Page 16 of Mates for the Raskarrans #1-6

“I do not know about this marrying ceremony you spoke of, but I make this vow to you now, my linasha, my Liv. I will protect your tribe as if it were my own. I will feed your people and give them homes. I will keep them safe from the beasts of the forest and see them trained in any skill they wish to learn. I will show them the ways of our land so they can thrive here. No harm will come to any of them while I live and breathe to defend them.”

I think she believes me a little bit, for her shoulders slump, a tension she was holding there vanishing. She looks tired all of a sudden, and I wish so much to hold her, to whisper words of my devotion into her ear so she knows she can always lean on me.

“Okay,” she says, her voice a little hoarse. “Thank you.”

I want to touch my lips to hers, to feel the strange heat the meeting of mouths creates in my belly. But I step back, put distance between us.

“And I will make up for my errors,” I say. “I will prove to you that I am a good male, that I can be a good mate to you. I know this will take time. I only ask you to give me a chance.”

“I’ll give you a chance,” she says slowly, and I know there is an ‘if’ coming. I wait for her condition, eager to fulfil it.

“If,” she says, “you’ll help me look for Ellie if she hasn’t returned tomorrow.”

My heartspace contracts a little. I am concerned about dividing the tribe further, about leaving only the four of my tribe behind with hers.

No one has a better chance of finding Ellie than her mate.

He can reach her in the dreamspace, get her to guide him to her location.

And if she is too afraid, too overwhelmed and refuses - no hunter in my tribe is better at tracking than Anghar.

“Anghar will find her, linasha, he will protect her. There is nothing more important to him than your Ellie’s safety and happiness.”

“I get that,” my Liv says. “But humans don’t understand the dreamspace, remember? Before you arrived, Ellie was worried about something. She was unhappy. She didn’t like going to sleep.”

She says it gently. I think she knows my heartspace will hurt for my brother. My friend.

“I’m sure they can figure it out,” she says. “I’m sure she’ll give him a chance, just like I am for you. But she’s tired and scared and alone, and I don’t want her to think we’ve abandoned her. If I find her, I can talk to her. Help her to understand what’s going on.”

My heartspace is still uneasy with this.

“I would like to begin the journey back to my tribe as soon as is possible,” I say. “As soon as the injured female is well enough to move.”

“Did your medic say how long that might be?”

I sense she means Shemza. I remember what my healer said about the possible outcomes.

I have given it much thought. It is not an easy choice, but that is the burden and responsibility of chiefs - to make such difficult choices.

But I am not alone now, I have my linasha with me.

If she is truly the best mate for me, then perhaps she can help me in my deciding.

“My healer, Shemza, thinks another day at least, perhaps two, before she is well enough to travel.”

“Then we have no reason not to go looking,” my Liv says, her eyes brightening. “If we have to wait for Lorna to be better before we can leave…”

“We do not necessarily have to wait,” I say.

I relay to her the choices before us. The good and bad of each. The risk of moving the injured female, the risk of remaining where we are so she can rest.

“And if we were to wait, and you and I go in to the trees to search for your Ellie, it would mean leaving your tribe with less protection. We have seen no sign of other tribes approaching - it does not mean that none come. If one of the bad tribes were to arrive, there would be one less warrior to fight them.”

My linasha’s eyes are no longer bright. Her brow is furrowed with thought as she stares off into the distance - such as is possible in a tent.

“We’re not moving from here today, are we?” she says.

“No. Your people need feeding, and they need rest. The night will come before we can make good progress. It makes no sense to leave now.”

“Then Lorna has some time to rest and Ellie has some time to return. It might be that Ellie returns before the morning and Lorna is well enough to travel, and we’ve been worrying over nothing.

But if not, making a decision now is making one without all the facts.

If Lorna isn’t well enough to move and Ellie isn’t back… ”

“Looking for her would still mean risking leaving your tribe with less protection,” I say. “Staying instead of heading back to the village risks your camp being found by another tribe.”

She huffs with frustration. “And if another tribe were to come close, we would have to leave whether Lorna is well enough or not, that would make the decision for us.”

“It would.”

She glowers at me. “How are you supposed to know which is the right decision?”

“That is what being chief is, my linasha. Not knowing, but making the decision anyway.”

