And that plan isn’t going home and getting reinforcements. Reinforcements means guns, and they will not be helpful. I stare up at him. The way the light catches in his amber eyes, making them appear as if they are illuminated from within.
I need to find a solution, and I need it now.
I needed it yesterday, when we should’ve kept walking. Then we’d have been there. Exhausted from being up all day and night and from all the walking. Hrad would be dead, as they’d have killed him on sight for being banished.
And if he wasn’t banished…
My eyebrows pull together.You can return to a tribe if you bring a woman?
His eyes narrow.I can return to my tribe if I bring a woman. We are a long way from my tribe. They will not help us.
It wasn’t their help I wanted. Though now I wonder if we could seek help from one of the other tribes.Are any of the nearby tribes friendly?
He shakes his head, and his hand falls away. I grab his fingers.There must be a solution. I am not abandoning my people.
Take me to the village as your prisoner.
No.I will not condemn him the same way his tribe did. I tilt my jaw and hold his gaze.If you have a mate, you are no longer banished?
He frowns.I suppose that is true.
Then, I will choose you as my mate.
12
HRAD
The way Alisha says it leaves no doubt. There is a certainty in her voice that rolls right through me and settles low in my belly as if I have been waiting to be chosen my entire life. It is what every Honey warrior wants. But she does not want me; she wants to save her people.
It is permanent.
We can’t pretend?
I laugh softly, trying to ignore the bitterness around my heart. She doesn’t want me. And I do not want to mate. Certainly not a human who doesn’t understand what it means.No, it cannot be faked. Someone will reach into my pants and check.
Her frown deepens, creating a furrow between her eyebrows.What do you mean?
Exactly that. Aside from being stronger and faster, there are certain changes…to my meq.
Her gaze flicks down to the front of my pants, and once again I find myself wishing for my clothes, not the tight, colony-issued pants, that leave far too little to the imagination. Or perhaps it is that human men have little to contain.
What kind of changes?
I pull my hand away. This is not the conversation I want. I fold up the blanket and shove it into my bag. I should eat another packet of sludge. However, I don’t know how long we’re going to be in the forest for.
“Hrad…we need to talk about this.”
I pause, crouched by my bag, then I take a drink of water, not sure what to say without sounding unreasonable. “No we do not,” I growl. “Unlike your people, my people mate for life. If my mate leaves me, I risk death or at the very least madness.”
“I understand?—”
I turn and stand, keeping my voice low even though there is no one around. “If you did, you would not suggest it.”
“I suggested because I do not see another way.”
My lips curl in a sneer. “I am not a weapon to be used and then discarded. You may be able to walk away, but I cannot. You will risk my life to save theirs?”
She takes a step back. “Do you think so little of me?”
