Table of Contents

NOTICES

ALIEN HOPE

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

CONTENT WARNINGS

CHAPTER ONE | Abby

CHAPTER TWO | Kohka

CHAPTER THREE | Abby

CHAPTER FOUR | Kohka

CHAPTER FIVE | Abby

CHAPTER SIX | Kohka

CHAPTER SEVEN | Abby

CHAPTER EIGHT | Abby

CHAPTER NINE | Kohka

CHAPTER TEN | Abby

CHAPTER ELEVEN | Kohka

CHAPTER TWELVE | Abby

CHAPTER THIRTEEN | Kohka

CHAPTER FOURTEEN | Abby

CHAPTER FIFTEEN | Kohka

CHAPTER SIXTEEN | Abby

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN | Abby

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN | Kohka

CHAPTER NINETEEN | Abby

CHAPTER TWENTY | Kohka

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE | Abby

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO | Abby

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE | Abby

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR | Abby

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE | Kohka

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX | Abby

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN | Kohka

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT | Abby

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE | Abby

CHAPTER THIRTY | Abby

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE | Abby

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO | Kohka

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE | The Stone Sky God Wylfrael

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR | Kohka

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE | Kohka

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX | Abby

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN | Kohka

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT | Abby

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE | Abby

CHAPTER FORTY | Kohka

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE | Abby

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO | Abby

CHAPTER FORTY-THREE | Kohka

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR | Abby

CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE | Kohka

CHAPTER FORTY-SIX | Abby

CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN | Abby

CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT | Kohka

CHAPTER FORTY-NINE | Kohka

CHAPTER FIFTY | Abby

NOTICES

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be copied, used, transmitted, or shared via any means without express authorization from the author, except for small passages and quotations used for review and marketing purposes.

This is a work of fiction. All characters, events, and incidents in this novel are fictitious and not to be construed as reality or fact.

Alien Hope Copyright © 2023 Veronica Doran

ALIEN HOPE

Fated Mates of the Sea Sand Warlords

Book Fourteen

By Ursa Dax

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thank you, as always, to all my readers and new friends on this journey. Thank you to my partner and parents for their unending support.

CONTENT WARNINGS

Battles, violence, and graphic on-page injuries, blood, and gore. Near-death experience from strangulation in battle. Off-page loss of parents and resulting trauma. Pregnancy and labour, including a graphic birth scene that has some complications (meconium in fluid). Post-partum healing and breastfeeding. Lactation during sex scenes/lactation kink. Graphic love scenes between a lizard monster hero and a human woman.

CHAPTER ONE

Abby

“So, how’s that magic pussy juice coming?” Kat smirked at me from across the lab, then rolled her eyes. “Man, the things we say on this planet. Never thought conversations about lizardman pussy juice would be part of my everyday work conversations.”

“Hmm… Lizardman pussy juice sounds like it came from a lizard alien’s pussy. A more correct term would be something like ‘magic pussy-loosening juice.’ And it’s coming along quite well, thanks.” I grinned back at Kat.

“See, this is what I mean. Arguing semantics over what to call alien pussy-loosening juice. It’s fucking weird!”

We both laughed at the absurdity of the situation, making so much noise that Galok poked his dark-haired head in from the hallway where he’d been stationed just outside the lab.

“Oh, no. You go back out there. You’re too distracting in here!” Kat said, making a shooing motion at her big smiley mate.

“But it sounds more fun in here,” Galok replied, his coppery sight stars pulsing with affection as they stroked lazily over Kat’s face. Her cheeks flushed, and she flapped her hand at him again.

“No. This isn’t fun. We are working, mister. On very important shit. I’m still working on perfecting using the Lavrika’s blood for potential weapons, and Abby is making sure no big alien baby heads tear any poor human ladies a new one, if you catch my drift.”

Galok’s brow crumpled in obvious confusion. He, no doubt, did not catch her drift.

“The Bitter Sea mating fluid,” I clarified, trying not to laugh. “It, er… Helps open things up. It also appears to have anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving properties. It will help the human women give birth, and maybe the Sea Sand women too, if they want to try.”

We had a lot of medication and medical equipment on this ship, but no trained anesthesiologist to administer something like an epidural. I’d been working my ass off, putting all my experience as a pharmacological chemist to use, so that a drug using the Bitter Sea venom would be the next best thing for all the ladies in labour.

I stiffened, trying not to think about the fact that I would soon be one of those ladies.

“Why not just have one of the Bitter Sea men bite the female? Seems more efficient that way,” Galok said. I quirked a brow at him, noticing he’d subtly sidled into the lab and was creeping over to Kat’s side, his large hand already reaching for her as if he couldn’t stand not to touch her.

“Yeah, not sure how well that would go,” I replied. “Can you imagine one of the Gahns letting a Bitter Sea man come into their tent when their Gahnala is already in pain and vulnerable and letting him give her a mating bite?”

“Hmm, yes, that is true,” Galok replied thoughtfully. “I do not even want to know what would happen if I suggested such a thing to Gahn Buroudei when the Gahnala Zeezee is giving birth. I imagine he would use his fist to take out all of his anxieties about her health on my face.”

“Yeah,” Kat said, “And it’s not like they just bite you, right? They have to get all horny first. It’s their mating fluid. I wouldn’t want some big Bitter Sea dude giving himself a bit of a handy outside the tent then lumbering over to pump me full of his special love juice. Plus, who the fuck wants to get bitten when they’re already in pain trying to push out a giant alien baby? No fucking thanks.”

Galok’s arm went slowly around Kat’s waist as she spoke, as if he hoped that if he moved slowly enough, she wouldn’t notice and send him back to his spot in the hallway. It seemed to have worked, as she leaned contentedly against him.

I nodded. “There are quite a few reasons why just having a Bitter Sea warrior bite a woman in labour isn’t ideal. And this way, I can tweak things in the lab first,” I explained. “I believe I’ve managed to eliminate the aphrodisiac qualities of the venom, and I’ve amplified the pain-relief. With an injection, things are more sterile, too. And we can control the dosage.”

Galok absorbed this information, but didn’t get a chance to respond, because voices in the hallway made us all turn towards the open doorway. Galok’s tail rose in a swift show of obedience and respect as Buroudei and Cece walked into the room. Well, Buroudei walked. Cece waddled. She was nearing the end of her pregnancy, now, and having two half-Sea Sand babies in her belly was clearly throwing her way off balance. But I was glad to see that otherwise, she was doing well. The first half of her pregnancy had been really difficult, but she had more energy now.

And with more energy meant frequent trips out to the ship for pregnancy scans.

“Greetings, Gahn,” Galok said as his tail swished back into place behind him. “Have you come for another cub vision?”

I couldn’t help but smile at that. The aliens had begun referring to pregnancy scans as “cub visions,” similar to the “mate vision” they got in the Lavrika’s pools or the Kell’s caves. And in a way, it did make sense. Both “visions” were glimpses of someone special. But in our case, we were using human technology instead of whatever mystical alien power the Lavrika, Vrika, and Kell used.

“Yes,” Buroudei rumbled, his deep, commanding voice echoing in the large lab.

“He can’t get enough,” Cece said, shaking her head. “But then again, neither can I, so it’s all good. It’s nice to be able to come here and take a look at them any time we want. Make sure everything’s going alright. Back home I’d have to wait until whatever scheduled scans I was supposed to have.”

I had to fight to keep my hand from going to my own abdomen. I knew exactly what Cece meant about having frequent scans.

I’d been doing the same thing myself, after all.

Peanut chose that moment to kick, rather violently, at my bladder. I curled my hands into fists to stop myself from visibly reacting.

I was even further along than Cece, considering I’d gotten pregnant back on Earth. But unlike Cece, I wasn’t showing the way she was. She wasn’t overly tall, and with two large babies growing, her stomach was practically bigger than she was.

But me? I was 6’2, with broad hips and shoulders and a long torso. That, combined with a kid who seemed perfectly content to live inside my spine, meant that even nearly full-term, I didn’t really look all that pregnant. My stomach was certainly distended from its usual size and positioning, but not so much that wearing baggy jackets couldn’t hide it. I’d been careful not to change or be naked around the other women in the past couple months, too.

The result?

Nobody knew I was pregnant.

A flash of jealousy went through me as Kat, Galok, and I walked with the happily expecting parents to the room with the ultrasound machine. I wish I didn’t have to hide this.

And I fucking wished I knew what was going to come next.

If I’d gotten pregnant with a girl, I wouldn’t bother hiding it at all. The Sea Sand men had such a skewed population, with so few women, that they’d likely welcome the birth of a girl here even if she had a human father.

But I wasn’t pregnant with a girl.

I was pregnant with a boy.

A 100% human male.

Which meant… Well, I didn’t know for sure, but I doubted it would be good. The Sea Sand men didn’t like outsiders, especially males. They barely even tolerated each other, and they were from the same planet! The only human male they’d had contact with so far was the soldier who’d come here and shot Xyan and who’d immediately earned himself one of Fallo’s blades to the back of the head.

I was scared. Scared of what would happen once the Sea Sand men found out there was a new human male among them. Scared they wouldn’t want him.

I’m not going to let anything happen to you.

I said it silently to Peanut, watching as Buroudei lifted Cece onto the exam table beside the ultrasound machine.

Peanut may have been the unplanned result of a drunken hook-up with a stranger in the bathroom stall of Tony’s Tacos and Tequila in downtown Winnipeg one cold winter night, but I’d loved him from the moment I’d learned of his existence, just before I was abducted and brought here. I hadn’t even had a chance to have a doctor’s appointment for the pregnancy before I’d ended up on this alien planet. But even so, I knew I was going to do whatever it took to keep him safe. Safe from the sun, from the sand, and even from the alien warriors at the settlement if I had to.

Whatever it took.

If I had to fight, I’d fight.

And if I had to run?

I’d run.

CHAPTER TWO

Kohka

“Do you require assistance, Varrow?”

I knew the answer before the question was out of my snout. It was the answer I got every time I asked.

“No.”

Varrow tossed me a dark look over his shoulder, easily adjusting the weight of his slight mate, Camille, upon his back. I was not offering assistance because the desert man was missing an arm. No, the lack of limb seemed not to cause him much trouble at all, as he’d grown up that way and had evidently learned to compensate by using his tail and cultivating deep strength in his other muscles.

I offered him help because not long ago I’d seen him nearly die in an area we now knew to be called the Deep Sky plains. He’d taken a small sort of spear right through the heart.

We had not stayed in the Deep Sky long. After Varrow had nearly died, saved only by the Deep Sky Vrika, I had remained with him and Camille in the lands of his birth, the Death Plains, while he recovered.

And recover, he had. So much so that he let me do nothing for his mate at this point. He hunted for her and carried her all day through the Death Plains, even when she protested that she could walk on her own.

Though I did not doubt that, even if he had not fully recovered, he still would not have let me help him if it meant touching his precious mate. He guarded her like a male possessed. Obsessed.

The mate bond had the power to do that to a warrior.

I had no direct experience with the mate bond. Though I was older than some other males like Kor and Grim, I had not yet been called by the Kell.

My gaze narrowed, and I reached forward with my claws as Varrow slipped on a bit of grey gravel. Camille gasped, but Varrow regained his balance swiftly, muscles straining in his legs and tail.

“Do not worry, little bean,” he murmured in a soft tone reserved only for Camille. “I’d break my remaining arm before I let you fall.”

“I wasn’t worried about me!” she retorted. Despite the fact that the new women apparently did not feel an automatic mate bond the way Bitter Sea or Sea Sand women did, there was no doubt that Camille had a strong mate bond for Varrow now. She’d been at his side night and day as he’d healed, and after he’d mostly recovered, I’d had to get further and further from their tent to get any sort of rest.

Though I did not need much sleep, I also did not need to be plagued with their mating sounds all night.

We were nearing the edge of the Death Plains mountain range, now. Soon, we would be back in the Sea Sands. We would continue on to the settlement at the Cliffs of Uruzai. Once Camille and Varrow were settled, I would be back on this same path once more, journeying back into the Deep Sky to join the newly formed settlement there.

I kept my eyes on the two just ahead of me, ready in case there was another slip. I took in the size difference between the tiny new woman and the warrior she was bonded to. Such a size difference would only be amplified between a new woman and a Bitter Sea male.

Not for the first time, I wondered if I’d be granted a mate from among the new women.

Honestly, I rather hoped not. I already did not consider myself adept at speaking to strangers, especially females. The idea that my mate would not have the mate bond, that I’d somehow have to woo her, win her, made my guts feel like they were filled with spike-scaled fish.

Do not worry about such things, I told myself sternly. You were not called by the Kell before you left the island.

Grim and Tok, who both had human mates, had been granted their mate vision by the Kell before we’d left our homeland. If I was meant to bond to a new woman, would it not have been the same for me? And unlike the Sea Sand men, we had no imbalance between men and women. There were myriad unmated Bitter Sea women back home. Likely, one of them would eventually turn out to be my mate.

So, the fact that I had absolutely no idea what to say to a new woman did not matter.

Probably.

THE REST OF THE JOURNEY through the Sea Sands, which took about ten days, was largely uneventful. Just as the sun dipped down and dusk sent its cooling tide over the sky on the tenth day, the shining shell of the new women’s ship came into view. As we passed it, heading for the red cliffs in the distance, a call made us stop.

We turned, and I pounded my scaly brows as Hakah Gog, king of my kind, came to meet us. He came from the direction of the ship, running on all fours to cross the distance swiftly.

I pounded my brows again in deference when he rose up onto two legs before me.

“I am glad to see you back, Kohka,” he said, his brilliant blue sight discs taking me in before turning to examine Varrow and Camille at my side. His eyes swung back to me. “Grim and Tok are now settled in the Deep Sky mountains.”

“Yes,” I said, my heavy tail scraping through the sand as it swished. “We heard Thaleria’s ship go over us three times.”

I’d tracked the sounds of the shuttle in the sky. Once into the Deep Sky, then once back towards the Sea Sands when they’d briefly stopped and updated us on what had happened with Priya and the Deep Sky men. Then, there had been the final trip over our heads as they took the shuttle to settle in the Deep Sky for good.

“I am ready to join them at your command, Hakah,” I added.

“Good. You can rest tonight and prepare to leave at dawn tomorrow. But since you are here now…”

His spiked tail jutted up from the sand, gesturing towards the shining silver bones of the human ship.

“One of the new women requires a Bitter Sea warrior in there. I was about to fetch someone else from the settlement, but you have good timing. Go assist her, and I will escort these two back to the cliffs.”

I pounded my brows again, acknowledging his orders.

I let my fists fall, asking, “Do you know what she needs me for, Hakah?”

I’d actively avoided conversation with the females on the journey into the Deep Sky, so other than carrying Priya on my back, I’d had very little contact with any of the new women. I wondered what she could possibly want with me.

“Something about your mating fluid,” Hakah Gog said, his snout tightening with suspicious unease. “Grim and Tok donated fluid already, but apparently she needs more for whatever unnatural potions she’s concocting.”

She needed my mating fluid? For “unnatural potions?”

I… Did not like the sound of that.

But no matter how strange the command, I did not hesitate to obey it.

I could not deny my king, and none of us could deny the whims of the human females. It seemed, more and more, that our lives and lands were no longer ruled by the customs that had always governed us, but instead by one new implacable and overriding law:

What the new women needed, the new women got.

CHAPTER THREE

Abby

“You guys can head out if you want,” I said to Kat. I jerked my chin towards the door, where Galok stared at Kat hopefully, like a golden retriever waiting to be taken out on a walk.

“Honestly, we might. I’m beat,” Kat said. She yawned, and the bright light of the lab gleamed on her various facial piercings. “I know Malachor and a couple others are still here somewhere to escort you back when you’re ready.”

I nodded. “Yeah, plus, Hakah Gog’s sending a Bitter Sea guy over for another sample. So, I won’t be on my own.”

Kat’s eyes gleamed.

“So how are you gonna collect the sample this time?” she waggled her pierced brows. “Grim and Tok had their mates here to help them. Are you gonna, you know…”

“Am I gonna what?” I asked pointedly.

She smiled wickedly.

“You know… Take your top off and jiggle your titties at him or something.”

I laughed at the image and shook my head.

“Um, no. I’m counting on him being able to just… Conjure at will, if you know what I mean.” I didn’t even know if the Bitter Sea men were attracted to humans in general. Obviously, the mate bond caused intense attraction between mated males and their women. But would a random Bitter Sea male be attracted to a human? We were so anatomically different…

Kat rubbed her chin and glanced at one of the computers in the lab.

“Hmm. Check the databases. See if there are any gator-on-gator mating videos from Earth. Or dino erotica eBooks. That’s a thing, ya know. Although, you’d have to read it out loud and translate it for him. Ooh! Or monster hentai cartoons. Maybe that will get him going.”

I laughed even harder at the idea of me reading dinosaur erotica out loud to a ten-foot-tall lizard alien. Gasping, I squeezed my thighs together. Peanut was pressing against my bladder more every day.

“You seem like an expert on this stuff. Maybe you should stay and help him,” I joked.

She smirked. “Go ahead. You can judge all you want. But honestly, I’ve literally fucked an alien at this point. I don’t think knowing about monster hentai is any weirder than that.”

“Touché!”

Kat stretched, raising her bony arms over her head.

“Alright, then. I think we will head out. You sure you’re all good here?”

“I am. Go get some rest,” I said, nodding firmly.

“Thanks,” she said. She grabbed her pack from the floor and slung it over her shoulder. “See ya.”

With that, she left the lab. Galok draped a lanky arm around her narrow shoulders before they disappeared down the hall.

I blew out a sigh. Now that I was alone, anxiety crept back in. It was easy to pretend this wasn’t all happening, that my pregnancy wasn’t progressing, when I was chatting and joking with friends. But alone in the cavernous lab with the lights so bright they exposed every single flaw in my life, there was no way to avoid reality.

“Not that you’re a flaw,” I said quickly, patting my belly and making the fabric of my jacket crinkle. “Just a… Complication. That’s all. But don’t you worry. I’ll sort it all out.”

Big words considering I had no idea how to do that yet.

I’d thought about coming clean and just hoping for the best. One night recently at the evening fire, I’d casually plopped myself down next to Gahn Fallo and asked him what would happen if a human male showed up here again. Perhaps predictably, his answer was a single hissed word: “Death.”

“What if it was a child?” I’d countered uneasily, my mouth going dry.

His red sight stars had misted over his dark eyes, a violent flurry as he replied.

“Children become men.”

By that time, the other warriors around him had begun to look at me suspiciously, no doubt wondering why I was asking such questions. I had no alien mate, no one to vouch for me. I’d never caused any trouble here, of course, but there was always the chance one of us ladies could be a human spy or enemy soldier. I knew that wasn’t the case, but they didn’t. Hell, even Valeria had started out as an enemy operative on this planet, so they were right to be a little suspicious.

Not long after that, Chapman had come over and asked what we were talking about. I’d shaken my head and smiled tightly, saying nothing and scurrying away. Yes, Fallo listened to her. But would he listen to her about this if she tried to help me? Would he and the other Gahns let a human boy grow up here and potentially become competition for the already scarce women?

I could hope, but I couldn’t be sure. And I’d be damned if I risked my baby’s life on hope. I was a scientist. I valued evidence over abstraction. And so far, the evidence was telling me I needed to get out of here before I went into labour.

I just had no idea how. The Sea Sands were brutal, and leaving on my own might be even more dangerous for Peanut and me than staying.

“A rock and a hard place, I tell ya,” I muttered bitterly at the shiny metal floor.

“You need a rock?”

I gasped and whirled towards the sound of a shockingly deep voice.

In the lab’s doorway loomed a massive creature. A Bitter Sea warrior with shining brown and silver scales and coin-like silver pupils in large dark eyes. He filled the wide doorway, bulkier and more muscled than some of the other longer-limbed Bitter Sea men. With his neutral colouring and brawny frame, he gave the impression of a gigantic boulder planted in the doorway.

That reminded me of what he’d just said.

“Oh, hi! No, sorry, I don’t need a rock. I was just talking to myself.”

He stared at me unblinking, and a creeping flush went down my neck.

“So, what, you guys don’t talk to yourselves?” I laughed shakily, feeling weirdly embarrassed under his penetrating gaze.

“I try not to,” he rumbled. “There is no one who grows more tired of hearing my own thoughts than me.”

I blinked.

Then burst into laughter.

My embarrassment dissipated as my laughter died down into a muted chuckle.

I couldn’t quite read his expression, but he seemed shocked, or maybe confused, by my outburst. Obviously, he hadn’t really meant it to be a joke. But there was something so dry and self-deprecating about what he’d said. It was oddly charming.

“Come on in,” I said warmly, realizing he hadn’t budged from the doorway, as if he didn’t want to intrude. With a grunt of acknowledgement, he did so, coming to a stop about a metre from me.

Jesus, the guy was huge. I knew who he was and I’d seen him around before, so I knew he wasn’t quite as tall as some of the biggest guys, like Tok or Hakah Gog. But he was definitely broader than others of his kind. The bright light from overhead spilled down his smooth, hard scales, and I noticed that some of the more silvery-coloured scales, and his silver spikes, actually shimmered slightly. Like fearsome liquid metal had been mixed with delicate crushed pearls before hardening.

He’s beautiful.

I cleared my throat and dragged my gaze up, up, up to his face. A wide, reptilian snout was angled down to allow his bright silver eyes to meet mine. Still no blinking.

“Do you guys blink?” I asked, unable to stop myself. His eyes were just so intense.

“Yes,” he answered simply.

“But… You’re not blinking now?”

He stared and stared.

“No.”

“Well… Alrighty then.” Christ on a cracker, who was I, the blinking police? The poor guy had come here to help me and I was being so freaking weird.

“OK, well, thanks for coming. Please feel free to have a seat.”

I screamed internally at how stupid a thing that was to suggest when his massive head swung to look at the puny human office chair I’d indicated.

“Why?” he asked, turning that unblinking gaze back to me. “Do you need it crushed?”

Once again, there was no hint of joking in his voice. But I did get the sense that, if I had wanted the chair to get flattened into a pancake for some reason, he’d lumber over there and sit on it without complaint.

“Uh, no,” I said quickly. “I’d actually prefer that it remain uncrushed, thanks.” That particular chair was my favourite. Something about the cushion on the seat was heaven on my aching back.

“Then I will not sit,” he said. “Or, if you require me to sit, I will do so on the ground.”

“Got it. Well, it’s up to you. Whatever you’re more comfortable with,” I said. “Thanks for helping me, by the way.” I held out my hand, trying to be halfway normal despite the fact I was about to ask this guy to get himself all riled up to give me his mating venom for my drug development. “I’m Abigail. Abby.”

“Greetings, Abigail Abby.”

“Oh, no! Sorry. Abigail is my full name. Most people call me Abby.”

He said nothing for a moment, no doubt realizing that he was not “most people,” AKA, my human friends.

“I…” he began haltingly. “I do not know…” He made a frustrated grunting sound, and his hand rose, his knuckles rubbing furiously at the underside of his snout. “You must tell me what you want me to call you.”

Good grief, could I make this poor guy feel any more uncomfortable?

“Either is fine!” I stammered, shaking my head rapidly.

His heavy scaled brows lowered. He still hadn’t fucking blinked.

“I do not understand the naming customs of the new women,” he growled. “I need you to tell me what to do. I do not want to choose the wrong name and offend you.”

“Sorry. Just call me Abby,” I said hastily, trying to end the awkwardness of this conversation.

“Abby,” he replied slowly, “I also need you to tell me what you expect me to do with your hand.”

We both looked down to see my hand still floating in the air between us.

“Oh!” I said. “That one’s easy.” I looked up at him once more and smiled encouragingly. “You shake it.”

CHAPTER FOUR

Kohka

She wanted me to shake it?

An image of me shaking her hand too hard and breaking a delicate bone somewhere made me queasy.

“We don’t have to if you don’t want to, of course,” she said, faltering.

“No, I will do it.”

I’d already made a mess of trying to understand her name. Surely, I could figure this out and appear somewhat less of a dunce in front of the pretty human female.

Pretty.

Yes, she was pretty. I couldn’t deny it. It was an impression that had struck me the moment I’d entered the odd shiny cave we occupied. Abby may have looked completely different from one of my kind, but there was an easy openness to her flat face and a warmth in the deep brown sight discs of her eyes that I couldn’t help but like. Human smiles, so jarring with their wide display of teeth, seemed gentler and more sincere in her expression, somehow. Her short brown hair, cropped close to her head, was so shiny and smooth that it gleamed like the surface of sun-spangled water. She was taller than most of the other new women and looked a little sturdier than some others, which appealed to me. But even so, her wrist was frightfully narrow peeking out from the sleeve of her cloak.

Which brought me back to the mildly terrifying idea of shaking her hand.

Slowly, so slowly my arm nearly shook with the effort, I raised my hand. I took her outstretched one between the pads of my thumb and forefinger.

“Soft.” The word was out before I’d even noticed I’d said it. It was barely a whisper, but she still heard it. I couldn’t help the escape of the word. The visceral shock of feeling just how soft, how vulnerable this female was, had apparently blunted any sort of good sense. Good sense that usually kept my words inside my head.

“Ah, yeah! Well, thank you!” she replied. “Talka gel is very moisturizing!”

I supposed she meant for her skin. But it was not just the skin that was soft. Everything was. I was gently gripping her palm between my thumb and forefinger, her flesh pliant beneath mine. I wondered how hard I’d have to press to find the hardness of bone in there.

I didn’t, of course. More queasiness overtook me when I thought of the mess I could make of her little hand if I were not careful.

Evidently, holding her hand straight out the way she had been had become a burden. Her fingers relaxed and curled inward towards her palm, their tips grazing the tiny, flexible scales on the side of my thumb. The scales on my hand were sensitive; the light touch exploded up my arm.

Waves of our fathers, my thumb was as long as her entire hand! The sight of our hands together, so similar in some ways (the general shape and number of fingers) and so different in others (the sizes, skin versus scales, soft versus hard) was alarming and fascinating.

“OK. Now shake,” she reminded me gently.

I jiggled her hand so gingerly it was barely more than a tremor. I stared at her fingers, every muscle taut, making sure I hadn’t done something wrong or dislodged something important from its tiny human joint. When she laughed, I wrenched my gaze up to her face.

“Not like that,” she chided, still laughing.

This new woman laughed a lot. Despite the confusion that had rained down upon me during this entire encounter, I decided that I liked it.

I inhaled sharply when her small fingers closed forcefully around my thumb. Then, with more vigour than I would have anticipated her capable of, she jerked my hand in a swinging up-and-down motion.

I relaxed my arm and let her do it. Otherwise, even with her impressive energy, my hand would not have budged.

Perhaps it was the movement increasing her body heat. Or maybe the motion of her arm caused her cloak to adjust and waft more air towards me. Whatever the reason, I was suddenly struck by the full force of her scent. I hadn’t noticed it before under the foreign metallic tang of the room.

I noticed it now.

More than noticed it.

I was overtaken by it.

Luscious, warm, and sweet, it worked down my throat and into my chest where an odd, erratic thumping had taken root.

I realized with dismay the horrible thumping was my heart.

Why is it doing that? Something is very wrong with me…

My body felt suddenly hot, like I’d taken ill with some bitter fever. But I had no festering wounds that could cause such a thing.

The heat moved lower, oozing into my pelvis and wrapping around the base of my tail until it twitched. Abby stared at me curiously, her slender brown brows furrowing until a wrinkle appeared between them.

Her fingers still wrapped around my thumb, she stepped closer, peering up at me. Her scent grew stronger. My heart hammered harder and the heat intensified.

“Are you alright? Your eyes are even more unblinky than before, if that’s possible.”

No, I wanted to pant. I am not alright. Because for some reason your scent is doing my blasted head in.

I’d gotten physically close to Priya – she’d ridden on my back many times. I knew her scent well, and it had never made me feel like this. It had never made me feel like my heart was a seabird with desperate wings trapped by the very ribs that housed it.

My scales are on fire.

I tugged my hand from Abby’s grip. She started, looking down at her own hand, as if she hadn’t realized she’d still been holding mine.

I wrenched my head to the side and took in great gulps of air, trying to rid myself of the scent that seemed intent on branding my insides. But it was no use. My sense of smell was too strong. And now that I had her scent inside me, I couldn’t get it out.

This is why I avoid the new women, I thought gravely. They were unpredictable. Unknowable. Strange and silky and apparently possessing scents that could turn a grown warrior inside out.

At least… This one did.

“We can do this another time,” Abby said. The wrinkle between her brows had gotten deeper.

“No. I am ready,” I said tightly, my snout twitching as more of that scent entered my nostrils. I’d already noticed with grim resignation that the scent had yet another effect on me: it had primed my fangs.

Not with vicious venom.

But with mating fluid.

CHAPTER FIVE

Abby

Ididn’t know what the hell I’d done, but apparently shaking this big guy’s hand was giving him a goddamn stroke. At least, that’s what it looked like. The massive alien lizard was wide-eyed, his silver pupils blown as he stared off to the side, breathing heavily. His barrel-like chest heaved and his tail jerked periodically, the spikes scraping the metal tile and leaving jagged gouges behind. The fingers of the big hand I’d shaken flexed and curled over and over again, as if I’d hurt him somehow. Which I was pretty sure was completely impossible, considering the difference in strength between us.

I kept him in my line of sight as I walked slowly over to a nearby counter. I grabbed the sterile collection tray I’d planned to use. It was a wide and shallow rectangular plastic container that could be positioned under the top fangs to collect the fluid.

“Um… Oh! Do you need to flush out any venom first?” I asked. “You can do it over the basin over there.”

Kohka’s eyes snapped to me.

“No,” he said, rather wheezily. “The mating fluid immediately neutralizes any fatal venom in the fangs.”

I nodded. That made sense. It wouldn’t be good to have leftover venom from a fight poison your mate when you later bit them.

“Then I suppose we’re good to go,” I said cautiously, taking note of the fact that Kohka absolutely did not seem good. At all. He sat heavily on the floor as I approached.

“Do you… Uh… Do you want to be alone?” I was about two seconds away from making some stupid joke about giving him a magazine to try to dispel some of the weird tension in the room. But Kohka answered quietly before I could.

“You have no idea.”

Man. I’ve really fucked something up.

I put down the plastic tray on the counter and hurried over to him. I crouched beside him. Unfortunately, crouching at about nine months pregnant was no easy feat. I winced, and to avoid losing my balance, I put an unsteady palm on the hard curve of Kohka’s chest.

The chest that before had been expanding rapidly with ragged breath went utterly still beneath my touch.

“I’m sorry, Kohka. I feel like I’ve done something to make you really uncomfortable. You can go if you want.”

He made no move to get up.

“You know my name.”

His voice sounded like gravel pouring down the side of a ravine.

“Of course!” I said, wondering why this surprised him. “All you Bitter Sea guys look so different with your different scales, so it’s easy to tell you apart. And you’re the one who went on the journey beyond the Death Plains and helped look after Camille and Varrow, right? Your name’s been mentioned a lot around here lately.” I smiled softly, trying to put him at ease. “You may not know this, but you’re pretty hot stuff as far as us humans are concerned. We’re all really grateful you helped take care of Camille and Varrow after he was injured.” That wasn’t some false flattery to make him feel better. It was true. We’d all been so upset to hear about what had happened to Varrow out in the Deep Sky Plains. And Camille was possibly the kindest woman I’d ever met. So, knowing that she and Varrow had someone to rely on out there had been a relief to all of us as the others had gone back to look for Priya.

“Hot… Stuff…” Kohka repeated blankly.

“It’s a good thing!” I assured him.

He made a strangled sound deep in his throat, then muttered, “I remain unconvinced.”

I moved to my knees, no longer able to crouch the way I had been before. Once settled in a seated position on the tile floor, I slid my hand off Kohka. He unceremoniously reached up with a sledgehammer of a fist and pounded the place on his chest where my hand had been. As if trying to knock something loose. Or back into place.

“Anyway, like I said, you can go, Kohka. I can find someone else to help me out with this tomorrow,” I said gently.

“I came here to help you and that’s what I plan to do,” Kohka ground out. “Besides, leaving now would just be pointless. A waste.”

“What do you mean?”

He gave me a burning look. I sucked in a sharp breath when I realized that rivulets of dark fluid were coursing down the scales of his jaw and neck.

I scrambled to my feet as fast as my pregnant ass could go.

“Hold on. I’ll get the container!”

CHAPTER SIX

Kohka

Iwatched Abby hurry away from me to grab the tray she apparently would use to catch the mating fluid. There was something odd about her gait. It was a little different from what I’d observed among Camille, Jocelyn, and Priya during our trip beyond the Death Plains. It was as if her balance was ever so slightly off.

Even so, she moved quickly. She returned, kneeling between my splayed thighs with her tray. My fangs ached, and I already knew the tray would be no match for the amount of mating fluid I was about to unleash. But I couldn’t tell her that now. As soon as I unlocked my snout, my words would be garbled by the flowing onslaught.

I will try to hold back once her tray is filled, I reasoned, panic mounting. Panic that I was about to soak this poor, lovely female in my fluid.

“I’m ready,” she said steadily, moving her head up and down in a motion I’d come to recognize among the new women.

I could not ask her if she was sure. Could only part my jaws as she lifted the tray and slid it between my fangs.

The sound of the fluid hitting the oddly translucent material of the tray was a forceful splatter. Like the ardent rush of rain in a rare island storm. The dark fluid poured, pulsing harder from my fangs with every scent-strangled beat of my heart.

“Holee shitt!”

I stared down my snout at Abby as her shiny white and brown eyes went wide. Her puny tray was already half-full.

And I knew there was no way I could slow things down now.

She’d gotten too close, between my legs like that. Her scent was too strong, heady and sweet in the air. I tried to silently convey my apologies as some of the fluid sloshed and splattered against her hands. When the mating fluid hit her skin, she made a soft, high sound, and redness glowed in her round human cheeks. Her fingers twitched against the sides of the tray, her knuckles going even whiter than they already were.

Blast it all. I’m going to soak her.

I pushed down the lurid and incredibly rude thrill of that image. I felt like a beast, a beast with absolutely no sense of decorum, to be focused on what Abby might look like with her clothing drenched in my fluid.

Unfortunately, as impolite as it was to imagine her thus, I couldn’t stop myself. My gaze was glued to the black stains of my fresh fluid on her pale skin. Skin so soft my jaws ached at the thought of trying to bite her…

Stop.

I wrenched my head back and then stood. I careened haphazardly to the basin Abby had indicated before, letting excess mating fluid splatter into the deep silver well. I gripped the sides of the basin so hard that I felt the metal crunch and warp beneath my fingers.

“I am sorry,” I choked out, the words marred by yet more gushing fluid. What in the cursed depths of the Bitter Sea is wrong with me?

If there had been any hope of making any sort of decent impression on this kind, smiley human, that was torn to pieces now. She must think I’m an absolute lunatic. Getting my fluids all over her like that…

“Sorry?!”

I looked to the side without moving my head. My breath dragged in and out of my throat, whistling and wet against my soaked fangs.

Abby had placed the tray back on the shiny shelf thing she’d originally taken it from. And she was… Smiling at me. Despite the mess I’d made of her hands (and I now saw more mating fluid streaked along the front of her cloak) she was positively beaming.

“Why are you sorry?” she said. “That was more than Grim and Tok gave me combined! I mean, that’s probably partially due to the fact that they lost control and pumped a bunch of it into their mates instead of getting it in the tray, but still!”

She pressed a flat sort of rectangle on top of the tray. It made a popping sound as it clicked into place. Then she turned that brilliant smile back to me.

To me.

“Kohka,” she said slowly, advancing towards me. Her sudden proximity made a fresh gush of fluid flow from my fangs. Her mouth dropped open at the sight of it, and I cringed inwardly. “You’re a…”

A beast? A scoundrel? A male with no decency, no control, no –

“You’re a marvel!”

I swallowed, then spat, trying to speak clearly.

“All this fluid must have somehow inhibited my hearing,” I grunted. “I thought you said that I’m a-”

“A marvel! You’re incredible! Thank you, you don’t know how much this helps me! And the other women here, too! You are going to save a lot of females a lot of pain, Kohka. I don’t know if Hakah Gog mentioned it, but this is going to help the pregnant women give birth a lot more easily!”

“Well… That is good,” I muttered, slowly straightening to my full height. I dragged the back of my hand along my snout, mortified to see how much slick wetness was there.

Looking over Abby’s head, I caught a glimpse of myself in a long, reflective surface along one wall and balked, not recognizing the creature who looked back.

I was not considered an overly attractive Bitter Sea male, but I at least maintained a clean and dignified appearance. Or, I tried to.

But not now.

Now? I looked…

Feral.

My sight discs were huge, my eyes burning like savage silver stars. The scales on the entire front of my body were painted black, smeared and dripping. The hot liquid rolled down my abdomen, beading over the unmistakable bulge where my cock pressed behind my slit. My fangs, normally a colour close to white, were stained with the pulsating fluid, gleaming in the bright light of this place as I panted.

I looked at myself, and I did not look like Kohka.

I looked like a male who needed a spear through the side of his head to save him from himself.

I swallowed another gush of fluid, relieved to see the flow was finally slowing somewhat. Grimly, I turned away from the horror of my reflection to face Abby. Surely, she would look at me properly this time.

And run.

But, no. She was still smiling at me. Smiling like I’d just brought her the biggest grogar pearl of the Bitter Sea instead of creating such a shameful mess. My loins heated, and I forced myself not to look at the dark places on her hands and wrists where I’d marked her.

“I’ll clean this all up,” I told her, my voice sounding oddly gruff to my own ears.

“Oh, please, don’t worry about that! We can rinse out that basin easily enough. And shockingly, I actually managed to get almost all of it in the tray before you got up, so the floor isn’t too terrible. Really, you’re the one who got the messiest.”

“But your hands…” Don’t look don’t look don’t look. “Your cloak.”

I gestured a claw towards the stains on the front of her pale greyish cloak.

She frowned down at her front.

“I can clean that, too,” I said quickly. I did not wear clothing, but I’d seen the Sea Sand women and the new women cleaning their garments with sand and talka gel at the settlement. I was certain I could figure it out. The alternative, that Abby’s clothing was dirtied because of me, that she’d have to clean it herself, was something I found I could not bear. “If you’d just give it here I can-”

She whipped her head up and then shook it in a dizzying side-to-side motion.

“I… Um… I can’t take this off right now.”

“Why not?”

Her mouth thinned into a colourless line. Meanwhile, her cheeks glowed with even more redness than before. I found the many shifts in colour and expression distressing because I did not understand them.

I did not understand her.

Her shoulders hunched forward slightly, and her arms crossed over her belly in an odd pose. As if she were trying to hide, or maybe protect, her dirtied cloak. Which was beyond bewildering.

“I just can’t.”

“Well… I…” I rubbed viciously at my snout, annoyed by the stickiness of the drying mating fluid coating my scales. “I am sorry.”

Her expression faltered, turning soft.

“Seriously, Kohka, it’s fine! We have more clothes in the ship. I can get another jacket. It’s not a problem, truly. I’d just… Prefer not to take this one off right now.”

Shame flooded my veins.

Blast. Of course, she did not want to take it off in front of me. I’d practically drowned her in my mating fluid. She probably thought that showing a bit of her collarbone, or an errant elbow, would turn me into a slavering fool.

Which, considering the effect her mere scent had on me, was perhaps not so far off.

What is it about her?

Even now, I was making a conscious effort not to breathe in too deeply. But, worryingly, it seemed to be more than just her scent that appealed to me. I studied her critically, trying to figure it, figure her, out.

I came to no conclusions.

Apart from the fact that she really was just so lovely, all soft and curved and warm, and that I wanted to slide the twin tips of my tongues down her throat to see what her heartbeat felt like in my mouth.

“I’m sorry,” I said again, trying to dispel the intensity of my thoughts with the harsh grating of my voice. “I didn’t mean to… That was a lot.”

For some reason, her smile was back.

I wanted to bask in it.

I wanted to know why it was there at all.

“God, Kohka, it’s like I can practically hear the gears grinding in your head. Please, don’t be so anxious! It’s all good, really.”

I had so many questions for her. Too many.

Like, “What is god and what are gears?”

And, perhaps most pressing of all, “What have you done to me?”

CHAPTER SEVEN

Abby

If Kohka had been human, I was positive his face would have been beet fucking red. The poor guy seemed embarrassed by what had just happened, despite the fact he’d given me a goddamn treasure trove of fluid to work with. We’d be able to create a good supply with this alone and likely wouldn’t need to top up until more women got pregnant.

Leaving Kohka to his whirring thoughts for a minute, I took the tray with its closed plastic lid over to one of the lab’s fridges. Inside that fridge were the vials of the drug I’d already created using Grim and Tok’s fluid. Now, we’d have plenty more.

I closed the fridge and turned to find Kohka glaring down at the blackened scales of his chest. He rubbed at the fluid and grunted in annoyance when the sticky stuff did not come off.

“Hey, Kohka,” I said, suddenly having an idea. “Have you ever had a human shower?”

“A what?”

I grinned.

“Come on. I’ll show you.”

When we reached the closest bathroom though, I knew I’d miscalculated. Even though it was a large open space, with multiple stalls with toilets and showers, he was way too tall to use the shower properly.

“Ah, I guess you could sit in here,” I said, whipping aside a curtain and frowning at one of the shower stalls. Had shower stalls always been this tiny?!

I moved out of the way, letting Kohka see.

“That there sprays water. It’s kind of like rain. Did you have rain back on your island?”

“Occasionally,” Kohka said, eyeing the showerhead.

“Here. Watch.”

I stepped into the shower stall and then pressed against the wall so I wouldn’t get drenched. Then, reaching for the tap, I turned it on. Kohka’s tail snapped in surprise as water sprayed down.

“Hot or cold?” I called over the sound of the water.

“Cold.”

I nodded, turning the tap all the way to the right. Then, sliding my back along the stall’s wall, I wiggled sideways out of there without getting too drenched. The front of my jacket, with my stomach pressing out and my huge pregnancy boobs, did get a bit wet. But that was alright, considering I needed to clean off Kohka’s fluid anyway.

“Go ahead,” I said to him. “Obviously you can’t stand under there like a human would. But go ahead and sit if you’d like.”

Kohka’s head swung between the shower and me.

“How do you conjure rain like this?” he asked, an edge of suspicious awe in his voice.

“It’s not really rain. It’s water we brought from our home planet. The ship uses a pretty impressive water filtration system to purify water that’s already been used so we can use it again.”

“I… I am afraid I do not understand anything you just said.”

I laughed, then softened the sound, hoping it was clear I was laughing with him, not at him.

“Honestly, it’s not my area of expertise, either. Zoey, one of our engineers could describe it in much better detail. Or Fiona, but she’s at the new Deep Sky settlement. But, basically, pipes can bring the water where we need it. And when the water goes down that drain, the ship filters it and makes it clean to be used again.”

“I did not know water could be commanded thus. To go where you want it to go.”

“Oh, trust me. Humans love commanding shit. Rewriting the laws of nature no matter the cost is practically in our DNA. As evidenced by the fact we’re here in the first place,” I said with a slight roll of my eyes. “Anyway, go ahead and clean up. I’ll be right back.”

The sound of the running water had alerted me to the fact that I desperately had to pee. I hurried over to a toilet stall, glad the sound of the shower would mean Kohka hopefully wouldn’t hear me on the toilet. I finished up quickly, and I went to the row of metal sinks perched under mirrors along the far wall then started to wash my hands. My eyebrows shot up as I registered the dark stains on my skin. I’d forgotten about how much of Kohka’s mating fluid had sloshed onto my hands and wrists. My skin felt sensitive and tingly wherever the fluid had splashed me. As I washed the sticky remnants away with soap and water, I thought back to the hot, electric shock of sensation that the fluid hitting my skin had elicited. It had nearly been enough to make me drop the whole tray.

I wonder what it feels like other places…

OK, don’t be a perv. Kohka’s already uncomfortable enough!

I walked back to the shower area, suddenly feeling shy. I mean, it wasn’t like Kohka wore clothes anyways. But it still felt weird to watch him in the shower. When I got close to the shower stall he occupied, I stopped.

“How’s it going, Kohka?” I called tentatively.

He gave an unintelligible grunt in reply.

“Is that… Good?” I pressed, unable to help the smirk that stretched my mouth. I decided that I really liked this big awkward lug.

“Good,” he replied.

“You’re a man of few words, eh, Kohka?” I asked. I pulled aside the curtain and went into the shower stall beside his, leaning against one of the stall’s walls. I crossed my arms, letting them rest on the top of my stomach, and chuckled at the sight of Kohka’s massive brown and silver tail escaping the confines of his own stall and sliding under the gap into mine.

“Yes,” he confirmed.

“Well, that’s okay,” I said brightly. “My mom always called me a chatty Kathy when she was still around. Always got in trouble at school for talking in class, too. So, I can more than carry the conversation for both of us. Unless…” My smile faded as I remembered what Kohka had said when I’d asked him earlier if he’d wanted to be alone.

You have no idea…

“Unless you’d like me to leave?”

I held my breath, suddenly anxious at what he might say. For some reason, I wanted this big, quiet Bitter Sea male to like me. But I was growing more and more concerned that I may have been annoying the ever-loving shit out of him and he was just too polite to say so.

Stupid pregnancy hormones, making me all sensitive.

“That will not be necessary,” came a growly reply.

“Oh!” I said, relieved. Good, maybe I’m not bugging him too much then.

“Besides,” he said, his voice a little lighter, now. “I do not have your ability to… What was it? Bend the laws of nature? I don’t know how to stop the rain.”

My cheeks felt warm, and I grinned at the wall across from me that Kohka was likely squished up against.

“You just twist that tap so it points down!”

Kohka’s tail moved on the floor, muscles bunching in a fascinating line down its spiked length. I could tell he was readjusting his position in the stall. The sudden sounds of snapping metal, the water stopping, and a muttered curse, filtered over to my side.

“If by tap you mean this shiny rock thing,” Kohka said gravely, “I think I’ve broken it.”

I laughed out loud and then pushed off from the wall, walking out of my stall over to his. He was standing now, hunched over in the cramped space, staring down at the tap he held in his claws. It looked like a toy in his huge grip.

“I apologize,” he said when he noticed me standing there. “I didn’t know it was so weak! I twisted it and…”

He threw me a helpless look, and I snorted.

