C&C

Lunar or Later - Chapter 13

Added 2021-12-12 23:16:29 +0000 UTC

Word count: 10,146

Lena dreaded the awkwardness of sitting down to dinner with Kara’s Kryptonian parents. It would have been so much easier if she wasn’t covered in bites along her throat and incriminating handprints. On top of it all, Lena worried they were going to be late. After mating in the desert for the hottest hours of the afternoon, they had returned to Kara’s apartment suite and lost track of the time. Kara positioned her in front of the large cool glass windows and filled her cunt with a knot that made her ache inside. The widest part lodged in her a little too deep, and Kara’s intermittent thrusting stretched her to sensational fullness.

For a horrifying thirty minutes while it refused to subside, Lena thought she would have to endure the judgment of her future in-laws while eating new cuisines that Kara described as sentient. With the debacle over what counted as free range, and the horror of the moving meatballs, Lena was sure that sentient wasn’t the correct word for whatever Kara tried to describe.

They disagreed for twenty-five of those blissfully joined minutes, and Lena graciously dropped the issue since they were knotted together. It wasn’t worth an argument, especially when Kara was caressing her clit to prolong her pleasure.

In spite of how they agreed they would stop fooling around and get ready for dinner, every time they tried to separate, Lena clenched or Kara managed to thrust and it started their session over again. If they didn’t learn to control themselves soon, they would miss dinner altogether.

“Between the winning combination of your stamina and my omega’s unending thirst for you, I know we could quite happily go another round, but if you don’t get out of me in the next ten seconds, we’ll have to cancel on dinner.” Lena delivered her threats as sternly as she could with Kara’s fingers caressing her sex swollen lips.

Even that light petting was enough to make her clit throb, and she whined at the diligent way Kara began to massage into it in earnest.

Kara’s smile could be felt as she nuzzled into Lena’s neck, and the sultry musk of her adoration lowered Lena’s inhibitions. “If we’re fast—”

“We were,” Lena snapped, or at least she tried to, even though it was breathier and raspy given Kara’s sexual prowess. “The last three times we were, out of however many rounds we’ve gone.”

Lena squinted at her lack of mental acuity and glared at Kara when she unhelpfully murmured eight.

The fact that her alpha could keep score on anything and everything had come back to bite Lena in the ass on more than one occasion, and she still wasn’t used to it yet. She tightened around Kara’s knot and whimpered at the immediate surge that pulsed up her mate’s shaft.

“There was a time when I wouldn’t have cared if I made a good impression, but all of that’s changed because of you, so please let me get ready.” Lena loathed that it had to come to acknowledging that she wanted to impress Kara’s parents to get the alpha’s libido in check, and she whimpered at the sudden loss of her mate’s warmth.

Kara hardly gave her time to get her bearings. She spun Lena around to cup her cheeks in both hands like she was the human equivalent of Doris and smiled down at her just as fondly. “You already impressed them, Lena. You took part in our traditions and you’re learning Kryptonese and you match my scientific talents. They see you make me happy.”

“Oh, I’m sure they’ll really see that if we don’t get cleaned up immediately.” Lena tugged Kara to the bathroom before realizing she couldn’t join her mate due to the ridiculous blue paint that still clung to her skin.

Kara’s fingers had smeared it in patches, and there were inky prints left behind on the bed.

“The robes will conceal it,” Kara explained, reading Lena’s mortified expression before she voiced her complaints.

All in all, it was a blessing that Lena kept her mouth shut, because Kara took it upon herself to spritz her liberally with scent masker. Doused from head to painted blue toes, Lena counted backwards from ten and resisted the urge to hurtle herself through space again just to get out of the dinner. Instead, she donned the robes of earlier, which still smelled like sex no matter how much scent masker they used, and she tried to deceive herself that nobody would notice.

Kara, on the other hand, soaped up and scrubbed off in the beautiful flowing bath while Lena watched her in a state of lustful envy. She looked handsome once she slipped on her own robes, authoritative and charming in equal regards, and Lena’s omega was far too willing to announce that with an amorous perfume.

In comparison, Lena looked shamefully like she actually had been purchased back at the market they toured, and she deflated at the sight of herself.

It didn’t help that Kara’s nose scrunched the second she walked over, and Lena resisted showing the tremble of vulnerability that started in her lip by catching it between her teeth. “Kara, I can’t be seen like this. Even you think I look bad.”

“That’s not true. Your colors have just faded. I can fix it.”

Kara’s commanding attitude soothed the fight within Lena. For the next two minutes, Kara
stripped her bare and touched up with the brilliantly blue paint covering a good deal of her scent and the evidence of their escapades. She wanted to berate Kara about how late they were going to be, but she no sooner put on her robes than Kara was activating a touch pad on the wall and a portal opened up in the middle of her bedroom.

There was no time for questions or even to take a deep breath as Kara strode forward with her in hand and they vanished through a swirling purple mist and straight into a noisy waiting area.

“Welcome to Axis,” Kara intoned with pride, sweeping her arm out to showcase the incredible but terrifying view.

Lena blinked at the change in surroundings and registered that they were in a very large floating dome the size of a stadium. It was made of a hard, clear substance that she hoped wasn’t actually glass. The structure was entirely transparent, including the floor, and for a dizzying moment she couldn’t move. They were so high up that nobody would be able to see that she was naked beneath her robes, though that was the least of her worries as she saw the entire city beneath her feet.

Fear gripped her while Kara spoke with a concierge, and then linked their arms together and led them towards a crystalline table where her parents were already waiting. Kara’s mother reacted faster than her father and stood up to welcome her daughter by clasping her hands.

“You shine with Rao’s light,” Kara’s mother commented, lifting a palm to Kara’s cheek with a fondness that she then bestowed to Lena. “And you honor our daughter by accepting her claim. How wonderful to finally meet you, Lena.”

“Oh, the pleasure is all mine, Mrs. Zor-El,” Lena babbled, extending her hand for Kara’s mother to clasp it rather than shake it.

