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The Truth of Passion

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Written by Arian Mabe (Amethyst Mare)

Commissioned by Roland Latore Speed

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Pandora stretched out before Auran as the Thanator frolicked. Back in his old life, when he had first come to the alien planet (not so strange to him anymore), Auran had considered the Thanator to be something like six-limbed panthers, but they had already proven themselves to be so much more than that. With big, armoured heads and the definition focused around their jaws, their teeth were both fearsome and dark, with frill-like spines that could be extended out around their heads when needed. Those were most often used for communication and intimidation, though being with Rayla had helped him feel even more the Thanator that he was.

She was strong, so long and so sleek, though her musculature was always shown in its very best light when she was taking down prey: a required need of living as Thanator. He was well-matched for her, though had taken longer to get used to himself, to feel comfortable in his own body. It had rendered Auran, in a small way, a little slower than her, shaking his head as he followed and brushed glowing pollen off his nose, his smooth skin sensitive to stimulus.

She chattered a laugh, his friend with bioluminescent markings dancing ahead of him, letting him follow the sinuous sway of her tail back and forth. Insects fluttered up from the petals of huge plants that they brushed by, the sun setting slowly, though the forest that they had made their home, together, was still just coming to life. Rayla was a mature female who had been assigned to assist him after he had come to be with the Thanator pack, though Auran had told them that he had been a Thanator born and raised in captivity by humans. It was not entirely the truth…

Rayla skidded to a halt before him, roaring water in his ears as his head picked up. Above the forest, the sun slipped behind the gas-giant, Polyphemus, Pandora in orbit around the planet. He couldn't help but, once again, take in his wonder and awe of it, lips parted in a fearsome yet beaming smile.

So much had happened in the months since he had come to live with the Thanator and he was grateful for it all, just how his life had changed, how his world had opened up beyond his wildest dreams and imaginings. Rayla had grown closer to him too and he often leaned into the other Thanator in the cool of the night, listening to the soft rise of her flanks in sleep, her breath pulling softly over her tongue as she breathed.

There was something there, something unspoken, yet he had not yet learned if that was something that Thanator made spoken. There was a relationship there, yes, but he longed to know just what the nuances of it were, all in how they had come close, hunting, learning, pressing onward in the pursuit of a life surrounded by so very much beauty.

She pressed in close to him with a rumbling growl, though he knew that Rayla meant no malice in it. It was as if they were dating, but he didn't know just how the intricacies of that relationship were going to play out. Behind the waterfall, bioluminescent moss glowed softly, the night bringing the lights of the forest to life.

“Urgh!"

Auran twisted, panting heavily. Ugh – what was that! Rayla pressed in close, standing again, all her eyes wide with worry.

“What's wrong, Auran?"

“Unnff…"

He twisted and grunted, but the problem was that the biting spasms of pain were not going away all that easily.

“I…" Why was it so hard to talk all of a sudden too? “I…don't know…"

But he was getting smaller! He gasped and howled, twisting, clawing at himself, trying to do everything that he could to hold himself firm and steady, but he couldn't keep hold of his form. It was like his transformation into a Thanator, but in reverse – oh no!

He didn't want to think of it like that, not as his body melted down, the darkness of his skin softening to a human pale, a human white, a shade that no longer suited him anymore. His tail pulled back into his body, slowly, as if his spine was retracting, but he didn't know how to make sense of that, how his paws were suddenly so much weaker than before.

His toes splayed out, his extra legs drawing up, retracting. No… No, it couldn't be! He didn't want to be human again, bare and weak and naked, fighting against his transformation tooth and nail. If he hung onto his Thanator body for long enough, maybe everything would be reversed, maybe he would stay as he wanted to be, never again have to be turned back into a human against his will.

At least, that was what he hoped. That was all that he could hope even as his shoulders rounded. He leaned down, huffing and panting, his toes more flexible than before, settling onto what looked more like the palm of his hand than the sole of his foot. Even his claws itched as they pulled back into his fingers and the toes of his feet, a sense of loss gripping his stomach.

The change in the smoothness of his skin only gained a human texture as he lost the tough hide of the Thanator, his body shrinking more and more. So small, so diminutive… A man was less than a third of the length of a Thanator and he heaved on all fours, trying to balance on his arms and legs, sort of on all fours but not truly understanding just how he was down there, where the itching ache of his skin sucking back over a much smaller body came from.