“It’s fine. There are lots of other showers. At least the water’s not running. Just leave it on the floor for now.”

He huffed, then bent awkwardly, placing the tap down on the tile with extraordinary care. Seeing him handle the broken piece so gently in such huge hands made my chest go all warm and gooey.

He shuffled out from under the shower head and then straightened up. He’d been rinsed entirely clean, now, his scales even shinier than before as droplets of water glittered and rolled along the hard bands of muscle beneath.

He mopped a hand over his snout and brow, clearing water from his face in a gesture that was almost shockingly human.

“Thank you again for today, seriously,” I told him as he fixed me with those exquisite silver eyes of his. “Hey, think you could come back again tomorrow?”

I was mostly joking – he’d donated more than enough for now – but I couldn’t deny the small flicker of hope that he’d say yes and I’d get to see him again soon.

“I cannot,” he said. I thought there might have been a gruff note of regret in his voice. Or maybe that was just what I wanted to hear. “I leave tomorrow for the Deep Sky settlement.”

“Oh, damn, OK!” I said. “Who else is going with you?”

“No one. I will be travelling alone.”

I pursed my lips, trying to tamp down the absurd disappointment I felt at the fact he’d be leaving tomorrow morning.

Then I froze.

Hold the freaking phone…

He was leaving the settlement.

Just like I needed to do.

And no Sea Sand men are going with him.

I stared at Kohka silently, mind whirling. Could I risk it? Could I trust him enough to go with him away from the settlement if something were to happen?

Something, as in, if I suddenly popped out a surprise human baby in front of him?

This may be my only shot.

I wouldn’t get far leaving the settlement on my own. Travelling anywhere with Sea Sand warriors would negate the whole purpose of leaving, anyway, since they were the ones with the whole lack of ladies issue and would see a human male as a threat.

But Kohka… He was a Bitter Sea warrior. There was no lack of women among his kind, and he hadn’t watched that male human soldier try to kill one of his own like the Sea Sand men had with Xyan. So, hopefully, he’d have less of a visceral instinct of hatred towards a human male. When it came down to it, maybe his reaction wouldn’t even matter, anyway. From what I’d heard from Chapman and the others about the Deep Sky, it was certainly a forbidding landscape with its peaks and valleys, but it sounded a whole lot more survivable than here. There was easy access to fresh water, for one thing, and fish to catch in that water. Lots of caves and places to hide, too. If I needed to, maybe I could lose Kohka once we were in the Deep Sky. Squeeze into some hidden cave somewhere, have my baby, and survive.

It was risky as hell.

But so was everything else on this death trap of a planet.

And as I remembered the way Kohka had lain down the broken tap on the floor – almost apologetically, as if it were something alive that he had injured – I knew my decision was made.

I licked my suddenly dry lips and forced my voice to remain steady.

“What time do you leave tomorrow?”

CHAPTER EIGHT

Abby

I’d always thought my sleep would be messed up after the baby was born. So, I found it colossally unfair that my sleep was so crappy during my third trimester. For some reason, Peanut, who was remarkably chill during the day, liked to party it up at night. It made me feel like some kind of weird human bouncy castle but on the inside.

Pregnancy is so weird.

But even with the lack of sleep, I didn’t have trouble forcing myself out of the bedding hides in the darkness of pre-dawn. Pure adrenaline was pushing the fatigue to the back of my mind, making my movements quick and jerky.

Now that Fiona, Nasrin, Tilly, and Stephanie had left for the Deep Sky, there weren’t many of us single ladies left in the big human tent. Miriam, Catalina, and Sloane, the last unmated women here besides me, were spread out in their bedding hides in the dark space. There was lots of room to walk around and get ready, and I’d already packed everything I thought I might need last night (at least, everything I could fit into two packs). So, I was pretty quiet as I dressed and got my stuff together.

Even so, Catalina, who was nearest to me, stirred.

“Are you leaving now?” she murmured, her Spanish-accented voice croaky with sleep.

“Yeah,” I whispered back. I’d told Catalina and the other two about my plans. At least, I’d told them I was leaving with Kohka for the Deep Sky today, not that I was doing so to find some safe place to have my secret human baby. I’d asked them to cover for me for as long as they could in case anyone else asked where I’d gone. Since I spent so much time alone in the lab at the ship, I suspected the only one besides these three who would notice I was gone anytime soon would be Kat. Catalina had promised to explain things to Kat if she asked. Explain as much as she could, anyway. I still hadn’t told anyone I was pregnant. But I had told my friends that I needed to go with Kohka and that I didn’t want anyone else to know about it right away if possible. I’d told them it was just something I had to do, praying that that would be enough. And, thank goodness, my friends had trusted me enough that my vague explanations hadn’t triggered any suspicions. In fact, I thought I’d seen a small smirk on Catalina’s face at one point. I’d swiftly realized she probably thought Kohka and I were heading out for some lover’s tryst and that we didn’t want a third wheel Sea Sand warrior along for the ride.

I hadn’t bothered correcting her.

“Don’t wake the others. It’s OK,” I whispered. I got down on my knees and gave her an awkward hug, bending and pushing my butt backwards so that the curve of my stomach wouldn’t touch her.

“Stay safe. And have fun,” she said quietly when we pulled apart. “Send us a message from the shuttle when you reach the Deep Sky.”

I bit my lip, knowing I’d likely be doing no such thing, and replied, “Of course.”

Swallowing against the guilt of the lie and a sudden stab of pain at the thought of leaving my friends, I grabbed my two packs, swung one over each shoulder, and left the tent before I fell apart.

CHAPTER NINE

Kohka

Iwas ready before dawn.

I did not need to pack any belongings. Like most of the other Bitter Sea warriors, all I’d brought with me was my hok-scale spear. I needed no provisions for the journey as I would hunt everything for myself along the way.

I left the cave I’d slept in at the Cliffs of Uruzai and stepped out into the cool, star-pricked morning. Beyond the cliffs, out over the sand, came the barest blush of morning light, like a tendril of thin smoke rising.

There were few awake at this time. A few Sea Sand warriors were scattered around the settlement, including two stationed outside the large tent where the new women slept. I wondered if Abby was in there now. If she’d slept well.

I’d left her soon after breaking the tap thing at the ship. I would have escorted her back here, but she already had a warrior waiting with his irkdu. And, frankly, I needed some space from her smiles and her scent. I didn’t think I’d be able to think straight as long as I was with her.

Unfortunately, I’d found thinking straight difficult without her, too.

The entire journey back here, and my night in the cave, had been spent analyzing every minuscule moment I’d spent with her. I’d gone over and over her actions and reactions, trying to suss out more about her feelings. More about her.

The result was that, as I passed the large human tent, I found myself slowing, staring at the tightly-closed flap.

And then, as if my own fevered mind had conjured her, she was there.

The tent flap opened and she stepped out.

She looked a little different under the smoke-glow of pre-dawn. Everything even softer than last night. A face curved and pale like a moonlit koroba shell. Her hair dark and shiny against her small head.

Like last night, she was dressed in all her human garb. Her cloak was clean, no evidence of my mess, thank the waves. She carried two packs.

They looked heavy.

I mean, they did not look heavy at all. But they looked like a lot for her frame to carry at once.

Without thinking, I was moving towards her in great, ground-swallowing strides. She caught my movement, her little face turning towards me.

I hardened myself against any potential reaction she’d have at seeing me. Awkwardness, maybe even dislike.

But the hardness cracked, splintering into shards that made my chest hurt, when she immediately smiled. I was no expert at reading the faces of the new women, but there did not seem to be any sort of false artifice in her expression. She genuinely appeared happy to see me.

My insides lurched in an alarming way. I grunted, then coughed, trying to set them right again as I stopped before her.

“Good morning, Kohka! You’re just the Bitter Sea warrior I wanted to see!”

She wanted to see me?

There it was again. The lurching.

Perhaps she forgot what I told her last night…

“I am sorry that I cannot assist you again today. If you remember, I must leave for the-”

“The Deep Sky! I know. I was hoping you’d take me out to the ship before you left.”

Ah. She needed an escort?

It would slow me down a little. The ship was not exactly on the way.

But as she gazed up at me with those wide, wet eyes, I found I could not turn her down.

“I will oblige you,” I said.

Her smile grew bigger, and it dazzled me. Like the sudden glance of bright sun on water, it made me blink and turn my head.

“So, you do blink!”

“I told you as much last night,” I grumbled.

“I know. But now I’ve seen it for myself.”

What a curious little creature she was. For some unknown reason, she seemed… Interested in me. Interested in learning about me. Like my blinking habits.

I blinked again, and resignation filled me. Resignation that, as long as I was with her, I’d never blink again without noticing myself do it. I’d never taken note of my blinking before. Now it was all I could think about as I did it. How much blinking was too much? Or not enough?

I blinked again, then cursed quietly, glancing over to see if she’d noticed or had some comment to make about it. Not that there was any meanness in her observations. She really did just seem curious about me. I could not fathom why. But then again, the new women were strange and mysterious creatures.

Best not to think about it too much, I reasoned. Seeking to understand a whimsical little creature like her is beyond your capacity, warrior.

Abby apparently had not noticed my subsequent blinking. She was too busy adjusting one of her packs on her shoulder. Which reminded me why I’d cut across the settlement in the first place.

“Here,” I said, holding out my free hand.

She looked up at me, eyebrows raised.

“What?”

“Your packs. Let me carry them for you.”

“Oh! I mean… Actually, you know what? Yeah, that would be great, thank you.” Her smile was softer as she slid the straps off and let me take the packs from her.

“I was going to say, ‘no,’ you know,” she said suddenly. “I’m so used to taking care of myself. But… Yeah. This is a big help Kohka, thank you.”

The packs weighed practically nothing, so I could claim no special strength in carrying them. Still, I felt an odd, pleasurable sort of pride knowing I’d done something for her. For a reason I could not name, the idea that she might want to rely on me in some small way was viscerally satisfying.

“It is no trouble,” I told her gruffly.

We passed through the rest of the quiet tents as the sky turned Bitter Sea shell pink along the horizon. Like my newfound awareness of my blinking, I was overly conscious of Abby’s proximity to me. Luckily, there was no wind out here, and with her cloak fastened tightly up to her throat, her scent was not washing over me in pummelling waves.

I nudged slightly closer to her as we walked, a part of me almost begging it to.

“So quiet at this time,” Abby murmured. She spoke softly as if not wanting to disturb the peace of the settlement.

“Yes,” I agreed, unsure what else to add. She did not seem to expect more from me, and I relaxed slightly, realizing that perhaps I did not need to come up with anything clever to say in her presence. She seemed to accept my silence as readily as my words.

But as we walked, I kept thinking about what she’d said. What she’d said about the quiet. My gaze, when it was not sliding sideways, unbidden, to look at Abby, flitted over the tents, wondering about the scenes inside. The large tent housed the unmated new women, and many of the unmated warriors had their tents further out on the sands. Which meant that quite a few of the tents here, within the jagged outstretched arms of the cliffs, were those of mated pairs and families.

Would it not be nice, I thought to myself, to have someone to share the quiet of the dawn with?

My glance went down and to the side again. To the little human who shared it with me now.

Foolish warrior. There is no mate bond. She requires your assistance and that is all.

It was absurd for me to have any of these sorts of thoughts about the kind female at my side. We’d only just met, and there was no mate bond. But I was drawn to her in ways I could not explain. And, surprisingly, it made the idea of leaving this place hard when it had never been hard before.

The guards at the edge of the settlement – three Sea Sand warriors and two Bitter Sea men – grunted their greetings at us. They’d no doubt seen warriors escorting Abby to the ship often, and therefore did not need to ask about our destination.

“Malachor. Ark. Tealk. Taiga. Pike,” I said in greeting to each of them in turn, first the Sea Sand men, then my Bitter Sea brethren. Ark watched me more closely than the others, a slight squint on his face. The skin around his eyes and down his cheeks was scarred, paler than the rest of him, and his sight stars had a slow, milky quality to them rather than the sharp buzzing I was used to seeing in the desert men’s eyes. Apparently, before the alliance of the tribes, Ark had fought with Galok. In the fray, Galok’s female, Kat, had used some noxious human substance to blind him. From what I understood, he’d recovered some, but not all, of his vision since then, as he’d taken the long journey back to his tribe before getting access to Lavrika’s blood.

Looking at Ark’s scarred face and marred vision, I was reminded of the new women’s power. It was hard to imagine the lovely Abby hurting anyone. But still. Best not to get on her bad side.

Staying on her good side, if that was where I’d fallen so far, did not seem like it would be too taxing. Apparently, all I wanted to do was help her, as evidenced by her packs in my claws and the detour I was taking on my own mission to escort her to the ship.

“You leave for the Deep Sky today, Kohka?” asked Taiga. Taiga was slightly taller than me, but leaner and younger. His scales were like flames, licking from glittering black along his neck and chest, to red tinged with orange, then brilliant yellow down his back, tail, and legs. The scales of his face were mostly black with some red, but his sight discs and the spikes along his neck, arms, back, and tail, were the reflective blue of mid-morning sky.

“I do” I confirmed. I could not stop myself from wondering what Abby thought of Taiga. With his bright and contrasting colouring, he was considered an exceptionally attractive male among our kind. That, coupled with a natural ease around females, meant that, though he did not yet have a mate, he’d had many willing partners already in his young life.

So, basically, the complete opposite of me.

It had never bothered me before. I’d never felt any sense of jealousy or competition with my fellow warriors.

Until now. Standing beside him with Abby, where the differences between Taiga and me were no doubt glaringly obvious.

I took a deep breath, standing up straighter and holding Abby’s packs just a little tighter.

I was the one she asked to go with her this morning, I reminded myself.

I did not only remind myself.

I burned the fact into my brain.

But even so, I could not help the small, relieved sigh that escaped me when Abby’s gaze did not seem particularly drawn to Taiga or any other male here.

Such relief was completely absurd.

But, as I’d learned long ago, emotions often tended to be absurd. Which was why it was so much easier to not bother trying to explain them to anyone.

“Well, should we go?” Abby said. And now that warm gaze was only on me.

Cursed waves, how I wanted to keep it there.

“Yes,” I answered. As I looked into her eyes, I felt as if I were falling. As if their dark wells were even deeper than the Bitter Sea of my homeland. But I would welcome such depths. I was a strong swimmer. Always had been. I hefted her packs and adjusted the grip on my spear, ready to face the desert and the dawn with her. “We shall go.”

CHAPTER TEN

Abby

Irealized too late that travelling with Kohka meant I’d be riding on his back like a goddamn toddler getting a piggyback ride. I’d gotten so used to riding the irkdu with the Sea Sand warriors that I’d just mentally morphed that experience onto my expectation of going out over the sands with Kohka. I fished out some hide straps and he fastened my overstuffed packs to his side before popping his spear between his fangs and crouching down onto all fours on the sand.

Shit.

Not only was this piggy-back style, but since he’d be loping across the desert on all fours, more like some kind of big cat than a man, I’d be leaning pretty far forward to stay stable. Though it wasn’t that big comparatively speaking, my stomach would no doubt be pressing against him, at least a little.

Please, Peanut, keep the kicking to a minimum while I’m on his back. I’m begging you.

Although, I doubted Kohka could feel much through the armour of the shining, metallic scales and spikes on his back. His brown colouring was concentrated on his front. I noticed for the first time that most of the scales on his back were slate grey and silver. I also noticed, not for the first time, just how gorgeous he was. His anatomy was physical strength perfected, and yet it was balanced with the subtle, refined shimmer of those scales. His broad back angled down into a wide waist packed with muscle. Tree-trunk thighs pressed knees into the sand, and his tail, nearly as wide as his thigh at its base, tapered to an agile silvery point. As the sun rose higher and bathed him in more light, I found myself fascinated by the way his scales hugged his frame. Like exquisitely-wrought chainmail clinging to the roiling brutality of muscle beneath.

Lovely to behold. But harder than stone.

I reached out a tentative hand, to see just how smooth and hard the larger scales of his back would feel. When my fingertips grazed the polished-metal surface of his back, he twitched, tension whispering down his form. It was so subtle that I nearly missed it. A slight movement in his head and tail. A tiny, tightening quiver along the spikes of his spine, gone as quickly as it appeared.

I guess he can feel things through these scales after all.

Feeling awkwardly aware of the eyes of the guards on me, I hoisted myself onto Kohka’s back. There was no twitch of response to my touch this time. In fact, it was the opposite. Kohka had hardened into complete stillness, like I’d just climbed up onto a marble statue.

But then?

The marble shattered.

Without a word, without any sort of warning, Kohka exploded into movement. I yelped, holding tightly to his neck as the tents, the settlement, and everything I knew on this planet turned into a blur behind us.

Then disappeared.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Kohka

Ihad to keep moving.

I had to stay ahead of her scent.

If I slowed too much, if I stopped…

I’d be done for.

Having her on my back was already the strangest, most delicious sort of torture I could imagine. Her heat seeped through my scales. Her thighs were spread wide across me, the crux of her little female body nestled so close, so –

Faster.

With a grunt that reverberated down the length of the spear in my mouth, I forced my limbs into greater action. The burn in my muscles did little to soothe my unruly mind. But it was better than nothing.

But I could not maintain that speed for long. Not due to any insufficiency in my own strength, but because Abby was begging me to slow down.

I did so immediately.

Somewhere in her lineage, she must have had a king for an ancestor. I can deny her nothing.

“Thank you,” she sighed, her grip loosening at my neck.

Would she be thanking me if she knew why I’d gone so fast in the first place? That I was trying to outrun her scent? Perhaps even somehow outrun her?

It did not matter. The human ship was in sight. Soon, I would deposit her there.

Then I would leave her.

As the ship grew larger in my vision, I imagined Abby growing smaller as I left her. A soft, smiley little dot in the distance, calling goodbyes at my back.

The bone handle of my spear almost cracked under the sudden pressure of my fangs. The idea of dropping Abby here and leaving, unsure when, or if, I’d get to see her again, made my fangs fill with venom. It was as if there was some great enemy nearby I had to fight and kill.

But there was no enemy. None besides time and space, distance and duty.

The chaos of not understanding her. And not understanding myself when I was around her.

We reached the ship. A horrible mixture of dread, loneliness, and relief swept through me as Abby dismounted, somewhat unsteadily, from my back.

More than somewhat unsteadily, actually. Instantly, I dropped my spear from my mouth and I lifted my claws from the sand, kneeling as I gripped her waist to steady her.

We froze, both of us staring at my hands on her. Even though she was not as small as some of the new women, my hands looked gargantuan against her sides. My thumbs, with their black claws, looked like weapons on her body. Monstrous and deadly.

And perhaps I was a monster.

Because I…

I could not let go.

I’d only ever seen her in her cloak. I hadn’t gotten to see much of her body. But now, I could feel it. Feel the tingling warmth of her beneath my rough hands. Her abdomen was somewhat pronounced, as were the swells of her chest above. All of her so curved and luscious and –

“Let go!”

I snatched my hands away.

“I… I am sorry,” I stammered, getting to my feet. Now I was the one who felt unsteady. Knocked entirely off course in bewilderment at my own behaviour. I only needed to make sure she wouldn’t fall. And yet I’d held her for entirely too long. Far beyond what was necessary.

Or appropriate.

“No. I just… It’s OK. I was wobbly, so thanks for steadying me. I just don’t like people touching me there.”

“There?”

She tugged her cloak away from her body, creating a tenting effect that further hid her shape. Then she pointed at her abdomen. “There.”

Dismay made me grind my fangs. You are an ignorant oaf.

“I apologize. Most sincerely,” I rasped.

She gave me a small smile that I did not feel I deserved but clamoured for nonetheless.

“It’s alright, really. You couldn’t have known. Sorry I snapped at you about it.” Her smile grew. “There’s one way you can make it up to me.”

“Anything.” The word was out before I could stop it. Before I could think about the consequences. And the consequences, it turned out, were colossal.

“Kohka,” she said, her eyes keen and determined as she made her request of me. “Take me with you. Take me to the Deep Sky.”

CHAPTER TWELVE

Abby

Ishould have expected it, but Kohka’s instantaneous reply stung a little anyway.

“No.”

Shit. I was kind of hoping he’d just take me along without asking too many questions…

“But I have to go! It’s very important! They, um… They need me at the settlement!”

Kohka’s brilliant silver eyes narrowed. I started sweating, and it wasn’t just from the heat of the morning sun beating down.

“Why have I heard nothing of this? Just yesterday you were collecting my mating fluid for more of your work on the ship. The ship I’ve just brought you to.”

“It’s fine. We have enough doses of the drug I was formulating to get through the next few births.” I left out the part about how one of those very doses was in a cooler inside one of the packs currently strapped to his side.  “Kat can take over my work, anyway. I’ve left her all the info and the formulas for when they need to make more. But I need to go… Um… I need to go continue my work at the Deep Sky settlement. There will no doubt be human women giving birth in the mountains, too. And none of the women there right now are chemists who can recreate the drug.”

“The journey is too dangerous.”

“Not with you!” I replied quickly. And I believed it, too. Kohka was probably the biggest, baddest thing I’d run across anytime soon.

He still looked unconvinced.

“When was this decision made?” he growled. “I have had no new instructions from my Hakah. And unmated males are not supposed to take new women that far from the settlement. There should be chaperones from the other tribes.”

Kohka had a slightly shy (and completely freaking adorable) awkwardness to him at times, but not now. Now, his obviously sharp intellect was picking apart my claims, bit by bit.

This isn’t working.

I felt my face fall. Kohka’s gaze narrowed further, taking in my change of expression.

I can’t get any bullshit past him. I’ll have to be honest. As honest as I can be, anyway.

Beads of sweat rolled down my back at the thought of changing tactics with him. Because this was my last shot. My Hail Mary. If he turned me down this time, I could be stuck here for good.

My heart slammed. Peanut rolled over, his movement a physical reminder of what I had to do. I desperately blinked back a sudden burn of tears at the thought of giving birth to a human boy among all these territorial Gahns.

“Kohka,” I said, hating how shaky my voice sounded. No doubt Kohka heard the tremor in my words, too. His gaze, previously so narrow with suspicion, went wide.

“I need this. I need you to trust me and take me with you. Please. This is something I have to do. I can’t go with any Sea Sand men. It has to be just you and me.”

Kohka stared at me in obvious surprise and confusion.

“I’m sorry I lied to you about taking me to the ship this morning,” I added. “But I’ve been planning to leave with you all along. If you…” Fuck. More tears. I swiped angrily at my cheeks. Kohka’s nostrils flared, his pupils tracking the movement of my fingers across my tear-dampened skin.

“I know we just met,” I said, sniffing hard. “I have no right to ask anything of you. But if you care for me at all as a new friend, you’ll do this for me. I can’t explain my reasons right now. But I have to leave the settlement. I have to go with you. Only you.”

Kohka still said nothing. Panic jolted through me, making my words faster. More frantic.

“Maybe you don’t care about me at all. That’s OK! You don’t have to be my friend. But I need… I need an ally right now. And I want it to be you.”

It was true. This wasn’t just about the convenient fact that Kohka was leaving the settlement at the exact moment I needed to get the fuck outta Dodge. It had to do with him specifically. I barely knew the guy, but already I could feel myself beginning to trust him. He was such a disarming combination of stoic and shy, helpful and humble. Even with all those scales surrounding him like a shield, I felt that I could see inside him. Right to his heart.

And my instincts told me it was a good fucking heart.

But I also got the sense that Kohka didn’t like feeling unprepared or being thrust into new situations. And right now, I was the new, unnerving situation. I’ve thrown this poor guy off-balance from the moment we’ve met. It was the reason I didn’t just give it all up and tell him why I had to leave here. The big lug would probably have had a fucking panic attack at the thought of taking a pregnant human across the desert away from the resources of the settlement.

Kohka’s brow furrowed. Muscles along his snout twitched, revealing a quick flash of fangs. He bent so that his face was level with mine.

“So small,” he muttered, “and yet so unknowable.”

My breath caught as one of his knuckles bumped my cheek, smearing the hot fluid of my tears.

“What does this mean?” he asked, his voice barely above a gravelly whisper.

“The tears?” I croaked. “Right now, they’re ‘Kohka, help me, you’re my last hope,’ tears.”

He went to pull his hand away, but I grabbed his wrist, keeping his knuckles against my face. I stared into his eyes, not letting my gaze waver, no matter how blurry it got with moisture.

“I’m serious, Kohka. You are my only hope right now. If you don’t help me, I don’t know what the hell I’m going to do.”

Kohka’s throat visibly contracted, and a pained look passed over his face.

“These tears, then… They are a sign of your distress?”

I nodded, unable to say anything else. My throat felt like it had completely closed up.

“If that is true, if these tears mean that you are unhappy…” Kohka’s jaw hardened at the back of his snout. “Then I never want to see them again.”

Kohka’s wrist slipped from my grip. Before I could even take a breath, he’d scooped his spear up between his teeth and was crouching on all fours. I stared at him in shock for so long that he finally turned his large head to look at me over his spiky shoulder, dropping his spear to speak.

“Come, Abby,” he said, more gently than someone as big as him should have been capable of. “It is time for us to go.”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Kohka

Every step I took further from the Cliffs of Uruzai made me worry that I had made a terrible mistake. I knew I was not supposed to take a new woman this far out alone, especially without informing my Hakah.

I also knew that I was absolutely powerless against the stark unhappiness Abby had shown me this morning by the human ship. Something was deeply bothering her, maybe even scaring her. She’d trusted me to take her away from all of it, whatever it was.

I wouldn’t break that trust even if it killed me.

As I carried her over the sands, I chewed on the unexpected and inexplicable desire I had to help her. Certainly, I liked to help others in general. But not like this. I did not normally feel such a frantic stab of panic when seeing someone else upset. I did not normally feel like I needed to set everything in this world to rights with my own claws just to make someone else smile.

I felt that way with Abby.

Why? I had no idea. I had no mate bond for her. But there was something about her…

Perhaps more than a simple something. I rather worried that it was everything about her.

What could have prompted her to leave the settlement shrouded in such secrecy?

I knew better than to ask her. She’d already made it clear she would not, or could not, tell me. But still, I wondered. And hoped, quietly to myself, that one day she would trust me even more than she already had and would tell me the whole tale.

But for now, I would have to live with the decision I’d made: the decision to take her with me while asking no questions of her. As night fell, and we stopped to make camp, she certainly did not give me much to go on.  She only asked if we could go a little longer in the darkness. To get a little further from the cliffs.

“Nobody should notice I’m gone yet,” she said, unwilling to slide off my back even though I’d gotten down low on the ground and dropped my spear. As she spoke, her chest and abdomen rubbed against me in a way that made my tail snap straight out backwards. “But just in case,” she added, “I’d like to go a little further if we can. Put some more distance.”

I’d told myself I would not press her about her reasons. But I had to know one thing, as territorial, protective rage threatened to rear its head inside me.

“You also said you did not want a Sea Sand man to accompany us,” I said tightly. “Has someone… Did a Sea Sand warrior hurt you?”

I left my other question unspoken.

Who do I have to kill?

I curled my claws into the sand to keep myself from loping back to the settlement at top speed.

But my budding anger swiftly turned to confusion when she replied, “Oh, no! Nothing like that!”

“Hmm,” I replied. I slid my spear into one of the straps holding Abby’s pack to my side. I began to move once more, crossing a little more distance as the sun set. Moving more slowly like this, I wasn’t worried about the spear coming loose from the strap, so I did not need to carry it between my fangs. This gave me leave to speak more easily. “Then perhaps it is not a Sea Sand warrior I must worry about, but you.”

“Hey!”

“What?” I asked. “You new women are frightfully clever and capable of the most bizarrely unnatural acts I have ever witnessed. Have you hidden the body of a Sea Sand man somewhere in the cliffs, and now you’re using me as your escape? I have a right to know whom I am dealing with if we are to travel together.”

There it was. That pretty laughter I’d already grown to like so much, catching in the wind.

“Was that a joke, Kohka?”

A smirk pulled at my snout.

“I do not truly believe you have killed a Sea Sand warrior, if that is what you mean,” I replied.

She laughed again, a soft chuckle that made sweet warmth bloom beneath my scales.

“That’s fair. I have been pretty cryptic about everything. But I can definitely tell you a little more about myself if you want.”

Please, I thought to myself. Curse the waves, I thought you’d never ask.

I didn’t say that out loud. Even someone such as myself, who was not granted much in the way of social graces, knew that I’d sound entirely too obsessive with such a reply. I did not want Abby to run from me as she had run from the settlement. So instead, I settled on a mangled reply of, “That is agreeable.”

Well, that’s what I meant to say, anyway. But I garbled the words, combining two different phrases, so that I actually said, “You are agreeable.”

“Well, thank you! I’d also like to think I’m agreeable. What a great place to start when talking about myself, ha!” Abby said. I could hear the smile in her voice from my back as I padded over the sand with her. Curse me, she was a generous sort. She didn’t remark upon my obvious twisting of tongues. She just continued on in the conversation as if I were not the mud-brained fool I felt I was.

“Well, let’s see. You already know my name, Abby. That’s short for Abigail Levine Matthews. I’m thirty-two years old. Oh wait, you guys don’t count in years, right?”

“Do you mean ages? One age is one hundred days,” I answered.

“Right. Then I am…” She paused. “I’m about 117 ages old.”

“We are closer in age than I thought,” I rumbled, pleased by that for some reason. “I was born 142 ages ago.”

“So that would make you… What? 38? 39 years old?”

“I do not know. I do not understand the relationship between ages and years.”

“A year is 365 days.”

I frowned into the dark air.

“Hmm. And you can switch back and forth between them that quickly?” I would be able to do such a thing, too, but only with sufficient time to think about the numbers.

“It’s no big deal. I’ve always been good at math.”

I wanted to ask what math was, but didn’t want to appear even more ignorant than I already was. Luckily, she just kept on talking. And I just kept on carrying her.

“Where was I? So, I’m 32… 117 ages. I’m a pharmacological chemist, an optimist, and I am also tragically single.”

More things I did not understand. The more she tells me about herself, the less she makes sense to me.

“I like key lime pie and sunrises and coffee,” she continued. “I love the idea of the beach but hate actually going there. Too much sand. So, you can imagine how I’ve felt here so far!”

“I have not been all the way into the mountains, but from what I’ve seen, there is not much sand in the Deep Sky,” I said. I was glad to have something meaningful to contribute to the conversation and hoped it was helpful.

“Well, that’s just dandy. Glad to hear it. Alright, enough about me.”

Already? It did not feel like enough to me.

“What about you, Kohka?”

“What about me?” I grunted.

“Tell me about yourself! I know you’re a Bitter Sea Warrior. I know how old you are now. But what else? What do you like?”

You.

Blast.

“I like… Quiet.”

“Is that it?”

“I like swimming. And eating.”

Her laugh was the tinkle of water breaking over rock.

I like making you laugh.

“You must be excited about going back to the Deep Sky. I’ve heard there’s a lot more water around.”

“Yes,” I agreed. “The hot water in the Cliffs of Uruzai is not quite the same. Does your kind swim?”

“Oh, yes! I may not like the beach, but I really like swimming.”

I felt my brow furrow as I tried to picture it. Without large, wide feet and a powerful tail, the idea of someone like Abby swimming could not quite take shape inside my mind.

“You got quiet,” Abby observed.

I snorted.

“It’s something I hope you can get used to. It tends to be my natural state.”

“Well, I hope you can get used to the fact that I am decidedly unquiet,” she said. Her tone felt teasing, but in a good way.

“Do not worry on that account. I like to hear what you’re thinking.”

“Ditto,” she replied. “So?”

“So?”

“So, what got you all quiet? What were you thinking about?”

“Ah. I was trying to imagine you swimming. I cannot picture it.”

She made an affronted, gasping sound. I wasn’t exactly sure what she was doing, but it felt like she was poking at the scales of my shoulder with a tiny, accusing finger. The finger jabbed me in time with each word.

“Are you saying you don’t believe I can swim?!”

“No. Simply saying I cannot imagine it.”

“Well, I’ll prove it to you the first chance I get!”

“There’s no need. I believe you. I’d probably believe you capable of anything you told me you could do.”

She chuckled. “Missed opportunity. I should have really talked myself up more before! Made myself sound even better than I really am.”

“Now, that is something I do not believe that you could do.”

“How so?”

I paused, rolling words around in my head as the dark sand cooled my claws. I could not decide on a better way to phrase it, so I went with my first, honest instinct.

“You astonish just as you are.”

There was a stretch of silence so long I was sure I’d said something wrong. I stopped walking, tension collecting along my spine.

I took a great breath, about to apologize for whatever I’d said, when Abby’s words interrupted me.

“Jeez, Kohka, you really know how to charm a lady. What, have you guys got poetry baked into your dee enn ay or something?”

“I do not have a dee enn ay,” I muttered, unsure how to respond to anything else she’d said. I crouched low to the sand, and this time, Abby slid off my back. She did it carefully, so there was no need to grab her to steady her. Something I had to remind my own hands of as they reached for her anyway.

“You most definitely do have dee enn ay,” she said, turning to face me. “It’s in the fluid you gave me.”

“Is it… Is it supposed to be there?” I asked uneasily. For some reason I would not be surprised to find out there was something wrong with my mating fluid. Perhaps that is why the Kell has not yet called me…

“Oh, yes, it’s supposed to be there! Dee enn ay is like… The instructions for your cells. It tells your body how to grow, what shape to become, what colour. You inherit it from your parents.”

I stood, letting grains of sand fall away from the claws of my hands.

“So, you saw mine… In the mating fluid. Was it… Did it seem adequate?”

Abby’s little eyebrows rose. She regarded me for a moment, then grinned.

“I didn’t analyze the dee enn ay in your mating fluid, no. But I wouldn’t need to do that to see that it’s pretty incredible! I mean, just look at you!”

I frowned, looking down the front of my body, trying to understand what in the deep waves she meant by that comment. Scales, claws, chest, tail, legs. I supposed everything was accounted for, all the parts in basically the right places and in decent working order.

“Don’t forget what I said before, Kohka,” Abby said, distracting me from my own self-observation. “You’re a marvel.”

“I am decidedly average. You have just not been among us long enough to know that,” I informed her.

Her head dropped back, laughter flying from her throat. I could not help but stare at the slim, pale column. Her chin lowered, her gaze meeting mine once more.

“You’re not average, Kohka. At least, not to me.”

I was not sure what else to say to that. I was more than aware that I was not the biggest nor the strongest Bitter Sea Warrior. I was not the boldest nor the most beautiful. Those things had never bothered me much before. I was diligent. And dutiful. And did what needed to be done with little fanfare.

But Abby apparently saw other things in me. Things that made me, in her pretty human eyes, special.

I liked the feeling more than I wanted to admit.

Even though he was long dead, I could still hear my father’s voice in the back of my skull, telling me not to think so much of myself.

You are not special, Kohka. He’d told me that many times in childhood. We are here to serve the Hakah, not ourselves.

But you are special, I’d replied, when I was too young to know better. You are the right claw to Hakah Gog!

I never forgot the narrowed look of disappointment in his eyes.

I am the right claw precisely because I know that I am not special, either. Duty is more important than any one man’s desires or worth.

I remembered being confused by that. My father was honest, often bluntly so. But that was the first time he’d ever said something that didn’t feel quite true. He was special. He’d been an extraordinary warrior in his time. But perhaps even more impressive than that, at least to me, was the way that he always knew exactly what to do. He never doubted, never wavered. Never stammered, never stumbled.

“Well, what do you think? We’re setting up camp here, right?”

Abby’s voice vibrated in the air around me. Pulled me from the seas of my past.

Memories rolled down my scales like drops of water, then scattered.

“Yes,” I replied, entirely focused now on my odd, unexpectedly lovely present. “Here.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Abby

The place we’d stopped was pretty good as far as camping out on the open sands. There was a low outcropping of black boulders and babkit trees that gave at least the semblance of shelter as Kohka unstrapped my packs from his sides. As I went to remove the stuff I needed to set up my tent, a sharp kick to my bladder reminded me I desperately needed to pee.

“One second!” I said, taking a deep breath before slowly straightening up from one of my packs on the sand. I’d been on Kohka’s back for a pretty long stretch in my need to get away from the settlement as quickly as possible. There was a very good chance that if I made a sudden movement now, I’d piss myself. “I just need to… Um… Relieve myself.”

I felt more than a little awkward saying that to Kohka for some reason. Which was stupid, because we were going to be travelling together for a while. I hoped I wouldn’t need to explain any further. But thankfully, he just grunted in understanding.

“I spent a lot of time with Camille, Priya, and the Gahnala Jocelyn,” he replied. “I am aware of your frequent bodily needs.”

I squeezed my thighs together and tried not to laugh.

Oh, boy. None of them were nine-months-pregnant, my friend. You don’t even know the meaning of ‘frequent’ yet.

I hurried around one of the larger boulders, pulled down my pants, then crouched, keeping one hand against the stone for balance. Even though it was night, the boulder’s surface held some residual heat from the hot alien sun of the daytime. It felt nice against the skin of my palm, contrasting with the chill of the evening. I grimaced at the thought of sleeping in a tent alone tonight. It wasn’t going to be nearly as cozy as the big human tent with its air warmed by the other sleeping women.

I placed my hand on my belly in response to a twinge of movement there.

You’re right, Peanut. I won’t be alone.

I rubbed my hand back and forth, biting back a gasp of delight when a hand or foot or… Something… bulged outwards to meet my touch.

Absolutely none of this was ideal. This was already an unplanned pregnancy that I was navigating without a partner. It would have been hard enough on Earth. Now, I was about to give birth on a hostile alien planet, and as of this moment, I didn’t have a better plan other than to somehow do it all alone. Frankly, any way you looked at it, the situation was a hot fucking mess. But every time I felt Peanut move, I was gripped by gratitude so overwhelming it made my chest ache.

The other human women who’d been brought here had nothing left of their old lives. Nothing from our old world to hold onto.

I had something.

Someone.

Someone I already loved more than I loved myself. Someone I couldn’t wait to meet and I’d do anything to protect.

After giving my belly one last pat, I stood, dressed, then walked back around the boulder.

In the short time I’d been gone, Kohka had already managed to kill a desert rakdo, a long, lynx-like creature with floppy, bunny-like ears. Kohka was crouched on the sand, deftly stripping the rakdo of its shining copper-coloured fur and butchering the meat.

“Wow,” I said, nodding appreciatively, “that was fast.”

Kohka looked up from his work. Christ, his eyes were something else. So reflective and silver that at first glance they almost seemed flat. But once you got a closer look, you could see the depths below the shining surface. Like the moon glinting on the water of a well, concealing just how far down it went.

“I’ve never been a hunter to prolong a creature’s pain if I can help it.”

I sat across from him on the sand.

“I respect that,” I said, meaning it. “But still! I was only gone a couple minutes! Pretty impressive that you’ve already caught us dinner!”

“My aim with a spear is serviceable enough,” he grunted. “And the rakdo crossed by quite close to camp.” If Kohka had been human, I was sure he would have shrugged nonchalantly.

“Serviceable? Pfft. Are you kidding? That’s one clean kill,” I said. The spear had gone through the rakdo’s neck, leaving the rest of its body intact for carving and cooking. I wasn’t a hunting expert by any means, but “serviceable” didn’t seem anywhere close to describing Kohka’s skills.

Kohka didn’t respond to my comments, continuing the quick, sure motions of his claws. It was an odd sight – such a huge, toothy alien calmly slicing up meat the way a human would instead of tearing it apart with his fangs.

He’s doing this for your benefit, I realized. I’d seen other Bitter Sea warriors eat from time to time around the settlement. They didn’t carve or even cook their meat.

“Thank you, Kohka,” I said softly.

“No need for thanks,” he said, brushing off my words. “As soon as I am finished with this, I will start the fire. I assume that, like the other new women, you prefer your meat burnt.”

“Hey! Definitely not burnt! How about roasted to perfection?” I said, laughing.

Kohka paused, his heavy scaly brows lowering.

“I… I do not know how to do that. I’ve never roasted meat in my life, let alone to whatever standard you would consider perfection.” He leaned back on his haunches, staring intently at the meat as if it had become some kind of puzzle to be solved. Then his gaze snapped to mine. “But if you teach me, I will learn.”

God, this guy is a sweetheart.

“You don’t need to worry about it. I’ll be in charge of the fire and the cooking,” I said, standing. “My mama didn’t raise me to sit on my backside and let others do everything for me.”

I went to one of my packs, opening it, and removing a small hatchet I’d brought. As Kohka finished up with the rakdo, I set myself to hacking off some of the flat, paddle-like branches of the babkit trees between the boulders. I was used to stuff like this. It was true what I’d told Kohka about my mom. My dad died right before I was born, and my mom raised me all on her own. She’d made a pointed effort to teach me all kinds of useful skills – how to change a flat tire, how to cook, how to read a map and use a compass, how to catch fish, how to chop wood, how to build a fire. “You never know what life’s gonna throw at you, Chickadee,” she would tell me on one camping excursion or another. “Best make sure you’re ready for it. Because whatever it is, there’s a good chance you’ll eventually be facing it alone.” Her eyes would often have unshed tears in them, but her voice was always steady when she said, “So you gotta know your fucking shit. Knowing shit means surviving. Don’t rely on anyone else to know it for you.”

I had a feeling that when the strongest woman I’d ever known talked about life throwing stuff at me, she didn’t mean getting abducted and taken to a brutal alien planet. But still. The lesson had stuck.

So, even exhausted and sore and panting due to a severely reduced lung capacity courtesy of the human who’d taken up residence in my abdomen, I got my shit done. Muscle memory propelled me, my hatchet swung and struck, and before long I had a nice pile of wood ready for our fire. Luckily, I didn’t have to pull any old-school fire-starting stuff by rubbing sticks together. I had matches and a lighter in my pack, along with a notebook. A couple crumpled pages from the notebook, one strike of a match, and the fire was happily crackling.

That job done, I plopped down heavily, wincing at the stiffness of my back and hips. God, I miss my comfy lab chair.

“What’s wrong?”

I jumped. In all my focus on getting the wood and the fire, I’d nearly forgotten Kohka was there. For someone so huge, he was enormously accomplished at being completely still and silent.

“Nothing’s wrong. Why?” I asked.

“You made a face.”

I chuckled, picking up my hatchet once more to hack a spare plank of babkit wood into skewers for the meat.

“I make faces all the time,” I said, aiming a few solid blows at the babkit branch. “I’ve been told I’m very expressive.”

“That is consistent with what I have observed,” Kohka rumbled. “But usually, the expressions are happier ones. Or ones of surprise, like when I say something you do not expect me to say.”

I could feel one such look of surprise unfurl on my face at his words.

“You’ve been keeping an awfully close eye on my facial expressions,” I teased.

But all traces of joking got choked down in my throat when Kohka simply answered, “I have.”

“Why?” I asked. I loaded some of the meat onto my new skewer. It was a bit of a hack job, so I made sure not to give myself a splinter as I held it over the glowing flames. Kohka stared at me from the other side of the fire. The orange-tinted light glanced off his scales, turning him into burnished bronze and copper. I flushed under the force of his relentless, unblinking gaze. It wasn’t an unpleasant sensation, though. For some reason, I kind of liked the idea that he’d been looking at me. That he’d been paying close enough attention to know what kind of faces I made, and when, and how often.

“I wish…” Kohka began slowly, as if choosing his words carefully, “I wish to understand.”

“To understand what? How my face works?” I said with a smirk.

“Yes,” he said, completely ignoring my attempt to keep things in the lighthearted realm of jokes. “How it works. What it means.”

I swore under my breath, realizing my meat had started to burn on one side. I quickly rotated my skewer. Roasted to perfection, my ass.

I blew out a sigh. “Well, if you must know, I probably just made a face because it’s been a long day and I’m sore.” I pressed my lips into a thin line. “Sorry, I shouldn’t be complaining. You’re the one who carried me all day.”

Kohka’s snout looked tense, his brows deeply furrowed.

“You need never, ever worry for me, Abby,” he said sternly, almost as if reprimanding me. “I am a warrior. My claws are sharp and my scales are hard. But you… You are so, so-” His words cut off with an odd grunting sound.

“I’m so what? Soft and squishy and helpless?” I supplied helpfully.

“Not helpless,” he hissed. “But the other things… Well… Yes.”

I appreciated that he didn’t think I was totally useless, at least. But he was right. Compared to his height and strength and scales, my weak-skinned human body probably looked like something smooshy and pathetic, like a marshmallow stretched into the general shape of a person. Not that he would know what a marshmallow even was.

The reality was, if Kohka wanted to, he could take my entire head in one hand and crush my skull like it was a goddamn grape.

But even so, I couldn’t help but wonder about his comfort. Had he gotten tired from the journey? Was he sore anywhere, too?

I didn’t get to ask those questions. Because Kohka asked one first.

“What does a new woman do,” he said, leaning forward, his eyes brighter than the fire between us, “when she’s in pain?”

“We make stupid pouty faces, as you’ve already witnessed,” I replied.

“No. I mean… What does she need to feel better?” He paused, then added, “What do you need?”

My cheeks grew even hotter, and I gulped.

What do I need? Apparently, I need a fucking brain transplant. Because all I can think about right now is you giving me a back massage with those massive, clawed hands.

Oh, hell. Who was I kidding? I wasn’t thinking about a back massage. I was thinking about a butt massage. My ass ached something fierce, and I subtly shifted position on the sand.

“I just need to eat and get some rest,” I said, my voice sounding brittle and high to my own ears. I pulled my skewer towards me, silently bemoaning the fact that I really had charred the crap out of the meat. Oh well. At least any food aversions I’d had in the first trimester were long gone, and it wouldn’t be any real trouble to swallow down the overcooked meat. There was no way I was going to waste it after Kohka had gone to the trouble of catching and carving it for me.

“You should eat too,” I said, trying to shift the subject of conversation away from my soft, squishy, achy human body and its various needs. I nodded at the raw meat still off to the side.

“Ah. No,” Kohka said. “This rakdo is for you. I can catch something for myself later, when you are sleeping.”

“Kohka!” I cried. “That rakdo has gotta be, like, fifty pounds! You can’t possibly think I’m going to eat the entire thing!”

Kohka frowned over at the meat and then appeared to sigh.

“I have much yet to learn.”