“Please, call me Alura, and this is Zor.” Alura’s introductions and clear approval relaxed Lena enough to sit down with a smile that was genuine. She still buzzed inside with paranoia, though Kara seemed intent to counter it with proud pheromones that reassured Lena’s omega.

“She traveled well, no loss of consciousness on the way,” Kara intoned, puffing herself up like she hadn’t just shared a tidbit of their trip that was alarming.

“Ah, a true friend of the stars,” Zor commented, and then frowned at the wide-eyed way Lena glanced between them. “Most Earthlings find the journey overwhelming. Some of your officials have leaked from their orifices.”

“Vomited, most of the time, though one General urinated mid-flight and then denied it,” Kara uttered matter of fact and smiled up at a small robot that hovered over to scan the table.

“You didn’t think to warn me before leaving that I could pass out or shi—” Lena’s tight lipped smile formed at a grudging delay as she tried not to curse in front of Kara’s parents. “Shame myself?”

“I knew you could handle it,” Kara confided in a whisper, and soothed Lena with the simple gesture of lacing their fingers together beneath the table. The fact that everyone could see it didn’t seem to deter Kara or how her hand strayed momentarily to Lena’s knee afterwards.

The absurd response of Lena’s omega to perfume the table with adoring scents amidst her outrage bothered her more than it showed, and she cleared her throat as the little bot scanned everyone at the table separately. It reminded Lena of the remote in Kara’s hotel room, and how the fashion program picked out an outfit to suit her lithe frame with the touch of a button.

“What just happened?” Lena murmured.

Though her question had been posed to Kara, it seemed that Zor assumed that he should answer. He sat straight without much of a smile and informed Lena candidly, “Our sentient bot Kalex reads everyone’s biometrics and brings them a dish to suit their particular needs and wants.”

“So, this is what Kara meant by sentient food,” Lena muttered, glancing across to other tables to see other Kryptonians and visiting species getting scanned as they chatted to one another. “Wouldn’t it be easier to just use menus?”

“We don’t require such primitive things here,” Zor laughed, and though Lena took immediate offense, it was adorable to see how Kara sat forward to insist, “On Earth they have menus for everything, and it’s been one of the many delights of the planet. I have discovered a great love for a thing they call pot-stickers.”

“Does it meet your nutritional needs?” Zor asked with an intrigued lilt, more open to the discussion now that Kara was giving her own input.

“Only if I eat enough. On Earth, I have to consume far more than I normally would on Krypton, but it’s all delicious and I loved getting to try their dishes.”

Lena tried not to smirk as she thought how literal that was, given Kara’s appetite and strength, and how frequently she had bit into cups and plates at the start of her visit.

The incident with the marbles was still in Lena’s mind as Kalex produced a shallow bowl of shimmering water in front of Lena, and she dipped her fingers into it to cleans herself.

Gasps of horror followed a split second later, and the scent of disapproval manifested around Zor like a billowing storm cloud. She reacted by shrinking into her seat and turning her vulnerable eyes onto Kara in a silent, confused plea for help. “What did I do?”

“The first meal is always for Rao in offering,” Kara whispered, her hushed words filling Lena with dread. “In my excitement, I forgot to tell you.”

Lena covertly tried to wipe her hands on a napkin, all the while acutely aware of how Zor stared at her in outrage.

“So, this would be the equivalent of bathing in the temple wine,” Lena muttered so only Kara would hear, and relaxed only when her mate took her hand to comfort her.

“Lena still has much to learn of our customs, just as I took time to learn all Earth’s cultural practices,” Kara supplied in defense of Lena’s accidental blasphemy, and showed no signs of judgement as she squeezed Lena’s hand. “In many ways my attempts to attract Lena as a mate could have been taken as direct insults. It took my Alex weeks to teach me the correct etiquette.”

Alura was far less appalled than Zor and used her own charm to settle her husband's emotions by releasing the calm, loving scent of a content mate. “If I recall, you had many unfortunate moments where Lena could have rejected you and she chose to show you compassion instead. We can be lenient. It’s only fair as she learns for herself.”

Zor might have sighed, but he chose to agree after a slight hesitation, and then changed the subject entirely. “I hope Rao blesses you with many children. After the union, how soon do you plan to fertilize Lena? We have put in a request for more ambrosia to help.”

Lena choked on air as Kara broke into a nervous and unpredictable sweat that started at her hairline. “Oh, yes, we plan to begin as soon as possible.”

Zor worried his brow and steepled his fingers together as he addressed Lena. “It took us many years to conceive Kara and we never succeeded in giving her a sibling. It is one of the great regrets that we didn’t have more children. Do you mind if we perform a few tests to determine more about your fertility and your genome as a member of the humanoid Earth species?”

It seemed like Kara had guessed that Zor would inquire about that subject over dinner, because she stuttered out something that sounded like, “Nuh—no” and shook her head with a feral-looking smile on her face.

In hopes of winning points with Kara’s father, Lena held up her hand to quiet her mate. “It’s fine, Kara. How are these tests performed? In a lab?”

Zor beckoned her to sit forward, and Lena expected him to share confidential information, but instead he was fast to slap a cuff on her.

Lena hadn’t expected to be manacled at the dinner table and grabbed her wrist with a soft gasp of betrayal. Small lights on top of the cuff began to change color and settled on an alluring shade of violet.

“How intriguing,” Zor drawled and reached forward to grip her wrist without the ability to disguise his joy. “This result shows you are very suited as an omega to produce a great number of offspring.”

Lena took her hand back and continued to clutch it against herself. She was in shock that she had just been administered a test instantaneously after giving her consent, even if Zor did look at her with a bizarre new twinkle of pride in his eye.

Kara apologized with a slant of her lips that didn’t quite form a frown due to her family’s overwhelming happiness.

“I knew that Lena was amazing from the day we met, but this is just another reason to love her.” Kara smiled and placed her arm around Lena’s waist, not shy about her own delight.

