With much reluctance, I watched my mate dress, her hair still damp from her morning bath. After joining with her the first time on the shore, I’d claimed her four more times during the night, and once more this morning. Yet still I hungered for her.
I hadn’t meant to make her sleep outside, and especially not fully naked. While nights never got cold in this region of Trangor, they were noticeably cooler than the days. My mate didn’t possess the natural protection of scales like we did. Also, unlike her, we were cold-blooded. That meant our bodies could acclimate to the temperature around us, whereas hers would try to maintain a constant temperature. Thankfully, she hadn’t seemed to mind or suffer any discomfort from it.
After dressing, Serena fed on rugals. Since she’d compared them to male genitalia, I would never see the fruits the same way. And she was making certain of it, too. Even now, my mate was massaging the fruits with a suggestive expression on her face, touching the tip of her tongue to the mouth of the funnel as if she wanted to lick it, moments before the cream came out. The whole time, her gaze never strayed from mine.
From my research, I knew human males enjoyed being pleasured by their partners taking their penis in their mouth. Serena had not done it to me, although she had wanted to at some point last night. But the need to be inside her had just been too strong. She was so warm, so soft, and the sounds she made as I took her, the way her body trembled beneath me…
Goddess! I felt dizzy just thinking about it.
I didn’t know why she had yielded to me last night, and that terrified me. Something had shifted after we slept in the cave. The bond between us had strengthened. And yet, I didn’t believe that Serena had renounced her plan to leave once the six months were up.
I can never let her go .
And I would make sure she didn’t. Lust wasn’t the only reason my mate had joined with me last night. She felt the connection between us. Genuine affection brimmed in her eyes for me. I would fan that flame until it became an all-consuming, raging inferno.
After stealing one last passionate kiss from Serena, I helped her back on Dagas, who had wandered a short distance away while grazing. If nothing else, I took solace in having my mate snuggly against me as we shared the Drayshan. The long ride to Tulma flew by in no time.
Thanks to our hunters’ efficiency, the threats in the northwest had been eliminated. As Great Hunter of Krada, I’d been derelict in my duties by passing off the role to Mandha and Raskier. But the two males had understood my need for some bonding time with my mate. The first few days of a union usually determined the strength of its foundations. I wanted mine to be indestructible.
However, I only allowed myself the indulgence because I fully trusted my brother and my friend. Mandha’s last report on my com indicated that all the remaining Flayer packs that needed to be eliminated were now well within the areas with authorized access for the Federation Hunters. Based on the latest scans, they should be done in a week’s time, ten days at the most. I couldn’t wait for them to be gone. Their presence was an unwelcome reminder to my mate that she had not chosen me willingly.
She had loved scouting the land and tending the fauna with me yesterday. I wanted that to become Serena’s daily routine. I wanted her to discover more of the countless wonders of this world until it became the life she wanted and not the one imposed upon her.
As the silhouette of my birth village of Tulma appeared ahead, my mate’s delicate scent took on the slightly acrid tinge of fear and anxiety. I did not understand her worry about meeting my parents and other siblings.
A great number of the tribe members greeted our arrival on the square, my family and the Krada hunters among them. I stopped Dagas right before the first stones paving the square, dismounted and helped Serena down. She nervously ran a hand over her plaited hair, and adjusted her hunting suit. The unpleasant familiarity of this scene struck me as I led my mate to the center of the square where the three Elders of Tulma waited below the statue of the Goddess Isshaya. Despite the completely different circumstances that had led us here, my Serena clearly felt on trial again.
Everyone gathered around the square was staring at her. I couldn’t fault them for their curiosity. I’d been curious as well the first time I’d laid eyes on Serena, although a certain level of attraction had also factored in. But Tulma had very few interactions with off-worlders, least of all humans. The tribe had never seen a human female in the flesh before, let alone one with golden-brown skin, and least of all a huntress. On top of that, she was the mate of the Great Hunter that a majority of eligible females in Tulma had failed to seduce.
When I’d left the village to seek both a mate and a purpose, many had wondered what kind of female would find grace in my eyes. No one, not even me, could have ever imagined it would be someone like my Serena—my beautiful Ashina .
