"I do not care what not-mates do or do not do," I tell her, gently leaning my forehead against hers. "And do not ever apologize to me for...that."
She blinks, trying to hide the wry grin threatening to bloom across her swollen lips. "It's just... this hut... everything you've made for me and-" her hand falls to rest on her swelling belly before taking a stuttering breath and stepping away. "I really appreciate it, Mavyx. I know we annoy each other but I-"
"You do not need to thank me," I tell her, spending all my life's wishes on having her mouth upon mine again. "Unless-" I say, indicating to my mouth, my brows rising "- you want to dothatagain? That would be most welcome." She huffs with a smirk, crossing her arms over her chest as her cheeks flood with a pretty deep rosy shade. "You might even get me to say ‘please’," I grin.
Ah-Lanah shakes her head and sits on her nest. The nest that I made for her. The sight is enough to knock the breath from my lungs. My nest, my soft hides, my feathers.
My not-mate.
I clear my throat and nod my head. "I'll leave you to look around," I say, backing away and out of the hut. I have other things to occupy my mind for the day, I have duties to attend to, I have inexperienced Protectors to train and patrols to organize.
But all that soars through my mind is that ifthatis how she reacts to me building her a hut of her own, then I need to start laying foundation stones for a whole fucking village for my Ah-Lanah.
The rest of my day should be filled with Second Spear duties and the Goddesses know that I try. It is just that when I've experienced Ah-Lanah's keesing, nothing in these lands feels the same. Training the leftover Protectors - the unskilled and the youthful - doesn't feel as important as it once might have. Going out with the hunters to bolster our store of meats doesn't feel important. Providing precious life-stones to our craftsmales to shape into blade and spear doesn't feel important.
Ah-Lanah feels important. Ah-Lanah and her youngling.
I am a fearsome Trixikka Protector, skilled in combat and on the hunt. My High Spear trusts me to command his males. I have seasons upon seasons of experience in tirelessly keeping my Tribe and Temple safe.
And then this little human female came into my life with her softness - curves that the Goddesses themselves must have designed just for me - and those eyes, those lips, that sharp and sweet little tongue.
And I am undone.
She could ask anything of me - anything at all - and it would be hers.
My not-mate, my star, my Ah-Lanah.
I am grinning to myself like a half-witted idiot when I come upon Tryll, the male who had been tasked with watching over Ah-Lanah while she crafted with clay. The stupid grin slides off my face before I approach him.
"Second Spear," he says as soon as he spots me heading his way, his spine straightening and his head bowing.
I grunt acknowledgment of his greeting and waste no time with pleasantries. "What were you talking about when I happened upon you and Ah-Lanah in the crafter's hut?"
Tryll pales and stammers a little, but he tells it all when I fix him with a stern stare.
Some time later, I am grinning from ear-to-ear again, the ugliest-looking seed pot I've ever seen drying on the shelving in my own hut.
CHAPTER 18: ALANA
"Oh my God, it's so cute that he made a little crib for the baby!" Serena says, stroking a hand over the smooth wooden frame.
I nod and smile but my mind is somewhere else entirely.
I... IkissedMavyx.
And I'd wanted more than that.
I'm not sure what it is I'm meant to be feeling right now. Maybe you could put it down to 'baby-brain' or whatever but it's like there's several different voices in my head and they're all saying different things all at once - all contradicting each other and trying to shout to be the loudest.
But they're allmyvoice.
And-
Well, fuck. That sounds so damn insane that I start to think maybe it's not 'baby-brain' after all - maybe I've finally lost it.
All it took was for that big guy to do something so incredibly sweet and a switch flipped in my brain. In that moment I had to show him what his gesture had meant to me. I had to.
My eyes glance up at the opal-chip star above the crib. The life-stones are still glowing and the effect is beautiful. Serena, Bea, and Tessa are cooing over the rest of the hut but I can't hear a word of it. All I can hear is an echo of that massive man's purr and the whimper from his throat when I'd pulled away.
