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“Look at you.” I couldn’t help smiling. “Feeling better?”

He bleated and shoved his nose between the rails. I scratched his forehead before opening the gate and slipping inside. He turned in a tight circle while I latched it behind me, then came back to investigate my hands. Apparently he’d been expecting a treat.

“Sorry. You get me.”

I crouched beside him and rubbed his neck, checking him over as he leaned into me. His eyes were bright, and the glow beneath his coat looked stronger. I tried to lift his lip, but he jerked his head away and bounced out of reach.

I stayed there for another moment, watching him trot around the pen. It was a relief to see him being a nuisance.

I heard a footstep and looked toward the barn door. Rauf stood just inside, watching me. I hadn’t even managed ten minutes away from him.

I straightened and brushed my hands off on my pants. “He’s doing well.”

“Looks like it.”

Rauf came closer, and Goataro hurried to the gate. He nosed at the latch, then rose onto his hind legs and planted his front feet against the wood. When Rauf opened it, the goat tried to squeeze past him. Rauf blocked the gap with his leg and nudged him back far enough to step inside.

“It seems like I’m not the only one who doesn’t want to be caged,” I said.

“It’s only to keep him safe.”

“He doesn’t seem convinced.”

Goataro gave the closed gate another push, then came back to me. I scratched behind his ears, and for a little while he was content to stand between us and be admired. Rauf crouched to rub his back. Goataro stretched beneath our hands, his eyes half closed.

Then, apparently finished with affection, he wriggled free and kicked up his heels. One hoof caught Rauf on the shin.

“Ungrateful little shit.” Rauf stood, but Goataro had already bounded to the other end of the pen.

I pressed my lips together. It didn’t help. The goat made another circuit, hopping over a patch of bedding as if there was something in his way, then folded his legs beneath himself and settled down.

“I think he likes you,” I laughed.

Rauf looked down at his leg, then at the goat. His mouth twitched. “He can like me from over there.”

I laughed again, and this time Rauf smiled at me. A real smile, without the reluctant look he usually wore when I amused him. I wanted to see it more often. Preferably without having to arrange for a goat to kick him first.

The sun slanted through the open barn door, catching the side of his face and warming my arm. He was close enough that I could touch him without moving. I hadn’t noticed either of us stepping closer, but I wasn’t sorry we had.

Rauf brushed his knuckles along my cheek. I caught his wrist, keeping him there as he bent toward me, and then his mouth was on mine.

I closed my eyes and kissed him back. His hand spread across my back, drawing me against him, and I let go of his wrist to take hold of his shirt. I wanted another kiss before he’d even finished the first. When he lifted his head, I followed, and he made a low sound and came back to me.

He kissed me deeply, then eased back just enough to brush his mouth over mine. I could feel him smiling.

His arms were around me, and I was exactly where I wanted to be. Then I remembered that tonight I’d have his bed and still be sleeping alone.

I tore myself away, quite the feat against someone Rauf’s size, but he let me go. “We’re not doing that.”

Rauf’s fingers brushed his lips and he didn’t say anything in reply.

I turned back to Goataro. He had his head down and his eyes closed, completely uninterested in either of us now that we’d stopped petting him. I wished I could be that comfortable. My mouth still felt warm from Rauf’s, and I didn’t know what to do with my hands.

I rested them on the top rail and waited for the gate to open. He could go back to the house. Give me a little time to stop wanting to follow him. But he stayed where he was, and eventually I couldn’t stand the silence.

“I’m thinking of going back to Earth.” I hadn’t fully formulated the idea before I spoke it aloud. But as the words formed, they felt right.

“What about Korfas?” There was a hint of a growl in his voice as he said the other monster’s name.