his birth species had issues with logic, but he figured the Rownt had their own unique brand of crazy going. “So, the whole three things could be a metaphor, but face it, Rownt aren't great with metaphors. What is the third reason for taking in a dog?” Liam considered it for a second. “I'm guessing to show off the internal systems. The Grandmothers took in an alien life form that has limited control over its bowels and now have to adjust the internal environmental controls to account for a life form with a completely different biology and limited ability to think. Few human ships allow animals, and even then, the animals are strictly limited in where they're housed.”
“No doubt they considered such. But they also wish to make a point about what they value. Humans will no longer underestimate the lengths a Rownt will go to for a palteia.”
“You're still upset that the human term submissive includes the root ‘sub’, aren’t you?”
“Yes.”
“You are irrationally stuck on that issue.”
“I am disturbed by a value system at odds with logic.”
“At odds with Rownt logic,” Liam pointed out as he buttoned his shirt.
“And I am unapologetically Rownt.”
Liam couldn’t argue with that. “So let’s go see what craziness Duke is up to today.”
“Hopefully he will sleep,” Ondry said with an unmistakable edge of unhappiness.
Liam stopped in front of Ondry and reached up to rest his hand on Ondry’s fora. He allowed the warmth of his palm to soak into the sensitive spot on Ondry’s neck, knowing it was a comforting gesture. “Duke won’t hurt me.”
Ondry snorted but he didn’t comment. He did take Liam’s hand away from his neck and place a kiss on his palm before he ushered Liam toward the door.