Saddened by Airaih's words, but resolved to do what she believed he wanted, Alexis stopped visiting him, remaining on the woman's side. Over two weeks passed like that. She missed eating her meals with him, missed the training sessions, missed spending time with him and talking to him. She missed his face. But she wouldn't cause him difficulties by behaving in a way that obviously unsettled him.

Finding things to do wasn't a problem. There were a lot of things to learn, and things that she could train to do. Most of the Vildans' learning and studying were done at home, trained by elders, or even self-taught. Alexis found out then, after spending more time with her new family, how self-contained they were. They had their own family doctors, own architects and builders, and other things that were necessary, some members of the family learning several skills. That was astounding, but not surprising. Just spending the months she had with them, she knew how smart they were. And since they lived longer than humans, time wasn't a problem in taking on several occupations.

At the moment, she was focused on learning the Vildan language, a complicated syntax that both aggravated and challenged her. Sharaih taught her, and during their time together, Alexis learned more about her niece. Sharaih was considered young, even though she was older than Alexis. The younger generation was expected to provide for and take care of the older generation as they learned from them.

Even getting to know Sharaih and some of her other female family members, a difficult task as some were sometimes hard to engage in conversations, she began to feel lonely for her own family. Began to feel a little misplaced. Talking to her brother and Amanda several times a week helped with that.

But still...

She allowed three more days to pass before she reached a decision. Taking a bath and sitting on her bed, Sharaih brushed through her wet hair, one of the many things that she did for Alexis that she had finally gotten used to.

"You've decided?" Sharaih asked from where she stood behind Alexis, the brush finding the last knot of hair and sliding through. She put the brush down on the nearby table.

"I know it's not considered normal for husbands and wives to be together unless specified or called together, but, I don't know, maybe he didn't mean what I thought he meant, maybe..." her voice floated away as she frowned softly. "I don't need to spend every waking moment with him, but I do want to see him sometimes."

She turned in her chair and looked at her niece. She marveled again at how different the two were. Even their clothes were drastically different. While Alexis wore simple slacks and a short-sleeved see-through shirt that covered a more fitting fabric underneath, Sharaih wore a thick, yet simple white dress, elaborate shoes that wound around her legs and a beautiful ear wrapping jewelry that dangled behind her right ear. She was a lighter red than many of the other women, and Alexis identified quickly that the softer patterns of naturally tattooed flesh that was typical for Vildans was much more vibrant and apparent on the females.

"You are human," her niece spoke up. "You can't change who you are just because you mated outside your species. Nobody expects you to. I know my mother and some of the others have been a little stern in their approach toward your behavior, but it is only because they do not understand."

When they first met, Alexis really didn't know if the two of them were going to get along. It took work, patience and time over the last several months, but they were finally moving past the point of stilted overly polite conversations and constant inquiries. She was grateful for even the semblance of a friend and someone to talk to. And while they still had their misunderstandings, that was to be expected.

She was a little nervous when she left her room and descended the stairs, even more so when she entered the adjoining side.

Alexis went directly to the chronicles room, a digital library that housed the central database, old parchments and books. She found Airaih where she expected to, sitting at his desk. He had been talking to someone she had never seen before, a man that quickly excused himself.

Now that they were alone, Alexis didn't know what to say. Nervousness had her sitting on the edge of his desk like she used to, a habit he had once been perplexed by when the room had so many chairs nearby. He turned the monitor off that he had been looking at and much to her astonishment got up and sat down beside her on the desk.

"I didn't mean what you supposed, Alexis," Airaih spoke quietly, his words coming out in a desperate rush as if bottled up and waiting to be said. She watched as he pushed his fingers close to her own, stopping just short of touching. "I was beginning to believe that I had..." he paused, his brows lifting and his mouth becoming firm. "Made a grave error in my choice of words, in my lack of explanation. Made a further error by not coming to you, customs or not."

