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 4a
Breathing deeply, Petr opened his eyes, blinking them in amusement as he surveyed the room around him. “It was a fucking orgy,” he murmured, sitting up, chuckling when Carr rolled off his lap onto the floor with squeak.
She looked up at him and started to laugh. He just grinned. “So,” he said looking around at the sea of partially dressed people in the room. “I guess the hormone is working.” His inhibitions gone and the hormone practically beating a consistent throb in his cock, for the next two days he stuck to the house. Over those two days, he sampled five of the other candidates, all of them just as fucking horny as he was.
When he woke up on day seven with a small headache, he wondered who’s room he was in. When the four individuals he was twisted up with had no idea either, Petr extracted himself from their embrace and from the house for a while. This was unlike him and he was pretty sure he needed to back off just a bit. They did not know how this SKZ-1 worked when it was reintroduced. What if after meeting his mate, his libido died because he had abused it before hand? That would suck. He wanted to be fully sexual with his mate for at least the next three or four centuries. As such, maybe he should stay away from the house.
Growling at himself for his cock-blocking thoughts, he stripped down and dived into one of the smaller lakes, hoping to dispel some of his uneasiness. After swimming for an hour, he pulled himself out and lay on the grass in the sun to dry, still having come to no conclusions about what he would do.
“Petr!”
Groaning, he looked toward the voice. This time it was Wry who was waving toward him. “Just got a com! Victr is coming tonight. Somebody is gonna meet their mate!”
By the time Wry said the word mate, Petr was pulling on his clothes as fast as he could. He knew what Victr showing up meant and he had no intention of missing the possible contact with his mate. As he pulled on his shoes and ran toward the house, passing Wry without any trouble whatsoever, he wondered if he could get word to Victr about the orgy that was the ranch now. As he caught sight of one of the many cameras that decorated the building, he laughed to himself.
There was no reason to tell his uncle. The whole fucking quadrant knew. They had been recorded for the last seven days. Embarrassed as hell and hoping his family would not catch a glimpse of what he had done over the last two days, he darted inside and up to his room. He ignored his roommate’s grunts as he pounded into his newest fuck while he grabbed a change of clothes and went to take a shower.
By the time he washed and dressed, everyone was eating dinner. Petr quickly popped some food tablets as he wasn’t sure he could handle real food at the moment and instead of hanging out on the back porch with the others, he wandered around the room they had met in that first night. It did not take long before they joined him. In ones and twos they filtered into the room until it was full again. Then they stood and fidgeted, waiting for Victr to show up with someone’s mate.
“Sorry for the delay,” Victr said quickly, walking into the room almost an hour later. “We were not allowed to take off from the lead city for a half hour. Completely put us behind schedule. Before we do anything else. Tell me. How are you liking the ranch?” As he spoke he walked into the room and circled it, somehow making eye contact with every single one of them. Petr wasn’t sure how he did it. When he met Petr’s gaze, he winked before turning away.
Chuckling to himself, Petr knew his uncle must have caught the live show. Just great.
A few candidates told him how much they were enjoying themselves, but most, like Petr just wanted to get this next part over with. The wait was killing them.
“I’m glad to hear you are enjoying yourselves,” he said. “Now, tonight we will be introducing two of you to your mates. After this, we will only be introducing one at a time, but it will be done every three to four days. This way those who have not been matched up do not have to wait a whole week.” He waved toward the sliding doors they had entered the week previously to the sitting room. “There are two individuals in that room. Two of you are their mates.”
Twenty-eight pairs of eyes fastened on the door like hungry wolves. Almost immediately, one of the guards stepped in front of them. Victr just chuckled. “We do not want you stampeding the poor people, so I will go in there to speak to them for a moment and one by one, you will be called in to meet them. Are we clear?”
Half of them nodded, making him frown at the other half. “There is no reason to get antsy. Each of them is only meant for one of you. Coming in when that person may not be your mate would be a very bad thing to do. If you come in before you are called, you will be tossed off the program. Are we clear?”
The rest of the candidates fidgeted and nodded. His smile was back. “Splendid. If you will excuse me, we will get this done. As you are slightly aware, there are cabins for the use of the mated pairs. When your mate’s and your bonds are activated, you will have the chance to collect your belongings and join your mate in one of those. Good luck.” Without another word he walked to the sliding doors, which opened before him and closed the moment he was through.
“Did you see who was in there?” someone stage-whispered.
“Not really.”
“A man and a woman, I think.”
“I thought I saw two men…”
“But…”
“Wry, please come in.”
Twenty-seven pairs of eyes watched the balding man take a deep breath and walk toward the door. As soon as he was through and the doors closed, the whispering started again.
“He will probably wait a few people. It’s best not to be first.”
“Oh, I don’t know. If they set up the two people right off…”
“I think…”
“Corr, please come in.”
Corr gulped and glanced at Petr, who winked at her and mouthed Good luck! Smiling and nodding, she walked to the doors, disappearing quickly behind them. As the whispers started, they quickly stopped when the sound of a crash came from the other side of the doors.
Tenro burst out laughing. “Sounds like Corr has met her mate.”
Petr chuckled as did a few others. Well, looked like Corr wouldn’t be around to fuck. He felt somewhat sad about that until he reminded himself that he didn’t want to fuck too much from now on anyway.
“Petr, please come in.”
Shivering in anticipation, he walked to the doors, stepping through them the moment they were opened. Standing next to Victr was a young female with a soft heart-shaped face, brown hair, and gray eyes. She looked as though she would fit in with his village. A slight amount of disappointment settled into his stomach about that, but then he reminded himself that he did not even know if she was his mate or not.
