Emins’ Mate(47)

“Motherfucking Oracle,” Solar growled again as he dumped the logs he’d been carrying onto the ground in a little clearing set just far enough away from the camp.

“What did he do now?” Zara asked from over Solar’s shoulder. She melted out of the shadowy jungle like she was made of mist. Or fog. Or clouds. Or something. Solar never could pin it down exactly, but she moved so fluidly. And silently. She didn’t mean to, it was just who she was.

“Nothing. Just being supremely unhelpful. As usual.”

“I always thought that it was so funny that one of the most useful people in the realm could also be so terribly unhelpful,” Zara said softly, bending down to inspect the lumber he’d just tossed on the ground.

He’d just been thinking the same thing. That happened a lot with Zara. She’d give voice to something that had been on his mind. It bothered him. How did she do that?

She bent further and picked a small green lizard off of one of the logs. She laid her hand against a mossy tree beside her and let the lizard slither off into his new home. Solar ignored the twinge in his chest it gave him to watch her do that. She was always doing stuff like that. She was so sweet. So nurturing.

“So what’s all this for?” she asked, gesturing to the newly cleared area and the pile of logs.

Her question snapped him back to reality and he was grateful for that. Reality was where he didn’t get to dwell on her sweet softness. Reality was where he built her fertility hut that she would inevitably be using with a different man. He swallowed against the sour taste in his mouth.

“It’s for your hut.” His voice was gruffer and sharper than he might have liked it to be. A look of shock crossed her face.

“My hut? For- for-,” she stuttered but couldn’t seem to finish the sentence.

He turned and faced her, crossing his arms over his chest. A monkey chattered somewhere in the surrounding trees and a cloud shifted, sending misty sun filtering through the trees. “For your 21st birthday. When you become mateable. You’ll move here indefinitely.”

“Is that really necessary?” Zara crossed her hands under her chin, her eyes wild as a small flush worked its way over her cheeks. She looked everywhere but at him. “I thought I could just go on living in the infirmary with the nurses. As always. I mean, nothing really will change, right?”

She was young. So young. And it was moments like these that

painfully yanked Solar’s leash back into place. She had no idea how much everything would change. She’d be able to mate now. Every unmated male in the camp would be excruciatingly aware of it. Of her. Of every movement she made. Until she chose one of them to mate with. Which she undoubtedly would. Not only was it just basic biology, but she was so soft, so sweet, she’d want a mate.

She deserved a mate, Solar reminded himself. She deserved someone who would take care of her and give her happiness. And pleasure. Something curled up in his stomach.

“Yes. This is necessary, Zara.” He stared her down and her eyes dropped to the jungle floor, followed two red butterflies flitting around one another. “You might not have been witness to a fertility season before, but you know enough to know that you’ll be in the way if we don’t sequester you.”

He watched the hurt flicker across her face. He knew that nothing would make her agree faster than telling her she was unwanted.

“So I have to be out here alone?” she asked, her voice small. “It’s so far from camp.”

She was afraid, he realized and could have kicked himself. He wanted her out of the way, sure. But he didn’t want her to be terrified out here.

“Zara,” he said and couldn’t help but move a little bit closer to her. “You know I’d never let anything happen to you. I’d never put you in harm’s way.”

Her eyes shot up to his and he couldn’t interpret the look on her face. He saw something there. Nerves. Hope. She was gathering herself to ask him something. It happened so rarely that she bothered him with anything. She had no idea that he would give her anything she asked for.

“Here you go, boss.”

The moment between Solar and Zara shattered as two young pledges, Rafael and Carlos, stomped into the clearing, carrying logs over their shoulders. The men dumped theirs in the pile with the ones that Solar had just dropped.

“What are you doing?” Solar kept his voice even. He wanted to snap, but his place as leader held him in check. He couldn’t go around scaring off all the young people who wanted to join up. The revolution needed them.

“The Oracle sent us. He said you needed a hand building Zara’s hut,” Rafael said, his eyes flickering in Zara’s direction.