“We’re forming a routine, which is pleasant, but I want more.” My thoughts flashed to the way Seth had turned from me this morning. “I keep upsetting him, I believe. He won’t open up to me, so I don’t know for certain.”
“Patience and time. You have no idea what he has lived through, just as he has no knowledge of your past. Give him time to trust you. At the moment, you are at an advantage. This is your world, not his. As for more, have you spoken to him about it?” he asked, turning from his work to sit across from me, his tail leisurely swishing.
“No.”
“Then how can you expect more? A discussion of permissions must be had.”
My head thumped against the vines. “I can’t get the words out, and he doesn’t seem to need such a talk. Maybe his species courts differently?”
“Are you learning about his world?”
“I’m trying.” I’d learned several things like nodding and blushing, and what they meant. “Most of the time, I’d rather talk or spend time with Seth.”
“You can’t expect him to do all the work. You need to learn about his planet as much as he needs to learn about ours.”
“I am.”
He raised his eyebrows at my rough tone but did not remark.
Our bonding was more frustrating than I would’ve possibly guessed. When I’d appealed to the Crystal for my soulmate, I’d had a dream of what would happen when I retrieved Seth. It involved romance, kissing, and us falling into bed together. None of this awkward transitional phase.
“Thinking of giving up?” Pintimzol asked in a hard voice.
I growled as light blazed beneath my scales. “No. Seth is mine.”
“This will not be easy, simply because he’s your mate. I had to court my mate for well over a cycle before she chose me back. Other species don’t share our same trust in the Crystal or our connection to it. Unlike me, you have a deadline.”
Six months. Actually, not even six months, just under five now. I didn’t have much time to secure his affection. And I wanted it. I wanted this life with him desperately. He was my mate, and I would not give him up.
“How did you court your mate?” I asked.
“It doesn’t matter how I did it, because my mate is not your Seth. Get to know him and what he likes and needs. That’s how to court him. Reveal yourself and your soul to him.”
My arms crossed. I didn’t want to reveal myself. What if he didn’t like what he saw? Seth was too important to risk that. “I can’t do that.”
“The choice is yours, Kalvoxrencol, but don’t expect Seth to open up to you if you won’t be open with him.”
As the middle hour approached, I returned to me and mine’s quarters and spied Seth stretched out on the couch, throwing a ball for Lucy. She would race to catch it, then bring it back to Seth, who would throw it again. She seemed impossible to exhaust, but we tried.
Seth. I wanted to kiss him, taste him, and hear him groan. But more than that, I wanted him to trust me and want me as much as I desired him.
Seth smiled, broad and happy, and made my soul skitter. “Time for lunch already?”
“If you still want to go?” I hoped he hadn’t changed his mind, but either way, we would spend time together, which was all that mattered.
“Yeah, I’m hungry,” he said, lifting and lowering his shoulders. That motion meant nothing to me—another thing I needed to research—but I loved his assertion of being hungry. The first few days he’d been here, he’d eaten almost nothing.
Lucy dropped her ball at my feet, tail shaking. She was an odd creature, but she was growing on me. I grabbed the toy. Lucy stared at me with her wide, round eyes that seemed a tad insane. I tried to pet her, but she shifted away and chittered.
“She wants you to throw it,” Seth said from right behind me, which made my tail twitch.
I tossed the ball, and Lucy took off after it. She grabbed the toy and raced back toward us, dropping it at my feet.
“We are leaving,” I told her, picking the ball up.
Lucy squeaked.
“No, we’re leaving,” I repeated, and she squeaked again.
