Chapter 9: Hollow and Heavy
Becca lay with her hand on the bump, feeling the small weight of the creature inside her. It pulsed, slow and warm, a heartbeat in her belly that was not her own. The apartment was quiet. Golden light filtered through the sheer curtains, catching dust motes in the air.
Chloe was still sitting at the foot of the bed. She hadn't moved since Becca had pushed the pants off, since the creature had crawled inside. Her hands were folded in her lap, her eyes fixed on the mound of Becca's belly.
"Hey," Becca said. Her voice came out rough. "Stay."
Chloe looked up. "I'm not going anywhere."
"I know. I mean. Stay. Tonight. In the bed."
Chloe's mouth curved, soft and uncertain. She moved up the mattress and settled beside Becca, propped on one elbow, close enough that the heat of her arm touched Becca's shoulder. She looked down at the bump, at Becca's hand resting over it.
"It's really in there," Chloe said.
"Yeah. It's in there."
The creature pulsed again. Becca felt it shift inside her, a small rolling weight deep in her pelvis, and then it pressed against the wall of her belly from the inside, a tiny hump moving under her skin. Chloe watched it move. Her hand came up and hovered above the spot, asking a question.
Becca took her wrist and pressed Chloe's palm flat against the bump.
The creature moved beneath both their hands. A small, deliberate roll. Then a second one, as if it were testing the warmth of the touch.
"Hey, buddy," Becca whispered.
Chloe's breath caught. Her fingers spread across the soft curve, gentle. "It's smaller this time. The bump."
"It's a different situation." Becca looked down at the mound, at Chloe's hand on it. "It's not the eggs. It's just them. The creature. It's gonna be in there for a while before it lays anything."
"Unless it doesn't."
Becca went still.
"I mean," Chloe said, "maybe it doesn't lay eggs at all. Maybe it just wants to be carried.”
Becca considered this. The creature pulsed inside her, steady, content. She couldn't know what it wanted. She hadn't known the first time either. She'd found out the hard way, through every one of those twelve eggs.
"Then I'll carry it," she said. "Whatever it needs."
Chloe's hand stayed on her belly. The ceiling fan turned above them, slow, ticking. The light through the curtains shifted with a breeze from somewhere.
Inside Becca's belly, the creature settled deeper, a warm weight low against her. She felt it press against her inner wall, a restful pressure that was not painful. It pulsed once, twice, a slow rhythm like a heartbeat counting time.
Chloe's hand shifted on the bump. And then, under her palm, something else moved. Not from Becca's belly. From Chloe's.
Becca felt it through Chloe's skin, a faint answering pulse, a second rhythm meeting the first. Chloe let out a small breath and looked down at her own belly, the soft swell that still carried the creature and its eleven eggs.
"Did you feel that?" Becca said.
"Yeah." Chloe's voice was quiet. "It answered. They're talking to each other."
The pulse came again, from both bellies now, in the same beat. Two creatures syncing like two hearts finding the same rhythm. Becca felt the double thrum travel through her, down into the places where the creature rested, and it pulsed back against her like a wordless reply.
The light deepened outside. The fan turned. The two creatures pulsed together, slow, patient, a rhythm that felt older than the building around them.
Becca turned her head. Chloe's eyes were close, pale blue, soft with something that was not quite tiredness. Becca reached up and brushed a strand of blonde hair from Chloe's face.
"Hey," she said.
"Hey."
"This time I'll be ready." She kept her voice low, almost a whisper. "For whatever comes out. For whatever happens after. I won't pass out. I won't lose track. I'll be there the whole way."
Chloe's jaw tightened. Her thumb moved in a slow circle on the bump. "You don't have to be ready. You just have to be here."
"I know. But I will be." She pressed her hand over Chloe's on her belly. "Both of us will."
The creature inside her pulsed, and Chloe's answered in the same beat. The light through the curtains went golden and warm, and the two women lay together in the quiet, hands resting on the strange life in Becca's belly, waiting for whatever came next.
The warmth started low in Becca's belly, a slow bloom that spread outward through her hips and down her thighs. It pulsed with the creature's rhythm, and Chloe's belly pulsed the same beat against her palm. The heat built between them, thick in the quiet air.
Becca looked at Chloe. "You know what's coming, right?"
Chloe giggled. "It's been a while."
