His chest rose and fell at a steady rhythm, and she stroked his nova marking, eliciting from him a relaxed sigh. Rae had to squelch an affectionate smile with a reminder: Less than six days until we leave, Rae. Don’t get attached.
Still. She had trouble remembering the brute that kidnapped her and inspired so much terror. The fear she felt now was different—more akin to what she felt for violent weather and forces of nature. It was a sense of quiet awe and thankfulness that she was sheltered from his power.
She was left wondering what sheltered her more: the fact she could leave, or the way his savagery transformed into something protective every time he touched her.
She’d still leave him, though. This was not her home. It just surprised her that leaving hurt to think about.
Gazing out the windows, the bright rings and starlight lit the meadow in pale blue colors. That tripartite waterfall caught her gaze once again, and just as before an intense frisson electrified her.
Garr’s hand stroked her face. “You’re beautiful in this light.”
He was awake now, transfixed on the sight of her in the celestial light. His fingertips rode against her skin like silk carried on a breeze, touching her neck and her arm in ways that made her eyes shut, her body bending in response.
He cupped her breast last, and she opened her eyes to one of those boyish, happy smiles of satisfaction at holding her tit. Men are the same across the galaxy. She was more amused than anything.
“What keeps you awake?” he asked. Sleep made his voice deeper and more feline.
“The waterfall, I guess. I get a weird shiver every time I look at it.”
“Then we’ll go there tomorrow.” He dragged her into otoya sheets that reflexively cocooned them together.
“Why’s that?” she asked, wrapping her thighs around one of his legs and liking the security of being tangled with him.
“That shiver is a message from Kaython, who is in your blood. Her signal that she wants you there. And if she does, then so do I.” He turned her, sheets adjusting so that now she was spooned comfortably into him.
He nuzzled the back of her scalp, warm breath on her neck. Ooh. This is good too. Relaxing, she felt sleepy again.
“You did promise me a show.” But for a while she lay staring out the window, realizing somewhere deep down that she was troubled.
Ythir was beautiful. Garr was… actually not so bad. He might even have meant more to her than a really handsome lover. She worried at her lip as she realized, when she hadn’t been looking, a piece of her heart had attached itself to this planet.
Maybe leaving wouldn’t be so easy after all.
***
Garr disappeared the next morning, off to do whatever primes did at dawn. Did they exercise? Answer urgent emails? She had no idea.
Stretching her aching muscles back into a semblance of working order, Rae collapsed back into the sheets and silently wished Garr hadn’t been so gung-ho about the waterfall. She wanted to stay in bed, recover, and maybe see if Garr would join her there.
Sylla whispered quietly into the room and laid out fresh garments. Even more than usual, she avoided eye contact and there was something in the quick snap of her gestures that made her seem upset.
Realizing what it might be, Rae touched her hair lightly. Yup. That is some crazy sex hair. Frowning, Rae broached the subject carefully: “Are you mad?”
“Why would I be mad?” Sylla snapped. She paused after hearing her own curt reply, but then went back to folding Rae’s non-otoya garments from back home.
“You’re mad that Garr and I did it,” Rae said. The phrase “made love” was too much a euphemism, while “had sex” seemed too clinical for what had happened the other night.
As if touched with a red-hot brand, Sylla squared both shoulders and tilted her jaw into the air. For once, there was fire in the silent girl’s eyes. “Did he claim you in the traditional way?”
Rae’s ears burned in response. “I really don’t know the—”
“Did he release inside you!”
The conversation now officially irritated Rae. She flushed in spite of it, and from her flush, she knew the tiny dryad would know it happened precisely that way.
“Then you’re his mate,” Sylla said. She lowered her eyes and sighed. “Forever.”
Rae sat up abruptly. “Wait, why?” Her hands shot reflexively to her stomach. Was there any way in hell an alien could just knock her up? That was absurd to the extreme.
He’d talked about Kaython “finding a way,” but if Kaython had been renovating her reproductive system, Rae would need to bend the domé’s ear on the matter. That was uncool.
Sylla locked stares with her. “Primes mate for life. If he claimed you in the traditional way, he may never seek another. He’ll be a castoff when you leave.” Sylla turned up her nose and marched from the room in a huff.