Skarr returns after a few minutes, thumping down onto the ground at my feet again. He holds the plate up to me and I pick up a rib of something, giving it a nibble. “What was that all about? You and Valmir?”

He shrugs and eyes my rib. I hold it out to him and he takes a bite, then licks his lips meaningfully. “Doesn’t taste as good as you.”

My face gets hot. “Don’t change the subject.”

He just smiles wider, sending me a heated glance as he relaxes at my side. Mari steps over his sprawled legs, carrying her child to bed, and Liz and Harlow bring out bowls of dried fruit and offer tidbits to everyone. Skarr continues to eat the rib in the most blatant way possible, his tongue sliding along the bone and making me blush.

When the others finally get past, I lean in close again. “So what was it with Valmir?”

“He resonated to April and she is not impressed. He wants to win her with a show of strength. He wishes to fight me but insisted I throw the battle, and I said no.” He licks his lips. “I asked him‘how would that look to my mate? He said you were already under my mind control and it didn’t matter.”

Oh lord, not the whole “mind control” thing again. “There’s no mind control—”

“If you say so, my mate.”

“—and tell Valmir he can’t go around punching people to try and impress women. It doesn’t work that way.” I pluck a mushy root from the plate and taste it. It’s covered with spices and falls apart in my mouth, forcing me to lick my fingers.

As I do, Skarr’s gaze focuses on my mouth. “I punched Chalath and I got you.”

“That was coincidence.”

“Mmm, I do not agree.” He offers me another root. “I told him I would fight him, but it would have to be a fair fight and if he lost, it would not help his cause any. He said he was trying to come up with a new plan and would keep me alerted.”

I can only imagine. Valmir is far too sly for his own good, watching everyone with a cold, assessing gaze. He’s a bit too much of an opportunist. At least Skarr is honest, if rather loud.

“Perhaps he should fight one of the newcomers,” Skarr muses as we eat. He flexes his arms. “You know, the ones with all the limbs.”

I smack him lightly on the shoulder. “No, and hush. They’re friendly. Not everyone wants to fight.”

“They look like they wish to fight to me.” Skarr wiggles his brows in my direction. “Did you see how strong they were? Perhaps I will ask them to spar instead of Valmir.”

“Just make sure they understand it’s sparring before you do?” I give him a pleading look. “I’m just now starting to like you. Maybe you don’t give anyone a reason to decide they want ssethri-skin boots?”

“As if they could best me.” He gives me a challenging smile.

“You are quite impressive,” I tease back. “I hear you’re the best gladiator on the planet.”

His gaze heats. He loves it when I flatter him. “You know I am.”

“Get a room, you two,” Liz says as she strolls past again, holding the dried fruit basket. “Your flirting stopped being adorable five minutes ago. You’ve moved on to the cloying stage. Fruit?”

I snag a piece from her and decide to give a little sass back. Liz intimidates the heck out of me, but I don’t want her to know that. “You’re just jealous.”

“Hell yes I am. The first bloom of resonance? Without three kids hanging on your legs?” She tilts her head to the sky, sighing dreamily. “All resonance is great, but there’s something special about your first one. I hope you two are enjoying it.” She glances around the crowded fire, looking for her mate. I look for him, too, and have to stifle a giggle when I see him. Fierce Raahosh has a stoic expression on his face. He is holding a bowl for his youngest daughter to pick at, with her on his knee. On one side is his daughter Aayla, playing with her doll and talking to her father, and on his other side, Raashel is painting swirls on his face with a determined expression.

“He looks miserable,” I comment with a giggle.

“Are you kidding? He’s loving this shit and he’s never looked sexier.” Liz sighs at the sight of her mate. “There’s nothing better than a girl dad, trust me.” She takes her basket and saunters over toward her mate, who wears a hint of a smile when he sees her.

“I should like to be a girl dad,” Skarr comments, watching them.

I’d like that, too.

By the time the food is down to scraps, we’ve heard far too many people sing, a few drunks have danced, and it looked as if Sabrina was flirting with both Kyth and Jason. People start disappearing from around the fire, and Elly and Bek take Emma to bed.

I finish my last bite of food and then produce the wedge of dried fruit given to me by Liz earlier. “Want to split the dessert?”

“What’s dessert?” He leans back, eyeing the small yellow slice.

“It’s something sweet and delicious you eat after your meal for pleasure.”

“I have something like that already.” He gives me a lascivious look. “It is my mate’s cunt.”

I yelp and cover his mouth with my hand, looking around in a panic to see if anyone else heard that. No one’s looking in our direction, and I breathe easy. “Not so loud.”

“I don’t see why not. They already know you are the finest female on the planet. Of course I should enjoy tasting your cunt.” He leans close, his mouth drifting toward my ear as I pop the fruit into my mouth. “Though I have yet to suck your ass like you requested.”

I promptly choke on the slice.

“You like that idea. I can tell.” He grabs my hand and hauls me to my feet. “Let’s go do it.”

This man is ridiculous…and yet I’m not going to say no. I’ve still got that pot of grease in our hut, and maybe we’ll put both cocks to use again tonight. I’ve never had anal sex, but I also never imagined mating a half-lizard alien man, and he’s re-defined my idea of “sexy.” If anything, he’s making me think we should try a lot of things, because everything is fun with Skarr. Nothing is awkward or embarrassing.

Actually, a lot of it is awkward, but we’re awkward together, and it ends up being enjoyable.

I let him lead me by the hand towards our hut, anticipation building with every step. The farther away we get from the main fire, the quieter things get, and I can hear the low hum of resonance in our chests, and just hearing it makes me happy. He lifts my hand to his mouth and kisses the back of it, grinning at me. “Did you notice your song has changed?”

“I noticed.” I bite my lip. “Are we happy?”

“As long as you promise me that whatever baby comes out of you is going to be smaller than Steph’s baby, I am happy, yes.”

I snort-giggle at that, because Jethani is a fat, wriggly baby that’s probably two feet tall due to her large alien father. “They don’t come out that size, you dork. Our baby would definitely be a lot smaller at first.”

He heaves a sigh of relief, pressing his free hand to his brow. “Thank kef. I admit that thought has been keeping me up at night.”

I can’t stop laughing, and even when we get into the hut and pull our boots off, I’m still giggling at his strange assumptions about babies. It’s so cute. He’s so cute. I kiss him, and the kiss quickly turns from playful to heated. I pull off his scarf, revealing the V tattoo I’ve made for him at the base of his collarbone, at the divot there. He wanted to be marked where everyone could see it, but it gets covered by layers more often than not. My finger tattoo does, too, but just knowing we have them is part of the pleasure.

I keep kissing him as we undress, peeling layers off of each other until we’re both naked. He leads me over to the bed of furs and then gives me a wicked look. “Give me that pretty ass of yours, my Vivi. I’ve waited long enough to suck on it.”

He really is? I bite back another chuckle and get on hands and knees in the furs, pushing my backside into the air and spreading my knees. “Maybe try licking instead? That’s generally more pleasurable—oh!”