Before I can even step out of the shower, Leeenuh rushes toward me, embracing me. She buries her face in my chest, and I instinctively shield her from the water. I hold her against me, feeling powerless as she continues to cry.
Hoping to comfort her, I press my lips to the top of her head in a human gesture.
It must work, because I feel her shoulders shake a little less by the time I’m gathering her up in my arms. Her naked body is shivering, though, and I lay her in the nest before wrapping her tightly in every blanket I have.
I kick myself for not grabbing her clothing but remember that there’s no way that flimsy and torn piece of material could keep my human warm.
I curl up next to her, letting the heat of my body help her current predicament.
There’s just something about Leeenuh that feels like home. It’s the way she fits against me, like her strange small proportions were made to sleeve against mine.
“How’d you know about the blaster?” I ask, my curiosity piquing when I feel the burned off tentacle rub against the blanket.
Leeenuh points to her eyes with two fingers, then to the top shelf where it was stored.
“You looked? How observant of you,” I chuckle, gripping her tighter.
“Weye du ewe hav dat?” she asks something, pointing at the blaster on the floor.
“Do you want to know why there’s a blaster in the nest?”
She nods.
“It’s for,” I pause, unsure of how much I should tell her. Will this help our current situation any or just make her feel worse?
She turns back, staring into my soul as she waits for an answer.
I can’t lie to her, and I never will.
She’s my mate, she deserves the truth.
“If I’m unable to complete the first portion of the Great Proving for any reason…injury, isolation, insanity, or cowardice. The blaster is for that. It is better not to come home than to come home a failure.” I tell her solemnly. “The elders give each potential male one before we leave the capital.”
Her face drops as she realizes the blaster’s intended purpose.
She points over to it again. “Wats dat liyet?”
I turn my attention to the weapon on the floor. A soft white light blinks near the trigger.
The homing beacon.
“The elders…they’re coming to collect my body. They assumed I have failed this portion of my Great Proving.”
As the adrenaline from the fight leaves my system, I jolt up with the realization of what’s about to happen. The blasters are monitored by the elders. They can be remotely deactivated if a Great Proving candidate goes rogue. The elders are coming, and I’m going to have to explain what’s been going on with Leeenuh here in my nest.
I’ll have to explain her mating mark…
I gaze at her small naked body.
“We have to get you dressed.” There’s a frantic edge to my voice. The thought of another male looking at her in this state has my blood boiling.
Even the elders, the leaders of our people, don’t get to look at her like this.
Despite having no mating mark of my own, I know she’s mine. I’ll have to prove I am worthy of her to the elders.
I will keep her or die trying.
17
a sniff too far
Kitaico is frantic with the expected arrival of the mysterious elders. He’s even got me wrapped tightly in a bedsheet, toga style, which is as modest as I’ve ever been in space.
Grabbing another strip of woven cloth, he wraps my hand, covering my mating mark.
“Why are you doing that?” I ask, the worry that he’s somehow embarrassed of me filling me with dread. Does he not want his people to see he’s mated an alien?
He just keeps fussing with the knot until I place my hand on top of his.
Kitaico tilts his face to mine, and although we can’t understand each other, I must wear my emotions plain as day on my face.
“Oh, oh no,” he whispers, cradling my face in his hands, his eyes brimming with concern. “I could never be ashamed of you. There are just specifics that need to be discussed before we should reveal what has happened between us. I’m afraid they’ll find me undeserving of a mate as wonderful as you.” Kitaico’s voice is soft as he presses a kiss to my forehead. “I will scream my devotion to you from the mountaintops, but only once I know it’s safe for us both.”
I know he’s right, but it still feels so wrong to have the mark covered. I don’t understand his world, or his customs, so I need to let him take the lead on this.
“The exile?” I change the subject, pointing toward the cave’s opening. “Is he dead?” My finger slides across my throat in a slicing motion.
