CHAPTER FIVE
COLE
I followed Aiden to the reception room. Bo was sitting at the desk, still working on the latest publicity campaign, and she smiled warmly when we came into the room. “How are things going?”
“Making progress,” I said, knowing I could fill her in on the details later. My gaze drifted across the room, and sure enough, seated on two of the visitor chairs, were two blue men.
The darker coloured one, wearing military fatigues, stood up as he saw Aiden come into the room. “Cole, this is Lieutenant Kade Hill,” Aiden introduced us.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Kade said, coming forward, and I shook his hand automatically, even as my mind raced to catch up with the sudden, startled rush of thoughts in my head.
I’d read plenty of news reports about dimari and their role on Rendol 4, but I’d never met one in person before.
And Kade was absolutely nothing like what I’d expected.
He was tall and muscular, the epitome of a military soldier, and his skin – scales?
– were a deep, ocean blue. His grip was firm and he met my gaze without hesitation.
Somehow I’d expected a species that saw their role as one of servitude to be meeker.
But Kade was not the least bit shy or hesitant in his mannerisms. And more to the point, he didn’t try to avoid looking at my face, but neither did he stare.
“Thank you for coming,” I said to him, realising that I’d likely messed up his day just as much as I had Aiden’s.
“I appreciate your help.” Then I looked past him to the other man sitting in the corner.
My immediate impression was that Xel was much more like what I’d expected a dimari to be.
He was sitting with a hunched posture, his gaze fixed on the floor, his hands clenched in his lap.
His scales were a much lighter blue, though he had the same black hair as Kade; short at the sides, longer over the top of his head, much like a faux hawk.
He was wearing a matching set of plain beige trousers and shirt, and I assumed it was his uniform from the hotel.
“Xel, this is Cole,” Kade told him, his tone gentle. “He’s your master’s nephew.”
Xel looked up and his eyes met mine, and I braced myself for his reaction to me.
But rather than looking startled or disgusted, the tension suddenly left his shoulders, and the worry lines across his face faded out.
I felt myself relax in response to his obvious relief.
This was far from the usual reaction people had to seeing me for the first time. Xel stood up, and…
Holy shit, I thought frantically, as I got a proper look at him.
Bloody hell, he was tall. Taller than me.
Taller than Kade, even. And while Kade had the solid frame of a soldier used to hard work, Xel was no less impressive, though his muscles were leaner – much like the comparison between a weight lifter and a runner.
His jaw was firm, his shoulders were broad, his hips narrow…
Fuck me, this was the man I was supposed to be caring for, like some kind of injured stray?
Xel stepped forward with a lazy swagger, his hips rolling, his lips pressed into a sultry pout, and I nearly choked on my own tongue.
Oh god, he was gorgeous. I had not been prepared for that.
After briefly running his eyes over my face, Xel lowered his gaze to the floor, a gesture of submission that put me off-balance, and I immediately felt myself going on the defensive.
He was all power and sensuality, like a high-school jock who had decided to play at making friends with the chess nerds for the day.
Holy fuck, no, I was not prepared to deal with this.
But he just stood there, waiting. There were no quips, no astringent words, no mocking disguised as jokes. And now, his face was perfectly neutral. No smirking, no sneering. He was waiting for me to take the lead. And he seemed prepared to wait indefinitely.
All right, get your head out of your ass, I scolded myself sharply. Xel was a dimari. He’d been trained his entire life to be a slave. Of course he was going to be submissive, regardless of what his body looked like. I, of all people, should understand that a person’s body didn’t define them.
“Hi, um… I’m Cole,” I said, offering my hand. He shook it, with a shy smile and a nod.
“My name is Xel,” he said, and his deep voice had the most delectable lilt to it – the same sort of accent that Kade had, though I’d barely noticed Kade’s when he’d spoken. Then, a hint of uncertainty appeared on his face. “You knew my master?”