I took a bite of the meat, chewed it, then swallowed before replying, “That’s OK. We’ve got time.”

A wiggle from Peanut reminded me that we did not, in fact, have much time. I forced myself to keep eating despite the fact that my appetite had suddenly vanished. I’d been so wrapped up in getting away from the Sea Sand settlement that I hadn’t had enough time or brain space to think about what was going to come next.

But the more I went over it in my mind, my jaw working numbly on my food, the more one thing became clear:

If it wasn’t safe to have my baby at the Sea Sand settlement, then it probably wasn’t safe to do it at the Deep Sky settlement, either. I knew even less about those tribes, and their Gahns, than I did about the Sea Sand men. In fact, the brief times I’d seen Gahn Errok in our settlement had proven him to be brash, arrogant, and not the sort of leader who’d be sympathetic to the problems of anyone except maybe his own mate, Stephanie. I had no idea if those two were even involved, yet. If she was still rejecting him, his view on humans may have soured even further. The other Gahn, Thaleo, I had next to no info about. Which didn’t exactly put me at ease about how he’d react to my situation, either.

I watched Kohka as he began to eat, his fangs slicing powerfully through the raw meat. I’ll have to lose Kohka somehow. As soon as it’s safe.

Unexpected tears tightened my throat, making it harder to swallow.

I don’t want to leave him.

The force of the realization was like a punch to the solar plexus. I gave up on the food in my mouth, spitting it out in my hand and quickly burying it in the sand so Kohka wouldn’t see and ask what the heck I was doing.

He’d probably be concerned about me spitting it out. Worried that the rakdo he’d caught wasn’t good enough or something.

He was so good. Kind. Helpful. Funny in a dry, self-deprecating way. I wanted to stay with him. Keep talking to him. Learn more about him.

But… I couldn’t.

I knew Kohka was already uneasy about taking me with him with so little explanation. There was no way he’d allow me to give birth out here if he knew what was going on. If I was still with him when I went into labour, he’d probably scoop me up and cart me off to the Deep Sky settlement as fast as his alien legs could take him. Which was pretty fucking fast.

Nope. I’d have to do this on my own, somehow. Find some cave in the Deep Sky where he wouldn’t be able to follow me or find me.

Where no one would be able to find me. Eventually, Kohka and anyone else who might wonder where I’d gone would give me up for dead and stop looking. They’d probably assume some alien predator had eaten me on an ill-fated pee break one night. I’d stolen one of the life sign camouflage tools from the big ship. If anyone looked for a life sign belonging to me, they’d get a blank screen on their scanners.

And then what?

Would I just stay out in the wilderness alone with my kid forever? Never to see another soul for fear of what might happen to my son?

Fucking bleak.

But if it meant my child had a chance to survive, then I would make that sacrifice. We could make some sort of life out there. The Deep Sky had caves and fresh water and fish to sustain us. Women used to give birth in caves and fields and shit all the time. If they made it work, so can I. Even I wasn’t born at the hospital. I came into the world, as my mom would so lovingly tell me, like a luge athlete, making my first appearance on the tile of her bathroom floor. I also had the added benefit of first aid kits, sterile gauze, painkillers, antibiotics, and the mating fluid drug in my packs to help me out here.

“What does that expression mean?”

Startled, I looked up. Kohka had apparently finished eating and was once again focused entirely on my face. The fire had died down somewhat, casting a flickering, muted glow between us.

“Not sure,” I said. “What kind of expression was I making?”

“One that made you seem very far away from me.”

“I’m not far away,” I said hastily, even though it felt like a lie. “I’m right here.”

But for how long?

“I better get some sleep,” I said. I forced down a few more bites of food, then had some valok gel from a plant Kohka had laid beside me at some point without me noticing.

Kohka rose, ready to help me set up my tent, but I waved him away.

“That’s OK. I don’t need help. My mom used to take me camping all the time, so I’m used to setting up tents, even these heavy hide ones.”

Kohka didn’t look entirely convinced.

I tried to give him a reassuring look.

“Really, it’s fine. I’ve got this.”

Just like I’ve got everything else.

Because I have to.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Kohka

Abby had told the truth – she set up her tent with little trouble. It was not that I doubted her ability to do it, exactly. It was just that I’d gotten used to travelling with Priya and the others. They tended to help each other set up their tents, or the Sea Sand men would sometimes do it for them. Abby, though, did it all on her own, despite the fact she’d already admitted to me that she was tired and sore from today’s journey.

My claws twitched, wanting to do something for her, but not knowing what. I’d already begun to crave the feeling of being needed by her. This morning, she’d begged for my help, and mine alone. But this morning, like the cliffs we’d departed from, already felt very far away. A shore we’d long since left behind.

Once I bring her to the Deep Sky settlement, she will have no further use for me.

The thought was a storm cloud, dark and heavier than it should have been.

Oh, but she will need more mating fluid for her potions, surely.

But then again, Grim and Tok are already at the settlement. So perhaps she will not even need me for that.

“You are not special, Kohka,” I said quietly to myself, my eyes on her. Remembering that fact would keep me from falling into total foolishness. It would keep me from soaring too high with ideas of who I was not, ideas of who I could be to her.

And crashing all the harder with the weight of who I really was.

“Did you say something?” Abby said, turning to me while tightening the last hide strap around the bone pole holding up the front of her tent. The star- and moonlight fell over her like a spill of grogar pearls, adorning every curve, every strand of hair. Her face was luminescent, her eyes somehow both dark and exquisitely bright.

“Nothing of consequence,” I replied.

“Alright. Well, goodnight, Kohka!”

“Goodnight,” I muttered.

She took her things from the sand and then disappeared into the tent.

I stared at the closed tent flap for a long time. Above me, the stars and moons continued their trek across the sky. The fire dimmed, the babkit wood shifting, breaking, and becoming something new among the dying heat.

Everything else moves while I stand still.

Finally, I broke myself out of stillness. Abby had set up her tent beside the largest boulder in this area. It came up to my shoulder, and was nearly twice as wide as I was. I sat down, my back to the stone. I tilted my head back, looking up at the sky to keep from staring at the impenetrable wall of Abby’s tent.

Well, impenetrable to my eyes. A single swipe of my claw would tear it. Open things back up so I could see her.

You do not need to see her, I told myself forcefully. You can barely even handle smelling her.

The heavy hide of the tent helped blunt the evocative force of her scent, at least. I’d spent most of the day breathing through my mouth, around the handle of my spear, to keep from being overpowered the way I’d been in the human ship. But sometimes even that did not work, because when she got close enough, or I did not carry her on my back fast enough, I could taste her in the air instead.

No matter what I did, my thoughts went to her. I wondered if she was warm enough, alone in that small tent. I wondered if she was asleep now, and what she’d look like if she was. I wondered if, like me, she dreamed.

I wondered who she was in the darkness when nobody else could see.

Whoever learned those things, whoever got to be at her side in the most quiet parts of the night, would be a lucky male indeed. With so few females, the odds are that she will end up mated to someone sooner or later. Perhaps a Deep Sky warrior. My breath hissed in response to that. My guts tightened, and I hammered my fist against my abdomen, focusing on the physical tension of my body to keep other feelings at bay.

Other feelings that felt far too much like sadness for my liking.

Sadness.

And longing.

When it happens, all I can do is hope that he will be worthy of her.

Like Abby swimming, I had trouble picturing such a thing. I respected many of my fellow warriors.

And yet, I could not name a single male I’d want to see with her. Not a single one who I thought might deserve her.

Why am I even thinking about this? I am entirely too wrapped up in her. I am her escort into the Deep Sky, nothing more. I need not concern myself so much with her future. She is capable and beautiful and clever. She has her own path. As I have mine.

It was just that…

My path seemed to have gotten a whole lot brighter, ever since it crossed with hers.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Abby

Kohka was already up and had breakfast ready by the time I emerged sleepily from the tent just after dawn.

“Wow. I could get used to this,” I said, smiling in thanks at the fact Kohka had already caught another rakdo and had collected some valok plants from nearby while I’d been sleeping. Not that I will be getting used to this, I thought, my smile souring. I’ll just have to enjoy it for now.

We ate quickly, and I had to admit that I enjoyed performing such a mundane task with Kohka, even if he barely said two words all morning. Having company, even quiet company, was a balm to my fraying nerves. I felt safe around Kohka. I soaked in the feeling, trying to memorize it for when I’d be alone.

After eating, as I gave myself a quick scrub with talka gel and put on clean clothes, I wondered about what Kohka thought of me. The guy was so often silent. Sometimes nearly stoic. He probably thought I was chaos personified. A loud, weird intrusion into his world.

I felt a twinge when I remembered what I’d said to him at the ship the other day. Maybe you don’t care about me at all. That’s OK! You don’t have to be my friend.

He hadn’t exactly corrected me.

“Well, that’s probably for the best,” I muttered as I packed up all my stuff inside the tent. The friendlier we got, the harder it would be to leave him. It would be better if he just kept thinking of me as the weird human who talked too much.

And I’d keep thinking of him as…

Let’s not go there.

It didn’t take long after I was packed to take down the tent. But even though it was quick, I was drenched in sweat by the time I was done. The rising sun was wicked hot already, and pregnancy made me a lot more sensitive to heat than before.

I wiped my hand across my face, certain that it was shiny and red and hoping that Kohka didn’t notice.

Whatever. It’s a look. And I thought I wasn’t going to worry about what he thought of me, anyway?

It was turning out to be harder than I’d anticipated.

OUR TRAVELS OVER THE sand that day were uneventful. Everything was a monotonous blur of copper-gold dunes, occasionally broken up by clusters of rock or babkit trees. The whipping air made it hard to talk to Kohka, too, so the journey was largely made in silence.

Which turned out to be a bit of a problem. Because about halfway into our trip, a question exploded into my head.

And I could not get it out.

It seemed to grow inside me the longer I thought about it without asking it out loud. So much so that, by the time night fell and Kohka let me down in our camping spot, I blurted it out without any sort of preamble or context.

“Kohka! Do you have a mate?”

For some reason, I had never considered it before. But of course, not all the warriors who’d come here from the island were single. There were lots of Bitter Sea women from what I’d heard. Had Kohka left someone behind?

My question appeared to have caught Kohka off-guard. He’d been mid-pack-unstrapping, and his claws were now frozen at his sides. Under the inky night sky, he towered like something constructed from highly-polished chrome.

“No. I do not,” he finally replied. There was something unreadable in his reply that made me think he maybe wasn’t telling me everything.

“OK. No mate,” I said. I licked my suddenly very dry lips. “Do you have anyone else you’re involved with? That you have feelings for?”

Kohka’s claws began to move again, taking his spear down and removing my packs from his sides. Every movement he made was one of precisely controlled power.

“I… I do not have any attachments to a female from the Bitter Sea.”

I felt my eyebrows rise. That was oddly specific wording.

“Alright, no special ladies back home, got it. What about at the Sea Sand settlement? Or one of the women who’s gone to the Deep Sky settlement already?”

I held my breath waiting for his reply, suddenly anxious that he’d tell me he had feelings for another human woman. Jesus. Am I jealous? That’s the last thing I need.

My breath whooshed out of me when Kohka simply said, “No. I do not have feelings for a female currently at the Sea Sand settlement or the Deep Sky settlement.”

I should not be so happy about that fact.

“Did you have anyone before, though? Any past loves or anything?”

“No.”

That surprised me a little. He’s a virgin?

“So, you’ve never been with a woman before?” I asked to clarify. “Not even one of your kind?”

“I have not.”

“Why not?”

“The Kell has not yet called me.”

“Yeah, but still. I know that some of the Sea Sand guys had… Uh… Romantic dalliances with women who weren’t their mates before they got their mate vision. And the Bitter Sea doesn’t have the same lack of females, right? There are a lot more women. So there had to be opportunities.”

I paused, wondering if I was pushing this too hard. This was a pretty personal topic, after all. And I was being nosy as hell.

I was about to tell him not to worry about it, that it was none of my human beeswax, when he replied.

“I… I do not believe I could attract a female who was not already under the sway of the mate bond. It seemed easier to avoid it altogether and wait for the Kell’s call. Though, I must admit, I have been waiting for a long time.”

“Hold on. Time out. What?!”

Did Kohka just say he didn’t think he was attractive?!

“Which part of what I said confused you? I will attempt to clarify,” he said.

“Um, all of it!” I exclaimed. “Why don’t you think a woman would be interested in you without the mate bond?”

I couldn’t quite put my finger on just why I was so affronted by what he’d said. But I was.

Kohka cocked his head, staring at me as if he were now the one confused.

“Well, for one thing,” he said slowly, as if it should have been obvious, “I am not considered beautiful among my kind.”

My mouth fell open, and I could feel my eyes bulging like a goldfish’s. Literally, my first reaction when he’d walked into the lab was that he was beautiful. All smooth umber and silver shimmer. Like moonlight mixed with Earth. If anything, I’d only grown to appreciate his looks even more since leaving the settlement. And not just his looks, either. So far, I pretty much liked everything Kohka had shown me about himself.

“Bitter Sea females are attracted to males with unusually bright, colourful scales,” Kohka continued. There was no self-pity in his voice. Just simply uttered facts. “It has to do with the idea of lineage and survival. If a male is brightly coloured, he cannot easily blend into the landscape or the water. He cannot hide from predators of the Bitter Sea. He must fight them. Which means a brightly coloured male has come from especially strong stock because his ancestors survived all those battles. While I’m a strong male and have never been one to hide from a fight, my scales are more useful for camouflaging against stone than for catching a female’s eye. It is the same for Pike, with his muted green scales. Even someone like Hakah Gog would not be considered very attractive. Because of his blue colouring, he blends easily into the water. But he is so large, and wields so much power, that such a thing does not matter for him. Grim, Tok, and Taiga are examples of males whose looks are held in high esteem.”

I pictured Tok, Taiga, and Grim, with their respective gold, flame-like, and ruby scales. Yup, they’d definitely stand out among the water, stone, sand, and greenery of the Bitter Sea island. Reminds me of some species of birds back home. The males with the flashiest feathers get the girls…

“And outside of that… I…” Kohka’s voice roughened, and he spoke more quickly, as if trying to force the words out all at once and get this over with. “I find conversing difficult at the best of times, and everything becomes twice as complicated when females are involved. I feel that I am often on the verge of saying something wrong. Or that I will not be understood. Sometimes, I am not even sure I understand my own feelings well enough to explain it all to somebody else.” He gave me a self-effacing look. “Hearts are hard. Tough to translate.”

Hearts are hard.

Well, if that didn’t just punch me right in my fucking feelings.

I sniffed, feeling tears prick at the back of my eyes. Stupid pregnancy hormones.

“I actually think you’ve expressed yourself quite eloquently,” I said through a tight throat. “And Kohka?” I paused for a moment, making sure I had his full attention before I said what came next. I took a steadying breath and said the words slowly. Carefully. So there’d be no mistaking them. “I think you’re absolutely gorgeous. I have since the first moment we met.”

Kohka threw me a silent, astounded look. He went still, his eyes blazing, as if thunderstruck.

We remained like that for a long time, just looking at each other. Eventually, he recovered the ability to speak.

“Well… I have heard that humans have exceptionally poor eyesight. I’m afraid that this confirms it.”

“Hey! I have perfect vision, better than 20/20! That’s the best a human can get!”

“Then the deficit is in your taste if not your vision.”

“There’s no deficit,” I huffed, crossing my arms over my chest and letting them rest on the top of my belly. “I find that offensive. I have excellent taste.”

“Forgive any offence. I just… I have never been told such a thing,” Kohka said after a pause. His right fist rose, and he scrubbed his knuckles along the underside of his snout. It was a gesture I’d seen before. It seemed to be something he did when he was uncomfortable.

I want to hug him.

I almost did it, too. I barely stopped myself.

God, what the hell am I doing? Did I not just tell myself this morning that it’s better if we don’t get too close? We have less than two weeks left together! As soon as we get into the Deep Sky, I need to figure out my escape route…

The situation was wearing more and more heavily on me. It was making me feel things I hadn’t felt before. Before, I’d been anxious, and scared for my child, certainly. And I’d felt pain at the thought of leaving my human friends.

But now, the thing that made me feel the worst was the idea of leaving Kohka. How would he feel when he realized I was gone? Would he feel like I’d betrayed him?

Would he be angry? Or afraid?

This fucking sucks. Why did things have to happen this way?

I didn’t want to wish away my child. Peanut was already as much a part of my life as I was. Nothing would ever change that. But still, I couldn’t help but wonder what would have happened, how things would have been different, if I hadn’t gotten pregnant that night on Earth.

If I hadn’t arrived here pregnant, could the Kell have chosen someone like me for Kohka?

That was an enormously dangerous line of thinking. I had to shut that shit down, now.

I wasn’t Kohka’s mate. I was just a human woman pregnant with another man’s child trying to figure out what the hell she was going to do next. Developing any sort of romantic feelings for Kohka was the absolute last thing any of us needed right now.

It hurt, and I hated that it hurt, but ultimately, I wasn’t his. And he wasn’t mine, either.

I need to stay focused on Peanut and me. Figure out our next steps.

Even if those steps led me away from the man I suddenly wanted to run to.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Abby

The days bled into each other, each one marked by long, sweaty hours of travel on Kohka’s back and nights tossing and turning in the tent. Peanut’s kicking and discomfort in my abdomen, along with the near-constant need to pee, meant my sleep got worse every night.

The lack of sleep, plus the pregnancy hormones, combined with the fact that I’d promised myself I wouldn’t get too close to Kohka, left me crabby and impatient. I wanted to get this over with. Get through this chunk of the journey. Get away from Kohka before it hurt too much.

And at the same time, I wanted time to stand still.

But it didn’t. It just kept on marching, as did we. And before long, one night as dusk breathed dark soot into the sky, we approached the Death Plains mountain range.

I’d never been out here. All I’d seen of this planet was the Sea Sands where the ship had crashed, Fallo’s territory, and the Cliffs of Uruzai settlement. The Death Plains looked even more alien than any other part of this planet I’d encountered so far. The mountain range stretched across the horizon ahead, ghostly white and grey, like fractured bones splintering up from the ground.

“We must take extra care here,” Kohka told me as we slowed and approached the looming, jagged tombstones of the mountains.

“Don’t need to tell me twice,” I said uneasily, sliding off of his back as he crouched. “This place gives me the heebie-jeebies.”

“What is heebie-jeebies?”

“This place freaks me out.”

Kohka grunted in agreement.

“I am not fond of the Death Plains myself. There are zeelk here, and the ablokoi with its many twisting legs. Beyond these peaks, the ground is its own sort of predator.”

I shivered.

“Ugh. Quicksand. Yeah, I’ve heard.” I’d always been terrified of quicksand. There were a few too many movies in my childhood that made it seem like quicksand would be a much larger threat to my daily survival than it really was. But look where I am now. I might actually get swallowed up if I’m not careful. Crazy.

“While we should take care, you need not fear the swallowing sand,” Kohka said, his voice deep, even, and firm. “I have travelled through the Death Plains twice, now. I know the paths well.” He said it so calmly. No hint of boasting. Just pure certainty.

It made me feel a little better. Actually, it made me feel a lot better.

“OK. Good,” I breathed. “And what about the other stuff? The zeelk? The ablokoi?”

Kohka unstrapped my packs from his torso. His massive frame bulged with shadow-stained muscle as he did so.

“Zeelk are attracted to sound, just like out on the sand,” he said. “If we continue moving without excess force or noise, we should be fine. The ablokoi is attracted to the light of fires. So, we will have no more evening fires from here on out.”

“Going with the raw menu then, eh?”

I grimaced at the idea of eating raw meat for the next few days. But it couldn’t be helped. I had quite a few protein bars and other calorie-dense snacks in my packs, but I wanted to save those for after I gave birth and didn’t have the strength to start catching fish or whatever else.

“I am afraid it cannot be helped, though I know you prefer your meat cooked,” Kohka said, a slight note of regret grating in his words. It faded quickly, though, replaced by forceful emotion I couldn’t name. “But I will not put you in harm’s way just to cook.”

Kohka’s back was to me. He’d walked forward a bit, depositing my packs in an area that looked like a good place to set up my tent. The bone-white stone of a low Death Plains peak curved overhead, creating a sort of angled rooftop. He stood below it, his body turning obsidian in the fading light. Each scale became a shining black mirror. So reflective I should have been able to see myself reflected back. But I couldn’t.

Without even realizing it was happening, my feet moved, until I was right behind him. Unable to stop myself, I traced the glistening, silver-edged black of his back. The flattened spikes along his spine twitched, creating a fracture of light that rippled down to his tail.

“You faced an ablokoi when you came through here before, didn’t you?” I whispered. My heart thudded at the thought of Kohka in danger. He was huge, and so strong. But the monsters of this world could be even stronger.

“I did,” he said, tension making his words hiss.

I should stop touching him. I have to stop touching him.

Why had I even come over here in the first place? I was supposed to be keeping my distance.

I let my hand fall away from the glass-smooth surface of his scales. But I stayed where I was. When he turned around, his abdomen nearly brushed my chest on his next inhale.

“I believe I would survive another encounter with an ablokoi, even without the help of Gahn Razek, Varrow, and the others,” he said. His pupils fastened on me, stark in the broad strokes of shadow that made up his face. “It is like a smaller version of the Bitter Sea hok, of which I have killed several. But…” His voice faltered, breaking into a growl. One of his hands rose, and my breath caught, thinking he might touch me.

But he didn’t. His fingers curled into a fist before returning to his side.

“I cannot endure the thought of you getting hurt. I can fight my way out of any creature’s grip. But you… You have no scales. And such delicate bones.”

A disbelieving laugh shook out of me.

“Delicate bones? That’s a new one,” I replied. “If anything, I’ve always considered myself big-boned.” More than six feet tall with broad shoulders, wide hips, and naturally thick, strong legs. If I hadn’t become a chemist I probably could have become a firefighter. Or a powerlifter.

This time, Kohka did touch me. I gasped quietly as his claws closed around my wrist, raising it in the air between us. His hand looked gargantuan against my arm. My sleeve crumpled downward slightly, revealing more of my forearm.

“You have your own sort of strength, Abby,” he gritted out. “But this?” His grip shifted slightly, his thumb sliding along the frantic pulse of my inner wrist. The scales there were so small, flexing like worn, scratched leather. It felt exquisite. My nerves jumped under my skin in response. I swallowed.

“This is delicate. Fragile.” I couldn’t tear my gaze away from the way his fangs flashed as he rasped, “I refuse to see you broken.”

Part of me already felt broken, and it wasn’t my fucking wrist. My chest squeezed, and my throat thickened with tears.

Maybe I could just tell him the truth. Maybe he’d stay with me, help me…

No.

I pulled my hand from his, feeling ashamed of my own selfishness. I’d already lied to him and made him take me this far. I couldn’t ask him to abandon everything to stay with me. When Grim left his army’s ranks, Tok dragged him back and the Hakah chained him up for disobeying orders. It was completely unfair of me to ask Kohka to put himself at risk like that.

And a cowardly part of me, a part that grew bigger every day, was terrified he would say no. That he wouldn’t help me. That he wouldn’t want to stay with me. That he’d completely reject me before dragging me kicking and screaming to the Deep Sky settlement.

“We’ll be careful,” I whispered. “We’ll be fine.”

God, how I wished I could believe it.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Kohka

It took us four days to cross the Death Plains mountains. I was not as swift and sure-footed as warriors like Varrow, so my way was slower than a Sea Sand man’s would have been. I spent most of my time carrying Abby, which was partially a relief. It was a relief because I wanted to keep her as near to me as possible. The bright, bone-like glare of the stone here made me nervous.

But what was not a relief was the way Abby seemed to grow more exhausted every day. There were many places where she could have walked. Where, frankly, it would have been easier for her smaller feet to pass through than mine. But, more and more, she asked me to carry her. This wasn’t like travelling out on the open sand, where I went so quickly on all fours that it made sense for her to ride on my back the whole way. Picking through the rocky valleys and slopes of these mountains was slow and steady work. But even that pace seemed too much for her at times. She struggled far more than I would have expected. And I did not like that.

Once again, my own ignorance confounded me. I did not know what ailed her, and so I could not help her besides carrying her and making sure she was fed. She did not complain about anything in particular, either. Even when I asked her if she was tired, or feeling ill, or needing rest, she denied it, making some excuse about wanting to keep a better lookout for predators from my back.

But I knew it was because of fatigue. There were even times when she fell asleep on my back as I walked, her soft cheek plastered against my shoulder. That had been a shock, the first time it had happened. It had sent a warm thrill through me. That she was comfortable enough with me, that she felt safe enough, to sleep on me like that. I liked that I could be a place for her to rest her head when it felt heavy. But the glow of that feeling had been torn asunder quickly by the worry that she seemed to be sleeping far too much during the day, especially considering how dangerous this territory was. Priya had never fallen asleep on my back.

And, of course, all these warring joys and worries churned under the force of Abby’s enticing scent. Now that I was not running on all fours out on the open sands, I could not keep ahead of her fragrance. I felt like a foul creature. A beast. To be carrying an exhausted female on my back, to worry endlessly for her, and yet to also crave her.

It was a craving. There was no other word I could think of to describe the gushing of my fangs, the need coiling in my groin, in response to her warm body on my back and her scent in my throat. Sometimes, as I walked, I imagined laying her down in some shadowy place. She would tell me that she was too hot, that she needed me to peel away her clothing to help cool her. Of course, I would help her. How could I not? And then, her gaze hazy with need, she’d tell me that the hottest place of all was between her legs and that she needed me to –

She needed me to bash my cursed head against a rock, probably. Knock some sense back into a skull that now seemed empty of everything but her.

Such cravings were base urges that would not be heeded. She would never know how I felt, never need to worry about rejecting me. She had her own cares, her own worries, her own needs without having to contend with mine. I was here to guard Abby, protect her, and bring her safely to the Deep Sky settlement. She needed security, care, and to reach her people in one piece. Not me.

At least, not in the same way I needed her.

Why do I need her like this?

Part of it was her scent, certainly. It got inside my body, my bones, and burned me from the inside out. My reaction to her scent was the strongest instinct I’d ever known. Thoughtless. Wordless. Ravenous.

But my feelings were not simple ones of lust. I lived for her smiles. I ached for her voice. I admired her optimistic spirit and adored her laugh. Perhaps selfishly, I wanted her to tell me I was gorgeous again. Wanted to always feel the way I felt when she praised me. Wanted to see myself the way she saw me.

Alongside the monstrosity of my desire for her was a tenderness that seemed at odds with the hard, weapon-like body I’d spent my whole life forging. I wanted to cradle her face between my hands and bump my snout to her cheek. I wanted to run my knuckles along the arches of her tiny feet. I wanted to surround myself with the sound of her heartbeat. Let it crash over me like the waves of my homeland. I wanted to protect her from anything and everything. The world around us. Myself.

I wanted to love her.

I feared I already did.

The Kell has not called me.

She was not my mate.

And yet…

Cursed waves, I wanted her to be.

But even if the Kell had called me, it would not have made much difference. Abby felt no mate bond for me. She wouldn’t feel it even if I were summoned and bonded to her.

She was kind to me, but that was all. So, I would be her ally, her friend, just as she’d asked me to be that morning back at the ship in the Sea Sands.

I would not allow myself to hope for anything more.

Sometimes I did feel hope, though. When Abby’s gaze lingered on me, just a little longer than it had the day before. When her smile grew painfully lovely as it turned towards me.

But I could not go to her and say, the Kell has called me. My fate is forever linked to yours. You are mine the same way that the sky is blue and the water deep.

Destiny hadn’t brought her to me. She’d come to me with her own two feet. Feet that would one day lead her away from me again. Into the arms of a mate who had a different face and name and life than me.

Hope is the weak man’s comfort.

My father had always said so.

And so, whenever I felt that little stir of hope in my chest, like a tiny flower trying to take root…

I took it in my fist and strangled it.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Abby

We made it through the mountains unscathed and remained that way for the trip through the quicksand-laden plains beyond. The dry, cracked, barren wasteland of the Death Plains seemed as if it went on forever while we were in the middle of it. Part of me wished it would. That we’d never reach the Deep Sky, and I’d never have to leave Kohka.

But at the same time, I wanted to meet my child. For more than nine months, now, he’d been a part of me. I’d dreamed of him, imagined him so many times. I wanted to finally see his face in something other than a daydream. I wanted to count his fingers, kiss his toes, and feel his tiny body against me instead of inside me. I’d always wanted to be a mother, since I was a little girl. And now, it was almost time.

We reached the far border of the Death Plains at dusk. The Death Plains ended, despite how infinite they’d appeared at first, at a shocking natural array of black stone Kohka called the ablik fields. Though, to my eyes, it looked less like a field and more like a dense city of onyx. The ground was pure, shining black, and dizzyingly tall spires of ablik erupted from the ground like obsidian towers. It wasn’t all crystalline stone, though. There were flowers, too. Rindla flowers with butter-soft petals in shades of clementine orange, sunset pink, and pale green dotted the incredible, unnerving landscape. Little dots of colour among the natural skyscrapers of inky rock.

“We will wait until after sundown to travel through the ablik. It is too hot otherwise,” Kohka said as he took off my packs.

“That makes sense,” I said.

Even though we hadn’t entered the fields yet, I could feel heat radiating from where the dark stone had absorbed the sun.

“Then what happens?”

The question cracked something inside me. I’d meant it in the sense of, what specifically will happen right after we pass through the ablik fields? But hearing it out loud reminded me that I was the only one who actually knew what was coming. And that hurt.

I just want to tell Kohka. I don’t want to hide this anymore.

Peanut rolled over, and I was reminded all over again of just how vulnerable he was on this planet. I was his mother. My priority had to be him. Always.

No matter who else got hurt along the way.

“Beyond the ablik are the Deep Sky plains,” Kohka said, distracting me from the tingling in my eyes and the pain in my chest. “That is as far as I have gone. It is where the Deep Sky men attacked us. Beyond that land lie the mountains.”

“Can you tell me anything else about the mountains?” I asked, sniffing and blinking rapidly. I’d keep the pain at bay by making plans. Figuring out the details of the new place I was walking into.

“While I never got close to them, I could tell even from a distance that the Deep Sky mountains are vast. A wider band of peaks, and taller, than Gahn Taliok’s mountains of the Sea Sands.”

That was good. That meant lots of places to hide.

“As I believe you already know, there is fresh water there. As of now, I know little of the native predators. So, we must be on guard until we reach the settlement.”

My stomach did a horrible flip-flop at that. But we’d gotten this far without encountering any nasty alien beasties. Surely, I could keep that trend going, right? If I was on my own, I’d be even less conspicuous than I would be with a big guy like Kohka, so I hopefully wouldn’t attract too much notice. I’ll definitely need to find a cave or something, pronto. A safe shelter, somewhere close to water…

“Do you require rest?” Kohka asked, pulling me out of my thoughts. “You can sleep for a short time. It will take the whole night to cross the ablik, but I can force myself to go faster during the night if you want to stop now.”

“No, it’s OK. I’ll probably just fall asleep on your back anyway,” I said with a shaky laugh. The first time I’d realized it had happened, I’d been so embarrassed. But Kohka had kindly not mentioned it, so I’d decided not to worry about it. Honestly, being on his back seemed like the only way I could get some decent shut-eye these days. Something about the rocking motion of his walking, coupled with the solid support of his body beneath mine, made me feel so comfortable and safe. And considering it was almost impossible to get comfortable at this stage in my pregnancy, that was saying something.

Kohka caught us another of the blue, snake-like creatures called gorka we’d been eating in the Death Plains. Sometimes they had eggs inside them, like this one did. The eggs weren’t too bad, and Kohka said that on his previous journey through here, the Death Plains warriors had remarked that the eggs were considered a delicacy and were full of nutrients. I’m going to need my strength. So, I ate everything Kohka brought me, washing it all down with valok gel.

Kohka ate, too, a couple of gorka of his own. I noticed none of his had eggs. He’d saved that one for me.

“We’d best not start a fire out here or anywhere else until we reach the settlement. The others will let us know if it is safe to do so when we get there,” Kohka said.

You mean, when you get there… Alone.

My stomach lurched, threatening to send up all the gorka meat and eggs I’d just eaten. We were so fucking close now. We were practically at the Deep Sky’s door. And it wasn’t like I could take my sweet time and wait until I was in labour to leave Kohka. I’d need to leave before then, when I had my strength and my wits about me.

Once we reach the mountains, I’ll spend one night there with him to get my bearings. But the next night…

The next night, I’d be gone. I’d have to get far enough in the couple of hours Kohka spent sleeping that he wouldn’t be able to find me.

I held my breath, biting down on my lips, not allowing myself to feel the pain. The pain of leaving this sweet, considerate, awkward, adorable warrior who’d done so much to help me.

If I let the pain in, I’d never get it out.

So, I chatted aimlessly, keeping my tone light while my heart felt like lead inside me. After a pee break behind a spire of ablik, I climbed on Kohka’s back once more.

This is one of the last times I’ll do this…

Don’t think about it.

True to my word, I did fall asleep on Kohka’s back. I had a feeling that, when I fell asleep, he moved more slowly and carefully so that I didn’t wake up. He’s too fucking good.

I didn’t wake up until Kohka’s voice drifted around me, penetrating the haze of sleep. I peeled my drool-dampened cheek from the hard scales of his shoulder, feeling achy and stiff from not moving for so long.

We’d already cleared the dense ablik fields with their spiking towers of black stone. We were now moving through a smooth basin of ablik, glossy and curved like a shallow bowl.

“At the edge of this basin, we must jump down,” Kohka was saying.

“Jump?” I echoed. I didn’t like the sound of that. “How high is it?”

We reached the edge a few moments later, and I could see for myself. I gulped, looking over Kohka’s shoulder. I estimated it was close to a ten or twelve-foot drop. I absolutely do not want to do that. During normal times, sure, I’d give it a go with Kohka’s help. But pregnant? No way. That seemed like a recipe for disaster. Already, images of Kohka losing his grip on me, of me falling or landing the wrong way, were tearing up my mind. Anxiety squeezed my insides, and I shook my head rapidly.

“No. I’m not doing that. It’s not safe.” Please. Like any of this is safe…

“You will remain on my back,” Kohka said. “I may not be as graceful or light-footed as a Sea Sand man, but I will keep you safe.”

“I know you will. I just…” Even if he held me tight and safe, like I was sure he would, the force of us landing down on the plains below would be intense. I could hit my abdomen pretty hard against his back. You’re not supposed to do shit like that with a baby in your belly!

But it wasn’t like I could tell him that.

“This ledge isn’t much higher than you are tall,” I reasoned, trying to think of ways around jumping more than ten feet down to the ground. “Can’t you just jump down first and then reach up for me? I could slide off the edge into your arms.”

Kohka observed the shining black edge ahead of us silently, mulling over my words.

Finally, he grunted in agreement.

“That will work.”

I sighed, relieved, as he crouched down low so I could shimmy off his back. Together, we walked to the very edge. Kohka tossed down my packs and his spear. Then, he bent his knees slightly. A second later, he’d heaved his massive body over the edge, landing with a resounding, heavy thud below.

Yup. That was not a soft landing. I’m glad I didn’t go down that way.

I glanced down over the edge to make sure he was OK, but clearly, he was fine. He was already rising to his full height and turning back towards me, reaching upwards.

It was such a simple movement. So natural. Coming back for me. Reaching those huge hands for me.

I wanted to reach out and take them.

Throat thick, I forced my gaze away from Kohka for a moment. Looking out over his head, I took in the alien landscape beyond.

Beyond this ablik, the Deep Sky plains stretched, dry, cracked, and hard. They weren’t as barren as the Death Plains we’d come through, though. Here, massive silver mushrooms bloomed upwards, their tops creating canopies like trees. More rindla flowers dotted the land below, too, their petals rich, dark shades of indigo and inky blue. The land, too, was blue. During the day, I knew it would be a brilliant cerulean shade. Right now, in the pre-dawn darkness, it looked like a frozen sea. So deep a blue it was almost black, solid and cracked like treacherous ice, shining with the cold breath of the stars.

And beyond those plains? Jagged and looming, despite the great distance, were the Deep Sky mountains. An endless, undulating line, like frayed black ribbon, on the horizon.

I didn’t feel fear as I looked towards the mountains that held my future. I didn’t feel hope, either.

I felt… Almost empty. Numb with resignation. Cold with the steely resolve I’d need to get through the next few weeks… Months…

Years.

“Abby?”

I inhaled sharply, surprised by my name on the air. I looked down at Kohka. He was still waiting for me. Still reaching for me. A glittering behemoth on the quiet plains, every thrumming pulse of his strength focused solely on me. His silver pupils bored into me. There was something there, in those eyes… In the tilt of his head… A softness under all the hardness. A tenderness among the scales and the fangs. A gentleness in the curve of his hands as they waited, so patiently, to accept mine.

Fuck.

We’d been together out here for so long, now. More than ten days of endless travel with no one but each other. And never, not once, in the aching expanse of a desert so empty it broke my fucking heart, had I ever felt alone.

I wanted to slide down into Kohka’s arms and stay there. Wanted to press my face into his chest and sob. To tell him that he had become my best friend on this planet and that I wanted him to take care of me for just a little bit longer.

And not just me, either. As I stared at his outstretched claws, I pictured a baby in those hands. A small human bundle nestled against the curves of his palms. He’d probably be so, so gentle. He’d probably rock a baby to sleep better than I could myself. He’d probably –

He’d probably drag you to the settlement the second he knew.

I wasn’t his mate. This wasn’t his child. I was being stupid, idiotic. I couldn’t bet my baby’s future on the ridiculous hope that maybe Kohka cared for me more than he had at the beginning of this journey. On the hope that he might want to be a father to my human child. That he’d leave everything behind to stay with my baby and me in some God-forsaken cave out there.

You are so pathetic.

No. I would stick to the plan. I had to.

I breathed out, then bent my legs, getting ready to sit on my butt and shimmy to the edge to slide off.

But I never got the chance.

Something tightened around my ankles, forcing them together.

The last thing I saw before I was wrenched down to the ablik ground was the shocked widening of Kohka’s eyes…

And then the deadly look of rage.

CHAPTER TWENTY

Kohka

Seas take me, I was weak. So brutally besotted, staring up at Abby as she’d shone on the ablik edge like some kind of vision, that I hadn’t seen it coming. Hadn’t scented it, hadn’t heard it.

And now Abby paid the price.

Her body slammed downward on the edge above me. She caught herself – barely – her little hands smacking against the black stone before she was pulled backwards and out of my line of sight.

My fangs pounded, venom searing the inside of my mouth as a feral, broken rage, unlike anything I’d ever known before, screamed through me. I did not speak, did not even think, as I reached up for the edge and heaved my body back up to the place I’d jumped from mere moments before.

Abby was curled on her side, her arms clutched protectively around herself. One was thrown across her abdomen, the other over her face. Her body was jerked along the stone by whatever had grabbed her, something dark wrapped around her legs.

I did not even stop to look at what had her. Did not care if it was one creature or one thousand. Did not care if it possessed fangs and claws to rival my own.

It had Abby.

And it. Would. Die.

A roar tore from my throat as I fell to all fours, primal and predatory and protective. I launched myself forward, flying right over Abby’s form, back towards the thing that had her. It had a long, winding body, and I realized it was the thing’s tail that was wrapped around Abby’s legs. It was huge – probably as long as two of me laid end-to-end. I caught a flash of two strong, squatting legs, and rippling black and blue scales, as I collided with the meatiest part of the creature below its gigantic head.

A hiss split the air, and pressure surrounded me. It’s wrapping around me. The thought was a distant one. I could barely put words together inside my head. Everything was fury and motion and venom and pain. The pressure grew harder, greater, and I was giddy with relief at that fact – because it meant the thing had almost certainly released Abby in order to get a better hold on me.

Abby was strong in her own way, but she could not put up a fight against a creature like this.

But I could. I could take everything this creature had to give me and more. I could withstand anything and survive it if I was taking it in her place.

I roared again, slashing my claws, digging them between scales until the monster screeched. I raked my claws down its writhing, curling body, exposing dark flesh. I tried to bite, to inject some of my pulsing venom, but I could not get the correct angle. I could no longer see anything of the outside. There was no more stone, no more sky. Only the winding tendril of this thing around me.

It’s getting harder to breathe.

I’d never particularly cared about how I would die before. But I knew with a ferocity that almost tore me in two that I would not die like this.

I can’t leave her alone.

Abby needed me. She was beautiful and brilliant and strong but, waves of our fathers, she needed me. At least for now. At least until we reached the others. I refused to die if it meant she’d be out here, unguarded and unprotected.

I wrenched my body back and forth, my spikes erupting from my shoulders and spine. The scales on this creature were solid and hard – almost as hard as my own. But I could tell from its hissing, and the tremors of pain, that at least some of my spikes had gotten under and between the scales, rending the flesh. I angled my head upwards, dragging my fangs viciously along the thing’s throat, revelling in victorious bloodlust when I felt several of its scales get pried loose in my mouth. The scales cut my split tongue, but I barely felt the bright pain. With a jerk, my head found the right angle at its throat. I sank my teeth into scales and flesh alike.

Few things could rival the power of a Bitter Sea male’s jaws once they’ve closed around their enemy. The thing screamed and writhed. For a single, bone-crushing moment, it got tighter around me. That did not last long, though, as it clearly decided to change tactics. It quickly unwound itself from me, slithering backwards in retreat. But I did not let go. I gripped it with my claws, my tail coming down over and over against its belly as venom poured from my mouth.

Eventually, the thing’s movements slowed. A wild, violently angry growl thundered through me when the creature gave another weak attempt at escape.

How could it even dream I’d let it go now? How could it possibly think I’d let it live after it had tried to hurt Abby, my Abby, my…

Putrid monster, you will die here. I will end you for daring to touch her. Even if it kills me.

But this would not kill me. Now that I was not confined by its long body, I could feel strength exploding in my limbs, my jaws, my fangs. Territorial rage over Abby and the white-hot ravage of an emotion I dared not name made my movements harder, heavier, each blow of my fists driving rapture and rage. Scales cracked. Bones crunched. Flesh became mush.

And still, I fought. Still, I rained my fists down. Still, I kept my jaws locked, pumping out enough venom to kill a whole sea of monsters. A whole world.

The rage was addictive. It felt good to let it all out. To give in to at least one sort of emotion when I’d held so many others in check. Lust and tenderness and adoration… I could keep them all quiet. Keep them all secret and stowed away. As long as I could keep punishing this thing beneath me…

“Kohka!”

Everything stilled.

One single word – my name – wrapped in her voice. One single sound to bring me back from the endless, churning depths of the violent sea I’d fallen headfirst into.

No, not fallen.

I dove.

But she was waiting, up in the warmth of the sun on the shore.

I had to resurface. Had to get back to her.

With some effort, I released my jaws. The creature beneath me was limp. Lifeless. Parts of it were barely recognizable – a mess of bleeding, pulverized flesh.

I wanted to gloat, just for a moment.

See? This is what happens when you try to come for her. Any creature, monster or man, who hurts her will face me.

Face me and be ruined.

“Kohka?”

But now it was my turn to face something. My chest dragging with ragged breaths, I slowly looked towards her.

Abby stared at me, her small face pale despite the warm tint of dim light. Dawn. The sun had started to rise during the battle. I hadn’t even noticed.

The rising light made her expression all the more obvious. She looked… Stricken. Absolutely terrified.

And all the rage and pride and bloodlust vanished, replaced by the sick, grappling claws of shame. I looked down at myself, filthy with my own venom and the blood of the thing I’d beaten beyond recognition. She’d watched me not just kill this thing, but completely come undone. She’d seen me snap, seen how base and brutal I’d become.

“I’m sorry,” I croaked, knowing the words were not enough. Not enough to make her think of me the way she once had. You’re a marvel, Kohka.

No. You’re a monster.

But at the very least, I was a monster in service of her. For as long as she’d have me, anyway.

Her mouth was thinned into a hard, bloodless line, her eyes wide as they took me in.

“I’m sorry,” I rasped again, not knowing what else to do, to say. I was sorry that I’d so clearly scared her. Sorry that I may have broken things between us beyond repair. Sorry that I might have shattered her trust. Sorry that I couldn’t have just killed this thing and been done. That I wasn’t nobler, stronger, more controlled and worthy. She’ll never feel safe around me again. She’ll never think me gentle, think me kind, think me –

My whirling thoughts came to a crashing halt as Abby closed the distance between us and threw her arms around me.

For a beat, I remained frozen, hating that she was getting dirty by touching me and wanting to push her away.

My bloodied hands rose…

And held her.

She shook against me, her words difficult to make out among her strange human tears.

“Kohka! So scared… I thought… Die!”

Wait…

“That is why you were afraid?” I asked in disbelief, cradling her soft form against mine. “That’s why you looked like you’d seen something terrible? You weren’t scared of me but… For me?”

“Of course! What are you even talking about?” She pulled her head back ever so slightly to fix me with a teary glare. “How could you even think that I was scared of you? When that thing was completely wrapped around you like some giant pie thon, oh God, I was completely freaking out. I thought…”

She pressed her face into my chest once more.

“I really thought I was about to watch you die.

“Kind little creature, no, please don’t cry,” I murmured desperately. “I told you I didn’t want to see your tears again. Now that I know it would make you unhappy, I promise I will not die. I’ll live forever if I have to.”

She laughed, and that made my heart soar.

“You promise?”

“I do. Besides, I can’t die yet,” I croaked. “I can’t…” I can’t die yet because there are things I need to tell you, to ask you. Things that I don’t even have words for yet.

Language failed me, so instead, I bent towards her. My snout hovered just above the top of her head. Oh, how I wanted to bury my nose in her locks. To scent her, tighten my hold on her, to feel some unspoken response in her own body. Some recognition, some reflection of what I felt. I did not speak, but even so, I searched in the silence for answers. Holding her like this, I felt as if I had just shouted across a quiet, starry sea. And now I was holding my breath, waiting for someone to call back across the water. For someone to speak out of the darkness.

For her.

But the sun was rising. And Abby was shaking. And, unworthy brute that I was, I hadn’t even asked her if she was hurt yet.

I wrenched her away from me, dragging my gaze up and down her form.

“How are your legs? Your feet?”

Abby looked slightly dazed. She blinked several times, then gave a small shake of her head. She looked down at her own feet, as if confused by the question.

