Chapter 7
Klynn
“I do not know why no one at least attempted to show you the full range of use of such simple things.” I gave him the human shrug as he glared at the shower like it had offended him. “Were you not given a tour?”
I had been assured he would get all the help he needed to adapt to our world.
“Technically I was given a tour.” Still frowning, my human was not happy as he studied the shower. “But the young mage who showed me the room didn’t think much of anyone who couldn’t do magic.”
Ah.
“We have a certain subset of individuals that are…not polite.” I wasn’t sure what crossed over into being described as rude, but their behavior was not appropriate for newcomers.
Giving me a glance I could not define, my human did the shrug as well. “I was surprised you didn’t show me around that first day.”
We’d gone from the tented area his people called a rest stop to town, but at that point we had been separated into smaller groups.
Had no one told him why?
“I was given no choice.” Leaving him had not been my plan but the only way to stay with him would’ve been to claim mate status.
He was not ready for that for a variety of reasons.
“What?” Giving me his full attention, the confusing look was gone from his face. “Why?”
“Our leaders wanted to make sure everyone had come through voluntarily from your side and that I was…suffering no ill effects mentally.” I needed more practice using complicated English.
“Toman came back mated. The other who had originally accompanied us panicked. The people of Earth were very…emotive.”
Yes.
That was a good word.
I needed to read more books based on alien relationships. They used more creative words and allowed me to understand different aspects of human relationships more clearly.
“Yeah, I can see why they were concerned.” My human said the right words but it was not believable due to his facial expressions and tone. “You were gone for a lot longer than I’d expected.”
Had he missed me?
He was upset but I wasn’t sure I knew why.
Trying to decide how Wren or Toman would act in a similar situation, I stepped closer and did my best to make reaching out to stroke his chest look natural. Humans did it very easily but we did not randomly touch.
I was caressing my mate.
I had read about this.
I could do it.
Hand between his pecs.
Stroke around in what was termed a clockwise motion…because old clocks and new ones were not the same.
English.
Back up through the middle of his chest.
Then I could move closer and…
Yes.
Thank the ancestors.
He’d taken control.
Wrapping his arms around me, my human guided my head to his shoulder and held me tight almost like a long hug. “I did not know how my absence would affect you. I’m sorry I let them talk me into giving you space.”
I may not have understood all his thoughts, but I’d apologized correctly based on how his body relaxed.
“Is that what they thought they were doing?” Nuzzling against my head, my human kissed me and kept me close. “The tour was fine and the actual logistics of meeting the leadership went smoothly, but I thought you would stay closer to me.”
Because he knew he was my mate?
Because we had become what humans called friends?
“I was told you might be overwhelmed and need privacy.” Looking back, I realized that had been a serious miscalculation. “After seeing how much emotion the people from Earth show, I believe the leadership was worried about them?”
Toman and I had both done our best to explain it was natural for the people of Earth but many were still skeptical and thought it might be some kind of mental disease. Several members of our council had insisted they have time in private to recuperate.
Based on his snort, my human did not approve. “We’re not doing that again. I’m going to know where you are and you’ll know where I am. I’m not willing to compromise on that even if you think I’m being unreasonable.”
No, he was being mated and he did not have a good way of speaking with his mate.
“I don’t think that’s unreasonable.” Kissing his cheek seemed like the best course of action based on what the submissives in my books would do and how I’d seen Wren behave.
Yes. It quickly eased his emotions. “We will each know the location of the other and we will work on finding a short-distance communication device.”
That did not sound right.
“Something like your phones.” We did not have the right infrastructure for that. Ha. I knew that word would be useful eventually. Infrastructure. “I am not familiar with mechanical objects that might work, but I know that Wren brought many curious things through the portal.”
He was what was called a packrat.
“Yeah.” My human chuckled and kissed my head again as his frustration eased lower. “His magic bag was amazing and Toman actually used it to bring a few things over for me. There wasn’t time to make sure I could interact with the spell enough to put one on my bag.”
More research on what Agent Murphy could do with magic should have been done before he’d come through the portal.
What if he couldn’t have used the portal?
“I will ask more questions and make sure you are able to properly interact with our world.” It seemed like the time for another cheek kiss since I had done what was called dropping the ball when it came to his care.
Clearly others could not be trusted with that.
Hmm.
Was that why Toman kept Wren so close?
Was it practical for safety and not just related to the mate bond?
My human chuckled but I understood the sound was meant to convey that he was hiding some sort of embarrassment or similar emotions. “That would be helpful. Thank you.”
My mate needed me.
“I will start by being firm when it comes to Professor Zorin and his dinner…invitation.” Hmm. “Is there a human word for an assumed invitation? Not quite forced but something similar?”