Her shoulders slump a little. “I’m not the chief, not really. Just the person with the biggest mouth.”

Her mouth does not look big to me. Like the rest of her, it is little, dainty.

“Humans pick their chiefs based on the size of their mouths?”

She laughs, catching the sound in her palm. It is only a small laugh, but I am pleased that she is relaxed enough to find some humour in our conversation. It is a good sign, I think.

“Sorry,” she said. “We’re misunderstanding each other again. I meant that I’m not afraid to speak up. To let people know what I’m thinking.”

“Ah,” I say, grinning. “That makes far more sense.”

“Some people don’t like that about me.”

“I like it very much,” I say. “Especially when you demand pleasure from me.”

Her cheeks turn red, but she glares at me. Heat goes straight to my groin at the look, but I do not touch her. Now is not the time and I have not yet earned the right.

“You are a fierce female,” I say. “This pleases me greatly. And it makes you a good choice for chief of your tribe. Far more so than the size of your mouth.”

“Thanks,” she says. “I think.”

I chuckle. “So, we will rest here tonight, then make our decisions when the sun rises, when we can see how your Lorna fares, whether Anghar and Ellie have returned, whether there are any signs of other tribes approaching. But whatever our decisions, we will leave this place in the next day or so to return to my village. Are you happy with this?”

My Liv nods. “I am. The others? I don’t know. I will do my best to convince them - tell them everything you told me, but I won’t force them. It has to be their decision.”

I frown. “Do you not make this decision for your tribe?”

“You forget that they’re not really my tribe,” I say.

“We’re just a bunch of girls who happened to end up stranded here together.

If they decide to join your tribe with me, then they will have to follow your decisions just like everyone else, but that first decision has to be theirs.

I won’t tell them what to do. None of us have ever had choices, Gregar.

Can you understand that? I won’t take it away from them by deciding for them now. ”

I nod, my heartspace singing. She is fierce, yes, but she is also kind, wise. She may not see it yet, but she has claimed the other females as her tribe and leads them as their chief. As one chief to another, I must respect her judgement when it comes to her tribe.

“Then you must let them make that choice,” I say.

“Thank you,” she says. “Thank you for listening and understanding. I will try to persuade them to come back with your tribe. And… I’ll hear you out about the whole ‘mate’ thing, okay? I promise.”

She still sounds very uncertain about it, but uncertainty is better than fear. I consider it a victory.

When we awake from our brief slumber, my Liv looks across to me. I sit up, pressing my hand to my heartspace. We may not be able to speak to each other here, but I know she understands my gesture. The affirmation of my vow.

I follow her out of the tent. Maldek and Rardek both grin at me. They know nothing has happened in the waking world, but they assume, like any raskarran would, that my time in the dreamspace was spent doing far more pleasurable things than talking.

Not that talking to my linasha is not a pleasure, especially now we understand each other better. I want to understand her fully, to know how her headspace works. Perhaps tonight we will talk some more. Perhaps I can ask her more of her world and her people.

For now, I head past Maldek and Vantos, who are assembling a third tent. Between the three, there is enough space to shelter all the females. We shall sleep outside, keep watch.

I arrive at Rardek’s side. He has the two merka beasts roasting. There is not much meat on either of them, the beasts starving in their final days.

“Is there enough here?” I say.

Rardek grimaces. “Merka beasts do not make for good eating,” he says. “But there is enough meat on even these stringy ones to feed the females. We need to be closer to our hunting grounds. We will have an easier time of feeding them that way.”

“I know,” I say. “My linasha has agreed that it would be best for her tribe to join ours, but she will not speak for her people. She seeks to persuade them now.”

Maldek grins. “If they decide to come, it will be a good day for our tribe.” His grin fades. “And for theirs. Even if the merka beasts had not found them, they would have starved out here, had we not come for them.”

“I know,” I say, gazing up at the dark night sky, then over at my Liv, who is talking to her warrior, Khadija. “I should not have been able to join with my linasha in the dreamspace over such a distance. I sense Lina’s hand in this.”

Maldek and Rardek both nod, reverence in their expressions.

“We are blessed as a tribe,” Rardek says. “We must honour these females as they deserve.”

I smile at my tribe brothers. “We will.”