“So she didn’t choose.”
“She did, and she chose badly. The same as me. Don’t make the same mistake.” He picks me up and throws me over his shoulder.
A squeak escapes, but I’m not going to fall as he is gripping my legs.
I don’t know what to do. But since rescue isn’t coming, I need to do something and waiting until we reach the ship, where three more alien warriors wait, may not be a smart move.
On the other hand, they might be nicer than Sunif.
Maybe I should choose one of them to be my fake mate. Even as I think it, I know they will not want a fake mate. They will want a mate and expect there to be mating.
I squeeze my eyes shut.
Aside from a few kisses and a bit of a fumble, I don’t understand anything about mating with a human or an alien. This isn’t how my life should be.
It’s not how it was planned.
And I don’t know how to make a new plan because I’ve never needed to.
3
Sunif
Istride along the trail with Mia slung over my shoulder. It’s quicker than letting her walk, both because of her stumbles and the way she needs to stop to ask questions. She likes to face me when talking. Probably because she cannot sense how I’m feeling.
When Edilk rejoins us, I need to talk with him about her.
I catch the thought as I am behaving as though Mia has agreed to act as though she is mine when she has not. I may have lost her to someone else, even though she has not even seen the other warriors who wait at the ship.
I should not have revealed the reason I do not want a mate. I should have stepped around the question or lied. She would not have felt the disconnect between my words and my feelings.
But I have told too many half-truths in my life, and they have always gotten me in trouble. So perhaps it is for the best that she already knows the reason I want a fake mate, as now the truth cannot bite me.
My hand is clamped over her thigh, and it takes only a few steps for her to stop wriggling. She is unhappy about being banished. I do not hold that against her as even though I knew it would happen; I was still unhappy to be banished. By the time I was banished, I was wounded from the whip and glowing brightly from the rut and the need to be with my mate. I’m surprised I wasn’t eaten my first night alone. I wasn’t even thinking of survival. Those first few days are a painful blur.
When we reach the clearing, Orik has already made a small fire and spread out the blankets.
Is he sharing with Bridget? Has she accepted him as her mate? I silently ask, and he gives a small shake of his head before asking me the same questions.
No.I set her on the ground, ignoring the way her body feels against mine, but my hands linger on her hips for an extra heartbeat, as if they do not want to let her go.
This is the closest I have been to another person in a very long time.
I have let no one touch me and have not touched another for the simple reason that my brothers would know that I have been it rut, and then they would want to know why. And to tell would mean admitting that I tried to escape my fate, and I betrayed my family and my tribe. They would not trust me if they knew.
They shouldn’t, as already I am planning a deception to stop Mia from choosing one of them.
Are you all right?Orik tilts his head, his gaze flicking to Mia.
She asks a lot of questions.
He smiles, understanding the problem.
“I will untie you if you do not run. If you do run, I will not follow. I will let you be eaten.” And if she is eaten, then we do not need to make a lie of our mating.
Mia glares up at me and I expect her to argue, or maybe reveal my secret out of spite. But her eyes have a sheen as if she is close to tears.
You do not have to be my prisoner; you can be my mate.But she cannot understand me unless I am touching her. Edilk discovered that is the only way humans can communicate silently.
