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CHAPTER

EIGHT

AIDY

I expect to feel shy the next morning around Corvak, but when I wake up next to him and he gives me a delighted grin, it's hard to feel weird. I smile back, and the day seems a little brighter.

Then again, most days seem brighter the morning after you get your pussy ate.

We get dressed, and I wrap new furs around my feet, wincing at the blisters on my soles.

There's a red, irritated mark on my shoulder from carrying my pack, and I feel as wimpy as Corvak makes me out to be.

I add a little more padding in the hopes it'll fix the issue and then drag my pack on. "Shall we go?"

Corvak frowns down at his cock, adjusting the front of his clothing. He's not as buried in leathers as I am, but he's definitely wearing more layers than when we first met. "My cock is stiff again."

He sounds so dismayed that I have to bite back a chuckle. "I've heard that happens in the mornings."

"Every morning? I do not know whether to be delighted or annoyed." He shoots me a hopeful look.

I pretend not to see, stepping out to the lip of the trail and eyeing the sunrise.

What we had last night was fun, but I'm not ready to be at his beck and call every time he wants a hand job.

If we were in love, it'd be different. We barely know each other.

He's going to have to learn to cope. I put a hand to my brow, squinting up at the sun.

Correction, suns. There's two of them, tiny dots in the sky like a spider bite. That's new. "Weather's clear today."

Corvak grunts, and I could swear I hear him humming from across the rocks.

I'm feeling a little aroused myself, this morning, but I'm also starting to grow worried about that.

Why am I in a perpetual state of horniness when I should be focused on survival?

It makes no sense, and I worry something else is going on.

That kills my ardor. I turn around, and notice Corvak has himself in hand, furiously working his shaft with what can only be described as a resigned expression.

"I'll give you a moment," I tell him and turn my back again.

"Talk to me?" he asks, voice strained as he works his cock.

Something tells me he doesn't want to hear more about the weather, but I'm not interested in dirty talking. Well, okay, I am, but I'm also trying to set boundaries. I study my nails. "Do you think they did something to us? When they dumped us here on the planet?"

He doesn't answer, but his breathing turns ragged.

I resist the urge to peek—strong, Aidy! Be strong!

—and continue to pick at a jagged nail. "I'm just curious because we're still strangers, but we're also constantly all over each other.

I don't know about you, but that's not normal for me.

So I'm wondering if they gave us something when they dropped us here. "

"Possible," he grits out, and then I hear a deep gasp and a shuddering breath. Money shot, if I don't miss my guess.

I peek. I'm the worst, but I peek. Sure enough, he's got his arm pressed to the rock, and his forehead resting against his arm as he leans forward, hand on cock, and works the last of his release out.

There's steam rising from the spot on the rocks he just anointed, and I have to clench my thighs together again because the sight of it is arousing the hell out of me and it should not be.

The thing in my chest throbs. "What about this parasite you put in us? Could it be why?"

Corvak cleans his hands on snow and then adjusts his clothing.

I turn around, presenting my back again, pretending I wasn't watching.

"I do not think it was the parasite," he says, and I can hear him picking up his pack.

"The other gladiators were not overcome with arousal, and at least one had a parasite of his own. "

Good point. I think he would have noticed if the other men had been all over each other. Not the parasite, then, though the humming is distracting. "I see."

He moves to my side, his body lightly brushing against my leg as he does, and I clench my thighs, wondering if he's going to call me out for an arousal smell. But he only eyes the desolate, icy rocks around us, as if trying to determine the best route forward.

"Where to?" I ask brightly. "You're the man with the plan."

To my frustration, Corvak shrugs. "We walk until we find what we are looking for."

"And remind me of what we're looking for?"

"I will know it when I see it."

Super. Just what a girl wants to hear.

We head out, and I notice that we head up today.

Not down the sharply sloping cliffs, nor do we seek out easier footpaths or even more of the supply caves like before.

Corvak heads higher and higher into the forbidding mountains, his gaze constantly landing on the tallest purple peak in the distance, the top of it hidden by clouds.

I hope his plan is a good one, but I don't have a plan of my own, so it's not like I can complain.

I don't want to walk in silence, either.

I think about last night and how he'd gone down on me eagerly, all because he could smell my arousal.

Just thinking about it starts to make me turned on, so I decide to focus on other things.

"Why don't you tell me about yourself, Corvak?

" I ask as we hike. "We can get to know each other. "

"There is not much to tell. I am a splice." He shrugs, unbothered. "We are given rules so we know the games, but not much else."

"See, I'm not entirely sure what you mean when you say things like that. What's a splice? What do you mean, you're given rules but not much else?"

"How come you did not touch me this morning?"

His voice is casual, but I'm not fooled. The answer matters a lot to him. Did I hurt his feelings when I ignored his requests? Can I afford to hurt his feelings? "I'm not at your command, Corvak. I don't have to do something just because you want it."

