Her eyebrows pull together. “What happens in a couple of years when I need to have the three children for the colony? Or if you get a chance to go home and be with your people?”
I kiss her softly, wanting to fight her fears for her, even though that is impossible. I need to fight my own and they still stalk me, reminding me I do not have enough to offer a mate, Honey or human.
“We vowed not return to our home tribe because that means separating the human mates and we will not do that to them. It’s why we created our own village. As for children, I will be delighted to teach them how to fight and hunt like a Honey warrior.” I smile at her, wanting to drown in her dark eyes. “You can teach them how to behave like a human.” I imagine they will look like her, with dark hair and eyes and a laugh that carries and draws attention.
“You don’t care that they won’t be yours?”
“I will raise them, which makes them mine.” I never expected to have a mate or children, and human women cannot have Honey children. I do not expect her to go against the colony, her tribe, and I know that she does not need to fuck a human man to become pregnant. Unlike my brothers, I have been able to ask the human mates all kinds of questions to assist my decision making, which has helped me fight my doubts and soothe my concerns. “I know you’re scared.”
“I don’t think that’s the right word. I love you, but I don’t want to fuck this up.”
“I love you too. Which is why I’m telling you that you need to be the one to make the final decision. I can tell you and show you how much I want to be your mate. And I can make promises…but I cannot…” I close my eyes, remembering how Sunif needed to claim Mia, even though it went against everything in his being. “I have done everything to show you that I have chosen you. That I want you to be my mate. I need you to…”
I feel as though I’m begging. It’s because our cultures are different and the expectations are different, but it’s grates that she cannot understand my position.
“You need me to choose you,” Harper says.
I exhale. If she knows, then why hasn’t she?
“I do. You don’t need to stand on the table in the dining room and do it. It doesn’t need to be an announcement.” My underwear is wet with cum, my meq is hard again, as if I cannot get enough of her. My markings aren’t glowing though, so we have been careful and not triggered the rut.
“I wasn’t planning on standing on any tables.”
“But you are planning on claiming me?” I hear the pleading tone in my voice and hate it. I am a warrior. The son of chief who rules a wealthy and powerful tribe…I shouldn’t need to beg to be chosen.
“What happens when it doesn’t work out in your tribe?”
“If the woman leaves, everyone suspects the warrior of mistreating her. He will either beg for forgiveness or he will leave and die alone.”
“The warrior never leaves? He never walks away?”
I frown, not understanding her question. Why would a chosen warrior leave his mate? The woman he is bound to? “A warrior never leaves his mate. He works to please his mate, knowing that there are many others who would gladly take his place.”
The lines between her eyebrows form, and I want to kiss them away. “That doesn’t seem fair, either. I don’t want to hold you hostage because of your biology.”
“I want you to hold me. I never thought I would want a mate so desperately. But I do not want to let you go…even though you’re not yet mine.”
“I am yours.” She places her hand over my heart.
Yet she will not let me cross that final line.
My alarm beeps, and Harper groans but doesn’t push me away.
I do not know how much longer I can do this. If she does not choose me soon, do I need to reconsider everything I thought I knew about what I want in a mate?
“Then why do you hold back?”
She stares at me with her small dark eyes. I thought humans were strange looking with their tiny white teeth and small eyes. Now I find the odd things endearing, and I couldn’t imagine my mate looking any other way.
“Because I don’t want you to hate me and say that I trapped you.”
My heart breaks for her and I pull her close. “I could never hate you.”
She sniffs against my chest. “That’s because of your biology.”
I kiss the top of her head. “Is that not good enough? I do not have anything else to offer you. I have been banished from my kingdom.”
“It should be enough. You’re everything I want, and you’ll never leave, and you’ll always be mine…” She shakes her head like everything she listed is a reason not to complete the mating.
