She felthappy.
And it wasn’t lost on her that Devix had a lot to do with that.
For now, she gave her lover a smile and patted his chest.“Come on.Let me feed you before you go.”
His grip tightened on her waist.“Let me hold you,” he murmured, “a moment longer.”
Cara’s heart melted and it was exactly moments like that when she knew she was falling in love with him.Swiftly.Deeply.
She didn’t second guess it.She just let it happen.
“Okay,” she whispered.
And she let him hold her, but really, she heldhim.
* * *
Cara waited up for Devix, sitting in the living room, which her alien often called the ‘central hub.’The fire was lit, warming the home, and Cara watched the flames, wrapping the fur blanket around her tighter, her bare toes flexing into the plush rug.Next to her was her parchment recipe book, filled with her experiments from that week.The ones that weren’t successful had notes scribbled down the margins, hopes for salvaging them or what flavor profiles were required to make them work.
She’d been pouring over it to distract herself but had long given it up.The truth was that Devix had gone hunting twice that past week.And she’d hated every second because she worried about him.Worried that he might get injured, worried that he might not come home.
Logically, she knew she had nothing to fret over.Devix was skilled in many areas, hunting being one of them.And he’d lived on Rozun for over six years, all the way out here.He knew his land and he knew his prey, like the back of his hand.
Cara just had to trust that he’d return.
It didn’t make it any easier.
Her eyes slid to the recipe book lying innocently beside her and she reached out to feel the parchment, which was already stained from splattering juices and spiced oils, just as it should be.
Another truth was that she couldn’t stop thinking about what Devix had suggested to her last week.That she could open up a restaurant, right there on Rozun, the first of its kind.
Opening up a restaurant would be a lot of work.Cara wasn’t a lazy person—the hard work didn’t bother her—and the idea excited her enough that she’d already been daydreaming about segmenting the menus by flavor, depending on what a species preferred, taste-wise.She thought about how big she wanted it to be, how she would solve the lack of gas ranges, how she’d organize the kitchen, whether one of the stall vendors at the market would partner with her so she’d have access to fresh game and vegetables and roots.
But it was more than that…
Opening up a restaurant signified permanence.If she opened up a restaurant…she would be all in.She would be declaring that Rozun was her home, that she wanted to stay.That she wouldn’t be returning to Earth, even if Devix somehow managed to find her passage to the Fourth Quadrant.
And that had been something that she’d been thinking about often that past week.
Was it something she was ready for?
Because the other thing that had been on her mind was picturing a goodbye with Devix.
Simply, she couldn’t imagine it.
If, even at that very moment, he came through the front door and told her that he’d found someone with access to the Fourth Quadrant, or that he had a Luxirian crystal, Cara honestly didn’t know if she’d accept.Ever since her capture, all she’d been dreaming about in her cage was getting back to Earth, her home, her friends, herlife.
But she was slowly beginning to realize that a home could be built anywhere in the universe, if the people she cared about also called it home.
Cara ran a hand through her freshly washed hair and sighed.
With a glance at her recipes, she decided right then that she wouldn’t worry about the future, about what might happen.Devix was still worried about his employer finding them, even though he tried to hide it from her.But Cara didn’t want to live constantly looking over her shoulder.
As for the restaurant, she decided that during their trip to the market in a few days, she’d check out if there were any vacant spaces or areas where she could rent or build.She’d place enquiries with some of the vendors for supplies.She’d create a sample menu in the meantime.
And then she’d see where those paths led her.
Outside, she heard a thump and she smiled, relief pulsing through her.Quickly, she made her way to the front door and shouldered it open.Devix stood just beyond, clothes slightly bloody from carrying thebeggawifrom wherever he’d hunted it.He’d already cleaned the carcass from the looks of it.
