“You…you have fur on your body?” Mia asked faintly, passing over the idea of a Lion Kindred.
“I do.” He nodded gravely. “Does that bother you?”
“I…don’t know,” she said honestly. “I guess it might depend on…where it is? I’m sorry—is that a rude question to ask?” she added quickly. “Because if it is, I really didn’t mean to upset you.”
“You could never upset me, lovely one,” Storn murmured. “My fur is on the lower half of my body. It starts at my lower hips and goes all the way down my legs to my hooves.”
“Your…your hooves?” Mia repeated faintly.
“Yes, see?” He held out one foot and she saw that it did, indeed, end in a shiny black hoof.
“Oh!” she whispered, feeling shocked. “So are…” She cleared her throat. “Are you really, uh, half animal, then?” She had thought the question was rude before, but now it seemed necessary to ask.
“I’ll answer your question if you tell me who did that to you.”
Reaching down he ran his finger very lightly over the bruised left side of her face.
Mia looked away, her heart drumming in her chest.
“My husband did it,” she said in a low voice. “That is, he was my husband. I’m divorcing him as soon as I can and I’m never going to see him again.”
“Your own mate hurt you?” He sounded both shocked and angry. “What kind of male would do such a thing?”
Mia shrugged, feeling suddenly miserable and small.
“That’s just Hank. He’s always been mean-tempered,” she said.
“Do you want me to kill him?”
The question was spoken in such a casual way in that deep, quiet voice of his that at first Mia thought she must have misheard the Satyr Kindred.
“Excuse me? What did you say?” she asked, looking up at him uncertainly.
“I asked if you would like me to kill him.” Storn’s eyes flashed briefly from green to red in the moonlight and she got the sense that he was holding himself back. “No male should be allowed to beat or hurt a female and then get away with it,” he went on. “I will be more than happy to gore him or trample him to death for you.” He shrugged. “Or I can just shoot him with a blaster, which is less dramatic but also much less satisfying.”
“You just met me,” Mia reminded him. “Are you really asking me if I want you to go kill my husband? Ex-husband,” she corrected herself.
Storn looked down at her.
“I didn’t just meet you, lovely one—we have been Dream-Sharing for months. You are the reason I volunteered to fly through the gash in space to come to this ‘verse in the first place. Because I knew you were a smooth-skin and I hoped to meet you here, in this ‘verse where most of the humanoids are also smooth-skins.”
“A ‘smooth-skin?’ What’s that?” Mia asked, frowning.
“A humanoid with no fur or feathers or scales anywhere on their body,” he explained and raised an eyebrow at her. “Am I correct in guessing that you are, er, smooth all over?”
“Oh, well…I guess so.” Mia found herself blushing. “I certainly don’t have any fur or feathers or scales anywhere. Just, you know, hair.” She lifted a lock of her light brown hair in illustration.
“Ah, how beautiful.” He nodded. “But you still have not answered my question regarding your abusive mate.”
“You mean I haven’t told you if I want you to go and kill Hank yet?” Mia still couldn’t believe they were having this conversation. “No, I don’t,” she told the Satyr Kindred firmly. “If you want to know the truth, I just want to forget about him and never, ever see him again.”
“I see.” He nodded thoughtfully. “Well, please let me know if you change your mind. And in the meantime, will you please allow me to heal you?”
“Heal me?” Mia looked up at him blankly. “How would you do that? I’ve been to the Med Center here. They fixed my orbital fracture but Dr. Liv said the bruising and swelling will just have to heal on its own.”
“Not with a Monstrum Kindred nearby,” Storn rumbled. “The Goddess has gifted us with healing abilities—when it comes to the females we wish to bond or protect, that is.” He turned to her and leaned over a little, to look into her eyes. “Please, Mia—I can ease your pain and erase those ugly marks your abusive mate left on your lovely face. Will you let me?”
“Oh, um…” Looking into his softly glowing eyes as he loomed over her in the moonlight was rather overwhelming, Mia thought. “How…how would you heal me?” she asked, wishing her voice didn’t sound so breathless.
“With the Healing Kiss,” Storn murmured. “Will you allow me?”
Did he really think he could heal her puffy, bruised face just by kissing her? It seemed rather far-fetched to Mia, but somehow she wanted to let him try it anyway. She still didn’t know how to feel about being with a man who was apparently half animal, but at least it was the bottom half. And the top half of him was extremely attractive. Also, he smelled amazing. The big Satyr’s wild, dark spice was a big improvement over Hank’s sweaty stench.