“Oh. Um. Right. My ankles are a little sore, but just bruised, I think. Nothing’s sprained or broken as far as I can tell.” Her hands went to her belly, pressing there. “And I caught myself with my hands when I fell. So-”

She stopped speaking, her mouth clamping shut and her hands curling into fists before falling to her sides.

“I’m fine,” she finally said.

But are you? I wanted to ask. Are you fine everywhere? In your slender bones? The place where your ribs knit together? Are you fine on the unseen inside, where your heart beats?

I was bruised, I’d lost a few scales, and the inside of my mouth was cut up. I’d be sore for days, but all in all, I’d come away generally unscathed from this encounter. I would heal quickly.

On the outside.

But on the inside?

On the inside, under the armour of my scales and the unbreakable cage of my bones…

I felt like I was falling apart.

And I had no words, no way to ask her, if I was the only one.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Abby

“The sun rises. We must leave the ablik.”

Kohka was right. Even though the sun was only just rising, the temperature was increasing quickly. I was already more sensitive to heat in my current state, so he didn’t need to tell me twice that we should get out of here. Plus, I wanted to be as far away from the predator that had grabbed me as possible. There could be more of them… I absolutely did not want to stick around and watch Kohka almost get killed again.

I stole one last suspicious glance at it from around Kohka’s side. Christ, it was gigantic. At least twenty feet long. It looked like some kind of python from Earth on steroids. Unlike a python, though, it had two short, muscled legs near the front of its body which made it look like a cross between a snake and a salamander. Glittering black scales helped it blend into the ablik stone around us, though every once in a while the scales gleamed in bright, saturated shades of blue – the same blue as the Deep Sky plains. There was green, too, but that wasn’t the scales. That was the colour of its insides, its blood, which Kohka had so helpfully spilled, well… Just about everywhere.

I grabbed onto Kohka again. Just for a minute. I knew we couldn’t stay long. But I needed to make sure he really was OK. To make sure he was just as solid and whole as before. An image of him caught in the writhing, twisting snare of the alien python-salamander’s body flashed in my mind, making my insides clench. There was a moment when I completely lost sight of him. Where it looked like he was getting crushed…

But then, he’d punched his way out, his entire body a weapon of colossal, feral power. I’d never seen anything like it – that kind of strength. I knew he was strong, obviously. But he was so controlled, so kind, it was almost easy to forget.

He thought I was afraid of him.

No way. When he’d gained the upper hand, and I no longer had reason to fear for his safety, I’d been enthralled by him. I couldn’t stop staring at him as he fought. The battering of his fists, the clamping of his jaws, the way he’d torn that thing apart, left me completely riveted. And the fact that he’d done that for me made it all the more… Intense.

Intensely arousing, if I was being honest with myself. I didn’t want him to get hurt, or be in danger, but I had to admit that watching him pummel his way through a monster twice his size to save me had left a hot, indelible mark on me.

“I’m so glad you’re alright,” I whispered fiercely. “I’m sorry that happened.”

“Sorry?” Kohka’s giant hands settled on my shoulders, gently pushing me back to look down into my face. A scalding frisson went through me at the sight of him – glistening with venom and blood, his eyes still electric with the last beats of the battle. I really do like everything about him, I realized, the thought heavy with grief. I liked when he was quiet and stoic. When he was frantic and awkward. And like this. Wild and dripping with furious power.

“Why should you be sorry?” he asked, a note of pain lancing through the words. “I am the one who is supposed to protect you. I never should have let this happen. I never should have let you leave my side, even for a moment.”

I had to bite down on my tongue, hard enough to taste blood, in order not to give in to the urge to cry. Because I would be leaving his side again, soon. And he had no fucking idea.

“Kohka, I… I might not always be around, you know. We’re not going to…” Fuck. Don’t cry. “We’re not always going to be together.”

“You mean once we are at the settlement? I know you will be busy, but I hope… I sincerely hope that you will still have some use for me, even then.”

“What are you talking about?” I whispered.

He did that I’m feeling awkward thing – rubbing his knuckles roughly along the underside of his snout.

“I know Grim and Tok are already there. They can provide you with fluid samples for your work. But I do hope that… That you will still consider me.”

How could I consider anyone but him? Hell, if I hadn’t been so preoccupied with my impending labour and gearing up to take care of a newborn, I wouldn’t have been able to hold space for anyone else but him. If I wasn’t so distracted, if I didn’t have to leave, I’d probably be fucking in love with him by now.

I was terrified to acknowledge the possibility that I was halfway there already.

More than halfway…

When I’d lost sight of him in the fight, when it looked like Kohka was a goner… Part of me had totally shattered. It wasn’t the pain of watching a friend or acquaintance get hurt. It was the soul-rending scream of watching the light go out in someone you…

Loved.

“We should go,” I choked out. I forced myself out of Kohka’s arms and wrenched up the hood of my jacket.

There was a beat of silence before Kohka responded with a quietly growled, “Yes.”

He didn’t say anything else before he scooped me up in his arms. I yelped in shock as I was swept up off the ground as easily as if I’d been a child. I held on tight, wrapping my arms around Kohka’s thick neck, as he leaped off the edge of the ablik onto the plains below.

My stomach dropped, and I swallowed a scream as we landed. He held me so carefully, and absorbed so much of the landing in his legs, that I barely even got jostled.

“I’m sorry, Kohka. We should have just done it like that in the first place,” I said, my voice shaking from the surprise of the sudden jump. “Then you wouldn’t have gotten hurt.”

“Do not ever worry for my hurts, kind little creature,” Kohka said, his voice rumbling through his chest and into me. “There is only one person here whose comfort I care about. And I assure you, it is not mine.”

Heat flamed in my cheeks.

“Well, you should care,” I snapped, feeling suddenly irritable. Why couldn’t he be mean? Why couldn’t he make me hate him? This would all be so much easier…

“I’m serious, Kohka,” I said as he lowered me to the ground to reclaim his spear and my packs, the items now coated in a fine layer of blue dust. “You need to look out for yourself. No one else is going to do it for you. My mom drilled that into me my entire life, and she was right. You never know what’s going to happen. The only thing you can count on is yourself. Promise me you’ll always take care of yourself, no matter what happens!”

Kohka strapped my packs to his side once more. Holding his spear in one hand, he fixed me with a penetrating look.

“It is easier to promise to take care of you.”

“No! Kohka! That’s not what I… Goddamnit. Were you always this stubborn?”

“I did not think I was. But I suppose it turns out that, when it comes to certain things, I am.”

This isn’t going well…

He might not be able to accept my disappearance.

Shit. Shit shit shit.

I’d counted on him, and the others, giving up on me pretty quickly when they didn’t find my life sign.

Things were getting more complicated every minute. I have today, tonight, and tomorrow to figure it out, I reasoned with myself. Tomorrow night, I’ll know what to do.

Because by tomorrow night…

I’d be gone.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Abby

It took us all day to cross the dusty blue plains, even with Kohka running on all fours like we had out in the desert. At that speed, there was no chance of me falling asleep on his back, so I managed to keep my wits about me as we approached the Deep Sky mountains. We reached them just as the sun began to set.

It gave me a jarring sense of déja-vu. We’d also reached the Death Plains mountains at sunset. But despite that similarity, almost everything about this was different. Where the Death Plains mountains were low, jagged, and ghostly white, the Deep Sky mountains were sprawling, soaring, and majestic. These mountains were composed of stone in shades of deep royal blue with veins of shocking, translucent aqua throughout. The peaks towered, dizzying and breath-taking, creating deep valleys between them that glistened with sunlight and shadows. The sunset lent everything a warm tint, draping the blue stone in sheer cloaks of copper-dusted lavender and bronze. The air had a freshness to it here, and I noted valok plants and silver tufts of grass in the valley ahead. Along with the sound of…

“Water!”

“Yes,” Kohka said, slowing at the entrance to the closest valley. “I hear it too.”

“I’ve missed that sound,” I murmured as Kohka advanced into the valley. As the mountains rose up around us, the air cooled, the shadows growing thicker. But even so, I could still see how stunningly beautiful this place was. The sky was a purple and orange watercolour painting overhead, the mountains looking like they’d been carved out of gems. Even the ground was gorgeous – right now we were walking along what seemed to be a huge, natural slab of the translucent aqua-coloured stone. It almost looked like we were walking along thick Arctic ice.

Ahead, the valley widened into a round clearing. The aqua stone broke off at the far end, giving way to a pool of clear water. More water tumbled down the nearest stone incline, creating a small waterfall into the pool. The sky darkened, the shadows deepened, turning the water to quicksilver.

“That must have been the water we heard,” I said, jerking my chin towards the small waterfall.

“Yes,” Kohka said again. “We can make camp here.”

“Good idea,” I said, exhaustion seeping into my bones. Yeah, I’d gotten some sleep on his back last night, but it had still been a hell of a long day since then. And I wasn’t even the one running while carrying someone on my back the whole time.

It was then that I remembered Kohka hadn’t slept at all last night. He’d been carrying me through the ablik fields while I’d snoozed. Then, he had that fight with the snake/salamander from hell. Then he’d run all the way here.

“Here is fine,” I said quickly, worried about how long Kohka had gone without resting. “You can let me down.”

Kohka dutifully crouched lower. I slid off his back. I’d gotten used to the movement by now, and even with my belly and off-kilter balance, I usually landed pretty well.

Not that time. Pain speared through my ankles. I cried out, my legs buckling under me.

I never hit the ground.

Of course, I didn’t.

Because Kohka was there.

He caught me under my arms, steadying me before gently lowering me to the ground in a shadowy spot against a boulder.

“What is it?” he asked urgently, kneeling in front of me.

“It’s nothing. My ankles are a bit more banged up than I thought, that’s all.” I was still pretty confident in my earlier assertion that nothing was sprained or broken. But things were definitely more painful now. And after not walking all day, everything had gotten stiff on top of any bruising and inflammation.

I strained forward, swearing while trying to get my boots off. Jesus, Peanut. You are not helping. Pregnancy could make even the most mundane tasks into Herculean efforts that left me sweaty and frustrated.

“Stop. Lean back,” Kohka said. My brows flew upwards at his commanding tone.

“Excuse me?”

Kohka narrowed his eyes at me, giving me a look I didn’t think I’d ever seen from him before. It was a sort of, I’m not interested in your human bullshit right now, look.

If I hadn’t been so exhausted and in pain, I probably would have tried to push his buttons a little bit in response to that. I’d probably ask him, “Or what?”

But I was exhausted. And I was in pain. And I was this fucking close to spinning out entirely at the thought of leaving him so soon.

So, I kept my mouth shut, leaned back against the boulder, and watched him.

He watched me, too, as if needing to make sure I was actually going to listen to him. When he seemed satisfied that I wasn’t about to jump up and do something stupid, he turned his glinting silver pupils back to my feet.

My breath caught when his claws hooked under the cuffs of my pant legs. Carefully, he skimmed the fabric upward, until my legs were bared from knee to ankle. Harsh lines of redness roped around my legs, marks from where that snake thing had looped its tail around me. Kohka made a hissing sound, his nostrils flaring at the sight.

“It’s alright, Kohka,” I murmured.

“Nothing about this is alright,” he replied savagely. “I should not have let this happen.”

“It’s just bruising. It’s fine,” I whispered, hating how worried he so clearly was. He was the one who’d actually fought that thing.

His eyes flashed to mine, heated and maybe even angry.

“This is not fine,” he growled. “Don’t ever say that it is.”

I pursed my lips, not knowing what else to say. It was a rare occurrence for me. Usually, I was the chatterbox. But right now, all I wanted to do was sink into the quiet with Kohka.

He avoided touching my bare legs, instead shifting his claws downward to my boots. He gently grasped my left boot in both his hands, working it back and forth so gently I wondered if he’d ever actually pull it off that way. But, with unwavering focus and movements so precisely controlled they were almost tender, he eventually did get the boot off. He repeated the slow motion on the other side until that boot was off, too. I wiggled my toes and then winced. No doubt, the tight fit of my boots had been keeping some of the swelling at bay. Now that they were off, blood rushed into my sore joints, making both ankles throb.

Is he going to try to take my socks off, too?

A flush of embarrassment went through me. Up until that moment, I’d been too tired to feel any self-consciousness about my sweaty feet packed into my boots all day.

“That can’t smell great. I’m surprised you’re not running,” I joked weakly.

Kohka’s eyes were fastened to my ankles. I could practically feel his gaze as a physical touch on me.

“If you knew what your scent did to me,” he said, so quietly it seemed he spoke more to himself than to me, “you would be the one running away.”

I was about to ask him what exactly the hell that meant when the soft scrape of his scales on my bare skin stole my breath right out of my throat. My nerves jumped, tingles exploding under my skin as the tips of Kohka’s fingers and thumbs grazed my swollen ankles. He applied no pressure. It was the merest whisper of sensation. A lick of scratched leather over my hot, throbbing flesh. Goosebumps prickled all over my body, and the pulsing of blood in my ankles echoed between my legs.

I swallowed, my mouth going dry with the sudden, desperate need for Kohka to keep touching me. To touch me everywhere. To run his strong hands up my legs to the junction of my thighs. I wonder how he’d react if he felt the heat there. If he knew how just this tiny little touch was making me wet…

I wonder how he’d feel if he knew you were pregnant with another man’s child and were about to leave him.

That last thought was like a bucket of ice water dumped down the back of my neck. The arousal faded, replaced by grim nausea, and my ankles hurt more than ever.

Kohka pinched the fabric of my socks at the backs of my heels, peeling them down carefully, like he was worried they were made of wet paper. I couldn’t help but smile softly at the way he neatly folded each sock and placed them inside my boots so that they didn’t get dirty or lost.

Once my feet were bare, he gingerly probed my ankles. I grimaced, and he whipped his hands away.

“I am sorry,” he said, sounding absolutely miserable. “I wanted to be sure no bones were broken.”

“They aren’t,” I said, trying to give him an encouraging look. “I just need an ice pack. Which… I don’t have.”

Kohka’s heavy brow furrowed thoughtfully. He stood, looking down the valley, before turning back to me.

“I am going to pick you up again,” he said, as if there was no room for argument, “so you do not need to make that yelping sound the way you did last time.”

“Hey!” I said indignantly. “I was surprised, OK?!”

“I know. That is why I am warning you now.”

“Why do you even need to?” I asked as he bent down to me. One of his arms went under my knees, the other behind my back. Without even thinking about it, I half-turned towards his chest, looping my arms around his neck. Like it was the most natural thing in the world.

“I believe the water will be cool enough to offer some relief.”

Ooh. That sounded really good.

“Good idea,” I said. “Thank you, Kohka.”

He didn’t reply with words, instead making a deep, rumbly sound that I felt reverberate through his chest.

The water was at the far end of the valley, and it took us a few minutes of walking to get there. We didn’t speak. I both loved and hated how good it felt to just be with Kohka. How comfortable it was in his arms. How solid and strong he felt against me. How reliable and soothing every step, every breath, he took was. The sun had fully set, now, and the broken band of shining, moon-like asteroids above turned the valley into something from a dream. Starlight tumbled over stone into the velvety black below.

Kohka looked like something from a dream, too. Something I never could have imagined before coming here. I looked up at him from below, admiring the ruggedly carved lines of his snout, jaw, and neck. The sterling brilliance of his eyes and scales seemed even more prominent in the darkness. Metal spearing through shadow.

He finally broke the silence, shocking me out of my dazed reverie.

“Do not put your feet in yet,” Kohka said as he crouched and placed me in a seated position on the ground. “I need to make sure it is safe.”

He crouched low, on all fours, beside me, peering hard at the rippling surface of the water. The pool wasn’t too big. Maybe about the size of a hot tub on Earth. So, I figured there couldn’t be any particularly large predators in there that would want to nibble on my little human toes.

Kohka was much more thorough than me, though. He didn’t rely simply on the size of the pool to determine its safety. Instead, without warning, he plunged his head completely into the water.

“Jesus. Was not expecting that,” I said, watching him uneasily from the side. I didn’t like not being able to see his face.

He didn’t stay down there long, though. A second later he pulled his head out of the water. I laughed as he shook his head the way a dog would, sending droplets of water splattering onto my jacket.

“There were some very small fish that scattered at my movement. They will not likely come near your feet.”

I nodded, encouraged by the fact that even this tiny little pool had fish. If I can find another valley like this, maybe one with even more water, I’ll be all set…

I made sure my pants were still securely rolled up to my knees, then scooted my butt to the stony edge I was sitting on. Gingerly, I lowered my pounding feet into the water.

Kohka was right – the water was cold. Shockingly so, considering the high temperature around here during the day. I sighed, placing my hands behind me and leaning back, closing my eyes as I relished the numbing cold of the water. Soon, the throbbing pain had become a dull ache. I had some pregnancy-safe pain medication in my packs, too, that would help even more when I was trying to get to sleep.

A loud splash startled me. My eyes shot open and I jerked my chin down to look at the water.

Kohka was in the water, standing straight ahead of me.

“Whatchya doing?” I asked.

“Keeping the fish away from your feet. If I’m in here they’ll stay away.”

The laughter that came out of me felt good, even though I was so tired.

“What? I thought you just said they wouldn’t come near me anyway.”

Kohka grunted, a sound like a vocal version of a human shrug.

“I wanted to be sure.”

I smiled, shaking my head, as I slowly swished my legs in the water. The water came almost all the way up to my knees, a cold caress. After all the sweat and the dust of the day, I wanted nothing more than to strip down and get in the water with him.

At that moment, Peanut wiggled and stretched, reminding me exactly why that would be impossible.

I may not look as pregnant as the other women with my jacket on, but there’s no doubt he’ll notice certain things if I start undressing…

Besides, I already knew that I wouldn’t just be paddling around and cleaning off. Even now, on the stony shore, I felt a tugging urge to go right to Kohka. To touch him. To feel him hold me the way he’d held me back in the ablik.

But there was no point in doing anything like that. I’d just be prolonging my own agony. Getting even closer to him before ripping myself away.

So, instead, I forced myself to be satisfied with simply watching Kohka.

It wasn’t nearly enough.

But it has to be.

Kohka was taking the opportunity to clean himself up. His clawed hands cupped water and sloshed it over his face, neck, and chest. The water wasn’t terribly deep, at least, not for him. In the centre of the pool, where he stood, the water came up just below his waist.

Even though it was fully night now, the bright asteroid- and starlight meant I could see Kohka quite clearly. And now that he had cleaned most of the gunk off his scales, I could see the results of today’s battle.

He was just as broad and bulky as ever, and had no trouble using his hands to scrub his body. Clearly, no bones had been broken. But I clenched my teeth, eyes stinging, when I saw that his scales in several places looked… Wrong. No longer sitting flat like the others, like they were bent out of shape. There were a few places where it looked as if scales had been pried loose entirely, leaving behind small but gaping wounds.

“Oh, Kohka,” I murmured. “I’m so sorry. You didn’t tell me you were hurt, too.”

Kohka cocked his head, looking genuinely confused.

“What? This?” He gestured a claw at some of the bent and missing scales on his chest. “This is nothing. I’m fine.”

“Hey! That’s what I said before and you got all mad at me!”

“But when I say it, it is true,” Kohka growled. He advanced towards me, his powerful legs moving his massive body through the water as easily as he would walk on land. He came to a stop before me, all towering and shining and wet. Onyx and platinum and steel.

“These are but shallow scrapes. I can take it, Abby. I was built for battle.” His voice lowered to a pebbly groan. “Not like you.”

It was amazing how dainty and delicate I felt beside him. I’d never felt that way around a human man, what with my height and my build usually rivalling theirs. I knew that I was tough, that I was strong. But beside Kohka, I felt…

Precious.

One of Kohka’s hands rose between us, dripping in the air, as if he was about to reach for me. He hesitated, and without thinking, I grabbed his hand between both of mine.

I’d always considered my hands to be pretty large, but Kohka’s single one dwarfed both of mine. They practically looked like a child’s hands against his.

Neither of us spoke. A heartbeat later Kohka’s fingers closed over mine.

Some of the scales on the back of his hand were mangled, and seeing that was like a physical pain in my body.

He’ll be OK. He has to be. I have all of tomorrow to make sure that he is…

But that turned out to be dead fucking wrong. I didn’t have another day with him.

Because in the dead of the night, pain forced me out of sleep, leaving me sweaty and shaking.

This wasn’t the pain in my legs.

This was…

Labour.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Abby

It’s too early! This wasn’t the plan!

The plan was to have a whole other day travelling in these mountains! A chance to continue learning the landscape, and to maybe scope out a cave to hide in. The plan was to be all settled in my camp, to get used to taking care of myself out here, before labour ever even started!

The plan was not to try to find that camp with injured ankles while in the throes of contractions.

And it was absolutely not to leave Kohka this soon.

Another undulation of pain rolled through my abdomen and pelvis, making me grit my teeth.

Fucking hell. If this went anything like my mother’s labour with me, I had about three hours before I had a baby in my arms.

“If you could slow your roll there, Peanut, it would be much appreciated,” I panted into the darkness, pressing a hand to my stomach. I felt the next contraction under my hand – a tightening of muscle that made my abdomen feel as hard as a basketball.

There’s no time. I have to get out of here.

I crawled to the flap of my tent and peeked out.

The mix of emotions was startling and intense when I saw that Kohka was sound asleep outside, curled up like a cat. There was relief – relief he wouldn’t find out what was happening, and that I probably would be able to sneak away undetected.

And there was explosive, howling grief.

I almost wanted him to wake up, right now, so he’d see me. See what was happening.

I nearly did it. Almost crawled to him, begging him to open his eyes and help me.

But he wouldn’t know how to help me besides getting me to my people.

And that meant bringing me and my baby boy to the Deep Sky settlement with all those male warriors and two territorial Gahns I didn’t know or trust.

That can’t happen.

Panic at that – the idea of being forced to give birth among men who might be hostile towards my child – obliterated every other thought. Every other feeling.

My heart hammered like it was trying to break my fucking ribs and my head spun. As another wave of pain gripped me, instincts I didn’t even know I had kicked in. I felt like a wounded animal. Like I needed to drag my body into some dark corner and hiss at anyone who came near me.

I crawled back into the tent and grabbed my boots. I bit my tongue, swallowing a cry of pain when I forced my swollen feet into them. That extra layer of pain made me feel even more frantic and feral as I put on my jacket and grabbed my two packs. Pretty much everything was stowed away in my packs besides the tent. There was no way I could break down the tent without Kohka waking up and noticing. Besides, if I found a cave like I planned to, I wouldn’t need the tent anyway.

I poked my head back out the front of my tent to make sure Kohka hadn’t stirred.

He hadn’t.

He may not have normally needed much sleep, but after not sleeping for two days and a night before this, plus all the fighting and travel, he had to be completely exhausted.

I was grateful for that. And I hated it. Hated that he was so tired because of me.

Hated that he’d be alone now. That I wouldn’t be with him when he woke up and as he healed.

Who’s going to make sure he’s OK? Who’s going to make sure his scales heal properly? Who’s going to tell him he’s so wonderful?

Who’s going to tell him that they love him?

There was so much I wanted to say to him.

But I couldn’t.

I couldn’t ask him to abandon his post and his people to help me on this probably-crazy mission of mine. And I couldn’t let him take me to the settlement either.

It always had to end like this.

I knew that. I knew it. And even so, I felt my control wavering again. The need to fall to my knees beside Kohka grew stronger.

Why won’t you just wake up and see me? Wake up so I don’t have to do this! Take this choice away from me! Please!

But he didn’t.

Tears spilled down my cheeks as I gave Kohka’s sleeping form one last look. I wanted to burn the image of him into my mind. To be able to conjure him, in the utmost detail, in the future.

The future. When he wasn’t with me.

But your child will be. And that has to be the priority now.

As another even more powerful contraction caught me in its grip, my rational thought dimmed, moving to the back of my lizard brain. The urge to get away from everyone and everything, to go be alone in some dark and sheltered place, bludgeoned everything else.

I didn’t say goodbye to Kohka. I didn’t want to risk waking him, and I didn’t think I’d be able to get any words out through my constricted throat, anyway.

Trembling with the force of keeping my crying under control, I went back into the tent. I forced myself not to look back. Not to look at Kohka again. I shoved my packs out the other end of the tent, away from Kohka, then emerged after them. I picked the packs up, cursing the pain in my ankles that was going to make this journey all the more difficult.

But I didn’t let myself falter. Body screaming, I trudged out of the valley as quickly and quietly as I could.

I wondered, as I dragged myself into the alien landscape of my future, how I’d summon the strength to give birth like this. When I was so plagued by grief.

Mom did it once, I reasoned grimly. Dad was dead, and she was completely alone. At least you’ll know Kohka is alive out there somewhere.

Once I’d cleared the first valley we’d been sleeping in, I finally let a strangled sob choke out of my throat. I hated that this moment hurt so fucking much. And I didn’t mean the physical pain. This isn’t how things are supposed to be.

I should have been elated. Overjoyed at the prospect of meeting my child and full of hope.

But I felt like I’d left hope, curled up and sleeping, back beside my tent in the valley.

And all that was left now was the primal pull of my body.

The cold, vicious will to survive, and to make sure my child survived, too.

No matter whose heart broke in the process.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Abby

The next two hours passed in a blur of seemingly-endless walking and pain. At times, I was moving practically blind, barely paying attention to my surroundings, just trying to get somewhere – anywhere – that could be a safe haven.

By the time I finally did find somewhere that would work, I was breathless and nearly at my wit’s end. My progress had slowed considerably, as I had to stop more and more often when the stronger contractions hit me. So, when I stumbled across a small, shadowy clearing with a pool of fresh water and what looked to be a cave at one end, I decided that this was it. It had to be. I wouldn’t be able to push on for much longer.

Sweating, muscles quaking, I pushed myself to take the last steps to the entrance to the cave.

Perfect.

The entrance to the cave wasn’t very wide, because a large boulder blocked most of it off. I’d have to squeeze myself through. Even if Kohka came this way, he’d never be able to see inside or get in.

I dropped my packs and doubled over when pain rocketed through me. I didn’t have time to be sad about Kohka right now. I had to get inside, get everything ready, and have a baby.

When the contraction subsided, I gritted my teeth and stood up straight. I grabbed a flashlight from one of my packs, turning it on and flashing it past the boulder to see how the cave looked.

A relieved breath escaped me. The cave was fairly small. About the size of my bedroom back home. As far as I could tell, there weren’t any animals in there. The last thing I needed was to come face-to-face with one of those freaky python-salamander things without Kohka to help me.

Feeling pretty good about the cave, I shoved my packs through the opening, then went through myself. It was an even tighter squeeze than I’d anticipated, and for a split-second I panicked, thinking I’d get stuck.

But I didn’t. And soon, I was inside.

I waited for another contraction to pass before surveying the cave once more with the flashlight.

Yup, no big beasties hiding out in here. And no big cracks or entrances to deeper tunnels that should cause me any concern, either.

Alright. This is it.

I got to work, timing all my actions between the iron band of pain tightening around my midsection every few minutes. I took out a valok candle and lit it with a match, taking comfort in the warm, flickering glow. Then, I spread out some hides on the floor for where I’d give birth, plus extra hides off to the side that I’d wrap Peanut up in as soon as he was out. It was still nighttime, and there was a bitter chill in the air. I didn’t want him getting cold.

Next, I took out the small, cylindrical cooler with the syringe of medication I’d formulated using the Bitter Sea mating fluid. I placed the vial with its attached needle down on my new bed, alongside a first aid kit that had sterile gauze, scissors, antiseptic fluid, and more supplies I’d likely need. I took out one of the water bottles I’d saved for this moment, along with a few protein bars, too.

With all that ready, I undressed, pulling off my pants, socks, and boots. I ended up taking off my jacket, too, which left only my tank top, and got onto all fours on the hides. When the next contraction hit – more powerful and painful than any others that had come before – I wailed, unable to hold back the sound.

I need drugs. Right fucking now.

I reached for the vial of medication. But a fresh wave of pain made my muscles spasm, and I ended up knocking it aside. The syringe rolled away. Which wouldn’t have been a problem, if it hadn’t then rolled into a small, dark crack in the stone floor I hadn’t seen before.

“Are you fucking kidding me!” I cried hoarsely. I’d only brought one goddamn vial of the stuff. One syringe should have been a few doses, more than I would have needed, and the tubular travel cooler could only fit one syringe, anyway.

I crawled over to the crack, my knees burning on the stone floor. I shoved my fingers downward, trying to reach it.

It’s gone.

Blind panic washed over me. How the hell am I supposed to do this? I’m all alone out here and now I don’t even have the one thing that would make this all easier!

I allowed myself to completely lose my shit, just for a moment. Just for the time it took for the next contraction to pass through me and then taper off.

Then, I sucked it the fuck up and crawled back to my hides.

You’re really on your own, now, girl, I thought as I rocked back and forth on my hands and knees. But you will get through this. You have to.

I said it to myself over and over again as the agony ramped up. You will get through this. You will get through this.

I just hoped to God it was true.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Kohka

Iwoke just before dawn. I’d slept almost half the night – more than twice the usual rest I required. All the travel without sleeping, and my injuries, had clearly caught up with me.

I stood and stretched, trying to work the grogginess out of my head and the stiff ache out of my bones.

The grogginess disappeared immediately, though, and the stiffness was forgotten, when I realized that something was very, very wrong.

She’s not here.

There was no way for me to see into her tent right now, but I could tell by her scent – or, rather, the lack of it – that Abby was gone. This in and of itself was not an unusual occurrence – she often got up to relieve herself during the night. But this time was different. The dim remnants of her scent weren’t fresh. I inhaled deeply, desperately, anxiety spiking through my limbs when I realized just how faint and stale her scent had become.

With a roar, I tore apart the tent, hoping that I was wrong and that she really was sleeping inside.

But she wasn’t.

Where is she? Where is she? Where is she?

The question became a furious mantra inside my pounding head. Could she have fallen and hurt herself somewhere? Could another predator have taken her?

Somehow, in the dizzying terror of my thoughts, I noticed that her packs were gone, too.

What…?

Why would she have left the camp and taken her packs? Especially when she was injured? Unless she hadn’t left willingly, and whatever had taken her had taken her packs, too.

But then, why hadn’t I heard anything? I was sleeping deeply, certainly, but I knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that I would have heard Abby’s call for help. Her frightened voice, calling for me from nearby, would have woken me even if I were dead. I was sure of it. Her tent was right beside me all night! This does not make sense!

Knowing she was not at the tent, I abandoned it, leaving the hides and bone poles in a ruined heap. A horrifying thought occurred to me, and I sprinted to the water, my heart in my throat. She said she could swim. But…

But I’d never been able to picture it.

She was not in the water, though. Nor was she anywhere in this valley. I paced the length of it, climbing up onto a ledge to better see below.

By this time, the sun was rising higher. Is she safe? Does she have her cloak on? It will be hot soon. That precious skin burns so easily…

I hoped against hope that wherever she was, she was safe.

But I would not dare believe she was until I had her under my guard once more.

I leaped down off the stone ledge, running on all fours back to the tent. I inhaled deeply, opening my mouth, letting my bloodied tongues touch the air. There was enough of her scent left that I believed that I could track her.

So, I did.

It was not easy. Every moment, her scent grew weaker, whipped by mountain wind and baked by the sun. At times, I lost it entirely, which made me feel like the inside of my head might explode. But after frantic searching and sniffing, I caught it again. Every time I rediscovered her scent, it was like she was calling to me. Saying my name. Beckoning me forward.

The thin trail of her scent, along with what looked like the occasional dusty print left by her foot-shells, led me through valley after valley. The sun rose higher, and I began to fear that I had tracked her wrong somehow. It seemed impossible she could have gotten this far on her own. She is so small, and injured, and if she had her packs…

But in one particular clearing, her scent grew stronger. Fresher.

There was no way I had mistaken the trail.

My head whipped back and forth as I searched for visual confirmation of her. When I found none, I loped forward, skirting around a pool of clear water.

I smell her. But there’s nothing here! There’s nothing…

But there was something. A small, dark opening into the stone of the mountain. The mouth of a cave, half-blocked by a boulder.

I sprinted towards it, confused by the way her scent got stronger as I reached the opening.

She’s in the cave?

I couldn’t see inside with the way the boulder was angled. And there was no way I’d be able to fit inside. Abby was small, but I could barely even imagine her squeezing through that opening.

But this was where her trail had led me. I took a ragged breath, ready to roar her name, when another sound split the air. A sound that made my spikes stand up and my tail thrash. A sound I knew I’d never be able to forget for the rest of my terrible life.

It was Abby. Screaming in what could only be agony.

The inside of my head became a din I could barely think through. A buzzing, terrible fear filled me, sliced through with the unbearable urge to do something.

I had to get to her. She needed me. She was suffering, and I wasn’t there. The fact I didn’t know what was happening inside that cave was suffocating me.

I turned my focus onto the boulder that partially blocked the mouth of the cave. It was large – taller than me, and vaguely triangular in shape, with a wide base, tapering to a point aiming upwards.

It was in my way. It was keeping me from Abby.

I’ll destroy it.

A feral part of me wanted to try to punch my way through it. To fight it the way I’d fight an enemy or creature. But when another human moan of pain lanced through me like a spear, I knew I had to be smarter than that. I had to work faster.

I lunged for the boulder, shunting my shoulder against it and heaving with all my strength.

It didn’t budge.

But neither did I.

I groaned, forcing every bit of strength I possessed into pushing, pushing, pushing. My feet slid backwards in the pebbles and dust, my claws scrabbling to maintain purchase. I shoved harder, pain howling through my shoulder.

Another wail from inside the cave lit me on fire. Made me stronger than I’d ever been. My limbs burned. My shoulder screamed. The scales along my collarbone began to buckle under the catastrophic force of my body battling stone.

And still, I pushed. No pain would be great enough to stop me now. Not when she was so close. So close and needing me.

A grunt turned into a roar as I gave one final shove with everything I had. The stone shifted slightly. I took advantage of that movement, building momentum so that the shift became a wobble.

Then, the thing was toppled. A calamitous crash echoed through the small valley as the boulder fell.

I did not waste time looking at my handiwork. I spun, facing the entrance to the cave. Sunlight streamed in, now, and I had a view of what was happening.

But what I saw made very little sense.

Abby was lying on her side in a nest of hides, facing the mouth of the cave. Her bare legs were drawn up against her belly, and she appeared to be mostly nude. Her face was shiny and red, her eyes wild and wide as she took me in.

“Kohka,” she panted. It was all she said before her face crumpled, and another terrible scream tore out of her.

The sound seemed to have a physical effect on me. I was kneeling at her side in an instant, unable to keep myself away, drawn like a stone to the bottom of the sea.

“Abby,” I murmured frantically. “Tell me what is wrong!”

“You’re not supposed to be here,” she moaned, her eyes falling closed. “I’m supposed to be alone. I have to be alone.”

“I am supposed to be here,” I growled fiercely in reply. “I am supposed to be wherever you are.”

Her eyes remained closed, and she howled again, her beautiful face contorted.

I’m going to go out of my mind.

I’d never felt so powerless as I did in that moment.

“Abby… Abby!” My hands found the sides of her face, holding her head. I bent over her so that my snout practically bumped the tip of her nose. “Open your eyes and look at me! Tell me what is wrong! Tell me what you need!”

Whatever she needed, I’d find it. I’d do it.

I’d be it.

“Kohka.” The way she said my name made my heart hurt. She forced her eyes open, her pain-hazed gaze meeting mine. “I need…”

“Yes! Anything!”

When she finally answered me, I almost asked her to repeat herself, wondering if I’d heard her wrong. Because what she said made absolutely no sense.

“Kohka. I need you to bite me.”

“Sweet creature, what are you talking about? You’re sick. Or injured… Or…”

“I’m in labour, Kohka. I’m about to have a baby.”

I really was a stupid warrior. Because my first response to that was to wonder how she’d gotten pregnant with my child before I’d ever mated her.

It’s not yours, you fool.

“You… You have a mate,” I said stiffly.

“No! I don’t! I can’t explain this all right now. I-”

Her words broke off as she groaned.

“Save your strength. And I will save my questions,” I said hurriedly. “Just tell me what to do.”

This was the last thing I ever could have imagined I’d find when I entered this cave. But this was the reality facing her, facing us. And I would find a way to get her through it.

“Kohka. My water broke. There was meconium in the fluid. I thought… I thought this would go faster. But it’s not!”

Her words came out in a panting rush. I wasn’t sure what it all meant, but I did know that my brilliant, capable, practical Abby was worried. Things were not going the way they were supposed to.

“I need to get him out,” she hissed. “I brought the medication I made, but I fucking lost it in a stupid crack. I need you to bite me. I have to speed this up.”

“Bite you…”

Then it hit me.

She needs mating fluid.

That was the whole point of her work, was it not? To use Bitter Sea mating fluid to help the human women give birth more easily?

I felt some small pinch of relief that what she needed was something I could actually provide. But it would not be as easy as it had been in the lab. I needed to be aroused. And that was the furthest thing from my mind right now, seeing Abby in so much pain.

Another wave of agony broke over her, and she groaned deeply. It petered out in a weak whimper.

“Please, Kohka. I can’t keep doing this.”

“Maybe I should take you to the settlement,” I said, the full force of the situation hitting me. Abby was in danger – maybe even more danger than if a predator had found her. And I was woefully ill-equipped to protect her against whatever was going wrong inside her own body.

But her eyes went wide at that.

“No! Kohka, you can’t! Please, we have to stay here! Please! Promise me!”

“I do not understand,” I said miserably. Horror hardened in my guts when I realized that she could die out here like this. “The other new women will help you. They will know what to do.”

“Kohka, no. I’m not going. You just need to… God fucking damnit! You need to help me.”

Staring down into her lovely, pain-wracked face, I knew I could do nothing else but what she asked me. I was not sure I could even get her to the settlement in time to get her adequate help at this point.

I am all she has.

You may not be special, Kohka, but by the waves, you’d better be enough.

I closed my eyes, pressing my snout to her neck, breathing deeply of her scent. It was difficult to focus. I was so wrapped up in her pain that it seemed impossible to let my body give in to any sort of desire. But I pushed everything else aside – as best I could, anyway – and inhaled over and over, letting her sweet scent wind its way through my bones.

When a small amount of mating fluid trickled into my fangs, I did not dare waste it, terrified that in a moment, I’d be too distracted by Abby’s suffering to produce any more.

My fangs found the tender place between her shoulder and neck.

And I bit down.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Abby

Kohka’s mating fluid shot through my veins like liquid lightning. My eyes had been closed a second ago, but they flew open in response to the sensation. There was very little pain when Kohka bit me, and it was already receding, replaced by an ecstatic, effervescent burn.

I was too exhausted and in pain to feel the arousing effects of the fluid, but I could tell within moments that it was starting to take hold. Everything felt like it was stretching – opening up.

And that was exactly what I needed.

I’d been having contractions every two minutes for hours. And not just any contractions – organ-twisting bolts of pain. It felt like my pelvic bone was getting cracked in half every time the pain hit me.

And yet, there’d been no urge to push. For whatever reason, things had stalled. And when meconium-filled fluid rushed out of me, I realized just how bad things being stalled could be. The meconium meant Peanut’s waste had gotten into the amniotic fluid and that his breathing and airways could be compromised.

I needed to get my child out. Now.

“Kohka. Can you do that again? I need more,” I moaned. At this point, I figured the more open-up juice that was pumped into my veins, the better.

“I am sorry. Seeing you in pain makes it hard to… I will try.” Kohka’s snout scraped gently against my neck as he spoke. I turned more towards him, wrapping my arms around his neck, anchoring myself to him.

He wasn’t supposed to be here.

But now, I was so grateful that he was.

Not just for his fangs and what they could do for me. But for him.

When his fangs sank into me a second time, sending more electric fire through my bloodstream, I started to cry.

He immediately released me from his gentle jaws. He tried to rear back, but I held him firmly in place with my arms around his neck.

“Kohka, I was all alone,” I sobbed against him. “It hurts so much. And no one was here. I thought I could do it. I thought I could…”

“It is alright,” Kohka rasped against my sweat-soaked skin. I knew poor Kohka had to be just about losing his mind with anxiety right now. But at this point, he wasn’t showing it at all.

He’s being so strong for me.

“I will get you through this,” he said firmly. “And after all is done, I will carry you and your child to the-”

“No!” The word became a long groan as another contraction hit me. “No, Kohka! You can’t.” Shit. This was it. I had to tell him everything, now. He was going to notice the second Peanut came out, anyway. Plus, I was pretty sure I’d already referred to my baby as “him” earlier in the conversation. “My baby is a boy, Kohka. A human male. Nobody can know about this.”

Kohka paused, mulling over what I’d said and all its implications.

“You believe the Gahns would be hostile to your child?”

“Obviously!” I said through gritted teeth. “It was a possibility. A risk I wouldn’t take. They already don’t like outsiders. Pretty sure the only reason they were alright with us being here is because they need women. But can you imagine a human male potentially taking resources, maybe even a mate, away from the tribes? The only human male they’ve seen so far was that soldier who came in here and attacked Xyan. My child would be an enemy from the moment he was born.”

I stopped talking, completely drained from the brief explanation. Kohka smoothed my damp hair back from my forehead.

“You need explain nothing else to me, now, Abby. Save your strength and do not speak, unless you need to tell me what to do.”

I nodded mutely. The next few contractions passed in silence broken only by my sounds of pain. Kohka’s fluid was definitely having an effect, though. It was nowhere near what an epidural would have produced in terms of pain relief – I still felt everything – but it became less brutal. I was able to relax a bit more, letting everything continue to ease open. Now that Kohka was here, I could close my eyes and focus on breathing through each contraction. I could try to actually use the contractions, use the natural force of my own body, to move things along. Before now, I’d been so overwhelmed by pain and panic that I’d been almost fighting the contractions. I’d been in pure survival mode, praying for the agony to end.

This is fucking bullshit. I have birthing hips, for crying out loud! This was supposed to be easier!

But… It was getting easier. Or at the very least, things were actually progressing now. Pain was mingling with pressure, everything moving downward.

“Kohka!” I said suddenly. “I feel like I need to push.”

“Command me.”

Any other time, I might have laughed at that. A sentence like, “Tell me what to do,” boiled down to its bluntest, most essential and efficient form in the face of urgency. That kind of economy of language was classic Kohka. Using as few words as possible.

“Help me up,” I panted. “I feel like I should be squatting. Let gravity help me.”

My legs felt like new baby deer legs. Weak and wobbly. There’s no way I’ll be able to squat…

But I didn’t need to. Kohka’s hands settled under my arms, guiding me into a squatting position. I cried out with relief when I realized I didn’t have to put any weight on my own legs. Kohka was so strong that he could completely take all of my weight in his hands, letting me sink down easily.

“I’m scared, Kohka,” I whispered.

Kohka’s snout nudged the damp place below my ear.

“I am here.”

God, he was too good. He wasn’t telling me what to feel, or what not to feel. He wasn’t telling me not to be afraid, because that would be pretty much impossible. But he was telling me that he was with me, no matter what. The fear was still there.

But so was he.

When the contractions got stronger, faster, and I screamed with the primal need to push, Kohka didn’t falter. His hands were like iron, but curved perfectly to my body for comfort. He didn’t say anything – didn’t tell me to breathe through it or to visualize, I don’t know, kittens or something. And for that, I was grateful. All I needed right now was his stoic, silent support.

And that support fucking got me through it.

Between the shift in position, the mating fluid in my veins, and no longer feeling so terrified and alone, things happened quickly. I clenched my teeth so hard I worried I’d break a tooth as I bore down with everything I had once, twice, three times…

On the fourth push, I cried out in shock. He was out. And he was going to hit the stone floor headfirst…

Heart slamming, I scrambled, reaching shaking hands downward –

Only to see Kohka’s hand already there.

My child was safe in Kohka’s massive palm, cradled between my knees. I hadn’t even noticed Kohka move his hand from me. He’d kept me perfectly supported with his other arm wrapping around my shoulders, holding me in place.

Oh, God. The meconium.

“Kohka, is he-”

Peanut’s face scrunched up. His mouth opened.

And the loudest, healthiest newborn wail I ever could have imagined rang through the cave.

“Oh my God. Oh my God,” I sobbed. Kohka eased me down onto some of the cleaner hides with his one arm, avoiding the ones that were now soaked with meconium, fluid, and blood. He kept Peanut safe and secure in his curved hand the entire time. Once I was settled, my back against the stone wall of the cave, I scooped Peanut out of Kohka’s palm. He was red-faced and howling and looked very much like a tiny, angry old man.

And he was absolutely fucking perfect.

“Can you grab me some of those small clean hides, Kohka?”

I looked up to see that Kohka already had one, anticipating my request.

How did I ever think I could do this without him?

I cleaned Peanut up, then I lifted my tank top, guiding him to my breast. He latched quickly. At least that part went smoothly, I thought with relief, knowing that not everyone had an easy time with breastfeeding. But considering I didn’t have any formula out here, it would be my only option. That should be my next project, I thought hazily. See if I can use what’s back on the big ship to develop formula in case any of the other women want it…

But then I remembered what had just happened. My baby was here, and he was definitely a boy. I’d already switched on the life-sign camouflage tool during my labour. Which meant that nothing in this cave would be seen on a scanner.

I was dead to the others, now.

I looked down at my nursing baby. And I knew all of it was worth it.

Especially now that Kohka had found me.

I’m not alone after all.

“Hi Peanut. Hi, sweet baby boy. Hi, hi,” I murmured, smiling through my tears so hard it hurt my face. I stroked my thumb across his cheek, his ear. One of his hands was clenched in a tiny purple fist against my breast. It was a cliché, but I couldn’t stop staring at how perfect that little hand was.

“Kohka, we need to cut the cord. There are clean scissors in the first aid kit. That little box over there.”

Kohka wiped his hands thoroughly on a spare bit of clean hide, then dutifully brought it to my side.  I kept Peanut propped against me with one arm, opening the case and digging around with the other. I took the scissors out and frowned.

“Hmm. They’re smaller than I remembered.” Meanwhile, the cord was thicker than I’d anticipated. “I’m not sure these will do the job.”

“I could…” Kohka held up his hands, his claws glinting like black knives as filtering sunlight caught on them.

Something about his offer made me want to cry all over again. Doesn’t the father often cut the cord?

