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I’m still holding her by her waistband, so I just shake my head and spear her with a burning look. I don’t know why I won’t allow her to scoot away, it’s not that I fear she’ll hurt me. Actually, I do know why I’m keeping her close. I like her proximity.

I inhale deeply and ignore the musty damp smell of the cave, focusing instead on the flowery scent of her hair.

The hair that a moment ago caressed my primary.

In my lifetime, this is the closest I’ve been to a female my age.

Now that I don’t fear interruption by her tribe, all I can focus on is wondering what her breasts would feel like cupped in my hands.

No, not just that. My brain pounds with the even more urgent question of what she might taste like.

Perhaps I can’t read her species’ nonverbal cues, but I don’t believe she’s interested in me.

She’s stuffing her medical supplies into her bag.

With each precise movement, I can feel her trying to inch away.

Her fear of me is palpable, so I release her.

She immediately scoots back and eyes me as if she’s afraid I’m going to pounce on her.

I’m about to ask where the rest of her people are, but she won’t understand the question.

My eyes can answer it anyway. She’s obviously alone here.

Other than rocks, the only things I see are her two blankets, the sleeping bag I’m sitting on, one pack, and a metal disk holding firewood.

I don’t think I have to worry about her tribe returning to harm me.

“So . . . it’s pitch dark and well past my bedtime.” She laughs nervously as she leans away from me. “I’ll just steal one of these blankets and bed down over there.” She points across the fire.

I shake my head and grab her ankle, not wanting her to leave me helpless and unattended.

If I let her go, will she leave me alone in this cave?

Although I try to lie to myself about her possibly wanting to abandon or harm me, I can’t deny she just willingly patched me up as efficiently as a Draalian field medic.

Through trembling lips she says, “You understand me, right? On Earth we have an old saying . . . no means no. You probably have that on your world, too. I mean, that’s just the civilized way to do things.

So, uh, I’m saying no. Perhaps you’re wondering what I mean, like no to what.

Well, no to anything but me taking one of your blankets, going to the other side of the fire, and sleeping without being molested. ”

We’re alone together and she’s terrified.

“I won’t hurt you,” I say, trying to look non-threatening, although I don’t know how a large reptilian male can appear non-threatening to a small mammalian female. I take special care to cover my fangs with my lips.

Now that I don’t think the males of her tribe are on their way to kill me and I believe I’ll live through the night, I pay attention to other urgent matters. Like the fact that it’s cold here.

I test the air with my tongue and believe even with the fire, the temperature is dangerously cold. We have two blankets for two people. How can she live in a cave with no fur pelts?

I don’t know how to explain it to her, but I won’t make it through the night with only one blanket. I’ll need to share them both. And I’ll need her body heat.

The sleeping bag I’m on is short but at least most of my body is partially protected from the cold stone.

I pull her toward me, share the unzipped open sleeping bag with her, place her between me and the stone wall of the cave with the fire at our feet, and cover us both with the blankets.

I grab the disc with the wood and yank it closer, then toss a few more logs on the fire.

“Too bad you can’t understand me, Earther. You’d know I mean you no harm.” I tried to say it softly, with as few ‘s’ sounds as I could, so my hissing didn’t scare her.

Since I can’t communicate with words, I pull her down and nestle my front to her back.

Despite the fact that I’m trying to reassure the female I’m not going to harm her, my cocks haven’t received the message yet.

They’re rock hard and get even harder when they’re pressed against the back of her thighs.

“Please don’t. You have to know this isn’t right.” Her tone is half command, half plea.

If this was my frightened little nephew back on Draal, I would stroke his head to reassure him, but it’s a terrified Earth female and I don’t think my touch will comfort her in any way.

She’s trembling. It must be from fear because she’s at least twenty degrees warmer than me. I’m freezing. I pull her even closer, trying to share her body heat. She struggles to pull away, but I croon to her, trying to calm her.

“It’s okay, little Earther. I mean you no harm,” I say in the lilting singsong that Draalians use to lull their babes to sleep. “You’ll be fine. We’ll just go to sleep and wake up, Tomorrow will be a good day.”

I’m in an interesting position, being with a female is fascinating in and of itself, but being able to say anything, knowing she doesn’t understand a word is a unique opportunity. I decide to take advantage of it.

Lifting up on an elbow, I peer over her blonde hair to see her face. “Your flat face is interesting.”

Her eyes flare wide, showing white all around the blue.

I’m not calming her. After tightening my arm around her waist, which pulls a startled “Oh” from her, I give in to my impulse to sing a few of the songs my aunt sang to my nephew when he was in her arms. This soothes her, and finally she settles down.