His buzz caresses my skin and I nod, glad that he’d seen reason.
I care for you like a mate.Vari’s silent words make me pause. He’s never offered such a sentiment before. Perhaps it took having a mate to make him realize what we had.
I turn to glance at where he is sprawled on the ground.And I you.
Bridget’s gaze flicks between us, as if she knows we are talking. She may lack kam, but she is perceptive.
I offer her my hand. “Come and clean up, and I will show you how to pull out the fibers. Vari can bash the stalks when he is able to get up.”
He groans, still lying on his back staring up at the sky.
Bridget places a kiss on his cheek. “Did we break you?”
“No.” He sits up. “I was just thinking that now I need to build you both a house and a bed.”
I laugh. “We can do it together. And Bridget also knows how to build houses.”
She clasps my hand and stands, grabbing her pants as she does, then she leans in and kisses me. “We will make a home, not a house.”
22
VARI
At dinner, Bridget shows off the simple square she made with the rope and hook. She stands in front of the fire talking about it and rubbing it between her fingers. All I see is the way the firelight catches in her hair, making the dark brown gleam red.
She passes it to Edilk to feel because she’s worried about it not being soft enough. I think it’s fine, but compared to the fabric of her clothing, everything we have is made of a thicker fiber and weave.
Next to me, Orik sits on the log. His gaze on her.
I put my hand on his thigh, even though I don’t need to touch him to communicate, I like the way Bridget does it with us. And I like the excuse to touch him.
The others have noticed that the three of us are closer, and I’m sure that Bridget has said something to Mia and Sabine. That Orik’s blanket has been by our shelter all day, can’t have been missed either.
When my rut passes in a few more days, we will sail up the coast, to the place we will make a home while we wait for Aldit and Tiril.
“I think any of us would volunteer to trial socks, but you should offer them to your mate…though which one I’m not sure.” Edilk smiles and hands the square back to her.
Her cheeks darken, and everyone looks at me and Orik.
I smile at him.You try the socks.
If they are suitable, she will make me a pair.
I’m not sure if I should thank you or not.
I can’t deal with the rubbing of my meq on my pants and blisters on my feet.
Orik laughs. “I will bravely test your socks.”
His words confirm what the others suspected.
Yva growls. “You took them both?”
Bridget shrugs. “They came as a package.”
Edilk attempts to translate that and ends up saying that we were tied together as one…which I suppose is not that far from the truth. I severed that connection, and Bridget brought us back together.
She’s smarter than me. Possibly smarter than Orik. With them in my bed, complacency will be dangerous.
