The upwelling of all those negative emotions had threatened to choke me. All I'd wanted to do was pull her to my chest and hold her. I wanted to stroke her hair back from her face and let her know that she would find her place here on the Aarond Form, not just as my mate, but as her own person as well. My fear of pushing her too far kept me from doing that, though.

Instead, I whispered my declaration to her. It wasn't a completely unselfish act. I told her my feelings here and now so she couldn't deny their existence. I'd laid them bare at her feet for whenever she was ready to sort through them.

When her tears stopped flowing and she really focused on me I whispered the words again, "You are my soul, Addison Kane."

Her cheeks flushed a bright red. The color and innocence of it was endearing.

Just as I could feel her unease begin to build again at our closeness I pulled away, "I expect you're unfamiliar with Val'Dornn ships. Let me show you our home."

I felt a pulse of anxiety, a coil of nerves deep in my stomach coming from her end of the bond at the idea of this domesticity. the short hallway from the front door had recessed storage. It led farther into a meal prep area with a floating shelf. Above in the cabinets, it was stocked with dehydrated meals and the basic spices and grains, some from Val'Dornn and some from Earth. One wall withdrew and opened into a temperature control unit for heat sensitive items like liquids and meats. There was nothing in their currently. We'd been worried anything placed inside would go bad before the first match was found.

Addison listened to my explanations in near silence.

I lead her into a room across from the meal prep. This was a room for study or entertainment. There was a vid screen on one wall that could be programmed to accept Earth entertainment and a host of Val'Dornn novels on shelves that ran along the left wall. "It will take some programming, but we should be able to dial into the satellites your race uses to broadcast your video entertainment." I pointed to the books, "These are all Val'Dornn novels and they're mostly historical or non-fiction. They were chosen to help assimilate newly matched females with our culture. We probably should have chosen some Earth novels, but the choices were too numerous."

She nodded but mostly stayed silent. I wanted to hear her voice. Suddenly I felt shy and awkward. I wanted her to like the home we would make together. I realized that it was important to me that I impress her. For a male that had trouble remembering to pick up his clothes from the floor enough that my Riniere still mentioned it from time to time, the concept was foreign.

I cleared my throat and continued on, "Next is the room for bathing."

"The bathroom?"

Bathroom. Soulmate. The humans liked to combine their words. The idea floored me. I had no doubt the human word 'soulmate' would get adopted into the Val'Dornn culture quickly. Most of our modern language was made up of pieces we'd picked up on Temani Bercari's throughout history. "Yes, the bathroom."

The room was large and tiled with temperature-sensitive flooring. The tile was always body temperature, so it was never jarring. The middle of the room boasted a large inlaid bathing pool. It came up just above my waist, but it would be much higher on her. Off in the back was the lesser bathing chamber with waterfall spigots.

"Oh," She whispered as she looked down at the bathing pool.

The sound was one of just barely suppressed pleasure and it went straight to my cock. She's interested in the pool, not you, you fool. But my body wasn't inclined to listen to me when my mate made such sweet sounds behind me.

I watched her in the large full-length mirror as she bent down and tested the water.

"It should be body temperature or slightly hotter and you'll notice that there are moisturizing additives in the water to help keep your skin healthy."

She rubbed at her fingers, "I'd wondered what that feeling was."

"Does it please you?" I held my breath.

"It's very...nice."

Warmth bloomed along my chest. Females were treasured, they're fierce and protective and by far are worth more than most any creature to their males. The instinct to please our mates was well ingrained in our race.

I led her through a sparse living room that held a small sofa and a table to dine at, on towards the final room. This one, I expected, wouldn't be as well received. I pressed my hand against the door and it slid open. Purposefully I stepped aside to let her into the room on her own. It wouldn't do to crowd her at the moment. My body was tense as I waited for her anger.

Instead, I was assaulted by her anxiety. It built and built in my stomach so quickly that I thought I would puke. I sucked in a quick breath, "Addison."

She turned to me, her face flaming crimson, "There's --"

"Only one bed, yes. It's yours. I will sleep out here on the couch." The anxiety lessened, but then guilt began to gnaw at my insides.

"I can't kick you out of your bed. Can't we just...I don't know...find a place with two rooms?"

"The ship decides the number of rooms and will add on if it certain criteria are met."

"What criteria? Do we have to petition it or something?"

I'd never been a male to mince words, but I knew what I was going to say would only stress her and I wanted to save her from that, "No petitions. It's only a very specific criterion that will cause new rooms to be opened up for use."

Addison motioned for me to continue.

"I do not believe you'll like what you hear."

For a moment she looked angry, but then she took a moment to consider my words, "Will it make me angry?"

"I expect it will just stress you."

She gave me a weak nod and I figured that was the end of that conversation, but she surprised me my strong little female, "I'm already stressed. You might as well tell me now so that I can get used to the idea."

"The ship will add more rooms for our children."

*****A/N*****

I am so terribly sorry I uploaded this prematurely. I'm typing on a different device and it has a touchscreen. Ended up trying to brush away some lint and instead, I published less than a third of the total part.

I might as well take this opportunity to thank you all for reading this far. I started this for fun for NaNoWriMo this year. It's my first year participating and it's done wonders for helping me rediscover my love of writing.

Leave a comment and tell me how you feel about my characters and maybe what you'd like to see or who you'd like to see more of if you're inclined. I've already started thinking of other stories after this one and maybe I'll get to them one day. For now, I'm going to continue having fun and leading these two awkward little bitches toward some more steamy scenes, haha.

Much love,

Layla