Chapter 1a - Reality #WeeklyWIp #glbt #gay #mm #scifi #realityTV

Okay, so posting a WIP as I write it scares me - but I'm giving it a go :) Let me know what you think with each installment.

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 1a

“And through this bond, your world will be a better place.”

Petr Markenson smiled as he watched his brother take Sasha’s wrist, slipping on the simple metal band that would forever mark her as his mate. The latch was clasped; the key ripped off and destroyed. The small sound of the inside mechanism moving into place whirred in the silence as the band solidified. Within a minute, it would become practically impenetrable; from this day forth, it would never leave her wrist.

With a smile, the officient turned the couple toward their families. “It is now time to welcome the new couple, Dermt and Sasha. Hurrah!”

Dozens of “hurrah”s followed his statement. The mass movement from each side of the aisle as everyone moved in to hug and congratulate the couple made Petr smile. Dermt was beaming as he looked down at his own mate band. Twice the width of hers, it proclaimed him as her mate. Currently the two bands were a ruddy silver color. By the end of their honeymoon, the color would change to something unique to them.

Petr could hardly wait to see what it would be. His parents bands were a deep shade of violet, his sister Nema and her husband Marks’ bands were shockingly pink with white squiggles; it would be interesting to see how Dermt’s turned out.

“And then there was one,” chuckled a voice just behind him.

Turning around, Petr smiled at the tall gentleman to his right. “Uncle Victr, glad you could make it. Now you have been to everyone’s mating ceremony.” His mother Diria’s eldest brother, Victr Bry’on was a bit of an enigma. Nobody knew him very well, not even Diria. He had already been out of the house when she was born, making a living for himself; and a living he did make. His company Bry’on Manufacturing was the largest manufacturer of mate-bond wear. Petr knew for a fact that the wrist bands Sasha and his brother now wore were a mating gift from their uncle. There was no way Petr’s brother could have afforded such an expensive pair of bands on his own.

Victr gave a small smile. “Not everyone, nephew. It would seem the eldest of my sister’s children is still single.” He never looked straight at Petr as he spoke, something Petr was used to, even if it unsettled him every time it happened.

Petr chuckled. “So are you.”

His smile getting a little larger, Victr nodded. “That is true. I chose career over a mating. Is that your choice, young man?” His tiny eyes, the color of worn steel, moved and stared directly into Petr’s, surprising him, before once again moving to look over his shoulder. After only a couple seconds, he chuckled. “I did not think so. Diria raised her children to mate.”

Frowning, Petr turned away and looked at the newly mated couple as they smiled and accepted the well-wishes of their families. It bothered him that Victr just assumed he wanted a mate. Nothing could be further from the truth. Petr was happy in his life as a professional huntsman. Unlike the rest of his family who had taken jobs in the local village to stay close to home, he spent over ninety percent of his time away. And to be honest, he liked it that way.

As much as he enjoyed his family, they became suffocating after a couple days. It was much better to interact with them from afar. “I’m the oldest, Uncle. I don’t see a mating taking place for a long time… if ever.”

His stomach tightened at the words and the familiar sensation in his shoulders that came when he insisted he would forever remain single burned anew. He might not like the feeling, but he ignored it; ignoring things that could not be fixed was something he was very good at.

“If you say so, nephew,” Victr said smoothly. “Something tells me you do not really feel that way.”

Glancing over his shoulder at Victr, Petr shrugged. Now was not the time to get in an argument with a member of his family. He wasn’t even sure why his uncle was talking about this; talking had never been his strong suit before. Then Petr realized his mother must have been complaining about his single status. Being single past the century mark was a large issue with many of his mother’s generation. In her day, a couple was mated in their third or fourth decade.

Well, if Petr admitted it, even in his generation, most couples were mated by their fifth or sixth decade. Dermt had met Sasha five weeks previously just into his sixth decade and that strange chemical that released when a pair of mates touched had made him slightly crazy until their parents could work out a mating agreement with her parents.

His sister Nema met her mate at college in her third decade. Their touch had elicited such an intense chemical reaction their friends had to hold them apart so the mating ceremony could take place before they physically joined. Petr’s lips twitched at the memory of the phone call that came in the next day. His mother had been frantic because her only daughter had mated without telling her. That tension had lasted about fifteen minutes and then the conversation had turned to him and his single status.

Sighing, Petr shook his head. The closer he got to the century mark, the more prevalent those discussions had become. Of course, he knew that the mating chemical dimmed at that point. It was a well-known fact that after a century, your chances of mating properly were less than one percent of one percent. Almost of their own accord, his eyes flipped over to his aunt Binie, who had waited until after her century mark to mate. Not having found anyone, she found a man she got along well with and they married, which was an old antiquated custom that quite honestly made Petr’s stomach turn. Her relationship with her husband was volatile and uncontrollable. He never wanted a relationship like that.

Victr slipped something into his coat pocket. “Being alone is not all it is cracked up to be,” he said calmly. “I have just passed my fifth century. I have my toys and change them every decade or so, but I do wonder from time to time what it would feel like to be mated.” He clapped his nephew twice on the shoulder then left to speak to the happy couple.

Sighing, Petr stood back and waited as the line of people hugged and congratulated Dermt and his very young mate. His sister had mated with someone her exact age, but Sasha being two decades younger than Dermt was a continual cause of amusement for Petr. He wondered besides the chemical what they ever could have in common.

Finally the crowd dissipated and Petr moved forward to congratulate them. Dermt was gazing into Sasha’s eyes as though she was the only one that existed for him. “Hey,” Petr chuckled, smacking him on the shoulder. Dermt turned and raised an eyebrow. “You two ready to skip out?”