The affectionate attention wasn’t as innocuous as Lena assumed due to her own responses, and while she took comfort in Kara’s touch her omega was sending out signals to her mate. Normally the faint change in her scent was untraceable and easily managed, except the cuff on her wrist gave away her amorous connection with a series of quick multicolored flashes that settled on an alarming and guilty red.

In unsettled confusion, Lena dropped her hand as if to conceal it beneath the table before anyone noticed, but the crystal provided no coverage and the light shone through the sleeve of her robe. Kara’s smile froze and her hand tightened on Lena’s waist as the slightest stench of panic wafted off the alpha.

“Your daughter is very good at flattery, but it’s her sweet nature that I fell in love with,” Lena disclosed honestly with a smile she hoped would sway whatever tensions were building.

It shocked her that Alura was the one who turned to Kara utterly aghast and sharply accused, “How could you ruin the blessing by mating with the omega before joining under Rao’s light? You tarnished your honor and defiled Lena’s virtue–”

“She didn’t,” Lena blurted, startling herself with the velocity at which she slung her arm out as if to shield Kara from their harsh judgement. “I mean, we did, but she hasn’t ruined anything, least of all me. She courted me as is your custom on Krypton, except we weren’t on Krypton. It was only fair that she honored Earth’s customs as well. You see, omegas of my species—since we—um—we’re–“

“So fertile,” Kara helpfully insisted when Lena stalled at finding an excuse.

“Right,” Lena agreed, and showed her gratitude by taking hold of Kara’s hand boldly and without shame that the bracelet was still red. “We have to carefully choose a mate that can satisfy certain requirements of our omegas. Part of Earth’s courtship rituals are deeming a mate worthy by their performance. If we’re unable to bond by mating, then we would never mate for life, so you see, Kara was honoring me and my customs by deviating from yours.”

“Is this true?” Zor pointedly asked Kara, though he appeared hopeful, despite his stern tone.

Kara nodded too vigorously, too readily, like one who had no experience whatsoever in lying to others.

Fortunately, Zor didn’t appear to find Kara’s behavior suspect, and Lena did her best to play up her story. She took out her phone that no longer had a signal and flipped through her old photos of college partying.

“You see, we observe much different courtship rituals on earth. We dress in minimal clothes, imbibe mind-altering drinks and—”

“Have frequent, casual intercourse,” Alura supplied with a slow blink of curiosity at the pictures of Lena’s college friends. “Perhaps we should change the topic of our conversation now that we’ve resolved this misunderstanding.”

“Yes, yes please,” Lena emphatically agreed and ignored the blatant looks of envy Kara was attracting from eavesdropping alphas at the nearest tables.

The reek of lust boxed them in on both sides and their server coughed on it as he came over to place their personalized appetizers in front of them. Alura sampled her delicate and wafer-like canapés — all in pale shades that suggested different flavors. Zor’s appetizer was flaky and similar to fish with a dusting of odd powder on top. Kara’s plate held a large plume stuck into a multi-layered and filled sphere.

Lena would have liked to taste a forkful and her stomach groaned in preparation for her own first course. She sat upright and waited for the server to place her dish in front of her.

“Mousse of ambergris and fawn pastry,” the server declared with a glow of pride that he pronounced the English translation of her special dish.

Lena glared down at the strange meal in front of her, which looked undeniably like something that had been digested once already — not the least bit surprising, given that the server referred to it as ambergris.

“I’m sorry, but what is this?” Lena muttered with a reluctance to put any of it near her mouth.

The curled brown shape was reminiscent of other things, and Lena frowned, despite the warming aromas that came from the dish.

“I assure you it’s everything you want,” The waiter insisted, the hopeful pinch of his brows similar to the expression Kara wore as she silently pleaded with Lena to try the cuisine before inadvertently insulting her parents.

Love, it turned out, was an awful and unfair manipulator, which wasn’t just limited to the physical aspects of their relationship, or how Lena’s omega convinced her that breeding would be on the table as soon as possible. Love compelled her to dig the spoon into the goop and swallow her pride along with her revulsion to taste the dish.

For all it resembled something putrid, it certainly tasted delicious and reminded Lena of spiced bread pudding from when she was child. She was disturbed that she took another spoonful, and if she moaned, it wasn’t deliberate. Everyone relaxed at the table after that, even the waiter, who hurried off to gather their drinks while they ate.

“Do you want to try it?” Lena asked when Kara kept glancing her way, aware that her mate’s attention was somewhat less on the food, and more on the pucker of her lips as they wrapped around the spoon.

“Sample mine first,” Kara encouraged, apparently forgetting the table was see-through as she leaned over to offer a forkful of her own dish to Lena with the kind of intensity that was obscene in a crowded restaurant.

Lena fared no better with her soft noise of contentment and the lingering way her tongue worked over the fork suggestively.

From the subtle rise of Kara’s robes, the alpha noticed it, though she at least had the sense to behave herself as she straightened up and bragged, “It’s a sign of affection to feed one another on Earth. It strengthens the bond of mates who wish to reciprocate a nurturing touch.”

“Fascinating,” Zor murmured, keenly peering at the besotted way Lena glanced up at Kara before surprising Alura with a forkful of his own dish.

The Kryptonian omega looked unsure and then accepted the offering with a blush. For a change, Lena wasn’t the one who felt vulnerable, and it amused her to see the shy way Alura acted toward Zor thereafter.

“Do we share a better connection now?” Alura asked, her hand absently finding Zor’s on the table in perhaps the only other show of affection they shared in front of Lena.

Zor made an affirming noise that was something akin to Kara’s and Lena shared a private smirk with her mate as she realized the impact their own relationship might have on her soon to be in-laws.

“Kara tells me you’re both incredibly talented scientists,” Lena commented once they finished their starters. “Is that how you fell in love with one another, locked away in a lab like we were?”

