Page 32

“He’s going to murder you,” Simone snaps at me, reminding me of what we’re doing. She isn’t wrong. The closer I get to the shore, the more anger I can see tensing in Vex’s body. Tendrils of white energy are skating across the shoreline and licking at the water.

“How long since he’s seen your cunt?” I ask.

I don’t give her enough time to answer or prepare for what I have planned next. I heft Simone out of the water and work to grab her thighs between my palms and hold her so she is folded chest to thighs with her back against my chest.

I spread her legs wide, laughing when she tries to cover herself with her now-freed hands. It’s too late to try to hide, especiallywhen Vex is nothing but thousands of tendrils of energy that are all coming straight for me.

“Trust me,” I say, hoping Vex is a fast male.

I turn around and toss Simone into a deeper part of the river. The tendrils of glowing energy scurry past me much faster than I can keep up with. Before Simone has a chance to hit the water, Vex reforms into his body and catches her. This is good. If she were to get her hair wet now, she would be the one to murder me.

“I think we will need to work on your anger!” I call out.

Vex stomps through the river with Simone cradled in his arms. He shoots me an angry glare, but deep down, I know that we have made much progress today. I am more excited to see how much we can make tomorrow.

14

Vex

“Ithink today was a success,” Rallan says as he tugs Simone’s sleeping body between his legs like he loves to do.

I don’t know how he convinced her to crawl into bed with him after she said she was going to cut his dick off for throwing her in the river. He only laughed, told her she was seductive when she was that angry at him, and then wrapped her in his arms until she fell asleep.

The plan was to do a bit more once we got her back home. After I was a little more aggressive than we hoped I’d be, we decided that it was best not to push for more while I’m adjusting to the new dynamic.

“I thought I’d handle seeing her with you better than I did,” I admit.

I sit on the foot of the bed, the same as I do every morning when I come and talk with Rallan about what our plans are forthe day. I’ve gotten used to him as a male, as a friend. What I’m still not used to is that he’s going to want to touch Simone in the same way I do.

Somehow, watching them snuggle at night and in the morning hasn’t been difficult. I don’t know what makes it different. I do know that seeing him strip her earlier today had me aching to be near her. It also made me feel like I needed to rip her from his arms and claim her as mine.

“Well, I wasn’t exactly being fair.” Rallan chuckles as Simone nuzzles closer to his abdomen. “I was trying my hardest to make you as mad as possible. I cannot think of anything that would make a male who shares his mate more upset than watching her exposed and not being near to enjoy it for himself.”

I can’t help the way my lips tug upward as Simone throws an arm over him and tangles her legs around one of his. I’ve watched them sleep almost every night since we’ve shared this house. I’m aware of just how close Rallan keeps her at night. I’m pretty sure he’d have her tied to him if he could. He settles for pulling her between his legs, wrapping his arms tight around her, and holding her to him as he sleeps on his back all night. Simone must love it because she doesn’t wake up to get away from him. She sleeps soundly through the night.

I used to wish that I needed sleep so that I could hold Simone all night without feeling bored. Now she has Rallan to do that for her. I can get work done around the tribe and come back to watch them sleep every once in a while.

“I think we should attempt me touching her in bed next,” Rallan says. It pulls my attention away from how they’re tangled in one another. When I do nothing but stare at him, he continues. “You have no issues with me holding her all night even though you know my cock is pressed against her.”

My nose scrunches up at the visual that I don’t need. I know Rallan sleeps naked. He’s made that clear every morning whenhe gets up for the day and stretches out. Sometimes, his genitalia is out of its pocket. Sometimes, it’s not. One thing remains the same: he’s always naked. It’s also clear he enjoys himself while sleeping with Simone.

“See, the worst you do now is look disgusted,” Rallan laughs. “I think you are worried about how you will react because you have never been in this situation before.”

“Neither have you,” I counter.

“Yes, but I grew up knowing many males who shared. Even in my tribe, there are plenty of brothers who share mates and even more who all enjoy the company of the same female even if they are not mated.”

I frown at the thought of sharing Simone with even more people. Rallan, of course, somehow knows what I’m thinking and huffs another laugh.

“How many females did you bed before Simone?” he asks, as though it’s not a personal question. He frowns at my obvious discomfort and tries to make me feel more comfortable. “She knows she is not my first female. I doubt she will care if you have bedded others as well.”

I swallow deeply, a habit I picked up from other humans I watched interact with one another. I tried to keep my eyes on all of their mannerisms so I could look more like them. I thought it would make Simone feel more comfortable around me. Not that she ever seemed uncomfortable. She was easy to be with. Much easier than I thought she would be when I found out I had bonded to another species.

“She’s the only one,” I mumble under my breath, unsure if I should be feeling less or more male than him right now. “My kind, we don’t feel any attraction to anyone until we find our fated. It’s how we’ve advanced technologically so quickly. We’re unburdened with lust and love until we find a compatible mate.”

Rallan’s brows furrow for a moment before he casts his eyes down to Simone. His eyes soften first, then the rest of his body, as he watches Simone take soft breaths against him in his sleep. “It is understandable that she would be the one to make you feel. She is a remarkable human, is she not?”

“She is.” I smile and reach out to cup her cheek. Rallan doesn’t stop me. If anything, I’m pretty sure he shifts closer to me so I can feel her soft skin against mine. Rallan places one of his hands on top of mine, and my eyes shoot up to his.