That’s a dark warning, and he delivers it as such. I’m not afraid. I refuse to be afraid. He’s not the first big male to think he can push me around and he probably won’t be the last, but every single one of them have regretted it. He’ll be no different.
“And I don’t want to have to kill you if you try to take me against my will, but I will.”
“Is that right?”
“You threatened me first, alien.”
He leans down, his eyes gleaming with what might be amusement, malice, or just plain entertainment. I have had this creature inside me. I have felt his strength. I know precisely how much of a threat I pose to him without weapons: none at all.
“You’re a brave little human,” he says, his voice rough and gravelly. “But do not threaten to kill me again.”
“If I do?”
“I will give you the thrashing of a thousand lifetimes.”
“Put a finger on me, and…”
He lifts a brow. That’s it. Just one little shift in expression tells me that I am now well into the fucking around phase, and at any moment, I will find out what that means.
I decide not to threaten him. There’s not much point in threats anyway. If I have to hurt him, I’ll hurt him. I won’t feel good about it, but I will do it.
“Don’t put a finger on me,” I say.
“Don’t deserve it then.”
We’re at something of an impasse. But he was right about one thing, my dome isn’t safe. The wild bucks know where it is, and they know I am there. If I’m not physically under Gruff’s protection, I am in trouble.
“I’ll stay,” I say. “And I’ll help. But that’s as far as I am committing. Humans don’t declare eternal mate-hood just because they have sex. Sometimes sex is the end of the relationship, not the beginning.”
“It does not surprise me that your species is sexually exploitative,” he says. “Or that commitment frightens you. You are, after all, a plague on the universe.”
“And fuck you too,” I say. “This is why I’m not your mate. Any mate of mine would know better than to speak to me that way. I’m a plague of one, is that it? Doesn’t even make any sense. Idiot.”
Now both Gruff’s brows are rising, and I see his hands flexing as if he intends to punish me.
“You’re right,” he says. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t call your species a plague. It’s more like an infestation.” There’s a slight twist to his lips, a partial smirk of amusement. He’s fucking with me.
“Dude. Fuck you. Give me my weapon back.”
To my surprise, he does. He hands me back a tool I could easily use to kill him without any concern at all.
“You are my mate,” he tells me. “And you are a brat. And in time, you will come to terms with both those things.”
“Sure I will.”
I don’t know if the silver he slipped into my mouth translates sarcasm very well.
* * *
Isoon learn that Strumpet does not have my misgivings about this place. She has already jumped a fence and is busy fighting the other goats. Each and every one of them comes up to her with a ridged back, head inclined in awho the hell are yousort of expression. Both goats rear up on their hind legs before letting themselves fall forward, their heads hitting with a BONK.
“Hey!” I cry out and run, leaping the fence in a single bound. The goats respect my presence, sort of, by slipping around me to the side to attempt to bonk Strumpet from any angle.
“These goats are violent!”
“They’re the older does,” Gruff explains. “They’re teaching your little one her place in their herd and giving her the chance to make hers.”
“Stop them!”