The wine the waiters served them looked syrupy and rich, and it tasted unlike any fruit Lena had ever tried – sweet and sticky with a smoky note that kept her going back for another sip. Kara’s relaxed and confident posture drew her eye more than once, and Lena no longer cared to hide it as she leaned into her mate as if they were at their local bar and not a fancy Kryptonian restaurant.

“We belonged to separate guilds. I found him rude and uncompromising,” Alura confided with a mirth that curled her lips. She leveled her husband with a fond look when he scoffed at her recollections.

“Her designs were impractical, though intriguing, and I argued my points as to why. I hardly see it as rude,” Zor maintained an arrogant lift of his chin which changed as he laughed, “I had hoped to impress her with my knowledge. In hindsight, I see the errors I made along the way.”

“You obviously did something right if you’re together now,” Lena lilted, happy to sit back and listen as Zor puffed up with pride like he might share the story as to how they finally began their courtship.

It turned out that Kara’s experiences with wooing a mate with disastrous results was paralleled by Zor’s attempts with Alura. In spite of being familiar with all the steps of courtship on Krypton, the alphas of House of El were earnestly terrible at connecting with their omegas, until someone mercifully stepped in to guide them.

Zor’s honesty, respect, and residual sweetness, was ultimately what won Alura over in the end, and Lena found herself bonding with Kara’s mother due to the similarities of their courting situations.

Between stories and reminiscing, Lena confessed that at first, she thought Kara was intentionally trying to swoop into her place at work and sabotage her to get the top spot. She entertained them with tales of all her hard work and perseverance to earn her place as Jack’s Head of Development, and she even explained the instances of miscommunication that transpired between her and Kara.

Lena grinned, able to see the funny side now that she understood there was never any malicious intent behind Kara’s attempts to get her attention. “Most days I went to work like I was heading into battle, and there Kara was, smiling at me the entire time I thought she was trying to ruin my life.”

Kara took pride in telling her family about karaoke and the mating rituals of song and dance before rambling about Doris. Zor and Alura were captivated by the mention of the tiny creature that had become part of their daughter’s family. Pets weren’t really a thing on Krypton, and Lena was unable to stop her smile when Kara showed off pictures of their little fluff ball.

Zor was adamant that he should meet Doris after the ceremony to welcome her to Krypton, and Lena didn’t have the heart to tell him the kitten wouldn’t understand, nor care as long as he scratched her chin and ears.

Despite the rocky start to their family dinner, it went well, and Zor removed the cuff from Lena’s wrist without any mention of how the lights kept changing between violet and red. He did, however, squint when the bracelet appeared to faintly glow pink, but what that meant Lena would never know.

After they finished the meal and were saying their goodbyes, it startled Lena that Alura came to take her hand and Kara switched places to stand by her father.

“What’s going on?” Lena asked, caught off guard by the sheepish and longing way Kara stared back at her.

“It’s tradition that mates spend the night apart to create their union bracelets, and they meet in the morning for the ritual of their marriage,” Alura explained softly, and soothed Lena with a light touch to her arm. She led her off before Kara could even utter another word, and Lena’s omega released pathetic scents to signal her distress.

“You must pick colors to represent your new house,” Alura stated when they portaled into an impressive home that must have been her own. “Ours are–”

“Red and blue,” Lena murmured, remembering the horrible atrocity Kara had committed by yarn- bombing her desk in those colors. She paused as she considered her own, deciding what she wanted to represent her now and always. “Mine would be green and violet.”

“Excellent, then we can begin,” Alura insisted, and ushered Lena to a station in the house that looked remarkably like a lab. She pulled up holographic designs that they both swiped through to find the perfect style of bracelet, and then Lena customized it by setting the stones where she wished. There were seven in total, with green as the two outer gems, followed by two blue, two violet, and a solitary red in the middle.

“Do you think she’ll like this?” Lena whispered, hesitant to program the machine into creating the bracelet that would forever bind them as mates on Krypton and on Earth.

“I think she’ll treasure anything you deem fit to give her.” Alura’s smile was watery and filled with emotion and she gave Lena a curt nod to begin the process. “When Kara told me she wished to visit Earth as part of its new intergalactic program, I was hesitant as any mother would be. I knew the good in her heart would guide her to do great things, and it led her to you, Lena. You bring a light to Kara’s heart that rivals that of Rao’s, and I am honored to stand with you on this momentous occasion.”

Lena held her breath as the machine whirred and forged the bracelet from precious materials. She lifted the completed pieces from a tray and placed them into a soft pouch that Alura gave her. With the symbols of their upcoming union in her hand, Lena finally recognized that she was she making a serious commitment. All along, she had been able to separate Krypton’s cultural customs from Earth’s traditions. It wasn’t that she considered the Kryptonian ceremony trivial, but Lena had been assigning lesser importance to it, and now she was confronted with the fact that she was going to marry Kara. She wished suddenly that all her friends and family could have been there to see it.

The night before the wedding was a time of impatience and emotional highs and lows that Lena would have liked to ignore. Alura handled most of the planning, even though it seemed like she had been prepared for Kara’s ceremony for a long time.

“Wait, what am I supposed to wear tomorrow?” Lena panicked and hoped that she would at least be able to forego the body paint. “I don’t have a dress—"

Alura pulled up another holographic screen to show off a jeweled dress and headpiece, assuaging all of Lena’s fears with a few clicks of a button. She then sent Lena off to bathe and rest with the promise to take care of all the lingering details.

By the first glints of morning light, Lena woke in a bed with the silkiest sheets with a breakfast tray waiting on her. She ate the entire meal in front of her, including a fluffy blue substance that foamed and tasted similarly to the ambrosia Kara had given her in the past. Doris climbed up next to her, and Lena wondered if that meant Kara was also close by, but before she could investigate that, she received a soft-spoken message with instructions from Alura.

My dear Lena, I hope you are well rested and that you have enjoyed the ambrosial wedding breakfast I prepared for you myself. You will find your gown waiting for you and I will be along to assist you soon.

