Perri stroked his thick hair, her fingertips lightly touching the silver strands at his temples. His head was resting between her breasts. She loved the feeling of his weight upon her and the warmth of his breath on her skin. “I’m sleeping.” He stretched against her like a large, well-satisfied cat, or a Demarian leopard-wolf content after a recent meal. For all his kindness to her and the gentleness he so often displayed, there was a strength and fierceness in Halvo that boded ill for anyone who might attack him – or her. She knew he would protect her with his life. There, in a chilly cave on a barren little world, with a disabled spaceship as their only means of escape, she still felt safe with Halvo. “If you were asleep, you could not talk to me,” she said. “You would be amazed at what I can do in my sleep.” When Perri giggled, Halvo lifted his head to look at her. “Are you ready to leave so soon?” “I do not want to leave your embrace. Not ever.” Perri sighed.
