Tati stretched. She'd never fallen asleep after sex like that. Never with any guy before, and never with Darian.
More often, Tati lay in bed beside her partners, listening to their pleasant snoring. Sometimes passing wind while she couldn't fall asleep because she could have gone a lot longer. Or at the very least, get one orgasm out of the tryst. That wouldn't be a problem with Zeus.
A sigh escaped her lips as she rolled onto her side. She felt the warmth of the bed beside her, but it was missing one large thing. Zeus.
Tati sat up bolt straight. Her eyes snapped to the open door as she scrambled out of the bed. With one blanket wrapped around her body as she padded toward the door.
"Zeus?"
The car was right where Zeus had parked the night before. She didn't see him as she hurried down the two steps, feeling them shift under her weight.
"Zeus, where are you?" Tati called, hugging the blanket around her breasts as she walked across the loose dirt. There was something about the sensation under her feet that didn't feel right. Tati couldn't stop to investigate, though. She needed to find Zeus.
"Right here, Angel." Zeus' head popped out of a small building she hadn't noticed last night in the dark.
Holy Lumberjack, Batman.
Zeus was standing in a shaft of shade at the opening of a small building. He had on a pair of dark-washed jeans. Though she'd been on Wolfeen long enough to know they didn't call it denim, but was exactly what it was. Rough-looking work boots, the laces lost beneath the leg of his pants, and a black flannel shirt. He'd opted to cuff the sleeves up to his elbows. Showing off his muscular forearms and the veins that her tongue craved to trace.
His mustache looked less like a mustache now that he hadn't shaved in a few days. Tati had a feeling it wouldn't take long for him to grow a beard.
Hell, men like Zeus could take a shit and grow a beard. As disturbing as that mental image was. It did not distract Tati from staring at the hot hunk of Wolfeen, who was smiling down at her.
"I thought I'd lost you," Tati said. Relief flooded her system as she came closer. Tati realized the sensation she felt on her feet were socks as she lifted the blanket she'd thrown on. Zeus must have put them on her, and she felt a swell of emotion in her chest she'd never experienced before.
Of course, she'd been cared for in her life. It would be silly to say she hadn't. But the level of Zeus' devotion to her. The way the Wolfeen men treated their mates was something Tati had never felt before. Her heart was too full for her brain to comprehend how far he would go to bring her happiness. Even the smallest measure of comfort.
Tati was a little disappointed with herself. What in the world did she think she was going to do with nothing but a blanket wrapped around her body? For a moment, her mind had flashed on the assassins who had come the day before. Zeus could have been in trouble. How was she going to defend her mate with no weapon?
Zeus chuckled, stepping closer to lean into her, pressing his forehead against hers. His hand came up, wrapping around the back of her neck.
"You're stuck with me, Angel. No doubt about it." He whispered, stealing a kiss before pulling away, causing her to lean forward and stumble.
"What are you doing out here?"
Tati crowded him. On the one hand, she wanted to get closer to him. The swelling between her legs ached, and she could feel her arousal building. She was due for another shot of Samfred's serum this morning because she wanted to see what Zeus was up to.
Before she knew what was happening, Zeus leaned down, sweeping one arm beneath her ass, and lifted her body up to his. Holding her feet off the ground like she weighed nothing at all.
"I was looking around for some spare wood to patch the door. It won't keep anything out that wants to get in. It gets cold here at night and if there are fewer cracks, the warmer it is inside the cabin."
Her arms wrapped around his shoulders. She looked over the contents of the odd little shed before nodding.
"Makes sense...find anything you can use?" she asked, noting the pile of extra firewood stacked against the back wall.
"Couple pieces, yeah," Zeus said. His gait shifted as he stepped back out into the sun. Carrying her in one arm while the other lofted a long flat piece of wood that looked like it was a shelf. "I'll nail this piece in place and then make us something for breakfast."
Zeus pressed his lips to hers, inhaling as he took her in with all his senses. He sat her down on the threshold of the doorway.
"I can make breakfast, I mean. If you're okay with that." Tati said as she gave the blanket wrapped under her arms a tug up.
Since Zeus found her, Tati felt a little useless not having something to do. She'd gotten so used to running and scrounging for herself, it felt out of place. Not that she would complain aloud. No woman in her right mind would. But she still wished there was more she could do to show him her appreciation.
Zeus' eyes flicked up to hers and she could see the wheels in his mind turning. So far since they'd been together, this only marked the first twenty-four hours. Zeus hadn't acted like one of those men who believed women should be kept barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen. From what Tati saw, Brock and Apollo dotted on their mates as well.
The Wolfeen might not subscribe to the idea men were superior to women in all ways. When they weren't. But for half a second, Tati wondered if Zeus would balk at her making breakfast.