Lena carefully moved the tray aside and took the opportunity to bathe herself to finally rid herself of the blue that stained her skin. She watched it flow away as she lathered herself in special soaps that Alura had left for her and wondered if it was the floral scent that invigorated her or the ambrosia she consumed. She felt oddly at peace, with only the smallest bit of anxiety about what the day might entail.

After drying with the aid of a peculiar device that spun around to create a vortex of hot air, she located the dress in the closet. A sheer looking negligee accompanied it along with a note from Kara, who must have snuck it in without Alura being any the wiser.

Think of me taking this off as you put it on.

As far as romance went, Lena understood the gesture for what it was, and knew her alpha was trying to gift her undergarments, which she complained she had forgotten to pack. It was a sinfully beautiful thing, a whisper of fabric with the suggestion of modesty, and Lena admired herself in the mirror in only the thin slip.

Kara would be able to see everything, the darker shade of her nipples and the soft pink of her pussy lips which were wet already from just the thought of seeing her mate.

Lena was quick to gather the dress for their union before Alura saw her. The gown was a beautiful and bright white, and the silken material refused to wrinkle as she slipped it on over her undergarments. She marveled at the simple elegance of the fabric, but she barely got to appreciate it when a knock came at the door, and Lena distractedly muttered, “You can come in.”

She had expected Alura, yet when she glanced up at someone’s sudden gasp, she realized it was her own mother who stood in the room. For a second, Lena thought the worst, until she caught sight of the tremble of Lillian’s lip and the tears that pooled in her eyes.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you speechless,” Lena commented around the lump in her throat, downplaying her joy from seeing her mother with little more than a gesture of her hand.

“Well, it’s not every day that I get to see my daughter before her life union, now is it?” Lillian berated, not nearly as sharply as she might have hoped. She strode in with a prideful scent and finger combed Lena’s hair like she was still an unruly four-year-old averse to tying it back.

“How did you know this was happening?” Lena warbled, resentful of how her own voice betrayed her emotional state.

“That’s all you’ve got to say to me?” Lillian tutted, her palm returning to Lena’s cheek to cup it as she admired her daughter with critical narrowed eyes. “Alura called me last night. She took my information from Kara and sent for a shuttle so that I and a few of your friends could be here today.”

Lena blinked at the new information and scrunched her lips as she tried to work out who exactly had been invited on her behalf. “Who else came?”

“I did,” Sam announced, like she had been biding her time to make an entrance. She grinned at Lena’s surprise and helped herself to a tiara that sparkled on a dresser. She passed it off to Lillian, who helped settle it in Lena’s hair and folded her arms to smirk. “You didn’t think we’d leave you to do this alone, did you? I filled your mom in the moment you hung up on me the other night.”

Lena shook her head with care not to cast off the jeweled headpiece she wore. “It’s just that all of this happened so quickly, and I wasn’t entirely sure how this union compared to our ceremonies on Earth. I might have underestimated how similar our traditions actually are—”

Sam grabbed her hand to spin her around in her gown. “Well, if you haven’t figured it out by now, you’re getting married to a Kryptonian hunk in—oh—about thirty minutes.”

Those thirty minutes proved to be some of the most hectic of Lena’s life, and with just five left to spare, she realized she didn’t even have any vows written.

She arrived at the marriage hall, where crystals had been used in lieu of flowers as decorations and the sound of music could be heard from inside. Outside the enclave were statues of Kara’s parents and her own mother, and Lena frowned at how Lillian’s plaster face captured the perfect essence of her.

“I must say I approve of a culture that reveres the parents,” Lillian muttered and stood side by side with her statue to allow Sam to take a picture. “How do I look?”

“Like a Grecian goddess,” Sam complimented and snapped another photo with a wink at Lena that promised she would keep her mother amused.

Lena stood at the back of the hall to get a glimpse at the rows of full seats and wracked her brain for the right things to say to Kara in the presence of their loved ones. She hadn’t expected a large turn-out, or that their colleagues from Spherical Industries would attend. Her estranged brother was even seated in the second row, his cue-ball head rather obvious in the sea of hair. With no solid awareness of it, Lena hid herself from the guests and searched the space to the front of the center aisle.

Next to her parents, Kara waited with her hands humbly tucked in front of her. She looked dashing in a pristine white outfit, and it took Lena a moment to realize the alpha wore pants and not robes. An emblem was embossed on her chest, a symbol that Lena couldn’t quite make out at a distance, despite how Kara stood on top of a wide and raised crystal pedestal.

Lena was almost sad that she spoiled the surprise of seeing Kara waiting for her, but it was hard to feel anything other than happiness with her omega so besotted.

It still hadn’t sunk in that she was about to be joined to Kara, that the claim she longed for on her throat would happen later after they held the ceremony. She had almost forgotten what she was doing when a familiar voice whispered in her ear, “Anything I can do to help?”

“Jack?” Lena gasped, shocked to see his bearded and mischievous face. He looked good in his tuxedo, his scent filled with a fond admiration for her that didn’t overstep any boundaries.

“Oh, don’t say it like that, I’m still your friend and your boss,” Jack muttered and carefully motioned for her to step into the hall before anyone clocked the sight of her suspiciously crouched behind the seats. “When I found out Kara had abducted you—”

“Gallantly rescued,” Lena corrected with a hint of sarcasm as they moved behind a pillar out of sight.

“Obviously, I had to launch an investigation into what happened.” Jack’s face softened with remorse and he looked ashamed as he hung his head. “Lena, the way you were treated was appalling, and I’m sorry if my behavior over the years contributed to such a toxic environment. With the help of the Kryptonian Ambassadors, I put in place mandatory sensitivity training for everyone, myself included, so that going forward omegas at Spherical Industries will be treated with the level of respect they deserve.”

“Jesus, how did everyone take it?” Lena blinked, her eyes darting toward the seats neither of them could currently see as she asked about her coworkers.

“Not as badly as you’d think. Now, what the hell are you doing scurrying around in the back of the hall? Did you drop the rings?” Jack asked with a touch of concern, and he peered around the pillar as if he hoped to find them.

