Page 9 of Howling Eve (Ragoru Origins #2)
Chapter Nine
S kal did not care for the human town. It was loud and there were too many sights and sounds that threatened to swallow up his mate the moment his back was turned. There were also the strong smells that made him want to gag. It reminded him of when he was being transported from his home world and all the Ragoru were being held in large containment areas where they were provided food, water, and beds but little else—and no escape from the stench of so many bodies living in such a small, contained place. He shuddered with revulsion but kept his expression perfectly blank as he followed his mate on a winding path filled with various small structures.
The only thing worse than the smell was the busy swarm of humans everywhere. Although there were a number of humans who appeared to be curious of him, many appeared to be distrustful, wary, or even afraid of him. He had little patience for the latter, especially since he did nothing to earn that reaction except follow after his mate with the wagon, but at least they kept well out of his way. If they were not terrified, it seemed that humans had a tendency to mill about in a disordered fashion, many of them walking far too close to him and the wagon for his comfort. Or far too close to Eve. That annoyed him far more than any human accidentally touching him or stepping into his path, and it started happening the moment he had lifted her down from the wagon. Ever since, he wanted nothing more than to pick her up and set her right back in it again.
He didn’t like her being on the ground where she could easily get lost among them. It was an uncomfortable reminder of how small she was, especially compared the males of her species who easily had a head over her. They ambled past her, often cutting her off briefly from Skal, providing him with a moment of panic before she came within view again. It made him uncomfortably aware of just how easily she could be separated from him before he could prevent it. And if that wasn’t bad enough, it was clear that the other humans in the town didn’t seem to mind bumping into her or pushing past her as if she were invisible. In fact, most didn’t even seem to notice when they collided with her, much to his irritation.
His ears flattened as he eyed a pair of males walking up on her left as they talked, unaware of anything else going on around them. Skal’s fur prickled as he eyed them, tension coiling through his shoulders. They were going to cut him off from Eve—again. A growl rumbled in his throat, just loud enough to bring the males’ attention back to their surroundings abruptly enough that they stumbled into each other in their attempt to avoid coming anywhere near him or Eve. Skal chuffed softly to himself as they immediately collided with a larger male who promptly began shouting, causing the males to hurry off with a flurry of apologies. He quickly bit back his amusement and silenced it, however, when his mate glanced over her shoulder at him curiously.
Skal gave her a blank look of complete innocence, his pricking attentively. His Eve was not so easily fooled. Her brows rose speculatively as she quietly regarded him. The corner of her mouth twitched, and she shook her head as she faced forward once more and resumed leading him through the area that she called “the market.”
“I know it looks pretty chaotic but be happy that this is a small town on the northern-most outskirts of the Habitable Zone. I’ve heard that the markets in the citadel are utter madness,” she commented as she looked around. A smile suddenly broke out across her face. “Oh good! It looks like we are here early enough to pick out one of the better spots for our stall!”
He was not entirely sure what she was getting excited about. The cramped area into she had him drag the wagon barely gave him enough room to maneuver it into the position she wanted behind one of the wooden structures—a stall? He looked over at the humans in the space next to them. It was a family with small offspring wearing odd coverings playing around a block-like wheeled vessel made of metal that only vaguely resembled Eve’s wagon. Its back hatch was opened as hers had been while they were loading it, and there were several wooden crates and baskets that were visible just inside of it. They had stacks of…jars? Yes jars, that was the word…filled with some sort of golden substance in addition to various other containers stacked neatly.
“Hey Skal. I’m thinking we should put the pumpkin out in front of this largest table on the ground. With Halloween coming in the next few days, there will be families eager to get their hands on…” her voice trailed off as she turned and followed the direction of his curious gaze. Her high-pitched squeal made his ears flatten as he jerked back in shock and looked around frantically for any sign of threat. “Honey! Oh, and they have the special wax balms that they make restocked. Come on, Skal, let’s go check it out!”