“Good question. You’re distracting, though, and nothing is coming to mind.” He approved enough to give me another kiss even though the word distracting should have had negative associations. “At the very least it’s probably part of my job even though I have no idea what he’s doing.”
“We will both discover what has been frustrating him.” He was behaving oddly. “I must get clean first.”
I had gone from sticky to uncomfortable, and the reminder of our activities earned me a pleased laughing sound from my human. “Yes, and you were going to show me a better way to use the shower.”
He did not know being naked was not a requirement for our versions of showers.
My mate was using water every time he needed to get clean.
“I was.” Before we had both become distracted. Hmm. Maybe there could be positive associations with that word. “Then we will have dinner with Professor Zorin and his…his associates?”
My human shrugged. “I think they’re going to be more personal than that, but we probably shouldn’t make any assumptions. He might actually need help talking about BDSM with a coworker but that doesn’t sound right even for your world.”
No…but stranger things had occurred lately.
****
“I feel the need to remind you that bad manners can be delivered in a calm, what you would consider neutral tone. It does not take extensive exterior emotions to be rude.” From what I had seen of humans the two things usually went hand in hand as they said.
We were rude in different ways than he might expect.
Yes, my human sighed and paused at his doorway.
“How much rudeness am I supposed to put up with?” Giving me what I recognized as a thoughtful expression, he looked between me and the door.
“On Earth, depending on the situation and who I was dining with, I’d put up with a lot of rudeness or just bad manners.
Sometimes you have to…does the expression lose the battle to win the war make sense to you? ”
“Yes.” I had read several military series while Toman had been getting to know his mate. “I agree that sometimes it is necessary, but I do not believe questions about human domination relationships fall into that category.”
Conversations had become strange lately, however.
Nodding slowly, my human mate straightened and seemed to finish his next round of thoughts. “What situation could we run into where BDSM would fall into that category? Some of the council meetings are going to require interesting conversations, but not deliberate bad manners.”
He asked good questions.
“Your life on Earth must have been very interesting.” I was ready to answer his questions but he cocked his head again.
“We really haven’t talked much about that kind of stuff, have we?” His mind was going faster than my verbal abilities to respond in English, so I quickly shook my head.
I was starting to understand why they had added so many nonverbal signals.
“Okay, quick recap before we walk out the door. I technically work for a part of my government that is a mix of intelligence gathering and monitoring interesting situations.”
“Like the dragons near the gate.” They were remarkable in their ability to find trouble. “They must keep you busy.”
“Amazingly so.” Rolling his eyes, my human leaned against the door and pulled me close to him again. “But before that I was in a more traditional role within the government. No ridiculousness, just a job. My parents have both worked as ambassadors and in other diplomatic positions like that.”
When he paused and raised one eyebrow, I nodded to show I understood the role his parents had played.
My reading on different aspects of world governments had been incredibly useful.
“That kind of work goes back several generations in my family and my parents were actually pissed when I went into intelligence instead.” His grin said he was not angry about their feelings. “I guess I proved them wrong. I’m the first in the family to get a position on another planet.”
Hmm.
“Yes. That does trump a position in Europe.” We were not as dangerous as other parts of his world, but we were impressive and strange.
My human laughed, nodding. “And now I’m cooler than Great Uncle Albert who spent most of his life doing questionable things in the South Pacific.”
Did I have any books based around that part of his world?
“What else?” My human frowned, cocking his head. “I don’t want you to be surprised at anything that happens when we’re talking at dinner. You’re more important so that means you need to get information first.”
That was a logic my people would appreciate.
“Your name?” Everything else seemed touched upon in at least vague ways. “Everyone calls you Agent or Agent Murphy. I was told you were quite stern with the diner men’s wives who tried to obtain more personal information.”
Hmm.
I had not expected a groan.
“First. I can’t believe we haven’t had that conversation. Second. There was more to that story and she shouldn’t have grabbed my ass.”
Their behavior was shocking.
My mate had a wonderful body, however.
“Agreed.” And I would make sure it did not happen again.
“God.” Rubbing one hand over his face, my human sighed. “Stellan. My first name is Stellan. It’s an old family name but it’s just…it doesn’t feel like me, so I rarely use it and encourage anyone work-related to just use my last name.”
Interesting.
But I had read about similar issues.
“There are other names and titles I can use for you.” Mine. Mate. Daddy. I gave him a human shrug when he dropped his hand and studied me. “It just seemed like information I should know so that I appear more informed than others.”
And being informed meant I could protect his emotions better.
No matter how dragon he appeared, he was human and I needed to remember that.