In this society, humans live a thousand years and biologically mate through an unexplained chemical reaction.
When Petr Markenson's uncle figures out exactly how to mate two people, he finds himself deep inside the process...and on live television waiting to meet his mate.
Chapter 3b
Gasps met that announcement and the excitement in the room practically shot through the roof. Even with his heightened excitement, Petr noticed they were missing one candidate. He wondered if that individual had reneged, or if they were held back for some reason.
“First of all, I am Victr Bry’on, head of Bry’on Mating Limited. I welcome you all to this beautiful ranch. Over a thousand acres of pristine forests and clean lakes. You will have access to certain areas of it during your stay. In your rooms, you will find a list of the restricted areas. I ask that you not enter any of those areas for your own safety. It is so important that I have unfortunately put a large penalty on it. If you are found going into a restricted area, you will be sent away from the ranch without your mate.”
Several candidates gulped and Petr grimaced. He wondered what was in the restricted areas. Then it occurred to him. Maybe it was who was in the restricted areas. Their mates were probably there.
“While single, you will all be housed here, two to a room. Once you meet your mate, you will move out into one of the outlying cabins for a little one-on-one time. You will be filmed at all times, whether it be here or in the cabins. Be aware of that as everything you do will be recorded and may be shown on screen.
“Your food will be provided. Food tablets are available for all meals, and a natural dinner will be served daily for those who want it. I suggest you enjoy the time you have here. Make the most of it. Yes,” he said with a laugh, seeing the expressions on everyone’s faces. “Yes, I know you are here for a purpose and that purpose will happen. But you might as well enjoy yourself in the meantime.” He winked at Petr making him chuckle.
“As you know, the Bry’on mating bands once activated will turn the color of their mate. To prove that what we can do is not cheating – but a natural reaction of the band to each pair of mates – we are not going to be handing a pair out to you and your mate.”
Several groans of disappointment filled the room making Victr and Petr laugh. “Instead, tonight you will all be putting on a band, chosen by you; your mates will also be choosing a band tonight. It will remain unlocked until you meet. At that time the two of you will lock and seal your bands. The next day they will show your design.” He smiled. “We want to show that the bands depend on the mated couple to show the results.” He waved toward another set of sliding doors that opened. “Follow me.”
The crowd pushed forward behind him. Petr held back, knowing what was coming. Or at least he thought he did. When they went through to a large sitting room, there was a large table in the middle with an even larger bowl on top of it. The bowl was covered with a cloth. “As I call your name, please come forward, choose a band from the bowl, and get your room assignment. After everyone has their bands, I suggest you go lie down, get to know your room and house mates. Lunch will be served within the hour.” He pulled the cloth off the bowl and every eye, even Petr’s, switched to the gray mating bands piled inside.
“Lreth.” The woman who had glared at Petr walked forward proudly, grabbed a thin band that looked like a bracelet and Victr affixed it to her wrist. “Remember, do not turn that key.” She nodded and he gave her a piece of paper with her room assignment. Slowly, but surely, Victr worked through the candidates. Petr was fourteenth. He chose a thick band that looked more like a cuff, chuckling as his uncle affixed it to his wrist. When the last candidate had been called, they all looked at the bowl. There was still one band sitting inside.
Victr followed their gaze and smiled. The twinkle in his eye told Petr this was done on purpose. “Ah yes. The thirtieth candidate should be here soon. He was delayed.” As if called up out of nowhere, a tall man with dark shoulder-length hair, dressed in torn pants and a grungy shirt walked into the room. “Ah, Peri, you arrived. Please, come forward and receive your band.”
All eyes were on Peri, and Petr wondered if it was for the same reason he could not look away. The man was striking. He had that quality of power that had always intrigued Petr – his uncle had that quality, plus he looked like he just did not fucking care what anyone thought of him. Victr explained about the bands as he placed it on his wrist; when he was done, Peri actually smiled, which lit up his face. “Come,” Victr encouraged, waving towards the rest of the candidates. “Meet your housemates.”
One-by-one, each of them met his hand in greeting. That he was a dominant son-of-a-bitch made Petr chuckle. Peri placed his hand palm down whether he was greeting a man or a woman, thus placing himself in the dominant position. The closer and closer he came, Petr became more uncomfortable. He would not take the submissive position, not even in a greeting.
As it turned out, he did not have to. Third person to his left, Lreth placed her hand palm up on Peri’s and it was as though someone lit a firecracker. Both of them gasped and their eyes locked. Thirty seconds later, he had her pressed up against the wall with his tongue down her throat.
“Holy shit that was fast,” snorted Wry, the balding man.
The cameras zoomed in on the couple while the rest of the candidates were shoo’d out of the room, laughing from the shock. But it wasn’t just the shock. They had just seen the power of Victr’s program, as had the cameras. Petr had the feeling that when the first episode of the program aired that night, the entire quadrant would be hooked. He knew he surely was.
The bedrooms were small with the same items on each side of the doorway; an individual-sized bed, dresser, and small closet. By the time Petr unpacked his few items, his roommate arrived.
