This is so awkward. I put my hands on his shoulders to push him back, but he might as well be a statue. “Uhhh. Are you even awake?”
He draws in a deep, shuddering breath and then tenses. “You’re hurt. Where?”
“I’m fine. You’re probably just smelling the blood on my scarf from earlier.”
“No.” He sits up and pulls off my scarf, sliding his fingers across the back of my scalp while his thumbs brush over my astonished lips. Satisfied that my head isn’t bleeding, he grabs my arm, examining every part of it, even between my fingers. “Who hurt you, Delphie? Tell me now.”
“Nobody,” I protest as he grabs the other arm. Not this again. I yank it away from him, my heart racing. “Nobody since you. Get off me.”
“Your blood isfresh. Who are you protecting?” he demands, voice big and scary. With two hands, he rips open my three layers of sveli, exposing the amazing, self-cleaning bra that the Xaszians also custom-made for me during the time I spent on their ship. The necklace Lyro gave me slides down the sweaty side of my neck.
Nik runs his hands over my belly, feeling along my sides and inside my bellybutton. His palms are hot, his fingers gentle. It feels...nice. This might be weird and sexual if he wasn’t so obsessively focused on making sure I’m not hurt. His hands drift lower, to the sash that holds up my loose trousers, and that’s I realize why he smells fresh blood.
My motherfucking, inconvenient, too-early period. That’s what he smells. The nanotech in the undies might be period-proof, but I guess it’s not scent-proof.
“How much do you know about human reproduction?” I ask, already not having fun anymore.
“Blood is blood,” he snaps and unties the sash so my pants fall open. He pauses, staring at the bunch of dark fabric between my legs. I reach down and grab my underwear in both hands so he can’t pull them down. His claws extend and retract. Are his hands...trembling?
“Don’t do it,” I plead, fisting the waistband tighter. “Just listen for a minute.”
“I can’t listen until you tell me the truth. Someone hurt you...here”—he covers my whole crotch with his warm, gentle hand, his chest heaving—“and I need to know who they are because I’m going to kill them. Was it Aqen?”
“God, no! Fuck! Don’t kill him. Listen.” I run through all the ways to explain it in my head, and none of them are straightforward. What the hell, I’m just going to dive right in before he murders someone. “Human females, we bleed normally.”
He scoffs at me, hand still on my crotch like he’s protecting it, the heel of his hand putting steady pressure on my mound. I hope I don’t bleed on him. “I’m not a frixing idiot, Delphie. You have a closed circulatory system like we do. If you bleed, something is wrong.”
“It’s not regular blood. It’s part of our reproductive cycle. We bleed for a few days once a month or so—I don’t know what that is in Irran weeks, sorry. You guys count days differently. It’s called a period.”
“Like a heat? Your fertile time? A period when you are receptive?” He’s looking down at his hand with interest now. He pulls it back, leaning forward to draw in a deep breath of my bleeding-coochie-smell. Oh my everloving Jesus Christ on the cross, is that his sexy face?
This is not going well.
“No.” I sit up and scoot backwards in one movement, clamping my knees together. “I amnotfertile, and I amnotreceptive. It’s a period ofnot any of that stuff!”
Chapter 8
Nik
My clouded vision clears when I realize the scent of her blood might be a heat instead of an injury. I can’t look away from the dark fabric strip between her legs. I have so much to learn about terrakins. Abouther. I want to know everything: her scent, her taste. Her desires.
Then Delphie pushes me away, explains, and I remember I will never learn enough about her. She’s leaving in a few hours, at my command. When she sits up and pulls her sveli closed, I scrape my eyes over her half-bared torso, and guilt rushes in. I fall back on my heels, run a hand over my face when I realize what I’ve done.
I pinned her to the bed and ripped off her clothing. I was doing the thing I feared might have been done to her. She has to be terrified.
“You must know I would never hurt you. I would neverforceyou. I would never—”
“I know. It’s okay.”
She forgives too easily. I may not know much about her, but I know I don’t deserve that quick absolution. “I couldn’t stop until I knew you were well. I should have more control.”
“Yeah, you should. Now, get off. I need to change since you wrecked this sveli.” Tone teasing, she plants a fluffy boot in the center of my chest, shoving me back.
I grab her foot, hold it flat to my sternum, take it as the kick she should have delivered. “I’m sorry. You must believe me.”
“Nik. I get it. You were triggered. I’m not mad. I know you’ve been through a lot.”
Finally, I can look at her face. But as I raise my eyes from the furs, they snag on the pendant that hangs around her neck. A round, red stone, carved with the eye of Alioth nestles between the curves of her breasts. I recognize it instantly.
