While our conversation is just for us. Edilk is answering Hrad and Yva’s questions. They are asking much the same things, as though trying to figure out where they stand as they try to assess Bridget without her noticing. They are also asking after Sunif.
Will she choose you?Vari asks.
I do not know.I force a tight smile.Would you like me to introduce you?
He laughs and presses a kiss to my lips. I’m sure that will come. For the moment, I am glad to hold you again.
“You haven’t introduced us to your friends,” Bridget says loud enough for us all to hear. “Though you told them about us.”
Edilk and Sabine share a look, then she introduces Bridget to Hrad and Yva. She doesn’t include Vari, perhaps because she believes that to be obvious. And perhaps it is. Perhaps they all believe that Vari and I do not want a woman to call mate.
Before meeting Bridget, they would’ve been right.
Now…now I need to convince Bridget that having two warriors is better than one. That will be the easy part.
Vari considers Bridget with more than casual interest, and worries weigh on my heart. Convincing Vari that he can have both an attachment and a mate will be much harder.
2
VARI
Idid not expect my brothers to return with women. That they bring strange ones, from a different tribe, is even more unbelievable. Had Orik told me there was another tribe that lacked kams and where women outnumbered men, I wouldn’t have believed him.
Hrad and Yva are already bristling for a fight to show off their potential as mates. They will want to draw Bridget’s attention and affection.
It is tempting to do the same despite knowing it is a biological reaction, caused by the scent of rut in the air. The scent of mating clings to Edilk and Sabine, and even Mia. That Sunif is not with his mate is concerning, but Edilk and Orik have not said anything beyond that it is a disagreement between mates.
Orik seems happy to see me, but there is something bothering him.
As much as I want to push, now is not the time. And I suspect it is mate related. Something I never thought would be a problem.
It may not need to be a problem.
He is younger than me by ten years. If he wants to fight for Bridget, I will not stand between them. I will help him. He deserves a chance to be chosen and go home, though even the thought hurts my heart. We walk in silence back to the boat.
Bridget walks ahead of us, and I regale Orik with tales of our hunting and how we found gol and brewed the leaves. Orik laughs, and it’s good to see his smile, but his gaze is on her.
Like the others, I am curious about this other tribe, but I will talk with him later, when we are alone. I let him know I made a bed on the ship so that we could have some privacy. I want to let him know how much I want him, but at the same time, it would be wrong to stop him from taking this chance.
His hand finds my ass cheek and squeezes.I look forward to assessing your bed building skills.
Orik has never complained about them before. I want to pull him close and kiss him again, for longer. I missed him. How will I manage if he has a mate and is no longer mine?
I swallow and push the thought aside. I survived before I met him.
Our attachment has lasted for longer than I expected. We are friends as well as lovers. I would do anything for him, and him for me.
We will need to talk about Bridget, but maybe that is best done tomorrow after spending the night together. As we draw closer, I smell the meat that we left cooking when we went to greet them, then the ship is visible, and even though I wasn’t gone for long, it still feels as though I am coming home. A tribe needs a ship. That is how I was raised.
In that heartbeat, the pride of stealing it fills me once again.
Mia speaks and stares at the ship. Eyes wide with something that looks like fear.
Bridget replies, and they have a short conversation that I do not understand.
Orik silently explains that Mia is horrified it is made of wood, and that it is so small.
I hope she didn’t tell Sunif that he was also too small.I doubt he’d disappear because of that slight.
