She blanches, taking in the surroundings with widened eyes.
“You will always be safe, I promise. You…you can trust me, Cindi.” Repeating the same words won’t change her mind. It never does. But it isn’t a waste of breath.
I will remind her every day until she believes it.
Movement from the water catches my eyes. I grab Cindi to hide her behind me, a warning growl rumbling in my chest. Two yellow dots pop out from above the waves, then a brown fin.
I narrow my eyes at Vasz as he comes trotting out of the water, ears flopping, the fish I caught for Cindi dangling from his mouth. I move aside to let my mate resume her perusal of my island and pretend not to notice her stand close beside me.
But I notice.
I very much notice.
And because I’m a coward, I also pretend not to notice her gasp when my tentacle wraps around her ankle, and the taste of her floods into my system.
“That was Cindi’s lunch,” I scold Vasz.
He throws a fish in the air and eats it in one go. “What was?” Water sprays across the sand as he shakes out his skin.
“Vaseline,” she mutters under her breath. I almost miss it. “Unbelievable.” Her mood suddenly falls.
I spear Vasz with my wrath for upsetting my female. He stops trotting, looks at me, then falls into the sand to show me his belly.
My fury rapidly multiplies into a venomous mixture of grief and rage when Cindi’s croaky voice breaks the silence. “I have to go back, Ordus.”
Ordus.
Ordus.
I like when she says my name, just not the way she lets it fall from her tongue.
“Why?”
She has not been here for a full day cycle, and she’s been desperate to leave from the very beginning. Am I so dreadful to be around? Does she hate me that much?
How can she not care we are mates? Was I so delusional to believe she might feel it too?
Cindi meets my anger head-on. She rounds on me, raising her voice and throwing out her hands. It’s amusing a creature half my size could be so explosive. “Because I have a life! People counting on me. A job. Friends.”
Jealousy burns a path from the base of my spine to the tips of my tentacles.
Friends?She has me.
I haven’t had any friends in decades, and I’ve been fine. She doesn’t need them. I will be enough for her.
We glare at each other, neither of us backing down. Cindi breaks the contact first to dart her gaze to the shore where Vasz is running up and down the beach, attempting to eat the foam gathered atop each wave, barking and leaping into the water before going back to sprinting. The barest trickle of sweetness in Cindi’s scent has me grateful for Vasz’s distraction.
My jaw tightens.
Fine.I will try to do as my mate asks.
“Okay.” The words taste bitter. “We can compromise.”
Her attention snaps up to me, lips parting, like she’s unsure whether to wait or say more.
“I’ll let you be friends with Vasz. And you’ll be happy.”
There.
