Page 3

I reach for the sign I have under the table, but as I’m unfolding it, my eyes snag on someone across the room walking toward me. A very tall someone who is very much not a human.

A Vyastil steps out from behind a massive rolling cart, and two other Vyastil trail behind him, their eyes alert, their tails wrapped tightly around their waists.

My eyes go back to the Vyastil in the front with sea-green hair braided in an intricate pattern down his back. He’s not naked like most of them are. He’s wearing a linen shirt hanging low to his knees like a tunic and a belt cinched around the middle.

His feet are bare, of course. I’ve never seen a Vyastil wear shoes, and I would be surprised if they make anything to cover those massive claws.

There’s a single pause, and then he looks up at me. He has those rainbow eyes they all seem to possess. They’re so fucking intriguing. Hypnotic, almost. Like a kaleidoscope of color.

The Vyastil continues toward me, his tail wrapped around his shoulder as if to keep it out of the way of the humans moving around him. He looks regal, like someone of importance, and I can’t turn away, can’t move. I just watch as he glides through the crowd.

My stomach tightens as he grows closer, and I feel something very much like lust move through me as his eyes catch mine.

My breath hitches in my chest, then my lungs fill with air.

His steps falter for a moment, and then he comes to a complete stop a foot from my table. The Vyastil behind him do the same, but my gaze is focused only on him.

The lust that was curling up my spine moves down to my groin and twists around my cock. I feel it jerk between my legs, and I bite back a soft moan lest he hear it.

He doesn’t move. He doesn’t open his mouth to try to communicate with me. He just watches as I stand here, his eyes taking in every inch of me.

People move around him, but he stays still, the breeze from the fans whipping his linen tunic around his legs.

And then he takes a step toward me, closing the distance between himself and my table, his eyes holding mine.

I let out a shaky breath as he presses his clawed hands to the white tablecloth next to the pile of cookies I have left.

I manage to lift a shaky hand and fingerspell, ‘Hi.’

I don’t know if this Vyastil knows ASL, but I do know that they pick up language pretty quickly. At least Cielo does, and Quilliyn has become conversational with me in ASL over the last few months.

The monster inclines his head, a lock of sea-green hair falling over his forehead before he pushes it away with impatient fingers.

I feel something odd then, like a slight pressure nudging at my brain. It’s almost like a flash of light when the doorbell rings, but I push it away, unable to focus on more than one thing at a time. Right now, I want my gaze totally focused on the Vyastil in front of me.

‘What’s your name?’ I ask, hating that my fingers get tangled up with each other from nerves.

The Vyastil inclines his head once more, and then his hands move, assured and prompt. ‘Eissa. You?’

Shit, he really can sign. He even gets the facial expressions right. Fuck. Me.

My heart is thundering in my chest as I respond. ‘Luca.’ I give the name sign my parents gave me growing up, a movement up my face to signify my freckles.

His eyes graze those for a long moment, almost as if mapping them, and then he lifts them to meet my gaze once more.

I wet my lips, and his gaze dips down to my mouth before darting back up to my eyes. He holds me there, something crackling between us.

‘How did you learn ASL?’

‘I took lessons,’ he explains with his still-very-formal signs. ‘Vyastil are quick learners. I have mastered most languages humans use.’

I swallow and nod. Of course he has. Fuck, what do I say now? It’s not like interacting with another Deaf person. This guy is from a different dimension altogether, and something about him makes me feel incredibly small and wildly inadequate.

He doesn’t say anything else, and I can’t think of anything, so after a beat, his eyes begin to take in what I have on the table. His delicate claws touch the cookie packages, and then they hover over the sex toys.

I feel something odd in the air. Something charged. Like several heartbeats all at once. The sensation is overwhelming, and I don’t know what to do about it, so I panic and ask, ‘You interested in sex?’ Fucking hell. Way to go, dude. ‘I mean…’ I wave my hand across the table and end up knocking over a few dildos as I go.

Eissa’s lips curl up, and I see a hint of fang.