Page 14

“Alright, no more talking about your brother or Simone until they’re back,” I say, stopping in front of another of the abandoned houses. “How many rooms and how much work will need to be done?”

I start writing information down on a piece of parchment I grab out of my pack. The main purpose of our going out today is to survey all of the houses in the tribe to decide which ones will be good fits for new mated pairs. Ralleth already has others working on a plan to help get the women who want mates mated, and now it’s up to us to get houses prepared.

Almaac is in charge of the hunting, and two other males I’ve only met twice who are mated to one of Simone’s friends are working on creating larger farms for more crop yields. So far, the plan is all coming together.

I focus on that and not the fact that there’s a greater than zero percent chance that Simone has moved on from our relationship and will be happy without me. I force it out of my mind because I can’t bear to deal with it just yet.

Another time, when I’m in a better headspace and not so much is relying on me keeping my cool. Then, I’ll throw a colossal fit and probably destroy a chunk of the forest far from the tribe. Yeah, that sounds healthy.

7

Simone

My nerves are starting to get the better of me now that we’re lining everyone up outside the walls of the tribe and doing a head count. There are twenty-three demons making the journey with us. They’re all excited to go to our tribe and help get it ready for the first batch of humans, who should be arriving in about thirty days.

Half of my worry is that we picked the wrong demons. That somehow, I managed to pick the worst possible ones who are all chomping at the bit to say screw decency and kidnap all the women. I worry about this despite the fact that their tribal leader, his mate, Rallan, and a handful of women all vouched for them. The other half of my worry comes from not knowing if Vex is going to be in the tribe when we return.

I’ve tried not to let it show that I know him—more than know him—when he’s brought up in conversation between the tribal leader and Rallan. I think I’ve been doing a pretty goodjob because Rallan doesn’t look at me like I might have a breakdown, and he doesn’t make jokes about it. He knows all about what happened between Vex and me, and he rarely ever brings it up unless he’s talking about how much he dislikes him.

It’s not that I’m worried about seeing him. Well, I am. But more than that, I’m pissed off at how he’s acted. In the entire time he’s been on this planet, working with Ralleth to set up the tribe for the new humans, he hasn’t come to see me once. He hasn’t checked to make sure I’m okay after ditching me in the woods. He hasn’t made sure I’m safe with Rallan. I thought he’d at least care a little bit about me since we were together for over two years.

I know I said some shitty things to him on Earth, but he told me he was never going to leave me and that we’d be together no matter what. Then, he wakes me up early one morning and tells me I’m being sent to the planet and I shouldn’t wait for him. He tells me if I find happiness with someone else, I should take it.

Basically, I was dumped by my first alien boyfriend after being told his soul was bonded to mine. He dropped me off in the middle of the woods with no clothes, no protection, and a fucking storm starting up.

“You look more upset than normal,” Rallan says as he steps up beside me, placing a hand on my shoulder. Normally, I’d shrug it off, but right now, it’s grounding me.

“I’m having second thoughts about the ones we picked,” I answer.

At some point, I’ll have to tell him not to kill Vex when we see him. As much as I like pretending I feel nothing for Rallan, I do. I really, really don’t want to, but it doesn’t seem like my heart’s listening to me when it comes to the giant alien. It doesn’t help that no matter how much I’ve tried to push him away, he always seems to dig his heels in deeper.

“Do not question your decisions because of nerves,” Rallan says.

He squeezes my shoulder and all but forces me to push it off me because he’s testing to see if I noticed it when he first put it on me. Of course, he would push me like that. He can’t just let me inch closer to him without wanting everything. It’s annoying how much I like it, even when I meet his smile with a scowl.

“They could all be terrible,” I say, motioning toward the demons gathering around us.

The twenty-three demons are all fidgeting around with their packs and watching Rallan and me to let them know what to do. The plan is to get as far as we can today and then stay in the various safe houses tonight. Everyone knows where the tribe is, so even if we get separated, they’ll know where to go. It’s a three-day journey if everything goes right. That means three nights of cramming all these demons into a few safe houses.

“You think you would choose terrible males?”

Rallan moves to stand in front of me, too close. So close that I take a step back because I know it’s what he’s trying to get me to do. No, that’s not true. What he’s trying to do is get me to admit that I like him being so close that I’d actually prefer him closer to me. He doesn’t push as much as he used to. Now, he does small things that could be played off as not being him trying to pursue me if I didn’t know him as well as I do.

“No, I know I did the best I could with what I was given,” I respond, looking up at him and narrowing my eyes in what I hope is a threatening glare. The way his lip is curled upward proves to me that I’m definitely glaring at him, and his dumbass loves it.

“Then you should not worry,” Rallan says, spinning around to face his brothers. “You trust your mate, and he wouldn’t choose males that would hurt your sisters.”

“Who says I trust you?” I ask, not missing how his body flinches when the words leave my mouth. I don’t understand why. He’s not facing me, so I can’t see what his mood is. I doubt I’ve said anything that’s actually hurt him, not when I’ve tried to hurt him with my words before. He only ever gets hard when I do.

“Right, well.” Rallan clears his throat, an uncertain waver in his words that actually has me questioning if he’s lying to me. I’ve never once heard that tone from him. “Are you all ready?” He directs the question towards his brothers.

They’re all watching us, every single one of them. Most of them have intrigued looks on their faces, just like we all thought they would. Those who are willing to go to our tribe are willing or wanting to mate a human.

They’re watching us so they can learn how to interact with human women. I’ll have Rallan tell them that I shouldn’t be used as the example of what the rest of the women will be like. I don’t want them scared off before we’ve even made it to the tribe.

“We will head out then,” he says when a few brothers give him nods of their readiness. He sweeps an arm in front of him toward the trail that leads into the forest. “You all know the way. You have a map. I will walk behind with Simone. She is a small creature and takes slow steps. No reason for you all to be slowed by Simone and her weak humanness.”

Rallan lays it on thick, but do any of the others notice or care? Nope, because Rallan has said my name a couple of times in front of all of them, making it clear to all of them that he’s claiming me.