How funny that would be? She had gone from being in a relationship with a man who thought she was at his beck and call. To one who might have an argument with her about who got to cook breakfast in the morning.
Zeus' hazel eyes danced in the sunlight a moment longer. Tati's own green ones mirrored the shared happiness between them a second longer before he gave her a quick nod.
"That would be great, Angel." He said, placing the new plank of wood down by the doorway.
Good. Tati would feel a little better about herself now. She felt like she was helping.
"Let me know if you need any help with the directions. I know the translator only works on the spoken word." Zeus called to her as he went back around the side of the small cabin.
Well, shit.
Tati hadn't thought of that as she was opening the cupboards to inspect what they had inside. Six months on Wolfeen had taught her a thing or two. Most of all, how to get out fast, but a woman of her age and her experience could figure this out.
Tati pulled the canisters out of the cupboard, sniffing them. One looked like it was some type of flour and when she tasted a bit of the powder on her tongue, it tasted like it, too. There was a possibility of some biscuits here. Even if she didn't have all the fixings for a big breakfast of homemade biscuits and gravy. She could throw something together.
Tati got to work, finding a mixing bowl and a cup while Zeus returned. The sound of sawing and hammering filled her ears as she thought back to her childhood. The last time she saw anyone preparing biscuits was at her grandmother's. Betsy always used the ones out of a can. Convenient, but not at all a handy skill.
As Zeus hammered the new pieces of wood into place. Tati was certain she had the makings for an ok biscuit. She knew they wouldn't come out as well as her precious Nana, but she was working with what she had.
She asked Zeus for help to figure out how to get the tiny oven to work as she'd been staring at the knobs in confusion.
After Zeus showed her, it made a lot more sense. Tati would have hated to turn on the oven and blow up the whole cabin with them in it.
"You know," Tati said once the biscuits were in the oven — no, they would not be as good without butter — she looked at Zeus. A plan had been forming in the back of her mind. "We could set up traps around here, catch wild game, but also an alarm system. Something that might give us a chance to prepare or get away if we're found."
Zeus' brow was knit as he thought about what she said. He opened one of the overhead cabinets. Taking out a bag of white powder with lettering, Tati didn't recognize. Though she watched while he was silent.
Water ran into a jar he produced from the same cabinet the bag came from. He sprinkled some of the powder into the jar. Placing the lid on, he shook it, turning to lean against the counter.
"That's not a bad idea. There's some rope and twine in the shed we could use for snares to catch small animals. I haven't hunted in years, but it's not something you forget how to do. And we could set up some alarms around the parameter of the cabin. If anyone tries to breach, we'll hear it. Or at least I will," Zeus said.
"There is still so much we don't know about hybrids. We don't know whether your sense of hearing is as acute as mine," he drifted. Continuing to shake the jar in his hand while Tati stared, wondering what in the world it was.
Was this the Wolfeen version of a protein shake or pre-workout? Somehow, she'd never looked at Zeus and seen a gym bro, but then again. They didn't know each other well.
They'd had a good time last night, but they didn't know each other's personalities or likes and dislikes yet. It was something Tati found herself eager to explore with the Wolfeen at her side.
"I've never hunted before, but I am a fast learner. I can help." Tati said, watching as he removed the lid from the jar and he tipped the opening toward her.
Son of a bitch.
He made butter.
"I'd like to train you to fight as well," Zeus said, surprising Tati.
"I ... was taking self-defense classes back on earth before I was abducted. It's like a kiddie class in martial arts to you, but ... I don't like feeling useless or helpless. I spent too much time feeling useless with my ex. It'll take years for me to catch up to you but, I'd like to know how to handle myself in combat and weaponry."
It was a thought that had passed through Tati's mind many times while she was alone on this new planet. She'd long since stopped calling the Wolfeen aliens because, to them, she was the alien. Tati wasn't even one of their own. She was a science experiment. Something that wouldn't have happened in nature because humans and Wolfeen hadn't met before.
If humans and Wolfeen had already been a part of each other's lives, there would have been some encounters.
People fell in love all the time and there were offspring, but to her knowledge that hadn't happened. Now, though, there was an idea forming in her mind—one that was elusive and hard to grasp.
Had humans met the Wolfeen and procreated before this?
"We'll start today then," Zeus said. She pushed away the strange idea there had been other experiments on humans. Where did they get the idea to even splice human and Wolfeen DNA?
The thought was brushed aside for another time as Zeus scrapped the butter into a small dish for them. He grabbed a brush from a drawer as he popped the oven door open to brush it over the biscuits. And Tati got an incredible view of his tight, round ass bent over the stove.
Yes. She definitely needed another dose of the serum. This wasn't a weekend getaway and as much as she wanted to rip his clothes right back off. Tati knew there were other matters they needed to attend to.