“Bracelets, actually, and no,” Lena sighed, waving her hands as she tried to gather her thoughts. “I was just, I don’t know, panicking–”

“If you want to leave, I can cause a distraction,” Jack suggested in a teasing lilt and puffed up like her was ready to go out and cause havoc.

“You’re awful, but thank you,” Lena laughed, her lip quivering as she sucked in a deep breath to confess, “I don’t actually want to run off. I’m just—what if I say the wrong thing or I make a fool of myself in front of everyone? I didn’t know you’d all be here, and I haven’t written vows, and Kara–”

“Isn’t about to stop loving you for being nervous on your wedding day,” Jack interjected kindly, “You’ve said a lot worse to her over the months than the words I do. So, take a breath, remember who you are, and go get your alpha before Andrea thinks she’s still got a chance.”

“Like hell,” Lena blurted, fired up at the mere thought of Andrea laying a finger on Kara. She was halfway down the aisle before she realized Jack had said it deliberately just to snap her out of her panic, and by then it was too late to turn back and thank him.

Everyone fell into an awed hush at the sight of her, and Kara exuded richer pheromones that several of the Earth alphas quietly choked on.

Lillian and Sam were already seated at the front, and Alura stood off to the side with a little decorative crystal tray that held the bracelets Lena created.

Lena took her last few steps and came to a stop before Kara, not once glancing away from her mate’s face. She didn’t want to look at anyone else, even the Raoist religious leader who positioned himself to begin the ceremony.

“Beloved ones, we meet today under Rao’s light to bear witness as Kara of the House of El unites her life force with Lena of the House Luthor. It is a serendipitous occasion when two people share a connection such as these two share. It is an event in the universe which for soulmates must take place across the multiverse, and yet it can never be re-created. Across space and time, the bond between Kara and Lena shall not be shattered. We believe in the everlasting flux of things, but that through all of this change, all things re-form and remain ever the same. Within the shifting ethers of our worlds, may Kara always find Lena, and may Lena always find Kara.”

Lena worried her lip as she listened to the ceremonial speech and watched the colors in Kara’s eyes fluctuate like the cosmos. She reached out to take both of Kara’s hands, sliding her fingers through her mate’s with a strange and pressing need to hold on.

Kara’s adoration was almost tangible, and she squeezed at Lena’s hands before announcing to everyone, “When I landed on Earth, I knew the adventure I would be taking, but none of it compared to when I first met you, Lena. Finding someone never entered my mind until I saw you and I came alive. Our cultures may be different, yet we love just the same. There is no one better suited for me in all the galaxy. You are my true mate, my friend, and the only one I wish to have by my side.”

All the months of angst and misguided hatred came back to Lena as she stood on the Jewel of Truth and Honor with Kara and became emotional. She tightened her hold on Kara and feared the worst about her vows, that she would never be able to get the right words out and express her feelings.

“Kara— I — I never thought I would end up here. Not just on another planet—but falling in love with you and marrying you. For a long time, I thought it was better to be alone, but you showed me that I don’t want that. I’m better with you, because of you, and I want you by my side always.”

The Raoist priest nodded at that, content that they had finished, and then he retrieved the bracelets to raise them up into the light. The gems caught the brilliance of the sun and he handed one to Lena so that she could fasten it onto Kara’s wrist.

Kara looked down at the bracelet with watery eyes and eagerly took her turn to slip the other bracelet onto Lena.

“You are bound by your family colors from this day hence, and by the marriage vows that you have spoken,” the priest declared and clapped a crystalline device that released a warming incense all around them. “May Rao shine on you in glory and in hardship, and may you be stronger together.”

It must have been nerves that delayed the effects of the ambrosia, because as Kara cupped her face and kissed her, Lena experienced a knotting sensation not just in her stomach, but in her loins. Kara led her down the center aisle again to the cheers of their friends, and Lena started to worry she wouldn’t make it through the reception party.

Where the statues had stood, plenty of tables appeared with a rich spread of food and drink. Lena saw that the first course was the dish that had been served to her the night before.

She imagined that Kara would lead her to the front table, and yet as they approached while everyone got seated, her mate kept walking, and Lena sent a bewildered glance over her shoulder to the meal they wouldn’t be partaking in.

“Kara?” Lena questioned, confused by the fact that they were leaving the party before it rightfully began in their honor.

She cast a shy glance up at her mate, so conscious of the changes in her body that prickled her skin and left her as sensitive as if she was in the worst heat of her life. Every step she took rubbed her dress over her skin in stimulating ways. Kara must have understood that as she grinned at her with a knowing gleam in her eyes.

“On Krypton the celebration is for our family and our closest friends. The couple celebrates one another in private, and then they travel together for no less than a month.” Kara’s deliberate intonation alluded to how they would be celebrating, and it took only a glance to see the very heavy, outlined bulge of her shaft as she strode with Lena to a safe distance where she activated a portal.

They weren’t in Kara’s apartment when they came out the other side, and Lena gaped at the beautiful change in their surroundings. Their room was as wide as the hall they had been married in, with a bed three times the size of that on Earth. The walls and ceiling were crystal clear, and nobody else was around them as far as the eye could see. On one side, a spectacular firefall burned orange, and lit up their space with a romantic and warm glow, and on the other, a river of gold flowed lazily through a forest, winding its way out of sight.

The red sun shined in the sky above them—so close that Lena could understand how any culture might worship such a vision, and she realized all too late that she stood gaping at it all.

“There are many places I want to show you, Lena, but for the next few nights, I want to stay right here with you,” Kara murmured, remaining romantic and sweet, despite the heady demands of her alpha that were making themselves known.

It was no surprise to Lena that her mate’s hands were already on her hips and avidly working the dress off, yet she couldn’t help but sass the alpha. “Oh, I know exactly what you want to show me right now, and it isn’t any of the landmarks on Krypton.”

