Page 11 of Howling Eve (Ragoru Origins #2)

Chapter Eleven

“I look ridiculous,” Skal grumbled, flicking a claw against one of the tiny jingling metal pieces hanging from around his neck.

His mate tsked and adjusted the material for him, a pleased smile lighting her face in such a way that it made him go all warm and soft inside despite the tight engorgement of his cocks that he was barely keeping within his sheath.

“Well, I think you look great,” she assured him.

He still did not see a point to their ridiculous coverings, outside of understanding that it was a strange human tradition, but it made him feel a little better that she was adorned in a similar way. As were the other humans throughout the market, though he found some of them a little disturbing. He stared at a male a short way down on the other side of the path. Did he intentionally wish to make himself appear as if he were rotting flesh? With his putrid hue applied to his skin, he looked like something that had been left dead and exposed for several days. How revolting. A shudder of revulsion swept through him. He was glad that Eve had not adorned herself in such a way. He wasn’t sure he would be able to stomach looking at her all day if she were.

Then again, it would probably help him keep his need to mount her in check. Despite her delicious scent, he was certain that his cocks would wither in his sheath if she looked like that.

The human offspring were a different matter. They bounded through the market in their odd coverings that made them look like all manner of creatures as they squealed with laughter while their weary but smiling parents following after them. It was strange for him to see females paired with one a single male rather than a triad but comforting at the same time that his mate would not have any expectations for him to find other males. There would likely be no offspring, however. That saddened him as he watched the way his mate smiled and fawned over the younglings. She would be a good mother to any rogs he gave her, but it was unlikely to happen for him without his triad, even if he felt the urge to breed now as much as he ever had then.

That they would breed, even if in just deed, he no longer had any question of. He had displayed for her as was custom and she had looked at him with desire and want in her eyes, and she had not rejected his offer. He would have attempted to rut her right there and seal the mating bond between them if she had not been eager to dress him in the costume and leave for the market. He entertained the idea of mating out in the forest on their way back to their territory but quickly abandoned it. He didn’t want his first time joining with her to be on a forest floor. He would have her inside their den, her body splayed out before him in a place where she would be comfortable before he feasted upon her.

In the meantime, he would just enjoy the little ones even as he tried not to desperately wish for any of his own. They were nothing short of pure fun and delight to watch.

He smiled as he watched them from where he stood just behind Eve, his eyes following their raucous play as they went from stall to stall. Their parents always eyed him as they came up to Eve’s stall, however, which was why Skal remained contently in the background as an observer as his mate handed out treats to the little ones and sold her harvest.

At least the humans were not daring to undercut his female this time. He made sure to loom directly behind his mate every time someone approached, his eyes narrowing on them as he watched them nervously hand the credits to Eve.

She shook her head in wonder as a family moved away and slipped the credits into her pocket. “I guess it’s really a good thing that you came. I don’t think I’ve ever made this much before. They always haggle me down to obscenely low costs,” she confided. “Far less than what the produce is worth. But it’s so hard for me to say no.”

His mouth twisted as he grunted and refrained from commenting. She would not have to do this “haggle” thing for as long as he was around. He clearly excelled at frightening humans into good behavior.

Skal understood their unease and capitalized on it when it came to their treatment of his mate. Despite their predatory nature and small physical tells that gave them away as such, humans had a softer appearance of a creature that could be prey, and who was entirely vulnerable to creatures they shared their world with. As a Ragoru, Skal was built like the predator he was, and could easily harm a fully grown human. It was wise for them to be cautious even if it did prick at him a bit because it meant that he had to keep a carefully reinforced distance from the playing younglings.

They were just so cute and squishy. His gaze leapt to another family with several younglings and his heart melted at the sight of the human infant in its mother arms. Rogs were just as tiny but far more active when they were born, but it was just so adorable with its little faced painted orange and wearing a costume like that of a pumpkin. All the younglings were. He wanted to hug them to him and rub his cheek against their round little faces. An image formed in his mind in which he lay int front of the fire as little ones crawled over his much larger body, their giggles in his ears while his mate watched and laughed from where she stood in the kitchen preparing what she called supper. The arranged eating times still mystified him, but it fit so well with this image that his heart clenched sorrowfully.

Shaking his head, he pushed away the useless daydreams and contented himself with playing spectator. Noting yet another youngling adorned as if he had bones covering over his flesh, Skal leaned in and whispered to his mate.

“Your species has an unhealthy interest in death,” he remarked.

And it wasn’t just the costumes, it was that everywhere he looked there were skeletons or skulls displayed. They were clearly not real, but he found the frequency of them disturbing. The fact that they were more of the decorations that Eve seemed to enjoy made to resemble bones was the only thing that kept him from scooping his mate up and carrying her out of there.

Eve muffled a laugh behind her hand as the younglings and their parents departed and slowly looked around, the smile on her face growing. “I suppose that we do,” she admitted. “It is a time for remembering the dead and knowing that death doesn’t mean the end. Some part of us goes on.”

He grunted. “I do not like to think of the dead. I prefer for them to remain buried so that the pain goes away. I do not wish for them to haunt me for the rest of my life as humans seem to prefer.”

“Well, what about your parents?” she countered, her eyebrow raising. “I admit that I don’t give much thought to Victor when it comes time for the feast of the dead, but there are always my parents to remember who I loved very much and who loved me. It is good to keep their memories close to my heart on the days following Halloween. Or even my grandmother and grandfather who I loved dearly.”