Why then? Why had it chosen then to run out? He didn't know, not as the last remnants of his armoured tail pulled back into his body, clicking and clacking, shrinking, so small as if he was pulling into himself, sucking back in. It was uncomfortable, shifting and forcing his organs to comply with less space, his anatomy different.

He acutely felt the loss of his extra legs as they disappeared, smoothing down into his human skin as he gasped and whined, trying to paw at his face and finding his toes turning into long, human fingers… His fingers!

Rayla watched him all through it, the Thanator not knowing what to do, though, frankly, there was little that she could do, even as the quills around her face stood out straight and quivering in fear. Yet when there was nothing more before her other than a man, a human, like the ones that had infiltrated their planet, trying to live and trying to expand after that incident a decade ago…

She blinked, hunkering down, a growl in the back of her throat. Who were they? Were they…Auran?

Auran's chest heaved as he ducked his head down, though he couldn't lift his head, shaggy hair hanging in his face. His lungs! Oh, they burned, but they didn't feel like they were searing through, the ache fading as some manner of strength, even if it was not Thanator strength, returned to his limbs. The air there should have been toxic to humans, but, somehow, he was still breathing it, maybe with some of his Thanator body still in him.

“Who…are you?"

Rayla, of course, spoke in Thanator and he flinched, cowering. Oh, he did not want to have to reveal the truth to her, sweat dripping from his body, cold fear encasing him. His fingers curled into the dirt, but, with an almighty gulp of air, he knew that he had to tell her, that he had to be truthful.

“Hello…Rayla," he said slowly, speaking in Thanator also, the rasping hisses, grunts and growls making a language, though he was well-used to it after the months with them. “It's… Yes, it's me. It's Auran."

“How are you human?"

She was direct, though she didn't seem to know what to make of him either. He sighed, sitting up onto his knees, wondering if he should have covered his nudity. But Thanator did not have concerns about things like that…

“I'm…Rene," he confessed at last, though it took him a very long time to get the words out. “But…Auran too. I've been a palulukan with you for the last few months, but I was born a human."

“So…" She said slowly, lips quirking in a hint of a worried snarl, her world shaken. “You…weren't raised by humans? In captivity?"

He shook his head.

“I was with people, my kind…but I volunteered for the experiment to be transformed into a palulukan. I… I don't know how to say it. I was a researcher? A scientist?"

Neither sounded quite right in the Thanator tongue, but Auran ploughed on, regardless.

“I volunteered for a genetic experiment," he said, gulping down the lump in his throat, the emotion that threatened to well up. And… It was meant to be a humane way, a way to save the palulukan, an endangered species here on Pandora… It was not. I should have known that it never was for that."

Rayla reached out to him cautiously as if to pat him with a paw, but thought better of it, instead sitting before him, a little tension slipping from her. She did recognise him, the camber of his voice, how he spoke…

“The company wanted to use me as a glorified guard dog instead," he said flatly, getting it out quickly. “And…well, I'd be used as a weapon, fighting, securing skirmishes with limited personnel, moving more quickly than people can here. Once I found out about what they wanted to use me for, I escaped, of course… I couldn't have stayed there. Pandora was already my home then, is my home now…"

He met her eyes, though it was harder as a man than it was as a Thanator.

“That's when I found your group in the forest, the others. I knew I could never go back after meeting everyone, after seeing how you lived. And I didn't think it would even be possible to go back…for many reasons."

That was not something he wanted to go into right then, shaking his head and slumping, sobs breaking from his lungs.

“I…don't want this!" He cried, trying to wipe the tears from his face, lost and weak. “I…I thought that I could stay here, that this was forever, and I found everyone and…I can't go back! I never wanted to!"

She shifted a little closer, though still did not touch him, for she had never seen human sobbing before. He trembled, wrapping his arms around himself, finding some manner of composure again, as much as his chest still shook and ached with a yawning, gaping pain.

“Will…" He almost didn't want to ask. “Will the group treat me like an outcast now? My secret…exposed? What about…you? Rayla… Oh, Rayla…"

He trembled. Their relationship, their bond… What did it mean for that? Air licked at his skin, too cold to be comfortable.

Rayla stood slowly, closing the distance a little more, lowering her head so that eye contact was easier. She dwarfed him so easily, Thanator so much larger than human beings, though she maintained that eye contact with him deliberately. For he would always be Auran to her and that would never change, the Thanator that she had taught about life there needing more teaching and comfort than even she had anticipated.

“Here…"

She wrapped a massive forepaw around him, drawing in him…Rene or Auran? She would have to ask him later just how he preferred to be addressed, but she would see him as Auran for the time being, despite his old name, the name that he had had before.

