“What does this mean?” I asked, drawing a careful knuckle along her rounded cheekbone, noting with wonder the suppleness of it.

Wonder turned to worry when she replied, “It’s blood.”

“What do you mean, blood?” I shot back, focusing hard on her face. I’d thought it was simply a quirk of her human hide to shift in shade. I replayed everything I’d done with my tongue, suddenly terrified that I’d pressed too hard on the insides of her cheeks and made her bleed somehow inside.

“It’s not bad. It’s not a bruise or an injury. The blood vessels dilate for increased blood flow, and you can see that from the outside.”

Well, that was more than mildly alarming. I knew her skin was delicate, vulnerable, requiring protection and care. But it was so thin that you could even see the blood through it?

How could any creature that soft survive so long?

I thought of how two tiny wounds on her feet had almost killed her and my guts clenched.

She’ll survive now. Because now, she’s got a male with claws and scales who will take on any hurt for her.

My face must have looked grim, because now she was saying, “It’s fine. It’s normal, especially for someone with a lighter skin tone. It happens during exercise or... or moments of heightened emotion.”

“What kinds of emotion?” I asked sharply.

“Um... Embarrassment, for one thing.”

I watched her with a keen eye, decided that embarrassment was a better reaction to my tongue in her mouth than something like revulsion, and finally moved aside to let her in.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

Suvi

There was some food already there for us in the little cooking area of the apartment. After bringing in the laundry we ate a simple dinner together on the floor, my eyes going to the single bed every other bite.

Then, I went to hide in the bathroom. I wasn’t proud of it, but there it was.

But there was only so long I could reasonably spend in there. I’d already used the alien toilet and washed my hands, and I’d bathed earlier in the day. After scrubbing my teeth with a Bohnebregg toothbrush, which was composed of some sort of stiff plant matter adhered to a wooden handle, there was nothing left to do but go back out there.

I didn’t.

I stood staring at the door like a dumbass.

Until I heard the boom of Skallagrim’s voice through it.

“If you take much longer in there I will assume that something’s happened and be forced to come in after you.”

The teasing glide of his voice made it very clear that he knew nothing had happened to me but that the threat of barging in here was real either way.

I wanted to call back tartly that the door was locked, not that it would make any difference to someone as strong as him. He could just use his alien telekinesis and smash it open if he wanted to.

It was silly to be this nervous about something as simple as going to sleep beside him. I’d slept in the same room as him for weeks already. I’d literally spread my legs for him earlier this afternoon, as much as I was still grappling to figure out just how, exactly, that had happened.

It was only sleep.

And it was only Skallagrim.

Soup. Cabbage. Time to go.

I opened the door and went back into the bedroom.

Skallagrim was already seated on the bed, at the edge, thick thighs spread.

He’d also apparently lost his robe somewhere along the way.

“Jolakaia left new clothing for you, too, you know,” I said, taking relieved note of the fact that nothing was currently, ahem, visible, between his legs.

“Yes, I saw the trousers.” A lazy grin tugged at the sides of his snout. “But it has always been my custom to sleep without them.”

“Since when?” I cried, fists flying to my hips. He’d pretty much always worn his robe in the temple room, even when sleeping, leaning back against the wall.

His grin widened, grew devious.

“Since I had my mate to share my bed with.”

Oh boy.

I considered telling him he wouldn’t have anybody to share the bed with at all unless he put some fucking clothes on. But we’d already gone through that whole rigamarole earlier, and I knew we wouldn’t come to any new conclusions.

One bed.

Two people.

One of them naked. For fuck’s sake.

“You are a menace,” I grumbled, wearily accepting the situation. At least it wasn’t like being nestled against a human man with his dick flopping around. And, to be fair, the first few days I’d spent with Skallagrim (which included sleeping beside him) he’d been naked, too. This wasn’t exactly new for us.

But it felt new. So much had changed since those first strange, confusing moments with him in this world. We could talk to each other now.

We were mates now.

Somehow. Apparently.

“Do I have to pay another toll just to get access to the bed?” I asked.

His eye glinted with something far too close to mischief for my liking, but all he did was scoot his big green frame over and gesture towards the mattress in silent invitation. I hauled myself onto the bed and crawled towards the centre. Skallagrim watched me, snout still curled in a smirk, his gaze greedy and arrogant as a cat, a cat who’d already had a taste of cream and was not quite patiently waiting to receive another.

There were no pillows on the bed, just the large mattress and sets of sheets. The top sheet had been pulled open to one side, I noticed, so that I could collapse right into that spot. I thought about Skallagrim waiting for me, arranging the sheets just so for my arrival, and couldn’t decipher whether it had been a generous, thoughtful gesture, or one that had been calculated to get me into bed all the faster, like some kind of subliminal messaging.

Hell. With Skallagrim, it was probably both.

I pulled the sheet back over myself, dragging it up to my chin as if I had to hide my naked body, even though I was still wearing the fresh cotton outfit Jolakaia had left for me. Skallagrim still just watched me with that golden cat-eye look, until the awkwardness broke me and I squeaked out, “Well, aren’t you going to lie down?”

His answer was to throw his body down in a great thwump! beside me. He was so heavy that he bounced me right up off the mattress and back down again. Before I could come up with some scathing retort, haughty with indignation, I started to giggle.

And once I started, I couldn’t stop.

Giddiness spread through my lungs like laughing gas. My heart ran like a rabbit, my stomach tightening pleasantly after the bouncy fall I’d just taken. Skallagrim watched me with the pleased surprise of a man who wanted to pretend he’d done that on purpose just to make me laugh even though he hadn’t actually anticipated this outcome.

Abdominal muscles beginning to burn, I took several steadying breaths and relaxed back onto the mattress, cheeks still stretched with a smile. When was the last time I’d laughed that much? When was the last time I’d done something fun?

Elvi was always making me do stuff like that – stuff to get me out of my comfort zone and make my heart beat fast. Whether it was hockey or sledding or pushing me, terrified but breathlessly laughing, into Lake Saimaa in the summer, she’d always made things fun. Even though she’d been eight years older than me and had raised me since our mother died when I was twelve, she’d always felt more like a friend my own age than an older sibling. If anything, I was often the more prudent and mature one between us, even when I was a child. Sometimes, when I nagged her about something or began worrying too much, she’d poke me and say, “I may not have any grandmothers left living but at least I’ve still got you.”