Minute by Minute - 5. Chapter 5

Fuck. Where was he?

I’d been searching for hours. Up and down the long metal encased hallways. I asked the tram-valets if they had seen him, but no one knew. I swear I had half the Ceri’Ooana looking for Noah, and no one could find him.

I guess he was probably good at hiding after living with his father, but fuck I just wanted to explain.

After the drastic end to our kiss, I realized what he probably thought. I had jumped off of him without thinking, trying to control myself before I went into full Caochian rut. Sharing blood is a sign of bonding; you only do it with the person you have chosen as your mate, and only after the fasting ritual. I had chosen him, but Kirahl had not honored our coupling with the feast of Mekhigroka. And no matter how Noah had responded to me during our kiss, I had yet to explain to him what fasting to me fully meant.

The water was dark outside, the bright Oalas sun finally dipping over the horizon of the vast ocean. I sighed and ran a hand across my face, trying not to slam my knuckle claws into the nearest wall. Isir had yelled at me for the deep punctures I had left in our bedroom.

I leaned my head against the cool glass, thinking desperately of where Noah might have gone.

He’d only been gone for a few hours, and yet my body ached for his. My nerves grated, taught with the worry of not knowing where he was. Since he had woken up, we had not left each other’s side for more than the need to go to the bathroom, and we still often did that together. My protective instincts would not allow me more than a few feet away from him, and screamed whenever I couldn’t see him.

The soft footsteps of an Oalian neared, and I turned toward the noise.

“We’ve found him, Loe.” I caught my breath. “He’s in the communal eating center.” I grabbed Isir up in a quick, fierce hug, then took off for the center.

It seemed like I ran for miles, but I finally approached the center doors. I yanked one open and practically vaulted myself through. I searched the tables quickly for Noah’s dark hair, finally finding him in a circle of Oalians. One of them reached up and touched Noah’s cheek, and I couldn’t stop the roar that ripped out of my chest.

Mine.

Heads whipped towards me. I saw Noah flinch, and my inner animal growled. The Oalians surrounding him slowly backed away, not wanting to mess with an enraged Caochian. I stalked towards Noah, never blinking as I watched him tense the closer I got. I came to a halt when my bare feet were touching the tips of his soft shoes. He didn’t look at me. The anger inside my chest was building up, burning my throat.

“Where were you?” I managed to growl out.

He shrugged and fiddled with the edge of his shorts. I watched him for a few moments more, then made a quick decision.

I grabbed him under his armpits and hefted him over my shoulder, ignoring his shriek. I clamped a hand down on his cute butt and took off for our bedroom.

“Adrai! Let me down!” I ignored him. I made sure to keep my stride low and long. No matter how angry I was, I didn’t want him bouncing around uncomfortably on my shoulder.

I started slowing down as our door came in sight, and I pulled Noah from my shoulder to my chest, arranging him so that I was hugging him to me tightly in what he called the ‘Princess carry’. I didn’t look at him as I opened our door and walked inside. I carefully set him down on the bed.

I sat down on the end of the bed and laid a hand over one of his small feet. He abruptly yanked it away and rolled over, away from me.

There’s an Earth expression that I heard quite a bit around the bars a lot in the southern sections of the URNA.

Fuck me sideways.

My knuckle claws flexed in and out. I reached a hand out towards his back, but pulled back. “Where were you, Noah?”

He lay still for a few moments, and I was about to repeat the question when he flipped over and sat up, fists clenched.

“What the fuck do you care? You couldn’t get away from me fast enough! Was I that disgusting? Did you realize who you were kissing? I’m just a used up fucktoy and you’re practically a fucking prince! Why the fuck would you ever want me!”

Oh, Noah.

His breaths rasped out raggedly, his chest heaving up and down.

I spoke softly, wanting him to listen.

“No, Noah, that’s not what I thought at all.”

His face twisted and he looked like he wanted to throw something at me.

“Then why?” He stretched the last word out on a cry, and tears started to fall from his eyes.

"I'm sorry, Noah. I had no intention of hurting you." My chest ached as I watched the tears leak out of his gorgeous green eyes.

I crept forward, slowly lifting a hand towards him, approaching him as I would a scared animal. He flinched, but didn’t brush away my hand from his cheek. I wiped away his tears and cradled his face in my hands.

"I'm sorry, Noah. I had no intention of hurting you." My chest ached as I watched the tears leak out of his gorgeous green eyes.

“Blood is a very strong aphrodisiac to my species. When ingested, it sets us into rut. Because of the nearly violent nature of Caochian rut, blood-bonding are only allowed between fasted couples. When I…” Just thinking about the taste of his blood sprang my shaft from its sheath, and I tilted my face away from Noah, trying to calm myself. I took his hands in my larger ones, and continued. “When I sucked on your lip, I took the first start in blood-bonding us. If I had let myself continue further, I would not have been able to stop myself.”

