I had to admit Zyno was right to scold us; Eve and I were clearly taking the PDA too far. And hilarious as it might seem, we got a message from Kianna wanting to meet up, and the moment we saw her expression and realized another scolding was coming our way, I quickly assured her we’d be toning down the PDA; turns out that was why she’d called us too, and was quite pleased Zyno already had a word with us.

  Honestly I wasn’t even sure why I was so indulgent with Eve, why we were so addicted to each other’s touch as we were. The perfect match thing? The way our cells interacted? It felt like the more I was around Eve the more I lost of myself, became part of this paired unit—became her mate and nothing else. I realized that should’ve been a terrifying realization—like she really was consuming or overwhelming me, but instead it thrilled me. She said before she would take care of me, protect me, spoil me and love me, and now it was starting to feel like that was really happening.

  But I was still my own man and wanted my own life—part of Eve’s life of course, as her mate and all that, but there were still plenty of things I wanted to experience on my own.

  We started exploring Bliss-87 and it was wild how much it had to offer. First there was the park and beach core of the entire station; the beach was like any standard beach you’d see on a tropical island, beautiful and serene, families and couples parked up all over the blue sand by the water’s edge. The crazy thing was the beach itself was so big—like its own lake, there was enough room for some futuristic boats and jet skis, hovercrafts and even some floating party docks to fit on the water without anything looking like it was crowded or cramped. Walking around the beach without using the moving walkways probably would’ve taken hours—days even.

  After touring a little of the beach, we moved back towards the park and found an available hover-car that reminded me of a golfcart back home, and we started flying around looking at all the golden buildings we could explore. Some popped up randomly along the walkways here and there like restaurants and bars, others were lined up in strip malls with several shops in a row, and then we ended up finding two small towns each at the far ends of the park; one almost seemed like a pop-up town that reminded me of those old western movies, all facing each other down a street, the other was larger and like a big circle. The buildings there had more specialized shops and plenty of entertainment available, with simulators and theatres, some sports arenas and even an alien casino.

  As I drove us through the paradise core, the wind sweeping through my hair, it felt like my mind was clearing up a little and my perception seemed to expand once more; I realized I had been so focused on Eve the past few cycles, my attention had narrowed almost completely on her. She had consumed my mind and my thoughts to the point I realized there was little else to think about, and now it felt like I was becoming myself again.

  Sensing my thoughts, Eve looked up at me with a worried expression, “Are you upset with me?” She asked in a quiet voice.

  I shook my head, pulling the hover-car off to the side and setting it down to park. I turned to face her, putting my arm around her and trailing a hand on her hair tentacle, “No Evie, why would you think that?”

  She shrugged, refusing to meet my gaze, “You were worried before about me consuming you—overwhelming you. It seems like it happened after all.”

  I let out a tired sigh, tilting her chin up to look at me, “Evie, you haven’t done anything wrong—I’m the one who dove headfirst into this without thinking.”

  She looked into my eyes, her expression worried, “And what are you thinking now?”

  I shrugged, “Honestly? Part of me wants to just fall into you, let you consume and overwhelm me, take away all my doubts and worries and responsibilities.”

  She cocked her head to the side, “And the other part?”

  “The other part is still very human, wants to rebel, wants to be my own person and experience my own life.”

  Eve nudged forward, leaning into me, “I want that too. You know I don’t want to consume or change you, right Adam? I love you for who you are. Yes, I want to spoil you and take care of you so you’d never have another care in the world, but not at the expense of destroying who you are as a person.”

  I pulled her against me, wrapping my arms around her, “I know, and I trust you, but I don’t think either of us realized how intense this all would be—a human dating a Predazoan.”

  Eve let out a sad sigh, “And here we were about to enjoy our honeymoon…”

  I pulled her away so I could look in her eyes, “Don’t you see, this is the perfect opportunity for us to explore all our boundaries—best to do it during the honeymoon phase.”

  She looked up in my eyes again, “What do you mean?”

  I waved around at the paradise around us, “In this safe environment, no cares or worries, no agents breathing down our necks—free from everything that binds us on The Radiance, we can explore our relationship and learn the limits between a Predazoan and a human. We can take the time for you to take charge sexually, let you unleash your feelings on me in private, and then in public we can learn the right balance to keep so I’m still my own man without all my focus and attention being drawn into you.”

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  Eve sighed and pressed herself against me again, wrapping her arms around my waist with her tentacles around my arms, “Why does everything have to be so complicated? Why can’t we just be together?"

  I chuckled at that, “Considering you’re the most complex lifeform in the universe, I feel like it was always bound to be complicated.”

  Eve pulled back again, a cute pout on her face, “Well I don’t want it to be complicated.” She turned away in an angry huff, “Sometimes I wish I really were human.”

  I quirked an eyebrow up at that, “Really? Give up all your power, everything that makes you so unique just to be a simple human?”

  She turned back to me, placing a delicate hand on my cheek, “I told you before, humans aren’t simple; there’s a different kind of brilliant complexity with your people, the thoughts and feelings and emotions you all have.” She shook her head slowly, “Far more complicated than anything I ever knew before.”