"But…I touched you last night. You enjoyed it, I think?" His expression turns vaguely smug. "I tasted your enjoyment."

Rude. I stiffen, trying not to get my back up. "I did enjoy myself, and I appreciate the pleasure, but it doesn't mean that I owe you something."

"I did not mean to offend, Aidy. I am trying to understand." He glances over at me. "Me asking you this morning…it was not correct?"

My wariness turns to chagrin. He's an alien.

I can't expect him to know how to handle sexual situations with a human.

Even if he'd had sex before—which he has not, it seems—he wouldn't understand our cultural mores.

"I'm not trying to be a jerk, Corvak. It's just a complicated situation.

I feel we should be focusing on surviving, not on personal relationships. I don't want us to get distracted."

Corvak eyes me, his expression insulted. "You think I would be so distracted by my cock that I would endanger us?"

"You tell me. You were the one that couldn't walk yesterday morning."

He scowls and stomps a few paces ahead of me, then climbs a near-sheer bit of rock up ahead, moving higher into the mountains with skill. I move to the rock after him, wondering where I need to put my hands when everything looks smooth. Corvak lowers his hand to me, a challenge on his face.

"I'm not trying to insult you." I put my hand in his. "I just want to live."

"Bah. Do not worry about survival. I will take care of you.

" He hauls me up effortlessly, and I fly upward, landing at his side.

I wobble and his arm goes around my waist, pulling me in close.

Corvak shoots me another cocky grin. "I am far more interested in tasting your thigh mound again than worrying about survival. "

My what ? I'd giggle, but the intense, hungry look in his eyes makes the laughter die in my throat. "My pussy. It's called my pussy."

"Your pussy, then. If I ask nicely, can I taste you again?"

He's holding me so close that it's distracting me. "As long as you don't expect that I should have to reciprocate. It should be my choice to touch you. Just like it's your choice to touch me."

Corvak's hand twitches on my back, and he leans in close. I pull back, confused, but he only rubs his nose against mine. "I understand, Aidy. You are my female, and I don't want to make you uncomfortable. I'm still learning how to please you."

He could start by not referring to me as his , but this is close enough to an apology, and I'll take it. "You did just fine. Better than fine. And you know, I'm happy to instruct."

He rubs his nose against mine again and then gives me a wicked, knowing grin. "You smell good today, too."

"Annnd that's enough of that," I say, sliding out of his grip, blushing. "Can we just travel, please?"

Chuckling, he releases me and points at the sloping rocks. "We're going higher. I think it levels out just above. We will see how things look then."

Lovely. I lean forward to balance myself, watching as he moves up the rocky slope. "So how is it you don't have memories anyway? What's the story with that?"

"I told you, I'm a splice. We are created beings." His stump tail twitches, making his clothing jump.

"Everyone's a created being. Created like how?"

"Someone picks out the traits they want their gladiator to have, and I am produced in a lab and sent to my new owner."

Produced in a lab…? "So, what? You were never a baby? Or a child? You just popped out of a test tube fully grown?" I take the hand he extends down to me and haul myself up after him. "How does that work?"

"Just like that, I suppose. It was not the same with you?" He doesn't seem concerned. He makes sure my footing is solid and then continues climbing.

Of course it wasn't the same with me. "Absolutely not. I have memories. I was a kid. I…"

I pause.

"Go on," he says, encouraging.

But I can't go on. Because the more I look for proof of how right I am, the more blank my mind feels. I search for memories, assurances that what I'm saying are legit. My name, I decide. That's an easy one. Aidy's short for A.D. Which is short for…

Short for…

I have no idea. Hot panic flashes through me. "Ask me something, Corvak. Something I should know."

"What species are you?"

I wave a hand. "Too easy. Ask me something specific. Something that pertains only to me."

He stops climbing, sensing my panic. "Tell me about your home place."

I shake my head, because my mind is blank.

"Then tell me about who created you."

"My parents," I say with gusto, because that's an easy answer. I try to call up their faces from my memories, and when that fails, their names. Something? Anything?

But all I'm getting is…fog. If I was a radio, I'd be nothing but static right now.

There are vague blips here and there, mental images of things, but everything is a mess, and when I try to focus on specifics, it all disappears.

It's like trying to hold a handful of mist. I have a vague sense of a wet nose pressing against my hand, of the creak of wooden stairs.

"I had a house. And a…job? At a movie theater, I think.

But I don't remember anything else. Nothing's coming together. "

"Stasis will do that," Corvak says confidently. "It can affect your memories."

"Really? How do you know?"

He shrugs. "I just know."

I have to take his word for it. He puts his hand out again to help me climb, and I take it, but I no longer feel like talking. How am I supposed to get to know him when I don't know anything about myself? There has to be something I recall.

Anything…?