TimeLess (Time Tells, #2) (ON-GOING)

Chapter Two

One of the counsellors was human and the other Yade. Understandably. We seat ourselves comfortably in the living space. Kri sits beside me, his arm stretched along the back of the sofa with me all but plastered to his side. The counsellors sit on separate arm chairs beside one another facing us.

They share a look and the Yade—Piln—tilts his head at the human—George—who leans forward.

"What is the most loving thing according to you, your partner has done or does for you?" George asks us.

I blink. Were we being interrogated?

George was a short man with a receding hairline, a pert nose and greying eyes. He gestured I start.

I look at Kri and notice his eyes were already on me.

"He saved my family." I say.

The swirls in his shimmer where they are and I realise he was reining in the need to feed. The potency of my emotions a sledgehammer to his senses.

"He saved me."

The swirls spin, snapping out of his restraint.  My stomach flutters.

"And you, Mr. Kri?" George asks, breaking us out of our trance. Kri's eyes settle but he doesn't look away from me.

"The little things." He says.

At this point, our eye contact feels almost too intimate.

"Elaborate, please." Piln says, the tenor and pitch of his voice lower and gruffer than his human colleague's.

Kri looks away, rubbing a hand over his jaw.

"She waits for me to return. She wakes up to say goodbye. Every time there's something that makes her happy or sad, I'm the first person she comes to."

He looks at me again, a small smile on his face.

"She brews coffee the way I like it. She cooks to suit my palette even though I don't need to eat. I'm a part of her every decision, her every action."

I smile up at him, tips of my fingers tingling to reach out and brush them against him.

"George, what's yours?" Piln asks.

Kri and I turn to look at George, brows furrowing.

"She writes poems for me. Keeps them everywhere for me to find." George says, a gentle smile on his face.

"You, Piln?" George asks.

Piln's teeth glint against the dark colour of his skin.

"Perhaps it's too adult for me to reveal."

I eyes widen and my face reddens straight into tomato territory. Kri is laughing, one hand reaching to rub circles along my back.

I recall the words of Kri's cousin during the family meet.

Usually us Yade man aren't very secretive about our intimate lives.

"You write romance novels, Alanna." Kri leans in and murmurs in my ear, "How are sexual contexts making you uncomfortable?"

I clutch the hand that had landed on my knee when he'd leaned in.

"And I'm mortified that your family has read it!" I whisper fiercely at him.

His teeth sink into his lower lip, to keep from laughing.

"And I still don't have the courage to write a sex scene." I mutter.