“No,” I smiled to myself as I looked down, tucking some hair behind my ear. “I will not.”
“We’ll have to talk later about how you and your alien got together,” she grinned.
“I’d like to know what he’s packing between his legs,” Hai added.
“Hai! There are children present!” Fatima scolded.
“I’m fifteen, I know what sex is,” Talia argued with a very childlike pout on her face.
“I don’t,” Sarah frowned to herself.
Talia opened her mouth to explain exactly what sex was when Fatima interrupted her.
“Don’t you dare!”
“What? She’s fifteen, too! She should know!” Talia argued.
“Yes, and an adult will explain it to her, not a fifteen year old.”
“How about we finish those introductions we started back in the den?” I did my best to get the conversation back on track.
“I can start again. I didn’t get to finish before.” Ashley raised her hand. “I’m from Kansas City, Missouri. I like to crochet and I was an executive assistant before I got abducted.”
“Thank you, Ashley. Who else do we have left?”
“Gab-bae! Come quick!” Sozu ran into our cavern out of breath.
“What’s going on?” My heart was immediately in my throat. Did something happen to Tarak?
“Come on!” Sozu waived for me to follow him and I did my best to keep up with the long-legged Sirret.
I ran into the main cavern expecting to see a dire emergency, but instead what I found was my lost friend.
“Julie!” I yelled as I ran toward the short woman.
“Gabby!” We embraced in a tight hug.
“Are you alright? Did Orsu bring you back?” I wanted to pepper her with questions to get the whole story.
“I’m fine. Orsu did bring me back after his leg healed up enough for him to walk.” Julie looked over my shoulder and I turned to follow her line of sight.
Orsu, who was by far the largest of all the Sirret males, stood next to Tarak running his hand through his shaggy hair, looking as bashful as a large bear shifter possibly could.
“Did he treat you well?” I whispered in her ear.
“Yes, he was a perfect gentleman, besides the whole grab and run thing,” she giggled. SHE. GIGGLED. From what I’d observed of Julie so far, her normal demeanor was anxious and serious, so it was quite a shock to see her looking relaxed and giggling of all things.
“I can’t wait to hear all about it. Let’s go to the…” My words died in my throat as a strange tingling sensation took over my entire body. Then a neon purple light illuminated the room. I was the light! My veins were glowing a neon purple through my dark skin.
I looked up and saw Tarak was glowing too. His body had shifted into his tanuki form just as he said it would when the full moon rose and his white horns were now black.
“My luminescence,” he breathed as he took in the sight of me. He gently ran a finger up and down my glowing arm. His face was mixed with an expression of awe and disbelief.
“This is real,” I whispered.
The reality of our luminescence sunk in and Tarak lifted me into his arms and shouted, “my kira-si!” for all to hear.
“My mate,” he gazed into my eyes as a whirlwind of emotion crossed his face. “I never thought…” his words were watery and tears streamed down my face. My big serious alien had spent so much time believing he was not worth loving and it broke my heart. I was determined to spend the rest of my days proving to him that he was worthy of love, he wasn’t cursed, and that I was happy to be with him.