She swung her legs off the bed and stood. The light caught her from behind, glowing through the thin fabric of her shirt. She hooked her thumbs into the waistband of her shorts and shimmied them down her hips, slow, letting the fabric drag over the curve of her ass before it dropped to the floor.
A tiny pink thong. Bright, the color of bubblegum. The waistband sat low on her hips, a small triangle of fabric that barely covered anything.
Becca's mouth went dry.
Chloe reached up and grabbed the hem of her shirt. She pulled it up over her head in one smooth motion, and her belly came into view, the soft bulbous swell of it rounded and pale, the creature inside shifting under the skin. She wore a matching pink bra, the cups snug against her small chest.
She stood there. Letting Becca look.
Becca looked. Her eyes traveled down the curve of Chloe's throat, over the rise of her breasts in the bra, down the slope of her belly where the creature pulsed a faint rhythm under the skin. The swell rose proud and heavy, and Chloe ran her palm over it, a slow possessive stroke.
"See something you like?" Chloe said.
Becca couldn't find her voice. Chloe reached behind her back and undid the clasps on the bra. The straps slid off her shoulders. The cups fell away, and her breasts came free, small and perky, the nipples already tight against the cool air.
The bra dropped to the floor.
Chloe stood there in only the pink thong, her belly rounded and full, her breasts bare, her hands resting on the swell of her stomach. The creature pulsed inside her and she stroked it absently, like a woman touching something precious.
"Your turn," she said.
Becca sat up. She grabbed the hem of her own shirt, the loose old thing she had on, and pulled it up and over her head. Her breasts came out heavy and full, spilling free of the fabric, the weight of them pulling at her chest as they settled. She hadn't worn a bra, too tired to bother, and now they hung low and soft against her ribs.
Chloe's eyes went hungry. Her gaze fixed on Becca's breasts, on the dark nipples already tight, on the soft heavy weight of them. She swallowed.
Then she climbed onto the bed and straddled Becca's hips, her thighs bracketing Becca's soft middle. Her belly pressed warm against Becca's, the two swells meeting, the creatures inside them pulsing in unison.
Chloe lowered her mouth to Becca's chest. Her lips closed around one nipple, her tongue flat and warm against the sensitive peak, and Becca gasped. Chloe's hand came up and found Becca's other breast, working it with slow, firm pressure, her thumb rolling across the nipple while her mouth worked the first one.
The heat in Becca's belly flared. The creature inside her pulsed hard, and Chloe's answered, a double beat that traveled through both their bodies like a shared heartbeat. The tip of her tongue circled and teased, and Becca's hips lifted off the mattress, pressing into Chloe's weight.
"Chloe," she breathed.
Chloe pulled back just enough to speak, her lips brushing the wet skin. "Still okay?"
"Yes. Don't stop."
Chloe's mouth found the soft give of Becca's belly, just below her ribs. Her lips pressed warm against the skin, and Becca felt the creature inside her shift, a slow roll toward the touch. Chloe made a small sound against her, half wonder, half want.
"You can feel that," Becca said. It came out breathless.
"Mm." Chloe's lips moved lower, trailing a wet path over the mound. "It's right there. Under my mouth."
The creature pulsed. The bump rose gently against Chloe's lips, a small deliberate press from the inside. Chloe laughed, quiet, and kissed the spot again, slower this time.
"It knows you're here," Becca whispered.
Chloe's hands slid up Becca's sides, palms warm against the soft curve of her waist. Her mouth kept moving, down the slope of the belly, over the skin stretched smooth and loose from the eggs. She kissed the underside of the bump, the place where the creature rested heaviest.
Becca's hips lifted. The heat in her belly had gone liquid, spreading low and deep. Chloe's hair brushed her thighs, and she reached down and buried her fingers in it, holding her there.
Chloe smiled against her skin. Her lips parted, tongue flat against the warm flesh, tasting. The creature pulsed again, bright, and Chloe's own belly pressed against Becca's leg, the creature inside her answering in the same beat.
"Both of them," Chloe said. "They're both going crazy."
"Can you blame them?"
Chloe's mouth went lower. She kissed the jut of Becca's hip, then the tender crease where thigh met pelvis. Becca's fingers tightened in her hair.
"Chloe."
"Shh." Chloe's lips brushed the inner curve of her thigh. "I'm not going anywhere."
