I don’t think Delphi heard me. She’s still trying to peer over my mate. I stare at her hand, suspended in the space between them like it’s nothing at all. And yes, I don’t want her touching his injured wing, but I also don’t want her touching him at all.
A surprised squeak is forced out of me when I feel Aloryk’s tail wrap possessively around my leg. He tugs me closer usingthat tail, but his outward focus is still on the newcomers. It reminds me of how protective he became when even his own people showed up to rescue us from that jungle, like there’s no doubt in his mind at all that I’m all his.
There’s always been no doubt for him.
That hot, uncomfortable feeling starts to ebb away, especially when I catch Delphi watching the way Aloryk’s tail holds tightly onto me, right before she gives me what I think is a genuine smile.
“The females have only just been rescued these past few days. Zarriko cannot expect for them to be ready to move tribes so soon,” High Spear Rynn says, his voice firm, but calm. I eye the way his tail flicks behind him like he’s supremely annoyed by these guys crashing the party. “And in any case, the matter will be discussed at length between Zarriko and I when he deems it important enough to make the journey himself.”
The biggest guy from the other tribe - the one who looks like he would like nothing better than for this to turn into an all-out fight from the way he’s mean-mugging everyone - simply nods his head at the elderly guy.
“High Spear Zarriko is busy tending to his mate,” the older Trixikka says, his voice firm and commanding. “We are here to confirm the rumors, and to take females back with us.”
At that moment, it’s as though I feel the whole crowd tense. Aloryk’s big hand blindly reaches back and grabs my arm, keeping me tightly tucked against his back. The growl he erupts with is so deep, I can feel it in my own chest. And then, I realize, he’s not the only one growling. Looking around, I see almost all the Trixikka males in defensive stances.
Oh shit, is this actually going to end up in a brawl? The other guys are overwhelmingly outnumbered, but that massive guy doesn’t look bothered by all the hostility at all.
Just then, the human woman, a blonde with dark roots now showing steps forward, her hands up in a placating manner. “Whoa, whoa, whoa!” she urges. “That was phrased badly,” she says, throwing a glare at the elder male before hissing, “don’t put words into Jaryk’s mouth!”
The older male looks irritated for a moment before he bows his head and takes a step back. The human woman then clears her throat and brushes at non-existent dirt on her pajamas. “Um,” she starts, addressing the crowd. She must spot someone, because she pauses to do an awkward little wave, and I see it’s Alana and Serena she’s grinning at. “What Jaryk would say if he could,” she swallows and throws a glance over her shoulder at the mean-looking Trixikka. “-Is that we wanted to extend an invitation to any of the new arrivals to come with us. There’s some other humans at Zarriko’s tribe and we’d love to meet you. Even-” I watch as she begins fidgeting with the hem of her sleep-shirt, clearly uncomfortable with both the tension, and the size of the crowd she’s addressing. She takes a step backward, her back connecting with the big male. He doesn’t move. He stays right where he is, like a solid wall of muscle at her back while he reaches around to her front and pries her fidgeting fingers away from her top, leaving his hand there to cover hers. The woman takes a deep, fortifying breath and continues, plastering a bright smile onto her face. “Even if you guys just want to visit for a few nights? We can arrange for our guys to bring you right back if you don’t want to stay.”
“Like… a sleepover?” Chastity calls out. “I’m down for that.”
Rynn pinches at the bridge of his nose and tells his men to ‘stand down’. I hadn’t even realized there’d been a good number of Trixikka with their spears raised until they all went back to a neutral position, butting the bottom of their spears in the dirt practically at the same time. It was kind of eerie if I’m being honest. “I think it is time for my Second Spear and I to extend aninvitation to our guests to feast and rest with us this night so that we may discuss this further,” he says, but before he even finishes getting his words out, Serena is bounding forward, leaping over the feasting space and doing happy little claps as she grabs for the woman excitedly.
I watch as they squeal like old friends reuniting and give each other a hug. The scary one - Jaryk - looks reluctant to let his girl go and my gaze zooms in to notice that he doesn’t have any heart-stars yet. The women part from their embrace and Serena grabs the other girl’s hand, tugging her over to everyone else. The whole scene makes me ache for my best friend Niska, back on Earth. We’d drifted apart recently with both of us being busy. I hope she’s ok.
I find myself glancing to my side, to see Delphi still peering over Aloryk. Could we become friends somehow? Once she knows the truth? We’ve both grown so much since that time I practically ambushed her with news she wasn’t ready or willing to hear.
I wet my lips and take a breath to speak - to ask if maybe I could talk to her alone.
But Aloryk turns and takes my hand before I can utter a single word. “Come,” he grunts, “let us keep you out of sight before Zarriko’s males get any ideas about taking you from me.”
* * *
Aloryk looks weighed down in thought when he returns to our hut. He’d stayed with me for an hour or so before his pacing had whipped up a feeling of discomfort in me and I’d urged him to just go and find out what’s going on.
“Zarriko’s males are staying this night. At daybreak they return to their tribe with any females who wish to go with them.”
“I don’t think any of the new women will want to go just yet. They just got here,” I say, frowning to myself.
Aloryk grunts and nods, saying, “they have been told the same and are not contesting the fact. They are not happy that our tribe went to retrieve the females from the mimyckah without their aid considering the large search party had been a combined force of both tribes.”
I scoff, looking down at the semi-permanent tattoo I’d given myself only this morning.‘Finders-Keepers’the text says next to a dark flight feather. This whole thing sounds like a big ol’ game of ‘finders-keepers’ to these guys. I guess I just got lucky that Aloryk was the one to find me.
Aloryk kneels down to my level where I’m sitting on the nest-bed. “You will stay here until they have gone. I do not want any of them to notice you.”
I start to laugh at that - like any of these huge, handsome warriors could take one lookat me, and be so taken, they have to steal me away. It’s a ridiculous thought.
My laughter gets caught in my throat however, when Aloryk issues me with a stern look.
Ok, so that thought isn’t so ridiculous to him. My cheeks feel warm as I avert my gaze from his burning look. I’ll stay hidden away for the rest of the day if it makes him feel better.
But if he’s so sure that those heart-stars of his are going to appear for me, then why does it matter?
Chapter 28 - Polly
Aloryk hadn’t been joking when he’d said he was going to keep me hidden. He’d gone out to get us food, to fetch me water to bathe with, and even some thin hide that he’d urged me to amuse myself by decorating with the same stain I used on our tattoos. Not that I’d been bored, not with the way Aloryk had practically pleaded with me to ride his face again.