I nodded, pressing my lips together. Crap. I have a feeling I’m gonna be crying a lot, now. These hormones are something else.

We used antiseptic liquid in the first aid kit to clean Kohka’s claws.

“Will it hurt him?” Kohka asked, the tip of a claw hesitating above Peanut’s belly.

“No,” I whispered, touched by the fact Kohka was worried about my child’s pain. Things are going to be OK. My baby is safe with Kohka. We both are.

With a gentle but decisive movement, Kohka’s claw sliced through the cord. Immediately, he tore off a thin strip of clean hide and tied it around the little stump at Peanut’s belly button.

“How did you know to do that?” I asked, amazed by how deft and sure his massive fingers were when completing such a delicate task.

“My people also must do this. We have the same sort of cord. I have not seen it done, myself, but I have some general knowledge of the practice.”

“Right.” With all those scales, it was easy to forget that the Bitter Sea people were mammalian.

Luckily, I didn’t need to push anymore. The rest of the cord, and everything it was attached to, had already come out on the other hides beside me. After a night of pure hell, I could finally rest. Rest, and enjoy the sweet light of a new day with my child.

Peanut had stopped nursing and was now sound asleep, completely oblivious to the chaos and joy his arrival had brought. Now that he was still, I could get a closer look at his face. The angry old man look had disappeared when his crying stopped, and his perfect, round little face was peaceful. I plan to keep it that way.

“Welcome to the world, Peanut,” I whispered. “It’s not the one I thought you’d be born into, but…” My gaze snagged on Kohka, who was now diligently bundling up the meconium- and placenta-soaked hides, cleaning up without being asked and giving me some privacy at the same time. My throat went so tight it was hard to say the next words.

“But this world is pretty freaking great, too.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Kohka

After ensuring that Abby and her child were alright for the moment, I slipped out of the cave with the ruined hides. I thought about trying to wash them, then decided against it. The hides were well and truly soiled, and I didn’t think I could get them clean enough to be worthy of touching the two in the cave.

I’ll bury them.

I didn’t go too far, heartsick at the idea of something happening while I was gone. The stench of Abby’s blood was thick in the air, and it could draw a predator. I will have to be on guard at all times. Especially now that I’ve moved that boulder away from where it was blocking the mouth of the cave…

I would become the boulder that blocked the cave. When I needed to sleep, I’d sleep there. Making my body a barrier between Abby, her baby, and the outside world.

The child is so, so small, I thought, worrying endlessly about the two of them as I found a spot just outside the small clearing to bury the hides. I completed my task quickly, not wanting to be away from them for even a moment longer.

Them.

I did not want to get back only to check on Abby, but on her baby, too.

When she’d told me what was happening in the cave, I’d been in shock. And, I couldn’t deny the vicious cracking of my heart when I’d realized she already had a mate. A mate who wasn’t me. Even if she said that was not the case.

I did not know how I’d react once the child emerged. I’d barely had time to process any of it, I’d been so focused on getting Abby through the pain. I knew that I’d protect the baby with my life, of course, simply because he was hers. Outside of that, though, I had no idea how I’d feel about the child himself, as an entity separate from the mother I had grown to cherish above all else.

But the moment I caught him in my hand; the moment I felt his warm, tiny body against my scales; heard his cry of life; something changed irrevocably inside me. I wasn’t sure if something broke or something mended.

Maybe both.

Whatever it was, it hastened my movements. I did take a moment to clean the dirt off my hands in a small pool of water outside the main clearing, but after that, I returned to the cave.

I stopped short in the mouth of the cave, staring at the vision before me.

Abby looked lovelier than I’d ever seen her. Her smile was like sun in the cave as she looked down at her tiny, sleeping child.

Now that her pain had passed and she no longer seemed to be in any sort of danger, the fact that she was basically nude slammed into me. I hadn’t had the presence of mind to think too much about that fact before. I’d been too worried for her. While I’d been gone, she’d put on a small, loincloth-like garment, but from hips to head she was mostly bare.  It was shameful, but my gaze fell to her large breasts and stayed there, unable to look away from the lush, human curves.

“Kohka! You’re back!”

Now that sunshine smile was aimed directly at me. She is happy I am here.

That made me feel rather wobbly and off-centre. Like the joints in my normally-strong legs had been replaced with sea sponges.

“I am,” I said simply. The rest of the words echoed unspoken in my head. Words that spoke of never knowing where I’d belong without her, now. Words about always following her, always finding her. Always coming back.

“Oh! Um…” With one hand, she pulled her stretchy sleeveless tunic down over her breasts. “Sorry about that. I forgot,” she said with a shaky laugh, her cheeks colouring a deep red that made my groin swell.

“No need to apologize,” I ground out. I forced myself to look at a blank, dark wall in the cave, hating myself for wanting her when she was in such a state. The things Abby needed to focus on included her child and her own healing and recovery. Not the idiocy of my cock.

But I couldn’t stay standing there, staring at the wall, forever. Abby’s voice, grown softer, slightly hesitant, was calling for me from her place at the back of the cave.

And I could deny her nothing.

I went to her side, seating myself on the stone beside her hides.

“So. We should talk,” she said. Her smile was gone, now, replaced with a serious, searching look.

“Should we?” I countered. “I think you should rest.”

“Yeah. I am definitely going to need to do that. I feel like I just ran a marra-thon with a boulder on my back. But I have to… I feel like I need to explain this all to you.”

Her brows were furrowed. She looked uncomfortable. Maybe even worried.

She is worried about my reaction. She still worries I am not entirely on her side.

“It is alright,” I murmured quickly, wanting to reassure her. Wanting to show her she could trust me, rely on me. Wanting to tell her that nothing mattered more than her and the safety of her newborn babe. “I will not take you to the settlement.”

She had seemed so frantic about that possibility during her labour. I thought that reassuring her we’d stay here would soothe her expression. It did, a little bit, but not completely.

“Thank you, Kohka. But I… Shit. I’m sorry. I know I’ve put you in a terrible position here.”

She was not worried that I would take her to the settlement against her wishes, but was worried about my feelings? She, who had carried her secret alone for so long, who’d endured an entire night and half a day of pain, was worried how I felt? About my situation?

I was speechless at that. Abby was far too kind, worrying about others when she should have been using her energy only on herself and her child.

Abby filled the silence, her words coming out in a rush.

“This is why I didn’t want you to find me! I need the others to think I’m dead so they don’t come looking for me and find my baby. I didn’t want you to know what was happening because I didn’t want you to have to choose between abandoning your post, your people, to stay and help me, or to lie to the others about what had happened to me. That’s why I hid everything and disappeared without telling you and why I lied to you about why I needed to leave the Sea Sand settlement. I wanted you to think I was dead, too, so you could just continue on with your life. I mean, I didn’t want to, but…”

“Abby,” I muttered, astounded, “How could you-”

“I know! I’m so sorry. I’ve kept so much from you and put you in such a-”

“No!” I hissed, my hands curling into fists against my thighs. “No, Abby. I was not about to admonish you. I was not going to ask how you could deceive me. I do not care. You have been carrying a heavier burden than I ever could have imagined and I do not blame you for a single thing you’ve done.”

Abby’s eyes got big and shiny, her lips doing an odd, trembling thing that made me want to stroke them, still them.

“What I was going to say,” I continued, fighting the urge to draw her against my body and never let her go, “was, how could you think I’d ever accept the idea of your death? You were under my care. How could you possibly think I’d let you disappear and that I wouldn’t search every single shadow and stone of these valleys until I found you and made you safe again?”

Now her lips weren’t the only things trembling, but her shoulders, too. Hot human tears streaked down her cheeks.

“I didn’t know what else to do! I’m so sorry,” she choked out. “I feel like I’ve taken away all your choices. Like I’ve ruined your life.”

I forced my fists to uncurl, keeping my voice steady when I wanted to roar back at what she’d just said.

“No, kind little creature. No. The only thing that could ruin my life now is something happening to you.” My gaze dipped to the sleeping babe in her arms. “Or your child.”

“You mean that? Even though he’s human?”

“Yes,” I answered instantly. “Your child is as much under my protection as you are. I swear to you that as long as breath fills my lungs and my claws can still cut, I will take care of you both.”

My eyes met hers once more, and I held her gaze firmly, hoping that the steadiness of my expression would convince her as much as my words did.

“I choose this, Abby. I chose to find you, and now I choose to stay with you.”

A ragged breath tore out of her. For some miserable reason, my words had made her cry even more.

“Oh, Kohka,” she sobbed. “You’re too good.”

“I am not especially good,” I muttered, rubbing my knuckles along the underside of my snout, embarrassed by her words.

Not especially good.

Merely devoted. Endlessly, achingly devoted.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Abby

There was more I wanted to say to Kohka. Despite his assurances, I still felt like I had to explain myself. Apologize more. I was so glad he’d come and found me. But at the same time, guilt plagued me. He was doing what I wanted – keeping me away from the settlement – to the detriment of his own choices, his own path. Yes, he said he’d chosen this, but I wasn’t entirely convinced of that.

But, even with the doubt and the guilt swirling, I didn’t have the energy to talk anymore. Peanut was still sound asleep, so I laid him down gently on a flat, smooth rectangle of hides beside me.

“Rest now,” Kohka murmured. I couldn’t believe someone so big, with fangs and claws, could sound so sweet and gentle. “I will take care of everything else.”

The words were a balm to my ripped-up nerves. I reached over to my pile of clean hides, grabbing a small one and fashioning it into a diaper around Peanut’s hips. Then I scooted down until I was lying on my side, wincing at the pain between my legs. Luckily, the ship had ample menstrual supplies from Earth. I’d taken a bunch of pads and was wearing one with some clean undies now. I had a feeling the pain would have been a whole hell of a lot worse if Kohka hadn’t arrived just in time and shared some of his mating venom with me.

All in all, I’m pretty fucking lucky he showed up.

I reached over, settling my hand on Peanut’s chest, lulled by the rise and fall of his breaths. I’ll need to think of a name for you soon, I thought as my eyes slid shut. The sound of Kohka puttering around the cave, tidying up, soothed me into a deep, dreamless sleep.

I woke up to slight movement and quiet words nearby. My eyes flew open, searching for my baby.

I found him just where I’d left him, beside me.

He’s OK. He’s OK…

Peanut was awake, now, but not making any noise. Instead, he was staring upwards at Kohka, who loomed over him.

I realized the movement I’d felt was Kohka untying Peanut’s diaper. I watched Kohka for a moment, not moving or letting him know I’d woken up.

“I hope it is alright that I do this in your mother’s stead, young one,” Kohka rumbled quietly. “But I do not wish to wake her yet. And I imagine it cannot feel nice to stay soiled.”

Kohka peeled away the diaper, then hesitated.

“Ah. This is… Slightly messier than I was anticipating.” When Peanut’s face crumpled inward, like he might begin to cry, Kohka made a growly humming sound, deep in his chest.

“Not to worry, young one,” he said quickly. “As a warrior, I was trained always to be prepared for any situation.”

I bit down on my lip to keep from laughing. Kohka had told me once, when we’d first met, that he almost never talked to himself. But it seemed like, in the quiet confines of the cave, he talked quite a bit to Peanut. I wonder if Kohka talked to him the whole time I was asleep…

God, I liked that idea.

It was harder and harder to keep from laughing out loud as I watched Kohka try to figure out how to clean my baby’s messy bottom. But despite the newness of all of this, Kohka was smart. He figured things out quickly. He dumped some water from my water bottle onto a scrap of hide, cleaning the baby’s front before gently pinching Peanut’s ankles together to lift him and clean the back.

“Hmm,” Kohka said, carefully folding and placing the dirty hide off to the side, “I may need to blunt my claws if I am to do this more often. You have even softer hide than your mother, which I did not think could be possible.” Using a clean square of hides, Kohka retied a new diaper. “There, young one. I hope I have done a serviceable enough job. I imagine I’ll be doing this often, as I wish to help your mother as much as I can.”

Kohka got into a more comfortable seated position. He idly cleaned his hands with some more of the water, continuing to speak to Peanut in hushed tones.

“She’s very special, your mother,” he said. “Strong. Beautiful. Capable. Kind beyond measure. I hope that, in time, you will see just how lucky you are to have her.”

Right now, I felt like the lucky one. Watching Kohka care for my child, so naturally, almost as if Peanut were his own, made my chest ache. If there was any question how I felt about Kohka before this, it was gone, now.

I’m in love with him.

The love got bigger and bigger inside me until I couldn’t hold it in anymore.

“Kohka.”

His eyes shot to mine.

“I-”

My words were cut off by a mewling cry. Peanut was red-faced and wiggling. Since I knew he’d just been changed, I could only assume he needed to eat.

“Help me up, would you, Kohka?”

I grabbed one of Kohka’s hands with both of mine. His other hand settled on my back, easing me upwards. I loved the feeling of his hand on me. So warm and strong and supportive.

Once I was sitting upright, I reached for Peanut, lifting my tank top and helping him latch. The crying subsided instantly. Guess he was hungry.

I stared at Kohka, mulling over what I’d been about to say. But the moment was gone. Kohka grabbed the soiled diaper and hide he’d used to clean Peanut with.

“I will go clean these,” he told me, standing. “There is another source of fresh water outside this clearing. A stream. I propose we use that stream for any cleaning purposes, and leave the pool in this clearing for fishing and drinking water.”

“That sounds good. Thank you,” I said.

“Do not thank me, kind one. Merely tell me what to do, and I will do it.”

With that, he turned and headed out into the late afternoon sun, his bulky body gleaming until he was out of sight. The way the cave faced, light streamed in here in the morning, slowly fading away as the day progressed. Luckily, even in the morning, there were areas of shade in here. But I was glad for the lack of light, now. I could tell the cave was cooler than the outside air, but it was still hot in here. At least the gloom helped keep things from getting even warmer.

I am in desperate need of a shower, I thought. I was sweaty and grimy and needed to change my pad and underwear, but I wanted to wash a bit first. Just as I was figuring out how exactly I’d make that happen, Kohka reappeared, the hides clean and dripping water in his hands.

“It’s good to see you,” I said, meaning it. He hadn’t been gone long, but I realized that even in that short span, I’d started missing him. “Can I have those wet hides?”

Kohka handed them to me. I cradled Peanut against me with one arm, and with my free hand, gave myself a quick sponge bath with one of the wet hide squares.

“Wow, this smells really nice,” I said, surprised how fresh Kohka had managed to get it after what it had gone through.

“I could find no talka stalks that you would typically use for cleaning the hides,” Kohka said, seating himself on the floor of the cave. I noticed that he kept his gaze riveted to my face, as if trying very hard not to look down at my bare chest. He’s too sweet.

“However,” he continued, “I found a sort of moss similar to one that grows on our island. It lathers up and cleans very well when combined with water. It did a satisfactory job. I would not have let you use it on your skin if I had not gotten it entirely clean.”

“Well, I’m sorry to say it’s not clean anymore,” I said, laughing and wiping the cloth along my face. Man, this feels good.

“It is no great matter,” Kohka said. “I’ll simply clean it again. Along with anything else you need.”

So, he’s not only going to change my kid’s diapers, but do my laundry, too?

I wanted to thank him again, but he’d already stood once more. He walked to the mouth of the cave, looking out and sniffing the air.

“Everything alright?” I asked uneasily. Was something, or someone, out there?

“Yes,” Kohka said, turning back to me. “If we are to remain hidden, I was thinking that I should go retrieve your tent and my spear from our old camp as soon as possible.”

“Oh, yeah. I forgot all about that stuff,” I said.

“I do not want to do it,” Kohka admitted. “It will take me some time to retrieve them. You travelled an astonishing distance during the night. But a predator could catch your scent on those hides and try to track you. And, of course…”

“If a Deep Sky warrior finds it, he’ll start searching for us in this area.”

“Precisely.”

“Well, it has to be done, I guess,” I replied, already hating the idea of him leaving.

“If we will remain hidden here, then yes, I believe it does.” Kohka’s eyes glowed in the gloom, fixed on me. “I will hurry, Abby.” He turned halfway towards the outside world, then hesitated.

Then, he spun, crossing the distance between us in great, quick strides. He crouched beside me, his huge hand going to the side of my face, cradling it. I gasped, then leaned into the contact.

“Stay hidden, kind one. Stay here and stay safe. I will return to you as quickly as I can.”

“You promise?” I whispered.

“I do.”

He paused, as if he were about to say something else. But before I could guess at what it was, he pulled his hand away from my face. He brushed a knuckle along Peanut’s shoulder, murmuring, “Take care of your mother, young one.”

Then he rose, turned, and left the cave.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Abby

The time that Kohka spent away from the cave felt both long and short. Short, because it seemed I was busy the entire freaking time.

And it felt long for the exact same reason.

If I wasn’t nursing Peanut, I was cleaning him or myself up, changing his diaper, making sure he wasn’t too hot, or, after the sun set, too cold. He started doing this thing where he wanted to nurse every few minutes, but only for a few sips at a time. Every time I thought he was done and I tried to put him down, he’d start bawling, which mean I spent hours just holding and nursing him. I barely got a chance to find a place to pee outside the cave, hissing as even that simple act caused me pain – stinging my raw flesh. I crammed a few protein bars into my gob and chugged some water with my one free hand when I could. I didn’t sleep at all, despite desperately needing to, because I was too worried about closing my eyes without Kohka there.

The result was that, by the time Kohka returned that night, I was a stressed-out, exhausted mess.

“Kohka, thank God,” I groaned with relief. “I’m so glad you’re back.”

I didn’t think I’d ever been happier to see anyone than I was to see Kohka when he entered the dark cave. And I wasn’t just glad that he could help me again. I was happy he was safe. He came back. Just like he said he would.

Kohka dropped the tent hides and poles, and his spear, at the entrance to the cave. The lack of fire in here turned him into a silhouette, the occasional scale catching starlight and glinting. I shivered, feeling suddenly cold. I’d gotten Peanut all wrapped up and cozy in some hides, but was still only wearing my tank top and undies.

“I caught a rakdo on my way back. Are you hungry?” Kohka asked, stepping into the cave. The darkness in here extinguished the silvery reflections of light along his scales, making him into a statue wrapped in black velvet.

“I ate a bunch of snacks. I’m OK for the moment. Honestly, I just need to sleep. I’m so tired,” I whimpered. “But you should eat it, though,” I added hastily. I hadn’t seen Kohka eat the entire time he’d been with me since this morning, and it was halfway through the night, now.

“I will eat once you are asleep,” Kohka said. I shivered again, and he kneeled beside me. “You should lie down.”

I gave a mirthless laugh.

“Yeah, I would, except this child now cries every five minutes if he isn’t eating.”

“Can he not feed while you lie down and sleep?”

“I… I didn’t think of that,” I admitted. “But how would that even work? What if I roll over on him, or smother him, or-”

“I will be here. I will make sure nothing happens.”

All the stress of the evening drained out of me. Kohka’s presence was like a strong, steady boulder. Something I could anchor myself to after being lost at sea all night. Something I could endlessly lean on, could put my full weight against, and would not crack under the pressure.

“OK.”

I snuggled down into my hides, shivering again, but this time with pleasure at the soft, cozy feeling against my skin. I lay on my side and pulled up my tank top just as Peanut started to cry. It took a bit of manoeuvring, but I got him latched, both of us on our sides, facing each other.

“There. OK. This is working,” I said. It felt like I weighed a million pounds. Like my body was heavier than the stone I laid on.

“You should eat now, Kohka,” I said, fighting sleep so I could talk to him a little more. “Bring the rakdo in here so you can stay beside me.” It was almost terrifying how much I’d come to rely on him, to the point where I couldn’t even sleep unless he was here.

But I can rely on him. There’s nothing to be afraid of, now.

Kohka obeyed, bringing his meal into the cave.

“Sleep now,” he said, his voice quiet and deep in the darkness.

This time, I was the one who obeyed.

When I woke, morning light was streaming into the cave, along with one of the most delicious scents I could imagine. Smoked fish.

I realized I was sleeping half on my stomach, and gasped, horrified at the idea I’d rolled over on Peanut. But Peanut wasn’t there. I sat up, panicked that I couldn’t find him.

But I saw him almost immediately. He was naked, lying on his back on some hides, while Kohka sat beside him, talking quietly, his back to me.

“I figure,” Kohka was saying, “That a small fire during the day should not be a problem. Do you not agree? It is already hot and bright out there. So, the light and heat of a fire should not attract any foul creatures here. And this way, we can cook your mother’s breakfast for her. She has not had cooked meat in some time. I believe she will enjoy it, don’t you?”

Peanut responded with a wiggle, and Kohka’s snout tightened in a smile.

“Yes, that is a very good point, young one.”

Grinning like an idiot, I took advantage of the baby-free moment to wipe myself down with some talka and change my pad and clothes. I smoothed more talka gel through my short hair, feeling a little more like my old self now that I was more clean and presentable.

“I think he likes your voice,” I said as I padded slowly over to the two of them. My ankles twinged with the movement, but I could tell they were getting better. Kohka turned back to look at me.

“Ah, well, I’m glad someone does,” he muttered awkwardly.

“Hey! It’s not just him,” I said, poking Kohka in the forehead. “I like it too.”

“I… I made you breakfast,” Kohka stammered, as if unsure how to respond to what I’d said.

“Thank you. I’m starving,” I said. I sat down gingerly. Peanut lay between us, looking so freaking cute I practically wanted to eat him up instead of the fish.

As Kohka used his spear as a giant spatula, hooking the piping hot fish out of the fire, I noticed the range of motion in one of his arms seemed… Off.

“Oh my God! Kohka! What happened to your shoulder!”

This was the first time I’d had a spare moment where I wasn’t nursing or completely exhausted to look at Kohka in bright daylight. The scales all along his collarbone and right shoulder were broken and buckled. I was sure that hadn’t happened with the fight with the salamander thing – I would have noticed.

“Oh. This?” Kohka deposited three smoked fish, with scales the colour of bubble gum, onto a smooth clean rock in front of me. “This is nothing. It happened when I moved the boulder outside this cave.”

The boulder.

I’d nearly forgotten about it. I’d heard the crash of it falling, of course, but I’d been so overwhelmed with my contractions that I hadn’t had the brain power to figure out Kohka had to have been the one to move it. It was gigantic, even bigger than him…

“Jesus, Kohka. I’m so sorry,” I said, tears filling my eyes. Peanut started to squawk, so I blinked the tears away, picking him up and helping him latch.

“Truly, it does not matter,” Kohka said. “The boulder was keeping me from you. There was no other choice.” His brow lowered heavily over his eyes as he stared into the flames of the small fire he’d built at the entrance to the cave. “When I heard you screaming in here, I thought I’d go out of my mind. Trust me, Abby, I felt no pain. No pain except the thought of what might happen if I didn’t get to you.” He turned his face towards me, capturing me with a simmering silver gaze. “I would have smashed my way through that rock, breaking every scale and claw in the process, if I’d had to.”

“Well, I’m glad you didn’t have to,” I said, sniffing hard. “Just look at you! Your scales are all messed up!” I reached my free hand upwards, tenderly drawing my fingertips along the smashed-up scales. Kohka went completely rigid, apart from a tremor running down his tail. I whipped my hand away.

“Sorry! Did that hurt?”

“No,” Kohka rasped tightly.

“Is there anything I can do to speed up the healing?”

“No,” he said again. “As the muscle beneath heals, most of the scales should straighten out again. Though the broken ones will remain broken.”

As if he could tell what I was about to say, he firmly added, “Do not apologize for this again, kind one.”

I shut my mouth, then turned my attention to the fish.

“Well, fine then. I won’t apologize again. But I will thank you. For everything.” I picked up a fish, now cool enough to handle. “Especially this breakfast,” I said with a teary smile.

The fish was delicious, and I chowed down with Peanut in my lap. Labour, and now breastfeeding, was taking an enormous amount of energy. It felt good to eat something other than protein bars.

Kohka watched me closely, with that blinkless gaze of his, as I ate. As if he wanted to make sure I ate it all, that I was satisfied.

“That was so good. Thank you again,” I said, sighing contentedly. Kohka put out the fire with a sweep of his tail over the coals. After sticking his head out of the cave to make sure there were no predators or warriors lured by the scent of the smoke, he came to sit beside me once again.

“I need to think of a name for him,” I said suddenly.

Kohka cocked his head at me.

“I thought his name was Pee-Nutt.”

I laughed so hard that it caused Peanut to lose his latch. I switched him to the other side, still chuckling.

“No, no. That’s just a nickname for him. I haven’t chosen his real name yet. I’ve been trying to think of one, but none of them fit.”

I looked out of the cave, admiring the sunlight’s shine on the pool out there. The light that shone in here was beautiful, too, making the cave’s walls shimmer like sapphire.

“Hey! Why don’t you tell me some Bitter Sea names?” I said. As soon as the words were out, I felt more and more sure of them.

Why didn’t I think of it before?

I’ll give him a Bitter Sea name. To honour the Bitter Sea warrior who helped me bring him into this world.

“A Bitter Sea name? Hmm,” Kohka rumbled thoughtfully. “Well, there is Skora. That means, ‘strong warrior.’ Or there is Tontat, which means something like, ‘flashing knife.’  Kogu means, ‘gleaming wave of the dawn.’”

“What does Kohka mean?” I asked, suddenly more interested in that than hearing the other names.

“It means something like, ‘small unadorned rock.’ Or maybe a better translation would be, ‘plain pebble.’”

“Plain… Pebble,” I repeated, frowning at him.

“Yes. Why are you making that face?”

“Oh! Sorry.” I smoothed my expression. “It’s just… I don’t know, your people have names with meanings like ‘gleaming wave of dawn’ or ‘strong warrior’ and you got ‘plain pebble?’” I thought the name Kohka sounded beautiful, and I didn’t want him to feel bad, but its meaning just didn’t seem worthy of him.

“It was my father’s choice. He did not believe in excessive pride or boasting, especially when it came to his own child. And I have never felt the need for a more beautiful name,” Kohka said.

“Well, no offence to your father, but I would have chosen something that meant, like, ‘best, strongest, shiniest freaking rock in the whole ocean,’” I retorted. “Plain pebble, my ass,” I muttered to myself in English.

When I glanced at him again, I was relieved to see the faint pulling of a smile along his snout. Good. I’m glad I didn’t offend him.

“Go on then, give me a few more ideas,” I said. Peanut stopped feeding, and I pulled my tank top down before I popped him up onto my shoulder. I patted his back gently as Kohka continued rhyming off names.

“There is Bantack. Gorar. Kip. Keir-”

“Oh! Keir!” I said, sitting up straighter. I loved the sound of that one. It reminded me of my own father’s name – Ciaran. “What does that one mean?”

Kohka’s eyes tracked between Peanut and me, his expression softening.

“Keir,” he said slowly, each sound becoming something meaningful, something sacred, in his mouth. “It means, ‘hope.’”

CHAPTER THIRTY

Abby

Over the next two weeks, Kohka, Keir, and I fell into some semblance of a routine. It was an often-chaotic routine, but it was ours. Kohka did most of the diaper changes, laundry, and cooking, while I spent the majority of my time nursing Keir, healing, and trying to get some sleep – sleep that only came because of Kohka watching over us, or because he walked Keir tirelessly around the cave when Keir wouldn’t nurse but wasn’t content to lie on the floor, either.

I was completely, 100% aware of the fact that this would have been an absolute shit show without Kohka.

Every day that passed, when Kohka took yet another burden off my weary shoulders, I wondered how the hell my mom did this alone. Sure, she wasn’t in a cave without running water like we were. But she didn’t have anyone to rely on after my dad died, and I couldn’t imagine that things like washing machines would have made much of a difference during the newborn period when she was the only one to deal with it all.

For a while, it made me feel weak. That I had to rely so much on Kohka when I’d been planning to do this all on my own like she had. Like I wasn’t living up to her memory, or something.

But then I realized that the only reason my mom got through it on her own was because she had to. There was no other choice.

If she had had a choice, she would have chosen to still have my dad around. To have a partner. Someone to rely on.

I wasn’t weak for doing things differently than she had been forced to. I was lucky.

I had someone. Someone I loved more and more every day I spent with him.

But despite my growing feelings, the chance to tell Kohka never seemed to arise. Whenever we had a quiet moment together and I thought, this is it, now’s the time, Keir would inevitably poop or scream or do something else that demanded all our attention. I adored that baby more than the entire universe, but I had to admit the kid could be one hell of a cock block.

Not that I was even close to ready to do anything with a cock, especially one as big as Kohka’s probably was, but still.

And so, two weeks became three. Then four. Everything chugging along peacefully – as peacefully as life with a newborn could be, anyway.

At least, until the night the sky turned to stone.

And everything fell the fuck apart.

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

Abby

The night started off like any other. Kohka caught us a rakdo that we ate together before Keir and I settled into our hides for the night. I got Keir latched, then drifted off.

I woke long after the sun had set, realizing Keir wasn’t beside me. I’d gotten used to this, so it didn’t make me panic the way it once had. Kohka often scooped Keir up if he was getting too loud and wiggly while I was sleeping. It looked like he’d done exactly that, as neither of them was in the cave right now.

I tugged on some pants, then my jacket and boots, creeping to the mouth of the cave. I stopped, leaning against the stone, crossing my arms over my chest and smiling at what I saw.

Kohka was standing with his back to me. I couldn’t see Keir, but I knew, based on Kohka’s stance, that he was cradled against Kohka’s chest.

Kohka was speaking to Keir, as he often did. I listened, warmth blooming in my chest.

“This down here is called the ground. It’s solid and reliable, most of the time, anyway. The ground in the Death Plains is an entirely different story, though. I will have to teach you the paths there.”

My heart got all gooey in my chest at the thought of Kohka teaching a tiny boy, my Keir, how to exist in this world.

“That there is called water,” Kohka continued, his tail gesturing towards the shining coin of the pool in the centre of the clearing our cave occupied. “I love water. I will teach you to swim if you like. Your mother claims she can swim, though I have not yet seen proof of that. I may have to end up teaching her, as well.”

I swallowed down a snort of amused indignation at that. I didn’t want Kohka to know I was there. Not yet. I was too happy just to watch the two of them, wrapped up together in their own little world. It felt like I was looking at…

A father with his son.

“Perhaps one day I can show you the water of my homeland, young one. The Bitter Sea is vast and beautiful. I would like to show your mother my homeland, too.”

I bit my lip. I’m not going to cry. I’ve cried too much lately.

Kohka shifted his arm so that Keir was presumably cradled, looking upwards, instead of being against his chest.

“That up there is the sky. That’s where you and your mother came from. In something called a ship. The little lights are the stars. The larger ones in a line are moons, though I think your mother calls them something else. She is wise, so whatever she calls them is probably correct.”

I shook my head. I followed Kohka’s gaze upward to the sky he was describing. At that moment, a glittering light streaked across the sky.

A shooting star.

“Ah, look, young one! A star spear!” Kohka exclaimed, seeing the same thing I had. “That is a good omen indeed. It brings good luck to any warrior who sees it.”

“Where I come from, we call it a shooting star,” I said. I uncrossed my arms and pushed off from the stone I’d been leaning against, walking towards Kohka. He turned at the sound of my voice.

“And you’re supposed to make a wish,” I said, stopping in front of him.

Kohka looked beautiful out here, every scale pearlescent and perfect. Even the broken ones. He held Keir so carefully, close to his chest. Keir was swaddled in warm hides, awake but completely at ease, cradled in the crook of Kohka’s arm.

“What would you wish for, Kohka?” I whispered.

Kohka’s shining pupils got larger, the way they often did when they focused on my face.

“I… Nothing,” he replied.

“Nothing? There’s nothing you’d wish for? There has to be something. Don’t waste the shooting star,” I said.

“I do not wish for things I cannot have and do not deserve.” His snout bunched in what was probably supposed to be a reassuring smile, but the expression looked grim. “Hope is worse than hurt, sometimes.”

My throat tightened. My eyes burned.

“Hope hurts? Why, Kohka? What would you hope for, if you let yourself?”

Would he hope for the same thing I did?

Keir’s eyes had fluttered closed during our conversation. I took him from Kohka’s arm, wanting to be able to focus solely on each other for the moment.

“Hold on a second,” I said. I took Keir back to the cave and laid him down gently. By some miracle, he stayed asleep, cocooned in the perfect swaddle Kohka had wrapped him up in while I’d been asleep.

I hurried back out to where Kohka stood watching me. My heart buzzed in my chest as I faced him.

“Tell me, Kohka,” I pressed. For some reason, I knew I couldn’t let this go. This was important. It meant something. And I had to find out what it was. There was something he was afraid of wanting. I was elated and terrified at the prospect it could be the same thing I wanted.

My hands rose, sliding up to rest on his chest. A beat later, his hands came to cradle the sides of my face.

“I… I cannot say it, kind one. I am afraid that I will ruin this. That I will drive you away from me. I would rather stay beside you forever, just as I have done thus far, than to push you away by saying the wrong thing, now.”

This wasn’t going to be easy. Kohka was worried, scared, even.

But maybe I could be the brave one this time. Kohka had been brave for me so many times already.

“Then let me tell you my wish,” I whispered, my gaze searching his. “I’d wish that you were mine. As more than just my friend. I know the Kell didn’t call you, and I know Keir isn’t your blood, but I feel like we’ve built our own little family. I wish… I wish that you were…”

“Your mate?”

I sucked in a breath, shocked by the blunt gravity of his words. But the instant he’d said them, I knew it was true. Kohka had been there for me every step, every breath, every moment. He’d seen me at my worst and never balked or backed away. No, he’d dragged me through the pain and the blood and built me back up when I thought I was falling apart. He’d fought for me. He’d gotten hurt for me.

He’d become the love of my life. My soulmate. Whether the Kell agreed or not.

“Yes.”

Kohka turned to stone beneath my hands. Besides a flaring of his nostrils and a twitch of his tail, he was completely still.

After a silent moment that went on so long I worried I’d just made the biggest mistake of my life, he spoke.

“Then I am afraid you’ve wasted your star wish,” he muttered hoarsely.

“What do you mean?” I asked, my heart sinking. Shit. He doesn’t feel the same. This is stupid. This is-

“You’ve wished for something that you already have.”

“Wait… What?” I choked out. My heart hadn’t quite recovered from thinking I was being rejected. It careened around my chest frantically as Kohka’s thumbs stroked back and forth along my cheeks.

“I have wanted you, Abigail Levine Matthews, from the moment I laid eyes on you. And I have loved you nearly as long.”

“Hold on… You’re telling me you’ve had feelings for me for…”

“This entire time. Yes.”

Tears and laughter intermingled. I leaned forward, burying my face against Kohka’s chest.

“Why are we so stupid? We’ve both been feeling this way and keeping it from each other!” I groaned, realizing just how foolish I’d been. “I could have told you the truth earlier. I could have told you about Keir, and I wouldn’t have had to sneak away in the night, thinking you’d drag me to the settlement against my will.”

“I wish you had told me, simply so that you wouldn’t have had to go through so much alone.”

His words cut something deep inside me. Opened up a crack in the wall I’d kept around the trauma of everything I’d been through. Keeping my pregnancy secret, saying goodbye to my friends, loving then leaving Kohka, and the pain and fear of labour had been a lot to deal with. Pile that on top of the fact I’d been ripped out of my own world, and it was a wonder I was still standing.

Hearing Kohka acknowledge that was both validating and disorienting. I shook as I cried against him, letting out all the agony of the past days, weeks, months, in a torrent of tears against his scales. Throughout it all, he held me, not telling me to stop or to hush. He was just there. Quiet, perfect Kohka.

Eventually, the tears slowed, then stopped. I swiped at my face, pulling back from Kohka’s chest. He skimmed his knuckles down my cheeks, tracing the trails my tears had left.

“From now on, you give all your burdens to me,” Kohka said firmly. “You are strong. But I am stronger. Let me carry them. That is what I should do as your-” his voice cracked “-mate.”

I nodded, laughing and sniffling.

“OK. Deal.” I swallowed hard. “I love you, Kohka.”

His hands drifted down to my shoulders, one of his thumbs stroking along the mad pulsing at the side of my throat.

“I love you, too,” he groaned. “Though there are no words in either the language of the Bitter Sea or the Sea Sands to tell you just how much.” He lowered his snout, nuzzling against my cheek, my ear. “My feelings for you are like… Are like stars and sun. Crashing waves.” He growled, as if in frustration that the words weren’t coming out right. “I can’t make sense of it all. Can’t even hope to convey it. The way I feel for you is bigger and deeper than anything I have a name for. As vast as the night sky. And ten times more beautiful than dawn.”

“I think you’ve done just fine conveying it,” I said, awed by the raw loveliness of his words, the images he’d created. I slipped my hands up to the sides of his jaw, tugging him downward. “No more words for now,” I breathed. When he was low enough, I pressed my lips to his snout.

It was odd, at first, kissing someone with a snout. But it was Kohka. And since it was Kohka, it felt so fucking right.

It didn’t take long for us to find our rhythm. He parted his jaws slightly, his split, serpentine tongue coming out to swipe along my lips. I opened my mouth with a moan, and he responded with a deep, needy groan. The tips of his tongue slid into my mouth, tangling with my own, tasting the moisture.

His huge hands grew harder against me, sliding possessively down to my hips. Desire slammed through me, making me arch and pant, my arms wrapping fiercely around his neck.

Kohka’s deep groan rumbled through his chest and into me. His hands still clamped against my hips, he walked, backing me up against the mountain, just beside the opening to the cave.

He broke free from our kiss, his breath hot and ragged. His pupils were blown as he stared down at me.

“I want you, Abby. More than I’ve ever dared want anything in my entire life.”

“I know. It’s OK, Kohka. I’m here. I’m yours.” As if to solidify my statement with action, I let one hand glide down his scales to the bulge between his legs. His tail snapped at the contact, and his breath shuddered out of him.

“It’s OK,” I said again. My fingers slid up and down, finding a slit between the scales. I teased the opening, my blood heating as the opening widened.

With a long, broken groan, Kohka let his cock emerge.

“You have no idea how many times I’ve tightened the muscles of my slit to stop you from seeing this. To stop you from seeing my need for you,” Kohka choked out against my hair. His hips twitched, his cock jerking, as my fingers swirled around its dark tip.

As I’d suspected, his cock was huge. It tapered smoothly from its thick base to its tip. It didn’t have a rounded sort of head the way a human guy’s did, nor was there any foreskin pulling back from the tip. The differences between Kohka’s dick and a human’s didn’t stop there. Its entire base was ringed with flexible, spiky tendrils. And when I drew my fingers down his length, I felt some small bumps beneath the silky-smooth black skin.

“Those are…”

“Grogar pearls,” he panted. “We pierce ourselves with one whenever we kill a great beast of the Bitter Sea.”

“Right,” I said shakily, finding it hard to process what he was saying. I was practically hypnotized by his dick. I couldn’t stop imagining what it would feel like, sliding inside me as his mating fluid burned in my veins.

My pussy clenched, and there was a pang of discomfort.

“I don’t think I can do anything tonight, Kohka. I’m still healing,” I murmured. As I spoke, I brought my other hand up to stroke him. My two hands could barely get around the base of his cock!

“I know. It is alright. This is enough,” Kohka said through clenched fangs.

“Oh, no. I didn’t mean that we couldn’t do anything,” I clarified. “Because this is definitely not enough. Now, sit down.”

Kohka did so. Before he could ask what I was doing, I knelt between his thick, splayed thighs, took the tip of his cock in my mouth, and sucked.

My mouth on his dick was like lightning. His entire body jerked, and he growled viciously at the contact. He throbbed in my mouth, and I moaned at the sensation.

I can’t wait until I’m fully healed. I can’t wait to show him how much I love him by riding his dick into fucking oblivion.

For now, I’d have to settle on giving him the best damn blow job this world had ever seen.

My two hands stroked and squeezed his length as I sucked him down as deeply as I could.

“Waves of our fathers,” Kohka swore. His hips jerked in tiny, barely controlled movements, shunting against my mouth. I jerked him harder, sucked him faster in response.

I paid special attention to the pearls under his skin. Those areas seemed to be especially sensitive, the pearls providing extra pressure against his shaft as I stroked him. I stopped sucking his tip, sliding my tongue along every inch of his length, suckling the hard marbles beneath his flesh. There were eight pearl piercings scattered along his shaft, pressed under the skin. I kissed and nipped at each one while my fingers stroked along the flexible spikes at his groin.

I sucked my way back up to his tip, and heat flared inside me when I tasted new moisture there. I dipped my tongue into his tiny, weeping opening, squeezing his cock hard at the same time, groaning when more moisture seeped into my mouth. He tasted like ocean brine. Salty, but not unpleasantly so.

“You taste nice,” I mumbled around his tip.

“You taste like pure bliss, and I’ve only tasted your mouth,” Kohka grunted. His snout was aimed downward, his eyes glued to my lips stretched around his cock. “I can’t stop watching you suck me.” One of his thumbs skimmed across my cheek. “Abby, you’re so beautiful. Impossibly so. I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve you.”

No more talk like that.

He did deserve me. He deserved every happiness life had to offer.

Starting right here, right now, with this blow job.

I pulled out all the stops. I increased my suction while running my hands all over him. I fondled every spike of flesh around his base and massaged every sensitive pearl, pressing each one into the hard heat of Kohka’s shaft until he throbbed, his hips grinding upwards. Kohka’s breath heaved out of him, harsh and quick, his erection swelling further. I keened needily when my tongue found a thick, pulsing vein on the underside of his shaft, running between the pearls like a river between rocks. I probed that swollen vein with my tongue before dipping it into the seeping slit at his tip once more.

“Abby,” Kohka said, sounding strangled. “I’m going to spill.” His hands pushed gently at my shoulders.

I didn’t budge.

“I’m going to spill,” he said again, more urgently this time. “I’m going to spill and it will be too much for you. I’ve been holding back for so long, too long. Curse me. I’m going to drown you.”

I pulled my mouth off his cock just long enough to say three simple words. I looked deep into his eyes and I squeezed his shaft, my lips already approaching his tip to taste him again as I spoke.

“Then drown me.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

Kohka

Abby’s mouth on my cock was a pleasure I never could have conceived of on my own. But, as she so often did, she made my world, my life, into something extraordinary. Liquid ecstasy pounded in my veins as her soft, wet mouth sucked and slipped. Mating fluid poured from my fangs, the dark ink of it running in hot rivulets down my snout and neck. It took more control than I wanted to admit not to grab her, yank her up to my face, and sink my fangs into some tender place. I wanted my fluid in her veins as much as I wanted my cock in her cunt.

She needs time. She is healing…

But she loved me.

And I would wait as long as it took for her to be ready.

For now, this was enough. More than enough. More than I could have imagined, could have hoped for. When my shaft swelled further, preparing to spill its seed, she moaned and sucked harder.

Pleasure uncoiled in my groin. My spine and the base of my tail tingled. Heat suffused my entire pelvis, concentrating its licking fire on my throbbing cock.

My fevered gaze met Abby’s. In those dark and lovely eyes, I saw need. Desire that mirrored my own.

It was that – knowing how much she wanted me, wanted this – that made everything rise into a crescendo inside me. With a guttural groan, I exploded into her mouth.

Abby’s eyes scrunched shut at the onslaught, but she didn’t stop sucking. Her hands and mouth kept moving over me, stroking and sucking through every jerk and spurt of seed.

The pleasure of Abby continuing to suck me through my climax was nearly blinding. My head fell back, hitting stone. My eyes were wide open, but all I saw was bright, shimmering white. My hips rocked helplessly, the movement eventually slowing as my ejaculations eased.

Abby gave me one last long, tender suck before rising up on her knees. I groaned at the sight of her – hair mussed, cheeks flushed, her mouth wet and smeared with my spill.

It made me want to do it all over again.

It made me want to do even more.

There will be time for all of that, I reminded myself.

“Come here,” I murmured, catching her slender wrists in my hands and drawing her into my chest. She collapsed against me with a sigh, snuggling against my scales.

“We can’t stay out here much longer. There’s no way Keir’s going to stay asleep,” Abby said, a note of regret tinging her words.

“I know,” I said, smoothing my hands over her back. “It’s strange. I do not want this moment to end. And yet, I am eager to get back to him.”

Abby sat up quickly.

“Yes! I know exactly what you mean! That’s just how I feel!”

I brushed a stray bit of short brown hair away from Abby’s eyes.

“What you said earlier, about us making our own family…” I began. I was not exactly sure how to word my feelings. I did not want to offend Abby, or to make her feel I was taking the place of someone I was not. “I know you have only accepted me as a mate so far, but I hope that I can be considered a satisfactory father to Keir, too. Only if that is alright with you, of course. I… I hope it is not presumptuous of me to say this. But… Even though he may not be my blood, I feel that, at least in some small way, Keir is mine.”

“Oh, Kohka,” Abby whispered, her voice thick. Her eyes shone. “I already feel that way, too. You’ve been there for him since the moment he was born – literally. Whenever I look at you two together, I feel, no, I know, that I’m looking at a father with his child.”

She took a shaking breath. “My father died before I was born. I never got to grow up with him. I thought it would be the same for my baby. That it would be just him and me.” She paused, sniffing and swiping at her eyes. “But I’m so glad things didn’t turn out that way. I couldn’t think of a better father for my son.” A smile crept over her face. “And my future children.”

Future… Children…

My cock thickened again, already growing hot at the idea of filling her with my seed one day. Rutting her over and over until she swelled with another child.

“If Keir becomes half as good a man as you are,” Abby continued, “then I’ll be the luckiest woman on this planet.”

“Half of Keir comes from you and your goodness,” I muttered. “He will be twice as good as me, minimum.”

“Nope. Impossible. Such a man doesn’t exist, even when considering my awesome genetics,” Abby said, grinning.

I was about to argue with her on that point when something… Changed.

I could not exactly name what it was. Only that it set my fangs on edge.

I stood, hauling Abby up with me, holding her close as I sniffed the air, trying to identify what was making my spine seize up with dread.

“What’s wrong?” she asked in hushed tones, her eyes darting back and forth over the clearing.

“I do not know,” I growled. I raised my head higher, sniffing the air again. There were no unusual scents. Nothing odd in my line of sight, either.

Except…

Except the sky didn’t look right. My eyesight was excellent, but for the first time in recent memory, I squinted at something in the distance, trying to make sense of what I saw.

A stretch of sky looked like it was… Hardening. Turning opaque and blocking out the stars.

