I bend down to brush my mouth over hers, unable to resist. Then her words sink in and my body goes cold with fear. “Guarding you? Are you unsafe there? What–”
“Guarding me because they think I’m going to run away and join you.”
“Fools.”
“Smart,” she says. “I’d do it in a heartbeat. I want to be with you. I want our family to be together.”
Her words send an ache of longing through my body. I touch her pale, smooth cheek with infinite tenderness. “You must remain with everyone else, Liz. I have seen what it is like when one is exiled. It’s dangerous to be alone.”
“I wouldn’t be alone. I’d be with you. We can hunt together and have each other’s backs.”
I smooth my thumb over her lip. “And what about when our kit arrives? What then?”
“We’ll figure something out!” Her fingers tighten against mine. “I’m not letting them abandon you like your father did. You’re my mate and we’re going to be together.”
I shake my head. “Vektal has decided.”
She turns her face up to mine and the smile that curves her lips is one I recognize. It’s Liz when she has a plan and doesn’t care if you like it or not. “Then I’ll just have to change his mind, won’t I?” She wiggles her eyebrows at me. “I’m not going to rest until you’re back at my side, where you belong.”
“Do not put yourself in danger–”
“I won’t be,” she reassures me. “I have a get out of jail free card, remember?” And she pats her stomach.
None of those words make sense to me. “Jailfree?”
“Just trust me, baby.” She raises our linked fingers to her lips and kisses my knuckles like I kissed hers. “But give me a few days, all right? You have to take care of yourself for my sake. You have to sleep, and eat. I want my mate to live.”
I nod slowly, because living hasn’t really been on my mind. My only thought was to take care of Liz for as long as possible, until my energy was spent. But if she wants me to take more care with myself, I will. I slip my fingers from hers and brush them over her cheek again, where I feel the tears freezing to her face. “I will do anything you ask, my mate.”
“All I want you to do is trust me and take care of yourself,” she says. “I’ll handle the rest.” And when she turns her face up for another kiss, I cannot resist.
LIZ
It takes two days for the first present to show up at my doorstep.
It’s a present from one of the widowers. At first it enrages me, but then I decide it can be a tool.
I offer the small pouch of herbal teas to an elder woman named Sevvah at the pool that morning. She’s a nice lady, and the unofficial ‘mom’ of the caves. She’s Aehako’s mother, and affectionate with him and her other sons, Rokan and a young boy named Sessah. She always fusses over the pregnant girls despite the language barrier, probably because she wishes one of her sons had resonated. Sadly, she has three boys and all three are still at home with her. But I like her.
Georgie frowns as I offer the teas to Sevvah. The elder woman says something, smiling, and there’s not much that shows that Sevvah is older than the rest of us except for a few lines at the corners of her glowing eyes, and a pale streak of white in her long braid. “She says she can’t take it, Liz. That it’s a courting present from Vaza.”
“But I have a mate,” I say sweetly, and offer it to Sevvah again, with emphasis. I force it into her hands and then walk away before she can refuse.
Georgie gets up and follows me, a frown on her face. She’s pissy because, well, I’m being a dick and causing trouble. I question everything, from why the humans who mated have the smallest caves (which sets Ariana off into another crying fit), why the aliens lied to us about the seasons, and anything else I can think of. I have French Marlene convinced that she’s having a litter since her mate Zennek is close in age to his two brothers and they’re just lying to her about not being triplets. Oh, and Tiffany ended up fooling around with a guy but that went badly when she was surprised by the existence of his ‘spur’, which led to me, wide-eyed and declaring that they were withholding all kinds of information from the humans. Couple that with me not being super pleasant and now every time Vektal sees me, his eyes narrow and Georgie seems to wear a constantly exasperated look on her face.
Okay, so I might have taken things a bit too far when no one got me materials for new arrows and I spent the day declaring that ‘the man’ was keeping me down.