“You will always belong here," she breathed. “This is always your home. You may not have been born a Thanator, but you will always and forever be one in my eyes."

Rayla drew him in close and warm to her body, his arms going around as much of her as possible, though he broke against her. Crumpling in against the Thanator's body, he exhaled, releasing tension that he had been very conscious of holding, needing her, wanting her, only that. No more… If he could live the rest of his life as a Thanator, to find that for himself, he would never have wanted anything else in the world ever again.

Auran pressed in closer, breathing in her scent as she rumbled lightly, a purr warming him through. He pulled back to look at her, caressing her face, something shifting inside him.

That bond, everything that had been changing and developing between them… Oh, he needed it, needed to show it, even though he didn't know how she felt too.

Something surged inside him and he parted his lips to say so, but…something was different. He tilted his head, shifting his weight, but Auran seemed to be moving without realising it, grunting in the back of his throat.

Rayla nudged him slightly, though he pushed into her more and more, shifting her a bit with his body. Was he getting…bigger? Or was that just his imagination? He felt heavier, as if his weight was sinking more into the ground again, a greater sense of solidity to him.

“Are you okay, Auran?"

But he couldn't answer her not as he gripped her, his hands stronger, fingers feeling a little less dextrous. He was still a man, yes, but he was stronger, muscle thickening and drawing his form into a larger shape, even as the rest of him grew larger, his physique drawing itself up as if his body was seeking to match the Thanator.

“I… Uh…"

“What's happening, Auran? Talk to me!"

“I don't know," he said, bigger and stronger, though still nothing to compare to a Thanator. “But… Please… There's something here, something I have to tell you."

And yet Rayla already knew as she whispered his name and that she felt it too.

“Yes… Yes… Yes, Auran…"

It was an unspoken decision, but their bodies moved in perfect time, as if they both knew exactly what it was that the other wanted, moving purely on instinct. They had not known each other for all that many months, but it was more than enough time to know one another in one way, moving forward in a new, fresh, exciting way.

Rayla grabbed him, growling softly as she lay on her back, pulling him over her so that he rested on her lower abdomen. The size difference was still immense between them, but his form growing larger and stronger, while still looking like himself, everything still very much in proportion.

“Your sincerity," she breathed. “Your wholeheartedness… It's awoken something in me, it's set my mating instincts alight, this fire inside me, Auran… Do you feel it too?"

His heart surged, pounding vehemently, and he groaned against her, rolling his hips forward. Following his instincts was easier, after being a Thanator, than he could have expected.

“I feel it too, Rayla," he said, not even trying to keep the wonder out of his voice. “Yes… Oh…"

He moaned softly, heat flooding him, but in a good way. It chased away the chill from his bones as he slid down her body between her splayed hind legs – the pair that was furthest back, after all. The other pair, in the middle, gently closed around him, supporting him as he kissed his way up her long, powerful legs, seeking out what lay between them.

“You are so special to me, Rayla."

He kissed her legs gently again, putting a soft touch on each, though she had already nodded her permission for him to slip lower. He wanted to honour her, to compliment her, to show her how special she was to him.

His lips found the slit of her sex, the edges growing a little puffier and fuller as if blood was racing to that region, though it was Auran's first time experiencing it in her. He'd wondered at Thanator mating, but not honestly pressed on that far, not knowing if that was the direction that their relationship was going in. He slid a finger around the edge of her slit, exploring it, though her sex was separate from her anal passage, for which he was glad, for that was at least a little more familiar to him.

She growled and rocked against him, though he followed her lead, letting his lips follow where his fingers had gone, kissing the edges of her sex, tongue flickering out to taste her essence. It was almost shockingly sweet with a sharp bite to it that made his teeth ache, but he still pressed on, lust and instinct guiding him. He grew, more and more, but it was slow and it came as naturally to him as breathing, as if he was filling his lungs with the right kind of air, the air that a Pandora-born creature should have been breathing, with every gasp.

What's happening to me?

_ _

Yet Auran did not want to stop. He was Auran, not Rene! Rene was a part of him, yes, but he chose Auran and he would forever choose Auran!

Passion swelled in him as the Thanator rocked and ground up against him, finding more leverage with the arch of her back grinding her hind end into the ground. He did as she bid, even as his skin darkened to that sultry shade of Thanator black, even if he could not pause to work out what was happening.