Like it had been turned to stone.

“Get back in the cave,” I hissed, pushing Abby behind me, keeping my eyes pinned to the inexplicable phenomenon above us. Abby’s gaze followed my own and she gasped.

“What’s happening up there?”

“I do not know. But-”

A terrific, scale-shattering boom cut off my words. The wall of stone that had formed far above us cracked, creating a dark gash of an opening.

And through that opening came a monster, flying downward on wide wings.

Straight towards us.

I trundled Abby into the cave. The cracking sound had woken Keir, and his wails echoed off the stone walls.

“Stay here,” I snarled, picking up my spear.

Abby got down on the floor, snatching Keir into her arms.

“Kohka… Please…”

“I know,” I replied, heart twisting at the thought of leaving them. “I will come back to you,” I promised.

Even if it means I must drag myself back from the dead.

There was no more time. A ground-shaking thud, followed by a savage alien roar, let me know that whatever had come from the sky was now here.

I turned and ran from the cave, spear ready. Claws ready. Fangs ready.

I had the thing in my sights. It was crouching on the ground, but a moment later it rose, standing tall on two legs. At first disconcerting glance, it, he, looked almost like a Bitter Sea male. He stood as tall as me, and as broad, with two legs and two arms, a tail, snout, and scales.

But he had wings: dark, powerful, and expansive.

And when he turned to me and roared again, his eyes catching mine in a tunnel of fire, I knew that he was not one of my kind. No Bitter Sea male had eyes like that. The burning eyes of a god gone mad.

I faced the feral fury of that gaze. I did not stop and I did not turn away.

I had a family to protect.

I would fight.

Until the battered, bloodied end.

For them.

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

The Stone Sky God Wylfrael

He’s here.

I knew it, felt it, somewhere in the sleeping recesses of my mind, before the crack of the stone sky fully woke me.

So, he rampages still.

I did not know how long I’d slept here, under the red mountains of this foreign world. I looked around the darkness of the cave that had housed me. I found things much as they had been when I’d first arrived here, disoriented and bleeding, dying.

But I was not dying, now. This cave had not become my tomb. My healing was complete.

And I was ready to face him again.

The stone sky god who’d nearly killed me in the first place.

I launched off the stone slab I’d been sleeping on for the sky knows how long and stalked through the cave, heading for the tunnel that would lead me upwards.

The tunnel, though, was blocked off. An avalanche of boulders had sealed it.

I vaguely remembered a loud sound – an explosion above – that had briefly woken me some time ago. This must have happened then.

I did not want to use too much power yet. I needed to save it for the battle with Skallagrim. But I did not have any time to waste. If I did not hurry, Skallagrim could leave this place, and I would lose his trail until he smashed his way through yet another world.

Fool. He should have found her by now.

It happened to every stone sky god eventually, if we did not find our mate. Mateless immortality was not good for the mind. It frayed our faculties until there was little left but fury and the bitter need for blood.

All stone sky gods were susceptible to it. Going mate mad.

But not all of us had berserker blood like Skallagrim.

I had to get to him. Stop him. Now.

I stretched my wings in the tunnel, their tips scraping the rock walls. I closed my eyes, focusing on the power in the air, the stone, the ground, drawing it inwards and to me. My tail swished. My fangs clenched. Energy surged into my limbs, suffusing me with strength. The stars on my skin – my corporeal map of the cosmos – glowed bright blue and white, growing hot.

I placed my hands on the boulders before me, grunting, then roaring, the vibrating energy inside me reaching a screaming fever pitch. Bright blue cracks appeared in the stones, growing and spreading until everything crumbled into pebbles and dust.

I stepped through the wreckage and made my way out of the tunnel, up to the outside world. Up, to the sand and red rock I had not seen for so long.

Up, to where my berserker cousin raged.

I am coming for you, Skallagrim. This time, I will win, and I will drag you before the Council of the Gods so they can finally bind you.

Or, I thought grimly, as I reached the surface and beat my wings, slicing through the night sky, one of us will finally die this time.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

Kohka

Ilearned quickly there would be no victory against the warrior who’d come from the sky. Every blow he landed was like the blow of ten Bitter Sea men. One strike of his tail cracked my ribs. One slice of his claws tore my scales apart. I could not beat him. I could only try to lead him away from my family before he killed me.

So that’s exactly what I did.

I tore out of the clearing and through the next valley, crashing through water and over stone while blood and venom sluiced down my ripped-open chest. I forced myself to go faster, go further. To push my failing body to its limits and create some distance between this mad behemoth and the ones I loved.

I did not get nearly as far as I had hoped.

He overtook me on his wings, flying faster than any natural creature of this world. Even faster than a spear. He pummelled down upon me from the air, hitting me with the force of an entire mountain, cratering the valley below my body.

I was on my back. My tail was broken beneath me, and the pain in my chest was so great I could scarce draw breath.

I stopped breathing entirely when my enemy’s clawed hands closed around my throat.

The remaining scales on my neck cracked and buckled under the pressure. My vision collapsed into a tunnel of darkness. The only thing left I could see were his eyes, so full of fire and rage.

With my last vestige of strength, I heaved up my arm, plunging a claw into one of those eyes.

If he will kill me, at least I will leave some mark on him, I thought weakly. Make it harder for him to find my family.

He let loose a roar that shook the air and ground. His grip got tighter.

My vision grew dimmer.

I am so sorry, Abby. I do not think I will be coming back after all.

Be well, beloved.

Take care of our son… Take care…

The dark wave of death broke over me. It took away everything. Words. Warmth. Pain. Thought.

Left me reeling until even I was gone.

And all that remained was abyss.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

Kohka

The abyss, it turned out, did not want me yet.

The deadly pressure at my throat was suddenly ripped away. My dying heart stuttered. I coughed and choked, sucking air into my aching lungs. I blinked over and over until my vision began, slowly but miraculously, to clear.

Though it made every bone and muscle howl in agony, I pushed myself up into a sitting position. My head swam, and I shook it viciously. If he comes back, I must be ready.

My guts turned to stone.

What if he already went back to the clearing? What if he went to the cave and found –

A bone-clattering smash ahead of me distracted me from my whirling questions.

The warrior had not gone back to the clearing. He was still here, right in front of me.

And he was not alone.

In my breath-deprived state of haziness, I thought at first it was a Sea Sand or Deep Sky man now locked in battle with him. But no. This man also had wings, leathery and black, and his skin and tail were different from any man of this world I’d ever seen.

And unlike a Sea Sand or Deep Sky man, this new warrior actually seemed to be a match for the monster who’d nearly killed me. I had no idea who had the upper hand – they moved so quickly that making sense of their actions was like trying to track lightning as it bolted into the sea. But I could at least see that the new warrior was not getting destroyed the way I had been.

Who are these warriors?

As their battle moved from the ground to the sky, their wings snapping and their claws flashing, a memory surfaced from the ooze of my revived brain. A memory of something we’d found in ancient Bitter Sea records. The story of a man who’d come here generations ago. A man who turned the sky to stone and whose god-like power had so terrified our people that they’d fled across the Bitter Sea.

I rose unsteadily to my feet, my ruined tail dragging behind me. My hand rose to my chest in a weak attempt to stem the bleeding there as I kept my eyes trained on the whirling forms fighting above me. They got higher and higher…

Until one of them – the second warrior – was thrown down to the ground so hard it shattered stone and made everything quake beneath my feet.

No one could survive that…

But survive, he had.

He emerged from a deep crevasse created by the force of his fall, dust billowing in all directions. His long hair shone in bright contrast to his black wings – it was nearly as white as the moonlight that gleamed upon it. His tail had fared better than mine had, strong and whole, covered in silken russet fur. He did not have fur on the rest of his body, though.

No… He had…

Stars.

Countless constellations glowed, like little blue flames, along his bare chest, arms, and back. As he launched back into the air, I realized there were more of the glowing stars webbed together on the underside of his black wings.

As he ascended, he called out something in a language I had never heard before. I watched, bleeding and awe-struck, as the sky hardened the way it had before. It was as if every bit of the sky’s darkness had become condensed, the very air solidifying into a wall of ablik.

The white-haired warrior reached the stone sky.

He raised his fist.

And smashed it.

A sound like thunder, but louder, exploded as a crack appeared in the stone.

And then, in a movement so quick I almost missed it, the white-haired male caught the other warrior in his brutal arms, pulling him, his wings straining, until they both disappeared into the darkness of the stone.

I remained vigilant, waiting for them to reappear. My body may have been smashed nearly to pieces, but I still had some breath left in me to fight. To protect the ones I loved.

But they did not return.

The stone ebbed away, disintegrating, like the dissipation of dark clouds after a rare bout of island rain.

A beat passed, and the sky cleared completely. The stars blinked down just as they always had, mute to what we had witnessed.

The only thing that proved the two warriors had been here at all were the gouges in the valley and the wreck of my body.

Silence descended. Dust settled.

I turned my broken body homeward.

And walked.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

Abby

Iwatched, shaking and terrified, as Kohka was brutalized by the other alien creature. The one who’d appeared out of the fucking sky like a hornet spewing out of a hive. Keir wailed in my arms, and I clutched him harder, praying I could keep him safe the way I couldn’t protect Kohka.

Kohka bolted out of the clearing and out of sight, pursued by the other alien on powerful wings.

No. No!

I didn’t want to watch Kohka die.

But having him out of my sight somehow felt even worse. The not knowing ate at me.

If I hadn’t been responsible for Keir, if I’d been on my own, nothing could have kept me there in that fucking cave.

But I did have Keir. I had to stay here and protect my child. Even if it felt like my heart was being ripped in two.

I fell to my knees, barely feeling the bruising punch of the stone against my flesh. I hunched over Keir and sobbed.

I couldn’t stay like that for long, though.

Something else was happening. A whirring sound shook the air outside the cave.

It sounded like…

Engines.

My stomach lurched. I scrambled to my feet, hauling myself to the back of the cave with Keir. My heart slammed, my breath catching as the sound got louder and louder. Even from back here, I could see dust and pebbles scattering as something descended.

A cloaked ship.

No! This could not be happening! The life signs in this cave were camouflaged. No scanner should have been able to find us!

But find us, they had. Valeria’s shuttle shimmered into view, and she vaulted out of it, followed by Grim and Tok.

Anxiety made me feel like I was about to lose my mind. I felt like a trapped, feral animal.

Nowhere left to run.

Keir cried louder, and all three heads of the ones outside swivelled towards the opening of the cave. Even though I knew there was nothing I could do, even though I knew they’d find us, I still couldn’t fight the instinct to back further into the darkness with my child.

But the cave was small. Too fucking small. In seconds, they’d entered, Valeria with her gun drawn. Her eyes widened when she saw me.

“Oh my God. Abby. What-”

I tried to hide Keir against my chest – a futile gesture. She saw him anyway. And even if she hadn’t seen him, she would have heard him. Her mouth fell open, and both Tok and Grim tensed in shock.

“Is that… A baby?”

There was no way to hide it now. No way to lie my way out of this the way I’d been lying for months.

I took a deep breath, forcing my voice to be steady.

“Yes. This is my child,” I said.

Valeria shook her head rapidly, a frown deepening between her brows.

“I don’t understand. Just… How?”

“I got pregnant on Earth. It’s a human baby. Are… Are there any Deep Sky men with you?”

I craned to look behind them but saw nothing, for the moment, except Valeria’s ship.

“None on the ship. But there are a bunch out here patrolling on their braxilk. Jesus, Abby, we’ve been looking for you and Kohka for days!”

“Wait, what? OK. It doesn’t matter right now. You guys need to go. Kohka is out there. He’s fighting this… I don’t even know. Something came out of the sky.”

Valeria’s face hardened.

“A human vessel?”

“No!” I said, wanting to claw my hair out. Every moment we stood here, Kohka could be dying. They’d already found me and my baby. There was nothing I could do about that right now. But maybe I could still save Kohka. “It definitely wasn’t human. It was an alien. A monster. I can’t even explain it. It was like the sky turned into stone and then cracked. And he came through it like it was some kind of… Of door.”

Tok growled, spikes rippling along his huge, golden body.

“A stone sky god,” he hissed.

“I have no idea what that means,” I cried. “But it’s going to kill Kohka. You have to help him, please! Take the shuttle and track them down!”

“Negative,” Valeria said sternly. “You’ve clearly recently given birth. My priority is to get you safely to the settlement. Grim and Tok can go track down Kohka and assess the danger.”

“No! I’m not going to the settlement! I can’t!”

I backed away from Valeria, stumbling and swearing when my back hit stone.

“I don’t understand what the hell is happening,” Valeria said. “We received a message from the ship in the Sea Sands a few days ago. Catalina was hysterical with worry. She said you left with Kohka to come here. That you were supposed to send a message back and check in, but you never did. And now I find you out here, camped out in a cave with a goddamn newborn? Why the hell didn’t you come to the settlement where there are more resources!”

“Valeria, please,” I whispered. “I couldn’t. My baby…” I looked down at Keir. He’d stopped crying at some point, having given up on getting fed. His perfect little face was serene. He’d already changed so much since he was born – his cheeks getting chubbier, his gaze becoming more focused. We’d even glimpsed the barest shadows of what might soon become smiles lately. He’s turning into a whole freaking person, right in front of my eyes.

“Please,” I choked out again. “I can’t go. It’s not safe. He’s human. He’s male.”

Valeria sucked in a sharp breath through her nostrils. She was just about as sharp as they came and had been trained to analyze risk. I could tell she’d instantly understood my fears.

“Shit,” she muttered.

“Yeah. You’re telling me.”

“Alright,” she muttered, pacing back and forth in the cave as Grim and Tok stood behind her like looming sentinels. “Maybe we can hold off on telling the Gahns out here. Maybe we can-”

“Hold off on telling the Gahns what, exactly?”

A deep voice from outside the cave made all of us jump. My heart sank as a huge, familiar form came stalking into the cave.

“Gahn Errok,” Valeria muttered tightly. She manoeuvred herself between Keir and me and the Deep Sky Gahn, blocking us from his view. I wanted to cry in gratitude for the simple act of protection.

But it turned out to be useless.

“What, precisely, were you going to hold off on telling me?” he purred. His voice was smooth as silk, but there was a deadly edge to it that hardened my spine. “Ah. Were you perhaps going to hold off on telling me that you have brought a foreign male into my territory without permission? That would be rather futile, as I’ve already heard everything.”

My blood ran cold. The reality that my child really might not make it through this slammed down on me so hard my knees buckled.

“Oh, shit! A little help, here!” Valeria caught me. Grim was right behind her, the two of them easing me down to the ground.

Valeria whirled towards Gahn Errok.

“I don’t care what you just heard. We may be in your territory, but Abby and the baby are human. They’re under my protection and the protection of our alliance.”

“The terms of our alliance said nothing about bringing males of your kind here,” Errok spat back.

“Errok! That’s enough!” Another voice had entered the mix, and I leaned around Valeria’s legs to see Stephanie elbowing her way into the group.

“My Gahnala,” Errok sputtered, “I am trying to-”

“Trying to be a big macho man and getting mad about a literal baby. Yeah. I got the gist of things.” Stephanie hurried to me, kneeling in front of me.

“Hey,” she said softly. “We’ve been worried about you.”

I’d always liked Stephanie. But right now, I didn’t have the patience for pleasantries.

“Stephanie, he just called you Gahnala. Are you-”

“His mate? Yes. Still not exactly sure how that happened myself.” She glanced down at Keir’s sleeping form, and her expression melted. “Oh my God. He’s so sweet. I can’t even handle it.” Her gaze returned to mine, growing fiercer in the shadows of the cave. “As long as you’re in Gahn Errok’s territory, I promise you that both you and your child will be safe.”

“Zuh-Tephanie,” came a growled warning from behind her. Errok’s eyes were narrowed, his tail lashing the cave’s floor.

“You’d better not be about to argue with me on this, Errok,” she snapped, turning her head towards her mate.

“I am not,” he ground out. “Despite what some may say of me, I have no interest in harming a defenceless child. But it should not have happened this way. An unknown male, even one so small as him, should not have entered my territory without my knowing about it. Deceit has no place in our alliance.”

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I was terrified. I didn’t know where my child would be safe!”

“It’s OK. You absolutely do not need to apologize to him,” Stephanie said firmly. Errok looked like he wanted to object to that last statement. But, under the glaring gaze of his queen, he kept his mouth shut, opting instead to give a moody swish of his tail.

“You know he will need to remain in our territory,” Gahn Errok said after a tense pause.

“Why?” I asked. “I mean, that’s fine, if he’ll be safe. But what do you mean?”

Valeria sighed from where she stood above us.

“Gahn Thaleo is… I don’t even know how to describe him. He’s impossible to read. He can be unpredictable. Going into this relationship, we thought Gahn Errok would be the loose cannon, but it’s turned out to be Thaleo.”

“I do not know what a loose cannon is, but I resent that statement,” Errok muttered.

“Gahn Thaleo almost killed Errok right in front of me,” Stephanie said. “He manipulated this whole situation so he’d be able to kill Errok without affecting the alliance.”

“Obviously, he failed,” Errok said, lifting his chin.

“Obviously,” echoed Stephanie, rolling her eyes. “Anyway, it would be better if you stayed with us. The settlement is in neutral territory, and there isn’t as much protection there. You and your little guy can come to our mountain. You’ll be cared for. You’ll be safe.”

It was everything I’d dreamed of – a healthy, safe life for my child.

But none of it would mean anything if Kohka wasn’t in it.

“OK. Fine. Deal. If you promise we’ll be safe, I’ll go with you. But we have to find Kohka first! We have to get that… That thing away from him!”

“What thing?” Errok said, snatching his bow from where it had been strung across his chest. Evidently, he hadn’t heard everything we’d said, just the part about Keir being a boy at the end. When we pieced together the story of the other alien who’d come here, his sight stars buzzed and his nostrils flared.

“Valeria!” he snarled. “Take my mate and the other new woman and her child back to my mountain. I will search out this interloper on my braxilk. Grim and Tok can search on foot. We will fling him so far out of these mountains he won’t even know how to drag himself back.”

Errok said it with so much vehement confidence I almost believed it. Maybe between the three of them, they can actually help Kohka…

“Hurry! But be careful,” I said shakily, getting to my feet with Stephanie’s help. “Whatever he is, he’s strong.”

Errok’s teeth flashed in the low light. I didn’t know if it was a smile or a sneer.

“So am I.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

Kohka

When I first saw Tok and Grim emerge from around the side of a great wall of rock, my first instinct was to hide. Not because I was afraid of my fellow warriors, but because I wanted to protect Abby and Keir. Having them not see me would make things simpler.

But they were sharp-eyed males. They’d already spotted me.

“Kohka!” Tok called down the sloped, rocky valley towards me. His yellow sight discs grew larger when he saw what a state I was in. He said something to Grim, and the two of them dropped to all fours, loping towards me at great speed.

“You are badly injured,” Tok said. “If that creature from the sky could do this to a Bitter Sea male, then he is a strong enemy indeed.”

“Yes,” I grunted. Tok shoved a shoulder under one of my arms. Grim did the same on the other side, supporting me as the three of us stood upright. “He would have killed me if the other had not arrived. They fought, then disappeared the same way they arrived.”

“Through a wall in the sky?” Grim asked, as if he could not quite believe it.

“Yes,” I said. “But how did you know? Were you nearby? Did you see the creature come down, from a distance, and follow him to me?”

“No,” Tok replied. “Abby told us.”

I froze mid-step, causing the other two to jerk into awkward stillness.

“You found her,” I hissed, my voice strangled. I ripped my arms down from their shoulders. I am a fool. They were coming right towards me from the direction of the cave! Nearly dying had dimmed my faculties far more than usual.

“Please, Tok,” I rasped. “Do not tell the others where we are. Pretend as if you never saw us.”

Tok’s eyes narrowed, his yellow sight discs probing.

“You have a strong allegiance to her and her child,” Tok said slowly.

Grim gave a sympathetic growl.

“You have been called by the Kell, then. You are doing as I once did, with Thaleria. Keeping your mate away from the others to protect her.”

“Yes,” I replied, “And no. The Kell has not called me. But I feel the mate bond for her all the same. I chose Abby. She is mine. And Keir is, too. He is as much my son as if I’d put him in Abby’s belly myself.” My voice lowered, turned threatening. “If anything happens to either of them, these lands will henceforth be known as the Deep Sea instead of Sky. Because the valleys will run black with blood.”

“I understand your feelings on this, Kohka,” Grim said. “But you know the Hakah will not accept your disappearance, just as he did not accept mine.”

“Then tell him you found me dead, or dying,” I roared. I’d nearly lost my life tonight, anyway. It would not be stretching the truth too much.

But Tok clearly did not agree.

“Enough!” he snapped. “I am right claw to the Hakah. You know I will not lie to him, Kohka. To do so would be pointless anyway.”

“Why? What do you mean?” Panic made blood pulse out of my wounds even faster.

“Because the others already know where Abby and her child are. Even now, she is on Thaleria’s shuttle, travelling to Gahn Errok’s mountain.”

Tok’s words were like a spear through my guts. In the midst of the battle, I had not heard the engines.

I failed them.

“I will get them back,” I hissed savagely. “I will not let the Deep Sky Gahn harm them.”

“I am not accustomed to foreign warriors in my territory telling me what they will or will not let me do.”

I whirled, a growl building in my torn-up chest, to see a warrior on a large flying creature landing near our group. This was clearly a Deep Sky warrior – he looked like the others who’d attacked us on the Deep Sky Plains. He had the same violet-blue skin, the same night-sea blue hair. Though I could tell he had not been among that group. I had not seen him, or his mount, before.

“I am Gahn Errok. Abby and her son are now under my protection,” he said, walking towards us.

“They are under mine,” I hissed back, hating the way it felt like he was claiming them. I’d always been a sensible warrior. Not the jealous sort. I should have been rejoicing that Abby no longer had to live in isolation, away from other people. But instead, I was reeling. Terrified that now I’d lost our tiny little home, our secrecy, that I’d lose…

Them.

I have to see them.

Gahn Errok raked pulsing white sight stars up and down my form.

“You do not look like you’d be able to protect anyone in your current state. You can barely stand upright.”

He was right. And I detested that fact.

“Where is the one who fought you?” the Gahn asked viciously, his sight stars moving from me to scan the valley and sky around us. “I will fill him full of arrows and then send my entire army down upon him.”

I doubted even an army could have done much damage to the one I’d fought. I explained what had happened as quickly and as simply as I could. At the end of it, I said, “Gahn Errok. Allow me passage into your mountain to see Abby and Keir.”

His tail swished.

“Fine, fine. I’ll have to speak to Gahn Thaleo, too, I suppose. Let him know what has happened here tonight.” His sight stars returned to my wounds once more. “Will you make it walking like this? My hall is nearer than the new women’s settlement, but it will still be at least a day’s walk.”

A whole day without them.

I was about to say that I’d walk until my very last breath to be reunited with them, but Tok piped up from beside me.

“Perhaps I can go on ahead at a running speed. Send Thaleria’s shuttle back to retrieve him.”

Gahn Errok sliced his hand through the air, a gesture I’d seen Sea Sand men use that meant, “no.”

“Valeria has likely already landed. I will fly there and send her back myself. It will be faster that way. My braxilk is strong, but not strong enough to carry one of your kind, especially with me on its back as well.”

The braxilk had to be the large creature Gahn Errok used as a mount. It reminded me of a seabird, but much larger, with many legs, six eyes, and feathers that glinted like grey and blue knives.

“Fine,” I grunted. The speed at which I was reunited with Abby and Keir was far more important than any pride I could feel about reaching them on my own two feet. “But we will keep walking, anyway,” I added. “We can continue to shorten the distance and meet Thaleria on the way.”

“Kohka,” Tok growled. “Thaleria’s shuttle is fast. Faster than you can even conceive of. Pushing yourself while this injured to walk a few extra steps will not accomplish anything. It would be better to stay in one place and let her scanners pick up our life signs.”

I wanted to argue. To keep going. To feel like I was doing anything and everything I could to close the distance between my family and me. But Tok was right. I was still bleeding badly, and now that I’d stopped walking, the pain from my tail and ribs was becoming so great that breathing was difficult. It would be better to rest now and maintain some strength, even if every instinct inside me railed against the idea.

Tok and Grim helped ease me down into a seated position. I tensed as agony shot through my tail.

“My healers will tend to you when you arrive,” Gahn Errok said as he mounted his braxilk.

“Thank you,” I grunted.

“Thank my Gahnala,” he said. “She is the one who has made me so soft-hearted that I will expend my tribe’s resources on any male who limps, wiggles, or wails his way into my territory.”

The wailing, I assumed, referred to Keir. Probably the wiggling, too. Though the limping I had to claim full credit for.

“But then again,” the Gahn said, looking at me more thoughtfully than before, “perhaps I should be the one thanking you. When an enemy appeared in my territory, neither I nor my men were there to fight him. But you were there. And you did fight him.”

“I had no other choice. He came too near my family. And it is not as if I was victorious. He nearly killed me. The one you need to thank for protecting your territory is gone now.” I could still picture the strange other warrior vividly. Whirling white hair, red tail, black wings…  “I should thank him, too.” He had saved my life, after all.

“Fine, then,” Gahn Errok said, impatience edging into his voice. “If he returns, we shall all sit around in a big, happy circle and thank each other endlessly until the sun rises.” He gave his mount a command, and it leaped up into the air. “But for now, let us both save our breath. I will send Valeria back at once. Try to survive until she gets here.”

With that, the Gahn turned his mount. They flew together until I could see nothing of them but the occasional flash of a silvery wing, like a feathered shard of a falling star.

It made me think of the star spear I’d seen earlier while holding Keir. That moment already felt like a lifetime ago. Abby had called it a shooting star. I looked upward but did not see another. There would be no more wishes tonight.

Only waiting.

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

Abby

“How did you even find me, anyway?”

We were aboard Valeria’s shuttle. It was just the three of us – Valeria, Stephanie, and me. I had to admit that it was nice to be around other women. I would have stayed my whole life in that cave with Kohka and Keir and been blissfully content. But having a wider support network, having other women around, was comforting. Especially now that I knew my son and I would be safe around them.

Now I just need to know that Kohka is alright…

But I couldn’t know that yet. So, I distracted myself with conversation.

“I mean, we kind of didn’t,” Valeria said from her seat beside me. She and I were currently sitting in the cockpit, in the two pilots’ seats. Stephanie was in one of the other seats further back. “We were out looking for you, but we didn’t see your life sign or anything. My scanners registered a huge surge of energy above the clearing where your cave was.”

“That must have been when the sky changed and the other alien appeared,” I said.

“Definitely,” Valeria agreed. “There was actually another similar surge not long after that a little further away, but I missed it at the time because I was in the cave talking to you.”

Oh, God.

“Do you think another one showed up?” I asked. My hold on Keir, who was sleeping in my arms, instinctively tightened.

“Not sure. Lemme check the scanners.” She glanced over at one of the many screens in the cockpit.

“Damn. I should have done this before. I was so concerned about getting you safely on the shuttle it slipped my mind.”

“What?” I asked.

“Checking for Kohka’s life sign.”

Without thinking, I tried to jump to my feet, wanting to race over to that screen myself. But I was buckled in.

“Hold on. It’s OK. Let me see,” Valeria said, peering at a dark screen with the occasional green dot. “Alright. I see three life signs near where that surge happened.”

Oh, no.

Kohka and two of those sky creatures? There had been a second surge of energy, after all…

He’ll never survive.

“I think it’s Grim, Tok, and Kohka.”

My heart leaped, my breath skittering out of my lungs.

“How do you know?” I asked anxiously, wanting any confirmation that Kohka was still alive.

“They appear to be all moving slowly together in a group. I mean, all I can see are dots, of course. But it doesn’t look like there’s fighting happening. And I don’t see any other life signs around that would indicate Grim and Tok’s movements on the ground. I’m certain that’s them. I can see Gahn Errok, too, flying towards them.”

“Thank you,” I breathed. I wasn’t even sure who I was thanking. Valeria for telling me the news. Fate for not taking Kohka from me yet.

“So that second surge?” Stephanie asked from behind us.

“Maybe it was the winged guy leaving the same way he arrived?” Valeria mused.

“Let’s hope,” I muttered darkly. If I never saw that monster again, it would still be too soon.

Even alongside the fear I felt about the thing that had come from the sky, I could feel pride, too. Kohka had survived. My strong, capable mate was still out there. And he was coming back to us.

“So, anyway, that’s what happened. Grim, Tok, and I came to check out the surge of energy. Stephanie was flying with Errok. When we came out of the shuttle, I heard the little guy crying. I thought it was an animal or something.” She shot me a weary grin. “Never in a million years would have guessed there was a human baby in there.”

“I know,” I said, shaking my head. “Trust me. I never thought I’d be having a baby in a cave on an alien planet.”

Valeria’s smile disappeared.

“I can’t even imagine what that was like. Being out there alone like that. I’m sorry you had to go through that.”

“It was really hard,” I admitted, tears pricking in my eyes. “But I wasn’t alone. Not for the whole time, at least.”

Valerian nodded slowly.

“So, you and Kohka, then…”

“He’s my mate,” I said firmly. “The Kell didn’t call him yet. But that doesn’t matter. He’s my partner and Keir’s father.”

“Roger that.”

There was a moment of quiet as we all worked through our own thoughts.

The silence was broken by a beeping from one of the screens.

“It’s a call coming in from the Sea Sand ship,” Valeria said. “It’s probably Chapman.” She eyed me from the side. “Are you alright if we answer the call and give her a report? I know they’d all be relieved to know that you’re alright, and I’m going to have to fill them in on what happened eventually.”

I pursed my lips, then nodded. Whatever happened now, Gahn Errok had granted Keir and me safety. So, I felt a little more comfortable with the Sea Sand settlement knowing what was happening.

Valeria pushed a button, and Chapman’s face suddenly appeared on the screen.

“Valeria, have you-” She stopped short, her eyes widening. Obviously, there was a camera somewhere in here, sending her a feed. She could see us, see me, the same way we could see her.

“Abby!” she exclaimed. “Fuck! I’m so glad you’re alright. What the hell happened?!”

Valeria, Stephanie, and I all told the story in bits and pieces. A furrow appeared between Chapman’s orange eyebrows, getting deeper and deeper as we spoke.

“That’s a lot,” she muttered, rubbing tiredly at her forehead. “Why didn’t you just tell us you were pregnant?”

I let out a bitter laugh.

“Why don’t you ask your mate?” I shot back, feeling defensive. I’d made the best decisions I could based on what I knew. “I asked Fallo what would happen if another human male showed up, even a child, and he gave me some nasty answer about death and about how even children become men.”

Chapman sat up straighter, then sighed.

“Ugh, Fallo.” Chapman shook her head, little bits of red hair that had escaped from her bun floating around her face. “You couldn’t have posed that hypothetical to someone slightly more…”

“Sane?” Valeria piped up.

“I was going to say, ‘rational,’” Chapman replied. “I’m sorry,” she said to me. “I absolutely would not have let anything happen to your baby. I hope you know that now.”

“I knew you wouldn’t have,” I replied. “But I didn’t know if that would be enough. The Sea Sand Gahns have already done so much that goes against their ways, their culture, to be around us. I worried that having a human male in their midst would just be one step too far. I couldn’t risk my child’s life on the chance that the Gahns would accept him.”

“I understand,” Chapman said. “I mean, I don’t, because I’ve never gone through something like that. But I understand your reasoning.” Her freckled face softened into a smile. “You got those mama bear instincts.”

“You’re fucking right I do,” I said, smiling back.

Keir woke up at that moment, distracting me. I unzipped my jacket, pulled my tank top to the side, and he started nursing. Valeria, Chapman, and Stephanie talked a bit more while I fed Keir. I caught the occasional bit of their conversation – they were now talking more in-depth about the creature who’d come from the sky. Chapman said something about their Sea Sand scanners catching a life sign flying over the desert, but it had moved so fast it was barely a blip on their radar.

I started tuning them out, allowing myself to relax. I stared down at Keir. His little fist clenched and unclenched against my skin, and his dark eyes were open. He hadn’t had much hair when he was born, but it was starting to come in a tiny bit, now. The ship’s internal lights gleamed on the soft, brown down growing in fuzzily over his scalp, and I stroked it.

A few minutes later, Valeria ended the call with Chapman.

“We’re here. I’m going to land. Should be pretty smooth,” Valeria told me.

“Ready,” I said, making sure I had a good hold on Keir. He’d fallen asleep again, milk-drunk in my arms.

The landing, like Valeria had said, was pretty smooth. We all unbuckled and stood. Valeria and Stephanie each grabbed one of my packs, stuffed full of everything from the cave.

Valeria made sure the way was clear before urging us to go outside.

“That’s mostly unnecessary,” Stephanie assured me. “Gahn Errok’s men keep a pretty tight patrol around this mountain. This is where everyone lives.”

“Still,” Valeria said, “don’t want some predator sneaking up on us unannounced.”

“You’re right about that,” I said. “When we first arrived at the edge of the Deep Sky Plains, there was this horrible thing. It was like a giant twenty-foot-long python or something, but with two legs that made it look more like a salamander. It would have eaten me alive if it weren’t for Kohka.”

“Oh, yikes. Sounds like a pattarak,” Stephanie said. “I’ve never seen one myself, but they are one of the native predators around here Errok’s told me about.”

“Wanna call down a ride for us?” Valeria asked Stephanie. Based on Valeria’s wording, I wondered if Gahn Errok’s people had some kind of comms device that could call the ship. But the answer turned out to be a technology far simpler.

We had landed in front of the tallest mountain in this area, its magnificent blue body piercing up into the sky. Stephanie walked over to the side of the mountain’s base, her boots crunching on indigo pebbles and silver grass. She bent beside what appeared to be a hole in the mountain’s stone.

“This is Gahnala Stephanie! Please send down three riders on braxilk to fetch us.” Her gaze slid to me, then she added, still speaking into the darkness of the hole. “Three female riders, please! And make sure only women are in the hall when we land!”

She straightened, turning to me.

“That will echo up to the hall. There’s someone stationed on the other end to respond to calls from down here. It’s always a male warrior stationed there, though, and I’d rather Gahn Errok be here when the warriors learn about your son. They all listen to me, and I know it would be fine, but I think having just ladies around for now will be good.”

“I agree. Thank you,” I said. Now that I was actually here, at Gahn Errok’s mountain, my nerves were starting to kick in. Having just women around at first would help a lot.

“Priya will be so glad to see you,” Stephanie said, reaching over and squeezing my shoulder. “She’ll probably be up there waiting for us.”

“The others will be glad to see you, too,” Valeria said. “Tilly, Taylor, Nasrin, and Fiona are at the settlement site with Dalk and the other Sea Sand warriors. When you’re up for a visit, I’ll fly them out here.”

A moment later, three massive birds swooped down from a ledge overhead. They were striking creatures, like gigantic herons but with many legs, like an irkdu. All of them had feathers in shining shades of silver, grey, deep blue, and violet, the colours contrasting sharply in the dark night air.

I couldn’t see the riders until they landed, the wings of the birds stirring up dust and sending little blue pebbles skittering across the ground.

All three of them dismounted and approached us. They raised their tails to Stephanie, a sign of deep respect for their Gahnala, but she waved the gesture away, blushing.

“This is Abby,” Stephanie said. She is the woman we’ve been looking for. She recently gave birth to her child.”

The sight stars of the women all pulsed in surprise and settled on Keir. All three had sight stars the same colour – a pearlescent white. The oldest of the three women had a shaved head, and they were dressed differently from women of the Sea Sands. Instead of long peet grass tunics that were worn like short dresses, these women wore trousers made of some soft-looking hide. They wore vests, also made from some kind of leather or hide, bound across their chests with crisscrossing leather straps. There was a gap between the parts of the vests, revealing a strip of purple-blue skin from collarbone to navel, but because none of them had breasts (apparently none of them being pregnant or nursing right now) the chest area on display was flat and muscled.

“I trust these three women with my life, Abby,” Stephanie said. “I think we can tell them now.”

I looked from Stephanie to the three Deep Sky women. There was kindness, I decided, in the expressions of all three of them.

“I am Tilka,” said the older woman with the shaved head.

“She’s Gahn Errok and Lerokan’s aunt,” Stephanie added. “You don’t even know how much she helped me settle in when I first got here.”

“And these are my daughters,” Tilka said, gesturing to the two younger women behind her. They didn’t have shaved heads but instead wore their ink-blue hair in tight braids bound on the top of their heads. “Kalta and Toria.”

The two women beamed at me, their tails swishing.

“Hi, everyone,” I said. I smiled, and it came quite naturally. I decided I liked these three. I agreed with Stephanie – I felt like I could trust them. “Alright. They’ll find out soon enough anyway,” I said. I held Keir up so that the star and asteroid light poured over his perfect, sleeping face, the only part of him visible in his swaddle of hides.

“This is Keir,” I said. “My son. He’s human.”

The two young women instantly surged forward to get a better look, curiosity clear in their wide eyes. But Tilka, who stood slightly in front of them, snapped out her arms like the barriers you’d see blocking cars from leaving a parking lot without paying. Her daughters collided with her muscle-corded arms, stumbling to a halt.

“Abby has just arrived after a great ordeal. She gave birth without healers and needs space and rest,” Tilka admonished her daughters firmly.

“Sorry,” said the one on the left – Kalta. “There are not so many women here. We do not often see cubs, let alone one not of our kind.”

“It’s OK,” I said. There was something so innocent in Kalta and Toria’s reactions. I got the sense that they were adults, but definitely younger than me. “Do either of you have children?” I asked.

They looked at each other and then back at me.

“Not yet,” said Toria. “We hope very much that the Vrika will grant us mates and cubs soon.”

“The Vrika is their version of the Lavrika,” Stephanie supplied from beside me.

“Well, I’ll let you have a good look at him when we’re up there,” I promised. I didn’t want to stay down here much longer. It was kind of chilly, and the night’s events were starting to get to me, sapping the strength from my bones.

“Come. We will ascend,” Tilka said. “Abby, you and Keir will fly with me.”

Tilka’s massive bird – which I soon learned was called a braxilk – crouched down low so I could climb onto its back. Doing so caused a pang to echo through my mind and body. The pang was physical, as sitting astride the creature with no saddle was uncomfortable for my still-healing body. But even more than that, it stole my breath with barbed nostalgia. Because it reminded me of riding on Kohka’s back.

I can’t wait to see him.

Stephanie got on a braxilk with Toria. Valeria was about to mount Kalta’s braxilk when the sound of a new set of wings made all of us look up.

Gahn Errok swooped down into the valley, landing in our midst. Kalta and Toria raised their tails, but I couldn’t help but notice with a smirk that Tilka didn’t. He may be the Gahn, but I guess to her he’s still just her nephew.

“Valeria,” Gahn Errok said, dismounting and walking over to Toria’s braxilk. His huge hands went to Stephanie’s waist, and he lifted her down to the ground easily. Draping a protective arm around Stephanie’s shoulders, he turned back to Valeria. “I told Kohka and the other two I would send you back in your shuttle to retrieve them. Kohka is badly injured and the journey back here will be too difficult on foot.”

My stomach dropped, my head spinning.

“What? How hurt?” I pressed, not caring if I was being rude talking to an alien warlord in such a manner.

Errok’s glowing white sight stars – the same colour as his aunt’s and cousins’ – sliced to me.

“I am not well-versed enough in his kind to know for sure,” he replied. “But he is more injured than I would have anticipated considering he fought only one warrior.”

“I saw it,” I whispered. “I saw them fighting. The other guy was so strong. I’ve never seen anything like it…”

Before tonight, I would have said a Bitter Sea warrior like Kohka was the strongest creature the universe could conjure, with scales like metal, spikes like knives, and a heaving, muscle-bound body that seemed capable of withstanding just about anything.

But clearly, other corners of the universe were even more brutal.

“Right. Abby, I’ll go get him now, if you’re comfortable with me leaving,” Valeria said, her brown eyes searching my face.

“Of course! Go, go! Please!” I replied. “In fact, I’ll come with you!”

Valeria shook her head.

“I’d be a lot more comfortable if you and Keir were settled somewhere safe for now. We don’t know if these stone sky guys might come back, and I’d rather not get caught in some alien firefight with a newborn on board.”

I bit my lip, then finally nodded. She was right, of course. It would be better to get Keir somewhere settled and safe, and there was no way I was ready to leave him alone with other people to go get Kohka with Valeria. On top of that, Keir was only a little over a month old. I was his sole supply of food. If something happened to me while we were out there, or if it took too long to come back, he could get dehydrated, even starve, unless a nursing Deep Sky woman stepped in to help. Based on what Kalla and Toria said about not seeing many babies lately, it didn’t seem like that would be likely.

“I’ll stay,” I said, the words feeling like jagged stones in my mouth.

I’ll stay, Kohka. But please know I am waiting for you.

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

Abby

The flight up to Gahn Errok’s hall was short. Thank goodness. Every flap of the braxilk’s wings sent a sharp ache between my legs. That, coupled with the anxiety of having my newborn so high up in the air with nothing holding him secure except my own arms, meant I was more than ready to dismount when we landed in the grand open hall. Tilka helped me down, and I gaped at the space we’d landed in. The hall was basically a gigantic cave, high up in the mountainside. Its entrance was completely open to the air, no walls or guardrail, just boundless sky. I eyed the stars and asteroids beyond the cave, along with the sheer drop at the edge of the hall’s floor. I made a mental note that once Keir was rolling and crawling he was not going anywhere near that edge.

The inside of the hall was a shocking, glittering blue. Similar in colour to the cave I’d been in with Kohka, but much larger, with a fire crackling at one end, sending light cascading up the sapphire facets of the walls and floor.

There was only one woman waiting there for us. Despite my worry for Kohka and my exhaustion, I couldn’t help but gasp in delight at the sight of her.

“Priya!”

Deep Sky life had been good to Priya. Or maybe it was the glow of being in love with her Deep Sky mate. Whatever it was, she looked absolutely beautiful. Her brown skin glowed in the firelight, her eyes shining and cheeks bunching in a smile. Her thick dark hair was bound in a single neat braid down her back, and she was dressed like Tilka and the others in a vest and soft hide leggings. She still wore her human boots, though – a dusty, weathered sign of our old lives.

“Abby! I’m so happy you’re alright!” she said. She hurried over. Behind us, Toria and Kalta landed with their braxilk. Gahn Errok and Stephanie landed a moment later.

“I’m happy you’re alright, too,” I murmured, drawing her into a one-armed hug as I kept Keir cradled against my chest. Seeing Priya was unexpectedly emotional. Like me, she’d also disappeared out here for a while. We’d all been so worried about what had happened to her. Guilt niggled at me when I realized the others must have been just as worried about me going missing.

“And who is this little darling?” Priya asked, clearly surprised by Keir but trying not to show it.

“This is Keir,” I said, letting Priya get a good look at his face.

“Keir! I like that name,” she said.

“It’s a Bitter Sea name,” I said. Tears threatened to roll out of my eyes, and my throat closed up before I could tell her what it meant.

I could tell that Priya had about a million questions to ask me, but she kindly kept them to herself, obviously noticing my state of emotional exhaustion.

“Come on, love,” she said in English, her London accent shaping the words. “Let’s get you settled in.”

Priya, Stephanie, Tilka, and her daughters led me through winding tunnels in the mountain. I carried Keir, and thankfully the others took care of my packs. The tunnels weren’t dark as we walked, instead dotted with flickering lanterns. The lanterns were unusual and beautiful – little fires glowing behind cups of crystal-like stone that seemed to have formed naturally in the stone walls.

We passed through a narrow entrance and ended up in a spacious cave. Toria hurried over to what I soon realized was a fire pit, starting a fire and lighting up the room so I could see it better.

And did I ever like what I saw.

The first thing that caught my eye was the bed. A real, almost Earth-like bed, raised up on a slab of stone with what looked like a mattress and fuzzy grey hides piled on top. The bed was at the far end of the cave, its side running under a wall of clear stone that created a natural window. I walked closer and noticed a horizontal protrusion of stone, slightly hollowed out, like a stone bowl with a flat bottom built out of the top of the bed.

“That is where the baby can sleep,” Tilka explained, watching me frown at the bowl thing. My frown faded away as I realized what she meant. It was like a little bassinet. When my head lay at the end of the bed, I’d be able to reach up on an angle and put my hand on Keir. Kalla laid one of the fuzzy grey hides in the bottom of the stone bassinet to give it a little cushioning. Experimentally, I laid Keir down. He gave a tiny, sweet little yawn, then settled right back into sleep.

“It’s perfect,” I whispered. “Thank you.”

“There’s more,” Priya gushed, grinning at me. She grabbed my hand and tugged me away from the bed. “Fancy an actual hot bath?”

“Holy shit,” I said when I saw the steaming pool at the other end of the cave. I would absolutely be making use of that soon.

“There’s also a toilet,” Priya said. Still holding my hand, she led me to a small area almost entirely closed off with a rounded wall of stone. Inside, she showed me how the toilet worked, pulling a plug out from the wall and letting fresh water rinse out a stone basin in the floor, the water disappearing down a drain.

“You can use that water to wash your hands, too. This stuff here,” she indicated a dark moss growing on some of the stones in the small nook, “is like soap.”

“Oh, yeah. We found some of that at our cave, too,” I said, recognizing the moss that I knew would suds up with water.

Mentioning the place I’d shared with Kohka, calling it our cave, made me want to cry. This cave was gorgeous and had far more luxuries and amenities than the one we’d been living in. But this wasn’t where my son had been born. This wasn’t the place I’d turned into a home with Kohka.

He’ll be here soon, I reminded myself fiercely. And we can turn this into a home, too.

Priya and I left the little alien bathroom. In the time I’d been gone, Kalta had left and returned with a jar.

“It is Vrika’s blood,” Tilka said, gesturing her tail towards the jar. “If it is alright, I can examine you and administer any healing that is required. I am trained to heal both braxilk and people.”

All I really wanted to do was lie down and wait for Kohka to come back. But I hadn’t been examined by a medical professional for my entire pregnancy and postpartum period. Tilka may not have been an Earth doctor, but I knew I probably should get checked out by someone.

“We’ll give you some privacy,” Priya said.

“See you guys soon?” I asked.

“Of course!” Stephanie said. “The moment you need anything, we’ll be here.”

