“Rock fell in the cave and made big dust.”
Callie’s lips parted with a gasp. “Oh God, are you okay?”
Urkot nodded and tapped his chest with a fist. “Only dirty.”
“And the others? No one was hurt?”
“No one was hurt, thank the Delver.” He barely suppressed a shudder as thoughts of what could’ve happened swirled in the back of his mind.
“Good.” She studied him for a moment, her gaze seeming to pierce right to the turmoil hidden inside him, before she moved back from the pool’s edge. “Come on, big guy. Get in the water.”
He could not express how grateful he was that she hadn’t questioned him further. She clearly knew something was amiss, knew that he was burdened, but she was simply…making space for him.
And he couldn’t deny that the way she called himbig guysparked a little more of that heat low in his belly…though he liked it even better when she said his name.
After placing his belongings beside hers on the pool’s rim, he stepped into the water. He strode to the small waterfall, which he used to rinse the dust from his hair and hide. The water’s heat eased his muscles and soothed his aches.
Urkot stood there for some time, letting the water flow over him. With Callie’s quiet presence nearby, he felt a little more grounded, a little more himself, with each moment.
Everyone was fine. Everything was fine. There was no reason for alarm; the worst had notoccurred.
Finally, he stepped back, lifting his upper hands to wipe the water from his face. Droplets sprayed from around his nostrils as he exhaled. While the water would never wash away the permanent stone dust staining his fingers and tips of his legs, it felt good to have the rest of his hide mostly free of the stuff.
When he inhaled, the warm, humid air was fragrant with the crisp smell of cleanleaf.
He turned back toward Callie. She stood facing away from him, running her hands over her arms and body to scrub her skin with fizzing cleanleaf. Her thick hair was already becoming curlier as it dried. He longed to run his hands through it, to feel those curls coil around his fingers.
His gaze dipped, following the graceful line of her spine down past her hips, until settling on her ass again. He couldn’t help but study that small marking. The humans had shown him some of their letters, but unlike Rekosh, Urkot had not studied them nearly enough to understand them.
“What does that mean?” he asked.
Callie set the used husks of cleanleaf on the edge of the pool before peering at him over her shoulder. “What does what mean?”
Urkot pointed at her backside. “The mark.”
She blinked, brow furrowing. “Mark?” Her confused gaze followed his gesture. Then her eyebrows shot up. “Oh! Ohhhhh…”
With a chuckle, she cocked a hip and pointed at the mark on her ass. “You mean this? I completely forgot I even had it.”Covering her breasts with her left arm, Callie twisted toward him and arched a brow. “Urkot, were you staring at my ass?”
He tilted his head to the side. “Yes.”
Her jaw dropped as she stared at him. Then she laughed. “Wow. Okay. You’re blunt.”
“No, I am Urkot.” He raised his mandibles in a smile.
There was a playful smile on her lips when she replied, “Yes, you made sure I knew that.”
Urkot knew exactly what she was talking about. During their trek across the swamp while fleeing from Takarahl and Zurvashi, an insect had landed on Callie’s hair. After he’d plucked it off her, she had thanked him, calling himbig guy. But he’d wanted to hear his name from her lips. Hadneededto hear it.
He recalled the give of her skin beneath his fingers as he’d held her jaw, recalled the way her soft lips had moved as they’d shaped his name. He recalled the shift inside him, the thrumming along his heartsthread, the still-fresh desire that had blossomed in that moment.
“Your mark,” Urkot pressed.
“You’re so bossy,” she said, lifting her hip to allow him a better look at her ass. The blue-green light bouncing off the water highlighted her wet skin. “It’s called atattoo. It’s not something we’re born with, like your markings. These are done with needles and ink to permanently mark our skin. I got this one when I turned eighteen. It was…a secret act ofreebellyunagainst my parents. Not that they ever found out I got it.”
“Reebellyun?”Urkot carefully repeated.
“Means to go against something. Like youreebelldagainst Zurvashi.”
