I couldn't believe that was the first thing to come out of his mouth.
"I-you..."I was going to kill him."Fuck you!"I finally choked out."I can't believe you seriously think this counts.I'm not going to be your mate because you made me walk ten feet off course, when youknewshe was in here!"I was yelling so loud my throat hurt but I couldn't seem to stop.To think I'd been having warm and fuzzy feelings about this manipulative asshole just a few hours ago.
"Um, Taz?"Penny's soothing voice broke through my rage attack and she tugged me away from the turoch I was about to strangle.
"What?"I snapped.
"Why don't you come back to my tent?You can take a bath, have a snack, maybe calm down?"She was eyeing me like I was a bomb and it was pissing me off.
"Don't tell me to calm down."I closed my eyes and tried to reign in my temper.This wasn't Penny's fault, I’d just found her again, I didn’t need to ruin our reunion with a temper tantrum."You know what?A bath sounds great."
***
My friends were silentas they led me out of the big tent and through the crowded maze of camp.Most of the horned aliens were at the feast, and I could hear the raucous laughter rising behind us as we walked through the tent village that had sprung up while I slept off my near death experince.
Remembering that Dargo had saved me from the percer barely took the edge off my anger, and I ground my teeth.The least he could have done was tell me my friends were alive.
"Here we are," Penny announced, stopping at a tent nearly twice the size of the others we'd passed.She ducked inside and I reluctantly followed her.The last thing I wanted to do was sit inside another stuffy tent.I needed to walk, pace off some of my frustration.But I also wanted to reassure myself that Penny and Hope were okay.
The inside of the tent was nicer than I expected.The center pole was twice as tall as me, and the floor was covered in a thick mat of fiber that reminded me of steel wool.A pile of blankets took up one whole corner and a thin curtain of fabric half concealed the simple sleeping area.
I turned in a circle, taking in the massive ax resting on the floor and the big metal bowl filled with glowing coals that lit up the space.
"Are you two bunking together?"I asked, pretty sure I knew the answer.There was only one bed and Hope had looked pretty comfortable with the blond turoch from the party.
Hope let out a nervous chuckle and her face turned a dull red.
"No, I have a tent with Aeko."She pointed at the side of the tent."We're the last ones in this row."
I raised an eyebrow, daring her to ignore the elephant in the room.
She didn't."I guess you're curious about the Aeko thing?"
"Curious?"I countered."I'm on the edge of my seat."
Hope settled herself cross legged on the floor, scooping her blonde hair up on top of her head and puffing out her cheeks.
"Yeah, so I'm dating an alien."
I followed her lead and sat down, surprised to find the fiber mat scratchy but not uncomfortable.
"Dating?As in consensually and on a trial basis?"It had been barely a week since Hope went missing, and now she was 'dating' an alien.I had so many questions and absolutely every single one was inappropriate.Good thing I had no filter.
Hope rolled her eyes.
"So we're not dating, he's my mate.But please don't make me spell it out for you because it's still weird for me, too."
"Wow."I leaned back on my hands and grimaced when the motion tugged at my burned arm."I thought you were single for life."
She shrugged, a dazed smile spreading across her face.
"Apparently, I needed to get swept off my feet by an alien."
"Literally," Penny muttered.
I zeroed in on my best friend.She looked terrible, dark circles ringed her eyes, she was thinner and there was a defensive curl to her shoulders I didn’t like.But I wasn't the kind of person that danced around a touchy subject.
"What about you?"I waved a hand at the spacious tent and nodded at the bed that was way too big for one human woman."Are you sleeping with an alien, too?Am I the only one that kept her pants on when the world ended?"