“Thanks,” I said. I hugged them both. We said our goodnights, and they left the cave, along with Tilka’s daughters.

It was just Tilka and me, now. Plus Keir, of course, but he was still quiet in his new bassinet.

“If you are ready, you can undress and lie down,” Tilka said gently. I realized I should have felt some wariness being alone without Kohka and with no other humans around. But I didn’t feel that at all. I felt totally at ease with Tilka, despite having only just met her. She exuded charismatic confidence that was tempered by sincere kindness. Her shaved head reminded me a little bit of Kat, one of my closest friends back at the settlement, and the fact she was an older woman made me feel like I’d been taken into the care of someone’s sweet-but-feisty mom.

I undressed from the waist down, sniffing and swiping at my eyes. I’d been without my own mom for so long. And I’d been so wrapped up in being a mother to Keir, I’d barely had half a moment to look after myself. Of course, Kohka had been an amazing support, but that was different from another woman – a mother – taking care of me.

I’ve been so busy being a mother that I didn’t even realize I needed to be mothered, too.

“Are you alright?” Tilka asked, noticing my sniffles as I lay down.

“Yes. No. I will be, I think,” I said with a shaky laugh. “Thank you for helping me.”

Tilka gave me a reassuring smile. She did a quick, gentle exam, then pulled one of the furry grey hides up over my exposed areas. She handed me the jar of Vrika’s blood her daughter had brought.

“You are healing well even though you had no Vrika’s blood,” Tilka said, obviously surprised. “There was very little tearing. Your baby is small, so perhaps that is why. But then again, you are small, too…”

I snorted. It was still so funny to me to be considered small by the people on this planet.

“I can thank Kohka for the lack of tearing, I think,” I said. I explained how his mating fluid worked, and how I would develop more of the drug here for any other women who wanted to use it. Tilka’s sight stars buzzed as I spoke.

“Fascinating,” she murmured. “Well, I am glad you had him. Your healing would have been much more difficult without this mating fluid during labour, especially since you had no Vrika’s blood. There is a small amount of scar tissue forming. Though the Vrika’s blood won’t do too much for you, now, you can massage it into the area to help the tissue to remain healthy and flexible as it heals. It will help reduce any residual pain.”

“Thank you,” I said.

A hearty wail from the bassinet made both Tilka and I start. I leaned over to place the Vrika’s blood on the stone floor, then sat up and got Keir latched.

“Would you like me to stay until Kohka returns?” Tilka asked.

“That’s OK,” I said, smiling and shaking my head. It had been so nice to have her here. But I was ready to just be on my own with Keir, now. At least until his father, my mate, got here. “Thank you again. For everything.”

Tilka’s tail jerked, and she headed for the cave’s exit. She halted, though, then half-turned back to me, smiling.

“It seems you will not be waiting for long,” she said, rather cryptically. I didn’t understand what she meant until she moved out of the way and left the cave, making room for…

“Kohka!”

CHAPTER FORTY

Kohka

Every agony was worth it when I saw them. Safe and whole and so beautiful it felt like my heart had gotten clawed open instead of just my scales and flesh.

My family.

Abby was feeding Keir when I arrived. When she saw me, she called my name and tried to scramble off the raised stone slab with hides she was seated upon.

I crossed the cave to her before she could do so, eating the distance with long, limping strides. Falling to my knees beside the raised stone, I threw my arms around them both, clutching them to my injured chest.

“I’m so glad you’re here,” Abby choked out.

“So am I,” I murmured hoarsely, drawing my hands up and down her smooth back.

“I thought that… I was worried that…”

“I told you I’d come back,” I growled. I decided not to tell her yet that I nearly hadn’t. That I’d almost met my death out there, with the hands of a sky-breaking god at my throat.

I would have stayed like that for the rest of my life if Abby hadn’t started pulling backwards, away from the embrace. Reluctantly, I let my arms slide away from her back, but kept my hands on her hips, not willing to stop touching her entirely.

“Oh, Kohka. Look at you,” Abby whispered, her eyes growing wet and shiny when they fell to my chest.

“I am sorry. I got blood on you.”

“Kohka! That is not what you need to be worrying about right now! You should have gone straight to the healers when you got here!” Abby cried.

“Gahn Errok offered his tribe’s healers to me. But when I arrived here, I found I could not accept,” I replied. “I could not do anything but come straight here, to you. And our son.”

Her mouth went tight, then started quivering. I gently dragged my thumb across her lips, trying to soothe them into stillness.

She took in a huge inhale through her nose and blinked rapidly.

“Alright. At least let me take a stab at this. Tilka left me some Vrika’s blood. It looks like Keir’s done eating.”

I looked down to see that she was right. Keir’s small face was lax with slumber. There was an ache in my chest that had nothing to do with my cracked ribs when I looked at him. I’d only been away from him for part of one night, and I already worried I had missed something important. That he’d changed while I was gone. I lowered my snout, bumping it gently to his impossibly soft little cheek.

“Hello, young one.”

Keir’s scent mingled with Abby’s, along with the sweet fragrance of milk. We may have been in a cave we’d never seen before, in circumstances we never could have imagined, but as soon as those scents hit me, I knew I was home.

I’d always thought the Bitter Sea was my home.

But it wasn’t.

They were.

Abby pulled down her tunic and covered her breasts and stomach, which I had to admit was a slight disappointment. The disappointment melted away, though, when she scooted out of the hides that were covering her and I saw that she was naked from the waist down. My eyes snapped to the place between her legs like a spear finding its target.

She did not seem to notice my preoccupation with her nudity. She placed Keir in a shallow stone bowl with a flat bottom attached to the side of the stone slab. Then she slid off what I now realized was a Deep Sky-style bed.

“Come on. Let’s go over to the hot spring,” she said. She held out her hand and, like I was accepting the most precious and sacred invitation in the world, I took it.

A slight bloom of colour hit her cheeks when my hand closed over hers. She gave a gentle tug, then led me to the other side of the cave.

She need not have taken my hand at all. So beautiful and half-naked and beloved was she that I would have followed her anywhere without her even asking me.

In a way, I already had. Was that not exactly what I’d once done, when she’d tried to leave me behind?

We reached a steaming pool at the end of the cave. Steam wafted upwards, and the water had a pleasant, mineral scent to it.

“I wonder if I should only use the Vrika’s blood to clean you, or if this is alright,” Abby pondered, frowning at the hot water.

“When I arrived here, Gahn Errok was in the hall waiting to speak with me. When he saw my wounds and I turned down his offer to see a healer right away, he told me that the heated springs of this mountain have some mild cleansing and healing powers.”

“Maybe one of the naturally occurring minerals has some antiseptic or anti-inflammatory properties,” Abby said. “That’s good, then. We can save the Vrika’s blood for after you’re clean and just use it on your wounds. When I get a chance, maybe I can analyze the water in a lab.”

I stared at Abby as if in a dream, lost in her beauty and brilliance. My father had always discouraged me from feeling pride, but I felt pride, now. Pride that this glorious creature was mine. That she’d chosen me when she could have had anyone. And pride that I now had a son, a little warrior of my own to teach and to train.

“What is it?” Abby said. She squeezed my hand. “Are you alright?”

My tail was shattered and swollen. I could hardly breathe under my cracked ribs. The few scales that remained along my chest were stained black with my blood.

My body was a ruinous collection of wounds. Some of which, like my tail, I would not entirely recover from.

I squeezed her hand back, gently, then used my other to cup her lovely face.

“I am now.”

Her eyes fluttered closed, and she nuzzled her cheek against my hand. If I had not already spilled seed tonight and lost so much blood, my cock would have been urging out of my slit right about now. But instead, I felt a mere lick of heat, the echo of a throb.

“Come on. Let’s get you in the water,” Abby said, her eyes opening.

Once again, I did not want to let her go. But I also did not want to waste too much time. The more I looked at Abby, the more I noticed traces of exhaustion on her face. She needed rest, just like I did.

“You can sleep,” I told her gently before turning and lowering myself into the water. I hissed when my limp tail knocked against the pool’s stone, sending pain shooting up to my spine.

“Are you serious? No way!” Abby said, sounding indignant. I turned back towards her just in time to see her whip off her tunic, crouch, and slide into the water after me. My hand shot out to steady her instinctively, even though the water was not too deep here. It came up to her shoulders and a little past my waist.

Normally, I loved water. I loved the sluice of it against my scales. Loved floating, swimming, sinking. But right now, I despised the water and its thick, billowing steam. Because I could no longer glimpse the jaw-slackening beauty of Abby’s bare form.

“Do you want to find somewhere to sit?” Abby asked. Her skin and the little hairs that ringed her eyes had grown dewy with moisture, making her glimmer and glow.

“No,” I said. “I am tired, but standing is better for now. My tail is broken.”

Her eyes widened.

“Oh, no. Shit! I’m so sorry. We shouldn’t stay in here too long, then. The heat won’t be good for any swelling happening there. How do you heal that kind of injury? Can we, like, set the bones or something?”

“I do not believe so. There are many small bones in a Bitter Sea tail. I believe quite a few have been crushed. I will have to try not to move it, and rest, and let it heal on its own. I will likely not be able to use it as I did before.”

“I’m so sorry,” Abby said again. She swallowed, her slim throat bobbing with the movement and drawing my gaze. “I hate that you’re going to live with this injury for the rest of your life.”

“Keir is safe. You are safe. That is truly all I care about in this world.”

“Well, I care,” she replied, rather stubbornly. Her reaction, her fierce protectiveness over me, made my snout pull into a smile. I am battered and bleeding and the luckiest male who ever existed.

Abby cupped steaming water in her small hands, then began to gently pour it over the ragged gouges on my chest. The wounds stung, but the hot water was also soothing. She repeated the movement over and over, tender but methodical, making sure every wound, even the shallowest of scratches, was rinsed clean. Once the caked blood was cleared away, we could both see the extent of my wounds. Abby’s frown deepened.

My chest, once hard and whole and shining with scales, now looked like muddy ground someone had run their claws through. Pulpy and wet. I lost more scales than I realized.

Fresh black blood streamed from the deeper wounds. Abby swore under her breath, a word from her language I did not know the meaning of but that she usually used when she thought something was going wrong.

“Hold on.” She waded back to the edge of the pool and hauled herself out.

I may be badly injured, but at least I get to see this, I thought appreciatively as the firelight licked over her naked, dripping body. She hurried over to the bed, took a brief moment to check on our sleeping son, then bent over to grab something from the floor. She faced away from me as she bent, giving me a perfect view of what it would be like to rut her from behind.

I swallowed a keening growl of need, palming my groin.

Abby hurried back to me, sliding into the water with a jar held up above the steaming surface.

“Vrika’s blood,” she said. Carefully, she poured some of the glowing white liquid onto the wounds on my chest. There was near-instant pain relief, at least where those wounds were concerned. Just like Kell’s milk, and the Lavrika’s blood of the Sea Sands, the Vrika’s blood was speeding my healing. We both stared down at my chest, watching as the bleeding slowed, then stopped.

I was quite lucky the wounds were on my chest and had not gone too deep or too low. If the enemy warrior had clawed me much lower and ripped off the scales of my abdomen, below the protection of my ribs, he could have easily pulled out my guts. No amount of Vrika’s blood would have saved me from an injury like that.

Abby gave a shaky sigh, one of relief, I realized.

“Good. It’s working. At least we don’t need to worry about more bleeding. There’s still some left if we need more later.”

She placed the jar on the stony edge of the pool and then gave me an appraising look.

“You just stay still. I’m gonna clean the rest of you off.”

As commanded, I stayed motionless as Abby circled me slowly. Her soft hands began to stroke me, cleansing the remaining scales on my arms and back. Her touch, and the slip of water over my scales, both eased and ached.

When she reached the back of my neck, I bent my legs, sensing she was trying to reach something she couldn’t. A groan escaped me when her wet fingertips slid over the more sensitive scales along my neck and snout. My eyes closed.

She circled around to my front once more, continuing to stroke along my snout. I opened my eyes, not wanting to miss a moment of her face before my own. The expression I saw there nearly sent me to my knees. It had taken time to learn the nuances of her foreign face. But there was no mistaking the look upon that face now as she gazed up at me.

It was one of pure and tender adoration.

I reached up, catching her wrists in my hands, and surged forward. My snout met her mouth, and with a small gasp, she opened to me. Sweet and wet and soft. So welcoming to the ardent, searching tips of my tongue.

A desperate growl rumbled in my healing chest, making my ribs twang with pain. I ignored my complaining ribs, overcome with the dizzying sensation of Abby’s silken tongue meeting mine. Her taste flooded my senses as my hands released her wrists, moving to grip the plushness of her waist.

Now that the bleeding of my wounds had been stemmed, there apparently was more blood available to go straight to my groin. I could not stop it. Abby was so lovely and naked and her mouth was so wet, so needy, and all I could think about was how it had felt on my cock. My shaft swelled, threatening to emerge.

But I remembered the signs of weariness I’d seen on her. And with a will I did not even realize I was capable of, I pulled back.

Her flushed face, swollen mouth, and glazed eyes almost snapped that will in two, like a brittle piece of bone. Before I gave in to the base needs of my body, I hoisted her up and out of the water, placing her bottom gingerly on the stone.

“Rest now,” I croaked. With my chest wounds healing, other injuries were making themselves known. My throat felt sore from my enemy’s deadly grip.

“Yeah,” Abby panted. She hesitated, and I was glad to know I was not the only one who wanted this so badly. She, like me, was fighting her desire. Her desire for me.

She finally stood, holding her hand out for me once more. I hauled my aching form from the water and took it.

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

Abby

We air-dried in front of the crackling fire, standing and leaning against each other. For a second, it was easy to forget the turmoil of this night. How everything had shifted so quickly. How Kohka had gotten so injured. Like this, quiet and holding each other in front of the merry, crackling fire, it was like nothing else existed except our little family. The outside world, the whole universe, disappeared into warm, blissful calm.

Once we were sufficiently dry, I had one last look at Kohka, checking if any spots needed more Vrika’s blood. My lips pressed against each other unhappily as I took him in in the fire’s light.

The Vrika’s blood had done its job. The wounds were no longer bleeding and would be fully healed in very little time. But the signs of his suffering remained obvious. Huge gouges of space along his chest had lost their scales, leaving him looking like some strangely violent patchwork of flesh and metal. Even of the scales he still had, many were cracked or bent. An entire wide band of scales around his neck had buckled inward from some sort of pressure. I grimaced.

“Does this hurt?” I asked, tracing a fingertip along a stripe of crumpled scales at his throat.

“Somewhat. The scales are pressing into my neck a little, and my throat is sore. But as the bruising heals beneath and the muscles strengthen again, that should force the scales back into their previous positions, much like my shoulder.”

His shoulder injury, the one from tackling a giant boulder with all his strength, had mostly healed. A few of the scales there looked a bit ruffled, not perfectly in place, but it wasn’t as bad as before.

I hoped his other injuries fared as well as his shoulder. I hated seeing him hurting like this.

My fingertips glided down his front, skimming over his newly healing chest.

“You’ve taken care of Keir and me for so long. Now it’s my turn to take care of you.”

“You do not need to-”

“Yes! I do,” I said, cutting him off, already knowing he was about to spew some nonsense about me never needing to worry about his comfort. “I want to, Kohka. I love you.”

His silver pupils expanded, and then he lowered his snout to my temple with a ragged sigh.

“I love you, kind little creature. My mate. You have saved me in ways you cannot even know.”

“We’ve saved each other,” I reminded him firmly. Who else had come to me when I was at my most afraid, my most broken, and made it all better? Who else had followed me, cared for me, moved literal chunks of mountains for me? Who else could have been the kind of mate and father Kohka had turned out to be?

We stayed like that for a long moment, just breathing each other in. But when I noticed the blush of dawn through the natural crystal window of this cave, I pulled away.

“We need to rest,” I said. This had been a hell of a long night, and I had no doubt Keir would be waking up wanting to eat or needing to be changed soon. “Let’s lie down.”

We walked together to the bed. With a weary but content sigh, I hopped up and snuggled into the furry hides. Kohka stood at the edge of the bed for a moment, looking down with a puzzled expression furrowing his brow.

I giggled when I realized that he’d probably never seen a bed like this before. Even in our old cave, he hadn’t slept in any hides. He’d slept on flat ground, curled up like a giant, reptilian cat.

“Just get on top and curl up how you usually do. No way are you sleeping on the floor.”

That would be too far away from me. Now that I had him back, I wasn’t planning on having him out of reach even while sleeping.

I scooted to the opposite edge to make more room for him as he got on. Thank God this bed was built for Deep Sky people. It was already a bit of a tight squeeze with both of us on there. A human bed, even a king-size, likely wouldn’t have been big enough.

I didn’t mind how crowded the bed felt, though. I snuggled inwards, and Kohka looped a heavy arm around me. When he made a muffled noise of pain, my eyes flew open.

“What is it? Your tail?”

His tail was laying flat behind him, looking swollen and oddly bent in places.

“Ribs,” he grunted.

For fuck’s sake. I didn’t even know his ribs were bothering him.

I placed my hand on his snout, levelling my gaze with his.

“I am going to take care of you,” I said again. I wanted to make sure he really heard it. Truly believed it.

This time he didn’t try to tell me not to. He just gave a quiet rumble, bumped his snout to my forehead and said, “I know.”

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

Abby

Iwasn’t asleep for long before Keir’s wiggling and the beginnings of a cry woke me. I bolted upright, leftover anxiety and confusion from last night amplified by the lack of sleep. I sighed heavily, relaxing, when I saw Keir and Kohka both safe beside me.

Kohka was in a deep sleep. Good. He needs it.

I grabbed Keir from his little bassinet and started nursing him right away, not wanting his Mom I’m hungry cry to turn into a full-blown OH MY GOD MOM I AM STARVING cry. Kohka had excellent hearing, and he seemed extra attuned to Keir’s cries and movements. Often, at night, Kohka would wake up before I did when Keir stirred.

“We need to let Dada sleep,” I said, smiling tiredly down at Keir. “He’s worked very hard for us.”

When Keir was done eating, I burped him. Keir seemed pretty awake, his big dark eyes wide. Since it didn’t seem like he’d be happy to go back to sleep on his own in his bassinet, I got out of bed, walking around the cave with him.

The sun had fully risen, now, and the beauty of this place astonished me. I knew it was likely just as beautiful, if not more so, when drenched in the romantic, star-laced shadow of night. But I hadn’t gotten a real chance to appreciate this place last night. I’d been too worried about Kohka.

The cave’s entire interior shone with facets of indigo and sapphire blue, everything glorious with morning’s gold-tinged light coming through the natural window. I walked with Keir to that window, letting out a quiet gasp at what I saw.

The Deep Sky mountains and valleys rolled out across the landscape before us, a spiked topography of gemstones drenched in morning light. I knew I would miss our little cave, the place we’d called home for the past month, but this wasn’t too shabby of a spot to end up, all things said and done.

“This is going to be our new home for a while, sweetie pie,” I told Keir. I laughed when I saw his expression – a typical newborn look of frowning suspicion. “I know. It’s not what you’re used to. But I think we’ll settle in here alright. As long as we have each other and your dad.”

Keir responded with a gurgling squawk. His frown deepened, and I could sense a new bout of crying was imminent.

“Oh, dear. How dare I have stopped walking! Alright. Come on.”

I walked around the cave, doing so many laps I lost count, quietly talking and singing to Keir as I did so. Eventually, my perfect, angelic, little grumpy old man baby fell back to sleep. I placed him down in his bassinet and held my breath, waiting to see if he’d wake back up and demand to be carried around once more.

Thankfully, he didn’t. I breathed out, then glanced over at Kohka. Still sleeping.

I watched the two of them for a minute, feeling so content and happy and grateful. My boys.

I thought about joining them in bed. I definitely needed more sleep. But that hot spring at the other end of the cave was calling to me. It wasn’t often I got moments to myself like this, and sometimes sleeping during those rare times felt like a waste, even when I desperately needed the rest. So, instead of crawling back into bed, I walked across the cave and slipped into the hot spring.

I moaned quietly. The feeling of the hot water on my skin was a goddamn revelation. I hadn’t been able to appreciate just how nice it was last night when I was getting Kohka cleaned up. Yes, we had a hot spring back in the Sea Sand settlement, but I obviously hadn’t used it in weeks. So, getting into this hot spring felt like it was the first warm bath I’d ever freaking had.

I noticed some of the soapy moss stuff growing on patches of stone at the edge of the heated pool. I scraped some off, lathering every inch of my body. Man, it was good to get clean. I washed my hair next, massaging my scalp with the herbal-smelling suds and then rinsing. My hair’s getting long, I thought as I idly finger-combed the wet locks. What had been a pixie cut was now turning into a short, messy bob. Catalina had been cutting my hair back at the Sea Sand settlement. Wonder if anyone here knows how to cut hair. Or I could just grow it out.

I smiled, then chuckled, noticing just how nice it was to think about non-life-or-death things like getting a haircut. Hell, it practically felt normal!

Now that I was clean and relaxed, a dull ache between my legs made itself known. Riding the braxilk last night, even for a short time, had definitely been a bit too much on me down there. The heat of the pool was certainly helping, but I decided to pull myself out, remembering what Tilka had said about massaging with the Vrika’s blood. The jar was where I’d left it last night, right beside the pool, and there was still some Vrika’s blood left inside. I dipped my fingers into the jar, relishing the soothing tingle of the glowing liquid on my skin. I spread my legs and gently stroked the fluid over my vulva and labia, focusing on the area towards the bottom that felt the most tender. I could feel the scar tissue that Tilka had mentioned, and very gently massaged the spot. It was a bit painful to do so, but kind of in a good way. Like stretching a stiff muscle. And the more I did it, the less it hurt.

This is helping, I thought. I took out a bit more Vrika’s blood, then closed my eyes and kept going.

CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

Kohka

When I woke, I wondered if I still slept. The sight before me was one that had existed only in fevered dreams. Until now.

Abby was on the stone floor of the cave, near the heated pool, facing the bed. Her luscious legs were spread wide, her slim fingers sliding over her cunt.

My throat went dry and tight, and not because of my injuries there.

Abby hadn’t noticed I’d woken. Her eyes were closed, a slight flush colouring her cheeks. My cock swelled, blood and seed rushing. Clearly, the Vrika’s blood and rest had done me good. I felt full and swollen and ready to let my cock out.

I glanced quickly at Keir, finding him asleep, before I got out of the bed. At the sound of my claws hitting the stone, Abby’s eyes instantly opened.

“Oh!” She immediately tried to close her legs, which made me die a little inside.

“Don’t,” I said softly, kneeling in front of her. “I want to see.”

“I’ll have you know I wasn’t doing that,” she said, the colour in her cheeks deepening. Slowly, a little shyly, she let her legs fall apart once more, like a flower opening at dawn.

“Doing what?” I croaked hoarsely. I could barely form the words. I’d never seen her so intimately before and it was making my head and groin pound in unison. My tail and ribs throbbed, too, with pain, but I ignored that sensation.

“I wasn’t, like, pleasuring myself or something. Not that that’s anything to be ashamed of,” she added quickly. “But Tilka told me to use the Vrika’s blood down there. To help the scar tissue heal a bit better.”

I could see it, now. The glimmer of white fluid on the secret, soft pink skin normally hidden by lush dark curls. Almighty waves. The sight was so erotic I nearly lost all sense and keeled over.

“May I help?” I groaned. Please, for the love of all that is good, say yes.

I managed to wrench my gaze away from her gorgeous cunt to look at her face. She gave me a single, tiny up-and-down movement of her head.

“Thank you,” I groaned.

“You’re thanking me for letting you massage me?” She let out a melodic laugh. One of my favourite sounds in the world.

“I am,” I replied.

“Well, you’re welcome, then,” she said, her tone slightly teasing. “Just be gentle. Watch the claws.”

One by one, I bit off the claws of my dominant right hand. When they were ragged and short, I started grinding them against the stone floor to smooth the edges down.

“Kohka! You don’t have to do that! What if you need your claws for something?”

“I have another hand,” I grunted. I raised my fingers to my eyes, narrowing my gaze critically as I took in the short, blunt black tips. Satisfied that they were no longer a danger to my mate’s silken skin, I lowered my hand and looked at Abby once more. “Besides, I need to touch you more than I need anything else right now.

Frankly, I needed to touch her more than I needed to take my next breath.

Abby inhaled sharply through her nose, then did another up-and-down head motion.

I took in a deep breath myself, trying to hold myself at least somewhat steady as I dipped my fingers into the jar. When they were adequately coated, I removed them, white fluid dripping onto the stone.

“Where?” I asked. I could only manage the single word. I was glad I was able to get at least that one word out, though, because I realized rather quickly that I had absolutely no idea where to start.

“Here,” Abby whispered. Her slender fingers stroked down low, just below the enticingly dark opening of her cunt.

I could not choke out a verbal reply. Instead, I focused on not ejaculating on the spot as the tips of my soaked fingers met her skin.

Waves of our fathers.

My cock surged out of my slit, bobbing heavily.

Keep it together, Kohka.

I ignored my cock, my body, my pain, focusing solely on my mate. I gently explored her divine skin, swallowing groan after groan at the softness there. There was heat, too, magnificent heat, and I had to try very hard not to imagine what that heat would feel like clamping down on my cock.

When my fingers probed skin that felt a little tighter, and was more red, Abby flinched. I stilled immediately.

“It’s alright,” she said. “That’s some of the scarring, so it’s more tender.”

I barely applied pressure at all, sliding my fingers gently over the spot.

“Oh, yes,” Abby sighed. “That’s it.”

Her words were a bolt of lightning to my groin. Mating fluid flooded my mouth. I clenched my fangs and kept going. Eventually, I started probing other spots, adding more Vrika’s blood. I found another harder bit of flesh, near the top.

“Is this scar tissue, too?” I asked, gliding a softly probing finger over the hard nub. Abby clenched.

“No! That’s… Oh, god.”

Once again worried I’d hurt her, I stopped immediately, my finger hovering over the swollen pink spot. Shocked, I watched as Abby rolled her hips, urging her cunt back into contact with my hand.

“No. Not scar tissue,” she panted. “That’s a part of human anatomy. It’s supposed to be there.”

“Oh,” I rasped weakly, entranced by the movement of her hips as she ground herself against my finger.

“It feels really, really good,” she said. “You don’t have to stop if you don’t want to.”

Want to? Want to?

I’d let a hok drag me to my death before I stopped touching her.

I experimentally circled the sensitive bit of flesh. Abby’s back arched, her thighs quivering.

“Keep doing that,” she breathed.

I obeyed. I rolled my drenched finger back and forth over the place she liked until she was rubbing herself even more desperately against my hand.

“Kohka,” she moaned quietly. The sound of my name spoken like that, with so much raw need, nearly had me spilling seed on the stone.

“Yes?” I hissed, every muscle tense.

“It might be good to put a little bit of the Vrika’s blood… Inside.”

“Inside,” I repeated tightly, barely comprehending what she’d said. Cursed waves, I’d grown so stupid with desire I could barely form a single coherent thought.

“Here,” she murmured. She slid a finger down to her cunt’s opening, which I noticed with a throb was now wet. “Just go super slow. Your fingers are big. Just the tip to start.”

“Slow. Right,” I replied, my brain burning, my whole body feeling fevered.

I loaded up my smallest finger with Vrika’s blood and touched her opening.

Waves alive. I am done for.

This skin was even softer, somehow, and drenched. Slick and hot as I ever-so-slowly nudged my fingertip inside.

“Oh, oh,” Abby mewled. Her hips rocked, and a flutter went through the hot, slippery flesh around my finger. “A little more is OK.”

Every muscle in my body shuddered, taut with merciless tension. The tremor made its way into my hand, vibrating my finger slightly and urging it a little deeper.

“Yes,” Abby sighed. She let out a string of words in her native tongue.

I nearly lost my seed, and my mind, when her hand fell between her legs, strumming at the swollen point of pleasure near the top.

“Just stay still like that,” she moaned, her head rolling back. I rammed myself into stillness.

Another flutter went through Abby’s cunt, massaging my flesh. She began to rock her hips again, rutting herself onto my finger. Her scent grew stronger, richer in the air, winding itself through my ravaged body until mating fluid overflowed my jaws and rolled in a dark river down my neck.

“The Vrika’s blood is definitely helping,” Abby moaned, bucking faster. “This feels way too good. It doesn’t hurt now.”

“Do whatever feels good,” I ground out between clenched, dripping fangs. “Use me.”

Abby appeared to like using me almost as much as I adored it.

I stared at the place my fingertip sank into her body, helpless and hopeless against the needy movement of her hips. More wetness gushed around my finger, and her cunt began to feel more swollen around me, little tremors tightening the flesh.

“I’m close,” she murmured. Her hand moved faster.

At least I was not so idiotic with lust that I needed to ask, “Close to what?” Despite my lack of experience with females, and how different Abby was from one of my kind, I was so connected to her in that intimate moment that I knew she was getting close to the peak of her pleasure. I could sense it. Could smell it, taste it on the air. Could feel it in the feverish pulsing of her sex. My fangs throbbed and gushed. My cock jerked.

She crested with a keening cry, her hips rising off the stone floor. She clenched around me, growing so tight I wondered if my cock would even fit when the time came. Good thing I have ample mating fluid in my fangs. I have a feeling we will need lots of it.

My tongues lashed my fangs desperately as I watched her come. My ragged breaths made my ribs snap with heated pain as my gaze raked over her form. The flush from her cheeks had spread downwards, making her chest red. Her heavy breasts and abdomen jiggled enticingly with each panting breath she took.

“You’re so beautiful,” I groaned. I wanted to say more. To word it more prettily than that. She deserved finery in every form, including language.

But somehow, just like the rest of me, it was enough for Abby. Her eyes, glazed with pleasure, cracked open, and she smiled beatifically up at me. She gave my finger one last shuddering squeeze.

“So are you.”

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

Abby

Kohka gently slid his finger out of me. The emptiness was a whole new ache that I decided I didn’t like one bit. I sat up a little straighter, aftershocks of pleasure quivering through my tender flesh. I felt swollen and sensitive, but there was no real pain. I hope using some more of the Vrika’s blood means I can fuck him soon.

I moaned at the thought, especially coupled with the sight of him now.

Kohka was on his knees. His tree-trunk thick thighs were spread, his cock jutting upwards from his groin like some kind of stone monument to hard, hot virility.

“I want to suck you again,” I said huskily, reaching for his shaft. Apparently, my words, combined with the simple touch of my fingers was too much for him, though. His cock jumped against my hand, letting loose a geyser of come. His entire frame shuddered, a gravelly groan tearing from his throat.

I gasped, then moaned, as some of his hot seed hit my neck and face.

“That’s it,” I murmured gently, stroking him through his orgasm. “Just like that.”

Kohka’s legs shook, his hips bucking, driving his cock harder against my grip. My hand, my chest and neck, his cock – all of it was slippery with his come. We’re going to both need another bath after this.

Eventually, the movements of Kohka’s hips slowed. His cock grew softer, but even so was still huge and heavy in my hand, pebbled with his pearl piercings. His silver pupils were blown wide, his nostrils flaring with each heaving breath as he stared down at me without blinking.

“We should get in the water. Get cleaned up,” I said with a small chuckle.

“In a moment,” Kohka grunted. “I am not sure I can move right now.”

“Oh, no! Your injuries? Was that too much?”

“No,” Kohka assured me instantly. “It is merely that my legs do not appear to be obeying my commands at the moment.”

I laughed. “I know what you mean. That’s OK. There’s no rush. We have time.”

We were safe. We were together.

We had all the time in the world.

THE NEXT TWO WEEKS passed in a blur of taking care of Kohka and Keir, sleeping, bathing, eating, and orgasms. Despite his injuries and the fact that he was the patient, now, Kohka was diligent about keeping up my Vrika’s blood massage routine, wringing climax after climax from my rapidly healing pussy. I could tell that it wouldn’t be much longer now before I was ready to take him inside me. Or at least, I’d be ready to try, anyway.

As if sensing we weren’t quite ready to venture out of our cave, Stephanie and Priya came to visit us often, always bringing food. I suspected that, even without needing to bring us food daily, they would have been in our cave often to see Keir. Half the time, I was convinced that they came only to visit him instead of us. Which didn’t bother me one bit. After thinking Keir would never have anyone but Kohka and me, it made me happy that he was gaining a new, big, extended family, starting with these two human aunties who so obviously adored him.

About three and a half weeks after we’d arrived here, Gahn Errok came to our cave during one of Stephanie’s visits. While Stephanie busied herself walking Keir around the cave in her arms, cooing and making faces at him the entire time, Errok remained to one side with Kohka and me.

“Gahn Thaleo is coming,” he told us. I tensed, and Kohka made a sound of disapproval.

“Do not growl at me in my own mountain, Kohka,” Gahn Errok said, raising an imperious, ink-blue brow. “I could not keep recent news from him from much longer. Like me, I know he would not like to be caught unawares about the presence of a human male in these mountains.”

“A human baby,” I reminded Errok pointedly. “He can’t harm anyone.”

“I know that. You know that. Soon, Gahn Thaleo will know it, too,” Errok replied breezily, crossing his bulging arms over his sculpted chest.

“Sounds so simple when you say it,” I scoffed. I glanced over at my child, so safe and happy in Stephanie’s arms. I would do anything to keep him that way – secure and cared for.

“It will be simple,” Errok said. Every time he said something, he spoke as if there was no other possibility. Like whatever he said would come to pass, no matter what. I guess that’s how it goes when your word is law… I both envied and disliked that cocky sense of certainty.

“Gahn Thaleo will hear the news about the presence of your son here, in my territory. I will make it very clear that the child is under my protection and the protection of my army. His tribe is much smaller than mine, and he’d never be able to launch an attack against us here, even if he wanted to.”

“Do… Do you think he’ll want to?” I asked, nerves making my belly lurch.

“I do not believe so,” Gahn Errok said. “He is viciously territorial, but if you and your child remain in my territory, he should have no real complaint. Besides, he is desperate to remain on good terms with your people to preserve the alliance. He needs mates for his men. But, unlike the Sea Sand Gahns and me, he has no human mate. So, though he wishes to continue the alliance, he has less of a personal reason to bend any further than he already has to the terms.”

“Pfft. Don’t be so sure,” Stephanie piped up from near the window.

“Wait, what? What do you mean?” I asked her. “Does he have a human mate or not?”

“He wishes he does,” Stephanie said, rolling her brown eyes. “The man practically vibrates with tension every time he lays eyes on Nasrin.”

Interesting…

I filed that little fact away for now, turning my mind back to the matter at hand.

“When is he coming?” I asked Gahn Errok. His shimmering, opalescent sight stars were focused behind me, on Stephanie and Keir. He only appeared able to wrench his gaze back to my face with great effort.

“Tomorrow,” he replied.

“I will attend this meeting with Gahn Thaleo,” Kohka said, startling me.

“Do you think that’s a good idea?” I asked nervously. “Maybe we should all just keep out of his crosshairs. Just lay low in the cave and let Valeria and Gahn Errok do the talking.”

“I do not know what crosshairs are, but I would have no problem getting in his, Gahn or not,” Kohka replied in a stony voice. “I wish to meet him myself. To tell him that if he threatens Keir, he threatens my son. I want him to know whom he is dealing with, should he choose not to keep the peace.”

I wrapped my arms around Kohka, burying my face in his chest. It had taken some time to get used to the new texture there, now that so many scales were gone. Kohka’s arms went around my back, solid and comforting.

“OK. I understand,” I said, nodding, my cheek scraping against smooth flesh and scales. The love I felt for this man got deeper every fucking day. Seeing him so protective of our son made my heart feel like it was a marshmallow someone had popped into the microwave. Hot and melty and gooey.

“But don’t do anything crazy to piss him off too much,” I said, pulling out of Kohka’s arms. “And don’t get into a fight with anybody. You’re still injured, after all!”

Kohka was doing better, but his tail and ribs still needed more time to heal.

“I will think three times before I utter a single word. And will think four times before every action,” he growled.

“Of course, you will,” I said, smiling and stroking his snout as he looked down at me. Kohka was the most careful, thoughtful man I’d ever met. “I trust you.”

“Lerokan will come collect you when it is time tomorrow morning, Kohka,” Gahn Errok said.

“I will be ready,” my mate replied.

After a bit more conversation, Errok and Stephanie got ready to leave. Stephanie handed Keir, rather reluctantly, back to me.

“He’s just so freaking cute. I love him,” she chirruped. “Thank you for letting me steal him so often.”

“Anytime,” I said, grinning at her.

As Stephanie and Errok left the cave, I snorted when I heard Errok grumble moodily, “You do not love that baby more than you love me, do you?”

Stephanie’s tinkling laughter echoed down the tunnel. Soon, the sound faded, and it was just Kohka, Keir, and me again.

“So,” I said, turning to Kohka. “Tomorrow.”

Kohka’s wide silver eyes met mine.

“Tomorrow.”

CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

Kohka

When the Deep Sky Gahn’s brother Lerokan came to collect me, I was ready, just as I said I’d be. It was early, just after dawn, and Abby and Keir were still asleep. I cast one long, lingering look back at them, realizing with a painful twinge that this was the first time I’d be away from my family since we’d gotten here.

Before I could think too much about it and chain myself to their sides, I left the cave with Lerokan.

Lerokan was a rather strange man to walk with. I had not met him until now, and it jarred me to see how similar he was to his brother, and yet, how different. He was a leaner-limbed, lither version of Errok. Same white sight stars, same long, loose hair. Same general bone structure. They both gave off a rather arrogant air, possessing cockiness, though Lerokan’s self-assurance felt somehow more genial than Errok’s. Lerokan’s smiles came quicker and more often, and he chatted amiably to me as we walked through his people’s mountain.

“Looks like you are healing up well, water warrior. It is hard to believe what I have heard about these men from the sky, though they must have been truly vicious to break scales like yours. And I heard you faced a pattarak out on the borders of the plains, too. Nasty creatures.”

I grunted in response, not sure what else to say. Thankfully, this seemed sufficient to my Deep Sky escort.

“My brother asked me, well, commanded me, to remind you to let him lead this meeting and not to do anything to provoke Gahn Thaleo.” His moon-coloured sight stars slid to me, regarding me critically from the side as we walked. “But, as I like you far more than I like him, I have decided not to bother.”

“I do not see how I could have already made such a good impression as to have surpassed your own brother in your esteem,” I muttered, confused by his statement. Apart from introducing myself when he’d arrived, I’d barely said two words to the warrior.

Lerokan laughed, a rich, hearty sound.

“Trust me, such a thing is no great feat,” he said, still chuckling. “I have had only a few moments with you to decide I like you, true. But I’ve had a lifetime with Errok to build up my dislike for him.”

I had no siblings and could not fathom this.

“You hate your own blood?” I asked him. My own late father could be demanding and stern, but I’d still always harboured immense respect for him, despite his unyielding nature and high expectations.

Lerokan looked thoughtful in the tunnel’s lantern light.

“There was a time I hated him,” he answered slowly. “He exiled me from this mountain once, you know. But things have changed for the better since then. And, though I absolutely despise to admit it, him exiling me led me to Priya. And now that he has Zuh-Tephanie, he has become merely irritating rather than entirely intolerable.”

Having never met the man, I’d nearly forgotten Lerokan had a human mate like me. I liked Priya – she had been a good friend to Abby, as had the Gahnala Stephanie. I could tell that Abby had missed the companionship of other females. She was so strong, and she would have found happiness whatever our life looked like. But I was glad she had friends like Priya and Stephanie.

There was no more time for idle conversation between Lerokan and me. We had reached Gahn Errok’s hall, where the meeting with Gahn Thaleo would take place. My spikes twitched in anticipation, but the other Gahn was not yet here.

The only ones in the hall now were Thaleria, Tok, Gahn Errok, and another Deep Sky male I had not yet met.

“Greetings, Kohka. This is my man Zakkar,” Gahn Errok said, gesturing with his indigo-tipped tail to the other man. “He is my closest advisor and commander.”

So, he was like Tok was to our Hakah. Gahn Errok’s right claw.

I greeted Zakkar. He was a broad, tough-looking Deep Sky male, and appeared to be a little older than Errok. His sight stars were a vivid violet-blue, and his hair was tied back in one long, dark braid. Like Errok and Lerokan, he had blades and a pouch of little spears strapped to his back, as well as the instrument with which to launch those spears, slung across his purple chest.

Bow and arrows. The words jumped into my mind, learned from a recent conversation with Abby.

“Hey, Kohka. How are things going?” Thaleria asked as I moved to stand between her and Tok.

“Very well. Abby is healthy and Keir is hale.”

“Glad to hear it,” she said. She gave me a close-lipped smile, but there was a tightness in the expression that made me pause.

“I must speak to you after this meeting, Kohka,” Tok said. “I have news from Hakah Gog.”

Thaleria’s expression grew more strained.

“What is it?” I asked warily.

Neither of them answered, instead turning in unison towards the wide-open area of the hall that led directly out into the clear, dawn-warmed sky. Among the shimmering peaks, two Deep Sky bird creatures, which Abby had told me were called braxilk, rose. The braxilk’s massive wings beat, sending cool mountain air washing over us as they landed in the hall. Their riders dismounted.

I could not immediately tell which man was Gahn. This represented a stark difference already between Errok and Thaleo. Had Gahn Errok landed here, with Zakkar, it would have been instantly evident he was Gahn. Every movement, every word, exuded a nearly flamboyant sense of pride and power. He was the sort of Gahn who would never let another man forget it.

Gahn Thaleo was clearly not that way. The two men advanced side-by-side. Like Errok and Lerokan, they had the typical stony-purple and indigo colouring. The man on the left drew my eye more than the man on the right. I regarded him appraisingly. He stared right back, his gaze slightly asymmetrical. The sight stars of his left eye were paler than those of the right, and a deep scar ran over his left eye in dug into his left cheek. A shocking streak of long, silver-white hair grew from the place the scar met his hairline, contrasting with otherwise glossy dark locks.

This is Gahn Thaleo.

I was sure of it. He had not yet said anything, and had done nothing to outwardly show me he was Gahn. And yet, the closer I looked at him, the more certain I became. There was a penetrating, steady pulse of authority in his gaze that could not be denied.

“I am Gahn Thaleo,” said the scarred man to me. “This is Warrek.”

Warrek raised his tail, as did Zakkar and Lerokan. Neither Gahn Thaleo nor Gahn Errok raised their tails to each other. The tension between the two Deep Sky warlords was obvious. I wondered how much worse it would get when Gahn Thaleo learned about my son.

“I am Kohka,” I said. I decided not to pound my fists against my brow in respect. He likely would not understand the gesture, and I had not yet decided if he had earned my tribute.

“In the spirit of the alliance, Thaleo, we have called you here to give you news,” Errok said, his chin raised.

It surprised me that Gahn Errok did not use the title of Gahn when referring to Thaleo.

“Your man Zakkar already came to deliver your message about the stone sky men,” Gahn Thaleo replied in a deep, flat voice. “We have increased patrols and there have been no more sightings of the creatures. What else is there to tell me that required me to enter so deep into your territory?”

Errok opened his mouth to speak, but Thaleria cut in, speaking quickly.

“One of our women has recently given birth.”

Gahn Thaleo stared at Valeria with an unreadable expression of stone. No doubt, he wondered why this was news that required his presence.

“She got pregnant in our homeworld. The child is a human male,” Thaleria continued.

A frisson of tightly-controlled tension ran through Thaleo’s frame.

“Which new woman was it?” he asked, sight stars pulling in so tight they resembled the tip of one of his arrows. “One of the women at the new settlement? Fiona? Tilly?” He paused, his voice catching on the final name, “Nasrin?”

“None of them. She just got here. You haven’t met her yet.”

“Her name is Abby,” I said, a possessive growl edging into my voice. “And she is my mate.”

Gahn Thaleo’s mismatched sight stars returned to me.

“So, you are telling me that you have brought a foreign male into Deep Sky territory?”

“Into my territory,” Gahn Errok interjected fiercely. “The child is under my protection, Thaleo.”

“And mine,” I growled.

“And ours,” Thaleria added.

If Gahn Thaleo was at all intimidated by the strength displayed before him, he did not show it. He regarded us all coolly, giving nothing away.

Finally, he replied, his voice quiet thunder as he addressed us. “As the child has entered into Gahn Errok’s territory and has not crossed uninvited into mine, I can have no complaint on the matter.”

He spoke only to Gahn Errok, now, his gaze hard.

“I accept that he is under your protection, Gahn Errok. But he is also your responsibility for as long as he remains in the Deep Sky. If he grows up to become a threat to my people, it is your blood I’ll spill in recompense.”

I did not like the mention of blood alongside the mention of my son. A warning growl rumbled deep in my chest, and my spikes sprang outward menacingly. Gahn Thaleo watched me closely but did not flinch or back away.

“I will not harm your mate’s child without reason,” he told me.

“You will not harm my child. Ever,” I corrected him, my voice venomous.

Gahn Thaleo’s eyes narrowed ever-so-slightly. His scarred browed twitched, but otherwise his expression did not change.

“Oh, please, Thaleo,” Errok sneered. “I’ve seen the babe. He’s a clawless cub. He’ll grow up to be a skinny, pale, wispy thing who likely won’t even be strong enough to string his own bow.”

I turned my vicious glare onto Gahn Errok, offended by his vastly erroneous judgment against my son. Keir was strong because his mother was strong.

It was only the fact that Errok’s words were likely helping my case with Gahn Thaleo that I held my tongues. I promised Abby I would think three times before I spoke.

“Is there anything left to discuss?” Gahn Thaleo said after a beat.

“No. You and Warrek are dismissed,” Gahn Errok replied haughtily.

Once again, Gahn Errok’s brazen disrespect for the other Gahn shocked me. I had not been particularly submissive myself, but Gahn Errok’s behaviour went far beyond my reactionary protectiveness of Keir. I looked over to find Errok looking awfully pleased with himself. Lerokan looked decidedly less pleased with Errok, as did Thaleria.

“Thank you so much for coming,” Thaleria said, trying to bring some semblance of courtesy back to the meeting. “We’ll be in touch if there’s any more news to share.”

“No need,” Gahn Thaleo replied as he mounted his braxilk. “I will be visiting your settlement more regularly from now on.”

Thaleria gave that tight-lipped smile again. She moved her head up and down in agreement, but I could tell she was not happy about Gahn Thaleo’s increased presence at the settlement going forward.

