Page 9 of His to Mate

“Hours. Weeks. Years maybe? I don’t know, sometimes it felt like an eternity.” He said it ironically, his eyes full of amusement. “It was interesting, what can I say?”

“I can’t see why. We basically committed mass suicide. Even before the cataclysm.”

“True, but the way you got to it was fascinating. All of that horror and for what? Nothing, really.”

“I’m not sure everyone would see it that way, Rager, but some would. And how come you’re a soldier if your planet is so serene?” The question had occurred to her earlier, but she’d waited to ask it.

“There are other planets around us, filled with other species, and some the same as ours. Not all of them developed as we did. Some went a similar path to yours and want to invade the other planets nearby. That’s part of the reason we’re here, so far from our own world. If we can settle here, we might just leave them to their wars and come over here for the peace we wanted.”

“You might find it hard to take it all.” She knew it was a silly statement, but it was as close as she could come to a warning without betraying what she knew.

“Oh, there is dissent, and will be more I assume. ?They will either come to heel, or they’ll find life won’t be so pleasant for them. We won’t have war in our new world.”

His voice was harder when he spoke, with a note of warning to it. She knew it was dangerous ground they were on, but she had to tread it. “I would tend to agree with you, Rager. I don’t see the point in going on as we had been. It will only lead to the same thing again, won’t it?”

“It will. But you and your family are safe, don’t doubt that.” His eyes bored into hers, and she knew he was telling her far more than that. She wasn’t sure he knew about Rex, but she suspected he might.

“Thank you. I’m going to get naked now if you’d care to join me?” She gave him a saucy wink and stood up. Her clothes came off as she headed to the lake, abandoned in the grass. Then she had a thought and turned back to him, her arms over her breasts. “You all didn’t resurrect ticks did you?”

“Ticks? Those tiny, blood-sucking horrors? No, we didn’t. No fleas either.”

“Thank fuck for that. Last one in is a rotten egg!” She screamed the last with a laugh and ran into the water. Then she ran right back out. “That’s fucking freezing!”

She stared at him, shocked at the coldness.

“It’s coming out of the mountains, of course it is. Come on, I dare you.” He ran past her, his own clothes thrown away, and dove into the water.

“How can he stand it?” She stuck her right big toe in the water and backed off. “Nope, not freezing my tits off today, buddy.”

She went back to the blanket, her clothes in her hands, salvaged from the grass. She looked over when she heard splashing and saw him treading water, happy as a seal. “How the hell can you stand that?”

“Our bodies are different. It doesn’t feel cold to me.” He swam out of the water, very obviously not cold.

Her eyes went straight to a part of him that was very, very warm, in fact. “I think I can see that. Want me to take care of that for you?”

“I thought you’d never ask.” He dropped down beside of her, his lips fused to hers with a hunger that she knew would never go away.