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And simply hope I could keep control of my instinct as I did.
What if once wasn’t enough?
Tori cleared her throat and stared at the stone in her hand, turning it over in her palm before running her finger tentatively toward the sharp edge.She looked impressed, and I grinned as she glanced up at me, quirking a brow before glaring at the smug satisfaction on my face.
“Okay, so I’m impressed you could find something suitable so quickly.Good work.”Her lips lifted into an almost smirk as I continued to grin at her, and then she looked around before back at me.“Actually, I could use your help since I’m now one hundred percent convinced you understand me.See that flat stone over there?”My gaze flickered to it just long enough for her to understand I had registered, then I looked back at her because I never tired of staring at her.“I’m going to lay my hair out over it, and I want you to chop it off so it’s nice and short, okay?”
She handed me the stone, and I accepted it, following her to the area she had indicated.Tori draped herself near the edge of the rock and lay her hair delicately over it.As instructed, I used the sharpened stone to cut her hair.It went through easily, but her hair kept moving, and the cuts were uneven.She kept replacing her hair on the stone, and I kept cutting until she was satisfied.Tori stood, running her fingers through her new short hair and humming.“No more knots,” she said, flicking her head around a bit.“For now, at least.Thank you.”
She approached me again, and I smirked.Cutting her hair had brought it from midway down her back to up near her ears, and her dark hair sat at odd angles where I hadn’t cut it evenly.It was messy and wild, and I loved it.Tori pressed her body against mine again, and I stiffened.What game was she playing now?I’d done as she wanted, and she still touched me.My mind whirled as I tried to understand her motivations.I’d fed her, brought her water and a weapon, saved her, cut her hair, and still, she touched me.
She took one of my braids in her fingers and twirled it.“Vitri,” she breathed out the word, and a growl rumbled through my chest at the sound of my name from her throat.“I know you can understand me.You can tell me how you did it.I promise I won’t be mad.”
I hesitated, but the warmth of her body was testing my control.Tori was writhing against me, moving to a beat or sound I couldn’t hear but didn’t need to.She was so delicate and warm, and a shudder ran up my spine as I placed my hands on her hips.She didn’t move away, and I released a slow breath.She was almost dancing with her slow swaying, taunting, and teasing me, and my eyelids fluttered closed for a moment as I tried to regain control, my fingers tightening on her hips.
“Vitri,” she whispered again in a pleasant sing-song voice that she coupled with more tracings of her fingers along my chest in small circles, her skin in contrast against the green of mine.“You can tell me.”
This had to be a trap, but I couldn’t resist.She purred my name again, and I growled.
“I can understand you,” I said finally.
Tori shoved away from me, slamming her palms into my chest and pushing.“I fuckingknew it!How long have you understood me?How long have you been able to talk?You better tell me what the fuck is going on before Ilose it!”
I didn’t know what she was going to lose, but the rage was ebbing from her, and despite her being half my size, I took a step back, ground she quickly regained by taking another step forward.
She said she wouldn’t be mad.
I guess she won this game.
Chapter Nine
TORI
With a hand on my hip and my foot tapping, I waited for an explanation from Vitri, and it better be a damn good one.It was a chore to keep my breathing steady, but simply theideathat there had been life on this fucking planet that could understand me and could’ve been able to help, and yet he saidnothingdrove me crazy.And to think I let himtouchme the way he did, that I touched him back, that Ikissedhim.Touching him hadn’t been unpleasant.In fact, it had been almost pleasurable.His skin was like soft leather, and he responded to every touch, no matter how delicate.The rumble deep in his chest, somewhere between a purr and a growl, only left me wanting more.
And the scent.God, he smelled so fucking good.
But he hadliedto me, and none of the rest mattered now.
When Vitri didn’t say anything, I lost control of my inner thoughts, and they spilled out of me.I yelled at him, adding in a good measure of obscenities andbullshitto emphasize my point.At least he had the grace to look bashful at what he had done as my rant faded when I was going around in circles, repeating myself, trying to abate my anger over lost time I’d spent wandering when I needed help.
But hedidhelp you,my inner voice whispered, and I silenced it with another string of muttered curses.
“Well?”I finally demanded after I’d had my say, and he still hadn’t responded.
“Tori—”
“Yes, that’s something I know you can say.So how about you use all the other words you know, and while you’re at it, tell me how long you’ve understood me?”
“Only today,” he said, his voice slightly gravelly.Good,I hope he felt bad.
“How?”
Vitri fidgeted uncomfortably, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, and the vines that wrapped around his body twitched and shifted with the movement.The sight of a seven-foot alien being caught in a lie and acting like a scolded child was almost comical.“I got your language from you.”
I prodded him in the chest with my finger, and while he watched the movement, he didn’t step back.“Listen here, buddy, if you’ve used some bullshit alien mind reader on me, you better have a damn good explanation.”
His eyes widened, and I swear I had to fight the urge to laugh.Surely, he was aware that physically, I was no match for him.He was practically cowering, and damn if it wasn’t almostsweet.But I shook the thought from my mind as he responded.“I’m not sure what you mean, but I didn’t use mind-reader technology on you as such.I used my own abilities.My learning is adaptive, and I can learn languages through connecting with another’s mind.”
