“I-I told you that I will honor my vows. You’re my husband, and you can do whatever you want. I won’t fight you again.”

Lucas lowered his forehead to Kai’s and sighed. “I don’t want to frighten you. How—how experienced are you?”

Kai shook his head. “I don’t know what happens between a married couple. Royal dau—children aren’t given any kind of instruction on this. We’re kept very sheltered, and our husbands are supposed to teach us. ”

Lucas released his hold on him and stepped back, and Kai was surprised to see him trembling. Kai put his hands on Lucas’s arms and drew him back. “I want you to teach me, Alpha. If you want me…”

Lucas moved toward him with a low growling sound in his throat. Something leaped in his eyes that perhaps should have frightened Kai, but instead it excited him. He stepped forward so that the flesh standing up now between his legs brushed against Lucas’s stomach. He couldn’t imagine where he’d found the nerve to do it, but it felt so amazing, so incredible that Kai pressed a bit harder, the rough material of the alpha’s trousers making Kai shiver as little jolts seemed to pass through him.

With a growl, Lucas pulled him closer, putting his lips gently against Kai’s, then licking at the seams of his mouth until it parted. Lucas eased his tongue inside, gently exploring. Kai clutched at Lucas’s shoulders in complete dismay. No one had ever kissed him on the lips before that he could remember. Scythians didn’t kiss each other on the mouth, though he’d gotten his share of kisses on the cheek, along with hugs and cuddling as a small child. No one had shown him affection like this for years. Why was Lucas putting his tongue in his mouth? Was this some Lycan custom? And what on Scythia was he doing with his hand?

His breath coming quicker, Kai pushed at his shoulders, frightened a little, but didn’t budge the Lycan an inch. Dragging his eyes open, Kai met Lucas’s dark gaze, sparkling with some emotion he couldn’t name. His hand moved faster and Kai would have screamed at the sensation if his mouth hadn’t been otherwise occupied as Lucas lowered his head for another kiss.

Groaning, he felt like he was burning up, even with the water splashing down on him. The big Lycan finally pulled his lips away, but Kai still couldn’t breathe. Not with what was going on between his legs. The strangest feeling was coming over him. He wanted something, but he didn’t know what it was. He strained to get closer to Lucas, and his hips started thrusting forward instinctively. Hearing himself whimper, he arched his back and looked up into Lucas’s eyes again, silently begging him to help, but he didn’t know what he wanted help for. Something was building in him, and he was afraid he was about to fly apart.

Lucas smiled wolfishly at him. “Come on,” he urged, gripping him harder.

Kai thought he must be dying. His body seized and he strained forward, making little grunting sounds. His toes tried to clench and curl. The same white, sticky substance he’d found in his bed started spurting from the end of the rod of flesh between his legs and he looked down at himself in wonder. A drop or two even hit him under the chin. Oh dear gods, what was happening to him? He fell against Lucas’s chest, totally spent and drained. Lucas held him up and rubbed his back, not saying anything, just seeming to be trying to soothe him.

This was the second time Lucas had grabbed his genitals like this. Was this sex, then? Is this what two men did together? If so, he was totally on board with it. He rubbed himself against Lucas’s stomach, the friction almost painful now, but still feeling wonderful.

Lucas whispered in his ear. “I’ll let you rest for a minute and I’ll get out of these wet clothes. I’m not through with you yet, though, Kai. Not by a long shot.”

“Yes,” Kai said, happy for the moment just to hang here in Lucas’s arms and rub against him. Lucas chuckled softly and shifted around so that the water was splashing down on Kai’s head. Kai buried his face against Lucas’s shoulder, and Lucas allowed it while he carefully soaped his hands and ran them over the back of Kai’s head and neck, tenderly washing away the dried blood.

When he was finished, he sat Kai down on the side of the tub and stepped out. He peeled off his wet clothing and threw it into the tub. Then he reached for a towel to dry his body. All Kai could do was gaze at him. He’d never seen anything like him before.

His alpha was big, with broad muscles in his chest and thighs. His skin was tanned and smooth, but all these things paled in comparison with what was hanging between his legs. He had the same genitals as Kai, only larger. His big piece of flesh was long, and wider than Kai’s. It was sticking up at a slight angle and looked impossibly hard. He had thick, curly dark hair covering it at the base. The rounded flesh below the hair was big too, hanging heavily down between his legs. Just looking at him made Kai’s stomach ache and clench, but he wasn’t sure why.

