Vektal rumbles with laughter again. “It is a rare thing, this I promise.”
If he says so. Doesn’t seem all that rare to me so far, but he’s the expert. I run a fingertip along the dip of his navel just because I like touching him. He shudders underneath my caress and I decide I like that, too. “Everyone settled in this morning? No crying?”
My big alien makes a disgruntled sound in his throat. “There is always some crying.”
“There is,” I admit. “It’s to be expected.”
“You did not cry.” He wraps a curl of my hair around one finger.
My smile falters. “Maybe I just haven’t cried yet,” I whisper. I’m the unofficial leader of the humans, after all. I’ve had to be strong ever since we got here, because I was the one with the plan to attack our captors, I was the one that went out to find help, I was the one who resonated to Vektal, the strong, capable — and yummy - chief of the alien tribe here. Everyone’s viewed the humans here as my tribe, and me as their chief, and even us humans have kinda fallen into that way of thinking. They come to me when they’re worried or scared, as if I’m in charge.
Sometimes, it feels like a lot. I’m the same age they are, but I don’t get to be the one that cries about or fate, or the one that stays in bed all day. I have to be a responsible leader, even when I feel just as overwhelmed and helpless as they do.
But I won’t focus on that right now. I wouldn’t change anything that’s happened since we arrived on this planet, right from the very first time I met Vektal and he was feasting between my thighs as if he’d never tasted anything so good. I squeeze my legs together at the delicious memory. “Who was crying this morning?”
“Air-ee-yon-uh.”
Ah. “Is Zolaya with her?” If her mate is out hunting, I should probably go see what’s bothering her, do some damage control. Some of the girls here aren’t being very welcoming to her and most of the aliens are puzzled by her constant tears. Her mate is a sweetheart, though, and I’m so glad he dotes on her like he does.
“Yes, and Mar-lenn too.”
“Then she’ll be okay.”
He grunts. “I heard that Bek has been sneaking off with one of the humans, as well.”
“That would be Claire,” I admit. I’ve heard this too but said nothing because Claire didn’t want me to. “Is it a bad idea?”
“A pleasure mate? No.” Vektal shifts as I tease his belly button again, and I realize he’s ticklish. How have I not known this after being with him for weeks now? It makes me want to tickle more, even though we should probably be getting up. “It is just that…” he pauses, choosing his words. “Bek is a very strong-minded hunter.”
I know what he’s saying, what he’s thinking. Claire is a sweetheart but she’s also not a very strong-willed personality. I worry she’s going to get steamrolled by a guy and it’ll end up being a messy, volatile situation. I know a lot of these guys are coming to terms with the fact that there’s now a bunch of single women in the tribe, and they’re overzealous in their eagerness to impress. “You think I should tell her to stop seeing him?”
“Why?” He sounds genuinely confused.
“So he doesn’t get the wrong idea and force himself on her if she says no?”
I can feel Vektal’s body stiffen underneath me. “No male would do such a thing, my sweet resonance. How can you think that?”
I sit up, looking into his eyes. He’s shocked. I’ve shocked my darling Vektal. It truly has never occurred to him that someone would want to hurt a human woman. But since we just got out of an ugly situation, that thought’s on my mind far too much. I think of Dominique, dead in the snow, and the ache I constantly fight returns. I smile at Vektal, patting his chest. “Of course he wouldn’t, babe. I’m sure your hunters are as noble as you are.”
There’s something sweet and innocent about Vektal. Despite his ferociousness and the harsh world they live in, he’s charmingly naive and adorable for it.
I hope he never loses it and becomes as jaded as I am.
2
VEKTAL
My Georgie is distracted.
It has been only hands of days since she and the humans arrived and changed our lives forever. In those hands of days, though, I have learned the deep breaths she makes as she sleeps, the way she shivers and jumps when she bathes herself in the morning, and the way her smile lights her eyes. She smiles this day, but her eyes do not shine with the same amusement, and I wonder what is wrong.