Gahn Thaleo and Warrek took off the next moment, their braxilk spearing into the bright morning.

“You couldn’t have been a little more polite, Gahn Errok?” Thaleria muttered, glaring. “You really pushed him at the end there. And now I have to deal with his tightly-wound self popping in unannounced.”

“Do not blame me for that,” Errok hissed. “He may not show it, but I have no doubt he is seething at the fact you’ve brought a male here without informing him. Besides, my Gahnala has told me of Thaleo’s obsession with one of the new women at your settlement. He is likely using this whole thing as an excuse to come spy on her more often.”

“Wouldn’t be the first time Thaleo’s tried to use a situation to his advantage without revealing his true purpose. The taklok debacle proved that,” Thaleria replied. She sighed. “Alright. Nothing to be done about it now except deal with it. I just wish I could get a better read on him. He sets me on edge.”

I, too, was glad Thaleo had departed. But now came the matter of what Tok had to tell me.

“What news have you had from our Hakah, Tok?” I asked.

Tok hesitated, his brow heavy over his yellow sight discs. Then, he said, “I have recently spoken to Hakah Gog from Thaleria’s ship. He has ordered you to return to the Sea Sands as soon as you are healed enough to make the journey.”

My tail jerked, an automatic response that sent pain zinging up my spine.

I did not need to ask why. I knew the answer immediately.

“He will punish me as he punished Grim. For abandoning my orders and my post,” I said flatly.

“I do not know exactly what he wishes to do with you,” Tok admitted, “but he is not pleased that you abandoned your duties and remained with Abby and Keir. If you three had not been discovered, you would have never returned to your post. This has made Hakah Gog very angry.”

I should have seen this coming.

Loyalty was prized among Bitter Sea warriors, and even outside of that, warriors leaving without warning was a particular sore spot for our king. His own brother, Kon, had disappeared. We knew now that he had gone to find his Sea Sand mate, Jara, and had had a son, Kor. But Hakah Gog did not learn of this until after Kon’s death, and the loss still haunted him. I should have known this would happen. But I’d been so blissfully happy with Abby and Keir, so wrapped up in my new world, that my old one felt like some long-forgotten dream.

“You do not have to leave.”

I swivelled, surprised at where the sudden show of support had come from. It was Errok who had spoken thus. Lerokan swished his tail in agreement.

“You may remain here safely, Kohka,” Lerokan said.

“This will not be possible,” Tok said grimly.

Errok did not like that. His fangs flashed.

“I have entered into a treaty with Gahn Thaleo and the new women. I have entered into no particular alliance with your Hakah,” Errok snarled. “This is my mountain. Kohka is my guest, living under my rule. I am under no obligation to submit to your water king’s word.”

“With respect,” Tok said slowly, as if choosing his words very carefully, “you would not be able to fight off a Bitter Sea escort if one came for Kohka.”

“No escort has yet arrived,” Errok shot back.

Tok sighed. I could tell he did not like the words as he said them. “No Bitter Sea escort from the Sea Sands will be necessary. I am already here.”

Gahn Errok’s gaze narrowed instantly.

“You would try to take him when I have forbidden it?” Errok said, his voice deadly.

“I would not try,” Tok said simply. “It would be done.”

“Tok is right,” I said. Errok turned his blazing eyes to me, looking affronted that I, too, was now disagreeing with him.

“Tok is right claw to the Hakah,” I explained. “He is duty-bound to the Hakah’s command.” I knew it better than most. My own father had been the right claw before Tok. How many times had my father told me that loyalty to the Hakah was to be held above all else? That no man’s desire or worth came before the commands of our king?

“I did try to dissuade him from this, Kohka,” Tok said. “I told him that you have chosen Abby as your mate. But as you were not called by the Kell, he is not accepting that as a viable excuse.”

“I understand, Tok,” I said gravely.

“I’m sorry, Tok. There’s no one who sympathizes more than I do,” Thaleria said. “You know that this happened to Grim, too. Back when I was considered an enemy, and he left the ranks of the Hakah’s army to take me into the desert.”

“I remember.” How could I forget our Hakah’s rage at Grim’s disappearance? The way Tok had dragged him, bleeding, back to the settlement? How Grim had been chained?

“Remember also, Kohka, that Hakah Gog also changed his mind on the matter and released Grim. For what it is worth,” Tok said, “I do not believe Hakah Gog plans to chain you as he once chained Grim. The circumstances are different. Abby is not considered a foreign enemy the way Thaleria was.”

“But I also was not called by the Kell, as Grim was,” I gritted out. Grim’s actions, however treasonous, had had the backing of our most sacred deity, the Kell. And that had helped immensely in earning his release.

The Kell had given me no mate vision. I had no holy destiny driving me. Just my own wayward heart.

“This is true,” Tok acknowledged. “And you are not supposed to take new women from the settlement alone in the first place without the Kell’s blessing, though I understand much of that was due to Abby’s deception.” His yellow sight discs tightened. “When you are healed and ready, I will escort you back to the Sea Sands. I will continue to press the Hakah for mercy.”

“Why?” I asked, grateful but confused by his support. “When you went through this with Grim, you sent a spear through his throat and dragged him half-dead before our king.” There had been no pleading for Grim, then.

“Some of that comes down to my mate’s influence,” Tok admitted. “Taylor is extremely sympathetic to your cause, and she begs me to fight for you. Besides, like I said, the situation with Grim was different. Grim’s actions were deemed far more treasonous than yours because he had chosen one we considered an enemy over his own Hakah. We did not know yet if we could trust Thaleria, and Hakah Gog believed Grim had put the entire settlement at risk by being with her.” Tok glanced at Thaleria. She gave him a quick up-and-down head motion, indicating that he should continue. “And unlike you, Grim was… Not understanding of the matter. He fought me and fled.”

“I will not flee,” I said. There would be no point. Not unless Abby and Keir could flee with me. But that’s what had gotten us into this mess in the first place.

“But will you fight?”

I was in no condition to fight. Tok and I both knew it. If Tok was threatening to take Abby or Keir away, my answer would be different. But, as it was…

“No.”

“Chapman is also working on Hakah Gog,” Thaleria said. “She understands the nuances of the situation a little more clearly. We’re hopeful that you won’t need to stay in the Sea Sands long, and that the Hakah will grant you leave to return here as soon as possible.” Her mouth puckered into an unhappy frown. “I really am sorry, Kohka. I also don’t want you to have to go. I’m very grateful for the way you’ve taken care of Abby and Keir. But, ultimately, you are under Hakah Gog’s rule. If we believed he was going to harm you, things might be different. But we don’t believe that’s the case. Therefore, we have no right to stop him from recalling you.”

She was correct. Hakah Gog was well within his rights to recall me. As far as he was concerned, I had no real mate because the Kell had not called me. If only the Kell had summoned me… If that had happened, I would be in a much better position in our Hakah’s eyes. I’d be able to stay here with Abby and Keir.

“And once again, I have no say, even in my own mountain,” Gahn Errok snapped. “I have heard enough.” His tail thwapped the stone floor ferociously, his jaw working. “Kohka, if you do not wish to leave, you will not. In fact, I will make you my own prisoner. Let your Hakah try to take you then.” He turned his imperious, challenging gaze onto Tok.

“I thank you, Gahn Errok.” I doubted this Deep Sky warlord possessed any special love for me, to make such an offer. But, rather, he was so ruthlessly possessive, so intent on asserting his own dominance in his domain, that I was merely indirectly benefitting. Whatever his motivation, I appreciated his words. Even if I would not accept them.

“I will not see blood shed on my account,” I said. That was the last thing I wanted. I wouldn’t have Abby and Keir witness that, either. The deaths of other men, maybe even myself, as I fought my responsibilities. “I will go with Tok when I am healed.” The words were like stones in my chest. “I will face the consequences of all that has happened.”

Perhaps speaking to the Hakah in person would convince him of the purity of my mate bond for Abby. Perhaps, as Thaleria believed, he would let me return soon after.

I can only hope.

CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

Abby

My nerves were frayed as I waited for Kohka to come back from the meeting with Gahn Thaleo. I paced, jiggling Keir in my arms, grinding my teeth. When he finally appeared, I didn’t feel relief, but rather, unease. His brow was furrowed unhappily, his steps heavy with something other than the pain of his still-healing injuries.

“What is it?” I asked, clutching Keir and hurrying to him. “What did Gahn Thaleo say?

“Gahn Thaleo did not appear pleased, but ultimately he has accepted Gahn Errok’s protection of Keir. He claims he will not hurt our son without cause.”

“Without cause?” I echoed warily.

“He means if Keir grows up to become a warrior that challenges him or harms his people.”

“Oh my God. These guys are all the same. Deep Sky, Sea Sands. That’s just like what Fallo said.” I shook my head, furious that so many men considered my child a threat. “Did they never consider how he would be raised? That I’d raise him to be peaceful, to help others?”

“That is not how things are done. Like my kind, these men are warriors. We are all trained that way from childhood. They cannot imagine a male who is not. Thaleo, in particular, cannot understand the way of the new women. He has no human mate to influence him.”

I sighed harshly.

“Well, fine. I guess that’s all we can do for now. At least we know Keir is still safe here.” I eyed him with concern. “So, what else is wrong?”

A look of grim pain passed over Kohka’s face.

“Hakah Gog has recalled me to the Sea Sands. I must face the consequences of abandoning my post to assist a new woman who is not my mate.”

“What?!” I cried, shock bolting through me. “But I am your mate!”

“I know,” he said. “But the Kell did not call me. For Hakah Gog, our choosing each other is not enough.”

“You can’t go!” I stammered, panic and grief welling inside me. “I’ll talk to Stephanie. Gahn Errok can-”

“Gahn Errok has already offered to fight for me. But I do not think either of us wants to see men die for this.”

Shit. Shit! He was right. If people died, I’d never be able to live with the guilt. Keir would grow up with that cloud over his head, and it likely wouldn’t do any good, anyway. The Deep Sky men were strong, but Bitter Sea men were stronger. And Kohka could get hurt again in the fray. Maybe even die this time.

“Then we’ll go with you,” I said stubbornly.

“No.”

“No? What do you mean, ‘No?’” My anxiety was being overtaken by fury. And it was now aimed directly at Kohka.

But where I was reactive, explosive, Kohka was calm with somber resignation.

“No, mate.” His hand rose to cup my face, and I shivered at the contact. “My kind little creature, no. It would not be safe to bring Keir on such a perilous journey. Here, in Gahn Errok’s mountain, you are both safe and cared for, whether I am here or not. That is what matters most.”

“What matters most is that we’re together!”

Keir, who had been asleep in my arms, woke and began to howl, no doubt upset by the stress in my raised voice.

Kohka reached for our son. I passed Keir into his father’s loving hands. Kohka settled Keir on his chest immediately, one hand under Keir’s little rump, the other a solid support across his back. Keir was soothed almost instantly, safe and calm in his father’s embrace.

The sight of them together broke my fucking heart.

“I can’t lose you,” I whispered, tears beginning to flow. “I’ll use Valeria’s ship and talk to Hakah Gog myself. I’ll-”

Kohka bent, bumping his snout to my mouth, halting my words. His snout trailed to my neck.

“Tok has already tried, as has the Gahnala Chapman. It was not enough.”

“I can’t lose you,” I said again. They were the only words left in my reeling brain. “We can’t lose you.”

“You are not losing me,” Kohka choked out. “You never could. I am yours, and Keir’s, until the last sunrise.”

“Then why does it hurt so much?” I sobbed. I pressed my forehead against his chest, right beside Keir.

“I know,” he groaned. “The thought of leaving you both… Cursed waves, Abby, it’s like I cannot breathe.”

I felt the same. My chest was tight with agony.

There’s no way out of this.

If we defied the Hakah, Kohka could be taken by force and people could get hurt. But if we didn’t fight, he’d leave.

And my world, Keir’s world, would crumble.

I stayed like that, crying against my mate, for a long time. Eventually, exhaustion took over, and there were no more tears left.

“When do you have to go?” I asked woodenly.

“As soon as I am healed enough for the journey.”

I took a ragged breath, then pulled back to look up at the face I loved so much.

“I never thought I’d say this,” I muttered bitterly. “But I hope you heal really fucking slow.”

CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN

Abby

Unfortunately, Kohka’s healing was not slow. As one week bled into two after Gahn Thaleo’s visit, it became clear that our days in this mountain with Kohka were numbered. His ribs no longer caused him pain. By the time three weeks had passed, five weeks after he’d initially gotten the injuries, his tail showed improvements, too. It was still weak, and didn’t function like it once had, but the pain was receding every day.

“You’re leaving soon,” I said dully one morning to Kohka as he changed Keir’s diaper. I was sitting on the bed, while Kohka was bent over Keir in the bassinet. We only used the raised stone bassinet for diaper changes these days. Keir was growing and moving too much to sleep there, now. Kohka had constructed a crib of sorts on the floor. He’d used the tubular dark firewood native to these mountains to make a ring of upright bars to keep Keir contained during his wiggly sleep. He’d constructed similar rings, like baby gates, around the heated pool and the fire pit in our cave, ready for when Keir became more mobile.

Keir responded to my statement before Kohka did, letting out a loud, squeaky “aaaaah!” sound.

Kohka fastened a new cloth diaper on Keir with careful movements, mostly using his right hand, the claws of which he’d kept neatly blunted.

“It will not be long, now,” Kohka replied solemnly. Keir, completely unaware of the gravity of the situation, beamed sunnily up at Kohka, his fat little fists waving in the air. Kohka’s snout bunched up, tightening in a grin. I smiled too. I couldn’t help it. Even when I felt like I was fucking drowning, my responses to Keir’s smiles were automatic. Kohka lifted Keir and faced me.

“You know that I hope not to be gone long. I hope that Hakah Gog will reprimand me but ultimately allow me to return.”

“You hope.”

Hope. The very word was like bitter ash on my tongue. Which I absolutely hated. My tired eyes landed on Keir.

Hope is precious.

“Even if he doesn’t keep you there too long, you’re going to miss so much,” I murmured. The trip to the Sea Sands and back would be a month of travel alone. Keir was growing and changing rapidly. Some days, when I woke up and looked at him, it seemed as if his face had completely changed overnight. His expressions were developing like lightning, as were his motor skills and his exuberant, often very loud, attempts at gurgling communication. Every single day, he made Kohka and me gasp at some new thing he’d learned or discovered. And now, Kohka was going to miss more than a month of that. Minimum.

“If we travel day and night, we can cut down the journey. Tok and I do not require as much sleep as you.”

“I know. But still,” I replied. “You’ll still need to rest when you can.” Even when he was fully recovered from his injuries, he’d be more vulnerable than before with so many protective scales missing on his chest.

“I have been thinking,” Kohka said, coming to sit beside me on the bed. “That, if Hakah Gog allows it, I might return for a brief trip to the Bitter Sea.”

“What? Why? The Bitter Sea is even further from here than the Sea Sands!”

Kohka patted Keir’s back gently, the muffled tapping sound underscoring his words.

“If I return to the Bitter Sea, perhaps the Kell will finally call me. I will get my mate vision, and the Hakah will let me return to you at once.”

“Oh yeah?” I huffed moodily. “And what if the Kell decides someone else is supposed to be your mate? Maybe one of your own people. Then you’ll have to stay on your island with her forever.”

Kohka inhaled sharply, like I’d hurt him. I knew I was poking and prodding at him too much. He had to do this, and I wasn’t making things any easier.

“That will not happen,” he said vehemently. “You are my mate. I feel the mate bond for you as any other mated warrior does.” He held Keir with one arm, his other free to grab one of my sweaty, fidgety hands. “You are my only destiny, Abby. You and Keir and the family we’re creating. That is my fate.”

He meant it. I knew he did. I could feel it.

But his words didn’t reassure me. I was miserable and afraid. That night, when Keir was asleep in his crib down on the floor and we were settled in bed, I kissed Kohka more desperately than I ever had. Kohka responded in kind, groaning into my mouth, his hands turning hard and possessive as they ran up my back. I gasped when he flipped me easily onto my back. I slept naked most of the time, so there were no clothes to remove. Which was probably good, because based on the brutal expression on Kohka’s face, they probably would have been torn right off.

Kohka loomed over me, drawing his snout ravenously against my ear and throat. I moaned when some of his mating fluid splattered onto my skin, heating me up and making my nerves zing. His huge hands dragged up my torso, cupping my breasts. My sensitive nipples tightened immediately, and I arched my back needily.

Kohka’s tongues, and burning mating fluid, glided down my neck, swirling in murderously hot paths until they reached my breasts. Kohka flicked his tongues over one nipple, then the other, the exquisite sensation sending tingles through my chest.

“Oh, wait, shit, sorry,” I panted, embarrassment making me flush as milk dribbled out.

Kohka’s fevered eyes met mine, his nostrils flaring. We stared at each other for a beat. Then, holding my gaze, he dragged the tips of his tongues through the leaking milk.

“So sweet,” he rasped.

My pussy squeezed, erotic heat pooling in my pelvis as Kohka licked me again and again.

“How do you guys even breastfeed?” I blurted. Not the sexiest question, but I suddenly couldn’t get it out of my head. They were mammalian, but they had snouts. How the hell did that work?

“Bitter Sea females have milk glands between and under their scales. That’s why our tongues are split. We do not suckle like a human child. The tongue goes between the scales and does this.”

The agile tips of Kohka’s forked tongue wrapped around my nipple. I cried out when he gave a gentle but greedy tug, sending milk spraying.

“Yikes, sorry!”

Kohka’s snout and tongue dripped with milk. Clearly, he didn’t mind. Because he did it again. Mating fluid gushed from his jaws, mixing with the milk and coating my breast. The warming sensation of the mating fluid only made the flow of milk heavier, stimulating my nerves. At the same time, Kohka’s hand slid between my legs, his huge fingers firm against my sex. By now, he knew exactly what I liked, circling over my clit, driving me close to the edge, before pressing a single, thick digit inside.

“Fuck,” I mewled in English. Kohka slid his finger in and out, stretching me, my wetness easing the way. Then, once deep enough, he curled his finger inward against my G-spot, stroking in quick, practiced movements. My pussy quivered around his finger, and Kohka moaned. He released my nipple, breathing hard against my breast.

“Yes, perfect little creature,” he murmured, his breath fanning over my slick nipple. A moment later, I felt that breath, a molten whisper, along the inside of my quivering thigh.

The tips of his tongues swirled over my clit, teasing and tasting. A harsh groan, ragged with ravenous need, erupted from his throat.

“Sweet here, too,” he growled.

Then, he repeated what he’d done with my nipple, but this time, he did it to my clit. The flexible, darting tips of his tongues created a tight, wet ring around the sensitive nub. He exerted pressure in rhythmic pulses, timed to the movements of his finger inside me.

I’d never felt anything like it – that exquisite pressure circling my clit while my pussy was so filled. When Kohka’s mating fluid drenched me down there, setting my nerves alight, I slapped my hand over my mouth to muffle my scream. Fire licked through me, blazing in my core. I was so stretched and yet felt so empty. It was more than I could take.

And nowhere near enough.

“I want to come on your cock,” I gasped, barely able to get the strangled words out. My hips urged needily upwards against his tongue and hand. I would come any second like this.

But I wanted him inside me.

Kohka gave my clit one last ecstatic pulse of pressure before pulling back. His gaze tore over my skin, branding me almost as ferociously as his mating fluid did.

“Are you sure?” he asked, voice deep and tight.

“Yes,” I breathed. “Please, Kohka.”

“Cursed waves,” he muttered, tension shivering through his frame. His face darkened with a need so raw it almost looked like pain. “You do not know how I’ve wanted this.”

“Show me.”

“I have to-”

“Bite me.”

Kohka let out a feral hiss that made my pussy clench around his finger. God, he was so gorgeous. So hard and strong and good and needing me, so fucking badly, like I was the air he breathed. I loved the way the firelight turned his scales to bronze and copper. The way it gleamed in the hot rivers of mating fluid sluicing down his neck and chest. The way his eyes roamed over me, devouring me.

He drew his finger out of me. I whined in complaint, and his jaws snapped violently at the sound.

“Do it now,” I whispered, quivering in anticipation. This was something we’d both wanted, we’d both waited for, for so long.

Kohka’s tongue tips flicked fiery lines across my abdomen, back down between my legs. He swiped over my clit, tasting it again, as if he couldn’t help himself. Then, just as I was about to beg him to bite me so he could finally fuck me, he jerked his head to the side, took the tender part of my inner thigh in his jaws, and bit down.

My mouth slammed open in a soundless scream. I’d gone through this once, during labour, of course, but this was a completely different experience. This time, I wasn’t overwhelmed by pain and fear. This time, all there was to focus on was the liquid lightning sluicing through my veins. My heart pounded harder, faster, sending the electrifying venom rushing into every nerve, every facet of my body. My drenched pussy spasmed, then suddenly released. Everything between my legs felt sweet and stretched, like thick, oozing honey being plied between playful fingers.

I reached down, my hands scrabbling desperately against Kohka’s snout. I didn’t know if I was trying to push him away…

Or trying to keep him clamped on me forever.

Kohka’s hands were vises on my thighs, his nostrils flared, his eyes wide and wild. As if it took great effort, he unlatched his jaws. A torrent of mating fluid poured out of his mouth, coating my thigh, sinking into the shallow, loving wounds his fangs had created. My whole body sang – screamed – with the icy black heat of it.

Kohka adjusted his positioning, looming over me, his hands planted on either side of me. He lifted one, trailing a trembling thumb across my cheekbone and down to my lips. My mouth opened, licking at him, and he watched in fervent fascination. A ripple went through his spikes, every part of him straining.

I wrapped my hands around his wrist, pulling his hand away from my face and guiding it downwards to his own cock. He gripped the thick organ, and I wiggled closer, grinding my wetness against him. The mating fluid had definitely worked – my whole pelvis felt open and empty. So fucking empty.

But not empty for long.

With a tortured groan, Kohka’s hips shunted forward. My head rolled back. I clutched at his shoulders, my thighs spreading wider for him. Begging him with my body to go further, deeper.

He did so. As if he couldn’t help himself. His hips shuddered, his cock driving further in. Even with the mating fluid and all our Vrika’s blood massage sessions, I felt the blistering stretch. It didn’t hurt, though. Not really. Just left me burning. Incandescent with staggering, stretching pleasure.

My eyes rolled forward to find Kohka. I needed to watch him the first time he fucked me. The first time he fucked anyone. Kohka, apparently, felt the same. His silver pupils were so bright and blown they took up most of his gaze. And that gaze was focused solely on watching his cock sink into my body.

“Live up to your expectations?” I teased with a breathy laugh.

Kohka’s hips rocked experimentally, making both of us moan.

“You have shattered every expectation I ever held about my life,” Kohka panted gruffly. “This is no different.” He looked up at my face and rocked his hips a little harder, a little faster. “You feel like… Like…”

“What?” I asked, giving his cock a little squeeze. It was surprisingly difficult. The mating fluid had really loosened up my muscles. And not just between my legs. It had loosened my whole body, turning me supple and pliant.

“You feel like things I have no words for,” Kohka grated. His hips established a quick, biting rhythm, stealing my breath. He’d buried himself deep enough that he could now stroke over my clit with the flexible spears ringing the base of his cock, tantalizing me with soft strokes while his cock gave me the hardness I was so desperate for.

“I have words,” I gasped. “You feel amazing, Kohka. You’re perfect.” The stretched honey sensation between my legs prickled and thickened. My blood hammered, pounding in my pussy, my clit, my nipples. Every ecstatic heartbeat seemed to turn the mating fluid even more potent inside me. I writhed and arched, my climax coming for me with the force of a tsunami.

“I love you,” I whimpered. The tsunami was on me, now. All around me. Inside me. Every nerve ending in my body exploded with sensation, like fireworks going off in my veins. My pussy spasmed, and I milked Kohka with wanton flutters, my core massaging around his length. Kohka stiffened, his movements halting for a brief moment as his eyes slid shut.

Then they opened. And I wanted to sob. At how beautiful he was. At how those eyes were looking at me now. Deep wells of argent fire.

Kohka’s hips slammed. Rhythm and control were crushed under my mate’s ferocious need. I welcomed it – I welcomed Kohka’s virile, primal urgency. Welcomed it because I needed it.

I gave him what he needed right back, drawing him deeper, my core taking him, inviting him, to do what he’d wanted to do for so long. The pearls pierced into his shaft rolled over me, through me, hitting sensitive places I didn’t even know I had.

Pressure and pleasure intertwined as another orgasm ripped through me. Kohka bent over me, breathing hard against my neck. He tasted my pulse as I came. Mindless with need, I grasped his snout, dragging his fangs closer to my throat.

“Want to bite you everywhere,” Kohka growled, grinding into me. “Want my fangs and cock inside you at the same time.”

I couldn’t speak, shocked and breathlessly aroused by this side of him. This side of him that wasn’t shy but demanding. I nodded mutely, tugging hard on his snout, silently begging him to do it.

With a brutal slam of his cock, he bit down, his fangs sinking into the flesh between my neck and shoulder.

The second surge of mating fluid was blinding. It battered my senses, blew them open, until I could feel nothing, see nothing, taste nothing but Kohka. His fangs went deeper this time, his control worn thin, but the pain was a mere echo at the back of my brain.

Kohka was right – having him bite me and fuck me at the same time was beyond anything I could have imagined. He claimed every part of me with every part of him. Binding us together with milk and venom and blood.

I felt Kohka come. Felt the explosive throb in my pussy. Felt the new rush of his burning fluid in my veins. Felt him shake, his shoulders shuddering beneath my fingers.

Kohka had told me once that hearts were hard to translate. But his wasn’t. We didn’t need language. Didn’t need syntax or sentences or words. We created our own dialect, one of skin and scales. I could read every grief and lust-stricken beat of Kohka’s heart on the ravaged map of his body.

And with my own body, I sent back my wordless, adoring reply.

CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT

Kohka

We did not speak when we were finished. For this, I was grateful. My body and brain were too empty and too full to formulate words. But, for once, this did not feel like a failing. I did not feel like I was not enough.

In Abby’s arms, I felt like a Hakah.

It did not take either of us long to fall asleep, curled around each other’s bodies. When I woke a short time later, Abby was not with me. I spied her in the hot spring across the cave.

For a long moment, I simply watched her. Watched as she washed the lush curves of her body. As she rinsed her soft, short hair. She did not know I was awake. Did not yet feel my eyes on her.

Every move she made was mundane magic. She turned the simple daily act of bathing into a thing of sublime beauty. Every glimmer of water on her skin a sacred veil. Every stroke of her fingers a hypnotic dance I could not look away from.

I worship her.

I rose from the bed, unable to keep myself away from my mate. On my way by, I checked on Keir. He slept soundly, his fat little cheek pressed into his firm mattress of folded hides, his rump up in the air. Satisfied that he was comfortable and did not need anything, I continued my short walk to the heated pool.

As I drew near, the sound of my claws and heavy, dragging tail against the stone caught Abby’s attention. She turned, at first looking startled, then smiling lovingly.

I wonder if I will ever get used to that, I thought, dizzy with adoration. The fact that she is so happy just to see me.

“I figured I’d better wash off before Keir woke and needed to nurse,” she said, a pretty flush darkening her cheeks. I did not know if the colour was due to the heat of the water or her feelings about what had happened between us – why she needed to wash off in the first place. I remembered what she’d looked like – slick with her own wetness, stained by my mating fluid, milk dripping from her breasts – and felt myself harden behind my slit.

I slipped into the water. I tried to do it gently, but at my size such a thing was difficult, and I sent a wave sloshing over her, splashing her face.

Before I could apologize, she laughed and splashed back at me.

“Oh, hey!” Abby said suddenly. “I want to show you something!”

“What is it?” I asked, settling myself on a raised bit of stone that acted as a sort of seat in the pool.

“Just watch,” she said cryptically, a mischievous smile pulling at her lips. She turned her back on me, crouched down a bit, then pushed off and…

Swam.

“I told you I could!” she laughed, her limbs gliding through the water. The pool was not large enough even for someone as small as Abby to swim very far. Soon, she reached the other side, turning and pushing off the far wall with her feet.

She glided towards me, her limbs propelling her with more power than I would have guessed them capable of. She was not particularly fast, and without a tail, I suspected making sharp turns in water would be difficult. But that did not matter. She could swim, just as she’d said. Just as I’d always believed she could.

And she swam right to me. With a breathless laugh, she grasped my shoulders, using them as an anchor to pull herself onto my lap. When she straddled me, she found my cock already out, aching and hard.

This time, when I bit her shoulder, it was tender. A sensual, intimate display of my love for her. She sighed, a melody of breath against my neck, as she slowly sank onto my cock.

Between the silky caress of the water, her slick fluid, and the potent mating venom in her veins, tightness gave way to wetness.

“You just stay there and let me do this now,” Abby murmured, her eyes luminous. “Just sit back and let me love you the way you deserve.”

And love me, she did.

She dragged sweet, nipping kisses along my snout as she began to rock. Her cunt was a glorious, slippery sheath, sucking me deeper. That tight, silken tunnel milked me. The pressure turned every pearl piercing into a scorching point of sensitivity, massaging deeper into the hard flesh of my shaft.

Abby’s eyes fluttered closed, but mine stayed open. I didn’t want to miss a single moment of this – of watching Abby ride me. Taking her pleasure from me, and giving back so much in return.

“I’m already close again,” she moaned, her dark eyes cracking open.

“Keep going,” I murmured, swiping the tips of my tongue across her swollen lips. “Come on my cock the way you need. The way I need.”

I groaned when she pulsed around me, giving into her climax. Waves of our fathers, how beautiful she was like this. How beautiful and generous and kind and somehow, somehow, against all odds and sense, she loved me. Loved me like I could only hope to deserve.

No one can take this from me, I vowed as I met her pleasure with my own, spilling deep inside her. The Hakah could drag me halfway across this world if he wished. Chain me, punish me, berate me. But nothing – no duty, no distance – could truly touch us now.

I would go to the Sea Sands as commanded.

But I would not fear. And I would not doubt.

Because my family, my true fate, would be here waiting for me.

And that was the sort of hope that no man could kill.

CHAPTER FORTY-NINE

Kohka

Afew days later, I woke before dawn. This day, like every day that had come before, my tail hurt me less.

I cannot stall much longer. I am nearly as healed as I will ever be.

I sat up, turning to gaze down at my beloved, so serene in her deep, long, human sleep. Keir was sleeping, too, having fed during the night.

Feeling restless, I rose, leaving the bed. I went to the clear wall of the cave, leaning against the cool crystal and staring out at the glittering sky.

At least Abby and Keir are in this world. At least I know that they will be seeing the same stars I am when I am gone.

I had the sudden need to look at those stars, now, without any barriers. Bitter Sea people slept in caves, so I did not feel confined in this mountain. But the need for the cool fangs of early morning air grew stronger.

I thought about telling Abby I’d be back soon but decided against it. She looked too peaceful, too perfect, and I found I couldn’t bear to wake her.

Treading as softly as my bulky body would allow, I left the cave.

Having been back and forth to Gahn Errok’s hall several times, I knew the way by now. Lanterns along the wall lit the way, though I did not need them.

When I arrived at the hall, I found Tok waiting for me.

He knows what I know. It is nearly time.

“Greetings, Kohka,” Tok said. “The Hakah has asked for a report on your healing.”

“The healing is nearly done. I will leave with you in a few days.” I forced the words out in a flat voice, not letting the pain of them in.

“As I expected, then,” Tok replied.

There was nothing else to say. Tok and I stood side by side at the stony edge of the fall, staring outwards. The drop from this place was sheer and deadly, but it allowed for a spectacular view of these foreign mountains.

I’d once thought that nothing could be as beautiful as the Bitter Sea.

Abby had proven that wrong the moment I’d laid eyes on her.

These mountains proved it wrong, too.

This was not the land of my lineage, my birth.

But it was the land of my son’s birth. The place I’d first heard Abby say she loved me. The place I’d been happier than I ever had.

And now I would leave it, with its great blue spires of stone and its shadows and stars, behind, along with everything I held dear.

No one can take them from me. I repeated it silently to myself. Over and over again.

The air grew brighter ahead of us. Dawn. But… No.

My brow furrowed heavily in confusion. The dawn-like glow was not coming from the sky, the horizon, but below.

Tok noticed it, too. In unison, we leaned over the edge.

A creature I recognized stared back with knowing eyes.

The Vrika.

I’d seen it, once. During our battle out on the Deep Sky plains. It had landed to heal Varrow’s wounds and then had left in pursuit of Priya and Lerokan.

Its long, winding body rippled like liquid starlight as it flew upward on glowing, translucent wings. When it reached the level of the hall, it flew back and forth in the air, its eyes never leaving me.

“It is like the Kell, but not,” Tok said, his voice low. Tok had not seen the Vrika before, but he had been called by the Kell before we left our island. “It has the same glow. The same presence.”

Tok turned to look at me from the side.

“I think it has come for you.”

“What could it possibly want with me?” I asked. The Vrika was the Deep Sky spirit. It could have no use for a Bitter Sea man like me.

But it healed Varrow… And he was not of the Deep Sky…

“You will not know until you follow it.”

Tok was right. The Vrika wanted something from me, and I would have no answers unless I went with it.

“I will go with you, Vrika,” I said, the words winding through the air like a spell. The magnificent creature dipped its head and flew downwards, totally soundless.

I hauled myself over the edge and started the long downward climb.

It was not just the climb down that turned out to be long. As I was too heavy for a braxilk, and could not fly on my own wings, I had to lumber over rock and valley as I followed the Vrika’s iridescent body in the air. The sun was high by the time we reached the Vrika’s peak. I knew Abby and Keir would be missing me, but I counted on Tok to let them know I was alright and where I had gone.

The Vrika’s peak was the tallest in this area of the mountains. The grand, flat, stony valley below was also the place Thaleria and the others had settled. Thaleria, Grim, and a Sea Sand man named Dalk were all outside as I approached. Their eyes were cast upward in wonder, watching the Vrika’s ethereal flight. They did not notice me until I was nearly upon them.

“Kohka! What are you doing here? I just flew Tok over there to check on you this morning!”

“The Vrika has summoned me.”

Thaleria’s eyebrows jumped upwards.

“Summoned? Like, for a mate vision?”

I buried the thrill I felt at her words.

“I do not know. I must climb to its peak and learn what it wants of me.”

Grim, Thaleria, and Dalk all turned their eyes to the Vrika’s mountain.

“I am not so sure one of our kind can climb that far,” Grim said, turning his crimson sight discs on me. “The Deep Sky men fly to a place near the top and only climb a short way. And they are better built for climbing than we are. Plus, you are further hindered by your healing tail.”

He was right, but I had no choice. The Vrika may not have been the deity of my homeland, but I could not refuse its call. Especially if there was even the slightest chance it would grant me a mate vision of Abby.

“He doesn’t need to climb,” Thaleria said firmly, planting her hands on her hips and grinning at me. “Because we’re going to fly human-style.”

Dalk remained on the ground, and Thaleria, Grim, and I loaded into her shuttle. I jolted with the sensation of rising off the ground as we ascended. The shuttle bore us upward on invisible wings, rising easily and eating distance that would have taken me all day and night, or longer, to climb.

Before long, the ascent halted.

“Here we go, Kohka!” Thaleria called over the whirring sound of her shuttle. The entrance to the shuttle slid open. Just outside, within stepping distance, was the peak of the Vrika’s mountain. A small, flat ledge remained of the space not taken up by the Vrika’s massive body.

“Thank you,” I said to Thaleria and Grim.

Then, I stepped out of the shuttle and into the Vrika’s realm.

The wind up here was ferocious. I braced myself against it, hating the idea of falling to my death now after making it all the way up here. There was not much room to stand, even though the Vrika’s long, serpentine body was wound into a tight circle.

In the centre of that circle, protected from the wind, was a bright, smooth stone.

No. Not a stone. An egg.

The Vrika watched me with unblinking, endless eyes. I reached for the egg, hesitating, wondering if I was doing something wrong, if this was real, if the Vrika had really meant to call me at all. But the Vrika made no move to stop me.

So, I took the egg.

I held it carefully in my claws, gently, the way I would hold Keir. I stared at its surface. I knew that when the Kell summoned Bitter Sea warriors, it granted the mate vision on the surface of one of its fangs.

But the surface of the egg gave me nothing at all.

“I do not understand, Vrika,” I said, puzzled by the blank white shell.

My heart sank. What if this means I am meant to have no mate at all?

Or maybe this had nothing to do with a mate vision. Maybe the Vrika was doing something else entirely, and I was too ignorant to understand.

“Am I supposed to eat it?” I asked, looking down at the egg once more. Just holding the egg didn’t seem to be accomplishing anything. And the more I thought about it, the more it made sense I needed to open the thing. The shell of an egg was not important. The life, the essence, was inside.

Holding my breath, and hoping that I was not wrong and about to commit some great, unholy atrocity, I broke the top of the egg’s shell off at its narrowest point.

I stared into the swirling, milky depths of the egg until something appeared. No, not something.

Someone.

Someone I knew well. Someone I loved.

“I see her,” I breathed, entranced by the vision of my mate’s blinding beauty. “I see her!”

I already loved Abby. The sudden rush of the mate bond was not new. But it was powerful, all the same. A thrashing roar in my chest and my blood, thundering just a little louder than before.

“What is it, Kohka? What do you see?”

Grim’s voice ripped me away from the mate vision. I turned to find both his and Valeria’s faces at the shuttle’s open door, looking out at me.

“Abby!” I called back. “My mate.” Abby was already my mate, vision or not. But calling her my mate now, before the Vrika and these others, felt like I was uttering some holy vow. Abby and I chose each other. Forged our own destiny. And in the process, we’d found ourselves on the path, in the place, that we were always meant to be.

The sincere joy that Thaleria and Grim showed in response to my words moved me. I smiled, lifting my snout and breathing deeply. I let the winds pummel me, let the sun drench me, thanking this world for letting me exist at the same moment Abby did. Though I was right at the edge of the highest peak in these mountains, I no longer feared the idea of falling. I had a mate and a family even the Hakah could not order me away from, now. I was the luckiest male to walk this world.

And males as lucky as me could not fall.

“Thank you, Vrika,” I said, laying the pieces reverently back in the place I’d taken the egg from. The great creature said nothing in reply. It laid its massive head down on the curves of its body, watching in repose as Thaleria drew her shuttle nearer the peak again.

“Come on, Kohka, get in! I’m taking you home to your family,” Thaleria said, grinning, her blunt white teeth shining in the bright sunlight. “And on the way, we’ll call the Sea Sands ship.” She pushed her eye-shells up onto the top of her head, mirth plain in her eyes. “It’s time to talk to Hakah Gog.”

CHAPTER FIFTY

Abby

Iwoke up in an empty bed to the sound of Keir gurgling and cooing. I slipped out of the bed, padding over to Keir and picking him up.

“Good morning, sweetie pie,” I murmured, nuzzling my nose against his tiny one. “Where’s Dada?”

It wasn’t unusual for Kohka to be gone when I woke up. Sometimes he’d go get me some food before I woke. He usually came back quickly, though, not wanting to be away from us for long.

But this morning was different.

The sun trekked upward through the sky, and he didn’t return.

And that scared me.

He’s probably fine. He’s probably just talking to Gahn Errok or Lerokan or something…

The words didn’t help, no matter how many times I said them to myself. A horrible thought occurred to me, a thought that maybe he’d already left for the Sea Sands, that he’d gone away without saying goodbye…

No. Kohka wouldn’t do that.

I changed Keir’s diaper, then left him safe in the centre of the bed as I quickly dressed. I was just tugging on my boots, about to march down to the hall with Keir to find Kohka, when I heard a sound at the entrance to the cave. I whirled, then shuddered with relief.

“Kohka!”

He stared at me almost as if he’d never seen me before. Or, rather, he stared at me the way he had that first time he saw me. His gaze was so intense, so penetrating, as if he worried that a single blink would make me disappear.

“Where were you?” I breathed, rushing over to him. I placed my hands on his chest, staring questioningly up at him. When he didn’t reply, the relief I felt turned to worry once again. “What is it?”

Kohka’s snout smashed against my mouth. I flinched at the sudden contact, then melted open for him. His arms clasped me against his chest like iron bars, as unyielding as his ardent tongues.

A loud, squeaky sound from Keir made us break apart.

I dragged the back of my hand against my tingling, wet mouth.

“Come,” Kohka rasped. “I want to tell you this while holding our son.”

My heart thumped, wondering what the hell he had to tell me. He’d already dropped the bomb about needing to leave here. What else could there be, now?

Kohka scooped Keir up, cradling him tenderly.

“Hello, young one,” he murmured. “I have missed you. Have you been good to your mother this morning?”

“Kohka, please, what is it?”

Kohka’s bright silver eyes flashed up to mine.

“You do not need to be impatient, perfect mate. We have all the time in this world. Our entire lives together.” His gaze deepened. “I was gone this morning because I was summoned by the Vrika. I went to its peak. It granted me a mate vision.”

My heart stopped. I didn’t breathe.

“It was you, Abby. I saw you. As I always knew I would, one day.”

My breath stuttered. My heart flip-flopped back to life.

“So… That means…” I said shakily, my throat dry.

“It means I do not have to go. I have already spoken with Hakah Gog.”

“Oh my God,” I said, smiling through a sudden haze of tears. “You’re staying! I can’t believe it!” I swiped at my eyes, worried I was in some kind of dream I was about to wake up from. I reached a trembling hand out, stroking Keir’s downy head. No. This feels real…

“I didn’t know the Vrika could grant mate visions for people other than the Deep Sky warriors,” I said slowly, processing everything Kohka had just told me.

“Neither did I. When I first told Hakah Gog, he refused to believe such a thing had even occurred. Luckily, Grim, Thaleria, and Tok all saw me get summoned.”

“This is crazy. But then again, maybe it isn’t,” I said, my thoughts flying around my head. “The Kell, The Lavrika, and the Vrika are all obviously similar beings. They have the same healing fluids. Maybe they’re all connected somehow. I mean, they granted human mates to the males here and we aren’t even from this planet! Maybe it makes sense that, if you stay in the lands of one of the other deities long enough, it could give you a mate vision instead of the one of your homeland.”

“Perhaps you are right,” Kohka rumbled. “I also get the sense that the Vrika is somewhat more likely to assert itself into the affairs of men from other tribes. It healed Varrow on the battlefield, and Razek said such a thing had never been done before by their Lavrika. I do not know of the Kell ever doing something like that, either.”

“Whatever the reason, I’ll take it!” I laughed. I hugged Kohka, squishing my cheek against the top of Keir’s head. “If I ever see the Vrika, I’m going to say thank you.”

I said it silently, even though the creature was nowhere in sight.

Thank you, Vrika. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

When Kohka and I made love that night, him driving into me from behind, there was no desperation or sorrow in the action. No fear that, too soon, we’d be gone from each other’s sides. No hurry, no rush. There was only the sensuous heat of our joining, the loving scrape of his scales on my skin, the surge of his seed in my pulsing core.

There was only tumbling pleasure. Love. Joy.

And hope.

Thank you so much for reading Abby and Kohka’s story! I hope you enjoyed it. I absolutely adored writing this book. Kohka, Abby, and the little family they created have become very special to me. Thank you for coming along on the journey with me. And them.

Curious about the Stone Sky Gods of this book? Read Wylfrael’s story, the first book in the Brides of the Stone Sky Gods series, in KU NOW!

Alien God Blurb

“My human prisoner wants freedom. There’s only one way she’ll get it: marry me.”

Torrance

The alien lord holding me prisoner is the most powerful being I’ve ever encountered. A winged immortal who can kill with a mere wave of his hand. He’s arrogant and alien. Demanding and dangerous. Brutal, even beautiful, though I hate him too much to admit it.

He hates me, too.

But even though my captor despises me, he needs me. He requires a bride for political reasons and he makes me an offer I have no choice but to accept.

Marry him, play the part of his happy wife, and he’ll give me the one thing I want most:

My freedom.

But inside our fake marriage, hate turns into something else. Something dark and strange and needy. I don’t recognize my treacherous body, and as I slide further into my husband’s deadly grasp, I fight him with everything I have.

He can have my vow. He can even have my desire.

But if I let him get his claws into my heart…

He will never let me go.

Read ALIEN GOD in KU now!

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Until the next Sea Sand (or Bitter Sea, or Deep Sky, or Stone Sky) love story,

-Ursa

FATED MATES OF THE SEA SAND WARLORDS

BOOK 1 ALIEN TYRANT

“If you should flee, no matter where you run, I will always follow.”

Book 2 ALIEN ENEMY

“They call me the Mad Gahn. But I never felt truly mad until I saw her face…”

Book 3 ALIEN ORPHAN

“I have trained, battled, and fought my whole life. But winning my mate’s love is the greatest challenge I have ever faced…”

Book 4 ALIEN REJECT

“She is a difficult creature, my tiny Kat. But I have never met with a creature I could not tame…”

Book 5 ALIEN EXILE

“Beneath all that makes me strange to you, my heart recognizes yours…”

Book 6 ALIEN HUNTER

“Now that I have found her, I refuse to lose her…”

Book 7 ALIEN VICTOR

“I found her, I saved her, and once I am Gahn, I will claim her. There will be no other tribe left for her but me…”

Book 8 ALIEN SHIELD

“I have always been a patient warrior. But now that I have her in my sights, I cannot wait to claim her…”

Book 9 ALIEN KEEPER

“I will be her keeper, her guardian, her guide. And I will keep her safe no matter the cost…”

Book 10 ALIEN CLAW

“I will go wherever you are. Even if I have to follow you forever. Even if I have to hunt you down…”

Book 11 ALIEN HEART

“I had nothing left to lose. Until her.”

Book 12 ALIEN MASK

“I never wanted a mate. Until this troublesome human showed up and changed everything.”

Book 13 ALIEN STORM

“I will make my human mate see that I am strong enough to win her. Even if she makes me feel weak for the first time in my life…”

Book 14 ALIEN HOPE

“She may not be my mate. But I will do whatever it takes to stay by her side…”

BRIDES OF THE STONE SKY GODS

Book 1 ALIEN GOD

“My human prisoner wants freedom. There’s only one way she’ll get it: marry me.”

Book 2 BERSERKER GOD (coming late 2023)