“I wouldn’t be concerned about him,” Marduk said. “I gave him the soul gaze.”
I nodded with approval. “That works. Did you fry your phone when you dealt with the store cameras?”
“Yeah. And probably Bec’s also. I didn’t tell her.”
“That’s for the best,” I assured him. “You can head home and start up a new phone. I’m here now. I’ll keep watch the rest of the night.”
He grunted in agreement but didn’t move. After a while, I nudged his leg with my boot. “Marduk?”
The bone-deep sigh that came out of him made my eyebrows go up. “It’s not going to be easy.”
“What isn’t?” I asked, although I was sure I knew what he was talking about.
“Convincing Bec to be our mate,” he answered. “Even though she’s human, I thought she’d feel the mate pull.”
I was relieved he was finally seeing reality. He’d considered Bec another building project. As if all he had to do was figure out what needed to be done and do it. She wasn’t a thing to build or manage, she was our mate and a human. She needed to be dated, adored, and drawn in.
“She does feel it,” I said. “But it’s not the same. Humans don’t feel it as strongly as us. We can’t treat her like she’s a shifter, pixie, druid, or bruja. She’s human and new to our world.”
“I know,” he snapped, then rubbed his hand over his face before looking over at me. “Sorry.”
“You’re tired,” I said. “Get some rest, and we’ll come up with some strategies tomorrow. All our contracts are done so we can both focus on Bec. That will make it easier.”
“You were smart with that PixUs thing. Until she realized I’d been following her, she was opening up to me.” Marduk shook his head. “This is going to be the hardest thing we’ve ever done.”
“We need to do this the human way,” I said. Maybe if we talked about it, Marduk would feel comfortable enough to go home and get some sleep.
“Human way?” he asked. “What would you know about dating humans?”
“I’ve been talking to Cora and Imani,” I said. “I wanted to talk to Mila, but I was worried Bec might see that as trying to find things out behind her back.”
“What have you learned?” he asked.
“We need to take her out to do fun things like dancing or museums,” I said.
“Those are very different activities,” Marduk said with a dry smile.
“We’ll put together a list and let her pick,” I said. “We find out what food she likes and take her out to nice meals. Oh, and buy her gifts, but nothing really big or expensive. They should be thoughtful and reflect how well we know her.”
“Like a camel plushy?” he asked, already looking like he was planning an online shopping spree.
“A llama and camel plushies are a good start,” I said with a chuckle. “It’s too bad she’s not a world serpent. We could show her how worthy we are by bringing her fresh kills and fighting off other males.”
“We’re really good at that,” Marduk agreed. “But I can learn other ways to seduce.”
I pulled my phone off the holder on my handlebars and opened up PixUs. I debated about sending a message and decided it was a good idea. She was angry at Marduk, but not me. She probably didn’t even know I was back yet.
GreenScales1520
I gazed at the full moon last night. I was sitting on the roof of my hotel. The jungle was right behind the building. It was loud with the sounds of frogs, insects, and other nocturnal animals. It was wonderful but all I could think was that I wished I could share that moment with you.
Marduk would say I was being too sappy, but the response clearly indicated that I’d done well.
TheNewMe888
That sounds magical. I’ve never been outside of the country.
“Are you messaging her?” Marduk asked, leaning over to peer at my phone. “Tell her I'm sorry I upset her, but I needed to follow her to keep her safe.”
