“Then let’s go,” he said. “I can’t wait to peel these off you.” His voice had gone warm and hungry.
He tried to pull back, but his arms didn’t budge. His brows lifted, surprise flickering across his face.
I knew instantly what it was. “I think it’s the mate bond,” I said, breathless.
“Huh,” he said, his eyes full of warmth and wonder. “It is. I guess I was wrong.”
“Can’t be right all the time. But I don’t mind at all, big guy.”
“Good. Because I’m not letting go.” His forehead touched mine, his breath warm on my lips. “Ever.”
Epilogue: Ror’k
It was Saturday, which meant the humans gathered in the community center’s dance hall for their weekly social ritual. According to Dottie, it was to “dance their troubles away.” I did not understand how that worked, but I was willing to try.
The strings of lights overhead twinkled like the night stars outside. Except instead of the evening air, it smelled like citrus cleaner and the alcoholic beverage a female was offering to everyone at the counter. The gray striped kitten we’d rescued sat on top of the rumbling speaker, sleeping right through the noise.
Jask’l swayed to the beat on his own as several Earth females tried to get his attention. He seemed completely oblivious to all but one. His eyes kept drifting to Bailey who was visiting for the weekend. She and Kurt were in New Franklin to do a kitten trade so Kurt could expand his gene pool with our “wild” cats.
But even distracted, Jask’l danced naturally to the music while I bumbled like a new hunter stepping out of the grow vat for the first time
“Relax,” she said, giving me a squeeze. “If you can fight the bugs, you can dance.”
I stepped closer, still trying to mimic the other dancers, but my movements felt stiff, like this was a test or a battle I’d not trained for. “You said this is a bonding ritual.”
“It can be, yeah. But many people just do it for fun.”
I frowned. “Like training.”
She giggled. “You can look at it that way. It’s okay just to move together to the music.” She pulled me down by my horns, which a nice human had joined back together using resin so that there was a line of pink matching Dottie’s hair where the crack had been. “Just pretend we are on your ship alone,” she whispered into my ears.
We’d practiced dancing several times in our shuttle, and it had always ended up with us naked in the sleeping nook, not sleeping. The memory had my chest rumbling. She placed her hand in mine and guided my other hand to her waist.
“Good,” she said. “Now follow the music.”
We swayed to the beat, trying not to bump into any of the other dancers on the floor. But it was soon pretty obvious I was too tall, and my feet too big. Our legs kept getting tangled.
I scowled at my own feet. “They are too large for this.”
“That’s not true. You’re so graceful when you fight. This is no different.” Her face lit up. “Ooh! I have an idea. Let’s modify this for us.”
She kicked her shoes off and tossed them under the table. Shoving her glasses higher up on her nose, she stepped up onto my feet. In this position, she had to stand closer, and she wrapped her arms around me for balance.
“Does that hurt?”
“No. You are light.”
“Perfect! Now we don’t have to worry about our feet tangling. You move. I’ll just hold on.”
My first few steps were tentative, but when I realized she wouldn’t fall off as long as I kept my steps short, I started moving around the room with the other dancers.
“See, your feet aren’t too big. They’re perfect.”
By the time the song ended, my face was hurting from how much I was smiling.
“That is fun. Want to keep dancing?” she asked as the next song started.
“Yes. I do. But there is someone trying to catch your attention.” I turned her to face the female waving at us from the counter.
