“I’m okay,” I assured her. I was anything but, but the last thing I wanted was a lie down.
Biting at her lip, Dace looked unconvinced but nodded.
“Purred-doo! ‘Ey!”
Dace and I both turned at the deep, booming voice butchering my name.
A male I’d yet to meet was shouting my name and hurrying up to us.
Nodding at us politely, the male was all sharp teeth on a pleased grin as he stared down at me. “Ufful,” he introduced himself, just as the other beasts did, their own name first.
This was my part next before the conversation went anywhere. I had to introduce myself. It took a stalemate with a beast named Gorig that had stopped by Doogie’s to figure this one out.
“Pru but Purr-roo is fine.” Smiling politely, I figured he just wanted to introduce himself to me as the newbie and that was that but he continued to grin down at me happily.
He was one of the super friendly ones, I guess. Maybe his mate sent him as their welcome wagon? I had no clue. He wasn’t exactly being very forthcoming after the intros.
“Did you, uh, need something?” I pressed.
“Kehl say come meet him Purr-roo,” Ufful rumbled out.
Dace and I glanced to one another when his grin widened and a deep, happy rumble started up in his chest.
“Uhm, okay, then, well, we’ve met. Nice to meet you.” My hand lifted in a little wave.
Ufful’s smile fell. “Go byed byes now?” he asked.
Another shared glance with Dace. She gave a little shake of her head and shrugged her shoulders, just as lost as me.
“Uh, yeah,” I said simply. “Good talking to you, though.”
I turned to leave but Dace was still staring up at the male. She looked frozen, stuck in place as he started to scowl. When he scowled harder, she shrunk in on herself like it was directed at her and I noticed she’d started to shake like a nervous Chihuahua.
Looping my arm through hers, I used my body to block her view of him and led her away.
We got a ways away from the scene of that confusion. The hut was right there when I listened past Dace’s chattering teethas she struggled to regain her composure and heard the telling steps of some being following us.
One glance over my shoulder confirmed that Ufful was on our tail, if at a respectable distance behind. Not that that made this any better. What was his deal?
At the door, I urged Dace to go inside and that I’d be just a minute. She hadn’t spotted Ufful. The way he made her jittery, I figured it best she didn’t know he was here at all.
“What’s your deal?” The words were out of my mouth before I’d spun around to face him.
“Kehl say- Kehl say come meet my Purr-roo. Her need mate.” Ufful got it out there in one big, garble-blurted jumble.
He said what now? I could barely believe my ears.
“No, he didn’t.” Denial was the automatic response. What the hell would he do that for? First the BS with Daisy, now this? Was he actually sending males to me?
Holding out his arm, palm out, he encouraged me to sniff him.
“I’m not a sniffing lie detector. I don’t know what Kehlro told you, but he was wrong.” The headache I already had coming on felt migraine rage-y by this point.
“Ufful truth. Kehl say come meet my Purr-roo, see if you like Ufful. Ufful goot male. Kehl say Purr-roo see with Vurhg, but Vurhg not goot male, not make goot mate. Kehl no want Purr-roo with bad mate.”
“I don’t want you,” I said simply, but really I wanted to rage and scream and break things. If I were able, I’d be steaming from my nostrils like a good little angry dragon woman. Grr. How dare he?! Who the hell did Kehl think he was?!
The sound of my knuckles popping alerted me that I was fisting my hands at my sides too tightly. I was that angry.