He almost did not care, not as his lips parted and let the delving flicker of his tongue flirt with her sex, tracing her lips, teasing her entrance, dipping inside. He explored her, seeking out what made her buck and groan with the most need, knowing the little sounds that she made and what most of them meant, even if there were some deeper nuances still to how that played out in sex for Rayla.

She growled and rocked her hips, her tail snaking back and forth under him, though she had to be careful of him. Though Rayla did not know what was coming to pass either, she yearned for more of his lips against her sex, the driving pull of his tongue until it lashed over something terribly sweet inside her, something that sent a shot of heat straight through the Thanator.

“Ohhhh…"

It was a moan both said aloud and one that emanated from the very core of her being, need throbbing. She wanted more, yes, so much more, but her partner of the moment was already giving her that, playing his tongue over that spot that had made her moan so deliciously, again and again, all as if giving her pleasure was the one and only thing that he needed.

If her soul could have matched any better with Auran, she would have been surprised.

He pressed closer, not wanting to leave his hands out even as his fingers rubbed around her slit, searching for even more sensitive spots as her body twitched up against him. Auran had a lot to learn, even as his fingers grew longer still and thicker, the nails forming into claws with an aching itch. But he would learn all of that, all with her, all to do more with her, to be with her.

She groaned and he leaned in, putting more pressure down through his hands as she arched into his touch. His tongue worked as deeply as it could, reaching a little further, becoming more and more like what he had had for the past few months, though Auran did not yet know that he had been blessed. He did not know that Eywa had offered him a reprieve, a second chance, but notions like that would come to light later, much later.

The moment was for his and Rayla's love to flourish, to flare up, bright and strong, like a shooting star flying through the cosmos of the heavens above. He suckled on her folds as she bucked against him, a hind foot scraping through the dirt and clawing it up as orgasm burst through her. Her arousal thickened around his tongue, the sweetness, somehow, turning to sour, though he still hungrily ate her out, considering only her need, only her pleasure, nothing else at all mattering to him.

“Mmmm…"

Dimly, he was aware of her climax trailing off, that she wanted something more from him, but the Thanator had to physically, even if gently, roll onto her stomach for him to see. Auran groaned, as if he was being deprived of something, yet the pounding of his heart had him pressing up to her, forgetting that he had needs of his own too.

And instinct was strong… He was not a man, but something in-between what he yearned to be and the man he had been, learning and changing. He hardly dared hope as his length ached and throbbed, pulsing up to full hardness, but it could not be denied either as his bones ached and crackled lightly, forming new limbs.

The extra pair of legs… They were there, protruding from his sides where they should have been, and he grunted thickly in the back of his throat as he pushed over her back. He was still so small that Rayla had to lie on her belly for him to move over her, but his legs felt stronger, his toes curling as if they were becoming claws too, everything about him stronger and trembling with the essence of what it was to be a Thanator.

“Yesssss…"

He let out a long, roiling hiss as the depths of his love for Rayla surged, flaring up thick and fast as if it was something that not even he should ever have attempted to hide. He had not known about holding back, that there had been a part of his human psyche still in there, but all that ceased to matter as she pushed her armoured tail out of the way for him.

As if it was meant to be, whispering her name, he pushed in, finding the heat of her sex wrapping around him. From there, it was easy, the beauty of true instinct kicking in, dictating just how he was to thrust, even though his body was still transforming, even though he was not yet fully a Thanator. He had to be going in that direction, however, thrusting and filling her passage with loving, deep thrusts, taking her desperately with every stroke. Oh, Auran had never thought he would be fortunate enough to find himself in such a position, to be quite like that.

His spine itched as it grew, a strange, pulling sensation, but one that he was glad of all the same. He didn't look around to see just how his armoured tail grew and grew, but it settled him, his body longer, shoulders pushing back so that they would be in a better position for forelegs rather than arms. Auran groaned. All as it was meant to be… He would never have chosen to turn into a human again if he had ever been given a say in that matter.

It was good to feel his armoured tail whipping out, however, twisting back and forth, more himself again, though even Auran didn't know whether he was truly coming all the way back to his old self or not, his Thanator self. Every thrust into her sex pulled him closer and closer to her, for even his shaft was growing, filling Rayla in a different way entirely.

It was strange too, to feel his shaft changing even while it was inside her, though he honestly could not remember much at all of the transformation into the Thanator body in the first place. Back then, it was something of a blur, twisting and pulling together into an aching vibration of pain, but it was different that time. Very different.

Becoming a Thanator again, his face pushing out, showing a little more of the traditional Thanator features, his jaws bulging, teeth aching as they sharpened and moved to line that much longer jaw… That was all that he wanted, that and Rayla. He needed to be with her, though he almost did not know whether he was Auran or Rene anymore, both names and beings blending into one.

