None of this was his fault, in fact, if I’d just gone with him when he’d offered to take me to his camp, neither of us would be in this situation.Yet another cry worthy realization.This was my fault and I’d gotten poor Tovis beaten up and captured alongside me.
He shifted, wincing slightly like his arms hurt from being cuffed behind him.
“A single high level syto ruled over each cruiser, the females are called Kwins.And likely, she’d keep you as a pet.A status symbol to prove she’s still as powerful as she was before they all got stranded here.”
A pet.I wanted to cry again, my nose started to run and I sucked in a shuddering breath.Scratch that, Iwascrying again.
Tovis let out a pained sound and his tail flicked over his leg and wrapped around my wrist, the tuft of hair at the end scratching pleasantly against my skin.
“Don’t cry, I’ll get you out, I promise.It might not be tonight, or tomorrow, but soon enough they’ll make a mistake or there’ll be an opening andI will get you out.”
“You shouldn’t even be here,” I sobbed, staring down at the weirdly comforting clasp of his tail on my wrist.It should be freaking me out, he had a tail, that was objectively weird from a human standpoint.But his skin was smooth and warm, and the little tuft was kind of cute, and it was frankly adorable that he was trying to hold onto me with a limb that clearly wasn’t made to be holding things.
I was possibly having a breakdown if I thought anything about this jacked up alien guy was cute.
“Of course I should be here, did you think I wouldn’t look for you?”he sounded offended and confused and I bit my lip to hold back another sob.
“If I’d just come with you when you asked we wouldn’t be in this mess.And besides, I’m not your responsibility, and you almost got killed trying to help me.”
He stared at me for a second, his eyes flicking over my face like I’d said something so ridiculous he thought I was joking.
“Jessa-”
“No,” I sniffed.“Thank you for trying to help me, but I amsosorry I got you into this mess.”
He huffed out a frustrated breath and awkwardly crunched his impressive abs until he was sitting up.I gaped at the display of strength while internally daring myself to see if I could sit up with my hands tied behind my back if I ever got out of this.
Tovis took a deep breath and glared over at the huddle of blue males.
“Sytos!”he barked.
“What are you doing?”I hissed, lurching up onto my knees like I could forcibly shut him up.
A few heads turned our way and Tovis puffed out his chest.
“I claim ulto over this female.”His deep voice rang out like a challenge and my chest tightened as I waited for something to happen.He made the strange statement like it carried weight, and I didn’t know what alien culture thing I was missing, but it felt serious.
There was a beat of silence and then one of the sytos sighed, shook his head and muttered, “Primitive animals.”
I looked between Tovis and the sytos who were back to ignoring us, feeling like I’d missed something on multiple levels.Tovis relaxed slightly and nodded to himself like he’d accomplished what he set out to do.
“What was that?”I demanded.It had been a little...anticlimactic, but Tovis looked satisfied.
“I’ve claimed you as my mate,” he said simply.“An ulto needs witnesses.I planned on claiming you in front of my friends and fellow turochs, but now you cannot doubt that I will always come for you.A turoch is devoted to his mate, he will always protect her to his last breath.”
I stared at him.There really was nothing to say to that.
