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“I don’t know.”

“Okay. It won’t take a few decades. Well, it will if we only fuck once every few years.” She tapped his chest.

He pulled her against his chest. “I was thinking every few hours to start.”

She grinned. “I think I heard my food.”

Rath sighed. “Eat.”

She laughed and patted his cheek before moving away from him and getting her food. She was going to smack his ass but knew that food would be a distant memory before he finished with her.

She grabbed her food from the dispenser and ate standing up. Her body wanted to be upright in the worst way. She wanted to flex and stretch, but Rath was watching.

When the standard Arro fare was done, she put her tray back through the recycler. She went to wash her hands and face and then returned to the main bedroom.

“Where is the fabricator?”

“The quartermaster’s office. You can choose what you want. Go there and get a scan. I would wait a few days until you reach your final height.”

“You aren’t serious.”

“I am. Very.”

“Did this happen with Ranna’s mother?”

He paused and smiled sadly. “No. She was a Varcadden, and our union kept her alive fifty years past her lifespan. After that, she had no family other than Ranna, and when she was injured in the accident, she didn’t fight. She let herself go to her ancestors.”

“Ouch. How could she leave Ranna?”

“Varcaddens have a different attitude toward their children. She didn’t want to have her, but the baby was mine, and she had to carry it to term. When Ranna was born looking pure Hmrain, her mother lost all interest.”

“Oh. Heck. Does she know?”

“Ranna? She knows. Varcaddens’ known disgust for any species not their own is not a secret. Her mother also had journals and diaries that went to Ranna as her daughter.”

“Oh, if I had known...”

“You were her friend, laughed with her, made minimal issue with the difference in your social standing, and you made her stronger while telling her it was all right to be vulnerable. You did more than enough.”

She blinked rapidly. “But...”

“She is older than you by two hundred years, so your adoption of the friendship attitude was just what she needed.”

“Plus, my being insanely perky didn’t hurt.”

Rath smiled. “That was a factor. She was able to get enough passive energy to heal herself, which was not something I had imagined.”

“I am amazing if I do say so myself.” She smiled. She was watching Rath out of the corner of her eye and trying not to stare at him. In theory, if she wanted him, he would oblige, and there had not been a moment in the last five years that she wasn’t interested.

She fidgeted and asked him, “Is there a tablet or something that I can use?”

He finished whatever he was doing and got to his feet. Rath walked over to her and wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her against him. “You are welcome to use me.”

Riley looked up at him and blushed. “I thought you had other things to do.”

“There is nothing that I would rather be doing.” He nuzzled her neck. He licked her neck, and she felt the sting of his tongue; his teeth held her still.

Throbbing started and moved through her body from that contact. She went limp in his arms as her lust took over. Her breathing got faster, and she clutched at his arms. The soft fabric of his shirt hampered her efforts to claw him.