Chloe's lips parted against her skin. The first warm drag of tongue touched the inside of Becca's thigh, and the creature inside her belly rolled.
Not a gentle shift. A hard, deliberate turn, a full rotation of its body against her inner wall. The pressure moved from her lower pelvis up along the curve of her womb, pressing against her from the inside, a slow unmistakable push that made Becca jerk and gasp.
Chloe stopped. Lifted her head. "What is it?"
"I don't know. It moved."
The creature turned again. Becca felt it sliding, a wet internal roll that shifted the mound of her belly visibly, the bump moving across her skin like something trapped beneath a sheet. She watched it travel from her left side to the center, then settle in a new place, lower and deeper.
Chloe sat up on her knees. "Is it okay?"
"I think so. It's just. It's moving."
Becca pressed her palm against the bump. The creature was right under the skin, its body warm and solid, and she felt it pulse. Not the slow contented rhythm of before. Faster. Harder. A rapid double beat like a knock.
Chloe's hand came down next to hers. "It's not trying to get out, is it?"
"No. It's not pushing down. It's pushing up." Becca traced the line of the bump. "It's turning itself around. Like it wants to face a different direction."
The creature rolled again, a full slow revolution this time, and the bump shifted from the center of her belly down toward her pelvis. It settled there, heavy and low, pressing against something that made Becca's breath catch.
Chloe's eyes were wide. "That looked like it hurt."
"It didn't hurt. It was just. A lot." Becca let her hand rest on the new place, the creature's weight sitting deep inside her. "It settled. It's done moving, I think."
The bump pulsed. Slower now, back to the familiar rhythm, but deeper. The creature had wedged itself low in her pelvis, a warm solid weight that rested against the base of her womb. It felt different there. More grounded. More present.
Chloe slowly lowered herself back down, arranging her body alongside Becca's instead of over it. She curled against her side, head pillowed on Becca's shoulder, one hand splayed across the low bump.
"It went deeper," Chloe said. "Like it's settling in."
"Yeah." Becca covered Chloe's hand with her own. "I think it likes where it is now."
The creature pulsed, and Chloe's belly answered. The two beats were no longer in unison. They came one after the other, a call and a reply, a rhythm that spoke back and forth between them.
Becca felt it in her ribs. The double thrum, the way Chloe's body tensed with each answering pulse. She turned her head and pressed her mouth to Chloe's hair.
"It's talking to yours," she said.
Chloe breathed out. "They're deciding something."
"What do you think they're deciding?"
Chloe didn't answer for a moment. The creatures pulsed again, back and forth, a slow conversation in the dark. Then Chloe's hand tightened on Becca's belly.
"I think they're deciding when," she said. "What comes next. How soon."
Becca looked down at the bump under their joined hands. The creature inside it pulsed, patient, waiting. Whatever it had been looking for, it had found where it wanted to be.
"Then we'll find out together," she said. "Whenever it is."
Chloe's fingers laced through hers. The light through the curtains dimmed at the edges, the last of the golden hour fading to blue. The two creatures pulsed their slow conversation, and the two women lay quiet in the dark, hands joined on the strange life between them.
The quiet held them for a long moment. Then the pull came up from somewhere deep, a warmth that had nothing to do with the creatures and everything to do with them. Becca felt it in her chest, a tight ache behind her ribs. She turned her head, and Chloe was already looking at her.
Neither of them said anything. Chloe's mouth found hers first, or maybe Becca's found Chloe's, and the kiss swallowed the space between them. It was different this time. Rushed. Hungry. Chloe's fingers tangled in Becca's hair and Becca's hand slid up the curve of Chloe's spine, pulling her closer.
They rolled together on the mattress, limbs tangling, no thought to where hands landed or which direction they were going. The clothes were already off, only the pink thong left, and Chloe kicked it loose with a twist of her hips while Becca's palms mapped the damp heat of her skin.
"Here," Becca breathed against her mouth. "Come here."
Chloe shifted, turning herself around, reversing the angle of their bodies. Her belly pressed warm against Becca's as they repositioned, legs parting, sliding around each other, thighs locking over thighs. The soft wet heat of her pressed against Becca's, and both of them gasped at the same moment.
"God," Chloe said.
"Yeah."
They moved together without thinking. A slow press, a drag, the friction of slick skin sliding against slick skin. Becca's hands gripped the backs of Chloe's thighs, holding her close, and Chloe's fingers dug into Becca's hips, pulling her into the rhythm.
