Rosalie cocks her head on one side and studies me. “What’s going on, Dante?”
“I itch,” I grumble.
“Let me look.”
She puts her hand on my shoulder and pulls me down to her height, which also means I get to put my head into her gorgeous silky hair…and inhale.
“What is this?” Her little fingers trip over the papery scales.
“I need to shed.”
“Your skin?”
“My scales,” I rasp because her touch is making me want to rub myself against a bulkhead, and not where my shed itches.
“It looks uncomfortable.”
“It is.”
“Can’t you do anything to, I don’t know, help it along?”
“I usually go in the aquium, but I’ve been busy,” I say, muffled in her hair.
Rosalie pushes me back upright.
“If by busy you mean testing new weapons in the neutral zone…”
I can’t help but laugh. The new weapons have been a hit in more ways than one.
“They’re good.”
Rosalie folds her lips up in a way which makes me want to mate her mouth but also sends a spear of terror through me.
“They’re not good?”
“I know how much you enjoy exploding things,” she says.
“You like it too.”
“Where did you get that idea?”
“When I first took you to the neutral sector. You threw yourself at the controls.” It’s my turn to study her face, to try to work out what my mate wants.
“Ithrew myselfat the controls?” Rosalie looks puzzled. “I remember throwing myself on the ground as I thought I was about be blown to smithereens.” She stares at me for a heartbeat. “You thought I wanted to have a go?”
“You didn’t?”
Rosalie throws her head back and laughs. It is a delicious sound, coming from deep within her.
“It doesn’t matter,” she says, her eyes filled with water. “All that matters is you thought I liked it.”
“It does?”
“It does.” She wipes the back of her hand over her eyes and looks at me carefully. “And now we need to get you to an aquium to deal with your scales.”
My mate absolutely does not need to ask me twice.
ROSALIE
