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He.

That.

“Thank fuck.” The frustrated man waved his hands between us. “Now someone needs to comfort Shiloh and let him know you’re excited to have him as a mate. This isn’t rocket science.”

I knew that one.

“That is a form of science on your world and when you use it to describe something in that way it means the topic is not difficult.” He was wrong. “This is…this may be rocket science. It is amazingly complicated and unknown to most people and incredibly precious.”

Yes, this was like rocket science even if the stubborn Earthling did not understand.

Shiloh let out a long breath that I felt meant relief but I was not thinking clearly enough to process his expressions. When nothing else came out, I assumed it was still my responsibility to talk. “He does not like me, so as you would say…in my defense…this is unexpected.”

Highly unexpected.

My Earthling mate let out a laughing sound that may or may not have been showing actual happiness. His emotions were confusing and I was not getting enough through our fragile bond to understand his needs. “He also does love his work. He creates things with his hands and teaches mages how to understand the…the building blocks of construction.”

That did not sound right but it was as good as I could do in the moment. It seemed like the spell had difficulty when shock was applied to my system.

I would have to tell the mages about that problem.

Shiloh did more of the odd blinking before licking his lips. “They…the mages need to…to understand how to build before…before they can do it magically? I’ve…I’ve never seen that done.”

“Yes.” Had we found a topic he could discuss verbally? “In the same way higher-level healing spells cannot be taught until the mage understands how the physical body works.”

They’d tried using what the Earthlings would call shortcuts and it had not produced safe results.

“That…that makes sense.” His gaze darted around but he was still producing words. “I don’t really know anyone in medicine, so I’ve never thought about that kind of thing.”

“I spent time documenting how our health mages do their jobs. It was interesting.” But they were…difficult. “I am eager to learn more about your world.”

And about his needs.

When could I ask about his needs?

How much of the concept of privacy around his needs did he need?

No.

How much of the need for privacy did he have?

No.

“What’s wrong?” My Earthling mate reached out a hand before going still. “Um. Sorry.”

Touch.

The people of Earth liked physical contact.

Where did he want to touch me?

As I looked down to try to decide—the information I could access was too varied for me to know right away—the frustrated man of Earth sighed again. “Give him your hand or your arm.”

He was very bossy.

What form of human bonding activities did he prefer?

“Don’t look at me like that. Focus on your mate.” His sound of groaning was confusing. “This mate. The other one’s still kind of stupid at the moment.”