Page 38 of Tempting Fate

Really fucking exciting.

People like Airida were exactly why I’d sworn off relationships. So what if I could have carried on talking with him for hours; there was no point in opening myself up to getting hurt.

I clenched my fists under the water. The chances of me breaking my promise were the same as me returning to New Earth—and the latter was impossible. “I just meant I shouldn’t be horny when he’s suffering.”

“Uh-huh.”

Small fish darted around my feet, their scales flashing in the sunlight, purples and greys, blues and indigos, stripes and sparkles. “Anyway, it was a one time thing. I’m open to making friends, okay?”

“Until you get sexy purple tattoos on your arms.”

Despite the warm water, I shivered. I’d almost forgotten Garrison’s mating marks, echoes of those on Shohari and some of the mated pairs in the village. “There we go, then. If I don’t want a regular relationship, I’m definitely not after one where I end up bonded to someone for the rest of my life.” I didn’t know exactly how it worked, but if that was the kind of commitment kri’ith—and presumably shaa’ith—expected, there was nothing more to think about.

“I can’t think of anything else more romantic.” Fenn sighed, stretching further into the water, disturbing the fish. One by one, they darted to the deep centre of the pool and didn’t return. “Eh up. Fish o’clock.”

We rushed out of the water and sat on the grassy bank. A large hole in the rock wall shone under the surface, lit with bioluminescent plants. Right on time, the glow faded. A silvery-indigo body squeezed through the hole, a creature we’d affectionately nicknamed Big Fish—though it wasn’t strictly a fish, unless fish here had six small limbs, tapering red tendrils, and additional mouths along the length of their armoured carapace.

The villagers had impressed upon us how important it was to watch the behaviour of the pool’s regular inhabitants, and to not be in the water when it arrived. One look at Big Fish, and we’d realised why. Those long, razor-like teeth were that of a predator—and the way it swam laps of the pool made me glad we weren’t what it was searching for.

“And that’s three. Bye, fishie.” Fenn waved as Big Fish flapped its huge tail and exited the springs after its third lap. “Fucking weird.”

Weird, but cool. And predictable—and predictable was good.

Although today’s surprise turn of events hadn’t been bad. Not at all—unlike my reaction to it. Poor man was in pain. I shouldn’t have been turned on, and I really shouldn’t still be thinking of his hard dick in my hand.

It’s natural. He’s attractive, and it was intimate. Totally normal response.

We eased back into the water, not worried about Big Fish’s return. The first time we’d seen it, the villagers had laughed, all getting back in the pool while we stared in horror at the inlet, expecting the monster to come back any second. But not now. It always showed up on time, no exceptions.

“Can you imagine staying calm enough to be still if you ended up in the water with that thing?” Fenn said.

I laughed. “Heck no.” Swimming with a movement-sensing tentacle shark was almost as appealing as going into space. “Anyway, what about you? You’re spending a decent amount of time in town.”

“Am I?”

“Fenn…”

The small fish darted back to the surface, filling the space until everything looked as it should. Birds chattered and chirruped from the nearby trees.

Fenn huffed, sinking deeper. “Fine. There might be someone. Someone I like.”

“Tell me.”

Their face bloomed bright pink. “There’s this girl, works in the medcentre down town, a cyborg. Xeefral.”

“Pretty.”

“Yeah, she is, in a tall, curvy, tactile metal way.”

“You sound very into her.” Fenn hadn’t dated anyone since their long term partner broke it off half a year ago. They deserved to be happy.

“Yeah. God, this alien T is something else. I’m hornier than a teenager. And spottier.”

I waggled my eyebrows. “Sounds like a reason to see her. Maybe you need your mix adjusted.” It was rotten luck their hormone implant had been due for renewal mere months after we’d been taken from Tathar Refuge. But alien medtech was even better than New Earth’s, and it had never been a problem.

“Ha. If I tell her, she’ll know I like her.”

“And that’s a bad thing why?”