"Oh okay." Hope kept forgetting she was tied to Viper, and he held a position of privileged.
"Why do you keep calling Hope Uxorem?" Tara looked to Acris then Hope.
"It means that Hope is second female in the empire." Acris stated.
"Like a princess!?" JP asked in awe.
"Yeah." Hope said waiting for the fall out.
"Seriously woman you were only supposed to go on vacation!" JP exclaimed which Tara seconded.
"Well Viper will get over me and move on." Hope stated with conviction.
She wasn't about to stay married to some alien man she barely knew just because she made his cock hard. And although Viper got all growly and jealous, Hope was pretty sure he wasn't that thrilled with being tied to an alien either.
"I do not understand." Acris said in confusion.
"I'm human, Viper's Anguis. We barely just met. He has no clue what kind of person I am and vice versa. That does not a marriage make."
"But you are already mated, besides the pronouncement ceremony it is done." Acris said.
"We are different Acris. My people don't go all hormonal and mate the way yours do. Yes we have lust and it sometimes results in marriage, but most often men and women date, and if they like each other's personality they decide to move on to mating."
"Date?" Acris asked
"We go have dinner or visit a garden several times. You talk and then either you like each other or you don't." Hope did her best to simplify the concept for the foreign woman.
"That is not so very different." Acris stated. Her head was cocked like she was considering the differences between their ways.
"How do your people meet and mate?" Tara asked. Hope could see the doctor's sociological mind at work.
"The sire of your clan or your nidum brothers introduce you to males or escort you to events where there are many un-mated males and females. Then if you are lucky, you find a male who makes you excited and afraid all at once." Acris smiled.
"And?" JP asked.
"The male fights your family and steals you away." She replied wistfully.
"He fights and then steals you. That's barbaric!" Tara exclaimed and Hope punched her arm.
"Don't be rude!"
It was caveman-like but Tara hadn't witnessed just how overwhelmed Viper had become. Hope understood when Acris said excited and afraid at the same time. If her response to Viper was only a fraction of what the Anguis females felt then it must be intense.
Again Hope shivered at the memory of how sexy and yet frightening Viper had been. The way the strange liquid desire had coursed through her when he put his mouth on her. Even his release inside her had been packed with those crazy pheromones. She could still feel the ghostly traces of his erotic drug. Just thinking about it made her nipples tighten and her womb spasm.
"The fight is just a formality, unless of course your family resist the mating. Then things can get intense." Acris continued to explain.
Hope nodded. She'd seen intense first hand.
"And then what, he drags you off to a dark alley?" Tara asked and JP snickered at the comment. They were awful.
"No no he takes you to his home and you stay there until the first few days of mating are over." Acris looked wistful like she was recalling her own mating.
Hope could only imagine the wild fuck fest that probably ensued.
"And you are okay with this?" Tara inquired.
"When I met my Basilisk, I was very happy with our mating." Acris smiled and Hope understood.
Part of her found the encounter with Viper mind blowing. In the end it qualified as the best sex she'd ever had, but overall it was beyond fucked up. Although from what she gathered Viper wasn't all to blame, it still didn't mean she was head over heals in love. Not to mention the way he lost his shit with JP or anyone else that came too close, it was over the top.
"What if a man tries to force a female not because he's in heat? I don't know what you call it?"
"Mating heat is an acceptable translation. Our brothers and sire keep us safe from lonely males. There is no excuse for a male to force a female since there are females who have lost males or who are older and have yet to find their true mate who are willing to mount more freely, hoping to find someone to form a bond with."
Hope assumed Acris meant old maids and widows would have sex without marrying though it sounded like they too were looking for someone special rather than just having a good time.
"I do not understand what you meant by Viper would get over you and move on." Acris asked looking confused.
"Do your people ever divorce or end a mating?" Hope asked.
Acris looked horrified.
"We mate for life. As long as a mate is alive no one else can, um" Acris looked suddenly very embarrassed.