Page 25

“You have two mates,” Rallan says. His gaze is filled with amusement, but there’s a hardness to it that I don’t see very often. “One of them you have already mated, and I am very jealous it is not me. I would give anything to be a male you are actually mated to, but that does not change the fact that you are my mate, and I am yours. Can you accept this?”

My throat feels rough and dry as I work to swallow. My molars scrape against one another as I try to force myself not to say something cruel. I know I should if I want to keep my distance from Rallan and Vex. I should keep using hurtful words and bad attitudes to keep them at arm’s length. The only problem with that plan is that it isn’t working.

If I say something awful to Rallan right now, he’ll shake his head and call me an insufferable female. He’ll still crawl into my bed tonight and take care of me. In the morning, I’ll wake up in his arms, my face nuzzling close to him because deep down inside, I know I want him. I want them both.

“I can accept that,” I whisper, my eyes staring straight into Rallan’s. I might sound meek right now, but it’s only because I haven’t allowed myself to voice this out loud. I’m still the same me, but maybe now I can admit that I might have fallen for two aliens when really I should’ve fallen for none.

“Good.” Rallan beams, his face turning more boyish and playful. “Then you will also accept that Vex is trying to make things right with you. I know you may not trust him after how he left you here, but you are not speaking to him at all.”

“I thought you hated him,” I grumble.

I push at Rallan’s chest to try to make some space between us. He falls back on his ass and pulls me even closer to him until I’m standing between his outstretched legs. He holds my hips tight until I’m plastered against his chest. If I tilt my head downward, our faces are close to one another

“I did,” Rallan says in a soft whisper. The air tickles the tip of my nose as he speaks, and his tongue flicks out against my lips. “He was the male who stole your soul from me. The male who promised to keep you safe and cared for and failed so spectacularly. I hated him until I saw his entire being breaking when I told him of how you came to be in my life. I hated him until I saw the look of helplessness wash over him at knowing he failed as a mate. And when I realized he was broken over what happened to you, I decided to give him a chance to redeem himself.”

“He broke up with me,” I say, the emotion in my voice coming out even though I hate being vulnerable. Not in general, because Nia and Deja have both seen me cry plenty of times. I don’t want to be vulnerable in front of someone I am trying not to fall for.

“I think you should at least speak with him before you decide he is irredeemable,” Rallan says, moving one of his hands up to my shoulder and then cupping the back of my neck. “I think you will find he has done much more for you than you realize.”

“You trust him?”

I don’t know why it’s so important for me to know if Rallan trusts Vex or not, but now that I’ve asked. I’m holding my breath while I wait for his answer. I’ve grown to trust Rallan’s judgment on a lot of things. Even though he acts like an idiot most of the time, he’s pretty intelligent and has a good sense of spotting bad intentions.

“I do,” Rallan says, and then his lips twitch up in a smile. “My brother trusts him even more. I am almost positive he likes Vex more than he likes me.”

“Why do you think that?” I lean into his hold, not missing how his eyes widen as I relax into him.

He covers his surprise quickly, knowing he might scare me off if he makes too big of a deal of me allowing him more liberties. His hand slides lower on my back to gently cup my ass as his other hand stays on the back of my neck. I whimper, needing more touching, more closeness.

“Ralleth told me if I did not make things work out between the three of us, I would need to make plans to leave the tribe once the first females make it through the portal,” Rallan says. My eyes go wide, but before I can tell him how fucked up that is, he’s laughing and silencing me by continuing to speak. “Do not worry. I was told I could keep you if I were exiled. So, I would have been a happy male either way. I want you happy as well, that is why I am trying to help Vex fix his errors.”

When he finishes talking, his fingers dig in a bit rougher against my ass, and his hand on my neck pulls me closer until our mouths are just barely not touching. His tongue lashes against my lips, begging me to place my lips on his. It’s the closest we’ve ever been besides the snuggling we do at night. This feels like more. Like Rallan is asking me to give him more. Not that he isn’t always asking for that in his own way, but this feels different.

“I don’t know if I know how,” I murmur, inching my lips closer to his, feeling my eyes grow heavy with lust.

“How to do what? Trust him? I can make sure he doesn’t hurt you again. If it is kissing that you are unsure how to do, well, I will not know if you do right or wrong.” Rallan smiles at me but doesn’t ease up on how tight he’s holding me.

“Okay,” I whisper. It’s a breath of a word before I place my lips on his.

A hiss rattles in his chest so loud I can feel it vibrating through me. I smile against his lips at how much I affect him and then kiss him some more. Now that I’m doing it, now that I’m pulling his bottom lip between my teeth and biting down on it softly, I wonder why I haven’t been doing this the entire time I’ve known him.

Rallan holds me tight to him, and I reward his patience with kiss after kiss after kiss. I don’t stop until I’m out of breath and my lips are swollen with use. Rallan is breathing hard as I pull away, and when he sees the need still in me, he huffs at himself and pulls me into him in a hug this time.

“I will reward your trust in me in so many ways anytime you wish it,” Rallan says as he nuzzles his head against my neck and groans as I wiggle against him. “But we are needed somewhere right now.”

I whine when he pushes me back a couple of steps and rises to his feet. Now that I’ve opened myself up to the possibility of being with him, I kind of want to be with him in all the ways someone can be with another.

The look in his eyes and the straining hardness in his pants tells me he feels the same. His brows pull together before he presses his lips into a tight line.

“You have terrible timing, you know this? Vex is waiting for us or I would be taking you back to our home to make love to you.”

“I think this is the part where you call me insufferable.” I lean against him, taking his hand in mine as we begin walking toward wherever he’s taking me.

“Yes, such an insufferable female,” Rallan teases. “You will need to reward me for my persistence tonight when we crawl into bed together. I think this is only fair.”

I snort a laugh and shake my head. I can’t say that I hate the idea. Well, I could say it, but it would be a lie. I’m about to banter with Rallan some more when we make it to a clearing a short walk away from the tribe.

The clearing is small, but it’s right next to a section of the river that flows through the tribe. Next to the bank of the river is what appears to be a picnic set up on one of the blankets taken from our home.