My comm device chimes, and with a guarded look at Dante, I pull it out.
“What is it?” he queries.
“It is my friends, checking in on me.” I glare at him in case he has any feelings about the subject.
“What will you say?”
“I’ll say you haven’t bitten me again.” I tap out a response thanking Kerra who says all my belongings have been packed and sent over to Dante’s sector before adding the part about biting.
Maggie
I should think so. Hope you told him you’d bite back.
Scarlett
Yet
Lydia
You know we’re all here for you if you need us, Rosie.
Scarlett
Maggie wants to know if there are any new Sarkarnii butts for her gallery
I snort out a laugh at the final text message and glance at Dante. He’s drooling slightly, staring intently at me.
Plenty of new butts, but she’s not getting her hands on them.
Maggie
Damn you. My one and only joy in life
Lydia
That and ale wine
Maggie
Just because the mere sniff of it gives you a three-day hangover.
Kerra
It gives us all a three-day hangover, save for you and your iron stomach
The chat descends into insults and ribbing which I always adored. It made me feel part of something like I never had before.
And, stood in Dante’s ship, with a soggy Sarkarnii in front of me, it makes me feel less alone.
“Why are you drooling?” I ask him, pocketing the device.
“Can’t help it,” he says. “Mating mix is doing it. And you make my spines feel funny.”
“Your spines?”
Dante takes hold of his lashing tail and pulls it in front of him. “Spines,” he says, running his hand over the appendage in a way which makes my insides squirm a little.
As he does so, I see the spikes rising, not needle sharp but with rounded tips, and not all of them are present. There are gaps, and there are some which are broken. Unable to help myself, because Dante is the closest I’ve ever been to a Sarkarnii up until now, not counting the bite of course, I reach out and take hold of the tail, gently running my hand up the spikes.