"I did just run away. I..." her words were cut off when one of his fingers made contact with her own. He slowly moved his fingers, gently gliding back and forth. She inhaled a sharp breath. His fingers were slightly calloused but pleasantly soft. Alexis felt herself blushing and her body responding, embarrassed by how easy it was to stir her, but it was the first time he had touched her directly, the first time in a long time that someone had touched her so respectfully.

His touch halted and he stood to his feet. Standing in front of her, he bent forward, one of his hands resting an inch away from her thigh. He seemed to have forgotten that they were speaking. His eyes were fiercely intent as his hand came toward her, hovering until Alexis nodded her head slowly.

His fingers tangled in her wet hair. He bent her head back while he moved even closer, his body now in between her legs. Her heart was hammering, her stomach involuntarily tightening. Alexis kept her hands to her side, unsure of what to do, not knowing what he wanted. He breathed deep, his mouth close to her neck.

"Yes," she breathed, sensing his hesitancy as he waited.

He bent back toward her, tugging her head back again. That was when his tongue darted out, gliding down the expanse of her neck. She gasped and squirmed, shocked again when his hands made firm contact with her thighs, holding her in place as he continued to slowly, methodically taste the flesh of her neck. She felt the silky softness from the collar of his shirt brush against her suddenly hot skin, inhaled the scent of him, thick and musky and fervid. It coated her tongue, the proximity of his body giving her a sensory insight that she had never been allowed before.

Airaih spoke to her as he continued, his voice so low that it melted easily against her flesh, causing warm vibrations to etch their way along her body, settling below her belly and pulsing softly. "I only said what I did, because you engender... uncertainty in me, Alexis. The more time I spent with you, the more I want to touch you, the more I crave you. I did not expect such... need."

He pulled away from her and took two sharp steps back. She shivered from the lack of his nearness, shivered because of the way his eyes burned with unexpected fierceness. He continued to stare deeply at her, his hands going through his short black hair, a nervous twinge apparent in the way he folded his fingers. Alexis didn't know why, but she began to hold her breath.

He finally spoke, words rasping through the air with an uncertainty that she didn't know him capable of. "Tell me to leave, Alexis, and I will. Tell me to stop, and I will not touch you again."

Her words flowed out of her mouth, and Alexis startled herself with the boldness, her skin rising with color as she heard the husky tone of her voice. "And if I want you to touch me?"

His own cheeks flushed with a burst of color, and his back lengthened into a tight line.

"Are you giving me permission?"

She smiled and chuckled softly, then nodded her head slowly. He moved back toward her, waited for her permission and then placed his hands over hers. He brushed over the flesh there, wound through and tangled his fingers through her own. He kept his attention on her, cataloging every sharpened breath, every inhalation, every reaction. They were interrupted when the young man returned from before.

"Leave," Airaih told the man. His eyes didn't leave her face, his fingers not losing their place.

By the time they were interrupted for the second time, Airaih pulled a little back. He spoke, "Permit me to join you in your room?" He leaned back toward her ear, his tone low and his voice rumbling against the sensitive flesh of her earlobe. She exhaled slowly, her belly so tight and her nails digging sharply into her thin pants. "I want us to..." he told her in clear detail, leaving her with no room to make her own conclusions of what he wanted with her, or any further miscommunication between them. "Will you allow this?"

Her heart rate increased in tempo, the beat prattling against her chest with firm insistence. Her limbs turned into jelly, and it took her several long moments before she could pull herself together. Alexis removed herself from the desk, wrapped her hand around his wrist and led him away, moving toward the staircase that led to her bedroom.

She stopped once on the stairs, turned to him and kissed him softly. He didn't pull away. She stopped again at the top. This time when she pressed her mouth against his, Airaih pushed against her, his mouth moving along with hers. Alexis felt his body closer than ever. He was tight and tense and with his body brushing against hers, she realized how affected he was by her.

Alexis' legs wobbled and her breath hitched. The small space they were in seemed to spin.

