Cosmic Castaway (Cosmic Romances #3)

23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

So drakcol are like cats.

I traced the ring in Mindy’s bottom lip. He had several piercings, like the studs going to the tip of his ear, and the long gold chains in his lobes. I liked them. It had never been a thing for me before this—that I was aware of—but I liked Serlotminden’s.

He bit my thumb, making me jump. “Your touch is… good. Distracting. I want a stronger word, but I don’t know one.”

“Why do you even speak English? Don’t drakcol have translators?”

“We do,” he said, claws scraping the back of my head. “I like to learn different languages myself. I feel like with every one I learn, my thoughts change a bit. I am a diplomat for my people. Not being reliant on technology has been helpful more than once.”

“Hmm.” I groaned, throwing a leg over his.

“Do you speak any other languages?”

“No. I mean, I took Spanish in high school, but I don’t remember most of it.”

“Spanish?” he said slowly, trying out the word.

“It’s a requirement to learn another language in school, but most people don’t remember them.”

“That’s sad.”

It kind of was.

“You’re not a… I don’t know the word in English,” Mindy said, “but you're not one people.”

How did I explain this in a way that he would understand? “We’re all human,” I finally said. “The same species, but we have unique and diverse ethnicities, languages, and cultures.”

“Interesting. It is like the barbarus and the tarmarus of Barus.”

“I’m not sure.”

“They are the same species,” Mindy said. “Same biology, but tarmarus are all gray and white and live underground. Most Barusians and Tarusians don’t associate.”

“That might be the same, but I’m not sure.” It was hard to agree when I didn’t really understand what he was saying.

“Would you want to learn another language?”

I ran my fingers through his long hair, the strands wet and cold. “Sure. If you’re the one to teach me.”

“I want to. I want everything.”

A sudden wave of emotions crashed over me, and I burrowed against him to hide.

His fingers worked gentle circles over my back, and I relaxed, loving when he slipped into the slits at the back of my shirt to touch bare skin. We stayed silent like that for quite some time. We had nothing to do. Mindy kept stroking my back, and I played with the fabric of his shirt, both of us lost in our thoughts.

“Talk to me,” I said as I repositioned against him.

Mindy’s hand flattened on my lower back, holding me securely. “About?”

“I told you things about me. I want to know you.” If we really were dating, and I wanted that so badly it was an ache at this point, I needed to get to know him more.

“My brothers call me Speedy or…” a long garbled growl sounded, “in my language. I told you that already. I was given that endearment by my eldest brother, Hallonnixmin. I don’t remember when he started calling me that, but Dontilvynsan likes to tell the story, occasionally.”

I frowned at his older brother’s name, still irrationally jealous.

He laughed. “Don’t be mad. You are mine, and he is my brother.”

“Did I say anything?”

Laughing again, he rested his lips against my scalp and breathed. “You are my flower.”

I blushed. I shouldn’t have liked that, but I did. It was annoying. “Finish the story.”

“When I was young and full of energy,” he started, and I scoffed. Mindy was still bursting with energy. He ignored my noise and continued, “I chased Hallonnixmin, who is five years older than me, all the time. He got annoyed with me always running back and forth, tripping over everything, until one day he called me Speedy. It was not a compliment. Now, it’s different. We are very close. But the endearment remains.”

“Hmm.”

“Are you close with your family? You seem to be when you talk about them.”

“I am. We don’t live close to each other, though.” I sighed, thinking of the last time I’d talked to my moms.

“What?”

“I fought with my moms the night before…” I couldn’t finish that thought, because my stomach churned and fear turned to ice in my veins. “They wanted me to move back to my hometown, and I didn’t. The last thing we ever did was fight. I hung up on them. I was frustrated they weren’t listening to me. It seems so trivial now.”

He didn’t say anything and rubbed my back, one of his fingers slipping into the wing slits in my shirt again.

“Maybe when I go back, I can apologize.” If I went back. I didn’t know if that was possible. Did I even want to go back with the horde of ghosts following me? But maybe Earth would be better? I’d get some separation.

Serlotminden tightened his hold until it was on the edge of painful, and he rubbed his forehead on me, almost frantically. His tail strangled my calf as he groaned and grabbed one of my hands, pushing it under his shirt.

I frowned. He’d done that before. I tentatively stroked his side, and he relaxed under my touch. I asked, “Why do you do that?”

“What?”

“Nuzzle me.”

His expression turned distinctly uncomfortable, which made me realize the answer was probably weird, by my standards at least. I didn’t fight his tight hold or wiggle my leg away from his tail and continued to rub his side in an effort to calm him.

“I’m scent marking you.”

“Like a cat?”

“Cats do that? Seth has not mentioned that about his Lucy.”

Seth had a cat? No. I refused to be distracted. “Why are you scent marking me?”

“I’m desperate for you to smell like me. I have scent glands in my forehead, on the sides of my neck, and my sides.”

“Ah.” That explained him shoving my hand under his shirt. It was a claiming thing. Like cats. I wasn’t sure how I felt, but I guessed it was instinct. We were dating, so I guessed he was feeling possessive. I could be creeped out or let it go. I decided on the latter. It was easier, and what did it hurt if I smelled like him?

“What was it like to grow up with so many brothers?”

I felt him relax at the question. I stroked his side, lightly tracing his injury, and felt him calm even further. A powerful feeling swelled in my gut. I was the one who made him relax. Me. It was nice. Weird, but nice.

“It was interesting. I don’t know what to say. I’ve never known anything else. I’m the middle brother, and sometimes, I feel left out.”

“How so?”

“Hallonnixmin and Dontilvynsan as well as our cousin Monqilcolnen are inseparable. Zoltilvoxfyn and Kalvoxrencol are the same. I move between them. We all get along together, but…”

I gripped his side. “You were left out.”

“No. Never. But I know all of my brothers are closer to another sibling than they are to me. I love them, they love me, and we are all close.”

I hated the thought of his family hurting him, even by accident. Serlotminden was the best person I’d ever met. He’d kidnapped me because he was trying to save me. He’d taken care of me. He’d made me laugh. He definitely didn’t think things through, but he was the sweetest person I’d ever known.

No words came to mind, so I kissed the underside of his jaw and continued to stroke his side. If I couldn’t find anything to say, then I could at least provide comfort.