Total pages in book: 118
Estimated words: 106646 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 533(@200wpm)___ 427(@250wpm)___ 355(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106646 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 533(@200wpm)___ 427(@250wpm)___ 355(@300wpm)
I say nothing, scowling.
D'see sighs. "It's the latter, isn't it?"
"…Maybe."
She puts her hands together, clasping them under her chin. "All right, friend. The next time you have a chance, here is what you should do. Are you listening?"
"I am." I have never listened so hard in my life.
"You are going to go up to Bridget and say, 'May I have a word with you?' and ask her to join you somewhere nice and quiet. Ask her to talk to you. Don't demand. Do you understand?" She gives me a piercing look.
I nod. D'see has an odd way of speaking, but I grasp most of it. "I go up to her and ask if I might word on her in quiet. That is what you said, yes?"
"Mmm, close." She gestures I should continue. "And then what?"
I think. "And then I tell her she is my…mate?"
D'see sighs. "You ask, A'tam. You ask her."
"I ask her to be my mate," I say confidently.
"You ask her why she turns you away," D'see clarifies. "You tell her that you love her and you want to be with her and no one else. It's true, isn't it? I haven't seen you look at another female since I got here."
Her head tilts, her sunset mane spilling across her shoulders, and I realize in that moment that D'see is…attractive. And yet, I have never paid attention. D'see is a friend to me, no more. When I see her in my furs, I am just sad that it is not B'shit. When I think of a mate, I see my prickly, hot-tempered B'shit. I think of her wicked smile before she gives me hot kisses, and of the way her body felt underneath mine.
There is no other female for me but B'shit. I clench a hand over my chest. "It does not matter that my khui is silent. I know in my spirit that she is meant to be mine."
The look she gives me is soft with approval. "I know. Which is why I want to help you two. Tell her how you feel, A'tam. I know you think it's obvious, but trust me, sometimes a woman needs to be told that a man loves her. She needs to hear that she is attractive and he can think of nothing else but her."
"Tell her I love her," I echo. "That she is attractive."
"Tell her why it's so very important to you that she be your mate. And do not demand," D'see expresses firmly. "You must ask. If you demand, you will just drive her farther away from you."
"Ask," I repeat. "Tell her she is attractive and ask her…"
"To be your mate," D'see prompts.
It sounds odd that I should have to ask about such obvious things, but perhaps this is what B'shit needs from me. Humans have strange customs. Perhaps B'shit needs me to state the obvious, over and over again.
Surely I can do this.
I imagine taking B'shit aside and asking her to be my mate. I imagine her pretty face wreathed with smiles and her flinging her arms around my neck as she joyfully declares that all she needed was for me to ask her. That it was an obvious solution, and it is the only reason we have been apart these long, long days.
Excited, I jump to my feet. "Be ready tomorrow," I tell D'see. "If the weather is clear, we are hunting. And I aim to show O'jek that I am the right male for my B'shit, not him." I point at her. "Wear your best hunting gear and be ready at dawn. We hunt prey…and we hunt my mate."
"Oh boy," is all D'see says.
15
A’TAM
The weather seems to be smiling upon my plans, for the day dawns bright and clear. The air is biting with cold, but the twin suns are out and no snow is falling. I head toward the fire in my best hunting gear, my spear strapped to my back, eagerness surging through me.
Today, I will claim my mate.
After I win this hunting competition, of course.
I suck down a cup of tea handed to me, spitting out the shrimp shells as I watch others rise and approach the fire. This is the contest that was made for me. I'rec is the best at fishing in our small clan. O'jek excels at fire-making and skinning. U'dron is good with music. Me, I am good at hunting. I have the best nose of us all, and I can follow a trail from beginning to end, no matter how faint the scent. If there is a trail, I will uncover it.
I grin at the others as they approach the fire. L'ren and W'lla are chatting with V'za, while D'vi and M'rsl attend to the early morning food, T'chai at his mate's side. D'vi offers me a bowl and I tip the entire thing back, consuming my meal in two great gulps, and then return it to her.