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He turns to her now, his nostrils flaring as he sniffs the alien beside me. His mouth opens as he chuffs to communicate with his mate. Rows of razor sharp teeth gleam between his jaws, but Neev doesn’t step back.

My jaw drops as she reaches out tentatively and lets him smell her hand. My body tenses as I watch, ready to spring between them if necessary. He lowers his head and allows her to run her hand between his ears.

“Hi sweet boy,” she says quietly. “I love him,” she says as she looks at me.

“You’re not afraid?”

“No.” She gives him the brightest, most beautiful smile I’ve ever seen and then looks at me. “Should I be?”

“He’s an apex predator on this planet. He could eat you.” Probably in one bite.

“No, he’s just a good boy who likes getting pets.” She changes her voice, making it almost musical in nature and softer.

“We used to ride them into battle.”

“And I’m sure you’re both very scary males, riding into battle and coming out victorious.” She continues with the voice, now scratching behind both of his ears. His tongue lolls out the side of his mouth, and his eyes close.

“We would come out victorious,” I say seriously. “He’s not a pet.”

“Could have fooled me.” She drops her hand. “Thank you for introducing us. Does he live here?”

“No. He has a mate who lives on one of the islands we passed by. That’s his home.”

“How did you call him?”

“We’re soul-tied. When I dipped my fingers into the water, he sensed me and came as fast as he could.”

“Does everyone have a soul-tie to one of them?” She smiles as he dives back into the water.

“No. It’s fairly rare and likely only because of my line that I still possess enough of our gifts to have a tie.”

Kodia pops up from below the water and spits a mouthful at my feet, informing me that he wants me in the water now.

“He wants me to get in with him.” I reach behind my neck and pull my shirt over my head, tossing it on the ground.

I look over at Neev whose eyes are locked on my body. Every drift of her violet eyes over my body feels like a brush of tentative hands over my flesh. I slowly reach for the buckle of my pants and the sound of it clicking open pulls her from the daze she was in.

“I—what are you doing?”

“Taking my clothes off to get in with him.”

“Naked?” her voice lilts upward.

“Yes.”

She spins and gives me her back as soon as she sees me hook my thumbs in the waistband of my pants, readying to push them down.

“I’ll, uh, see myself back to my room.” She waves awkwardly over her shoulder, not turning around until she hears the splash of me jumping in the water.

“Neev,” I say from the rock I’m standing on.

She turns, her eyes moving from my eyes down to the planes of muscles along my stomach, the V between my hips that disappears beneath the dark water. I don’t say anything until she’s had her fill of looking at me. Mainly because I can’t recall another female so openly appraising me like that. A different scent wafts through the air from her, a headier, muskier scent. I drag a deep breath of that magical scent in before speaking again.

“Sleep well.”

“You, too.”

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