“Forget what?” she asks, her voice on edge, similar to her entire body.
“How to feel.”
“What are you talking about?”
“When I lost Haaka, I thought I’d never feel again, nothing beyond anger and hate.”
Tansey’s face softens, her earlier anger gone. She does not hate me, as I’d begun to believe. This is why I continue telling her of Haaka. To let her see my shame. She must know all of me before we enter risha.
“Haaka was aboard one of the ships that exploded when we left Orcos. I could not save her…them. Any of them.”
Tansey unfolds her arms. “I didn’t realize. I’m so sorry. Is this why you refused to take a woman of your own during the raid?”
“What makes you think?—”
“Baloq said you prefer to be alone. And your bed is smaller than Atox’s, as if you never intended to welcome a woman into it.”
“I didn’t. Until I saw you fight off Yanzu.”
“Yanzu?”
“The warrior who initially captured you in New Earth. You escaped him. Then Baloq took you.”
“That’s me. The only woman who escapes one beast to be captured by another.” She bites her bottom lip, then exhales slowly. “I’m sorry. I’m just tired of being treated like a prize. I didn’t know the name of the first guy who grabbed me. I’ve been watching for him, expecting him to take me, like Baloq.”
She hides her fears well, a quality necessary for warriors, but not females. Not when they have males to protect them, as I will protect her.
“I sent Yanzu to relocate to one of our other colonies, several days’ ride from here.”
“Because of me?”
“I did not want him going near you. I had enough to contend with Baloq. He’d stated a claim to you.”
“You left me to Baloq because of some law, but then you followed me everywhere until you finally got me in your bed. And now you want to bind me to you. Is this because you miss your mate?”
It is a good question, one I don’t know how to answer. Tansey stirs a part of me that I thought no longer existed. I now wake each day, eager to catch her scent in the wind, and to lay my eyes on her to ensure she is well.
When I woke yesterday morning after mating her…Vekk, I don’t recall ever feeling so alive.
“I understand loneliness, Verig. That’s why I stayed in your bed. I’ve been alone a very long time.”
I run my hands down her arms, amazed at the softness of her skin. Almost as soft as a newborn.
Never again will I see or touch my sweet little Veeya. I will never hear her ask me to throw her in the air and catch her. Never feel her glide her finger along my tusks and ask when hers will be as big as mine.
My hand slides to the small of Tansey’s back, and I coax her to walk with me. She’s been inside these tunnels since yesterday morning without nourishment.
“Come. We will share a meal.”
“I’m not hungry.”
“Then you will sit while I eat. The last I ate was a delectable female, but my body requires sustenance.”
“Don’t make me laugh.”
“Laughing suits you. I’ve even gotten used to your lack of tusks when your lips curl.” I run my finger along her bottom lip, and she playfully bites me. “We are well-suited for one another. I wish you would see that.”
“My future is not here, Verig. How can it be?”
