Page 190 of Mates for the Raskarrans #1-6

CHAPTER THREE

Sam

M y heart is beating so hard in my chest it’s difficult to think. I’m here. I’m finally here in the dreamspace.

And my mate is staring at me like I’m the weirdest thing he’s ever seen.

Not in any kind of good way, either.

Disappointment hums in the back of my throat, making it difficult to swallow.

I take a deep breath, remind myself to slow down.

I’ve listened to too many of Liv’s stories about meeting Gregar in her dreams - how immediately he was calling her linasha and promising to worship her.

I’ve been anticipating the same thing, but we aren’t all the same.

My mate isn’t going to be like Gregar, and I’m certainly not like Liv.

She’s all curves and vampy allure with that long dark hair and flawless pale skin.

I’ve always been a ‘personality’ kind of girl since the days Mercenia kept my head shaved right down to my scalp.

No guy was ever going to fall at my feet and worship me on first sight, and my poor mate hasn’t ever even seen a human before. He must be so confused right now.

Problems are best solved one step at a time.

Dad’s voice echoes in my ears again. By the age of seven, I was already rolling my eyes at these catchphrases of his, but it’s amazing how often they’ve been useful in my life. One step at a time, I think as I look at my mate. Starting with a proper introduction.

I pat the edge of the bed next to me, giving him my best encouraging smile.

He watches me like I might be dangerous, heavy brows furrowed over dark eyes.

So dark they appear black, the pupil barely distinguishable from the rest. I stare straight back at him, taking in his height, the broadness of his shoulders, his muscular arms. His lips are pressed into a thin line right now, but when they weren’t, they were full, sensuous. Lips I wouldn’t mind having on my body.

Calm down, horny brain. One step at a time.

He doesn’t move for a long time, but then he moves all of a sudden, jerkily stomping from his spot at the edge of the tent to my side and taking a seat about as far from me as he can get while staying on the same side of the bed.

But that’s fine - he’s confused, in a state of shock.

I just need to get him caught up, that’s all.

Step one: who is he.

Step two: who am I.

Step three: I’m not sure, but hopefully it involves kissing somewhere.

“So you’re not from Darran’s tribe, and you aren’t from Walset’s either. Who’s tribe do you belong to? I didn’t know there were any more nearby.”

He frowns so deeply, it almost becomes a scowl.

“My own tribe,” he says, his tone curt.

“Oh, okay.” A tribe chief. I’m surprised.

A tribe chief’s mate is supposed to act as a chief in her own way, and I’m more a ‘follow what everyone else is doing’ kind of girl.

But I’m getting ahead of myself again. I need to find out what his name is before I worry about being a good chieftess to his tribe. “You haven’t told me your name yet.”

He gives me an imperious look, and despite everything, it sends a little shiver through me.

“I am surprised you do not already know it, since it is my headspace you are come from.”

His way of speaking is slightly odd, and it takes me a moment to figure out what he’s saying.

“You think you’ve imagined me?” I say. “Oh, no. I’m real, I promise. You remember a while ago, there was something that fell out of the sky. Like a big round ball. It left a great big smoky trail right across the sky. Is this ringing any bells?”

“You talk little sense, female.”

Of course not. Raskarrans don’t have metal. They won’t have bells. I need to speak in a more straightforward way.

“I just mean, does that sound familiar to you? Do you remember seeing something like that?”

He leans forward, studying me with narrowed eyes.

“Why do you come to my dreams this way? So pale and small.” He grabs me by the chin, peeling back my lips to look at my teeth. “No fangs, no tail.”

“Hey,” I say, pushing him off me, even though his touch sends heat curling through me, all the nerve endings in my face lighting up. “What are you doing?”

“I am trying to understand what you are.”

“And I’m trying to explain that to you.” I put my hands on my hips again, try to give him a commanding look. But he towers over me, even sitting down, and I’ve never exactly been the commanding type.

He waves a dismissive hand. “You are telling me you have set fire to the sky before falling out of it. Is it some story my elders told me as a youngling that I have half remembered?”

So he didn’t see the escape pod, then. That doesn’t help.

“Let me start again,” I say, scooting back on the bed so I’m out of grabbing distance.

I need to be able to think straight, and having him all up in my personal space is not helping with that.

