5. Chapter 3
CHAPTER 3
REAKRID
I look down at my beautiful mate all snuggled up into my chest as she suckles on my nipple. I don’t know if she is aware of what she is doing, but I’m not going to stop her. My beautiful Poliki Sanki.
Worry claws its way inside of me. Her skin is dark from the sun, but she looks so pale. That she puked on my feet then on my arms tells me something is wrong, but I can’t do anything about it.
The one time we don’t bring a doctor is when I need one.
“You’re okay, Poliki Sanki. Everything is going to be okay,” I whisper as I turn around.
Each time we travel to the compound once a month, we take several men with us. It gives the people who can’t pick their mate a chance to look around to see if they spot her. Some men don’t find their mate until it’s their turn to pick, and some find her and have to wait several months.
I am one of the men who hasn’t found her on all my other visits. She must have been hidden behind the big group of women, but not today. Part of me worried when I entered the camp that I wouldn’t find her, but I have. Or, well, she has found me.
Several men want to change how often we can pick women to twice or three times a month. I never understood since I hadn’t seen my mate before, but feeling this connection now makes me want to fight the rule for them. No man should have to wait several months to a year or two to have their mate, knowing she is in the camp and not in their arms.
Torture.
That’s what I call it. I didn’t have to go through it, but the thought of me seeing my mate and having to leave her behind makes me want to tear down everyone in my path.
“When we get back home, I’m going to have Volklies look at you and make sure everything is okay,” I whisper, looking down at her.
I glance up as the same woman from before approaches, her whole body shaking. No women are supposed to near us Dagmonian. They are to stay in their group, and if the male who can choose asks for them to move, then they can.
“I”—the female draws a deep breath—“I b-brought more w-water for you.”
She lifts her arms and holds a smaller canister.
“Thank you.” I grab the canister.
“Let me take that,” Nelki says.
I hand Nelki the canister. He is like a brother to me. We grew up together over the past two hundred years, and he’s my neighbor.
I am close to several guys, and many of them came today, partially because they wanted to be with me when I found my mate but also to see if they could glimpse theirs.
Dranraix is next, and he is mounted on his horse where the group of men are. He already knows who his mate is, and he wants to get another look at her. I wonder if she’s changed much or if she looks the same as she did before.
“Thank you,” I calmly say.
“I’ll put it on your saddle,” Nelki replies.
I turn and follow him. I want to get back on my horse and make the journey home so I can show my mate her new house.
It’s going to be a struggle when we get there. Their government hasn’t told them why they have come to our planet. I don’t know why, but it isn’t our place to tell them, so whenever someone picks their mate, they struggle. Human females have this weird notion that they are going to be slaves or be killed.
Everything in me wants to tell them, as do some of the other men, that everything is going to be all right and they won’t be slaves. But we can’t. We don’t want to get on their government’s bad side because they could easily pull all their women off of our planet and dissolve the contract—something we don’t want.
As I get closer to my horse, the louder the yelling gets. Who is yelling?
“You can’t take her!” he yells. “She’s mine!”
I quickly turn around and assess the person shouting at me. He is significantly shorter than me, muscular, and angry-looking.
“She is fucking mine! She works for me!” He points at me as he gets closer.
He has some balls coming up to me as I claim my mate. He knows the rules and that he can’t do anything about this. She is mine, and she isn’t staying here.
“Who are you to her?” I ask.
Is he something more than her boss? A father? Brother? Uncle?
“I’m her boss! You can’t take Mika!”
Mika. That’s her name. I briefly look down at her and smile. Such a beautiful name for her.
“She is my property!” he yells.
I look up and glare at him. “She is not your property.”
“Yes—”
“No. She is not yours or your property. She is mine now, my mate.”
“You can’t just take her! I need her! She works for me, and I can’t lose her.”
I step closer. “I can take her because she is mine now,” I growl.
The man draws nearer to me and glares. He has some balls. I could kill him with my pinkie.
“You need to leave her here,” he states.
I hold Mika closer to my body, shielding her from her boss as I bend down.
“If you don’t drop this, I will kill you.”
Her boss scoffs. “You can’t kill me. You won’t. I’m needed here.”
I chuckle. He is definitely not needed here. Technically, none of the males are, but the human government wants to have a few here to ensure things run smoothly and correctly.
“Now, hand over Mika and nothing will happen to you,” he says. “I promise I won’t tell anyone.”
I look around the camp. Everyone’s watching us but none of them dare intervene. They know not to. Some of the males are shaking their heads as the man in front of me speaks.
“No,” I reply, finally looking back at him.
“No?”
“Yes. No. I will not hand her over when she is rightfully mine.”
Mika’s boss pulls out a knife, but before he can do anything, I wrap my two free hands around his neck, twisting and snapping it. His lifeless body hits the ground with a thud, eliciting several gasps from around the compound, but I don’t care.
Looking up, I make eye contact with several of the human men. “If any of you try to keep us from our mates, you will have the same fate as this man.”
They all nod and stand still. I grunt in satisfaction and turn around once again. Nelki and I lock gazes, and he gives me an amused smile.
“Was that really necessary?” he asks.
I shrug. “Probably not. He was getting on my nerves and claiming her when she was mine. I needed to show them that we are in control. We are.”
Nelki chuckles, shaking his head. “We’ll probably be hearing about it soon.”
“Well, I have witnesses that will say he was breaking the contract. They aren’t supposed to get in the way of us picking our mate. Even their men will say it was his fault and only his fault.”
We aren’t supposed to kill the humans, but I couldn’t help myself. The male was getting on my nerves and deserved to die when he tried to keep my mate away from me.
I mount my horse and look down at Mika, who is still sucking on my nipple with her eyes closed, her breathing even.
“Everything is going to be okay now. Papi is going to take care of you from now on,” I whisper, not knowing if she can hear me. “You will never have to lift a finger again.”
That is a promise, one I am going to keep until we are dead.