The corners of his mouth curling at his mate’s demanding enthusiasm, Skal stripped off the harness and followed behind her. His fur immediately started prickling, however, as the smile the humans greeted his mate with froze on their faces as their eyes turned toward him. The female became impossibly paler than he already was and shuffled back, pressing her rounded body against her male. Hissing whispers to her offspring, she gathered her offspring close to her as Skal eyed them curiously from his peripheral eye, his primary focus remaining on his mate as she inspected the jars and small metal containers.
“Oh, you made more honey and mint salve! I must have some of this,” Eve gushed. She nudged him with her arm and nodded toward the jars filled with liquid gold. “Get two… no,” she squinted at him thoughtfully, “with the way you go through my sweets, a dozen jars just to be safe. If it doesn’t last until spring then we will have a problem,” she chuckled, her eyes at last turning to the mated pair. “Oh! I’m sorry, this is Skal. He’s with me.”
“With you?” the male croaked. He exchanged a look with his mate. “Oh… I see.”
“It would be that one,” the female whispered, and her mate grunted in agreement.
Skal’s ear twitched and his smile flattened. He didn’t expect humans to be particularly welcoming or accepting of a Ragoru but he deeply disliked the way that they were speaking about Eve. The female gave her a strained smile as his mate held up another container and exclaimed over it.
“The same exchange as usual, yes?” she inquired. She tapped her chin, “Though with all of that honey perhaps you can let us have the whole bushel of apples, that crate of pumpkins over there… oh and some of your blackcrest berries.”
Eve looked up, her smile slipping so faintly that if he had not been focusing on his mate as he should, he would have missed it. “Actually, I do have credits…”
The female waved her protest away. “We are happy to help you…. A young widow all on her own. Well, not so on her own but a new start is also worthy of celebrating,” she chuckled. “Besides credits between friends is so crass. This works better for us, don’t you agree?”
She pinned Eve with her pale stare and Skal watched his mate’s lips tip upward uncertainly as she gave a small laugh.
“Sure, you are right.” She looked over at him. “Skal please go get the bushel…”
“No, don’t worry about a thing, I can do it,” the male interrupted with a fake laugh that made Skal’s hackles rise.
Why were they constantly interrupting and overriding his mate? He glanced over at Eve expectantly, hoping that she would insist that he intervene. Instead, she stood there with a polite smile on her face while the female carefully counted every jar and loaded them into a small crate.
Her eyes landed on the balm in Eve’s hands. “Did you want the salve too? I can have Henry grab another container of berries for it.”
Eve bit her lip and looked down at it, setting the small container down with a shake of her head. “No, that’s alright. Maybe next time.”
Skal bit back a growl of annoyance, keeping silent as he followed her back over to their stall. That was until he saw the male—Henry, lifting the largest of the melons onto his shoulder. His temper frayed but he held back his impulse to growl as he crept up behind the male.
“That was not part of the trade,” he rumbled in his most casual tone.
The male’s eyes widened, a look of fear flashing through them, but then he relaxed and gave another forced laugh. “Oh. This? Eve always gives the children one of her sugar melons. Isn’t that right, Eve?” he called out to Skal’s female as she came to a stop just behind him.
Skal’s head dipped and he looked over at her, begging her to refute the male’s words but she simply smiled weakly.
“Yes, of course. I’d forgotten. I hope your children enjoy it, Henry,” she murmured as the male hauled the last of the food that he had come to collect with him without another word. Her eyes followed the male, and she grimaced as she looked back up at him. “I know. You don’t need to say it.”
“That they cheat you?” he growled softly, keeping his voice pitched low so that the other humans did not overhear them. “They took much for the little that they gave you. Even a sugar melon without offering you any small gift in return. They could have given you the salve for as much as they took from your supplies.”
“I know it looks that way but really honey has a greater value to it than much of what I grow. It’s okay, really.” She put her hand on his arm and gently stroked his fur, the touch soothing him. “I know it looks bad, but they are good people and work hard for their little business… and he’s right. The last couple of years I always gave the children a little sugar melon because they always looked so longingly at them, and their parents buy so very little at the market. A sweet little treat is a small cost to make children happy.”