His roommate was a terratorialist named Gorth. He grunted a lot and had little to actually say, but that was fine with Petr. It wasn’t as though he planned on spending much time in doors. There was an entire ranch to check out and until his mate showed up, he had every intention of exploring it. As he headed downstairs to get a food tablet, Tenro caught up with him. “Well, that was an interesting start to our stay.”
Chuckling, Petr nodded. “I didn’t think any of us would meet our mate until next week at least.”
Grinning, Tenro grabbed four tablets and a bottle of water. “Hey, I’m gonna go check out the place. Wanna come?”
Nodding, Petr grabbed a couple food tablets and followed along, a bottle of water in each pocket of his pants.
Tenro had thought to bring the map along, but as it was, the restricted areas were clearly marked. Every area they should not enter was cordoned off with bright orange emergency tape. “Well, at least we cannot accidentally wander into one,” Tenro remarked as they passed the third one.
“I kind of wonder if that is where they are housing our mates,” Petr remarked, spotting a grove of trees and breaking into a jog.
“Wait up!” his companion called as he finally reached the treeline and slowed down. ”You,” he panted, “think they are hiding our mates in the restricted areas?”
Shrugging, Petr took a drink of water. “Well, it makes sense. I can’t imagine any other reason to block off areas.”
“Man… now I want to go check one out,” Tenro said slowly, looking over his shoulder where they could just barely see the rope marking off one of the areas.
“Don’t,” Petr said more harshly than he intended. “Victr Bry’on does not say anything he doesn’t mean. If you go in there, you will be out of here before you can meet your mate.”
Grimacing, Tenro nodded. “All right. But at least there are plenty of places for us to go. Damn, this thing is so large; we won’t be able to get to it all anyway.”
They continued to walk along, checking out the woods and two of the lakes before heading back. By the time they reached the main house again, they seemed to have reached a decent understanding of one another. Or at least Petr hoped so. Three times he had to warn Tenro about crossing a barrier. He was worried his new friend would be out on his ear before the excitement truly began.
Dinner was served on the back patio and for the first night, all attendees seemed happy to eat the natural food. Petr walked around and got to know a few people better. Most everyone was talking about the first mating they observed.
“I had no idea it would be that instantaneous,” a short lady with gray hair whispered as he walked past her table. “I’ve seen many matings take place and none of them were that violent.”
Chuckling, Petr looked over at her and smiled. “My sister’s was. Her friends had to drag her and Marks apart so they could get the ceremony performed.”
Giggling a little, she nodded. “I know that happens with the young, but so many of us are older.”
“We might be older,” piped up a gentleman with dark red hair and tons of freckles named Bornt, “but we ain’t dead. I feel like a young man again!” He winked at her and placed a hand on her knee, making her giggle again.
Smiling, Petr moved on, aware that many of these candidates like him were feeling their hormone race for the first time in decades. He wondered how much sex this building would see between now and the end of the program. Something told him it would be the norm rather than the exception.
At the end of the porch, it was dark and he sat on a railing and looked out at the dark green trees in the distance. “Hey.”
Looking over, he smiled at the youngest candidate, Taci. “Hey, yourself. Enjoying the day?”
She shrugged and sat down on the railing facing him. “I don’t really like being around a lot of people. Too much chaotic energy.”
Chuckling, he gazed at her. Taci was shorter than he was with a nice ample figure a man could really get into without being overly large. He briefly wondered if she would like to be his bedfellow for the evening, when she gave a large sigh. He looked up into her amused eyes. “Sorry, Petr. I prefer women.”
Laughing, he nodded. “I hope your mate is female then.”
Stunned for a second, she shuddered and her voice dropped to a whisper. “You don’t think they would actually mate me with a male, do you? I mean, the psychologist said it could happen, but …” She bit her lip and fidgeted.
Grimacing, he tapped her foot lightly with his. “I think it has to do with our hormone. So, this isn’t something they can control. What will you do if you meet your mate and he’s male?”
Another shudder washed through her. “I told the psychologist I would accept my mate no matter what, but that would be hard to get used to.”
He grinned and winked at her. “I don’t know. Considering the way Peri and Lreth acted, your body may take over and you won’t realize what sex your mate is for days.”
Snickering she nodded. They sat in a companionable silence for several minutes before the lights started to flash. “Oh!” she exclaimed softly. “I think that is the ‘get to bed’ notice.”
“Considering our age, it amuses me we have a curfew.”
The next few days were busy for Petr. He stayed away from the main house except for dinner through breakfast. The ranch enthralled him and he found himself going deeper and deeper into it. Wandering through the woods on his fifth day, he recognized that feeling of peace that the outdoors always gave him. It was one of the things he had loved about being a huntsman. Rarely did he have to spend much time in doors. Maybe he could convince his uncle to let him work outdoors at some point. He definitely needed it.
