And yet Stay-see is upset. Very upset. I have never seen her so furious. Mystified, I stare after her as she marches out of the canyon.
“Well?” my sister prompts.
I turn to look at her. “Well what?”
“Are you going to go apologize?” She juggles the two nests in her arms, twisting away before Chompy can grab at one with his teeth.
Am I? I pull the frozen egg out of my tunic. It is still whole, rock hard and frozen solid in the frigid weather. Stay-see will bepleased…I think. I got this for her. All I wanted to do was make my mate smile. Make her sayYes, Pashov, I want to be your mate again. Please come back to my furs.But those were not the words she said.
I am fucking furious.
I do not want her upset. I want her smiling and hungry for my kisses.
Harrec scoops something off the ground and offers it to me. It is the other frozen egg. “Go after your mate,” he tells me. “Quit being a fool.”
“I am being a fool?” I echo, surprised.
“Are you not? You are here, talking to us, when you should be kissing your mate.” He takes one of the nests from Farli’s hands, drops the egg into it, then offers both to me with a grin. “Go and tell her that you miss her and wish to take her to your furs. Everyone in the hunter cave is tired of your snoring. You should return to your mate.”
“If she will have me,” I say, dubious.
Farli rolls her eyes. “Do not be stupid, brother. Stay-see is upset because she worries over you. If she did not care, she would not worry so much. Go chase after her.” My sister thinks for a moment and quickly adds, “And tell her that she is pretty.”
“Pretty?”
“A female likes to be told she is attractive,” my sister lectures me as if she is the expert. “When was the last time you told Stay-see you thought she was pretty?”
I think…and I do not remember if I have told her that at all lately. I grunt acknowledgment; maybe Farli is right. I put the two frozen eggs in the nest and tuck it under my arm. “But what?—”
Farli points at me. “You are thinking too much. Just go!”
I do. I turn and jog down the canyon after Stay-see. She is now out of sight, which means she is likely walking fast—storming—back to the vee-lage.
It takes a few moments, but eventually I can see her stiff little back as she marches through the valley alone. She looks very small and lost, my mate. I feel a sense of unhappiness that she is so alone. I should be there at her side, comforting her. Stay-see is obviously scared and unhappy about something, and it is my fault.
I want to make her smile again.
She is also going in the wrong direction to get back to the vee-lage. The thought makes me smile, because my mate is so sheltered and protected that she cannot even find her way around in a canyon. In that moment, I vow that she will always be cared for enough that she will never have to worry about hunting, or hiking, or getting lost. I will protect her from the world.
But first, I must get her to stop crying.
I think for a minute, then begin to creep up behind her, my steps slow and silent. There is not much snow here in the gorge—strange, since most of the valleys in our land fill up quickly with snow. But this one is protected by the high lip that keeps the worst of the wind and snow out, and today I am thankful for it. The lack of snow on the rocky ground means that I can move silently without my footsteps crunching. I sneak up on her and watch her swaying backside as she moves.
And then I grab it.
Stay-see emits a shriek so loud that it echoes in the canyon. She jumps around and gives me an incredulous look. “What thefuck, Pashov!?”
Oh, the fuck word again. She is very angry. Perhaps that was a mistake. I shrug, trying to play my actions off. “I cannot help myself. I am fascinated by your lack of a tail.”
Her expression changes, softening. She swipes angrily at her cheeks. “I’m very mad at you right now. Don’t even try to be cute.”
Am I being cute? She starts to walk away again, and I follow her. “Tell me why you are angry, Stay-see.”
She ignores me, still trying to push past.
“Will you not speak to me?” I entreat again. “Tell me what I did wrong so I may fix it?”
“I don’t want to talk right now,” Stay-see says, a husky note in her throat, as if she is about to start crying again.
