Page 112 of Rok's Captive
I consider this, knowing the reverence with which my people view the tale. “They will be curious,” I admit. “They will want to see your light, hear your knowledge. But they will not harm you.”
“And when they realize I don’t have any special knowledge or powers? When I can’t do whatever it is they expect from a daughter of Ain?”
I stroke her cheek, marveling at its softness. “We expect nothing from the daughters. Nothing but their favor. When I bring you to my clan,they will see you as I do. As Jus-teen. Strong. Beautiful. Worthy of protection.”
She leans into my touch, her eyes closing briefly. “I hope you’re right.”
“I am right,” I assure her, pulling her close again. “Rok is never wrong, unless Jus-teen says he is.”
A chuckle goes through her, her body relaxing as I settle us both by the fire. I pull her into my lap, wrapping my arms around her to shield her from the chill of the cave.
As she drifts toward sleep, her thoughts growing fuzzy and disjointed, I allow myself to consider what she’s told me. Not a daughter of Ain, she claims. Just a human female, lost and far from home.
And yet…I’ve felt the change in myself since finding her—the way my body has transformed, my thoughts have clarified, my stem has grown. These are not coincidences.
The stories speak of the wonder of the daughters of Ain. Their power. Their glory. Perhaps these beings, these humans, carry Ain’s blessing without understanding it themselves.
I press my lips to her head fur, breathing in her unique scent. It doesn’t matter what she calls herself. Daughter of Ain. Human. She is mine to protect now. Mine to cherish. And I will bring her safely to my clan, find her people, and ensure she never has reason to fear again.
Chapter32
MY SUBCONSCIOUS: WAY AHEAD OF ME
JUSTINE
The revelation that I can now understand Rok without our foreheads touching is still spinning in my head. His voice had been like an actual caress—rough, deep, vibrating in places no sound should reach. Even thinking about it makes my clit jump, forcing me to stifle a gasp.
Can he—? Does heknow?
My gaze shifts to him as we prepare to leave, only to find he’s gone utterly still. My gaze slides down the taut muscles in his arms, the strong line of cords in his back. A fresh wave of heat floods through me.
Fuck.
This isn’t lust. This is possession. And my traitorous bodywelcomesit.
I force myself to focus on preparing to leave the cave and not the humming in my veins. After two days of hiding out, the danger has apparently passed.
“The sand serpent has moved on,” Rok assures me, his thoughts flowing into mine with surprising clarity. “We should continue our journey.”
“It’s still wild to me that I can hear you like this,” I say, adjusting my pack. “No touchy-touchy required. Is that always how it works for your kind? Get intimate and suddenly you’re in each other’s heads?”
He gives me that now-familiar head tilt. “Touchy…touchy?”
“Never mind.” I laugh, fighting the urge to press myself against him again. “Let’s go.”
As we exit the cave, I’m struck by a thought that’s been nagging at me. The timing of this newfound telepathy isn’t a coincidence. It’s like the connection became complete after we…well, connected. After I took him into my body. After I swallowed?—
Heat rushes to my cheeks at the memory, but I can’t shake the suspicion. What if having sex with Rok is what triggered this? What if the wet dreams, the fever, the constant arousal—what if all of it was pushing me toward exactly what happened in that cave?
Like the universe, or the planet itself, wanted me to get on with it already.
And the moment I did—boom. Telepathy.
If I’d known alien sex came with superpowers, I would have signed up for NASA years ago.
What’s more disturbing is how good I feel now. The fever that plagued me, gone. The headache? Gone. I feel stronger, clearer, more alert than I have since waking up on this dust ball. Like his touch has somehow changed me from the inside out, making me more adapted to this world. Making me more like him, perhaps.
But that’s preposterous. Right?