“Myself and eleven other girls came to this planet, I mean, this forest a short while ago. We’ve come from somewhere else.

Somewhere not like the forest at all. We didn’t know how to survive here, but fortunately for us, our chieftess, Liv, mated to Gregar, chief of his tribe.

Gregar came to find us with some of his friends, and they brought us back to the village.

And Ellie, one of the other girls, mated to one of Gregar’s hunters, Anghar.

And there’s another girl, Sally. She’s lived here a long time.

Her mate is Jaskry, and they have two children together, another on the way.

So you see, we might look very different to you, but we’re compatible.

We can be mates. We can form the dreamspace together. Just like this.”

I reach for his hand, taking it in mine as I let my words settle on him. He lifts my hand, raising it closer to his face.

“Your nails are far too soft and blunt for climbing. And no tail to aid you, either. How do you balance?”

I’m thrown by the shift in conversation, stuttering out an answer after a long moment.

“By not climbing trees in the first place. I’m not from here. I’m not adapted to this place like you guys are.”

He shoots to his feet, pacing back and forth in the space beside the bed.

“And what use to me a mate that is not adapted to the forest?” He gives the impression that he’s thinking aloud, not talking to me, but his words still sting.

“Maybe I’m good at other things,” I say, standing up and folding my arms across my chest.

“And how am I supposed to feed you when the big rains are so close, and supplies running so low?” He stops abruptly.

“Ah, so that is what this is. I have been thinking overmuch on my supply situation and you are a nightmare come to torment me further. That is how headspaces work, is it not? We worry on things and then we dream of them made worse.”

“I’m not…” I start, meaning to be calm and rational. But then the hurt bubbles up, and the next words squeak out of me. “Made worse?”

He looks at me, gesturing at me with a sweep of his arm.

“A delicate, pretty female needing me to care for her and protect her.”

Okay, the compliments soften the sharp edges of everything else he’s said. Just a little.

“I don’t need you to care for and protect me. Gregar’s tribe have that pretty well covered. I know the rains are coming. If you’re worried about supplies, I suppose I can just stay with Gregar’s tribe for now. Until they pass and you can go hunting again.”

My chest aches at the thought. So eager for a mate all the time, and now I’ve got one and we’ll have to spend the first month of our life together apart.

But what’s a month, I remind myself, compared to the rest of our lives deliriously happy together?

“Leave the care of my mate to another male? So I am a failure in yet another way.”

There’s an edge to his tone that makes me wonder how bad the situation for his tribe is.

Since leaving the beach, I’ve tried to forget all about those days of struggling to survive.

Living with Gregar’s tribe has made that very easy to do - we’ve always been well fed and well supplied.

But I know how hard the hunters have worked to make sure that was possible.

A little worse luck on their hunts, a few less hunters to go out…

I can see all of a sudden how precarious life might be out here in the forest.

Bottom tier living wasn’t exactly great, but you knew that a meal would turn up at your apartment every day, that you’d be given a breakfast and lunch at work.

They’d be gross synthetic meat and reconstituted vegetables, but they were consistent.

Kept you alive long enough for all the other hazards of bottom tier living to kill you.

“It’s not a failure,” I say, dropping my arms to my sides so I don’t look combative.

“I don’t think it’s a failure. Of course I’d like to come and meet you and your tribe and stay with you, but it’s probably too late for that, anyway.

By the time I get back home and pack my things, these rains are going to have arrived and then no one’s going anywhere.

I’ll have to stay with Gregar a little longer. ”

And then his tribe can travel to meet me at Gregar’s village. They’ll see how happily everyone is living together, and they’ll want to stay too. But that’s a bridge to cross when we get there, not a question to raise now.

My mate shakes his head. “You are very agreeable for a nightmare.”

“Hmm, pretty and agreeable,” I say, my tone teasing. “I’m starting to think you might like me a little bit.”

He makes a huffing sound that might be a reluctant laugh.

“Tell me your name,” I say, and my voice comes out soft and imploring without me trying.

He looks at me, canting his head to the side. “You are Sam.”

“That’s right. It’s not name-shaped, I know. That’s what Sally said you guys say. I don’t speak your language yet, but Sally does. She’s lived here for ten years, ah, ten seasons. She tells me all raskarran names have two syllables. Gregar, Walset, Maldek.”