She proved it by cradling Kara’s erection in her palm, squeezing just to feel the stuttered breath of her mate against her throat, and then she tipped her head back to give Kara full access.

“I get the feeling you plan to claim me in more ways than one tonight.” Lena gasped at the sharp sting of Kara’s teeth locking on the sensitive skin of her neck.

“Every piece of you will know you’re mine,” Kara affirmed with a growl that inspired Lena’s cunt to spasm in preparation. She shimmied Lena out of her dress and groaned while pressing her fingers into the sheer negligee between Lena’s thighs to feel the liquid satin of her cunt.

Lena whimpered at being handled so firmly, her body begging for Kara to take command of it, and not simply because she consumed the ambrosia. They were mates completely, and her omega was requesting confirmation of that through breeding and filling her womb.

“Did you miss the feel of me last night when you slept all alone?” Lena mused, if only to remind Kara that it had been at least twenty-four hours since she had last been inside her. For anyone else that would hardly count as any time at all, but they had gotten so accustomed to being tangled in one another that the loss of one night felt like weeks.

Kara’s pained noise was answer enough, and Lena’s keening whimper told stories of how miserable she had been as her mate turned her around to kiss her. They were ridiculous, really—insufferable in how much they loved one another.

Lena backed off with a coy flutter of her lashes and ghosted her hands over her tits and then down her hips to flaunt herself for Kara. She wanted to show off the lingerie the alpha picked out specifically for their wedding night.

“I believe you promised you’d be taking this off me, but I have half a mind to keep it on just to tease you.”

“Raise it up,” Kara commanded, her pheromones compelling Lena to ruck up the thin fabric that couldn’t conceal how wet and glossy her pussy lips were underneath. Lena parted them only slightly and Kara groaned at the shimmering pinks of her inner labia and the soft protrusion of her clit.

She swirled her finger over the small crest, making her cunt even wetter under Kara’s watchful supervision. Her motions coincided with a palpating ache inside of her, and she rubbed herself to a frantic and gasping completion. The ache didn’t subside afterwards, and she settled down in a chair to continue with open legs that shook from orgasm.

“Do you like watching me touch myself while I’m wearing the lingerie you chose for me?” Lena asked with a jut of her chin that had less to do with attitude and more to do with the sensations from playing with herself. Her hand dripped with slick that she massaged into her outer lips and entrance.

“I like it even more seeing the bracelet on your wrist,” Kara confessed, breathy and dazed as she rid herself of the shirt she wore before shucking down the soft white pants that wouldn’t have been able to contain her erection much longer. She postured for Lena, drawing herself up to flex before finally striding over with eyes so dark that Lena imagined her lust was endless.

The tip of Kara’s cock looked plump and shiny, and Lena licked her lips as she thought of popping her lips over it. The effects of the ambrosia were hitting Lena hard — either that, or it was seeing Kara in all her muscled and toned glory while knowing that she was her alpha and off the market for anyone else.

Lena propped her legs up on the arms of the chair and parted her pussy lips with her fingers to give Kara a view of her deep inner pink and how she contracted inside.

Kara sank onto her knees to kiss along Lena’s inner thighs and massage at her legs. She settled her hands firmly on either side of Lena’s cunt to keep her in the prone position.

Lena expected the softness of Kara’s mouth on her clit, her hot breath puffing against her intimate bead, but what she got was the rigid heat of Kara’s tongue probing into her entrance. She whined at the slick intrusion, her sensitive walls clamping around Kara’s oral muscle even as her mate licked her back open.

The tease of it brought Lena’s hands to her breasts, and she pinched and rolled her own nipples as she writhed on Kara’s face.

“I’ve always loved the way you taste, and now I can have you whenever I want,” Kara rumbled, the eager plunge of her tongue making it clear that she enjoyed the spasm of Lena’s channel as it fought to keep her inside. She alternated with ravenous delight, fluttering the tip directly over Lena’s clit to make her shudder before pulling on the stiffened pearl with her lips.

The wet smack of Kara’s mouth was lewd and enticing and Lena watched with full attention as her mate devoured her like she had something to prove. She tangled her hand in Kara’s blonde hair and encouraged her with undulations of her hips that smeared her essence all over her mate’s chin and cheeks.

“If this is your way of setting the tone for our marriage I approve,” Lena whined, not at all ashamed of how she rode her alpha’s face to receive pleasure.

The bliss of it had only begun to spark behind her eyelids when Kara tore her mouth away and then Lena was weightless in her mate’s arms.

Kara lifted her and lowered her onto her knees on the bed. With strong hands pushing her spine into a bend, Kara positioned her in a way that would have been offensive before they were mates.

Lena stretched out to glance over her shoulder at the immensely swollen tip of Kara’s cock. It was already twice the size of moments before, and the exquisite tension it caused as Kara slotted it between her pussy lips was euphoric. Lena strained back, ready to prove herself worthy of accepting such a thick erection, but Kara held her by the hips and rammed it deep with the kind of alpha attitude that would have been a turn off on anyone else.

Even with the fragile protection of the lingerie, her nipples brushed along the bedsheets from Kara’s fast thrusts, and the friction stimulated Lena between the thighs.

The ambrosia made her more susceptible to Kara’s rough penetration, and the sizable girth of her cock cleaved through the ripple of her internal velvet.

Lena moaned as her alpha mounted her like she intended to keep her impossibly stuffed for hours. The solid grip of those large hands enveloped her hips almost entirely, and Lena whined, pleading as Kara demonstrated her strength with the power of her quads.

They were rutting like it was all they were made to do, and Lena was inclined to believe it given how desperately she pushed into Kara’s pelvis for more. The slap of Kara’s thighs stung at her backside and the perpetual thrusts tenderized her cunt so that every quickened lunge evoked the breathiest of cries from her throat. She groaned for it to continue, dug her palms into the sheets and actively tried to give as good as she was getting it, but Kara was too proud an alpha to allow it and pinned her with the weight of her body.