Skal thought of his mother and the warm scent of her when he was young and the loving way that she used to stroke his wild fur even as she teased him about it. And learning to hunt at the side of his second father while first father remained home with his mother. Swimming and pulling fish from the shallow river with his third father too. His memories of them were bittersweet treasures. He had not seen them since he mated, but he was certain that they did not escape their dying world. They would have been too old to make the trip to the collection ships if they had even been alive.

“I would not mind doing so for my parents,” he conceded, his voice turning thick and gruff with his heightened emotions. “Do the dead hear invitations to such feasts even on faraway planets?”

His mate’s expression gentled, a look of understanding warming her eyes. “Yeah, I really think that they do. Because you are here, and all of your ancestors remember you and look after you even if you don’t know or remember them.”

He nodded, his gaze trailing away and locking on a male standing a short distance from the stand. His ears tipped warily toward the human, alert to the fact that the human was eyeing Eve a little too intently even as he tried—and failed—to not be obvious about it. Skal immediately disliked him. Why would he be watching his Eve?

Noting the change in his demeanor, Eve’s smile slipped, and she turned to look over at what had caught his attention. The male straightened the moment she made eye contact and rolled his shoulders a little in a gesture that Skal suspected to be preparatory. He did not trust that. Eyes narrowing, he watched as the male adjusted his outermost covering and smiled. A growl hitched in Skal’s chest, but he swallowed it back when his mate’s elbow bumped him in warning. Ah…right. He was not supposed to actually growl at people. She had mentioned that during their meal when the conversation had turned toward the market.

It served its purpose, however. The male’s gaze shifted to him, and his smile slipped with uncertainty. It did not stop him from approaching but at least he was not aware of his exact position.

“Can I help you?” Eve asked, her tone light and friendly as she kept it for all of her customers. It seemed that Skal was the only one to be on the receiving end of the sharper edge of her tongue, but he didn’t mind if it meant that it was something special for him alone.

“Actually, yes, if you are Ms. Eve Brennon.”

His mate’s brows drew together. “I am, but I’m afraid I don’t know who you are.”

“Oh! My apologies,” the male chuckled, the sound ringing hatefully false to Skal’s ears. “I thought perhaps you might have recognized me from some of the vids or clips that Victor had. I’m his cousin, Paul Brennon.”

“I see. I can’t say that the name rings a bell… nor do I recognize you from what belongings my late husband brought with him. What brings you all the way out here, Mr. Brennon?”

“Paul, please. We are family.”

Skal’s hackles rose. This male was most certainly not her family. He was her only family.

“All right,” his mate agreed, her voice flat. “And what can I do for you, Paul?”

The male shrugged. “I just came to check up on my cousin since no one heard any word of him in a while. I tracked this place as his last known location, I guess if he’s late for the living that means that he passed on. May I ask when?”

“A year and a half ago. You should have received word. I filed the documentation for his death. It would have notified all living family members.”

The male, Paul, shook his head mournfully. “I’m afraid I’ve been part of an exploration unit outside of the habitable zone for the last couple of years. I was just released from service. Do you think I might be able to come out and pay my respects? I would like to see where he lived. I would like to get a few mementos from his belongings and perhaps visit his grave.”

A tang of unease drifted from his Eve as Ragoru pressed closer against her, providing the small amount of comfort that he could. She relaxed a little as she seemed to recall that he was there, supporting her, and shook her head.

“Honestly, I did not keep anything of Victor’s. He didn’t have much and what little he did have was nothing I was sentimentally attached to. I donated everything to charity. As for his burial, he was laid to rest right here in town. You are free to visit him as you like. Please take no offense, Paul, but I like my privacy and there is nothing for you there, anyway.”

His lips pursed and there was a hard glint of annoyance in his eyes before it was covered by another one of the male’s fake laughs. “Well, perhaps I can just purchase the property from you? A struggling female all on her own can probably use the money a lot more than a farm and it would really mean a lot to our family to have something—even if it’s just property—to remember him by. He must have loved the place.”

Skal’s ears flattened. Although the valley was the ideal territory for his kind, he did not understand why a human male without the emotional ties his mate had to the place, would love it. It was such a strange statement to make to a mate left behind.

“No, thank you,” Eve replied, a hard note entering her voice. “I can appreciate your loss and am deeply sorry for it, but the land is mine and was left to me by my family. Victor was my husband, but the land was never his in any shape or form. It was my parents’ and my grandparents’ wish that it remain mine, and so I made sure of it. I have no interest in selling my home to you or anyone else.”

“I see,” he replied. His gaze turned toward Skal, his lips thinning. “And I suppose that you are one of those females cavorting with the monsters overrunning our world. Has he taken my cousin’s place so quickly?”

Red rushed into his mate’s face and Skal growled, at the end of his patience. The human’s aloof posturing failed him, and he scrambled back like a juvenile being taught some manners. Paul swallowed but nodded his head sharply as he took a step back, carefully avoiding the families moving past him.

“Very well. I see how it is. I admit that this is very disappointing. What a waste,” he grumbled, turning away.

Skal’s eyes followed him. He was pleased enough when the male left the market but not even the little ones swarming back to their stall could completely restore his humor. He doubted that it was the last they would see of Paul. Males who thought they were cunning never gave up that easily.

He would remain on guard. Especially once they returned to their den. The male wanted their territory for some reason. If he approached again, the attack would be made there.