“What are you so happy about?” I demanded. “You wanted me to make it clear she’s myAneah. How can I do that if I’m never with her?”
“Take the week,” he shrugged. “I’m not stopping you.”
“Good!”
He cocked his head to the side, regarding me. “Are you sure it’s not you who needs your wife’s attention?”
I growled. “Of course I do!” I slashed a hand through the air, pacing the floor. “She’s my mate. MyAneah. I need her like my next breath!”
“Okay,” Zacal said. “Is there a reason you’re shouting at me about it instead of going to her?”
Pausing, I faced him, looking for the trick in his calm demeanor. “Why aren’t you fighting me on this? You didn’t even want to give me time off to pick her up from Muria.”
Zacal shifted, gesturing vaguely at the doorway. “Della likes her.”
“Of course she does. Cora is perfect.”
He gave a noncommittal hum. “Della certainly thinks she’s perfect for you, at least. Your aunt chastised me for nearly an hour last night for keeping you away from your mate too often. I’m not an idiot, Yiri. I’ve already arranged for Evik to take over some of your responsibilities this week. I’ll send the rest to Nerus.”
“Well… Good.”
Zacal rolled his eyes. “Thank your aunt on your way out.”
My wife lounged on a couch in Esti’s parlor as she watched the male who had somehow become her closest friend try on Esti’s new designs. As I walked in, that happened to be a tailored Earth suit with no shirt under the jacket.
“See, it looks better this way,” he said, his fingertips caressing his own chest. “It’s too boring, all covered up. Plus, I can’t flash my piercing.”
He pulled the jacket aside to reveal the iridescent ring through his nipple.
“Sometimes less is more,” Cora said.
But Esti bit her lip, her eyes drawn to the flash of metal, one of many on the unusual Ibarutan male. Across the room, Zoddi’s eyes were on Esti’s mouth, and not on the door, protecting my wife.
“What do you think, Esti?” Qhev’in asked.
“Oh,” she breathed. “I think you look perfect. “But maybe… um… Let me get something to make it even better.” She spun for the door and stopped when she saw me. “Mr. Ahlon! Welcome! I’m so sorry, I didn’t hear you come in. Please, sit with your wife. Can I get you any refreshment?”
I shook my head and went to Cora, who immediately reached for me, although she was frowning.
“He meant to say,no thank you,Esti,” she said, arching a reproving brow my way.
“Trying to teach me manners,Aneah?” I asked, scooping her into my lap.
“I’ll get them to stick eventually,” she said, twisting to kiss me. “You already stopped threatening Qhev’s life. I’d say it’s working.”
I’d taken to holding her in my arms or, preferably, on my lap any time Qhev’in was around. It settled me in a way I had never experienced before. Most daernir females didn’t allow such familiar touch in front of others. Cora didn’t just allow it; she didn’t expect me to ask first. She sank into my embrace every time, leaning against me and sometimes holding me right back, like there was no other place she’d rather be than my arms. When she gave me that, how could I be petty and complain about her friend?
“Here we are,” Esti said, returning with a long, thin chain draped between her hands. Approaching Qhev’in, the little female stepped onto a small platform to bridge some of the gap in height. “May I?” she asked, her cheeks tinged pink.
Qhev’in stepped closer to her with a sultry grin. “Please.”
Esti looped the chain around his neck, lifting and arranging the gathered length of his hair over one shoulder before taking a long, dangling end of the chain and…Ibar. She attached it to his nipple piercing. Zoddi shifted in the corner, his jaw flexing. Qhev’in might be out of danger with me, but he couldn’t say the same for Zoddi. The male had had his eye on Esti for a year or more. He was probably regretting introducing her to Cora now.
“Oooooh,yeah,” Qhev’in said, a thread of his famous Ibarutan burr woven through his words. It wasn’t a bark, but it was enough to make Esti cover her face in a fit of giggles and Cora shift in my lap.
“Watch it, Kon,” I warned.
“Please forgive my indiscretion,” he said, not sounding sorry at all as he grinned down at Esti.
