Mated by Twilight (True Match)

Chapter 32

Sollit

Human females were such strange creatures. So apparently delicate, small and beautiful and pleasing to all the senses. Sweet and seductive and practically begging to be bred.

To the point that their bodies bled every thirty days or so if they weren’t impregnated. As if punishing themselves for daring to not have offspring taking root in their wombs.

Something he would happily rectify for her. The mediscan was too soon to determine if they’d impregnated her, but they did learn that she hadn’t accepted the birth control offered to human females as part of the immigration process.

When they asked why, she blushed and said that she hadn’t been sure about it. That being told that they could turn off her ovulation sounded so permanent and frightening. Birth control was forbidden in her religion and, though she had left it, those old lessens and horror stories and warnings about how it was bad for her and an afront to her nature as a woman had reared its ugly head and she hadn’t been able to do it.

And also, she wasn’t actually opposed to starting her family early. If they were okay with it, of course. With the newly locked bond, it was a silly question to ask. Of course, they wanted to breed their mate. They would happily do it now if she wanted.

But she told them that she didn’t think she could get pregnant right now as, by her math, she was about to start her dreaded period. Which was going to be a horrible time in which she was going to bleed and be in pain and if they hadn’t asked her directly, she wouldn’t even have told them.

And true to her word, it came within just a few days.

Sollit and Tillos both hated it.

Leah had severely understated the bleeding of the period time. Sollit was envisioning something like the breaking of her hymen – a small amount of blood, maybe some brief pain. No. Not at all. She lost a lot of blood, and there was a lot of pain.

Cramps, she said. Just part of the shedding of her womb, she said. It was normal , she said. If anything, it was better since her initial medical scan had removed the masses that used to make it worse. It used to be worse !

This wasn’t normal at all. It was horrible and unpleasant. Sollit hated that his mate was in pain. He hated seeing her walking around, occasionally wincing, sometimes grimacing with a hand to her lower belly.

They only let that happen for about a mark before ignoring the way she insisted that she was fine and carrying her back to their room. She told them she was okay, that she was used to this, that she could still do her job – she was still cleaning between performances and training because she said she liked it.

Then, Sollit and Tillos started purring and her protests ended.

That allowed them to tend to her through her period without feeling any pain. They took turns leaving the room to get food and supplies to clean her bleeding – she had made gauze pads for herself since they didn’t have anything to catch her blood. Humans had many products for that, but periods were a human concept, not a universal one. They didn’t have anything pre-made and easily obtained. But between purring sessions, she showed them how to make the pads for her underwear.

She stopped resisting after about the second purring session. It was nice, she finally admitted.

“Then, why did you resist so hard?” Sollit asked, massaging her scalp as she reclined on their sofa. At her feet, Tillos was tending to her cute little toe claws.

She blushed. “Human girls don’t stop just because we have our period.”

“Why not?” Sollit asked, massaging her temples, bringing a sigh of delight from her as she melted into the reclining chair.

“Well, it happens so often,” she mumbled, her voice slurred from comfort. “You can’t just stop your life because of a little pain.

“ Aevea, ” Tillos lifted his head, giving her a dull look. “You were wincing as you walked.”

“I mean, that’s just part of it.”

“Not anymore,” Sollit smiled, pleased.

This was exactly what they, as avanava males, were meant to do with their females. Tend to her, beautify her, make her weak and delirious with comfort and pleasure. Their feedings had already started to take an effect. The gentle massages were improving her circulation and the food they were giving her were all excellent for her health.

This whole stupid period thing was ruining their good work by making her bloated, nauseated, and breaking her face out, and not to mention the pain thing. They were redoubling their efforts to combat the effects of this annoying time.

Leah’s protests were solely because she was used to just working through her illness-

“It’s not an illness!” She protested.

“Seems to act like an illness,” Tillos mumbled, massaging her calves.

-but she didn’t have to anymore. They were going to take care of her. And when the pain – which came in unpredictable waves – returned, they purred to her until it faded. That would deal with a lot of the stress of this time and, hopefully, not undo all their good work.

“Humans are a lot of work,” Tillos remarked later, whispering as their mate was sleeping curled up in their bed. Her head was by Sollit’s hip, and he had a hand on her back, purring for her by himself. Just enough to keep her asleep and resting in case another wave of pain came.

“An unforeseen complication,” Sollit agreed calmly, grinning. “But I like the challenge.”

Tillos chuckled. “Indeed. And it gives us an excuse to devote all of our attention onto her every time this happens. Like a bonding ceremony.”

“Bonding ceremonies are specifically not meant for times of illness,” Sollit countered, chuckling. “We should see about sourcing something for her bleeding. There’s got to be a better way to deal with it than just some folded gauze in her underwear.”

“I had the same thought. And I was looking up some options. We’ll make a list for her later to see what she thinks.”

“Maybe we can convince her to stop her ovulation.”

“Or we could just do it ourselves.”

Tillos’ muttered suggestion sent a hot lance of need through Sollit’s belly. He knew that part of the mating bond snapping into place would be the urge to breed her rising up in him. He just hadn’t realized how strong it would be.

He was disappointed she was going through this period, this proof that she wasn’t pregnant. And not even just because she’d forbidden them from fucking her through it – absolutely not, she’d glared, closing her legs like they might try to pry them apart. Assuring her that they weren’t bothered by blood did nothing to persuade her.

That was fine. It would just make the moment they did have her that much better. No, he just genuinely wanted their youngling inside her.

At least the hymen thing wouldn’t heal back. They only needed to deal with that once. But this period was a personal affront to him. It hurt his female, therefore it was unacceptable. Maybe they could do something, feed her something, to make the periods not as bad when they came.

But that was something to ponder for later. For now, he shared a grin with Tillos. They needed to speak to their female about that later. After this fun pampering time.

Sollit’s amusement caught Tillos’ attention.

“What?” He asked, sitting on the side of their bed.

“Just happy,” Sollit said, smiling at Leah’s lovely, sleeping face. “Every thirty days, we get to spend five days cloistered with our female, touching and adoring her without recrimination. I think this is my favorite part of mating a human.”

Tillos laughed, running his hand up her thigh. “Yes. I think I would have to agree.”