“It’s okay,” I said, waving off the bygones. “In the end, I’m glad I did it. Because I got to meet Kur’tok.”
I turned to him with a big smile. I was so proud and excited to finally show him off to my friends.
But Kur’tok seemed subdued. He eyed the other two Maeleons like a guilty dog. Where was my big, buff, red-flag alpha alien?
I put my arm around his lower back—at least, as far as it would go. Kur’tok glanced warmly at me. He appreciated the comfort.
“There goes the grand speech I’d planned for when I returned to the village,” Kur’tok mumbled.
Zat’tor perked up, his feelers rising. “Returned? So you intended to come back?”
The other two Maeleons, Haz’rull and Arr’tow, remained silent but watched their interaction intently.
“Yes,” Kur’tok said.
He paused, wanting to say more, but he caught my eye first. I smiled brightly at him. I wished I could beam a telepathic message to him that I’d be by his side, no matter what, and that everything would be okay.
Kur’tok took a breath. “I... I wish to return to the village. With my filum, Paz.”
Levi’s jaw dropped. “Yourwhat?”
Jaeyoung raised a brow at his fellow human. “You can’t be serious. You saw him covered in Kur’tok’s ejaculate. Of course they’re mates.”
“I don’t know! Maybe they were just having sex for fun!” Levi argued shrilly.
Ignoring Levi’s obliviousness, the rest of us continued the conversation.
“I remember you left many cycles ago, Kur’tok,” Linn’ar said, his voice lilting and gentle as always. “We were all waiting for you to return.”
Kur’tok’s tail went rigid. “You... you were?”
“Yes. Zat’tor was especially insistent you would return at any moment.”
Zat’tor crossed his muscular arms and nodded. “And I was right! Did I not say our siblings would return in a half-cycle?”
That pinged my memory. I remembered when Zat’tor said that ages ago, when we first met. At the time, I’d assumed a half-cycle meant two weeks, but now I understood it was more like half a year.
Which was almost exactly how long it’d been since we landed on Eukaria.
“How could you possibly know that?” I blurted.
Zat’tor flashed a brilliant, fanged grin. “I trusted my instincts. I knew Kur’tok would return home.”
Levi sighed wistfully. “You’re so smart, Zat’tor...”
“And so are you, Levi.”
Jaeyoung and I shared an incredulous look, but held our tongues. Levi didn’t notice.
“Home?” Kur’tok echoed. His voice was thick with emotion. “You... you all still wish to welcome me home?”
“Of course,” Linn’ar said, feelers rising like happy tendrils. “Everyone misses you. All three of you.”
Haz’rull and Arr’tow perked up, looking pleased.
But Kur’tok snorted, whipping his tail low to the ground. “I find it difficult to believe that anyone missedme,” he muttered.
Haz’rull, who’d been quiet until now, clicked their tongue. “Is it really? You’ve haduswith you for cycles, Kur’tok. Why won’t you accept that people care about you?”
