“Good?” he asked hopefully.
“No good.”
No good?Was he deficient in some way? He frowned down at his cock, but it seemed normal enough.
“No good?” he repeated.
She was staring at him, not at his cock but at his face, her expression both horrified and fascinated. He didn’t understand her response, but he didn’t like it. He wanted to please her, and he sensed he’d failed.
Before he could explore the thought further, she turned her back on him and started digging through her pack with her free hand.
Now what?He’d awakened to nothing but a few vague memories and the cave and the plants that surrounded him. And this small, soft female who unexpectedly filled his thoughts. Had he felt this way about a female before?
There was a sudden spark of memory, but it was gone before he could grasp it. In its place was an overwhelming sense of loneliness. He suspected he had not, but whatever his life had been before, he had no intention of giving up his only source of comfort.
He would not let her go.
She emerged from her pack, her cheeks still flushed, and held up what appeared to be a writing device of some kind.
“I definitely think we need to work on our communication skills. Let’s see if you remember any other words.”
She carefully avoided looking at his cock and he bit back a sigh. His desire to please her would have to wait.
“Okay. Let’s see…”She looked around the cavern, gesturing with her free hand while he refused to release the other.“Cave. This is acave.”
Cave.The word unlocked something buried deep in his mind, releasing meanings he shouldn’t know, and yet somehow did. Underground space. Shelter. Home. But his kind had rarely dwelt in caves. They had preferred?—
The memory flickered and died before he could grasp it. Frustration coiled in his gut.
“Cave,” he repeated obediently.
“Plants.” She pointed to the vines that crawled up the walls.“Those are plants.”
Plants.Living things that grew from soil and stone. He remembered tending them once, or—no. Someone else had tended them. Someone whose memories now tangled with his own in ways that made his head ache.
“Plants,” he said. Then, because the word felt incomplete: “Life.”
Her eyes widened again.“Yes! Plants are life. Living things. That’s excellent…”She broke off and sighed.“I wish I knew your name. Are you sure you don’t remember? I’m Alina and you’re…”
“Rhyx.”
His name emerged from his lips before he realized it. Yes, that was it. Something inside him relaxed a little as he reclaimed another part of himself.
“Rhyx and Alina,” he said, squeezing her hand.
She shook her head, but she didn’t pull away. “I suppose so.”
“More,” he said, another word that seemed to come from nowhere. “More words.”
“All right. Let’s see. What else can I teach you?”
“Learn Alina,” he said, and watched color bloom across her cheeks. Pink. Soft. “Alina is… life?”
“I’m alive, yes.” She tucked a strand of pale hair behind her ear with an uncertain gesture. “All humans are alive.”
Humans.Another word that felt both familiar and strange. A word that belonged to other memories, to ones that tasted of metal and cold and a world that was not this one.
“Humans,” he said slowly, testing the shape of it. “Alina human.”
