The moment I touch the markings, his skin warms beneath my finger. A smile touches my lips and my body sags into the heat.
This feels good. The most terrifying thing about this planet is that it’s starting to feel like home.
I shift to untangle myself from my purring blanket. Before my feet can even touch the cold stone floor, the rhythmic hum in his chest cuts off. A broad arm wraps around my waist, yanking me backward.
I hit the solid wall of his chest with a soft, breathyoof.
“Where are you going?” his mindspace rumble sends a warm vibration through my ribs.
“To the bathing chamber,” I murmur, trying to push against the absolute tree trunk of his forearm. “And then to see if the cavern is still standing.”
“The cavern is fine.” He rolls, pinning me effortlessly onto my back. He cages me between his thick thighs, his golden eyes suddenly wide awake and burning with that obsessive, terrifying focus. “You are not.”
I swallow hard as a sudden spike of desire shoots straight to my core. “I’m perfectly fine.”
“Liar,” he growls softly. He dips his head, his teeth dragging over my throat.
“Oh, fuck,” I breathe. “You learn way too fast.”
“Learn? Your body teaches me,” he rumbles. “Your heart is racing. Your scent is thick.” His hips settle directly against mine, leaving zero doubt about his morning priorities. “You require my attention.”
“Kol, the clan is literally right outside?—”
He cuts off my protest with a rough, sweeping kiss, swallowing my words completely. The mindspace floods withthe dark, overwhelming heat of his arousal, drowning out the noise of the clan. I wrap my arms around his thick neck, twisting my fingers into his hair as he spreads my thighs and settles exactly where he belongs.
The cavern can wait.
By the timewe finally emerge from the alcove and head out into the main cavern, the clan is awake and scattered.
Sorn is radiating confusion at Jacqui because she moved a pile of firestones he left near the wall. Tharn and Rok are staring in utter bewilderment as Mikaela tries to mime the concept of ‘sweeping’ using a broken spear shaft. Over by the bathing chamber, two women are arguing loudly about whose turn it is to have a bath.
But as I step into the noise, I realize almost immediately that Kol isn’t hovering directly behind me like a towering, protective shadow. I haven’t heard his resonant hum in the mindspace since we left the furs.
I turn around. He’s gone.
I don’t even have to think about it. My feet carry me out of the main cavern and into one of the smaller, secluded side-tunnels leading toward the surface vents.
A sudden, sharp spike of intense frustration hits me through the mindspace, followed closely by a violent image of a stone being crushed into dust.
I peek around the edge of the tunnel.
Kol is kneeling beside a small, secluded fire pit. He is holding a flat, heated stone over the firestones with his bare hands. On top of the stone is an objectively horrifying creation. It appears to be a disc of ground gourd flesh, smeared with sandfin meat,topped with some kind of fat, and dotted with circular slices of root I don’t think I’ve ever seen before.
He manages to balance the stone for three seconds before the entire greasy concoction slides sideways, landing directly in the fire with a loud sizzle.
The glow beneath his skin flares. He growls, leaning back on his heels, his broad hands scorched and greasy.
Then he reaches for another clump of ground gourd flesh and starts over.
He fails again. The second attempt slides off the stone and sizzles into nothing. His glow flares hot.
I can’t help it. A laugh escapes before I can stop it.
Kol’s head snaps toward me.
I step out of the shadows, both hands raised. “What are you doing?”
He stares at me. Grease is smeared across his forearms. A clump of ground gourd is stuck to one of his claws. He looks deeply, personally offended that I am witnessing this.