When he was at the house, he spent most of his time alone sitting on the porch. Every once in a while, he would be joined by another candidate, but as he had suspected, sex was the uppermost thing on everyone’s mind. Three times he had walked into his room to find his roommate fucking somebody; well technically, twice he was doing the fucking, once he was being fucked. Except for the first night when he had considered Taci, he had been able to keep his hormones at bay. With a wry grin, he acknowledged he was waiting for his mate. He had the feeling they would make up for lost time those first few weeks and months.
A part of him knew it was stupid to be holding out for his mate, but he seemed to be doing it anyway. Not that he expected it to last much longer. If he wasn’t mated within a week or two, he planned on pounding several someones into his mattress over and over again.
“Petr!”
The yell of his name made him turn around from his exploration of one of the smaller lakes. He waved. “Hey, Corr!”
Smiling, she waved him toward her. Sighing at being interrupted, he jogged around the lake in her direction. “They are showing the show they filmed that first night in the screening room soon. Didn’t want you to miss out.” She smiled coyly and batted her lashes making him chuckle internally. He had the feeling if he wanted to stay right here and fuck, she would not mind missing the show.
“Is this the one they showed on PBN?” he asked stopping in front of her. She nodded. “Should be interesting to see how they presented the first mating. Let’s go!” He grabbed her hand and started jogging in the area of the house. He could feel her disappointment, but her naturally bubbly personality overcame it and her laughter soon burst out as she pulled her hand from his and took off.
“Last one there only gets a food tablet for dinner!” she called back over her shoulder.
“Oh, hell no!” he hollered after her, taking off. He could have beat her easily enough, but instead he stayed very close and when they got near the house, picked her up and carried her inside. He grinned at her laughing face. “We tied.”
She laughed loudly. “All right. I guess you get real food too.”
Chuckling, he put her down on her feet and they walked into the screen room where everyone was ready for the show to start. Almost every available space was taken, but she spotted a large cushy chair and pulled him over to it, pulling him down on top of her once she plopped down.
“Tell me how you really feel,” he grunted, rolling to the side, putting an arm around her shoulder and getting comfortable. She just laughed and curled up next to him.
The show looked just like any other dating program, except for the interviews they showed with Victr that must have been produced before the show started. Petr grimaced as he watched himself walk up to the house. Was that him? He looked like a fucking movie star. He felt a blush and was glad he was tanned enough you really could not tell. Of course, they all looked much better on screen than in person, he realized looking around. Not that any of them was something to laugh at.
True, none of them were classically good looking, but everywhere he looked was an attractive person. Pausing in his thought process, he chuckled to himself. Were they really good looking? Or was that the overactive hormone talking? He was beginning to wish he did not know of the hormone and how it worked. It was making him question everything when he could be having just as much fun as everyone else.
The show was supposed to be an hour and a half long, so Petr was surprised when they got to the mating bands before forty-five minutes had even passed. What would they do for forty-five minutes? Oh. Half of that time, was a small documentary on Lreth. There were pieces of her documentary, as well as shots of her. Then they went over Peri with the same information. The last five minutes of the show was their meeting.
Petr had been there and had not felt any tension except for not wanting to submit to the guy, but the way the show was edited, the tension in the room was high when their hands touched. Every candidate in the room gasped, even though they had been there when he grabbed her, shoved her against the wall and started kissing her passionately. The one thing none of them had heard that day, though, came through loud and clear on camera. Just before Peri kissed her, he let out a guttural, “Mine!”
Action in the screen room started before the vid even stopped. Something about what they had just witnessed turned all of them into uncontrollable sex fiends. Without even thinking about it, Petr rolled over on top of Carr, grabbed her breasts and pressed his lips to hers. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back.
As he ripped off her shirt, Petr wondered how this was going to end… but that thought left as the grunts and groans of the other candidates turned him on further. His hand roughly pulled up her skirt, quickly pushing her legs apart with his own. The moment his fingers found her hot, wet pussy with no panties, he was lost.
As he went to unzip his pants, he found her hands there before him. “Quickly!” she gasped, practically ripping them open. As soon as he pushed them past his ass, he pulled her legs apart further and thrust inside.
“Fuck!” he yelled, unable to stop himself from pulling out and thrusting back in again and again. He grabbed her hips and held her as he slammed into her over and over. She let out a high keen and he chuckled as she moved her fingers to her clit for more stimulation. “Yes,” he growled, “touch yourself, Corr. Faster!”
It became all about how fast he could reach his orgasm as she rushed towards her own. He battered her little pussy continuously, digging into her hips with his fingers as her keen rose and her body started to shake. “That’s it, Corr. Cum baby, cum!” Her head nodded as her breathing sped up and her fingers battled with her clit. When her pussy started spasming around him and she let out a series of short screams, he intensified his thrusts even further, no longer considering her pleasure as she had achieved it, but instead chasing his own.
As his balls tightened and his cock started to thrum, he shoved himself as far in as he could go, yelling out as the orgasm overtook him. When his cock shot out the last stream of cum, he collapsed on top of her, unable to move. The grunts, moans, and groans of the sex around him lulled him into sleep.
(Chapter 4a next week...)