Noah sniffled and pulled one his hands from mine. I looked up to see him wiping at his eyes.

“Then why didn’t you say anything? I could have gone and grabbed some salve or something.”

“I honestly didn’t realize that I’d cut you until your blood had filled my mouth. It was so hard to stop myself, Noah, I don’t even want to think about what would have happened if I hadn’t.” I shuddered and bent forward, resting my head on his knees. One of his hands tentatively rested on my neck, and I smiled at the small victory.

“Would it have really been so bad?” He asked. I snorted. He had no idea.

“Noah, have you ever wondered what my knuckle claws are for?”

His eyes widened, and I could see him think. “They’re weapons… right? And you use them as a sign of respect.” I couldn’t help a small flash of pride that he knew that, but I shook my head.

“That’s not all. In Agaghnoki, do you know what that means?” He stilled and racked his brain.

“That’s… like old… old times? Noki, that’s old. Aga is time.” He looked to me for reassurance, and I nodded.

“Almost. The Ancient Times. In Agaghnoki, knuckle claws were used to literally pin a mate down. The dominant partner would pierce through the submissive partners hands, keeping them trapped on the ground while the dominant rutted.”

Noah gasped and rubbed his hands, looking at me fearfully. “Isn’t that rape?”

I chuckled a bit and stretched up to kiss his cheek. “Sometimes, yes it was. But most of the time the partners were mated. It was mostly a safety measure for the dominant, so the sub’s claws wouldn’t do any serious damage while in rut. It’s hardly practiced anymore, save for a few subcultures who choose to keep the tradition alive. Nowadays, binding techniques are used instead.”

I saw Noah pale at that, his fingers clenching. I thought back to what he had said about being a fucktoy, and scowled.

“I won’t ever bind you, Noah. Not unless you want me to. You have no claws to harm me with.” I grabbed up his hands and placed a kiss on each of his knuckles.

“I don’t think I’d ever want you to.” He said shakily.

“Noah, bondage can be very exciting. It’s a huge part of my culture. Half of the reason I came to Earth was to learn more about your ‘leather scene’, as you Earthers call it. If you never want to explore that side of Acaoch, I understand completely. But eventually, I want you to just learn about it, if that isn’t too much.”

“Why would you want to learn about… about that?”

“When Adannen opened up to the rest of the galaxy, we got lots of travelers from all over. A few who had been to earth carried stories of your BD…” I thought, trying to remember the rest of the acronym.

Noah spoke up quietly, “BDSM.”

I nodded. “Yes, BDSM. Caochians were of course very intrigued by this, considering our past, and a few started making journeys to Earth. They came back with tales of the bars and dungeons, exclaiming about the techniques and all the different sorts of play that you Earthers explored. When I became of age, I asked Father permission to make my own journey, and traveled to Earth. That was before your URNA was formed, and it was a bit less regulated. I had my fun for many years, learning knots and how to use all the different tools.”

Noah’s forehead scrunched, and he was opening and closing his mouth like a fish. I waited while he thought whatever he was thinking over.

Finally he whispered, “Before URNA? That was over a hundred years ago. How old are you?” He said it reverently, with a look I couldn’t explain in his eye.

“Caochian males come of age at about forty, in your years. Women usually take a bit longer, between forty-five and fifty years. Right now I’m just under two hundred years old. My father is over five hundred. Developmentally, I’m in my mid-twenties in comparison to your life-cycle.”

Noah let out a huge breath and flopped back onto the bed. I crawled up to lie next to him, my head on my hand. He ran a hand through his hair and tugged at it, as if making sure he was real. He turned towards me and sighed again.

“I have so many questions, Adrai. I can’t even think. I’m so confused. First the BDSM thing, and your scary stories about sex, and now you’re two hundred fucking years old.”

“Can I hold you, Noah? You can ask me more when I’m touching you. My poor lion is raging.”

He laughed and shifted towards me, allowing me to wrap him up tight against me.

We were quiet for a while, as I breathed in his scent, so happy that he had been found. Which, speaking of, reminded me.

“Noah, where were you hiding? You still have yet to tell me.”

He snickered and waved a hand. “Just in the center kitchen. I crawled into one of the big cabinets they have in there. One of the cooks opened it up looking for some oosa or something and nearly had a heart attack.”

I laughed quietly then clenched him tightly, burying my face in his hair. “Noah, don’t ever run off like that again. I can’t stand it.”

He wriggled around so that he could face me and absently played with one of my hands.

“I won’t. I thought you didn’t want me. One moment you were kissing me and it was so good, and the next you all the way across the room punching a wall. I was terrified.”

I groaned and tilted his chin up, planting a soft kiss on his lips. I gently took his hand and dragged it down my chest, towards my breechclout. He gasped as he came into contact with my turgid flesh, which leapt towards his palm. I pressed him against me briefly, before pulling his hand away and bringing it up to my lips.

