Chapter 19
Eot
“Eot. Eot.” Small hands shake me, and the first of my instincts to wake is an overpowering need to wrap my arms around the female leaning over me.
“Halley?” But of course it’s Halley. She’s the only one who has me reacting before thought. She’s the only one whose scent is designed to drive me wild.
“Wakey, wakey, sleepyhead.” A whispered laugh. “It’s your turn to keep watch.” And she pokes my bare shoulder with a finger.
“Right…” I sit up as the memories of the previous day come slowly back into focus. We’re in the desert. We’re on a job. Rin is sleeping nearby. My head is heavy and my thoughts sluggish. Strange that I forgot so much of what we’re doing when usually I’m a fairly light sleeper.
Then again, I’m not usually fighting against my own baser instincts.
Something about this female drives all rational thoughts straight out of my brain.
I force myself to stand, stretching my arms over my head and working the kinks from my stiff neck.
“You don’t mind, do you?” she whisper-asks, but before I can say, No, I don’t mind—before I can say, That is my literal dream, she’s snuggling into my blankets, burying herself in the bedroll I abandoned.
I watch her, unable to step away. Thoughts of her wrapped in my scent are almost enough to have me climbing back into bed. My need is visceral, nearly painful in force, and it’s growing stronger the longer I spend in her company.
I don’t think I could give her up now, even if Keelo demands she leave.
I’m positive that these feelings have little to do with the fact that Halley’s the only breeding female within a thousand yards of me. Nor do they have anything to do with my stiffening cock… Well, they don’t just have to do with my cock.
They’re deeper than that. They’re a physical connection I cannot easily explain but which I first felt in monstrous form.
I’ve been warring with myself—and with Keelo—ever since, trying to deny the truth, but it’s becoming increasingly difficult to rebuke.
It’s as though her scent has fundamentally changed our internal chemistry.
As though we’ve rebuilt ourselves, molecule by molecule, to fix neatly around Halley—three pieces of the same puzzle.
Except the universe doesn’t work that way, I silently scold myself.
Biology doesn’t work that way.
She’s not Arrok. She doesn’t have an other half, making the idea of Keelo and me both with Halley too much of an impossibility. Surely?