“Petr, this is Violi. She is from Quadrant Luo.” Victr took a step backward, which was when Petr realized there was a red spot on his uncle’s face. It didn’t take much to realize he must have been too close when Corr met her mate. No matter how much he tried to stop it, a small chuckle came to his lips. Victr raised an eyebrow and grinned ruefully. “I will not stand so close from now on.”
Grinning, Petr placed his hand out, palm down. Violi smiled at him and placed hers on top facing up. Nothing. Her face fell and blushing she took a step backward. Victr waved to a door that would take him into the hallway.
With the combined emotions of disappointment and relief, he walked out of the room and up the stairs to his bedroom. He had barely reached the landing when he heard another crash. Well, Violi met her mate. He wondered who it was.
Ten minutes later Gorth burst into the room, his face alight, Violi right behind him. “Petr!” he grinned manically. “This is my mate Violi. We are heading to the cabins.”
“Congratulations,” Petr offered, watching his roommate gather his things together as quickly as possible. His eyes dropped to their mating bands which were already a shimmery white rather than the worn silver they had displayed just minutes ago.
Violi finally helped her mate because his mind was not on his task. Three minutes later, Petr had the room all to himself. He stood up and checked the door for a lock. It had one. Maybe he could get a night of uninterrupted sleep.
The next day the candidates were a little more quiet. Even though they had seen a mating their first night, now there had been two more and the reality of the program was beginning to hit. So was the desire to meet their mate.
“So what did Corr’s mate look like?” Taci asked Wry at breakfast.
He frowned. “There were two of them. I don’t know which one she got.”
“Gorth mated with Violi. So whoever was the other one is Corr’s mate,” Petr said somewhat dryly. Wry was acting put out. No doubt he thought he would be mated by now.
“Guy by the name of Drǜn. Big and bulky,” Wry stated as though his balding head was so much better.
“I understand this is a program and it has to last three months,” Deq, the gray-haired lady said quietly. “I just wish it would happen faster. I have waited so long.” She sighed and walked over to the railing and stared into the trees.
As Taci walked over and put an arm around her, Petr hoped that the two of them would meet their mates soon.
Soon happened sooner than he expected.
As the time frame for the shoots had moved from every seven days to every three to four days, the next mating ceremony came upon them quickly. Petr had barely explored a little more of the ranch before they were notified the next mating would happen that night. This time, as twenty-six candidates met in the room, there were a lot more furtive glances as they wondered who would be lucky enough to meet their mate. The knowledge that they were not competing for any individual was understood, but the hope that this would be their night made them think of the others as competitors.
Against his own judgment, Petr felt the same. Logically, he knew it was stupid, and yet he could not help but think that whomever they were bringing tonight would be his if the other twenty-five weren’t there.
When Victr walked in, Petr barely bit back a guffaw. His uncle’s left temple was yellowing from where he was hit a few days previously. No doubt he had no idea this would be such a dangerous pastime.
There were not as many platitudes this evening. “I think we should get started, don’t you?” Every one nodded. “Good. After tonight, I will be handing over these duties to two of my guards as I do not have the time to fly out here twice a week. I will still show up from time-to-time and never fear, I will keep my eye on everything that is going on so that you meet your mates.”
He waved toward what some had begun to call the portal – the sliding doors that the intended mate stood behind. “Join me, Tenro.”
With a smile and a nod, Tenro followed Petr’s uncle through the portal.
Nobody whispered. In fact, Petr figured they could probably hear a pin drop even with all the plush carpeting. Everyone was intent on listening for any sound from the other side which was silly considering the fact that any crash would be heard over any whispers.
“Breh, please come in.”
Petr watched a candidate he had not gotten to know well yet walk across the room. At two centuries, Breh appeared almost a millennia older. He half expected her to fall over while walking, but she did not.
“Geria, please come in.”
As Geria walked through the portal, more fidgeting started. Petr wished his uncle would just call in the right mate and not have them go through this torture, but then he supposed the network had something to say about that. Tension was better for ratings.
“Taci, please come in.
“Bornt, please come in.
“Stron, please come in.”
When fifteen of them had been called in and so far nobody had mated with whomever was on the other side, the fidgeting turned to glares and anger as some of the candidates eyed their competition. Somebody in this room would be mated tonight. Would it be them? Or one of the others?
“Deq, please come in.”
Petr smiled at the older lady as she walked by him. She gave him a cautious smile and walked through the portal. Less than a minute later, Victr laughed loudly. “Well, there is no doubt you two are mated,” he chuckled. “But at least you did not destroy a piece of furniture while finding out. Please lock each other’s band. Now… go, pack and enjoy.”
Smiling, Petr peaked out the door and saw Deq walk up the stairs accompanied by a man her same height who’s hair was also graying at the temples. They looked cute together.
Something changed that night. The socialization did happen to a certain extent, but for the most part, the candidates were too focused on their mate to notice the other sexually available people not a foot away from them. Petr found it easier to concentrate, even with the fact Taci moved into his room as she could not stand being alone now that Deq was gone. It amused him that the oldest and youngest candidates had roomed together.
She did not want to hang around the house much and tended to follow him on his jaunts around the grounds. She was an easy companion as she did not talk too much and was willing to go as fast and as far as he wanted to go; she just did not want to be alone.
On the next day of a mating, Petr, Taci, Tenro, and Clari were playing cards waiting for everything to start when there was huge yell as though someone was in pain. Standing up, they looked over the grounds, shocked to see Wry being dragged back to the house by two guards.
“What the hell did he do?” Tenro snorted in amusement.
(cont next week...)
0 comments:
Post a Comment