His meaning made heat pool between her legs.Even so, she said, “That’s…that’s not what I meant.I would want to give you more than just sex.”
“I have heard that sex between fated mates is more than can be imagined,” he told her, swallowing, his eyes heated.“It is not just sex.It is the blood bond.It is companionship.It is knowing another so intimately that you are one.Thatis what lies in our future.”
Her breath hitched when he said blood bond because she remembered what experiencing that had been like, in her dreams.She didn’t even know what itwas, but she knew how it felt, that connection, that rightness.
“It would strip us both bare,” he continued.“That is what we would give to each other.”
“That scares me,” she admitted quietly.“Doesn’t it scare you?”
“Tev,” he answered immediately, which surprised her.
“But you seem so accepting of it.”
“I am,” he said.“I am frightened of it too.But I will not let fear control my decisions.I will not let fear control my fate.Not anymore.It scares me, to be so closely tied with another being, but I want it as well.Very much.”
Taylor softened at that.
“It is like moving forward,tev?” he murmured to her, repeating what she’d told him earlier.
She couldn’t help the small smile that spread across her lips.“Yes, I suppose so.”
Taylor couldn’t help but wonder if he’d been this way with Nitav.Honest, open, affectionate, caring, protective.Everything that she’d ever thought to want in a partner.
It was hard to forget how deeply he’d loved the female before her, however.It concerned her that he still wasn’t over that relationship.And how could they even think of a future if Vikan’s mind was still in the past?
Taylor closed her eyes, telling herself that she wouldn’t think about it.Not that night.Not when she’d promised them both to enjoy it, to take advantage of whatever might happen, no matter the consequences.
It was on the tip of her tongue to ask him about Nitav.About his life with her, about what she’d been like, whether she’d been beautiful, whether she’d made him laugh.
But she didn’t.As much as she wanted to know more about Vikan—because she was honest enough with herself to admit that she was becoming more than a little obsessed with the alien male—she wanted that night to just be about him and her.No one else.
If they were going to pretend, she might as wellreallypretend.
So, instead, she changed the subject and asked him something that had been on her mind.
“Will you tell me more about your gift?” she requested.“About what it’s like for you?”
Vikan was silent for a long while, long enough that Taylor began to wonder if he would even answer her.But eventually, he told her, “Like I said, my mother’s line was full of gifts from the Fates.It is rare, very rare.None other, besides you, can see what I see.”
Taylor swallowed.“Do you know if your mother had a gift?”
He shook his head.“It tends to run in males.My sire told me she did not, but told me about her sire’s gift.”
“The dreamwalker,” she said softly, glancing over at him.He had his arm wrapped around her waist tightly, pressing her closely to the side of his body, supporting her.
“Tev,” he said, watching the fire flicker and sway in their little cave.“But my gift has always been foresight.Truthfully, I hate it.”
She reached out to touch his thigh.“Really?”
“I have told no one that.Ever,” he said, tearing his gaze away from the fire to look at her hand before his eyes lifted to her face.
Taylor felt bare at that look, vulnerable.“Why do you hate it?I know a lot of people who would like to be able to see the future.”
He made a gravelly sound in the back of his throat.“I find it quite useless.And it brings a fair amount of pain.”
Her brows furrowed.“In what way?”
Vikan blew out a breath.“I typically only see visions of nameless Luxirians, whose fates are not tied to my own.”
