He could barely hear Asenath’s voice from the distraction of her tentacle sliding out of his hole.

“For such a soft and vulnerable species,  I must say, I am pleasantly surprised by how rough your breeding behaviors are.” 

The sound of her chuckle caressed his mind like a gauzy blanket as he closed his eyes and relaxed into the solid feeling of her nest until he heard the klaxon sound of the smoke alarm. He bolted up then out of bed and skidded into the smoke-swallowed front room.

“Asenath!”  he called out. Then headed toward the kitchen, toward the sound of her coughing and then laughing.

“Are you okay?”

“Oh sure, I was only fussing with this heating machine of yours.  I was trying to make some grain supplements for you,  so you’d have something to consume to keep you strong  once you were awake.”

“Ready for another round already?” 

“Oh no, you must stay well-fed for the young you are now carrying.”

“The what?”

“My eggs … inside you.  If we do not keep you well-fed, they will consume the host body.”

She tilted her head at his confused expression. 

“You kept asking for it.  Asking me to breed you, to empty my sacs into you.  And all the while you ground so hard on me, so very roughly... I was alarmed you would hurt yourself on my exoskeleton, but you seem unharmed.” 

He gave an awkward smile as he felt something wiggle around inside his spine, like thousands of tiny tentacles swimming around the spinal cavities of his vertebrae.  It sent a chill of emotion down to his gut.

 “ …Yeah…”