Page 8

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?”

“Were you listening at all?” I ask, staring up at him and forcing my eye not to twitch. I’m unsuccessful.

“I heard the thunder, which means a storm is approaching. If a storm is approaching, I know you will want to be in my home.” Rallan pauses, his head cocking to the side as though he realizes that he really did miss a piece of our conversation.

“Do you want to stay here? I thought you would need your privacy.”

I hold in the shriek that threatens to escape my lips. I force it back down my throat and turn my attention back to Zathar and his mate.

Rallan was made to be the thorn in my side, the pebble in my shoe, the absolute nuisance that I can’t get rid of no matter how hard I try.

Maybe that’s why he’s growing on me even though I don’t want him to.

He sees all the worst parts of me, and he still likes me.

It would be cute if it weren’t so irritating.

“I’m staying. You’re going.” I cross my arms over my chest and don’t even look back up at him. Out of the corner of my eyes, I can see his brows crinkling, his smile dimming. He doesn’t say or do anything to apologize for trying to embarrass me in front of all of these strangers.

“Do you have a room for her?” Rallan asks, his tone turning more serious again as he addresses Zathar.

The male doesn’t hide the smile curling his lips as he gives Rallan a soft nod.

“She should not be left alone with any males. Not even if she tells you it is okay. Her soul belongs to another already, even if he is a dishonorable male.”

I bite on the inside of my cheek, not taking the bait Rallan is throwing at me.

He doesn’t often talk about Vex. I don’t often bring him up.

It’s bad enough that he dropped me off on this planet, not even in the right place, and hasn’t done anything to come get me even though he promised me he’d always find me.

I grind my teeth against one another, refusing to remember our last conversation.

The conversation where he told me he understood if I found someone else to be happy with here.

The conversation where he broke up with me right before kicking me off the planet.

The conversation I replay in my head most nights even though I want to move past it since Vex isn’t coming back for me.

“Anything else?” Zathar asks, his smile gone after mentioning that I’m a mated female.

They all thought Rallan was my mate, or at least had their suspicions. Now that he’s made it clear he’s not, well, the goodwill seems to have dimmed.

I can feel Zathar’s judgment without him having to say anything.

The same judgment I could feel at the other tribe every time I told the others to stop calling Rallan my mate.

They all know how he feels for me. I know how he feels for me, and I continue to rebuff him.

He’s an honorable male. He is strong and can protect me.

That’s what they all say, and to that, I just tell them I don’t care.

“She does not appreciate being called a female,” Rallan says, a cut in his voice that I’m not used to hearing. I’m definitely not used to him telling others that I don’t like something that he takes great pleasure in calling me. “You may call her Rallan’s companion or friend or your sister.”

I turn my eyes up to him, opening my mouth to tell him that I appreciate him saying that.

I didn’t even know that he registered when I told him I don’t like being addressed as female.

In all honesty, I thought he heard that, and decided to disregard it because he enjoys calling me that because of how much I react to it.

Before I can do that, he’s turning away from me and strolling back down the tables of the dining hall to the doors we came through earlier.

Zathar’s mate starts talking to me, telling me about some of the demons on the list and trying to get me up to date with all that they’ve done to help out my tribe.

I listen to her, nodding when I need to and asking questions when appropriate.

We’ve only been talking for a few minutes when I notice the woman who was staring at Rallan earlier stand from her seat and start walking down the dining hall toward the doors.

“Who is she?” I ask, cutting Zathar’s mate off on accident.

Thankfully, she doesn’t seem to mind. If anything, she gives me a knowing look and offers up what she knows. “Veya is an unmated female who was very excited about your companion’s return.”

I choke on my next breath, trying to force myself not to have an actual reaction to what she just said.

It’s too late for that, though. She noticed, Zathar noticed, and a few others all looked over at me like I might be dying somehow before realizing it was probably just a weird human thing and returning to their food.

“I’m assuming you don’t mean because of his stellar conversational skills?”

Zathar turns his attention to something else, obviously not enjoying his mate talking about another demon.

I’ll give him two more minutes before he takes her to their room to remind her who her mate is, just like the demons of my tribe do to their mates when they think they’ve spoken too friendly to or about another.

“No, I am not,” Zathar’s mate barely has a moment to get the words out before her mate throws his chair back and helps her out of hers.

She tries to say one last thing to me before being ushered down the hall.

“You may stay if you would like, or you may chase after him. I believe there is still a short while before the storms are here.”

I don’t need much more prompting than that. I didn’t even want to stay here when I was offered to stay here. I just wanted to irritate Rallan, which I didn’t do because he probably wanted me out of the house so he could get laid.

Nope, not on my watch.

Maybe if I were more of an introspective person, I’d think about why I care. Too bad I’m not that person.

All I know is there’s a burning jealousy inside of me when I think of Rallan being with anyone in the past. What I’m feeling right now? Knowing he’s alone in his home with a more than willing woman? I’m surprised I’m not seeing red.

Even when I feel the first trickle of rain on my face, I don’t think about turning back around and going back to safety. No, I think only of making sure the only person who’s with Rallan during a storm is me.

Maybe I’ll think about the whys of it later when I’m thinking a bit more clearly. Probably not, since I love stuffing all the hard and uncomfortable feelings deep down inside. But maybe I’ll surprise myself and figure out why I couldn’t just stay put in the dining hall.