“You are only returning with me because you do not want to go home.”
“And?” I don’t see the problem. Isn’t that what he wanted? For me to return with him?
“And you are not returning because of me.” He lifts his hand and the dead animal swings.
My eyebrows pull together, not understanding what he is trying to tell me. “Why would I return because of you?”
He lifts his gaze to the sky and mutters something the device in my ear doesn’t pick up. “I did not expect this to happen. It shouldn’t have happened. The stars know I did not want it.” He levels his gaze at me. “You triggered the rut,” he says, as though I should understand what it means.
“The rut?”
“We are mates, yet you haven’t chosen me. Now I must get through this alone.” He starts walking again, leaving me to catch up, which I do because I am not standing around on my own.
“Get through what, you oversized lightbulb!” I put my hand on his arm, and while I feel the static, I don’t get a shock.
“The rut.”
“What the fuck is that?”
He glares at me as if he’d rather talk about anything else, but I don’t remove my hand and he seems to be unable to pull away. “When a man mates with a woman for the first time, he goes through rut, and becomes bound to her.”
“Right…I’m not sure what going through it entails.”
“Alone? Suffering, madness and possibly death. The danger stops men from trying to take a mate. I didn’t think it was possible because you are not Honey.”
My mouth is hanging open. I’m still not sure what he’s talking about, but I think sex has caused some kind of biological reaction. “So we’re mates? What does that mean?”
“We aren’t mates. You did not choose me as your mate. This was an accident,” he snarls.
“Are you pissy because you’re in rut or because I didn’t choose you?”
“Both.” He stalks off again.
16
ALDIT
Irritation crawls beneath my skin. When Ruby placed her hand on my arm for a moment, I sensed calm, then all I wanted to do was pull her close and claim her lips. I want to thrust my meq into her slick core and feel her moans against my mouth.
But she is not my mate to claim.
She doesn’t even want me.
I don’t want her, even though my body craves her. How can she be my mate when she isn’t Honey? All I did was lick her…was that enough? Is it something in her nectar?
I need to warn my brothers, though perhaps it is already too late for Edilk. For some reason, I do not think he’ll mind being mated to Sabine at all. After all, it is because of his falling star that we are all here.
And if we were led here to find mates?
I glance over my shoulder at Ruby. She is following a few paces behind. Her lips are pressed together, and she seems to be thinking. I don’t know why she is so concerned.
Unless she is worried that I will take what isn’t mine, to soothe the jagged need in my blood. I flex my fingers. I need something to do, to occupy myself so I don’t imagine what it would be like to feel her wet heat around my meq.
My meq throbs. It has been hard since I woke, rubbing on my pants and leaking pre-cum. My balls are heavy and even walking is uncomfortable.
Because I’m supposed to be spending this time in bed with my mate, bonding, not trudging through the forest. I do not think I will be able to outrun this urge. And when the hunger gets too much, what do I do then?
I will be a danger to her.
