Covering the jar with the lid, Callie picked up her comb and ran it through her hair as she spoke. “I had to perform at school because my parents expected the best grades, so all my off time was spent studying and doing homework and whatever other extrakurrikyularactivities would make my college applications look good.
“I had to aim for the top of the class in college because companies were going to look at that when I started my career. And then I was immediately swept up with the Homeworld Initiative for training. It was just…nonstop.
“And growing up in Manhattan? It’s so fucking loud. There’s constant noise coming from all over. The cars, the honking, the sirens, the trains, the people. It’s everywhere.” She looked at him, lips downturned in a small frown. “Sorry. I just kind of went off on my life, and you probably didn’t understand one word of it.”
“I knew two words, maybe three,” he said with a gentle chitter.
Callie chuckled, the crease in her brow relaxing. “That’s about how I feel sometimes when Rekosh gets going in vrix.”
Urkot raised his mandibles. “I know Rekosh’s words, but I do not listen. I listen to you.” He extended a foreleg and brushedit along hers. “I hear the feeling in your words, even if I do not know them.”
His fine hairs picked up her scent, and he had to fight to hold back a low, appreciative growl as his desire flared again. The smell of cleanleaf clinging to Callie’s skin couldn’t mask her natural fragrance.
Before he could pull his leg away, she settled a hand atop it and smiled at him. “Thank you, Urkot.”
Warmth pooled in his belly at her touch. Delicately, he covered her hand with his own and lifted it, turning it so her palm was up. Her hand was so different from his. So much smaller, with five slender fingers rather than four thicker ones. Blunt nails instead of black claws. Smooth skin instead of callused hide.
He hooked his thumb over her palm and brushed it along one of the lines there, marveling at the feel of her.
For all their differences, their hands were remarkably alike in form and function. Just as humans and vrix were alike in the way they thought, the way they felt, the way they communicated.
In the things for which they yearned…
Urkot slid his hand over hers, palm to palm, and his hearts leapt when Callie laced her fingers with his. His gaze darted up to find her watching him with a soft smile.
“As for what all that has to do with why I love this place…” Keeping their fingers locked, Callie looked around the cavern. “When we first came to Kaldarak and Garahk led us in here, all my troubles just melted away the instant I got in the water. Every day since that bitch queen has been gone, I’ve felt this sort of…peace. No expectations, no pressure. I don’t have to perform anymore. I can just be…me. And everyone accepts that, accepts me, just as I am.
“But as much as I love hanging out with everyone, sometimes I just need quiet. And this place is the perfect kind of quiet when no one is around.”
“I know that need.” He gently squeezed her hand. “That is why I am here.”
Callie returned her attention to him. “I’m sure it gets really loud in the tunnels.”
His eyes fell shut as the sound of falling rock echoed in his mind. “Yes. Sometimes big loud.”
She brushed her thumb back and forth over his. Urkot wondered if she sensed his turmoil, if that touch was her way of soothing him.
Her very presence was a light in the darkness, guiding him back to safety, to surety, toher. But Callie’s touch was so much more. It flooded him with warmth, as thrilling as it was comforting, and hatched a thousand new desires in his mind. He would have been content to sit here, holding her hand, until long after Takarahl and Kaldarak were lost to time.
“You know,” Callie said, “I never wanted to get into chemistry. That was something my parents pressured me into.”
Urkot opened his eyes to see her staring down at their entwined hands. He spoke slowly to ensure he found the right words. “Most vrix learn crafts from parents. That is why I am a delver, Rekosh a weaver, Telok a hunter. But some choose different. You are here now. A new world, a new life, yes? What will you choose?”
She chuckled. “I mean, my degrees are basically worthless now, and it’s not like I have to earn an income anymore. But…for the longest time, I wanted to be ageeoluhjist—that’s a scientist who studies the earth. I always loved rocks and minerals, and I had a huge collection of crystals and gemstones as a kid, so it seemed natural.”
Callie grinned at him. “Which is why I’ve loved all the little gifts you’ve given me.”
He cursed himself for having left his pouch in his den. This would’ve been the perfect moment to give her the crystal he’d found today, and that would’ve been the perfect gesture to finally put the lingering tightness in his chest to rest.
Chittering, Urkot ran the back of a finger down her cheek, tracing the line of her jaw, until it reached her chin. He grasped it, tipped her face higher, and leaned close. “I will find more pretty stones for my pretty female.”
Callie’s eyes rounded, and her skin warmed.
It was only then that Urkot realized what he’d said.
My pretty female.
He’d laid claim upon her.
