Page 7 of His to Mate

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Ann stretchedin bed the next morning and was surprised when she found Rager was still beside her. She turned to look at him, concerned that he might be ill. They’d been mated for almost a month now and the only day he’d taken off was their mating day. And that had only been a half-day.

She looked at him, still asleep, and relaxed. His jaw was lined with bristles of dark hair, and his face looked… somehow soft. As if sleep took away some of his gruffness. It wasn’t that he was less attractive, far from it, he just looked far more approachable. She tentatively put her hand on his jaw, to check for a fever.

He was always warm when he was asleep, so she wasn’t sure how she would tell, but he didn’t feel any different than he normally did. The moment she touched him, those odd, bright orange eyes of his opened.

He said something, something she couldn’t understand, and her brow furrowed. “Pardon?”

“Sorry, it’s my language. Good morning, Ann.” His smile was lazy, relaxed, pleased even. He pulled her to him, tight and close. “I love waking up to you.”

“I think I like it too. But, why are you here?” She tilted her head into the pillow and he closed his eyes as he ran a hand down her body.

“I am leaving my second in command in charge for two days. We’re going exploring, my love.”

“Are we now?” A happy question. Exploring sounded nice. Like it was time away from the weirdness here, and adventurous.

“We are, yes. Now, if you’ll please get off of me, I might be able to drag myself into the shower before I ravish you.”

“Oh, ravish me? Now, that’s a term I’ve never actually heard anyone use.” She slid from the bed but didn’t push her nightgown down over her hips. She sent him a look over her shoulder, a sultry one she hoped. “But if you’d like to do that, I’ll get back in bed?”

She paused and waited for his answer. He just turned over and groaned, as if frustrated beyond words.

“Nooooooooooooo. We need to do this. And I’d like you to come with me. I don’t want to leave you here for two days. I’d hate every minute of it.” He got out of the bed and headed to his bathroom without another word.

“Well then…” she laughed and went to her own bathroom. Thirty minutes later they were dressed, fed, and ready to go.

“Where are we going?” she asked him as the transporter started. It was his transporter and much faster than hers, with sleek lines on the black metal. She’d thought it was black paint, but it wasn’t.

“Up north, maybe up to Canada, I’m not sure yet. It depends on what we find on our way up.”

“What’s to the east of us?” She asked as the vehicle began to move and rose into the air.

“There’s a deep break in the land, you’re lucky California didn’t just disappear into the sea. Then, there are places where people survived, we’re picking them up as fast as we can and bringing them to us. Others are going to a town we’re building up in Ontario.”

“Oh, you’re building another town?” She hadn’t known about that.

“Yes, we don’t want to keep all our eggs in one basket, I believe is your saying?”

“Yes, it is. Good idea. Maybe we can visit there one day? I never got to travel much, Mom and Dad were always working when I was a kid, and then that happened.” She waved her hand at the landscape. “I didn’t really get to see much of the world.”

“You are young, aren’t you? I sometimes forget. You seem so… mature for a young Earth woman.”

“I had to grow up quickly, didn’t I?”

“I suppose so. How old are you, Ann?”

“You mean you don’t know, Rager?” She looked at him, surprised.

“No, I don’t. I know your people age more quickly than mine do, but I really don’t know. All I wanted to know was that you were of a legal Earth age to marry, or mate as we call it, and that was all really.”

“Oh, I see. I’m 20.”

“That young?” He saw her appalled look and quickly spoke again. “Not that I think you look older, it’s just you seem so… calm, I guess is the right word. Like an older woman would be.”

“That young,” she said, her lips tight against her teeth as she glared at him. “How old are you then, if your people age slower?”

She’d thought he was around 30, and while they’d never actually spoken about it, and she’d just given him grief about not knowing how old she was, she was guilty of the same.