The laugh, half-formed and edged with tears, seemed to catch him off guard. His expression stalled. He was about to speak when his communicator buzzed. The sharp chime cut through the quiet air, jarringly loud.
He glanced down at the caller. The hard lines of his face softened at once.
He answered, and Chloe Ashford's voice came through, soft and coaxing.
"Darling, is the soup ready? I'm so hungry."
His tone turned gentle in a way I'd never heard directed at me. "Almost done. I'll bring it over soon. Be good, just wait a little longer."
We were close enough that every word reached me. Her voice carried that teasing, pampered lilt as she complained lightly.
"It's your fault, you know. Mated this long and you still don't know any restraint. You were so worked up that night you actually hurt me. Like some untested yearling on his first moon. Anyone would've thought it was your first time..."
My body went rigid.
My heart felt as though something thin and sharp had been driven into it. A quiet, spreading ache, threaded through with a desolation I couldn't put into words.
Between them, it truly had been the first time.