It occurred to me all of a sudden that I hadn’t asked Aiden how I should approach my relationship with my uncle in front of Xel.
But I made a few quick assumptions, and given that Xel had likely worshiped the ground he walked on, I decided I should avoid disparaging the man in front of his former dimari.
“I did,” I said. “I was very sad to hear that he’d died.
But I hope I can help as much as possible while you settle into a new life here.
” Oh god, that had come out all wrong. It sounded rote and clunky, like a shady salesman trying to sell a damaged washing machine to an elderly lady. What the fuck was wrong with me?
“Um… Would you like me to show you around the property?” I asked, then added, “Has Aiden told you much about what I do here?”
Xel nodded. “He said you take care of animals when their owners can no longer care for them. I realise there’s a certain irony in asking you to look after me, in the same way.”
My skin prickled as I heard Xel’s tone darken.
I’d spent a great deal of time, first in my ecology degree, and then here in the sanctuary, listening to animals convey their needs to me through behaviour and body language, given that none of my charges could speak in order to tell me what was wrong.
And Xel’s body language – his averted eyes and the slight slump in his shoulders – told me that he was far from happy with the version of events that Aiden had given him.
I didn’t know much about the dimari, but I grabbed onto the little I did know.
“Well, the way I see it, it’s more the other way around, isn’t it?
Aiden told me that a dimari’s main purpose is to serve their master.
And there’s plenty of work around here that needs doing, that would make me extremely happy to have some help with.
So in that sense, you’d be looking after me, rather than me looking after you.
” Was I pushing this too far? I didn’t want to undermine anything Aiden had said.
He was the dimari expert, after all. But at the same time, he’d admitted that he’d never dealt with a dimari who’d lost his master before.
I glanced back at Aiden, apprehensive about already having screwed things up.
But Aiden smiled and nodded encouragingly.
So it seemed I was doing okay after all.
Xel relaxed again, a small smile quirking his lips. “Yes, indeed,” he said. “I will do my best.”
“Let’s take a quick walk around the property,” I offered again. “I can show you the animal pens, and the house where I live, and then we can see if you think you’d be happy here.”
I knew immediately that I’d said something wrong. Xel tensed, his jaw tightening, and he looked away. “As you wish,” he said, his tone flat.
Fuck. What had I done wrong? “How about you and Kade go and wait outside, and Aiden and I will be out in just a moment,” I said.
Was I overstepping my bounds by trying to give Aiden’s dimari orders as well?
Was Xel even going to listen to me, given that we hadn’t yet confirmed whether or not I was going to be his master?
This was all so confusing, and I wasn’t even five minutes in.
But Kade nodded, leading Xel outside, and I anxiously turned to Aiden. “What did I just do wrong?” I asked. “Xel got all stressed and dejected. Why?”
Aiden just nodded, as if he’d expected this very thing.
“The first thing, and probably the most important thing you need to understand about giving a dimari instructions is that you have to tell them what you want. Tell them what to do. Don’t ever ask them what they want.
They simply don’t understand the question.
You implied that the choice to stay here or not would be up to Xel.
That likely confused him, but he’ll also take it as a sign that you don’t want him to stay.
And dimari do not deal with rejection well. ”
“Couldn’t you have told me that five minutes ago?” I asked, not meaning to be rude. But this was already hard enough as it was, without finding out belatedly that I was missing vital information.
Aiden, to his credit, took no offence at my complaint.
“The short answer is that no matter what I tell you right now, this is going to be difficult for you. There are about three hundred details in that instruction manual, all of which are vital pieces of information. The unfortunate part is that I have no way of dumping all of that information into your brain right at the get-go. If I tell you about how a dimari’s mind is wired to serve their master, the problem you run into is asking him what he wants.
If I tell you how to make sure they get enough sleep, you can run into problems with their diet.
Dimari need physical affection as part of their reward system, but most people freak out about that if I give them too much information on the first meeting.