  I grabbed her hand in mine, “Still, I like you for who you are—Predazoan powers and everything. I like how obsessed I am with you—how addicting you are to me.” I shrugged, “Part of the fun might be resisting that addiction to the point it doesn’t overwhelm me.”

  Eve rolled her eyes, “That doesn’t sound fun, that sounds like work.”

  I smiled at that, “And that’s very human; relationships are work—they take effort. Our work will just be a little different I guess.”

  Eve gave me a soft smile, “Well, I guess I like that then.”

  I nodded, then looked out to the expansive paradise in front of us, “So what do you want to do today?”

  Eve trailed her hand along my thigh, “I know one thing I want to do…” She said coyly.

  I rolled my eyes and pulled her hand into mine, “Part of setting boundaries should be realizing we can’t just indulge in each other constantly. Sure, we could fall into bed for a cycle straight, dose me up with all your chemicals so I stay hard and recharge endlessly, but we should still try to enjoy a normal relationship while we’re here.” I fixed her with a flat glare, “You know most human newlyweds don’t just fuck around for days on end.”

  Eve gave me a playful smile, “You act like I’m overwhelming you, but I see you still have plenty of control yourself.” Then her eyes narrowed as she glared at me, “You’re not going to turn into a tease again like on Entana, are you—dangling kisses as rewards in front of me, getting me to obey your every wish?”

  I smirked at that, “Maybe I should.”

  Eve’s eyes narrowed until they were barely glowing slits, “Adam.”

  I rolled my eyes and pulled her against me, “Obviously not, I just want to strike a good balance. We can enjoy the paradise vacation stations during the day, then at night you can unleash your every indulgent desire on me.”

  Eve’s smile was playful—dangerous even, “My every indulgent desire?”

  I nodded, “Sure. Remember we’re trying to discover our boundaries, and you unleashing yourself and dominating me is part of that.”

  At my serious response to her playful banter, Eve’s expression grew serious once more, “I’ll be careful though Adam, I promise I won’t completely overwhelm you.”

  I quirked up an eyebrow, “At least not right away?”

  She rolled her eyes, “I’m serious Adam—I’m taking this seriously; I want you to trust me, feel safe with me. Yes, I have so much desire I want to unleash upon you, but not at the expense of scaring you away—of breaking the bond we’ve established.”

  I scoffed at that, “Evie, even if—if you scared the absolute shit out of me with some wild Predazoan sex-stuff, you could never break the bond between us.” I leaned down to give her a tender kiss, and she molded into my touch. We broke apart after a few moments, but my gaze remained locked on hers, “I love you, I always will, and no matter what happens nothing could ever change that.”

  Eve leaned into me again, seeming so small in my arms despite the powerful being she was, “I love you too Adam, forever and for always.”

  We sat there in each other’s arms for a while in the little hover-car, privately indulging in gentle affection. There was still a small part of me that was somewhat afraid of Eve—a very, very small part, but like in the back of my mind. Instinct maybe—part of my lizard brain? Whatever it was, it was drowned out by all the love I felt for Eve, the trust—this immortal bond we shared. We’d been in each other’s lives for what, 10 cycles now? It felt much longer than that, like Eve had always been at the core of my life—an integral part of who I was or who I was always meant to be. I found her when I was broken—when we were both broken, and we put each other back together. Life was simple back on Earth, and I could even understand why Eve wanted to return to that simple life, but I enjoyed my time out in space—in the Empire. Sure, there was all sorts of shady shit with the Predazoan research and containment mission, and Eve and I were technically prisoners now, our lives in their hands. But still, despite the danger I don’t think I would change much—aside from getting that stupid failsafe out of Eve’s chest. Our time on Entana had been enjoyable, and now we were on a literal vacation mission, couldn’t beat that for work. I had no idea what the other missions might entail—where we’d end up hunting the other Predazoans across the Empire, but I hoped there’d be plenty more adventures like this.

  Eve and I had been romantically together for just a couple cycles, and if I thought she was a core part of my life before, the change now was drastic; it was like she was a part of my soul, I was so focused on her all the time—she consumed my thoughts and dreams. It was dangerous and I realized now it would’ve been so easy to just give in and allow her to overwhelm me. I knew Eve said she loved me for who I was, but I still thought a part of her would like to keep me fully bound to her, assimilated, inside her always—a mind-broken love-slave that felt endless pleasure in her embrace, in some biomass nest she created for us. It was terrifying to think of a future like that, and equally terrifying to think I would enjoy it. I didn’t tell Eve any of that of course, and I was pretty sure I could keep those instinctive thoughts to myself so she wouldn’t sense them. I knew she would deny it—knew she’d say she wanted me to be free and be myself, but I still remembered how scared she was for me, how protective she was when we confronted Gamma-17. I didn’t think she’d ever consciously choose to contain me in such a way, but what if someday it was the only way to keep me safe? What if it was the only way to keep me at all?

  So many swirling thoughts and emotions and instincts, it was all a little daunting being a simple human in a relationship with a Predazoan, and really there was no need to borrow all that trouble. For now, I would be content to enjoy my vacation with Eve, indulging in the pleasures of a newlywed couple—for the sake of the mission, of course.