Chapter 26
"I was scared you wouldn't want me after I mated with you, so I let my fear drive me," the device in her hands sang out in a stilted, emotionless manner. It was strange being spoken to without any emotional intonation.
The next free moment I had I would assign a team to work with the horned aliens to improve the technology and develop one of our own.
An implant would be superior to this. At the very least, I could get a functional software of our own that would work on a wrist unit before we developed the neurological implant.
"Plus, I was sticky," the device finished.
The horned male who was standing far too close to my little hoomon made another barking comment. I was a heartbeat away from starting an interstellar incident to get rid of him. The only thing that held me back was the fact that she didn't react to him, didn't even look at him.
She was focused on me.
He was inconsequential to her, so unless he touched her or upset her, his irritations would remain nothing to me.
I focused on the words she had communicated.
She had been worried I wouldn't want her after mating?
That thought was troubling, and it also hit that painful wound deep in my heart.
An osae-blessed mating was considered one of great value, and finding a partnership that included that was not something to take casually.
I hadn't ever had to worry about a partner not wanting me again.
Any potential mate I'd ever met threw themselves at me.
What concerned me wasn't being wanted.
I had been wanted my entire life. I had so many mate offers it would take me weeks to go through them. Being desired as a mate was something I'd never had any doubts about.
Being desired for me alone was a different matter.
I'd never been wanted for who I was.
I'd only been wanted for my title.
She didn't know who I was, so she had already given me that respite.
She mated with me last night without having any idea of who I was, something that I had never experienced in the span of my life.
Even while wearing my disguise, most still guessed who I was.
I had never been willing to wear full prosthetics to change my facial structure just to mate with someone, as that would be starting our relationship on a much bigger lie than I was willing.
I didn't have to do this with Lorelei.
She knew nothing about me.
All she knew was what I showed her through my actions.
All she knew was that I was there for her.
There was no one in the empire that could have given me that. She was the first person I had met in my entire life who didn't know who I was and who was interested in me purely because of how I interacted with her.
Her wanting me for me was something so precious that it would live in my heart for eternity.
"I will always want you," I said, taking the huge gift she had unknowingly given me and compressing it to the clear translation of the emotion.
I reached out to touch her cheek.
The horned male grabbed my wrist.
I tensed, stopping my body from instinctually shifting my weight to grab him and throw him. My little hoomon was in between us. She was in the crossfire. I couldn't fight him without the risk of hurting her.
But I wouldn't tolerate his insolence, either.
I raised my other wrist bearing my communicator bracelet on it, giving two definitive shakes, then held it up where it would register my body language.
"Take the ship," I growled. "Non-lethal force."