Page 113 of Tharn's Hunt
I squeeze his fingers. "Go. Before they start a war over who deserves scraps of cloth."
His amber eyes burn, but he finally releases me—only after dragging my knuckles to his fangs for one claiming nip. The moment our hands part, the mindspace erupts:
"ASK HIM HOW HE DID IT!"
"—does the female give coveringsafterthe claiming?—"
"—maybe if I bring her a kill, she’ll?—"
Tharn stalks toward his brothers, radiating warning. The others immediately crowd him, their bare forms making his blouse-loincloth stand out even more.
Sarven reaches out, fingers twitching toward the fabric. "Is it… soft?"
Tharn’s answering snarl shakes the cave. "Mine."
The others freeze. Tharn's chest puffs out like a preening bird, his spine straightening as if wearing human scraps is the highest honor their people know.
In the mindspace, the jealousy is palpable.
"He won’t even let us touch it."
"I want one."
Justine stares at the scene before turning back to me, grinning. "Are they… pouting?"
I bite back a laugh.
Across the cave, Mikaela pats the stone beside her. I join them, suddenly hyperaware of two undeniable facts. I have an alien mate. And said mate is currently preening before his brothers like a prize-winning rooster.
No one mentions it.
Mikaela just passes me a waterskin. "So. Alien sex." Her eyebrow arcs. "Do you now have the whole..." She wiggles her fingers near her temples.
"Telepathy thing?" I take a slow sip, buying time before passing it back to her. The mindspace thrums with Tharn's smug satisfaction and the answering growls of his nosy brothers. "Yeah."
The women’s eyes lock onto me. Pam’s piece of meat hovers halfway to her lips. Erika leans forward, curiosity etched in her expression.
Silence.
"Are you okay?" Mikaela blurts. "Like, actually okay? Because we heard—" Her cheeks flush. "Well. We heard everything."
Alex snorts. "The whole damn canyon heard everything."
My face burns.
"But more importantly," Erika cuts in, "you'retelepathicnow. And you're not the first." Her gaze flicks to Justine.
Pam bites a bit of her meat. “What’s it like?”
Her question catches me off guard. How do I explain it? How do I explain something that rewires your entire understanding of connection? That the translator in my hand suddenly feels like a child's toy compared to the depth of the mindspace.
"It's..." I struggle for human words, absently rubbing my sternum. "Like realizing you've been deaf your whole life and suddenly hearing music. But the music is... emotions. Memories. The shape of someone's thoughts rather than the words."
Pam's chewing slows. Mikaela's fingers tighten around her waterskin.
"Tharn tried to talk to me through the translator…" I continue. "But this? When we're connected?" A laugh escapes me. "I knew his brothers' names before they even told me.” I jerk my chin toward Sarven. “Sarven’s thinking about hunting, and I…can taste the blood in my mouth."
Sarven's head snaps up—and he's not the only one. Half the Drakav nearby are now staring at me, their golden eyes bright with something like wonder. I stiffen, suddenly afraid I've breached some unspoken boundary.
