Reuel’s lips tightened. “She is human. I believe that she has begun to realize that she has no place living among cyborgs and that is why she is unhappy and also why she has avoided being around any of us.”
The men exchanged looks of angry confusion. “Why has she no place living among cyborgs?” Jared growled. “You said that she was welcome to settle among us when we found this gods damned place!”
“She isstillwelcome,” Reuel snapped. “She no longer feels welcome, however, and she has decided that she will not settle with us.”
“Why does she not feel welcome?” Sebastian demanded.
“I can not explain that when I do not perfectly understand it myself. But it is true.”
“It isnottrue, gods damn it!” Jared snarled. “She has lived among us for months!”
Reuel studied him for a long moment. “Andtwicethe six of you have battled over her head as if it has notonceoccurred to any of you that she is as frail as … a flower! That you could crush her fragile little body only byfallingupon her!Sheis not a cyborg. She does not have nanos to heal her. She does not have an alloy chassis that would take a direct mortar hit to damage. She is flesh and bone.
“Beyond that, you are not human and you cannot give her what a male of her own kind could. You cannot give her your child. You cannotbea family when there will be no off-spring. We have the chance to live here on this world in peace, to build something, to enjoy life, but that is all that we will have.
“I believe that I understand what your instincts are driving you to do. You want to breed a child on her, but it is not something that we are capable of … not now. Mayhap, in time, we will have this, as well, but there is no guarantee of it.
“I believe that she does care for you, but I also believe that she has come to understand that it was not meant to be and she is trying to stop. This is the wound that she needs peace to heal.”
Jared felt so dizzy and weak, he decided to take the chair after all. Leaning forward, he settled his elbows on his knees to support his head.
“Well! I do not want her to stop caring, gods damn it!” Kane said.
“We will not fight anymore,” Sebastian said and then glanced at the others. “Around her. And it is not true that we did not give it a thought, gods damn it! Lucien, Thor, and I were trying to remove her to safety that first time!”
Damon glared at him. “I was trying to remove her to safety! Ididremove her to safety!”
Kane scowled at him. “You removed her to the safety of her cabin to fuck her! That does not count!”
Reuel released an irritated breath. “You cannot even discuss her without fighting! How do you think that you can form a family when you cannot get along at all?”
“We are a family already!” Kane said tightly. “Chloe said so. And I do not believe that she wants to stop caring about us, gods damn it!”
Reuel stood abruptly. “Take your argument elsewhere—just do not take it to Chloe’s door!”
Saluting him stiffly, they turned and stalked toward the door. It took Jared a few moments to push himself from the chair.
“It would be kinder to her to leave her alone,” Reuel said. “As I said, we are not the same.”
“I do not care and I do not think it matters to Chloe. She has always treated me as a man. She has always looked upon me as a man. I cannot leave her alone. She is afraid to be alone. And … I love her.”
Reuel studied him critically for a moment. “Then you must try to court her and convince her that you can offer her more than a man of her own kind.”
Jared frowned. “I do not think I know how to do that.”
Reuel thought it over. “I do not know either. Mayhap you should try what the beasts do when they want a mate? Build her a nest. You cannot fill it, or her, with off-spring, but I think there are enough of you to keep her busy and keep her mind off of that,” he finished dryly.
Chapter Seventeen
Jared was not pleased when he had made his way back to his cabin to discover that the others had beat him there and made themselves at home. “Get off my gods damned bunk!” he snarled when he entered.
They scowled at him but got up.
“What did Reuel say when we left?”
Jared stretched out tiredly on his bunk, staring at the ceiling. “He said that we should court her if we do not want to lose her.”
The other men looked at each other. “But we havebeencourting her, have we not?” Kane demanded.
