I can feel the smile on my face spreading so wide, probably causing a bit of a scare for her, but this is one of my favorite parts of our culture.

“Exactly what it sounds like, love,” Adeema whispers into her ear. “For instance, merely kissing you,” and he does, tilting her head backwards so he can kiss her properly, and I watch as his split tongue delves into her mouth, entangling with hers. I watch as he gently pulls at her tongue, as some of his saliva drips into her mouth slowly, until she's forced to swallow. He pulls away as he holds eye contact. “That does something,” he tells her. “It furthers our cause, changing the code in your body to better mesh with us.”

“Changes me how? I'm not going to turn into an alien, right?”

I can't fight the laugh that wants to escape, so I don't try.

“You will remain human,” Owiin rumbles in shared amusement from beneath her. “Just as your body floods itself with arousal to get it ready for intercourse, ingesting any bit of our DNA gets your body ready to fit us. That will change the consistency of the slick your body naturally produces, lessen the pain that otherwise might happen by taking one of us, and encourage your skin to become extra pliant for our bodies. Similar to how a woman’s body is flooded with hormones to change while pregnant, this mimics that system.”

“If I have to change, so do you. What happens to you guys when you get my saliva, huh? I want to see you do something weird, too.”

“Maybe not weird…” Adeema trails off, clearly debating on whether he should go here so soon or not. “But it does something alright.”

“No, you don't get to stop that sentence there. Explain.”

But we can't explain, because the alarm starts blaring, telling us we are approaching the station. “We must get you dressed and ready to disembark. We will have to present you to our leader before we are able to take you to our quarters. Unless you wish to greet him in your current state, then perhaps we should find something to put on your body.”

“No, I don't think I want to meet your leader with my tits out. I don't know what I'm supposed to wear though, clearly, I didn't pack a suitcase.”

“We can get all of that sorted for you soon. For now…” I walk to the closet at the other end of the room and withdraw some of the stretchy lounge pants that Owiin enjoys. They’ll be big on her, but warm and comfortable. Adeema already has her T-shirt back on by the time I'm reaching down to help her get the pants on, and then he’s rushing out of the room to take the helm and ensure that our docking goes smoothly.

I help her to a standing position and bring her to our window, raising the coverings so she may look out of it. Her mouth opens, jaw lowering in what I'm assuming is an expression of awe as she takes in her new home.

“This is the space station?Thisis where you live?”

“And now you,” I remind her softly. “Have you seen pictures of it before?”

She shakes her head, plastering her face against the glass. “What is all that? Oh my God, are those aliens full on just doing a human right there? In the middle of that waterslide?”

“I don't know what a waterslide this, but that is one of the many mating tracks on board. It is a status symbol to breed your mate where anyone may see, because only those of us that are mated may do such things.”

“You guys don't just bang each other in the absence of other companions?”

When we don't answer, she turns slowly to look at me.

“That’s what receiving your saliva does for us,” Owiin admits, feeling somewhat embarrassed, I think. “That's what grants us the ability to finish.”

Okay, I thought her jaw couldn't drop any lower, but I am proved wrong.

Owiin

As the appointed leader of our triad, it's my job to get us all to a meeting with our kruul.

I tuck my mate, so sweet and precious, between the other members of my triad, bending down to leave her with a too-short kiss before leading the way to our leader’s office. He'll be expecting us since he would have been notified that we were approaching, and we've been gone for several months, so he needs us to report.

I present my face to be scanned at the entryway, waiting for the screen to turn green and the door to swing open for us.

My triad members encourage our Margaret to come to my side, to be front and center so that she knows we are proud of her when we meet with our kruul.

He does not stoop to speaking the language of humans, as he has made it clear on several occasions they must rise to meet him. He has never been a big fan of the necessary mating program we have with earth, unwilling to travel and see the planet for himself. Why would he, when he is afforded, along with his triad, a perfect example of a rare Violetian female? There are only a couple other triads on the entire ship that can claim to have one as their mate.

“Welcome home, Triad. I see your mission was successful?”

Our kruul’s eyes don't waver from our mate, who's clearly trying very hard to not say anything that might come off as rude. But I know she has no idea what we're saying since she hasn't gotten her translation chip yet. This is intentional, so that our kruul can say whatever he needs to say now without having to speak directly to a human.

“Yes, your excellence,” I say with a bow. “We have brought home our mate.”

He stands from his throne and approaches us carefully, and I wrap my arm around Margaret to pull her into me. I give her a terse smile to let her know this is fine, and then he's circling her, and I don't like the way his eyes keep going to her breasts.