To say it thrilled Lena to be caught beneath her mate as Kara charged her cock into the slick depths of her cunt was an understatement. She loved how delicate she felt in that moment, faced with Kara’s muscle and how, no matter if she tried, she wouldn’t be able to move unless Kara allowed it.

In many ways it was the pinnacle of trust, and she knew implicitly that Kara would never exploit that power. Lena wanted to give herself completely to her mate, to be bred into oblivion so that she could honor Kara with all the pups she might ever want.

“Your omega is pleading for my knot already, Lena,” Kara huffed out with pride, tickling Lena’s cheek with her breath as she groaned in pleasure.

“Then you’d better give me it,” Lena instructed, using the tight clutch of her cunt to work over Kara’s shaft in tandem with her thrusts. “That’s what marriage on Earth is all about, you know, keeping your wife happy.”

Though Lena meant it as a joke, she sensed Kara took it to heart as she pitched her hips harder. The jostling momentum rocked Lena forward and she opened her mouth in a cry of satisfaction when Kara saw fit to stretch out her cunt. The beginnings of a knot were almost too much for Lena, her passage already near its limit from Kara’s ambrosia-induced erection.

The throbbing veins pulsed into the sensitive inner ridges of her cunt and the glorious friction spurred on a spontaneous and overwhelming release. She gushed, sending rivulets of slick all over Kara’s cock while she trembled and jerked, then whined as Kara pulled out to admire the way she contracted inside.

“I’ll always keep you happy, and you’ll present for me every day so I can honor that,” Kara muttered, like it was perfectly natural to correlate being relentlessly pounded with contentment in life.

Lena wasn’t about to correct her—not when it meant daily orgasms. She whimpered at the sudden rough thrusts as Kara pushed the length of her cock back into her cunt.

The gradual expansion of the knot would leave her gaping if Kara continued, and she grunted at the sudden shift as her mate stayed deep while bucking.

The wide glans thumped against her cervix, and while it should have felt strange, all Lena experienced was an impatient greed to take Kara even deeper. It defied logic and all of her own scientific knowledge, and yet in the back of her mind she could feel the urgency of her omega and how necessary it was to collect all of Kara’s seed straight in her womb.

“I know what you’re wanting, and I want it too,” Lena rambled, trying to convey they were on the same page as she laced her fingers through Kara’s so that her mate all but lay on top of her to bottom out. “Please, don’t hold back, Kara. Take my womb, make it yours with all of your seed, so everyone knows that I belong to you.”

As unfathomable as it would have been only a week ago to beg for Kara to impregnate her, that was what Lena was doing as she bared her neck and her soul for Kara. She wanted a family, a full and exciting life that only seemed feasible when she allowed herself to fall in love with her mate, and there was no going back now.

Kara sensed what she was after and gave it her all by latching hotly onto her throat with tight rows of teeth. She sucked on the skin with bruising force, and rewarded Lena’s honesty with a claim bite that flooded her system with hormones that would forever keep them connected. The sharp and alluring change to Lena’s scent intoxicated Kara, and she forgot her own strength as she ploughed into her.

The breach was shallow at first, the sensation of it locked Lena’s muscles and arched her back. Then Kara growled and held her wrists above her head, and the raunchy sound of their combined ecstasy was offset by the staccato slap of thighs against her ass as Kara bore down on her hips and emptied a hot surge of seed straight into her womb. The thick amounts pulsed up her shaft, and Lena moaned, long and keening as Kara’s knot throbbed in release. She would have been satisfied to stay there like that, except her omega was calling to Kara to continue, and her cunt contracted with its own demands for more.

The urgency of sex melted into tenderness, and Kara pulled out to soothe her slit with a gentle hand. She praised Lena in her native tongue for being so eager to breed and inspected her opening with two fingers to witness how much seed she would still be able to take. “I think we will spend all night just like this, Lena, with you wrapped around my knot so my seed can take.”

“If we didn’t, I’d be disappointed and would question your stamina,” Lena remarked through a lazy grin.

Fortunately, Kara understood her humor, and she grinned at the alpha’s laughter. Lena rolled onto her side as if ready for a short reprieve and made the softest of sounds when Kara helped her onto her back to settle between her thighs.

The tremendous girth of her cock would have intimidated Lena if Kara hadn’t given her a mark, and she watched as the large head eclipsed her pussy just by resting upon it.

“You’re not going to stop until you’ve exhausted me, are you?” Lena asked with an almost bashful bite of her lip.

Facing Kara while they made love always rendered her a little shy, and even now as the alpha carefully lifted the negligee off of her body, Lena still fought the urge to hide herself against the alpha’s shoulder. She felt small beneath her mate, more naked than usual as Kara drank in the sight of her – not only as a lover, but as a mate for life.

“I plan to worship you for as long as Rao shines upon us,” Kara innocently replied, in spite of how her mouth found Lena’s nipple to suck. She lavished the pert little bud, tugging gently as she rubbed the head of her cock between Lena’s reddened labia.

It took effort not to push it all the way in at once. Lena could feel the willpower in how tense Kara’s shoulders became as she eased gradually into her silken heat with the kind of control most alphas didn’t possess on Earth.

Lena raised her knees up to aid in the slow penetration and locked her ankles around Kara’s lower back. She pouted until Kara kissed her like she had so many times in the past and wondered if the alpha’s romantic habit had finally turned into a kink for them both. She moaned into her mate’s mouth and swapped shaky exhales as Kara slid a hand between them to pet Lena’s clit with two fingers.

The light pressure was maddening and Lena had half a mind to ask if the alpha had learned about tantric sex while on Earth, but all her mouth could form was airy little moans as she succumbed to the sweetest pleasures. Kara filled her in perpetual throbs, her own orgasm stretching out as she kept Lena’s cunt tight with careful clitoral manipulation.

It was hours later, after she had taken Kara’s knot over six times, that Lena finally realized Rao never set in this part of Krypton, and Kara had no intention of letting her rest until she finally passed out from bliss.