When he finished drying, he reached down for Kai and wrapped a big towel around him. Rubbing him briskly, he went over and over the same spots on Kai, gazing into his eyes. Then he bent down and picked him up again to carry him to the bedroom. Kai was a big boy and not used to being carried around like this. Maybe this was part of the Lycan’s mating ritual. He threw an arm around Lucas’s shoulder and hung on, his eyes wide and confused.

Lucas carried him to the bed, dropped him down on it and climbed in after him. Kneeling over him, his eyes hungry and savage, he almost growled at him. “I’m going to fuck you now, Kai. Tell me you know what that means.”

Frightened, but trying not to show it, Kai shook his head. “No,” he admitted. “Is it different from what we just did? Will you hurt me?”

Groaning, Lucas fell down beside him, the flesh between his legs an angry red and sticking up from his body. “Can you really be as innocent as you’re pretending? Tell me you’re really not a virgin.”

“I-I’m not sure.”

“How can you not be sure?” Lucas was almost yelling at him.

“Because I don’t know what that is,” Kai snapped back, raising his own voice.

Lucas propped himself up on one elbow and narrowed his eyes at him. “What do you mean you don’t know what it is?”

“I mean I don’t know. I never heard that word before.”

“Well, what do you call someone who hasn’t ever had sex before?”

“I don’t know,” Kai said irritably. “I don’t call them anything because I’m not supposed to discuss things like that. I’m sure there’s probably a word for it, but it never came up in conversations with my mother and my servants.”

Lucas blew out an exasperated breath. “Surely you have friends. You read, don’t you?”

“Not about sex. I wasn’t allowed to, and royal children never play with other children. You don’t seem to realize how isolated I’ve been all my life. Everything I was allowed to read was carefully screened before it was given to me. As I told you, a royal is not supposed to know anything about such things before marriage, and that’s how I was brought up.”

“Your mother said you hunted. You must have seen animals mating or had friends who talked about it as you got older.”

“Not really. I did hunt with the royal guard, but I never saw animals doing—that. Scythians don’t keep animals as pets. My tutors told me that’s done sometimes on other planets. I overheard some conversations occasionally, of course. But they were all females. They never discussed anything about males. Not ever. Scythian women don’t like males.”

“Yes, but surely…” Lucas broke off in irritation. “What about when you masturbated?”At his blank look, Lucas blew out another long-suffering breath. “When you touched yourself—down there? You know, to make yourself come.”

“Come?”

“Oh for the gods’ sake! Do what you just did in the shower.”

“I never did that before,” Kai said shyly. “Not like that. I had dreams sometimes. Sometimes I’d rub myself against the sheets, and it would feel good. But my servants always bathed me. I didn’t take showers by myself.”

“B-But…you…that can’t be…oh, fucking gods!”

“Why are you so angry? I can’t help it—I live on a planet with all women. Don’t you get it? I don’t know anything about men. No one ever taught me anything like this.” Kai could feel his cheeks heat up and he squirmed uncomfortably. “I know you think I’m stupid and a liar. But I’m not lying about this. I don’t know anything about sex.”

“If there aren’t any men on your planet, why did your mother keep you?”

“She loved me, I guess,” Kai said sharply. “She had fallen in love with my father, even though that was highly irregular. Almost unheard of, really.When he died she was already pregnant with me. When I was born, she decided to keep me. But she had to pretend I was female.”

“What?”Lucas stared down at him incredulously. “So no one knew your true sex except your mother?”

“And the servants loyal to her, of course. No one else, no.”

“She raised you as a girl?”

Kai flushed. “She raised me as a person. Don’t you see? Males are non-persons and defective.” He had dropped his gaze telling this part, but he chanced a peek back up at his mate. He could tell from Lucas’s outraged expression that he thought pretending to be a person was wrong and something Kai should be ashamed of. Unable to meet his gaze, Kai kept his head firmly down.

“But why did you go along with it? I mean, once you got older. Didn’t you…?” Lucas shook his head. “I just don’t understand.”

Kai felt his face flaming. He was ashamed, but not of pretending to be a female. “Males are…I’m sorry, but males are deformed, in a way. That’s why we have this extra flesh between our legs, Merrial said. She’s my servant and told me all about it. Naturally, I tried to hide it. I wanted to be a member of the superior sex.”