The heat built low and fast. The creature inside Becca pulsed, not in its slow rhythm anymore, but a rapid staccato against the wall of her womb. Chloe jolted against her, the same beat running through her own belly.
"Can you feel that," Becca said. It wasn't a question.
"Yes."
They pressed harder. The drag of their bodies against each other drove the heat higher, and the creatures pulsed faster, harder, as if they were pushing at the inside of their hosts, pressing outward.
Then Becca felt it. A deep movement, a pressure low in her that was not her own muscles. Something thin and cool slid out of her, past the rim of her, and met resistance. Warmth. Chloe's body.
Chloe gasped. "What is that?"
Becca couldn't answer. She felt it, the tentacle emerging from Chloe, and then the two of them met beneath the press of their bodies, thin and slick, wrapping around each other like two hands finding a grip.
"Oh," Becca breathed.
The tentacles tightened. They flexed, pulling, joining them together. They were connected in a way that felt impossible, the two of them moving as one, and the pressure inside Becca's belly ramped up, a deep ache that was not pain but need.
Chloe's hips rolled against her, grinding, and the tentacles pulsed between them. The creatures inside them throbbed in the same beat, faster now, a rising rhythm that drove heat up Becca's spine and out through her limbs.
"Yes," Chloe said, her voice thin. "Yes, don't stop."
Becca's hands found Chloe's ass, gripping, pulling her close, pressing them tight together. The tentacles tightened around each other and pulled, a gentle tug, and the pressure inside Becca crested, a wave rising.
They moved together, faster, harder, the slick slide of their bodies slicker with the need between them. Becca felt her own climax building, a bright hot point low in her, and Chloe's breath came in short gasps against her throat.
"It's coming," Chloe said. "It's, I can't, it's..."
The wave broke. Becca came with a sound that surprised her, a raw cry ripped from her chest, her body arching against Chloe's. She felt Chloe climax a heartbeat later, a shudder running through her whole frame, their bodies pressing together through it.
The tentacles pulsed once, twice, a long slow throb, and then loosened. They slid free of each other, retreating back into their hosts as if withdrawn on a thread.
Becca collapsed onto her back. Her chest heaved. Her belly pulsed, soft and slow, the creature settling back into its deep low place. Chloe slumped against her, head on her shoulder, breath ragged.
For a moment neither spoke. The fan turned. The light through the curtains had gone fully blue.
"That was..." Chloe started.
"Yeah."
The bump on Becca's belly moved, one slow roll. Chloe's hand came up and rested on it, thumb stroking the curve. Her other hand lay on her own belly, where her late night creature pulsed its slow answer.
"Both of them," Becca said. "They were in on it together."
Chloe laughed, soft and dry. "They orchestrated the whole thing."
"I'm almost scared to find out what they want next."
Chloe was quiet a moment. Then she pressed her mouth to Becca's shoulder. "I'm not."
Chloe's fingers moved on Becca's skin. Slow, idle patterns. A spiral over the soft give of her ribs, then a straight line down to the bump, where the creature rested low and warm. She drew a circle around it, then another, smaller, inside the first.
"That tickles," Becca said.
"Sorry." Chloe didn't stop. Her fingertips traced a lazy figure eight across the curve of Becca's belly, then back up to the hollow of her throat. "I like doing this."
"Doing what?"
"Touching you." Chloe's voice was quiet, almost sleepy. "Mapping you out. Learning where everything is."
Becca's hand came up and covered Chloe's, stilling it over the bump. "You already know where everything is."
"I know the parts you show me. This is different." Chloe pressed her palm flat, feeling the creature pulse against it. "It's like there's a map under your skin that I keep finding new lines on."
The creature pulsed once, a slow reply. Chloe's belly answered, and the two rhythms settled into their call-and-response, back and forth, a conversation that went on without them.
Becca watched Chloe's face in the blue light. The fan turned. The curtains stirred.
"What's yours telling you?" Becca said.
Chloe was quiet a moment. Her fingers started moving again, tracing a wandering path across Becca's collarbone. "It's not telling me anything. It's just. Here. All the time."
"Same."
"I think it likes the way we talk." Chloe traced a small circle over Becca's heart. "When we're talking, it pulses faster. When we're quiet, it goes slow. Like it's listening."
