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10

Simone

The house that Deja shows me after I catch up with her and Nia for most of the day is amazing. I don’t know why anyone thought I needed this much space, but the whole house is furnished, and I’m in love with it.

I decide my room is the one with the blankets and sheets that are dyed a soft red. Most fabrics in this tribe are a beige color of the fiber used to make all of the clothing and material. There are dyes to color the fabrics, but there’s not much in this tribe since coloring their clothing isn’t as important as just surviving.

In Rallan’s tribe, they wore all sorts of colors, and I found myself liking the navy colors that contrasted with the red of his scales. I never told him, but his wardrobe is pretty much all navy now, so he somehow figured it out.

“Am I here on time?” Rallan peeks his head into the room I have declared mine with his arms full of supplies.

He’s not wearing a shirt, which is pretty standard for him. I try to ignore the way his navy shorts cling to his muscled legs, and if he were to turn around, I definitely wouldn’t be checking out his ass. Nope.

“On time for what?” I ask, eyeing everything he’s holding like he has arms full of weapons instead of bandages and ointments.

He’s been taking care of my feet every night when I pass out from exhaustion. I’m sure that’s what he wants to do now, too. But I’m awake right now, and it feels too intimate. Especially after what happened earlier, where he called Vex out for how he abandoned me on this planet. If I let him do this now, in my room when there’s plenty of space for him to be elsewhere, I feel like it’ll mean more than I want to admit it does.

“Pretend all you want, but you and I both know you are not falling asleep until I have tended to your hair. Your feet you can sleep through easily enough, but you need me to scratch your head before your body can find rest.”

“You make me sound like a dog,” I grumble under my breath, but I don’t fight Rallan’s request to sit on the foot of my bed. He sets out all of his supplies, and I realize he has more than just stuff to tend to my feet.

“This is for your hair,” he says as he sets a large vial of what I’m assuming is oil on the bed. He’s been using it on my hair since I started letting him play with my hair at night. I told him about it once when we were in his tribe, and the next thing I knew, he had enough for it to last him a good year or two. “I have more in storage in the kitchen. The female I bought it from told me it would hold in its container, but we would need to use it within the year once it is opened.”

I open my mouth to ask him why he did that for me, but I already know and I don’t need to be hurting both of us even more.

As much as I hate Vex, I still have feelings for him, and it isn’t fair to any of us if I can’t decide between the two. Not to mention, I don’t know which one I’d choose if I did have to choose.

If I’d been asked when I first arrived, it would be Vex no questions asked. But now I know Rallan. I know how pure his heart is, how much he craves caring for me, and how much he would do for me if I gave him the chance. It’s impossible not to fall in love with him. So impossible that I know I failed at it weeks ago. I can still pretend, though. Because it’s the only thing that keeps me from hurting all three of us.

“It is not often you look distressed around me,” Rallan says, his hand grazing my calf lazily to get my attention back on him instead of the thoughts eating away at me. “I do not like how I see it more and more often now. I would prefer your anger if you are still feeling like pretending.”

I narrow my eyes at him, and his mood immediately brightens. “Yes, just like that.”

“You’re impossible.” I shake my head and lean back against the headboard.

Rallan’s brows move up his forehead as I shift my legs closer to him, allowing him—practically begging him—to keep touching me. I know I’m playing a terrible game. His touches feel too good and I’ve been waking up every morning in his arms. It’s so hard not to lean into him for comfort. I want it so badly. I don’t know when his stupid charm started working on me, but it’s been chipping away at me for so long that I barely have any defenses left.

“Let me tend to your feet first,” he says, letting his thumb linger on my ankle before lifting one of my feet off the bed. “I doubt you will rest for a day so they can heal.”

“There’s too much to do,” I answer.

He starts unwrapping the bandages from my feet. Thankfully, we didn’t have long to travel to get to the tribe this morning, somy feet are doing way better than they were yesterday. A hiss rattles through Rallan’s chest as his eyes flash red for a moment before he snaps them up to my face, and they return to black. I tilt my head to the side, waiting for him to chastise me like he obviously wants to do. Instead, he says something that my translator doesn’t pick up before shaking his head and returning to taking care of me.

“You know I can do this on my own, right?” I say, raising my hands behind my head and leaning back on them

“You could, but you would not,” Rallan says. There’s no admonishment in his voice. It’s just a statement. A statement that ruffles me more than it should.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I snap.

I want to yank my foot away from him and do the rest of it myself. He must have guessed I’d try because his fingers wrap a bit tighter on my ankle, and his other hand holds my other leg down as I try to kick him with it.

“Is the trick to getting you wild in bed to remind you how terrible you are at taking care of yourself?” Rallan teases as I let out a shriek that is so unflattering I expect him to flee. Of course, if I think I’ve done the thing that will finally get him to leave me alone, it only means he loves it more.

I don’t answer fast enough for Rallan, or maybe he’s tired of teasing and decides to act. The only thing I know is one moment, I’m sitting against my headboard with my foot in Rallan’s hand. The next, I’m lying on my back, Rallan’s body between my legs and his face close to mine.

“Imagine how much easier this would be if you admitted that you want me.”

“Rallan.” I push at his chest. Or maybe I’m pulling him closer. I can’t really tell. He’s too close, and my stupid heart wants him too much.