After paying my respects to the Elders and introducing them to my mate, I generally saluted everyone else before approaching my parents. There would be time later to rekindle my friendship with old acquaintances.
“Mother, Father,” I said respectfully, pressing my forehead against each of theirs in turn.
“Welcome back, son,” my mother said affectionately before turning her golden eyes towards Serena.
“Son,” my father said as sole greeting, then he also focused his attention on my mate.
An uneasy feeling settled in the pit of my stomach. Beyond natural curiosity, their gaze lacked the warmth I was used to and that I expected them to express the day I finally brought a mate home.
“This is Serena, my bonded mate,” I said, gently caressing her back.
The subtle, but unmistakable hardening in my mother’s eyes and stiffening in my father’s spine sent all my senses on high alert. My parents didn’t approve of my mate. But why? Granted, they would have wanted a pure blood Ordosian female for me, but my happiness mattered to them more. Surely Mandha had told them of the affection my Serena stirred in me. I would have to discover the cause, but not now, not in front of her.
“Serena, these are my parents, my mother Erastra, and my father Leshu,” I said in an enthusiastic tone, pretending nothing was amiss.
“It is an honor to meet you Erastra, and you Leshu,” Serena said with a nervous laugh.
“We meet you at last, Serena,” my father said, barely bowing his head in greeting.
“We’ve heard much about you,” Mother said. “Thank you for saving my daughter Salha and the little one. Our poor Mandha would have been devastated.”
I fought the urge to clench my teeth and barely managed to repress an angry hiss. My parents avoiding my gaze only confirmed the slight had been deliberate, mother underlining it by claiming Mandha’s mate as her daughter Salha, but both my parents merely referring to my mate as Serena.
“There’s no need to thank me,” Serena replied. “It was just the right thing to do.”
“Mmhmm,” my mother replied in a noncommittal fashion.
I then introduced my mate to my three other siblings who had waited off to the side. After exchanging a few words, both of my sisters excused themselves as they had to return to their duties in the atrium, as did my younger brother to head out on a scouting mission. As I intended to spend a couple of days in the village, we would have time to catch up later.
I noticed that Serena was stealing glances at my father. I surmised his imposing size intimidated her. Despite my own great height and broad shoulders, my father was bigger still.
“You’ve grown some more since I last visited, Father,” I said, forcing myself to sound lighthearted.
“I have,” Father said with a smug expression.
“And he drove me insane for two weeks with his endless moaning about his molting,” Mother said, looking less than impressed.
Serena snorted then tried to hide her laughter in a bout of coughing.
My father turned to glare at my mother. “It was a particularly excruciating one,” he said in defensive outrage. “Try having this much old skin to shed and the wretched thing refusing to fall off.” He turned back to me. “When you reach my age, you will understand. You are already bigger than I was at your age. By the time you reach mine, I suspect you will be at least three or four centimeters taller and broader.”
Serena’s eyes widened, and her head jerked towards me. “You’re going to grow even bigger than your father?” she asked, flabbergasted.
“More than likely, yes,” I said smugly. “Why do you think we molt? Ordosians continue to grow throughout their lives, males faster than females. Our current skin grows too small to contain us, so we shed it to enjoy a new, more comfortable one for a while.”
My mate gaped at me, then her gaze slowly roamed over me. By the look on her face, I suspected she was trying to imagine me the size of my father. Her gaze reached my pelvis, paused there for a split second, then she abruptly lifted her head. Serena’s overly expressive features failed to hide her sudden embarrassment. I knew then beyond the shadow of a doubt that she’d wondered if my penis scaled up with the rest of me.
Of course, it does.
With a will of its own, my tongue flicked out almost at the same time those of my parents did. To my poor mate’s dismay, they had also guessed the cause of her reaction. The taste of Serena’s blossoming arousal echoed directly in my nether region, making me instantly ache to extrude. But it was the troubled expression on my parents’ faces as they perceived my mate’s physical response to me that caught my attention.
They are surprised she’s attracted to me.
“I really wish you guys wouldn’t do that,” Serena mumbled under her breath, mortified.
I laughed, feeling a sliver of sympathy for her. Having my scent betray countless things about me to others was a fact of life. I grew up being subjected to it and doing it to others. It had to be unnerving for someone like her who’d never experienced it before.
