Page 9

“Yes, my mistake,” Zathar says easily. “Rallan has told me you are not fond of being called his. I must have forgotten.”

Rallan’s fingers tighten on my lower back as he moves to pull a chair out for me to sit in. Most of the others are watching everything happening between us, but their conversations are beginning to resume in hushed whispers and murmurs.

I glance around once more and notice, to my surprise, a handful of what I’m assuming are women sitting around the tables as well. There’s even one standing from her seat, eyes on Rallan as she debates something with herself. She furrows her brows before sitting back down but keeps her eyes on us.

“You wish to speak to me about males willing to go to the other tribe, yes?” Zathar asks.

It’s exactly what we’re here for, and I’m glad he’s not trying to make small talk before getting down to business. The tribe I come from had a shortage of women that will soon be rectified, but in order to house and feed all of the new women who will be coming, we need help from this tribe. We need demons willing to help build houses, go hunting, and, more importantly, help keep the tribe safe in case there are more out there who wish to force a human to be with them. It’s hard enough that we’re already so much smaller and weaker than the species that live on this planet.

It’s one of the reasons I proposed this plan. The other reason was that I thought it would make Vex come find me.

“My companion should have asked you to come up with a list of names of brothers who might be interested in helping out in the tribe to make it suitable for more humans to live?” I ask. I make sure not to use Rallan’s name, especially in front of all these other demons. He can get me so worked up that I say it when we’re alone, but he’s never gotten me that way when we’re in front of others.

“He did, and we have.” Zathar hands Rallan a piece of parchment with names written on it.

“Are all of these males willing to help even if they cannot find a mate?” Rallan asks as he sets the paper down.

“That is what they have said, and I trust them,” Zathar says, his voice taking on a cool edge, almost like he knows that we have doubts about who he trusts since it’s his tribe that has males come to kidnap humans. “I understand if you are hesitant, but they have all agreed to speak with you to make sure you are open to allowing them into your tribe’s walls. This is just the first group I am willing to send, there will be more males who offer to go, and others from more tribes once they are made aware that mate bonds are beginning to form in greater numbers.”

“Thirty males will be a great help,” Rallan says, his arms crossing over his chest as he leans back in his chair.

I try to look just as nonchalant as him, but I’m sure I’m failing. I mean, I can already feel my eye twitching at the fact that we asked for a maximum of twenty-five names because we still have over thirty males in the other tribe who are able to help.

I clear my throat, trying to force myself to stay respectful because I am in the presence of the demon who runs the entirety of this other tribe. This tribe that seems to be prospering with hundreds and hundreds of inhabitants who all look healthy enough. Not to mention all of the nicer fabrics I’ve seen some ofthe others wearing. Nicer than the thin material that makes up my tunic and the pair of makeshift shorts I made myself during the storms. I need to stay respectful because one day, I want my tribe to be this successful.

“We requested a maximum of twenty-five males.” I’m pretty proud that my words come out much more neutral than I expect them to.

I don’t miss how Rallan turns his head slightly to look down at me or how he untwines his arms so one is resting behind me on the back of my chair. He’s making sure they all know that even if I say something they don’t like, he’s still willing to protect me. I would hate the show if not for the fact that I might actually piss someone off before this is over if our demands are so easily discarded.

“My mate knew that you would be looking over the list to ensure the males we chose were of your liking.” I’m surprised when Zathar’s mate is the one who responds to me, but I don’t hate it. “I told him to add more names so that you did not feel as though you had to accept males you would not normally accept just to ensure you had enough help in your tribe.

I trace the front of my teeth with my tongue as I decide how to respond to her. “Thank you. That was thoughtful and actually pretty good thinking. I want to go over the list with my companion, and then we were hoping to hear from some of the women who might’ve interacted with them to make sure they’ve never acted aggressively toward any of them.”

“Of course.” Zanthar’s mate leans across the table and points at the paper. “I took the liberty of listing female references for each male because I thought that would be a wonderful way to show you that the males we chose have proven themselves to be caring partners.”

“Oh, wow.” I smile at the woman, loving that somehow we were both on the same page about this whole thing. Her eyessparkle with amusement as she matches my expression. “Thank you, this will be so helpful.”

“Yes, my mate is the better half of this mating. I’m sure you can see that clearly now,” Zathar says with a laugh in his voice. “If not for her, I would have run this tribe into the ground long ago, but she is here, and so are we.”

A part of me, the part of me that somehow manages to cause problems by being too abrasive, wants to ask why they’re willing to help now when they were so against helping the other tribe for so long. I already know the answer. Their women are dwindling in numbers, and my tribe is about to have an abundance of them.

If Ralleth and the other demons of the tribe I come from are fine with receiving help from this tribe after years of barely being able to trade with them, then I’ll have to manage to be fine with it, too. So long as everyone in my tribe, my home, is safe, I’ll live with pretty much anything.

“You are still worried,” Rallan says more than asks, and the irritating man says it loud enough that our hosts hear him, too.

I shoot him a narrowed glare, but of course, he takes that as some kind of come-on. I’m pretty sure I could tell him I hate him, and he’d think it’s me hitting on him. Either he’s that desperate for someone in his bed—unlikely since he boasts about his attentions so frequently. Or, he actually really wants me. The latter is just confusing since I’m still very much hung up on a different stupid alien man who ditched me in the middle of the woods on this planet and still has yet to show his stupid glowing face to me at all. Not even when I was here doing this stupid thing of making sure everyone knows about humans coming to this planet.

A crash of thunder interrupts our conversation and has Rallan standing from the table. His body is tense, and his eyes lose the amusement that seems to always sparkle in them.

“You could stay with us,” Zathar’s mate says to me as I stand to join Rallan.

My eyes go a bit wide at the offer, and I look up to Rallan to give me an excuse not to have to stay here for a storm. Instead, he’s looking at the woman who was watching us earlier. His eyes are still serious, and his body is tense. I don’t like how he seems so caught up in watching her, and maybe, just maybe, I’m way more jealous than I try to let on about all of the experience he seems to have.

“Yes, my mate has already had a room set aside for you and Rallan if you want to stay to get to know some of our closest friends here,” Zathar adds, drawing my attention back to him and his mate. At least, he tries.

I’m still staring at Rallan, who’s staring at someone who isn’t me, before his throat works to swallow something down. Then, as though I didn’t just watch him stare down someone he’s most definitely had sex with, he turns his attention back down to me and offers me his hand.

“We should get going before the storms return,” Rallan says, his smile spreading across his lips and his eyes returning their mirth. “Do not want to be stuck here, do we?”