The hunt is quick. A rock-jumper has made its burrow nearby, foolishly close to the cave. I catch it easily, snapping its neck with one clean motion. It’s not much—barely a mouthful for a warrior of my size—but it will nourish my Jus-teen.

When I return, she’s still sleeping. I set about preparing the meat, using my claw to skin and clean it before spearing it on a sharpened rock to warm over the fire. Because my female likes her food this way. So I will do it for her. The scent fills the small chamber as I turn the meat, and Jus-teen stirs, her eyelids fluttering. When she opens them fully, her gaze finds mine immediately, and the smile that spreads across her face makes my chest tighten in the strangest way.

“You made food,” she says, her soft voice still heavy with sleep. She sits up, drawing her legs beneath her, and I notice her wince slightly.

I move to her side immediately, concern flooding through me. “Hurt?” I push through mindspeak. I reach for her, my hand hovering over her thigh, uncertain where the pain is.

Her cheeks darken in that fascinating way, and she shakes her head. “I’m fine, just a little sore. From, um, you know.” She glances down at my stem, which responds immediately to her attention, hardening once more.

If she will have me, I will sink deep inside her once more. But not before she has eaten.

Her eyes widen, and she laughs—a sound that makes my blood heat. “Already? Seriously?”

I don’t understand her words, but the images flashing through her mind are clear enough. She’s thinking of our coupling, of my size inside her, of the slight discomfort and overwhelming pleasure.

My stem jerks at the intensity of those thoughts.

“For you,” I project, gesturing to the roasting creature. “Eat. Strength.”

She shifts toward the fire, reaching for the gourd of water I’ve placed nearby. “Thank you.” She drinks deeply, then turns her attention to the meat. “This smells amazing. I’m starving.”

I watch with satisfaction as she tears into the meat, making small sounds of pleasure that have my stem twitching beneath my hide coverings. Loincloth, that is what she calls it, though I do not know why she wants me to hide myself. She seems quite happy when it is on display and I would rather she not hide herself, either. I would put all these hide coverings into the fire to burn, but I do not.

This is a gift from my female. I will treasure it forever.

She eats with an appetite that pleases me, licking the juices from her fingers in a way that makes me want to claim her again immediately.

“This is so good,” she says between bites. She pauses, looking up at me with her head tilted in that way I’ve come to recognize means she’s curious about something. “Do you want some?”

I shake my head. “For you,” I project. “I hunt more later.”

She smiles at me, and then her expression shifts to something more mischievous. “Thank God you don’t understand everything I say or you’d know I’m thinking about jumping your bones again.”

I can’t suppress the grunt of laughter that escapes me. The image in her mind is clear—her body pressed against mine, her mouth on my stem, her legs wrapped around my waist as I thrust into her.

Her eyes widen, the meat forgotten in her hand. “Wait. Did you just…understand what I said?”

“Yes,” I reply, both with my voice and my thoughts. And then, in the old tongue: “I see your thoughts. Clear. Like when we touch heads, but…no touching needed now.”

“Stop eavesdropping on my thoughts,” she projects, her mental voice stronger than her spoken one.

“I am not dropping anything,” I respond.

She freezes, blinking rapidly. “Say that again. I mean, think it again.”

“I am not dropping anything,” I repeat in my mind, focusing on sending the thought clearly to her.

“Holy shit,” she whispers, setting the meat aside. “We can hear each other now? Without touching foreheads?”

She is right. I’d been too caught up in the aftermath of her glow that it did not fully occur to me.

I nod, though I cannot hide the disappointment. “I enjoyed being close.” The words echo in the mindspace. “Looking into your water-eyes when we share thoughts.”

Her expression softens, and she moves toward me, the meat forgotten as she climbs into my lap, her legs straddling mine. The position brings her core directly against my hard stem, and I grip her hips to steady her.

“We can still be close,” she whispers, leaning forward to press her lips to mine. The water sharing is slow, deep, a claiming of her own. Her hands frame my face, her thumbs tracing the angles of my jaw with a tenderness that makes heat pool low in my gut.

“This is madness,” she whispers against my mouth. “What if I’m imagining all this?”

I grunt. “I am real.”

“But you’re reading my thoughts. And this planet. Everything about it. Everything about you. And your cock. It’s like…”

“It is real, too.” My hands tighten on her hips, keeping her anchored to me as I slide my hips upward, rubbing her along my length. “As real as the pain I feel whenever you are not near. As if part of me is missing.”

She blinks. “Pain?”

My gaze searches hers. “I cannot be far from you, my light. It is impossible for me.”

Her throat moves, and I see confusion in her eyes. I sense it in her mind.

“Last night…” she whispers.

I pull back just enough to meet her gaze, my hands sliding up her sides to cup her small, perfect mounds through the thin fabric of her top. “You showed me the universe,” I finish for her, “and now I will show you mine.”

Her eyes darken, her lips parting as her breath quickens. The scent of her arousal fills my nostrils, and it’s driving me to near madness.

“How soon will we reach your clan?” she asks, even as her hips continue their maddening rhythm against me. “Are you sure they’ll help the others? There are many of us.”

“Many daughters of Ain,” I agree, my hands moving to the band of her strange coverings. I want to feel her skin, all of it, pressed against mine.

She goes still beneath my touch, a strange tension entering her body. Before I know what I did wrong, she looks away, her thoughts suddenly guarded.

“My clan will do anything to keep such treasures safe,” I continue, confused by her reaction. I pull at the thin fabric, revealing more of her pale skin to my hungry gaze. “You are precious to us. To me.”

She shifts off my lap, turning her back to me as she pulls her coverings back into place. Her shoulders slump, and I sense a heaviness in her that wasn’t there before.

I approach her carefully, uncertain what has changed. Have I offended her somehow? Misunderstood a signal? The intricacies of female behavior are unknown to me.

When she turns to face me, there is water in her eyes. Alarm shoots through me. She’s leaking again, as she did when she told me of her missing kin.

“Jus-teen?” I reach for her, my hand hovering uncertainly. “Why leak water? Pain?”

“It’s normal,” she vocalizes, wiping at her eyes. “They’re called tears. It happens when we’re sad or scared or…overwhelmed.”

I cup her face gently, my thumb trying to rub the tear back into her skin. I do not like seeing her body waste water so. Even after so many times, it is alarming. “What makes you sad? Tell me, and I will fix it.”

She laughs, but the sound is hollow, lacking the warmth I’ve come to crave. “You can’t fix this, Rok. Because you think I’m something I’m not.”

I tilt my head, confused. “What do you mean?”

“This planet is filled with danger,” she vocalizes, her voice quiet but steady. “If you’re going to risk your life to take me to my sister, you should at least know the truth.” She takes a deep breath, her hands coming up to rest against my chest. “I’m not a daughter of Ain.”