Texon lies down on top of the covers, on his back, staring at the ceiling. Gloved hands folded over his chest. The crystal casts a soft blue glow across the room. Outside, I can hear the distant sounds of the jungle. Inside, just our breathing. I’m hyperaware of his body beside me. The heat radiating from him and the way the mattress dips under his weight.
This is the closest I’ve ever been to Texon. And we’re not even touching. Heat floods through my lower belly. I press my thighs together, trying to ignore the ache building between them. What is wrong with me? I got stabbed today. I should be exhausted and traumatized. Instead I’m lying next to the most attractive male I’ve ever met, thinking about what it would feel like to roll over and press myself against him.
I imagine long nights of hot, sweaty sex with Texon of Twenty-Four, in this very bed. Waking up each morning in hisarms. And maybe us making love all over again before leaving for work.
I would love to move in here with him and have all my stuff in his bathroom, his closet and in his drawers.
Jeez, I’m pathetic.
“You should sleep,” Texon says with a gravely voice. “The med tech said rest.”
“I know. My brain won’t turn off.”
Silence stretches between us.
“Thank you,” I say quietly. “For today. For everything.”
“You already thanked me.”
“I know. But I mean it. You killed Xylan to protect me, carried me to the med lab and stayed with me the whole time.” I turn my head to look at his profile in the dim light. “Why?”
His jaw flexes. “Because you needed protection.”
“But why you? Why not one of your brothers? Chief could have stayed. Or Heavy.”
He doesn’t answer for a long moment. Then says, “Because I couldn’t leave.”
I turn onto my side, facing him. He’s still staring at the ceiling, but I can see the tension in his shoulders. The tightness in his jaw.
“Texon... can I ask you something?”
“Yes.”
“In the med lab, after I woke up. After the tech told me about the...” I swallow. “About the fertility repair. You looked at me differently. Something changed.”
His whole body goes rigid.
“I don’t know what you mean,” he says.
Liar.
“Yes you do.” I prop myself up on my elbow, studying his face. “And now you’ve asked me to sleep in your room instead of mine.”
He doesn’t respond. His chest rises and falls.
My mind keeps circling back to what Roxy said in her lab, days ago. The thing I didn’t fully understand at the time.
“Scenting is tied to reproductive compatibility. If something interfered with fertility signals, theoretically the scent would register as not compatible — even if the underlying bond potential existed.”
I think about the night we arrived back from employee housing. Standing on the path in the darkness. Me asking him directly,Am I your mate?
And his answer,No. We are not compatible.
But that was before the med lab when they repaired my body.
“Oh gods.” I sit up fully, staring down at him.
He finally turns his head to look at me, and there’s something raw in his expression.
“Texon.” My voice comes out barely above a whisper. “I’ve been thinking about what Roxy told me about how scenting works. How it’s tied to fertility and if something interfered with the signals, the scent would register wrong. I was infertile,” I continue. “My whole adult life I thought I couldn’t have children. But now the med lab has repaired whatever was wrong.”
His hands curl into fists at his sides. Even through the gloves, I can see his claws flexing.
“And now you’re acting different, asking me to stay in your room, saying you never wanted me to leave. You’re looking at me like...”
I trail off.
The crystal glows softly.
“Texon.” I meet his dark eyes in the dim light. “Has my scent changed? Are you able to tell now that I’m your mate?”