Becca considered this. She felt the creature deep in her pelvis, still and patient. "Maybe that's what they want."
"Humans who talk to them?"
"Humans who talk to each other." Becca's hand tightened on Chloe's. "The connecting thing. The being together. Maybe that's the whole point."
Chloe's fingers went still. She lifted her head, and her eyes caught the blue light, pale and clear. "You really think that's it?"
"I think it's part of it. The first time, with the eggs, I felt like a container. Something to be filled up and emptied. But this is different. This thing just wants to be carried. And you're here. And I'm here. And they're talking to each other through us."
The creature pulsed, a slow warm beat low in her belly. Chloe's answered in the same rhythm, no longer a call and response but a single shared pulse, two bodies keeping one time.
"Maybe," Chloe said, "they're not saving themselves. Maybe the whole species is just. Practicing. Through us."
Becca turned her head. "Practicing what?"
Chloe's fingers traced a line down Becca's arm, from shoulder to wrist, then laced with her hand. "Connection. Being close. The thing that's hard to learn when you're alone." She squeezed Becca's fingers. "Maybe that's what they're breeding for."
The creature pulsed between them, slow and full. Becca felt it in her ribs, in the base of her spine, in the places where her body joined Chloe's. The rhythm was steady now, unhurried, a heartbeat that counted out a long future.
"Then we're doing it right," Becca said.
Chloe's hand found her belly again. She traced a spiral over the bump, slow, patient. The creature under the skin rolled toward her touch, a small warm shift. Chloe's own belly pulsed in reply.
"Hey," Chloe said. "When it's time. Whatever comes out. I'm going to be right here."
"I know."
"I'm not going to flinch. I'm not going to look away. I'm going to hold your hand the whole way."
Becca's throat tightened. She pressed her mouth to Chloe's forehead, and the creature pulsed beneath their joined hands, steady, patient, counting the moments until whatever came next.
"Good," she said. "That's exactly where I want you."
Becca's hand stayed on the bump, thumb tracing a slow circle over the creature's warm weight. The fan turned overhead. The blue light through the curtains had gone deep, the color of the hour before true night.
Chloe's fingers had gone still on Becca's arm. She was quiet for a long moment, her breath steady against Becca's shoulder.
"Hey," she said. Her voice came out smaller than usual. "How was it? The birthing. The eggs."
Becca looked at her. Chloe's face was half in shadow, her eyes pale and uncertain, watching her like she was afraid of the answer.
Becca gave a small laugh. It came out dry. "Easier than the other creature that was in me."
Chloe shuddered. Her body pressed closer, a full-body ripple that ran from her shoulders to her hips.
"Sorry," Becca said. "Too much?"
"No. I mean, yes, but. I asked."
Becca turned onto her side, facing her. The bump pressed between them, low and warm. She kept one hand on it, because the creature liked that, liked the pressure of her palm.
"The eggs weren't bad," she said. "Each one came out the same way. A contraction, a push, a pop. Consistent. But there were twelve of them. That's what got tiring."
Chloe's hand found hers, lacing their fingers together over the bump. "Twelve."
"Twelve." Becca squeezed her fingers. "Pushing them out feels like using muscles you have never used before. Deep ones. The kind you don't know you have until you're trying to move something the size of a fist through a space that wasn't made for it."
Chloe made a small sound.
"The stretching," Becca said. "The pushing. It's intense." She paused, remembering the white at the edge of her vision, the nurse's gloved fingers inside her, the double eggs that had taken four contractions between them. "There were moments I thought I wasn't going to make it. My arms gave out. I couldn't see straight. And there were still more inside me, waiting their turn."
Chloe was quiet. Her thumb moved over the back of Becca's hand.
"But you did," she said. "You made it."
"I did. But I also passed out the second they were all out. Face-first on the table." Becca laughed, soft. "Not my most graceful moment."
"The snoring through cleanup." Chloe's voice had a hint of smile in it. "Sounded like a chainsaw."
"That's what you said."
The creature inside Becca pulsed, slow and patient. Chloe's belly answered, a beat behind. The two rhythms settled into their familiar conversation.
Chloe's eyes went down to the bump. Her hand was still joined with Becca's, resting on it. "So when these eggs come," she said, "the ones you're carrying now. It's going to be like that."
"Maybe." Becca looked down at the bump too. The creature rolled beneath the skin, a small warm shift. "Or maybe not. This thing is different. It's not the same creature. It's not the same situation."
