“I—” I shrug. “I don’t know. It’s a thing people do with their—” Friends. Boyfriends. Significant others. And I guess contracted cum providers in this case. Though that feels almost unfair.
This thing with Rathyn is more. I don’t have words for it, but I can’t exactly ignore it either.
“It is like butthead?”
I blink, then burst into laughter, collapsing in his arms. He purrs against me, rubbing his nose along my temple, and I can feel the curve of his smile as he presses it against the side of my head.
“Are you trying to be cute?” I ask as I pull back.
He cocks a brow at me and doesn’t answer, but there’s a playfulness in his eyes that wasn’t there before.
I sigh. “Sometimes when people—humans,” I clarify, “care about other people, they shorten their name. Like a term of endearment.”
“If you are struggling to say my name?—”
“Rathyn,” I say. His ears flick in that way that tells me he’s turned on. “You know I can say it perfectly fine.”
“Should I do the same to yours? My…Ev?”
I realize I don’t give a shit what he calls me, as long as he calls me his. There’s a twinge in my head, and I realize he heardthat thought. His head dips low, and I’m ready for another one of his possessive kisses.
His hand trails down my front and cups me where I’m hard and ready for his mouth. “My Everest,” he murmurs.
I kiss him harder as his long fingers curl around my cock. His tail unwinds from my leg, the tip slipping beneath the stretched waistband of my pants, dipping below and touching my hole.
I shudder. Fuck, I want that. Now that we know it’s safe, I wonder if he’ll give me his cock.
But even if he doesn’t, it’s his fingers and tongue and tail inside me. I’m not complaining, of course, but I hope he’ll fuck me soon.
“Come to my bedroom,” he murmurs.
I thread my fingers through his. It’s an easy request, and there’s no fight in me as he drags me along.
I feel sated in ways I didn’t expect to as Rathyn and I lounge on his way-too-comfortable furniture with a spread of Eretharian food in front of us. Most of it is good—a strange combination of earthy and tropical flavors.
I don’t like everything, but he quickly picks up on what I enjoy, and he hand-feeds me each item. It’s different, and I don’t really want to admit how much I like it.
He keeps me close, lounging on his chest as his fingers delicately lay bites of fruit on my tongue, and he kisses me on the temple every time I make a contented noise.
If I am some kind of pet, this isn’t exactly the worst way to live. I always thought I’d come back as a house cat when I died, and hey, if this is the preview, sign me up.
“Rath,” I murmur.
He hums and drags fingers through my hair.
“Those guys—those Vyastil from before?—”
He stiffens, and I can feel irritation radiating off of him. But I need to know what the fuck happened back there. I don’t mind that he distracted me by licking me all over, then sucking me off three times in a row, but now that we’re done, I need answers.
“Who were they?”
“They don’t matter,” he says tightly.
“They clearly do. You literally almost ripped Cielo’s hand off for touching me. That blue-haired dude didn’t put his hands on me, but he was going to, and you didn’t so much as flinch.”
Rathyn stiffens again. “Mm.”
“Does he rank higher than you?”
