After a moment, I think I’ve got it figured out. “So I’ll always know when you’re horny because you’ll be glowing?”
“I guess.” He shrugs. “My parents never did this. We all had heightened senses, heat production, and healing glands. My father’s tribe was primarily medical-focused and a darker green with pale yellow eyes. My mother’s was militaristic, lighter green with darker gold eyes. I got a mid-range green with dark eyes, my father’s height, and my mother’s notched ears. We lived alone, away from the other tribes. No one I can remember ever glowed.”
“Did you find your old home?” I ask.
He nods. “Still under rubble from an Empire’s weapon. “But if you’d like, I could show you another tribe’s home. There’s one just up the hill.”
“I’d like that.”
Elix starts to get up, then looks down at my naked body beside his and rests a hand on my belly. Then he kisses me and climbs out.
His naked body is a glorious sight to watch as he collects his clothes from the nest. Elix is tall and lean but stacked with muscle.I can’t believe I found someone as hot as him, and he actually wants me.
“What?” Elix glances around himself as if to find the source of the problem.
I chew a lip, smile, and shake my head. “Nothing’s wrong with your sexy ass.”Except whoever is chasing us.
I don’t want anything to happen to him either. And if my past is any hint of what my future will be like, I have to enjoy this moment and start thinking about how I’m going to protect it.
Elix climbs into his pants and throws on his t-shirt.
“I thought you didn’t wear those,” I say.
“I don’t, but everything helps here because it’s so cold.”
“Wish you didn’t have to wear anything. I could nestle with you all day.”
He pants a breath and quickly crawls to me. After a kiss, he meets my gaze and light stirs under his skin.
“Again, already?” I ask.
“I heal fast, remember?” He winks at me, then gets back up and hurries out of the cockpit. His voice echoes from the fuselage. “It’s almost warm enough in here for you. But let me get you some clothes to wear.”
I crawl to the edge of the nest and put my undergarments back on. The ship is warmer, I can feel it. I climb into my race suit-turned-pants, tie the arms around my waist, put on my boots, and slip into the t-shirt of his that I knotted to fit me.
Elix returns with my leather jacket and the omenotau skin. “It was a quick job, but I made you a traditional cloak fromyour kill. It is customary to my people to stitch a tooth from the animal onto the collar as a badge of honor.”
He drapes the cloak over my shoulders and buttons it in front, then pulls the hood up. “People who kill them with guns do not know the customs and won’t have teeth displayed like this.”
As I admire the cloak, amazed by his prompt work, I wonder how long I was asleep before he came in to find me last night.
Elix swings a cloak over his shoulders, and I gape at the rows of teeth.
“I’m starting to feel like my accomplishment was pretty pathetic next to yours. What does that make you in your culture? A general?”
He laughs and hangs his head. “My father had more at my age. But that’s how he fed our family. Mother had a few but preferred other animals.
“MONA, what is Aurelius’ ETA?”
“About one hour, sir.”
Elix nods and waves me to the ramp. He helps me strap into a harness with two Hatchetguns and an iceblade. As he reaches for the release ramp button, I notice he’s armored up inside his cloak.
We walk outside into the blistering cold wind on a bright day. Elix kneels and taps the fur over his back.
“Up you go. Hang on tight.”
I climb up onto his back and loop my arms and legs around him. Then Elix breaks into a run across the snow I sank into the night before. He scales a rocky cliff with ease even when I can’t see what he’s grabbing onto, and suddenly the gripping texture of his skin starts to make sense.
