bonding to Raiska, and we end up back on Earth. Maybe he can disguise himself as human so he can live there with me. Then someone asks us how we met, and I have to say ‘We met on the Breeding Games.’ They’ll think we were porn stars on some kind of game show or something.”
“You’d definitely have to make something up. Or you could stay here.”
I look around as if ‘here’ meant just the restaurant. I know she means Lakria and Thrace, but I somehow hadn’t even considered that until she mentioned it. “You think that would be best?”
She shrugs. “Like I said, I’m happy with my life here. This place is wonderful. I miss my friends and family, but Kula says that the Council is likely to make contact with Earth soon, and I’ll be able to go back to visit once that happens.”
Ten
Raiska
“How tight is it?”
Kula strokes his chin. “I’ve only bred one human, brother, so I can’t speak for all human females.”
I take in a deep breath, thinking of a way to phrase my question without offending him. I obviously don’t want to know details about his Muru’s vagina, but I need to know general details about female human anatomy.
“Do you think I will fit, Kula?”
Kula grins and looks down at my kilt. “I doubt you’re bigger than me.”
“Shall we compare?” I reach toward my kilt, but he grabs my wrist.
“Not in my kitchen, brother.”
We’re not really in the kitchen. We’re in some pantry where he keeps his ridiculous ingredients. We’re away from his staff so we can speak privately.
“Judging from your line of questioning,” Kula says, “you have not done it yet. I’ll remind you that I had bonded Ellie within hours of first laying eyes on her.”
“Your situation was different. I made significant progress last night, but as a Valittu, I respected her body language and resisted my carnal urges.”
“Significant progress?” Kula says. The obnoxious smirk fills his face again.
“We only kissed.”
He nods, but the smirk doesn’t go away. “She’s resisting you. Does she not understand the danger she’s in?”
“I’m asking a lot of her, brother. She barely knows me.”
“Show her who you are then.”
“I am a warrior! I’ve had little time to find anything else I could be. The only way I could truly show her what I am is if the others came for her, and I was forced to put my life on the line for her. I know it sounds selfish, but I almost want it to happen. I want her to see exactly how far I would go for her.”
Kula nods. The smug grin is gone from his face. He looks at me with a respectful understanding in his eyes. He puts his hand on my shoulder. “I’m sorry for giving you a hard time, Raiska. You speak from the heart, and I understand your dilemma.”
“I will have her, Kula. Ever since I’ve laid eyes on her, I’ve known it. She may not understand just how badly I need her, but I’ll wait until she does. I don’t want to have her until she realizes my full feelings for her. I’m bad with words, but I was good with my tongue and hands last night, and I think she’s starting to understand what I can offer her beyond physical protection.”
“You’ll be tempted by the scent, but if you are as skilled with your tongue as you say, this will take you very far, brother…”
Eleven
Annabelle
“I am ready to hobby.”
I cock my head at him. “What?”
“To hobby.”
“It’s not a verb.”
“I am ready to have a hobby.”
“Okay...what’s your hobby?”
We are leaving the restaurant. Ellie is staying with Kula for a while as he gets ready for lunch prep. We walk down the grassy street relatively aimlessly. We’re both full, and I’m too nervous to even suggest going back to the hotel, where that bed would be there looming and reminding me of what I’m too afraid to do.
“I want to climb.”
“Climb?”
“Yes,” he says. “I saw it on the feeds last night. There is a large building we can go to, and it has simulated mountain peaks. We can climb them as if they were real mountains.”
“A rock-climbing wall?”
“You have these on Earth?”
I nod. “Not that I’ve ever done one.”
He grins wide. “Now you will. We will do it together.”
We take a self-driving taxi. I thought this city had no cars, but I hadn’t realized the lights flying around in the air were the cars. It starts off just putzing around the roads,