Laughing, Dermt nodded. Sasha just blushed and looked down at her feet. “About damned time,” Dermt growled softly making Petr snicker.

“I’ll cover while you two make your getaway. If I don’t, the crowd won’t let you leave for several hours.”

“Thanks.” Dermt winked, picking up his tiny mate and dashing out to the parking lot where his vehicle waited.

Smiling, Petr delayed going into the celebration until the vehicle pulled out of the drive before turning and walking into the mayhem.

“Where are they?” his mother asked as he walked in.

“They left, Mama,” he told her quietly. When her face fell slightly, he pulled her into a hug. “Come, Mama, they have been kept apart for weeks while this whole mating ceremony was planned. Can you blame them? It must have been killing them.”

Snorting, Diria laughed, the twinkle back in her eyes. “True, son, true. But there is tons of celebration and tons of time yet… come, I have some girls for you to meet.” Groaning, Petr let his diminutive mother pull him across the room where several women were chatting amongst themselves. “Ladies, this is my eldest son, Petr.” Fourteen pairs of eyes fell on him and he chuckled as he reached out his arm, palm down. One by one, the girls placed one of their hands palm up on top of his and waited. No chemical reaction.

Disappointed and yet undeterred, Diria dragged him around the room, introducing him to every single female that had come. By the time the party died down, Petr had been touched by no less than fifty females, two of which had been previously mated but had lost their mate for some reason. That was proof to him that his mother was dragging the bottom of the barrel.

When he got home, he took a long shower and collapsed into bed. It would be several months before he had to visit family again. Maybe by that time he would have met his mate. With a wry chuckle, he curled up and fell asleep.

Days and weeks flew by without notice. His career kept him busy, picking up contracts, hunting his prey, collecting his fee when he turned them in. When he was younger, he found excitement in the hunt, in finding ways to outsmart his target. Sometime over the last decade that excitement had dimmed to where it had become boring and it felt… limiting. Chuckling after he turned over his most recent prey – a young Corbune female who had tried to escape her initiation ceremony – he wondered how many people would think him crazy for finding his job limiting.

As a huntsman, he could go anywhere, do anything. Any female, or male if he so wished, would practically fall at his feet to become his partner. The prey he had just turned in had offered him anything if he would not return her. As a Corbune trainee, she definitely would have had the skills to please him physically. And yet, he turned her down. He wanted new excitement.

Nobody that he knew of had ever expressed these kinds of feelings, so he wasn’t sure who to ask about it. “Maybe it’s just the worry of being almost a century old,” he decided as he pulled into his garage and turned off the motor of his newest vehicle.

Sighing, he got out and went inside, going about his regular nightly duties without a thought. He fed his cat and dog, tossed a food tablet down his own throat, and turned on the evening news. While it played, he looked through his daily mail feed. Four bills, two letters from friends he made in college, one from his mother and one from… “Uncle Victr?”

Surprised, he opened it up. Nowhere in his memory did he ever remember receiving anything from his mother’s oldest brother except for compulsory gifts on his birthday. Quickly glancing through the message, his eyes widened.

Petr,

I hope things are well. Do you have time next Tuesday to meet me for lunch? I have a proposition for you.

Victr Bry’on

President, Bry’on Manufacturing

Shrugging to himself, Petr checked his calendar and sent off a quick note, letting Victr know he was available.

Tuesday dawned hot and humid to Petr’s disappointment. It seemed awful early in the season to have the air feel so heavy. Driving into the city, his thoughts centered on what his uncle would have summoned him for. The only thing he could think of was that his mother had complained and Victr was doing her a favor; he would talk to Petr about the importance of mating. And yet, that did not fit in with the man Petr barely knew.

Victr Bry’on was a powerful man, used to getting his own way. As far as Petr knew, nobody had ever talked Victr into doing something he did not want to do; nor had he ever said one thing and done another. No, there must be another reason his uncle wanted to see him.

The headquarters for Bry’on Manufacturing were in the northeast section of Brafen, the quadrant’s lead city. The company’s warehouses were dotted out across the quadrant but from the headquarters, you would know that Victr Bry’on did nothing halfway. A veritable mansion, BM sat on the top of a hill, overlooking the most expensive area of Brafen; and it in turn looked up at Bry’on Manufacturing.

Amused and slightly discomfited at how lavish everything appeared, Petr pulled up to the guard gate outside the grounds. “Name?” asked a short guard dressed in a green and gold uniform from his seat within a tiny building.

“Petr Markenson.”

The guard looked through a list and nodded. “Drive up to the main house. Someone will escort you from there.” Without a further look, the guard pushed a button and the gates swung open.

Petr drove through the tall iron gates and followed a deep green and brown cobblestone drive around a small hill up to the mansion which was painted in the shades of green and gold, Bry’on Manufacturing’s colors. A short woman with brown hair and glasses was waiting for him at the bottom of the steps. As he turned off his vehicle and got out, she stepped forward. “Petr Markenson?” He nodded. “My name is Asha. I am Mr. Bry’on’s personal assistant. Please follow me.”

She walked through the large double doors inside and he followed slowly. He knew his uncle was wealthy, but this even surprised him. There were two guards who held the doors open for them as they walked through and immediately upon entering a maid asked him for his coat and shoes, handing him a pair of slippers before leaving. As he slipped them on, he took a moment to look around.

“Mr. Markenson?”

Petr turned at the sound of her voice, smiling at Asha. “Lead on.”

(con't next week...)