“Yes.”
She laughed softly. “You don’t even know what I was going to say.”
“It doesn’t matter. Whatever word you choose, the answer is yes.”
She propped herself up on one elbow, looking down at him with an expression of bemused affection. “You’re very confident for someone who’s never done that before.”
“I have done many things for the first time since you woke me.” He reached up and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “All of them have been better than I could have imagined.”
“Smooth talker.”
“I do not understand?—”
“It means you’re good with words.” She leaned down and pressed a kiss to his lips, brief and sweet. “Among other things.”
He growled playfully and rolled them over, pinning her beneath him. “Would you like me to demonstrate those other things again?”
Her eyes darkened. “We should sleep. Save our energy for tomorrow.”
“We have time.”
“Rhyx—”
“One more night,” he reminded her. “You said we should not waste it planning or worrying. I agree. We should spend it doing this.”
He kissed her before she could argue, and felt her resistance melt away as surely as the storm was melting outside.
They did not sleep much that night.
CHAPTER TEN
Alina woke to warmth and weight and the slow, steady rhythm of a heartbeat beneath her ear.
She didn’t open her eyes immediately, preferring to linger in that delicious state between sleep and wakefulness. She knew where she was—who she was with—and the knowledge sent a wave of contentment through her body.
Rhyx’s arms were wrapped around her, one hand spanning her waist while the other cradled her head against his chest. His skin was warm and smooth beneath her cheek, the scales along his arm catching the soft glow from the bioluminescent vines.
But she’d also woken to silence. The constant drone of wind that had become background noise over the past days—so omnipresent she’d stopped consciously registering it—had vanished. In its place was a stillness so profound it felt almost oppressive, as if the planet itself was holding its breath.
The storm is over.
The knowledge sent a spike of ice through her chest, sharp enough to make her gasp. Rhyx stirred beneath her, his arm tightening instinctively, pulling her closer.
“Alina?” His voice was rough with sleep, but she could hear the alertness already creeping in. He’d felt it too. Felt the change in pressure, the settling of the air. “The storm?—”
“It’s done.” She pushed herself up on one elbow, looking down at him in the soft bioluminescent glow. His golden scales caught the light, shimmering with each breath, and she had to resist the urge to trace the patterns with her fingers. There would be time for that later. There had to be time for that later. “I need to leave.”
His jaw tightened, the only outward sign of his distress. “Now?”
“Soon. They’ll send search parties once they confirm the storm has passed. If I’m not back at the settlement before they start looking…” She didn’t finish the sentence. She didn’t need to. They’d discussed this the previous night, in the quiet moments between kisses and lovemaking. The plan was simple. She would return to Border Town, claim she’d sheltered in a cave during the storm, and begin the delicate process of figuring out how to keep Rhyx’s existence a secret while still being able to see him.
Simple.Right.
She sat up fully, the cooler air of the cavern raising goosebumps on her bare skin. Her suit lay in a crumpled heap nearby, along with her breathing mask, still broken from yesterday’s… enthusiasm. She’d have to tie it into place.
“I don’t like this.” He rose to his feet. Even after days together, she still found herself startled by the way he could go fromperfectly still to lightning-fast in the span of a heartbeat. “Letting you go back to them alone.”
“I’m not exactly defenseless.”
