Jessa set the cup down and stared listlessly at the bucket.“I feel disgusting,” she said, her voice wobbling like she was holding back tears.“But I’m so tired I don’t know if I can move an inch.”
I hesitated, knowing we hadn’t resolved our argument and she was probably harboring sore feelings toward me.
“Let me help you,” I offered.“And give me the chance to apologize.”
“What?”she looked up at me, squinting in the low light.“Why do you need to apologize?”
She hadn’t argued against my help, so I reached for her and dragged her off my bed and into my lap.I snagged the bottom of her filthy dress and slowly pulled it over her head.Dust rained down on us as the stiff fabric crinkled and I tossed it into the corner, hoping I remembered to throw it out of the tent before we went to sleep.
The odor of percer urine would taint the entire space if it sat inside all night.
Jessa shivered with her skin exposed to the night air and she crossed her arms in front of her breasts protectively, even as she swayed wearily against my chest.I reached for the bucket and sighed.
“I was angry when you asked if I wished I could mate a turoch instead of a human,” I started, cupping a handful of water and rubbing it over her dirt covered shoulder.“I reacted poorly, and I regret it.”
Jessa moaned appreciatively as I scrubbed her skin clean and I shifted as my cock reacted to the sound.Her soft weight was pressing on my lap in provocative ways, but Jessa was far too tired to be bothered with my arousal.
“I shouldn’t have implied you were desperate,” she whispered, her temple resting on my chest as I continued to cup fresh water over her.“I should have phrased it differently; I’ve been beating myself up for it all day.”
“No,” I countered firmly, drizzling water down her back and rubbing away the sweat and dirt from our journey.“I was offended, but I should not have held onto it for so long.It was pointed out to me that your concerns were valid.”
She stiffened and I paused in my washing.
“You are upset you can’t be with a turoch female?”she asked.
I quickly wrapped my arms around her damp body.“I claimed you, Jessa, because I wanted you.Human or turoch, it doesn’t matter.”
“Okay,” she said cautiously, relaxing a bit, but still holding herself a little apart from me.Determined to get through my ‘groveling’ I went back to pouring water over her.
“But I am...sad,” I admitted.“Not that you’re human, but that my world is lost to me.That there are no turoch females and that choice is gone.Turochs are mating humans, not because they are second best and have no choice, but the choicewastaken from us.”
She relaxed a little more as I spoke, and I tentatively stroked my wet hand over her collarbone.
“There is a pregnant female in camp,” I continued.“When she gives birth, it will be the first turoch child born on this planet.We are all happy, we look forward to meeting him, but he will be half human.And he will have a human mate in the future.”
“You’ll be bred out, eventually,” Jessa realized.
“We will,” I confirmed.“It is not a bad thing.He will not be less precious, but he will be less turoch.”
“I understand,” she murmured.“In a few generations, there won’t be much left of any of you, genetically anyway.”
“So no, I am not settling for a human mate.But now I can see that there is something to grieve all the same.”
