Oh, she hid it well. She was competent and cheerful and busy from dawn until dark. But Brux could scent it on her in quiet moments—when she sat alone at the little table in her home-dome eating her evening meal…when she looked too long at the pictures hanging in the curved hallway…when she spoke to the animals or to the work—bots just to hear another voice answer back. There was an emptiness in her life that called to something deep inside him.
He wanted desperately to fill it…wanted to be the one she turned to…wanted to prove that she would never be alone again as long as he lived.
But to do that, he needed his other form.
He needed hands to hold her and words to tell her what she meant to him and a body capable of claiming her fully. His beast shape was useful—swift and strong and ideal for herding runaway theebles or chasing escaped snufflers—but it was not enough.
It was not the shape in which he could Bond her.
And every night, when Kiera drifted in the bathing pool and the pleasure blooms stroked and licked and took care of needs, he ached to satisfy himself, Brux’s impatience only grew.
That should be me, he thought every time, chest tight with frustrated longing as he watched her throw back her head and moan. My mouth tasting her. My hands cupping her beautiful brown breasts. My shafts filling her tight little pussy and ass. My knot tying the two of us together until the Soul—Bond forms that keeps us together forever.
But still he couldn’t shift.
One night, after Kiera had finally fallen asleep beneath the covers with her face tucked into his ruff and one soft arm around his neck, Brux lay awake for a long time, staring into the darkness.
The living mattress shifted faintly beneath them, the woven vines adjusting subtly to support their bodies. Outside, one of the night creatures gave a distant mournful cry, and the chiming trees whispered in the breeze. The home-dome was warm and dim and safe, full of Kiera’s scent and the quiet sound of her breathing.
Brux lowered his muzzle to the top of her head and inhaled deeply.
So good…so right.
So maddeningly close and yet still not fully his.
He closed his eyes and tried once more to reach for the shift. For an instant—just an instant—he felt it. It was like a surge inside him–a tightening in his spine and shoulders. There was a flicker of possibility that made hope leap in his chest.
Then, just as quickly, it was gone.
Brux let out a sound of frustration low in his throat.
Why? he thought fiercely. What in the Seven Hells is stopping me?
Kiera stirred at the sound and made a sleepy little murmur, tightening her arm around his neck.
At once his anger melted, replaced immediately by love and devotion.
He licked the top of her head once, gently, and settled himself more protectively around her.
Whatever was wrong, he would solve it–he had to.
Because he couldn’t stay like this forever—not when the female who held his heart in her soft human hands slept only inches away. Not when every day with her restored more of his mind…and every night with her tested his self—control to the breaking point.
Brux closed his eyes and forced himself to be still.
Soon, he promised himself. Somehow, some way—soon.
He only had to hold on a little longer and then he would Bond his new mate to him forever and never let her go.
15
KIERA
The fence on the north side of the snuffler enclosure had gone down sometime in the night.
Kiera found out when she came around the bend in the winding path between habitats and saw three of the plump, transparent—bellied creatures bouncing merrily through the silver—threaded grass like overinflated beach balls.
“Oh no,” she said aloud, stopping with her hands on her hips. “Not again.”