By the time they made it to her room, she was tense and jittery, excited and nervous. But she also felt emboldened by his attention on her, of his returned kiss, of the way he watched her, his eyes following and wandering along her body, worshiping her with an unfaltering gaze. Some of the clumsiness dissipated when he finally learned he did not have to ask permission every time he wanted to touch her, taste her, feel her, explore her. Everywhere he touched her, Alexis' body would surge with heat and fire. Clothes removed, bodies pressing together, she learned quickly enough that his naturally patterned skin covered his entire body. His body was so much hotter than her own and growing in intensity, making her already labored breaths come out airy and quick.

Things were awkward, were beautiful, were strange, were different from what she expected. His body was like a human male's and yet further enhanced. When they came together, when the pain subsided and the pleasure took over, Alexis listened to his ragged breathing and felt the hard thumps of his hearts underneath her fingertips. His eyes widened when she lifted up her hips to meet his, when her mouth sought and ravaged his own, when her fingers traveled and learned his body.

He spoke to her, soothed her, whispered to her in the ancient form of his language, leaving Alexis with no ability to understand what he was saying, only the importance behind the words. She tried to say something in return. But things escalated when their bodies synchronized and the pleasure intensified, the rhythm of their coupling increasing until frenzied and overwhelmed, her eyes clamped shut and her neck arching backwards, the near painful heat inside her exploded.

Letting her sleep a short while, he woke her, informing her that he had prepared a bath and had brought her some food.

Returning back to her room, her body nicely sore and her steps slow, Alexis found Airaih had changed into less formal wear, the sheets on the bed switched out. He didn't have to explain. She blushed anyway. Vildans had a superior sense of smell, and there was no need to advertise what they had just done.

She expected him to leave. Instead, he reclined with her on the bed, facing her with one of his hands playing idly with her hair, the other gently holding on to her wrist, sometimes shifting to the metal band on her upper arm.

Before they were married, Airaih let her know that she could take a herb to avoid pregnancy until she was ready. Also let her know that it was an arrangement that she was not to tell others about.

He wet his lips, lifted his perfect brows and spoke with seductive curiosity, "Do all human females... participate the way you do during intimacy?"

His thumb began to trace her wrist, the dichotomy of the color of his skin and hers making a now familiar sensation build below her belly.

He went on, letting her know that Vildan females usually just let the male rock her, only doing what they had to in order to ensure pregnancy.

"Rock?" Alexis flushed and tried not to laugh at the same time.

"Do you call it something else?"

"Um, lovemaking, sex, copulation..." She became flustered when he moved closer, his focus on her mouth.

"And do all humans employ such actions with their mouths?" He reached out and swiped his fingers over her lips, then moved even closer. His now free hand rested behind her back, the pressure keenly felt through the soft fabric of her robe. His eyes remained on her mouth.

"You didn't like it?"

His eyes lifted up to meet her own. He swallowed, let out a small breath and finally responded, "My species did away with such contact centuries ago. However, I found it divertingly stimulating, especially when your tongue met my own, and you began to taste like me." His words turned low, his mouth curving down as his eyes dilated.

"Do you..."

"I do not regret this, Alexis."

"But..."

"I only regret that I hurt you in my attempt of denial of you, in my lack of communication."

She wanted to ask him what he had felt, what he was feeling now. He was so near silent during their encounter that the awkwardness she had felt before they even started returned with a vengeance. Could he even enjoy himself? Could he feel the emotional bliss, the uncompromising intimacy that came when pressing against, along and inside someone?

"Perfect, beautiful," he whispered with reverence, pulling Alexis out of her thoughts when she felt his fingers caressing the scar along her shoulder. Alexis stiffened but didn't pull away. She wasn't exactly self-conscious of that scar, but for him to say such things to her as he brushed along the marred flesh made her stare at him with wonder.

He felt, yes, he had to. She could hear it sometimes in the tone of his voice, or the way he looked at her. Knew it with the delicacy of his fingers splaying against her shoulder. And his eyes, so expressive and unbidden, showing her, letting her see things he might never say.

