Hsing watched his brother as Chen lay the human woman's head down gently on the cushion. Her mouth slackened as her head rolled into the crook of his brother’s arm. Her lips were plump, a deep shade of pink that wasn't quite red. They made Hsing think of suckling berry fruits off the arbors of the planet Radek. Those fruits were sweet on the tongue, but gave a little kick when they reached the back of his throat.
Chen placed his lips at the crease in the woman's forehead. The crease went away. Her lips parted and an audible sigh escaped.
Hsing saw her tongue in the crevice of her mouth. His eyes feasted on that other shade of pink. His loins tingled at the sight.
He'd felt a buzzing hint of the pleasure shared between Chen and the woman. Chen couldn't shut his brother out, and he never would have. The link between maternal brothers was too strong to shut off completely. At that moment, while Chen was with the woman, Hsing didn't open himself fully to his brother. Hsing allowed Chen his privacy with the woman -their mate- knowing his own time with her would come soon enough.
Over the short span of time that Chen had returned with their mate, Hsing felt the tingling pleasure grow and grow. It was like a wind blowing a soft suggestion across his cheek. In time, the wind increased its insistence into a gale force upsetting his stance. The strong gust of emotion caused Hsing to squirm in his command chair.
Strong emotion was never comfortable to a Yin like him. The feelings were an annoying agitation to his state of ready consciousness. But there was something more to this affect Hsing was feeling. His curiosity piqued, he decided to come to them and see their mate for himself.
She was not what he expected. Had he had any real expectations? Other than a human with female parts in working order. Hsing got a glimpse of her female parts. From the barrage of pleasure-stoked windstorm that brought him from his duties and to her berth, it was clear her parts worked just fine.
Still, he couldn't stifle his disappointment. The female was small, helpless. He scented fear in the sweat on her skin. He spied it in the liquid that crinkled her eyelids.
Chen covered her female parts with a blanket. Hsing felt another pang of disappointment to see them go. Her reception of him had been far from pleasant. Chen hadn't prepared her for her duties.
It was no matter. She was now their mate. Just as Chen had done his duty in taking her, Hsing would do his duty and mate with her. The fate of their entire society, what little remained of it, rested upon it.
"I think we should return her." Chen ran his fingers gently down the side of her sleeping face. The action put her into a deeper state of zen. Imparting calm was one of his Yang talents.
"You cannot be serious."
Chen tore his gaze away from the woman. Hsing could tell it was with some level of difficulty that Chen turned from her and faced him. "There has been a misunderstanding between us."
"Did I misunderstand the time you spent between her thighs?" Even now, small sparks of the sensations crawled up and down the telepathic link Hsing's shared with his brother.
"She does not want to be here." Chen's brow sank low at the proclamation. "She thought she was dead, that I was a spirit guide come to take her to the afterlife." Chen turned back to her. "I thought she wanted to come with me. I thought she wanted me."
"It does not matter what she or you thought. You cannot take her back, and you know it. You have bonded with her. Your nature will not allow you to be parted from her."
Once their female mate was chosen, Eloheem mated for life. There was no severing of ties, unless in death. The strings that bound Eloh brothers and their mate were so strong that it often pulled the widow partners into death after them. Or, if not death, something worse.
"And once I take her, the bond will be sealed." Hsing's loins stirred as he looked down at her covered body. He'd glimpsed the dark mounds on her chest, the curve of her torso, the dark, furry apex at her thighs.
Chen turned back to Hsing, eyes flaring.
"Is that jealousy in your eyes, Chen-Na?"
Chen's jaw tightened.
Hsing reached out a hand and laid it on Chen's shoulder. His brother stiffened beneath his fingers. "Your head is clouded with feelings, brother. A heavy load that is thrust upon those of your nature."
Chen's Yang nature was one that allowed him to feel a host of emotions. Hsing was glad he wasn't born with that burden. His nature was Yin where he focused more on logic.
"You know that I must take her,” he said. “If our kind is to survive we must bring forth the next generation. Do not allow your feelings to cloud your judgment, Chen. Otherwise we will end up like the marred ones."
Slowly Chen's vision cleared. It more than cleared. Hsing watched as something passed over his brother's eyes.
"You are right, Hsing-I. I can see it now." Chen turned back to the female. "Once she accepts you, our fates will be sealed. But she will need to stop running first."
"I see that coupling has made you prophetic." Hsing raised an eyebrow.
Their Yang father often saw visions after he went behind closed doors with their mother. He’d seen the vision of what would happen to the ones that went mad, whose beings became marred. He’d seen what would happen to their tribe. But in his father’s visions, he’d seen no way of stopping it.
"It is not my prophecy, brother. You said it first. We all will come full circle."
Hsing had said those words earlier. He'd said them to Chen as his brother prepared to go down to Earth and procure them a mate.
Chen regarded their mate. "You will mate with her. But she will not accept you while you stand behind your walls. You must become vulnerable."
Hsing rolled his eyes and turned to go. Vulnerability was the last thing he would do. He couldn't afford it, not with the fate of his people in his hands and a war on their tails. It didn't matter if their mate accepted him or not. They all would do their duty.
Chen's hand stopped him. "She is the key to peace, Hsing-I."
A telepathic ding met both of their ears.
Pakua's voice rang true in their minds. "We have spotted trouble."
"I will be right there." Hsing shut off communication with Pakua and turned his mind back to his brother.
"We will find peace once we free the universe of the marred ones."
Chen smiled. "Wrong again, brother. You will find peace when you lay with her."
They both looked over at her. In the hailstorm of emotions, Hsing sensed Chen's peace, his awakening. It was what called him away from his duties and to the room.
"I was there, Hsing. Inside of her I touched Nirvana."
