"Tomorrow," he said. "Tomorrow you'll be desperate enough to come looking for me directly. To ask properly. But today was excellent practice."
Wings. The rush of displaced air. Then nothing.
I lay there in his furs for another ten minutes before I could make myself move. When I finally did, I stumbled out and retreated to the central den, my knees buckling with every step.
Halfway across The Bridge, someone appeared.
Not Drav.
Lighter gray skin caught the ambient light differently. Larger wingspan, younger face, handsome in that too-perfect way that immediately set off every alarm bell I had. He landed on the opposite side of the stone arch, balance showing the kind of ease that came from years of practice.
"You're Drav's human," he said. His voice sat higher than Drav's. Less resonance, less depth. "But you're not bonded."
Every muscle in my body went tense. "I'm not anyone's."
"Not yet." He took a step onto the bridge. The stone was maybe three feet wide here. Barely enough room to turn around, let alone maneuver. "I'm Kethar. I've been watching. Watching Drav test you."
"That's not creepy at all."
He smiled. No teeth showing. The expression looked practiced. "I could offer different terms. Gentler courtship. He'll make you suffer before he claims you. It's how he testscompatibility. I wouldn't do that. I'd claim you today. Give you relief immediately. End this."
The offer was tempting. God, it was so tempting. The biological imperative clawed at my insides to accept. To let anyone touch me. To get relief from this constant burning need that wouldn't stop.
But I remembered what Drav had said at the oasis. Kethar would kill you with fast bonding.
"Why are you really here?"
Kethar's smile faded. "I'm dying. The unbonded sickness. I have weeks, maybe a month. You're my last chance before the next season's arrivals, and those aren't guaranteed."
He took another step closer. I could see it now: the thinning of his wing membranes, the slight tremor in his hands, the desperation lurking behind his eyes.
"I don't want to hurt you," he said. Voice dropping lower. "But I need you. If you'd just consider?—"
"No."
His wings flared. Pure threat display. "You'd rather suffer with Drav? I could end this right now."
"She said no."
Drav's voice came from above.
He dropped onto the bridge between us. Didn't fly down gracefully or land softly. Just fell straight out of the sky and hit the stone with enough force to crack it. The sound echoed through the canyon. His wings spread wide, blocking Kethar from me completely.
"Leave." Drav's voice was flat. Dangerous in ways that lacked any trace of humanity.
"I'm offering her a choice?—"
"You're offering her death. Fast bonding would rip her apart. She needs time to adapt." Drav took a step forward and Ketharretreated immediately. "You know the rules, Kethar. I claimed her first. The courtship has already started."
"Your courtship will kill her." Kethar's wings were still flared but he was backing away. "You test them too hard. Make them suffer too long. By the time you offer the bite, before you mark them, they just want the pain to stop. They choose to go home damaged. Your patience kills them, Drav."
"That's not your concern."
"It is when I'm watching another human die because you're too patient."
Kethar spread his wings and lifted off. But he didn't go far. Just landed at the boundary marker, watching. Waiting. And part of me, the part screaming for relief, wondered if surrendering to him would actually be easier than whatever Drav had planned.
DRAV
