This…this was undoubtedly a mating overture. Fully flush and open, it could only be more wanton if they were skin to skin. The tremors rolled through her as desire kindled her sex. It had been so long since she’d felt it, but the softness was unmistakable, edged deliciously with pulses of arousal.

“What’s happening?” he asked. “I feel… I don’t know what I feel.”

She didn’t want to stop. Or to talk. She wanted to teach him without words, but that would be wrong, indulging instinct when he was asking for information. Somehow she found her voice.

“Some Tiralan experience sexual urges. The desire to touch head tendrils signifies physical attraction. Doing so stimulates our erogenous zones, which quickens the body’s urge to copulate. Since you’re experiencing pleasurable stimulus, I believe you may be…awakening in that regard.”

“Presently, I am experiencing the desire to mate?”

“I think that may be the case.”

“Are you experiencing this same phenomenon?” he asked.

Qalu briefly prayed for discipline and self-control. “Yes. I find you appealing in all respects and this feels…” She lost her words when his head tendrils surged against hers, becoming a little more insistent.

“While I was aware that biological entities experienced such urges, I had no idea it was possible for me. Does this mean I could engage in sexual activity?”

You already are, she nearly said.

But that wasn’t entirely true. This was foreplay, not completion, and oh, he was good at it. She stifled a sound and repressed the longing to take things further. Somehow Qalu stood still and let the sensations spill through, ever stronger, ever more intense.

“Yes. Your body is capable of offering those experiences, if you desire them.”

“What’s the next step?” he asked. “How do I learn this?” His head tendrils rubbed even more frantically, and suddenly he was touching her, forelimbs on hers, pulling her into him. Oh, that’s good.

I shouldn’t. I shouldn’t.

I want to.

Universe, please, give me strength.

[  7  ]

Helix had no ability to measure or assess the sensations rioting through him.

His whole body sparked with pleasurable electricity, and he craved more of those sensations. The swator that kept him from touching her skin maddened him and he grazed her bare throat, delighting in her sharp breath. He tried to sort through what he knew of Tiralan mating practices, but the information flickered just out of focus, beyond the range of his scattered senses.

She smelled…indes­cribable. He tucked his face against the side of her neck and simply breathed as their head tendrils coiled and slid together, each touch sending new pleasure signals streaming through him. Quivers of arousal worked through him, centering in what must be his sex. Heat built softly, creating a pleasurable tension deep within him. She must know the next steps, how to ease the ache.