The awkwardness lifted, a small smile taking its place.

When Alexis woke up the next morning, her bed was empty, but a tray of prepared food waited for her, a note left behind from her husband.

Reading it, she frowned, perplexed. Airaih was leaving for a week. He had left her before, but never so suddenly. Feeling like something wasn't right, that feeling increased ten fold when Sharaih told Alexis that her mother's mate, Zarnaih, wanted to speak to her.

Airaih's older brother didn't even wait for her to be seated before he began to speak. As the other couple times they had spoken, he kept his eyes away from her own when allowed, his posture straight, his mannerisms fluid yet precise. He was thinner than Airaih, taller, his voice imperious, his tone resolute.

Her gut dropped when he began to speak.

"My brother's behavior toward you is unseemly. According to our customs, you have the right to terminate your association. Having carnal relations outside a heat cycle is unnatural and has been considered taboo for countless generations. The male is not fertile, making the activity unnecessary and counterproductive. I can only offer you my deepest apologies and regrets."

She didn't ask how he knew, at that point it didn't matter. He waited for her to speak. His hands clasped firmly behind his back as he looked down at her. Alexis said nothing, too stunned and far too busy trying to convince herself she had no reason to be embarrassed. But to have something so private, so personal exposed and talked about in such a forthright manner left her winded and discombobulated.

He continued, "I am sure you will want to think it over. I have sent my brother away to ease your decision. He will not be able to interfere with you further," he let her know.

"Does he know that you are speaking to me about this?"

"He will."

She mulled that over. Her skin felt hot and her tongue felt thick, but she managed to speak just the same, "Nothing happened between us that I didn't want to happen, that we didn't want to happen. I... I just don't want to cause him any difficulties. But I don't want to leave. I care for Airaih. He's.. He's a part of me now."

The elder brother cringed at her admissions but didn't say anything further. Thankful for that at least, she left before he reconsidered.

A long week followed. Alexis couldn't bring herself to feel guilty about what they had done. But she didn't want to cause complications for Airaih nor to be an area of difficulty in the manner their relationship was being observed.

She couldn't contact Airaih due to a communications blackout during the military training exercises he was conducting. Alexis had to wait while her thoughts tumbled and her heart trembled as to what exactly was going to become of them both.

Being informed of his return, she nearly ran down the stairs, only to find Airaih waiting at the bottom.

"You stayed," he breathed out, a flash of something unexpectedly hard drifting in his eyes. "Did you stay because of loyalty, of some kind of gratitude?" he asked of her. Airaih's tone was clipped and heavy, his gaze dark with some sort of accusation. His eyes narrowed and he brutally examined Alexis, trying to decipher her.

Alexis walked down to the last step and placed her hand on the banister, her fingers touching his own. He inhaled a tight breath. The tips of his ears turned purple, his gaze flickering to their fingers.

"I stayed because I care for you. Because I want to be with you," Alexis told him honestly.

His neck shifted upwards with a snap, his eyes filled with amazement. He pulled her off the last step, his hand carefully placed on her shoulder as he looked down at her with an admiration that made her heart stammer.

"You continually surprise me, Alexis."

"Is that a good thing?"

His mouth curled gently upwards. Alexis closed her eyes and leaned against his touch.

"It is," he whispered.

"There is someone here to see you. A male of your species," Sharaih told her the next day.

Excited, believing it was her brother, even though he never said he was on her way, Alexis eagerly made her way downstairs to the conservatory.

She nearly tripped over her legs when a familiar person got up from a bench. A face-filling smile took over his face.

"It is time for you to leave this place, human," Sunstreaker said, his insolent tone forgotten as his eyes lingered on her where they shouldn't have. "But first..." His voice turned dark and foreboding, thick with intent. "I will talk to this... Airaih," he spat the name out as if he tasted something that didn't please him.

Cringing, Alexis took a step back.