“I’m here to learn.”
“You’re here to learn. Those that come after you will be here to kill.”
I open my mouth to disagree, but how can I? He’s probably right. I’m aware of our history. I know what we tend to get up to when we have half a chance. If humans lived here, there would be no forests, and no farms like these. We would have put concrete over almost all of it, besides little squares of perversely lonely grass here and there. Or we would have cratered it out to get at what sits beneath the pastures. We’re pretty fucking ruthless. But that’s what makes us effective. We are peak survivors.
“This is where you will live,” Gruff informs me. “You will be safe here.”
“Okay, and what do you get out of this?”
“I get you.”
He says it so simply, laying complete claim to me.
“Me. As in. Myself.” I need to confirm this madness.
“Yes. You. You will be mine. Are mine,” he repeats himself. “Do you not feel it? The chemical bonding between us? The inevitability of our togetherness?”
I don’t feel any of those things. I feel like I’ve been abducted by an alien who seems to be very taken by me, which is half-flattering and half-terrifying, especially if it means the end of my freedom as I know it.
“What am I supposed to do here in a place like this?”
“Now I have taken you as my mate, you will help tend my herd,” he says.
“I will?”
“Yes. You will take them water and feed them hay. You will follow them when they graze, and you will milk them, in order to make soaps and cheeses. I will teach you how do to both.”
“You’ve brought me here to be a farm laborer?”
“It is better to have you here looking after the herd than wandering about in the wilds, nearly falling into rivers.”
“You saw that?”
“I saw many things,” he says. “But yes. I saw you nearly die due to your own recklessness.”
That word, recklessness, throws me back into the mindset of a cadet. I narrow my eyes and square my shoulders. I am done with men telling me what to do and who I am. I don’t care if they have horns and hooves, or medals and the respect of millions.
“I wasn’t reckless. It was an accident. Could have happened to anybody. Strumpet nearly pushed me in, but I didn’t fall.”
“Yes, your goat is also a brat.”
“I’m not a brat!” I say that a little quicker than I should and with a little bit too high a pitch in my voice. I’ve been called a brat before, and worse. It’s not a good thing.
“Of course you are. You already submitted to me and allowed me to mate you. And now you question me, act as if you are surprised I would want you to live in my home and partake in my life.”
“I’m an invasive species, weren’t you saying?”
“You are, but the chemistry is strong. I do not deny what is real. There is something between us, Jem the human.”
“I didn’t come here to work. I came here to explore. My job is to cover as much ground as possible and to catalog the natural world.”
“Your job is to lay the groundwork for a potential invasion,” he says. “I know that very well. You will be put to better use this way.”
I don’t like his tone, and I am not prepared to back down and submit to his alien agenda. He is not the boss of me, no matter our size difference or how physically powerful he is. It is obvious that things are decided by force here. Gruff chased away the other buck by violence. I wonder how much force he’ll use with me. I still have my weapon by my side. I will use it if I have to.
“Who are you to tell me what my use is?”
“Your mate. Your master,” he says, folding his arms over his chest and glowering down at me. His eyes narrow when he is annoyed, and the way the charcoal black rings around his bright green eyes move is very compelling. I can feel what an irritation I am being to my very core. “Human, you must learn your place here with me. I do not wish to cause you pain, but I will if I have to.”