No. I refused to back down, and Kal had never, not once, been threatening toward me. He would never hurt me. Iknewthis, but it was taking my body a while to realize that.
“I appreciate you buying me this stuff,” I said, tugging on the chain, “but I don’t want anymore. It makes me uncomfortable.” My shoulders automatically hunched as I cringed.
Kal looked away, and the people-pleaser side of me rose with a vengeance to take my words back, but I swallowed them. My pulse started to race, and sweat dampened the back of my shirt.
“I need you to say something,” I said, my voice reed thin.
“I’m not mad. Pimtimzol warned me I was buying you too much. I like getting you things.”
“And it’s nice, but it’s too much.”
“I’m sorry.”
I hooked my arms around his waist. “Stop. I’m not upset. I’m… trying to communicate better.”
“I appreciate that.”
“Good, because it makes me feel sick.”
“Do you want to watch your weird baking show?”
“Yeah, I do.”
After Seth went to sleep in his room, I perched on my bed, reading a book. A chime sounded. “Yes, NAID?”
She appeared in the elderly human guise she wore in front of Seth. “Captain Dontilvynsan would like to speak with you.”
Big brother number two. “Put him through.”
Dontilvynsan appeared. His black scales caught the light as red and gold accents shone between them while his wavy purple hair gleamed. Even on the screen, he was enormous in height and width.
“Pest.”
Every single one of them, even my cousin Monqilcolnen, called me that. “Do you all have a schedule to bother me on certain days?”
“Yes, Hallonnixmin arranged it. He did it so Mother and Father wouldn’t bother you.”
Guilt instantly stabbed my chest. “That was very nice of him.”
“He thought it would be easier to talk with us.”
“Thanks,” I whispered.
“We would do anything for you, Pest.”
That was something I knew. They’d proven such time and time again. No matter what happened, my brothers stood behind me and in some cases in front of me, protecting me, supporting me, and loving me.
“What can I do for you, Captain?” We’d been calling Dontilvynsan “Captain” long before he joined the navy. He liked to take charge, so Hallonnixmin gifted him the endearment.
His eyes moved side to side, and I knew what was coming.
“Where is your mate?” he asked.
“In his room,” I confessed.
“You’re not sleeping together?”
“Not yet.”
