P’otes-tat Ulti was a completely different place during the day, much like the Ka-lik’et market walk. Instead of having the same creepy atmosphere as a vampire castle, it looked like somewhere King Arthur would live: rustic and regal and whimsical all at once. The stones glittered in the warm white sunlight, and the windows sent great streaks of pearly reflections across the emerald lawn. The walls didn’t feel confining anymore, either. Set against the vibrant turquoise sky and its lavender clouds, they had an aura of exclusivity instead of isolation. I felt special here today instead of doomed.

Zuran’s mysterious scent continuously wafted past my nostrils with each gentle breeze, and my insides clenched every time I caught a new note within the aroma, be it the zest or the musk or the rich masculinity. I’d become addicted to him. My body craved his mischievous smile and dangerous eyes and affectionate touch so much that I didn’t feel right when he was away and I practically flew when we were together. He was the love of my life, but he was so much more than that. Love didn’t seem like strong enough a word.

We’d been back home in Ka-lik’et for about three weeks. After returning from our visit to the Novai mother ship, we brought our newly-acquired information to the Council and returned to the hospital. For two months, I tended to the transitioning patients and did the best I could to keep them comfortable until they met whatever fate they were destined to have. Unfortunately, of the six Novai in our care, four died shortly after their skin had turned almost completely gray. The two who survived, however, were startlingly rehabilitated. It was common knowledge prior to the onset of the sun-sickness that the Novai were a temperamental race; there had even been cases of Novai attacking humans and A’li-uud in Pentaba around their camp. Our two survivors, however, were more level-headed and even-tempered at the end of their recovery than they’d been before they even started suffering the sickness. Their voices became deep rumbles instead of horrid, ear-piercing screeches, and the clusters Captain Hett predicted to be scales turned out to be exactly that. If someone put the patients beside several Novai crewmembers in space, anyone would’ve assumed they were perhaps a cousin species rather than the same race. It was incredible to see the transformation through to its end, especially when distinctive features began appearing—for example, one survivor’s eyes faded from bright red to vibrant orange while the other’s somehow morphed into a green identical to mine. Amazingly, I came out of the experience more passionate than I’d ever been in the medical field despite having lost two-thirds of our patients, and I returned to the colony infirmary with renewed energy.

“They had better start this soon,” Zuran murmured, leaning over to place his lips near my ear. “I need to get you home.”

I tried to hide the smile threatening to break through and swatted the hand he skimmed up my thigh. One of the few things I wasn’t looking forward to about my return to Ka-lik’et was living in separate quarters from Zuran again. It turned out I didn’t need to worry about that. He moved me into his own personal home the same day we returned.

“Behave,” I hissed. “This is Venan’s day.”

He caught my fingers in his and nipped my lobe with his teeth. “Give me another order,” he said. I could hear the grin in his voice.

“Why?”

“I want as many reasons as I can get to justify what I am going to do to you the second the door closes behind us.”

A shiver of thrill raced up my spine, and he chuckled as I twitched. He was impossible. And I loved him for it.

“You can do whatever you want to me if you’ll just sit quietly and watch your brother’s dreams come true,” I whispered.

True to form, he sat back and closed his mouth, staring fixedly to the front. I rolled my eyes, but I couldn’t stop the smile from finally splitting my lips. Only Zuran could be at the Elder City to watch his twin’s Elderhood inauguration while managing to make me squirm with desire. He was so exciting, the eternal bad boy with a heart of gold. I didn’t think I’d ever get enough of him.

If I was being honest with myself, though, I wished they’d hurry up too. The crowd who’d gathered to watch the new Elder’s inauguration—which steeped to somewhere near two hundred—had been seated on the P’otes-tat Ulti lawn for nearly a half hour now, and more than a few were becoming antsy. I’d been very entertained to people-watch, or alien-watch, rather, for the first fifteen minutes, but I’d started to get bored and now I was sitting in a pool of my own arousal. If Venan wasn’t Zuran’s brother, I would’ve just gotten out of there and let Zuran find the next new spot on my body that made me squeal.

“He is going to be insufferable, you know,” Zuran commented. He leaned close to me again so as not to bother those around us with his remark. “Now that he’s going to be an Elder and all.”

I shot him a knowing look. “What, you’re going to be afraid to make fun of him the way you used to?”

“Of course not!” he exclaimed with mock horror. “Can you imagine? We would have no relationship left!”

“So, what’s the problem?”

“Oh, he will just be so puffed up,” he huffed. He wasn’t truly irritated, but I knew him well enough to know he was going to put some serious thought into developing a new repertoire of jokes and jabs.

I waved a dismissive hand and said sarcastically, “I don’t know how you’re going to manage getting through family dinners!”

He grabbed me so fast I didn’t see it coming and slid me into his lap. The A’li-uud neighboring us cast a variety of looks our way, some amused and others annoyed, but he clearly didn’t care anymore. Zuran needed to be stimulated most of the time, and he’d spent too many consecutive minutes waiting.

“That mouth clearly needs to be occupied,” he said in a low, dangerous voice, touching my lower lip with his finger.

“It does,” I agreed. “It’s been too long since you kissed me.”

He grinned and leaned in, and I met his kiss eagerly. It wasn’t a deep one as we were in public, but it was affectionate and warm and loving. I shivered again, this time with happy satisfaction. When we pulled back, I decided to antagonize him just a bit further to make later that much sweeter. “Can we be respectable guests now?”

The familiar glint flashed in his eyes, but he replaced me onto my own chair again. Before I could right myself to forward-facing, however, he turned my chin toward him and said, “One more thing.”

“What’s that?” I asked.

His glint became warm honey, sticky and sweet and golden. “I love you.”

I smiled. “I love you too.” And I did. He was perfect. We were perfect. My life, here on this alien planet surrounded by blue-skinned beings, was perfect.