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“Is this how it always was between us?”

he asked. “This intense?”

“Always. Sometimes more so.”

“More?”

His mouth quirked up at the corners. “It is possible I may die of heart failure.”

He touched his fingers to the red marks on her hips where he had gripped her at the height of his passion. “Though I did not mean to be so rough, beloved.”

“I wasn’t exactly complaining.”

“Nevertheless. You are precious to me, kalehsha. I have known it for a while. I was a fool to fight it for so long.”

She shifted onto her side so that she could face him.

“When did you change your mind about me?”

“When I realized that you are the one constant that bridges the gap between what I can remember and what I have lost.”

He stroked her face, his fingers tender against her cheek. “I regret the way I treated you when I first awoke from my injuries. I thought that since you were human, a Vraxian foe, the kalehsh bond must be a mistake. Something easily broken as soon as I got rid of you. I behaved despicably.”

“You lost your memory. You had every right to be a bit grumpy.”

“I tried to kill you.”

“Okay, a lot grumpy.”

“But then something happened I did not expect. My feelings for you reignited. Not returned to me as memories, but built afresh as if for the first time.”

His fingers moved to her back, lightly tracing the curve of her spine. She closed her eyes and savored the caress.

“But Vahn,”

she asked sleepily. “What if you never get your memories back?”

“Then, my beloved, we will simply make new ones.”

They dozed for a while, lulled by the birdsong and the sweet scent of flowers. When they woke, they were ravenous. They ate every scrap of food in the backpack, feeding each other morsels of fruit and bread.

The twin suns passed the midway point and they reluctantly decided it was time to go. They pulled on their trousers but balled up the rest of their clothes in the rug – their tops were still contaminated with the amphibious toxin.

The journey back to camp took longer than it should have, mostly because they were holding hands and gazing into each other’s eyes. They also took a detour to check the traps. One held the plump body of a freshly-caught ground bird. Kara collected the kill and reset the snare. Vahn couldn’t help staring at her half-naked body as she worked.

Vannla’s Sword, I am as amorous as a love-sick adolescent.

But it wasn’t just simple lust. He wanted her, yes, but he also wanted to care for her. To tend to the needs of his human mate. As soon as they reached camp, he dropped everything he was carrying and picked her up instead.

“Let me bathe you, kalehsha.”

She didn’t argue. She was hot and sticky, and a wash was exactly what she needed.

They spent the next hour in the pool, exchanging banter one moment and tender caresses the next. Vahn rinsed her body clean, taking every opportunity to steal a kiss. It was as if, having discovered the sweetness of her lips, he couldn’t stop tasting them.

Not that Kara was complaining. It had been a long time since she’d experienced such attentiveness and she was thoroughly enjoying it.

Vahn’s kisses became deeper, the flirting more intense. For a while she pretended not to notice his growing excitement, preferring the thrill of teasing him. But when her own desire got the better of her, she pushed him into the shallow end and straddled him.

In the lengthening shadows under the trees, Rocky flopped down in resignation. He’d come to see if his strange bipedal friends had any more food for him. But when he saw what they were doing, he knew he’d have to wait.

For the next few minutes at least, their attention was solidly elsewhere.