Page 23 of I'm Not Your Pet

Relieved, I took a steadying breath and raised my arms out wide. Huu-goh’s expression was wary, his brow furrowed in confusion as he bit his plush pink lip. “Wut…?” He wavered, and I held still as I waited for him to understand.

“Huu-goh,” I said as patiently as I could. My pulse thundered. “Huu-goh,” I repeated, plaintively. Maybe he desiredto be touched as much as I ached to touch him? Maybe…intimacy is what had been missing. Maybe…maybe we were more suited than I’d thought.

Maybe by waiting for him to make the first move I’d done him a disservice.

I couldn’t be too angry at myself, even though I wanted to be. This was my first time in a relationship—if that was what we could call this. And I had…no idea what I was doing.

Huu-goh kept staring at me and his eyes were turbulent. Swirls of unease and exhaustion twisted inside their depths as he inspected me from head to toe—dressed in sleep pants as I’d been about to retire for the night—his lips wobbled and I ached for him, for his confusion, for his fear.

I wished I could soothe him.

I wished we were back on my home planet so that I could contact A&R about purchasing permanent translators. I had never had a reason to buy one in the past as I had always gotten along just fine speaking Common. However, I now had a fluffy-furred, clever reason named Huu-goh. Which meant I planned on procuring one for myself as well as for Huu-goh as soon as we arrived home. I would’ve bought them earlier, but it was copyrighted tech that wasn’t readily available anywhere else, and unfortunately, at the moment, my hands were tied.

So this was…the next best thing.

A few more seconds passed.

My purr grew deeper, rougher, trying to entice him like he was a pup in need of comfort. In a lot of ways he was. Even if he hadn’t looked so young, his behavior would make the age gap between us obvious. He was so full oflife. Intrigued by anything and everything.

I had lost that spark long ago—if I’d ever had it at all.

It’d died the day my first captain had.

Until the moment I’d seen Huu-goh.

Huu-goh’s face morphed through a series of expressions too quick for me to decipher. I was still learning him, though one day I hoped to have every one of his faces and their meanings memorized, just as I hoped he’d learn my colors.

My chest vibrated as my hearts lurched. Something in Huu-goh broke then. His eyes spoke to mine.

They said,I need you.

They said,don’t leave me.

They said,please understand.

He swallowed, and I watched his throat bob, fascinated by him all over again as he took an unsteady step toward me. So brave. So goddamn brave. My hands shook, arms still outstretched as I waited for him to cross the space between us.

I could acknowledge that the distance had been there since the day he’d stepped foot on this ship. It was my fault. I knew that now. I’d done this to us. But I wanted to fix it. Wanted to hold him—even if holding him innocently was all I’d ever have. Even if he didn’t want me the way I wanted him. Even if his proposal had been false, and his interest wandered.

I still wanted to be there for him.

Even if it broke my hearts.

“That is it, little one,” I crooned in my own tongue. I ignored the ache in my groin that the sight of him obeying my command inspired. It was a new sensation. As uncomfortable as it was exciting. “Come to me. I will make it okay.” It was the second time I’d made that promise, but it felt even truer now.

He took another step.

Pleasure, unlike anything I had never known tingled at my fingertips.

So obedient, so lovely, so beautiful.

His dark eyes glimmered with determination.

Five steps. Four steps.

Three.

I could smell him. Smell my own soap in his hair as his fluffy head appeared at my ribs, his head tipping up to study me warily. He was shaking just like I was. Like his body knew the trauma he had been through even when his mind did not. Brave as ever, Huu-goh stepped inside my embrace. I tentatively hovered my arms above his shoulders, terrified to touch should I scare him off.

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