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“Understanding importance does not make it easy to bond to someone new.” Raxius projected thoughtfulness with his body in a way I knew I must point out to Shiloh later. Our movements were much more subtle, so he may have missed them. “He may have fears about what our future looks like? Our work is here.”

“I had not taken that fear into consideration.” There were many issues to discuss. “I will discuss that with Toman.”

“And we will continue with the sharing of practical topics with our mate.” Raxius looked pleased with that decision, although I found I would have preferred the Earth way of expressing it.

Their obvious movements were confusing at first but having large visual cues as well as the verbal information was helpful.

Would the visual cues have been helpful with Raxius?

Our first meetings had not gone smoothly, in fact, I thought the human word clusterfuck would provide the best description of it.

He had not liked my attempt to gain information about him.

He had not liked my help in educating him.

He had not liked my attempt to engage him in questions.

He had not liked anything about me and that had not changed as we grew older.

I had accepted that but it seemed like changes needed to be made. Our mate had affected much about our life even though he may not have realized that yet.

“I will make a list for you to follow.” Yes. As Shiloh’s dominant mate, that task should be mine to lead.

“There is no need for you to make a list for either of us.” Raxius indicated barely restrained frustration. “We are all equals and can have a logical conversation with our mate.”

How was he already reacting this way?

“Please set your dislike of me aside.” Our mate was more important. “Submissives from Earth are not unequal. They simply require additional caretaking. Dominants provide that caretaking and that should be something they require. I require giving him caretaking.”

That was my role in our mating.

It did not make him unequal…it made him special.

My Earth mate needed caretaking from me and that would not frustrate him as long as I could get him to explain what form of submission his needs fell under. His classification would give me a direction of what kind of care to provide.

Then he would be happy.

Raxius was silent for several moments until we reached a branch in the halls. As he paused, he did the human deep breath behavior. “Everything we are told about mates reminds us they are equal. I will not make my mate feel unequal.”

Turning from me, Raxius walked away leaving me confused.

He could not make Shiloh feel unequal but he could make me feel unwanted.

Somehow Raxius had lost all logic.

There were many things I had not been told about mating…Toman should be able to answer them, however. Yes. He was an expert in Earth matings, so he would provide information on the caretaking of humans.

If Raxius wanted to be equal, he could figure out how to take care of himself.

Chapter 8

Raxius

“We were discussing the topic of meats and the various options in our food supply.” Zorin’s answer was so unexpected, based on Shiloh’s giggle, I must have looked like a shocked Earthling.

Zorin had said his last discussion was to be about the geography of Earth and the different regions our people had spread to on that planet.

Clearly that plan had changed somehow.