Maybe that was all that it was meant to be. Maybe that was all it had ever been meant to be.

But he let himself languish there delirious too, revelling in being with Rayla, how her body rippled and pulled around his cock as he thrust. It was a moment of beauty with the forest and the waterfall too alive in bioluminescence, seeds with puffs of fluff attached to them floating by. Everything was alive around them, everything that he had known, but it was more beautiful still as her sex pulled around him.

He met her eyes, though it was strange, even for him, to be on top of the Thanator. She was still so much bigger than him, though he was maybe a third of his old Thanator size, a far cry from how powerful he had been. And yet his toes and claws dug into the soil solidly, holding himself in place for every single empowering thrust that he and his body had to give.

His cock speared into her as Rayla broke and panted, whining his name, though it came with a sense of power to it in the Thanator's language.

“Ohhh…" She moaned. “Auran… My Auran…"

Yes, he wanted to be hers, always hers. He was her Auran and that was who he chose, even as her sex pulled around him, as if she was actively trying to coax his seed forth. His balls ached strangely, though not as if they were in need, more that they were changing and transforming, though he couldn't get all the parts of his mind to line up, considering what his body was being asked to do.

For it was changing as his muscles bulked out over his shoulders and down what was becoming each of his forelegs, thrusting harder and faster, need driving him on. There was a tightness there, right between his hind legs, and he no longer wanted the trappings of humanity, for they only served to weigh him down.

Even Rayla could not have said entirely what was happening, though it had been a long time since she had taken a mate for herself. That time had passed and she had not expected another that she bonded with like Auran to come into her life, but there he was, as bold as life itself. Every thrust that filled her sex had her heart singing and lurching with a special kind of ecstasy, as if sexual pleasure sparked through her, a shockwave running through her entire body, using the network of her veins to get where it needed to go.

Rayla groaned deep in the back of her throat, though the sound transformed into a rumbling purr, rising from the core of her being. Oh, how she craved him, needed him, though, as always, everything had come together at the precise moment that it was needed. She didn't have to consider the grander implications of anything because it was all in the hands of Pandora, the planet that gave them the beauty of life – and to let go of any wider concerns was a beauty in itself.

But she adored seeing him transform back – a transformation like none that she had ever seen before. Not with ayfalulukan, no… Never with them. But she was glad to be there, languishing as part of the moment, letting everything wash over her, old, needed muscle layering Auran's body.

Yet he knew what he was there to do, regardless, one way or the other. He thrust and thrust, his shaft growing larger, longer more and more Thanator-like with every passing moment. Though his Thanator partner growled, keen to see things reversed, snarling briefly as she lunged up for him, her tail wrapping around.

“Oof!"

Rayla was careful with him, though Auran still bumped rather forcibly into the ground, his head spinning with the pounding force of his lust, all the energy that his transformation took up. He urged his body on to transform more quickly, racing for his Thanator form, the strength and power and sense of stability in himself that he was ever so desperate to reclaim. Of course, it had originally been forced upon him, but it was all he craved right there and then.

Well, besides Rayla on top of him, taking control as she pinned him, riding his cock. Her tail curled around his possessively, with the full limit of the flexibility that the armoured tails allowed. Auran's secondary forelegs grew out more steadily, now that he had a greater length to his body to accommodate them, lust rising with every thrust down that Rayla made on his cock.

Auran moaned, free to feel with her on top of him, enjoying the reversal of their roles. He did not always have to be in charge, after all, not when he trusted his partner, and Rayla had already done so much for him. Of course, there was a lot to talk about still, but only so much could be taken at a single time, his shaft slick with her arousal, need throbbing through.

She tightened around him a little more, the Thanator very nearly back to his old size, though his secondary forelegs still had a foot more to grow, the claws prickling out, growing down and hooking around. They were not so hooked as to be difficult to run, but still had to have enough of a spike to them to dig into the ground and give the Thanators good purchase on slippery surfaces, the flexibility of their feet letting them leap from rock to rock, even when they were slick with moss.

His head was mostly Thanator-shaped, the dark blue of his skin gleaming in the growing bioluminescence of the forest, patterns finally sparkling to life back along his body. His connection with Pandora surged and Auran grunted, so very close to his high, despite his attention being dragged back and forth with his transformation. On his back with Rayla on top of him, he grunted, tail lashing back and forth through the dirt, cutting up the grass even though the dull roar of the waterfall still lingered in the background of the scene, his heart lifting.

