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Darev looked at me.

I disliked where this was going.

He continued anyway. “A Zunatorian male’s biology can react. That reaction belongs to him. It does not belong to the female and does not obligate her.”

Talia was quiet for a moment.

Then she asked, “So if that’s what this is, he can feel something and I can still say no.”

“Yes.”

“Completely.”

“Yes.”

“And nothing happens to me because he decides otherwise.”

Darev’s expression hardened. “No legitimate bond exists without mutual acceptance.”

I watched her absorb that.

Some of the anger remained.

Good.

It should.

Anything connected to mating deserved skepticism after what had been done to human women.

“It is not recognition,” I said.

Darev sighed.

Talia looked at me. “How do you know?”

“I would know.”

“Would you?”

“Yes.”

Darev laughed.

I turned toward him. “What?”

“You spent eight years legally dead and apparently forgot that bodies do not require operational approval before functioning.”

“This is not amusing.”

“It is from here.”

Talia covered her mouth.

I looked at her.

She lowered her hand. “Sorry.”

“You are not.”