He sighed and briefly lowered his head to nuzzle her cheek. He did it quickly rather than extend it the way he longed to so not to make Eve uncomfortable. She was a good and generous female just as he thought. And because of that he would not point out that the melon the male chose was not a small one but the largest and nicest that they had picked. He kept it to himself and focused on trying to make his female happy. Her immediate peel of laughter at the brush of his fur on her cheek and neck made him smile as he withdrew, his heart filling with the sparkle of happiness and amusement in her eyes.
She was still smiling as she patted his arm and stepped back and she turned to survey the work still waiting for them.
“All right let’s get this done quickly and then I’m going to be the one to feed you, my brave defender,” she teased.
He snorted at the title, but he was secretly pleased. He liked that she would see him that way even though he had done nothing to truly earn it. And he was hungry, even if it rankled him that he was not able to be the one who provided for her. His mind turned to things that he could possibly make so that he might be able to earn these credits she spoke of to purchase things for her. The possibilities turned in his head as he moved containers. He could weave baskets and carve toys as he had for the rogs that had never come. He could even prepare thick furs once their own nest was taken care of. The idea thrilled him, and he completed his work quickly, eager to share his thoughts with his mate over their meal.
Some of his excitement dimmed, however, when he noticed the wide berth that the humans were giving them as the humans passed them on the street. It was even more noticeable when they stepped inside the building that Eve had chosen. Perhaps his plans wouldn’t work, after all. Not if the humans were so afraid of him that they weren’t even returning his mate’s greetings. Leaning in, he whispered in her ear. “You mentioned a room. Perhaps I should wait there for you tomorrow.”
He noted the way her skin shivered and the faint scent of arousal stirring on her skin, but her eyes were clear of any hint of desire when she peered over at him, her brow knitting in confusion. “Whatever for?”
He gave a pointed look toward the human seating a pair of humans who had come in after them. “They are frightened of me. Perhaps too frightened to come near your stall.”
Eve huffed and then, to his surprise, chuckled. “Actually, this is pretty normal for me. I’m afraid no one in town quite forgave me when I refused to sell the property and move into town when my husband died.”
Husband… ah, her mate. He now recalled her mentioning a male but had not thought anything more about it when no one came and no scent of a male upon their den or on her. But Eve had been mated before and she too watched her mate die. It must have been some time ago, but Skal knew it was a pain that continued hurting.
Wrapping one arm around her from behind, he leaned his cheek into hers. “I recognize your loss and feel sorrow with you for it.”
Her small hand patted his arm and she let out a pent in breath. “You know something, I think that is the nicest thing anyone has said since he died. It wasn’t a great love match or anything, but I knew that I was very lucky to have him—the whole town knew and were quick to remind me of the fact at every opportunity,” she said drily. “He would make me so mad, and he was often pretty terrible to me, which I didn’t even see at the time. But it’s been hard to be alone without him,” she added in quiet voice that made his chest tighten.
It was. Even though he never seemed able to please his first mate and had felt little but duty toward her in the end, he had still cared and her death, and the death of his triad, had left him alone in the world. He had felt lost without them. Not just lost. It had felt like he had had a hole in his heart that ceaselessly tormented him… until Eve.
“I know loneliness,” he said quietly. “I have been alone since my family died. I never wanted another. I didn’t dare to wish for it.”
Not until you.
The words were left unsaid. He choked on them in shock because it was true. As much as his instinct had won out and mated him to her without his active awareness and participation in it, having Eve near him had begun to make him wish for it again.
She turned in his arms, her brown eyes filling with moisture, alarming him. What was the moisture? Was something wrong?
“Oh Skal. I’m so sorry,” she sighed, and her arms wrapped around him as she pressed her small body against his.