"But the eggs will still have to come out."
"They will."
Chloe was quiet. Her fingers tightened on Becca's. "I want to be ready. Not just to hold your hand. I want to know what it's going to be like so I'm not useless when it happens."
"You won't be useless."
"You didn't answer the question."
Becca looked at her. In the blue light, Chloe's face was open, waiting, her jaw set in the stubborn line she got when she was asking for something she really wanted.
"It's like," Becca said, "your whole body becomes one single point of pressure. Everything you've ever been folds down into that one spot, and you push, and the world goes away, and then something comes out of you that wasn't there before. And then it happens again. And again." She squeezed Chloe's hand. "It's hard. But it's also the most real thing I've ever done."
Chloe's mouth worked. "Real."
"Yeah. You don't get to look away from yourself when you're doing it."
The creature pulsed between them, slow and full. Chloe's belly answered. The twin rhythms held, two strangers in the quiet, keeping time.
Chloe lifted her head. Her eyes were steady now. "Then I'll be there. The whole way. Every push."
"I know you will."
"But do you know the other thing?" Chloe's voice went soft. "That I'll be scared too. And that's okay, because I'll be scared with you."
Becca pulled her close. The bump pressed between them, warm and alive. "That's exactly what I want," she said. "Scared together."
The creatures pulsed between them, slow and patient. The fan turned. The blue light through the curtains settled deeper into night, and neither of them moved for a long while. Becca traced the curve of Chloe's shoulder with her fingertips, light as breath. Chloe's hand rested on the bump, thumb moving in slow circles.
"I want you to stay," Becca said. Her voice came out quieter than she meant it to. "Tonight. Here. With me."
Chloe lifted her head. Her smile was soft, sleepy. "I'm already here."
"I know. I mean all night. The whole night. Wake up in the morning and you're still here."
"Okay." Chloe's fingers laced through hers. "I'll stay all night."
Becca swallowed. Her heart beat against her ribs, a second rhythm under the creature's. She looked away, then back. "That's not what I mean either."
Chloe's brow furrowed. "What do you mean?"
"I mean stay. Not just tonight. Stay here. With me. In this apartment. Move your stuff in." The words came out all at once, clumsy, too fast. "Move in with me."
Chloe went still. Her fingers tightened on Becca's. For a heartbeat she didn't say anything.
"Oh," she said. Just that.
"I know it's fast." Becca's hand moved over the bump, a nervous fidget. "I know we haven't known each other that long. I know there's a whole thing happening, with the creatures, and the eggs, and whatever comes next. But I keep thinking about waking up alone in this bed and I don't want to. I want you here."
Chloe looked at her. The pale blue eyes were wide, unblinking. Then her mouth curved, slow, and the smile spread across her whole face, bright in the dark.
"Yes," she said. "Yes. I'll move in with you."
"Really?"
"Really." Chloe laughed, a wet little sound. "Goddamn, Becca. I thought you were going to say something bad."
"No. Just. That."
"I knew you meant it." Chloe pressed her forehead to Becca's. "I felt it before you said it. The way you said stay. It wasn't just tonight."
"No." Becca's voice cracked. "It was all of it."
Chloe pulled back just enough to look at her. Her hand came up and cupped Becca's jaw, thumb brushing the freckles on her cheek. "I'm going to need to get my stuff. My apartment, it's, I don't know how much I left in there."
"We'll go together. Tomorrow. Or whenever we can."
"Okay." Chloe's breath was warm on Becca's mouth. "Okay."
The space between them closed. The kiss started gentle, a question, a confirmation. Then Chloe's hand slid into Becca's hair and pulled, and the kiss deepened, hungry in a way that felt new. Becca's arms went around her, pulling her close, the bump pressing warm between them.
The creature pulsed under their joined bodies, a bright hard beat. Chloe's belly answered, and the two rhythms locked together, one pulse, one heartbeat, counting out a future neither of them had planned.
Chloe broke the kiss just long enough to breathe. "I'm going to wake up here," she said. "Tomorrow. In this bed."
"Yes."
"With you."
"Yes."
The creature pulsed again, stronger this time, a deep thrum that traveled through both of them. Chloe laughed against Becca's mouth, a small awed sound. And she kissed her again, slow, thorough, as if she had all the time in the world to map every part of her.