O'jek smirks, the expression ugly. "You thought those were courting gifts?"
I think back to the food, the treats, the clothing. "What else would they be?"
"The entire tribe was sending you those baskets of food. They were not from Steff. She was just the one that was delivering it." He looks at me as if I am a fool. "She merely wanted you to join the tribe. She had no thought of being your mate."
I frown at him, because this does not match up with what I know. He does not know Steff touched me, rubbed against me and claimed me as her own. He does not know about her hot mouth on my cock under the blankets, or her words as she encouraged me to mount her, to fill her with my seed and claim her with my cock. "You are full of lies."
O'jek just laughs. "Think what you like, but the female told D'see and S'am just yesterday that she had no intention of being anyone's mate. That she was waiting for resonance, but then you demanded her to be yours, and she went along with it because she wanted you to join the tribe. It seems a foolish reason, but perhaps she is a foolish female."
I clench my fists, angry that he would say such things about my Steff. She is a clever, kind female…but she also sat with Sam and Daisy last night, and they were full of female giggles when I went to get my mate. Was something said, or is O'jek dripping poison into my ear?
I storm down the cliff paths, wanting to leave him and his taunting expression behind. Poison, I decide. It is nothing but poison, meant to tear me apart from my mate.
Even so, when I enter the camp, I spot her next to Sam. They have many hides spread out on the sands and are stitching them together to be the roof of a hut when it is safe to rebuild. Pak plays with a few colored rocks nearby, tossing them into a cup and then pouring them out on the sands again, and looking over at Steff each time he does so. As I approach, I watch her smile at my son and give him words of encouragement. She never treats him like an Outcast…or me, for that matter.
O'jek is wrong.
But if he is wrong, why do his words have a tinge of truth to them? Why am I marching over to my mate with cold fury in my gut?
Because Steff is kind, I realize as I look over at my sweet mate. Because it would absolutely be something that Steff would do—go along with someone simply because she did not wish to hurt their feelings. Because she would want to understand their motive behind what they are doing. She always wishes to understand everyone, even I'rec and O'jek.
And has not everyone declared such surprise that Steff took a mate without resonance? Have they not teased her about our mating, because she had declared that she would wait for resonance so many times? Those are not the actions of a tribe that knew a female was courting a male for many turns of the moons.
I feel cold. Miserable. Has everyone in this tribe been laughing at us all this time? Thinking Pak's father is a fool?
"Steff." I march toward her, clearing the distance between us with quick steps. She sits up, a welcoming smile on her face, and she is lovely. She wears many layers of furs as always, her teats tightly bound against her chest, but there is a pink flush to her cheeks and her skin is damp with sweat, tendrils of dark mane sticking to her neck.
"Just in time," she says happily, getting to her feet. "I could use a break—"
"Tell me true." I interrupt, needing to get the words out before she distracts me with a pretty smile. "Were you courting me with gifts? Did you truly wish to be my mate or were you trying to get me to join your tribe?"
Steff flinches, and I feel as if I have taken a fist to the gut. She does not need to say more, because now I know. Now I understand. Everything that O'jek has taunted me with is true. Now, the strange comments make sense and I feel like a fool. "It's not like that," Steff says. "Let's go sit down and talk about this in private."
"I do not wish to talk," I snap. "I wish for my mate to speak truth to me. But you are not even my mate, are you? It is a foolish mistake on my part that assumed you were. You never had any intention of mating with me."
"That's not true," she protests, hurt in her eyes.
"Did I push you into being my mate?" I demand. "Or was it your plan all along to court me?"