He stumbled towards her, a single step.
"Come!"
This time the word was in his brain itself, not in his ears. He took another step. Another.
"Come... come... come...."
It was like that other night—was it a million years ago?—the night he'd heard the coleoptera calling.
But the thing the beetles called was "Kill! Kill! Kill!"
Kill the man-things.
He staggered forward.
And there was Xaymar, ripe lips smiling. He felt her arms go tight about him, the pressure of her naked body on him.
He tried to think of Kyla.