“Believe me, Noah. I want you. I want you so much every night next to you is torture on my self control. I don’t think that you are used,” His cheeks heated and he looked away, “I think that you were abused, and that you are healing. The kiss showed that. I was so happy that you didn’t run from the bed screaming. I was sure you would.”

He frowned at me and poked my chest. “I’m not a coward. Yeah, what happened to me was shit, but I’ve had eight goddamn years to deal with it. I’m just happy that it’s over. That last night was probably one of the worst times that he’d ever hurt me, but you were there for me the whole time afterwards. I woke up with you protecting me. I’m not scared of you, Adrai.”

I beamed at him, showing full fang. Fuck that made me happy.

I rolled away from him and stood up, grabbing his hand on the way and yanking him against me. I snagged a quick kiss and held him tight.

“I haven’t eaten in hours, Noah. It’s late, but do you want to go grab something to eat?

He nodded enthusiastically and laughed as my belly let out a loud growl, right on cue.

******

Over the next day or so, we got ready to leave. Noah packed what little his family had given to me at the Earth hospital, and what we had acquired for him on Oalas. I made sure that all of our preparations for the trip to Adannen were still sound, and that Sam’s ship was still on keel for Oalas. Everything looked good, so mostly I just watched Noah as he fretted about.

He kept asking me to do this or that, making sure that Sam would be comfortable here. Isir dropped by a few times, also checking up on Sam, and seeing how we were doing.

About three hours before Sam’s ship was supposed to port, I got a call from one of the captains.

“Sir! There’s ships…. Us… shot… make it… them down…” And then it crackled out. Noah, who was at my side, stared up me, his eyes wide. I frantically pushed the callback button on my tele-com, but the call never went through.

“Noah, get on my back. We’ll make it to the cross-trams faster.” Noah nodded, his face tight with worry. I grabbed his legs tight and shot off towards the trams and the port. Isir was already there, waiting, also tense.

“I got word from our defense administrators. Apparently there’s a small battle going on just outside our atmosphere. They’re sending out troops now to defend Sam, but we can’t tell what’s happening yet.”

We got on the tram and sat, Noah’s hand clenched tightly around mine, and Isir getting up ever moment or so to pace and check in with the administrators.

Finally we reached the port. We rode the elevator to the top and stepped out into the first real sunlight that I had seen since we got here. It relaxed me, allowing me to breathe a little easier. I ran a hand down Noah’s stiff back, praying for him that Sam was okay.

We walked towards across the expansive deck towards the large gate and the Oalian security guards set up against the doors. They nodded at Isir and let us through.

Noah gasped at what he saw on the other side. When we’d come through before, He’d still been in a coma, unable to see the wonder of the Oalian port.

The floor was a beautifully tiled mosaic of waves and creatures, the pattern obscured from where we stood, the sunlight glinting off in shots of color.

It stretched on for miles above the water, docks expanding out onto the water on one side with numerous guards posted at each one. On the other side of the walkway, hundreds of people milled through the vendor stores and rushed past us, hurrying to get on their next ship or to get down to the cross-trams.

A huge canopy blew in the wind above us, held up by massive curved posts that looked like the bones of one of the many massive creatures that swam below us.

Suddenly, a scream rang out, pulling me from my observations. I followed where people were pointing and looked up, three smoking ships were falling out of the sky. Noah gave a small cry and dug his nails into my arm. I wrapped an arm around him and pulled him close.

Guards were rushing around, getting several rescue ships ready and launching out towards the still hurtling ships. One of them was careening wildly, still spinning as it dropped. It crashed into the water, sending up a massive splash.

Everyone on the deck was waiting in scared silence, crowded against the portside. The second ship crashed, a little bit closer, and I could see that the design was of my home’s. The last ship crashed further out, but I barely noticed as I watched the guards pull up to my ship and start to search. After an agonizing ten minutes, Noah’s fingernails surely have causing me to bleed by now, the guards pulled a small form out of the ship.

Noah gasp and made to run forward, nearly toppling himself into the water. I grabbed him up and shoved past one of the guards still on deck, walking out onto the closest dock.

I held Noah tight as we waited for the rescue ship to gradually make its way back to us. As soon as they touched dock and one of the guards leapt out, Noah broke free of my arms and ran to the ship.

I followed behind, slower. I was terrified of what Noah would find in the ship. A charred and very dead Sam? One of my soldiers? I watched Noah’s back as they brought the body out, laying on the dock. Noah crumpled, sliding to floor.

One of the guards pulled him away and the others surrounded the body.

I caught up and shoved the guards hand off of Noah’s arm. He looked up at me, tears streaming down his cheeks.

“It’s him, Adrai. It’s Sam.”