“Will you stay a while or are you only passing through?” my mother asked.
“If it is no trouble, Mandha, my mate, and I intend to spend a couple of days with you,” I said carefully. “It will be a chance for Serena to discover where we grew up and to get to know her new family. The Flayer situation is under control. Raskier will take our hunters back to Krada so the village doesn’t remain too long with a reduced number of defenders.”
In light of their lukewarm reception to my mate, I’d expected my parents to balk at that prospect, but my mother’s enthusiastic reaction at the news immediately made me suspicious. She was up to something and would use our stay to bring her plans to fruition, whatever they were. I needed to find a private moment with my parents to confront them about their attitude.
“Well then, I will take Serena to your old room, give her a tour of the house, and get to know her while you catch up with your father and sort out the return of your hunters,” my mother said in a tone that brooked no argument.
“But—”
“We do have much to discuss,” my father said, interrupting me. “Leave the females to their own devices.”
My stomach knotted with apprehension as I turned to look at Serena. I didn’t want to leave her alone with my mother until I had a better sense of what had prompted her odd behavior. My mother had always been a warm, loving, and supportive female.
“It’s okay,” Serena said, caressing my chest in a soothing gesture. “This will be my chance to get your mother to reveal all of your shameful childhood secrets.”
Mother snorted. “It will take far more than a couple of days for that. Come, Serena.”
My eyes locked with my mother’s as she was gesturing for my mate to follow her. She held my warning gaze defiantly. I watched them depart, worry gnawing at me. I turned back to glare at my father.
“What’s going on? Why did you and mother disrespect my mate?” I hissed.
“Disrespect?” my father asked, tilting his head to the side and looking at me as if I’d said something ludicrous. “You think we disrespected her ? Tell me, Son, did you notice how the tribe looked at the two of you when you arrived?”
I shrugged. “A rather rude curiosity that put my mate ill at ease.”
“It’s only curiosity that you saw? Or is that all you chose to see?” he retorted, his gaze boring into mine with the stern demeanor he used to display in my youth when I wouldn’t take my training seriously.
“What else was I supposed to see?”
“Pity,” he said with a cold voice.
I recoiled, feeling like I’d just received a punch in the gut. A million thoughts swirled in my mind as I replayed in my head the looks the tribe had indeed cast on my mate and me. My hands fisted, my fangs descended, and my venom glands swelled as anger surged within me. They had looked on her with curiosity laced with disdain. They had looked on me with disappointment and pity.
“Pity?” I hissed, advancing menacingly towards my father. “Pity for what? Because I bonded with an off-worlder?”
“Do not bare your fangs at me, Szaro Kota,” my father snapped, his impressive hood widening further in a sign of dominance, while his muscles bulged under his scales. “I’ll rip them right out of your mouth to teach you respect.”
I swallowed painfully past my overflowing glands, closed my mouth, and bowed my head in submission. I’d never disrespected my sire before.
But then, I’d never had a mate for him to disrespect either.
“We do not care that you chose an off-worlder for your mate,” my father continued, his voice still clipped but his anger mollified by my show of submission. “But you are Szaro Kota, son of Leshu, and Great Hunter of Krada. Half the females of Tulma had hoped to bear your offspring, whether as your life companion or as your bonded mate. You refused them all to shackle yourself in this farce of a union!”
“It is not a farce!” I shouted, not caring who heard our argument. “Serena and I were bound before the Goddess and the tribe of Krada. I demand respect for my mate!”
“She is not your mate. You bound your life to Serena before the Goddess and all of Krada. She did not.”
I felt my blood drain from my face as understanding finally dawned on me. “We addressed the matter with Elder Krathi. She agreed—”
“Elder Krathi is a fool,” my father interrupted angrily. “She and your adoptive tribe may have found it acceptable, but she should have known the other tribes would not. The word has spread far and wide. And what do you think everyone is saying?”
I swallowed down the bile rising in my throat. I didn’t care what others thought of me, but I couldn’t accept that they thought ill of my mate, or that my situation brought shame to my family.
“I will not have my firstborn son be made a mockery,” my father added, lifting his chin. “Nor will your mother. I can assure you that she will see this resolved before you depart.”
I nodded stiffly.
