Ilian stood, and Aura took a step closer to him, trembling as she did. Watching her closely, he spoke again, “you realize that this is all just a theory. Mixing... us... may not actually work at all.”

“But it’s the best theory we have, isn’t it?” she whispered as she took another step, stopping mere inches in front of him.

“You seem scared to go through with it though” he pointed out with continued worry.

“It’s always scary to do this with anyone for the first time” she excused.

“Adan said it caused intense pleasure for both partners though. How is that scary?”

“I wasn’t talking about the physical side of it. Though, with my fear of even having a human baby, that’s also pretty scary” she couldn’t help adding more quietly.

“There’s a side to it that isn’t physical?”

“For me there is” Aura attempted to smile up at where he stood about six inches taller than her as well, just like Adan.

“Sorry, I still don’t really quite understand how ma—this, works for your kind. You’re the expert here” he apologized, continuing to look down at her.

She couldn’t help a nervous laugh. “I don’t know about that. I only did this for the first time ever, after the world ended” she admitted.

“You don’t have to do this, Aura” he assured her.

“I think I do” she whispered, swallowing a lump in her throat. “Our lives really might depend on it.”

Ilian let out a soft sigh. “If you really want to, then tell me what to do. How this all works.”

“I think telling might even be more difficult than just showing” she stated with another nervous laugh.

“Then show me, I guess” he smiled down at her.

She took another deep breath as she bravely moved her hands to the waist of the pants he had worn to bed that night. With another moment to try and steel her nerves, she slowly began inching his pants down from his waist, exposing his beautiful body to her in the dim light for the first time since that overly awkward encounter in the bathroom weeks prior.

Following her lead, he stepped out of the pants as they fell to the floor. He couldn’t help a small smile as all those tell tale signs of her attraction showed even more clearly in the way her body reacted to him than even they had the last time.

With another shaky breath, she dropped her robe to the floor as well. His eyes moved over her body too then. He had seen her naked before, on the night he had stolen their memories, back before they even knew of his existence. But somehow, this time was very different. She was willingly sharing it with him, and quite conscious as she did. And then he felt a slight stirring in his own body that he could not find the proper words to describe, even in his own head, his own language. There were very few words for things such as desire and arousal in his people’s tongue.

“Lay down” she whispered to him, the words catching in her throat.

He simply nodded down at her and then moved himself back onto the bed. Aura took another deep breath before slowly moving to join him there. Taking another long moment to gather any courage she could, she finally moved closer to him, hesitantly wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling herself closer. Close enough for her breasts to now press against his chest, which only made her heart race even faster; and his as well it seemed.

She then moved in to place her mouth over his. Though it was technically their second kiss, this one was much more willingly given, and more passionate, as her body’s wants were finally beginning to overtake her brain’s fears at last.

Once past his own shock at the feel of her mouth on his again, he began kissing her back. Her tongue slid inside his mouth then, and he followed her lead there as well. It was strange to him, beyond strange. But also pleasant somehow.

After a few more moments of that kiss, she made herself pull back just enough to look down at where he awaited her next cue. She took another breath, and then moved her hand down between his legs, wrapping shaky fingers around his penis. His breath caught immediately at the feel of her fingers encircling him.

Not even sure he could react the way a human male would, she had gone too far to let her fear take over now, and so she began caressing him. Her touch caused his breath to become shorter and shorter, and much to her simultaneous relief and fear, he began hardening as the slightest moans of pleasure escaped from his throat.

Once he fully hardened, and it began to feel as though he were almost very near that final moment as well, she made herself cease her caresses and look back into his eyes again. He seemed unable to form the question behind those eyes then either. Aura gathered that final bit of courage and moved to place herself above where he still waited for her, now fully aroused by her touch.

With another breath, she reached down below where she now straddled his hips, and took him in her hand once more. One more moment to convince herself that this was really about to happen, she slid him inside her, a moan escaping both their throats then at the sensation.

After the initial shock of the penetration passed, she allowed her body to fully take over, and began moving above him with deliberateness and passion both. All she could comprehend in that moment was that need for release brought on by all her own desires, and all of his newfound ones as well it seemed.

Once their passion was spent, Aura and Ilian lay there together in the darkness for a long time. They waited for their heartbeats to return to normal, and their bodies to remember how to breathe. And she thought, and thought.

Finally, she made her voice work again, hoarse though it now was. “Will you do something for me, Ilian?”

He looked over at where she still lay in his arms next to him. “I don’t think I could refuse any request just now” he admitted in the same hoarse tone.

Trying not to smile at that particular response, she searched for the words that were in her head right then. “Will you please let me be the one to explain this to Adan?” she asked, her voice pleading with him to grant her that kindness.

“You’re afraid of how he’ll react?”

