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She swallowed thickly and pushed the feeling away.

What did it matter anymore? He was gone.

He certainly wasn’t around to offer his objections about any decisions she made.

And right now, she needed to protect her daughter.

Her broken heart aside, there was a chance that Lily wouldn’t make it through another winter if Vernon didn’t pull through for them—and as the days passed, that was looking increasingly hopeless.

She had no choice. She had to persuade the aliens to help them, and she was under no illusions that doing so would cost her.

In her brief conversation with Agrel and Gehj, they had been clear as to what their plan was, and it wasn’t the sort of plan that allowed the required flexibility necessary for traveling with two humans, especially a child, if they had to travel hard for long distances.

They certainly would not be eager to charitably pick up the responsibility of feeding and protecting them while they were forced to travel considerably slower to accommodate them—not without some kind of compensation.

If she was not wrong and they were… interested, then perhaps a bargain could be made.

Heat rose to her face, unbidden, at the thought.

She’d never been intimate with anyone but Zack, but the aliens weren’t exactly unattractive.

She believed that she could carry out such an arrangement until they arrived at either another settlement or within distance of a citadel.

And just maybe doing so would ensure that Lily was surrounded by other people whose presence would help distract her from the disappointment and pain when Agrel and Gehj left them.

Though Delilah had never been south, she would take her chances there over being left to die alone in the village.

And she would trade the only thing she had to get it—her body.

She needed to speak to them. Pulling the towel from around her waist, she craned her head toward the living room.

“Lily,” she called out and smiled when her daughter’s sweet face popped around the corner. She dried her hands off on the towel and tossed it on the counter. “Lily, baby, I’m going to head out for a bit to see if they left anything for us.”

She didn’t need to mention who they were for her daughter’s face to light up with delight.

“Can I come with you?” she asked, bounding into the kitchen.

Delilah shook her head. “Not this time. There’s something I need to do. Maybe next time, okay?”

Lily peered for a long moment, studying her, but she must have seen what she wanted to see because she suddenly broke into a smile. “So, you won’t keep me in here forever.”

“If I thought it would give me some peace, and any kind of guarantees, I would try to,” Delilah muttered. “Just stay in the house and keep the door locked. Don’t open it for anyone.”

Her daughter huffed and rolled her eyes. “I know, momma. I won’t.”

She cupped her cheek and smiled. “Good girl. I won’t be gone long. Take care of Nimh.”

Lily nodded and bent to scoop up the kitten that came racing toward her.

Clutching Nimh to her chest, she followed her to the door and waited patiently as Delilah stepped outside and firmly closed the door behind her.

She waited, listening, until she heard the familiar sounds of the locks sliding into place.

Good girl.

Turning toward the central road, she tipped her head as she walked toward the center of the village, examining the skies and the nearby rooftops for the males.

Usually, they were easy to spot at any random time that she chose to look for them and yet now that she actually wanted to find them, they were gone.

Had they finished and left already? Her heart constricted painfully, and she picked up her pace, hurrying through the village.

She peered into the cottages as she passed them with the hope that they might be scouring the other residents for more supplies, but she came up empty.

She tried to tell herself it was fine. That she would come across them at any moment and then would feel silly for the pressure twisting her insides.

She didn’t truly panic, however, until she reached Mrs. Murgun’s cottage, only to find it eerily silent as well.

Delilah spun away, her heart hammering as a sick feeling crept through her, pushing bile up her throat.

They left. They didn’t even say goodbye.

Perhaps it was a ridiculous expectation, but she couldn’t help but feel stung by it.

She’d been so certain that they wouldn’t just disappear on them… not without saying something.

It seemed that she was wrong.

Her heart weighed down with disappointment, she left the empty cottage. How was she going to explain this to Lily?

It was the loud sound of splashing, however, that penetrated her thoughts and made her freeze in place.

The last time she heard splashing like that, a large animal had managed to make its way into the village and decided to avail itself of the large pond there.

It had taken the strongest men and all the village’s bravest women to bring it down before it could harm anyone.

If there was another out there, she didn’t know what she would do.

Her heart beating trepidatiously, she headed toward the sound, needing to know for certain exactly what she was dealing with.

The pond had been the jewel of the village.

Nearly the size of a small lake and blooming with lilies, it had been a welcoming place of beauty and refuge.

It was the one thing she found pleasure in, and yet now she wished that there was no pond there.

Stepping through the bushes that created a natural privacy screen between the pond and the nearest cottages, Delilah froze in shock.

There, standing waist-deep within the pond, was Gehj, his blue feathers distinctly setting him apart.

His wings and tails feathers shimmered in the sun as they drifted across the surface of the water.

The gold strands within the red feathers picked up the sunlight, making them almost glow.

And, though his back was turned toward her, she could see that he was very naked.

A blush climbed high into her cheeks. She was relieved that he hadn’t left, but she also couldn’t believe that she was spying on him while he bathed.

His lean hips were kissed with the water lapping over them, the strange split covering that he wore absent.

Gehj’s wings stretched, fanning wide as they sprayed out water droplets before flapping and withdrawing out of the way as Agrel surfaced gloriously from beneath the surface, all burnished red and gold blazed with green.

His wings rose over his head, the sun catching the feathers and making them glow with incredible radiance.

And he is facing her. Just beneath the surface of the water, between his thighs, there is a bulge of flesh, like a pouch with a front seam that was far more generous in size than anything she could have imagined.

Something thick and red pushed out slightly with a girth that split it in a way that had her draw in a ragged, panted breath before it slipped back inside.

Oh gods.

She stared in awe, unable to look away until Gehj suddenly moved, turning in place as he too faced her.

Their powerful bodies were slick with water, smooth skin in matching hue with the patches of downy feathers.

When they were dry, it was easy to imagine that their entire bodies were covered with red feathers, especially since she tried to be polite and not look too closely.

But now there was no looking away. She was caught. She knew it… and they knew it.

“Delilah,” Agrel murmured, his voice piercing her with a heat that she could feel straight down to her toes. “Are you looking for us?”

This was it… the opening she didn’t realize until then that she needed.

She had initially planned to discuss matters, but this was more efficient.

It would be easier to bargain once they had an idea of what she offered them.

She knew she wasn’t the best of lovers—Zack had begun to complain frequently about it shortly after they were stationed in the village—but perhaps the aliens wouldn’t notice her shortcomings.

Regardless, she couldn’t back down now if she wanted to get Lily out of the village.

She regained her composure and smiled at him in a way that she hoped was seductive. “Actually, yes.”

A smile stretched across his face told another story, and he began to wade from the pond. “Good.”