He froze in surprise but then melted into her. This was what it was supposed to be like between mates. He was certain of it. In that moment he would do anything for her—include ripping the head off the fussy male huffing impatiently at them.
His chest rattling with a quiet growl, he straightened, his arms tightening protectively around his mate. The male, sadly, was not as easy to intimidate as some of the others. He scowled back at Skal and cleared his throat loudly, startling Eve so that she jerked back and spun around with an apologetic smile.
“Oh! I’m so sorry.”
Skal’s scowl deepened. As if his mate had anything to apologize for. She did nothing wrong. But it seemed to work because the male relaxed a little and nodded.
“If you are ready, miss?”
“We are. It will be just the two of us.”
“Glad to hear of it,” the male replied drolly and Skal bit back his amusement in spite of himself. He imagined the human was quite relieved to know that there were not two other Ragoru due to arrive.
Without further comment, the male took them to a table some distance from the others and Skal gingerly seated himself. He did not fit very comfortably but it was worth it to share a meal with his mate. He perched on the chair as carefully as possible and stared at Eve, utterly enthralled with her. Her face pinkened under her scrutiny but he was starting to understand its correlation between her desire and other emotions, the subtle scent of which he was slowly beginning to identify. He was happy to let her order so that he could enjoy the moment. He could not decipher human symbols anyway and trusted that Eve would know what he enjoyed well enough to select for him. Hopefully the food was also worth eating. Even if it was not, he would pretend it was the best of meals for her.
“Tell me about this Victor,” he rumbled as the male left the table with her instructions. She glanced at him in surprise, and he grimaced at how jealous that sounded. “I wish to simply know more about him,” he explained, “since this town seems to expect things of you because of him.”
“Oh. Yeah, that makes sense,” she agreed. “It was kind of a whirlwind romance, if you know what I mean.”
He looked at her blankly. “I do not know. Among Ragoru the female chooses. The alpha males are drawn to her scent passing through their territory and present themselves in hope of claiming a mate for their den. Upon mating, the bond is made, and the triad attends to the needs of their females and rogs.”
“That is definitely different from how humans do things,” she chuckled.
Curious, he leaned forward. “How do humans select their mate?”
She shrugged but her eyes gleamed with unmistakable interest that made his heart pound and his cocks press urgently against his sheath. “Well, usually it is done by spending time together and sometimes small gestures. But mostly it is just being together and deciding if they are a match.”
“And this is what you did with Victor? And he was very good to you and proved that he would be a good mate.”
“N—no, not quite. But he seemed very polite and considerate, especially when I was still floundering on my own trying to run my little farm after my parents died. Everyone sort of pushed me into it. They told me how lucky I was and how I would be silly to not accept his offer. And I was lonely with no other family. It was a difficult time and it felt like he was all I really had since I didn’t have any friends in town,” she explained.
Her gaze shifted slightly to the right, staring behind him as a strange look—something of horror and shock—crossed her face. She blinked rapidly and he turned, peering curiously behind him. Not seeing anything to be concerned about, he faced his mate again as she took a large sip of water from one of the cups that were set out for them. She gave him a shaky smile but still looked a little too pale for his liking. “Sorry, I thought I saw something. Me and my overactive imagination,” she chuckled. “But I do love Halloween.”
He nodded, biting back his opinion as she continued to tell him little things about her time she was mated to male. Skal did not think that this Victor was so great of a mate—a wretched and useless male, in his opinion—but he kept it to himself/ He was glad when the conversation wound down and she was content enough with his brief story of his previous mated life that he could shift the conversation in a more pleasant direction.
“Tell me about Halloween,” he instructed as their plates were set before them. The aroma from the thick cuts of meat his mate ordered for him with the side of bits of vegetables made his mouth water.
As he hoped, her face lit up and she launched into the most ridiculous and yet fascinating tales of this human holiday that kept their discussion lively and amusing throughout their delicious meal. As well as it went, however, his mind kept returning to the way she had looked for a moment. What had she seen?