“Part of me wants to believe he’ll understand. I mean we’ve even talked about both of us becoming your lover. Even before the DNA thing. But part of me is also frightened that he’ll somehow think that this... That it means something that I don’t want him ever to feel is true” she whispered as she curled closer to Ilian.

“Your fear of him thinking that untrue thing, that’s why you were so scared to do this when we began?” Ilian determined, even if he wasn’t quite sure of how all of this really worked for their kind, he understood that much.

“Exactly” she confessed as she swallowed again, then pushed herself up from the mattress. She leaned over him to give him another soft kiss. She then moved from the bed, replaced her robe and gave him one last worried smile before leaving the room at last.

When Adan stirred the next morning, Aura was already awake, as usual. However, she’d normally get up and head to the bathroom for her shower or to the kitchen for her breakfast. This morning, she was seated at the edge of the bed, her back to him, her head down.

“I hope you managed to get some sleep” he yawned his greeting.

He then pushed himself up and scooted closer to her, where he wrapped his arms around her from behind, gently kissing her neck through her hair. Though her main reaction was the way her body tensed at that show of affection.

“Something wrong?” he asked. “More wrong than usual, I mean” he corrected.

Aura took a shaky breath. She had spent most of the night rehearsing this conversation. But she somehow still found the words impossible. “He’s willing to die for us, Adan. We can’t let that happen.”

Adan sighed as he gave her a gentle squeeze, “agreed. The fact that he’s willing to at all? Pretty sure that’s earned our trust now, hasn’t it?”

She took another breath. “I thought about it all night. There may be one other way to help him try to do this.”

“I’m listening” Adan replied, though those particular words just filled her with more tension, somehow.

“We talked about it, before all this. And now it might actually be the one thing that could help him” she attempted to broach the subject, difficult as that was at that moment.

“What thing is that?” Adan asked.

She took another long breath, sure that she had used up all her courage for the night. And now she needed even more. “There’s one other way we can mix our DNA with his. No blood involved” she added in a whisper.

Adan thought on her words a moment, then allowed the slightest smile, hesitant though it was. He then turned her to face him. “Are you suggesting what I think you are?”

“What do you think I’m suggesting?” she asked warily.

Adan smiled again. “Something we talked about?” he repeated. “You’re actually considering it now? For real?”

“We can’t let him die Adan. We need him” she spoke softly.

Adan smiled again and tilted her face up to his. He gave her a soft kiss. “Then we won’t let him die. No matter what that takes.”

Silence pervaded their dinner that night, as it usually did. Though Ilian couldn’t help noting the knowing looks between his two companions throughout the meal. And he understandably couldn’t help wondering if those looks had anything at all to do with the strange, and as promised, intensely pleasurable, night he had just spent with Aura. But he kept himself silent about that subject, as he had promised her he would.

When the meal was finished, Aura volunteered to take care of the dishes. “After I do these, I think I’ll go have a shower. I think Adan has something he needs to... show you anyway, Ilian” she said as she gave Adan another knowing glance, and went about her task.

Once Aura had finished clearing the table, and then started down the hall to the bathroom, Adan looked over at Ilian with a deep breath. Ilian looked back at him, noting his eyes on him. “Something you needed to show me?” Ilian asked warily.

“You need to be more like us, but you can’t do it with our blood” Adan stated as he slid his chair closer around the corner of the table. “There’s another way you might be able to do just that though” Adan stated, sliding closer still, his voice a bit breathy as he closed the distance between them.

“What way would that be?” Ilian made himself ask, after tossing a glance down the hall after Aura again.

Instead of answering in words, Adan leaned close, covering Ilian’s mouth with his own, just as Aura had done the night before. Ilian tensed a moment, but it did not take him long to realize exactly what Adan had been referring to.

With little or no pretense, Adan continued kissing Ilian, pulling him to his feet with him as they continued that kiss. It was only another moment before he had pushed Ilian back against the table, and moved his fingers to the buttons of Ilian’s shirt, making short work of it.

This was all a whirlwind, and a bit of a shock to Ilian, but remembering the pleasure that followed Aura’s passionate kisses the night before, he found himself making no move to deter Adan on this night.

It had been merely a second after dropping Ilian’s shirt to the table behind him, before Adan’s fingers found their way to his pants as well. Easily undoing them, Adan moved to his knees in front of Ilian. He finished undressing him, then went about his task of defining what exactly he had meant by ‘intense pleasure.’

Again, Ilian’s shock and curiosity, and his desire to feel the same sort of release he had felt with Aura the night before, kept him from making any protest. The reason behind their sudden affections toward him somehow faded even further into the background for Ilian then. And it seemed that may have been the case for Adan now as well in that heated encounter between them.