With Rayla, everything was okay. He could go forward, with Rayla, if only he could stay with her. His Thanator form was strong, his secondary forelegs finally long enough to reach the ground, the shape of his face defined with an ever so slightly masculine edge, though he was not larger than Rayla. It was as the spines protruding from his face began to grow properly, stretching out and out and out, that he took control again in a lustful manner, flipping and rolling Rayla over to the side so that she, once again, was on her back.

But he wanted to see every second of it, her face, the gape of her jaws as, finally, climax hit her. She bellowed a roar that sang to his very slow, all the fine details slotting into place on his body, from the tiniest of muscles at the base of his claws to the twitching lines of his muzzle that pulled and controlled his lips. His teeth elongated, filling out his jaws, and he settled, finally, at long, long last, back into his Thanator body, the body that he was truly meant to be in.

Yet orgasm tore through him, Rayla's pussy rippling around him, begging him to feel more, to explode inside her, to consummate their relationship well and truly. There was only one for him and, feeling the power and strength, the complete sense of reality in his Thanator body, Auran knew that he would never want to go back.

Thick, hot ropes of Thanator seed spurted up inside his partner and he stayed buried deep, his head pushed down against hers as their tails curled and brushed up against one another, taking the moment to a more tender one altogether. His forelegs, both pairs, wrapped around as much of his mate and partner as he could, though his claws were gentle, so very gentle. He pressed up inside her as deep as he could possibly go, her sex stretched around him, though there was the perfect amount of friction between their bodies.

Simply put, they were made for one another and nothing would ever take that away from them. His roar echoed through the forest, heralding the cumulation of their lovemaking, for it was so much more than simple lust or mating that lingered between them in the closeness of their bodies, Rayla squirming under him just for an extra tingle of sensation. The spines around his face quivered and hers did the same in return, communicating their needs, the softness of their intentions towards one another.

All was right… And they were together, which was the most important thing of all. His shaft throbbed inside her, slowly softening, though it would retreat into his Thanator slit when it was ready, when his body had determined that their mating, their lovemaking, was done. That, however, was up to both him and Rayla.

He slid out of her softly, drawing her in close with a throaty growl, holding her gently. He'd never thought before that such a large body could be tender, but Rayla had taught him so much more than he could ever have learned as a man. Maybe he'd always been meant to be a Thanator, relishing in the relief of being back and whole once again, with her.

Night-time closed around them, the bioluminescence of the forest well and truly came to life, more lines of fungi sparking through the ground, showing trails and pathways that had not been there before. Yet all was as it was meant to be, relaxing against one another, the Thanator close and warm, all so they were closer than ever. Spots and patterns caught his eye, trawling lazily over them, ghosts and galaxies of blue-green light all winding in and out of one another as if they had a rhythm and rhyme all of their own, though the Thanator had never seen them in their beauty quite like that before.

“It's beautiful," he breathed, even though he had seen it before, both as a human and as a Thanator. “But…no more so than you. Rayla… I…"

“You have nothing to explain to me," she murmured, nuzzling in close to him, her head tucked under his, a dribble of his essence still trickling from her slightly puffy folds. “I am here. You are here. That is enough."

He liked that. He loved that. Before he'd met the Thanator, he had not even known what he'd wanted – though how could Auran have known without seeing it and experiencing it for himself? He needed to be shown the way, taught a different way of being, one that worked with the world around him rather than against it.

“If the genetic experiment you spoke of was to repopulate the Thanator species," Rayla said, a teasing note curling through her tone. “Then it most certainly worked."

Auran blinked, tilting his head a little, nose brushing hers.

“What do you mean? Why do you think that?"

She grinned, baring her teeth, though it was merely a Thanator smile, not with any menace in it.

“Thanators mate for life, Auran…Rene…" She said, using both of his names, and the term that he would have used for their kind, perhaps to be a shade more familiar to him. “And I would be honoured to spend my life with you, to start a family with you. Only with you."

If his skin had possessed the ability, he would have blushed, though warmth spread through him nonetheless, resplendent in the beauty of his partner, his mate, the bioluminescent world that he had come to love. And he was a part of it, even if he had had to revert to his human form, only briefly, to know what he wanted. The guiding force of Eywa would never lead him astray, he understood that at last, though he had never managed to see it as clearly before. Eywa had given him a second chance at life as a Thanator and he would forever be grateful for that, and for Rayla.

In the truth of passion, he had found where he belonged.