Chapter 24 #2
“Back and with a female of my own,” I said. “You are well? The babe?”
Amy nodded, patting the top of her belly. “As well as I can be when I’m the size of a house and my insides are being kicked with turoch hooves.”
I winced at the description, suddenly guilty that I’d come to a heavily pregnant female in the middle of the night looking for favors.
“I was going to ask if you had spare clothes for Jessa, but it can wait.”
“Oh, no!” She struggled to sit up and Kes appeared out of the darkness to lift her from her chair. “I have clothes, they don’t fit right now anyway. And believe me, no woman wants to be stuck in the same outfit when air conditioner is a thing of the past.”
I remembered Jessa’s cool, comfortable spa and wondered if there was some way of getting Amy there. It probably wasn’t wise to have her traveling long distances in her condition though.
Amy waddled away from the fire, and I tagged after her. Sal had fallen asleep and I carefully moved him to the basket of supplies, silently praying he wouldn’t relive himself on Jessa’s food.
“What is that?” Amy whispered, her eyes bugging out when she spotted him.
“A percer spawn,” I said, lifting the basket so she could see him.
“It's so little,” she cooed, then straightened abruptly and cradled her belly. “Aren’t those things vicious killers?”
“The females are, but this one is male.”
She squinted at me and shook her head. “I’m torn. Hormones are screaming ‘cute baby animal’ but my survival instinct is a little worried.”
“Jessa is very attached,” I admitted. It was going to be a battle to get the camp to accept a percer running loose, I only hoped he remained as docile as he was currently.
“Happy wife, happy life,” she chuckled, leading me into the dark building and towards the makeshift room Kes had created from shelves and draped fabric. She flicked on a lantern sitting on a nearby shelf and rifled through a basket of clothes.
“Is she roughly my size?” she asked, waving a hand over her head. “The size I used to be, I mean.”
I cocked my head and compared the two females’ heights in my head.
“Yes?”
Amy huffed out a laugh. “Men. Stretchy fabrics and erring on the big side then. There’s nothing worse than trying to stuff yourself into a shirt like a sausage.”
A minute later I had an armful of clothes, and I was struggling to balance the basket, bucket of water and Amy’s borrowed outfits without waking Sal.
Vret let out an annoyed sound and grabbed the clothes from me.
“I’ll carry these, and leave you to your groveling.”
I’d already been away from Jessa longer than I planned, so I moved quickly back to my tent, Vret lagging a bit behind. He stopped at the front of my tent and handed me the clothes.
“Find Adak early or I will wake you,” he warned me. “I know you left out details and he will need to hear it all.”
I nodded and clapped my hand to Vret’s shoulder.
“I missed you, brother,” I said warmly. “I am glad you weren’t with me, but it would have been easier with your mind to help me.”
He shoved my hand away. “Say what you like, we both know I would have just been another weak body for you to drag along.”
I didn’t comment on that, but made a note to check on Jiith as soon as possible. I’d told Kahlu that he was a friend and not a prisoner, but I doubted the syto would be comfortable surrounded by strange turochs in his weakened state.
Ducking inside the tent, I found Jessa sound asleep. I set the basket down, and settled on the floor to stare at my female. Dried tear tracks stained her face, and she was curled into a tight ball, shivers wracking her frame every few seconds.
She was tired and needed sleep, but I wanted to give her the chance to clean up, and selfishly I wanted to apologize to her before I slept.
“Jessa,” I shook her shoulder gently and she startled awake.
“It’s me,” I assured her when she darted a panicked look around my dark tent. “I brought you water to wash with and fresh clothes.”
“Oh.” She sat up and rubbed her face. “I didn’t mean to fall asleep.” Her voice was a hoarse croak and I handed her the cup I’d taken from the supplies and offered her the bucket. She dipped the cup and drained it, surfacing with a deep sigh that told me I was right to wake her.
She needed food and water, and I knew the dress she wore had scraped her arms raw.
“Wash, and change,” I told her. “Sal is sleeping and you can eat when you’re clean.”
Jessa set the cup down and stared listlessly at the bucket. “I feel disgusting,” she said, her voice wobbling like she was holding back tears. “But I’m so tired I don’t know if I can move an inch.”
I hesitated, knowing we hadn’t resolved our argument and she was probably harboring sore feelings toward me.
“Let me help you,” I offered. “And give me the chance to apologize.”
“What?” she looked up at me, squinting in the low light. “Why do you need to apologize?”
She hadn’t argued against my help, so I reached for her and dragged her off my bed and into my lap.
I snagged the bottom of her filthy dress and slowly pulled it over her head.
Dust rained down on us as the stiff fabric crinkled and I tossed it into the corner, hoping I remembered to throw it out of the tent before we went to sleep.
The odor of percer urine would taint the entire space if it sat inside all night.
Jessa shivered with her skin exposed to the night air and she crossed her arms in front of her breasts protectively, even as she swayed wearily against my chest. I reached for the bucket and sighed.
“I was angry when you asked if I wished I could mate a turoch instead of a human,” I started, cupping a handful of water and rubbing it over her dirt covered shoulder. “I reacted poorly, and I regret it.”
Jessa moaned appreciatively as I scrubbed her skin clean and I shifted as my cock reacted to the sound. Her soft weight was pressing on my lap in provocative ways, but Jessa was far too tired to be bothered with my arousal.
“I shouldn’t have implied you were desperate,” she whispered, her temple resting on my chest as I continued to cup fresh water over her. “I should have phrased it differently; I’ve been beating myself up for it all day.”
“No,” I countered firmly, drizzling water down her back and rubbing away the sweat and dirt from our journey. “I was offended, but I should not have held onto it for so long. It was pointed out to me that your concerns were valid.”
She stiffened and I paused in my washing.
“You are upset you can’t be with a turoch female?” she asked.
I quickly wrapped my arms around her damp body. “I claimed you, Jessa, because I wanted you. Human or turoch, it doesn’t matter.”
“Okay,” she said cautiously, relaxing a bit, but still holding herself a little apart from me. Determined to get through my ‘groveling’ I went back to pouring water over her.
“But I am...sad,” I admitted. “Not that you’re human, but that my world is lost to me. That there are no turoch females and that choice is gone. Turochs are mating humans, not because they are second best and have no choice, but the choice was taken from us.”
She relaxed a little more as I spoke, and I tentatively stroked my wet hand over her collarbone.
“There is a pregnant female in camp,” I continued. “When she gives birth, it will be the first turoch child born on this planet. We are all happy, we look forward to meeting him, but he will be half human. And he will have a human mate in the future.”
“You’ll be bred out, eventually,” Jessa realized.
“We will,” I confirmed. “It is not a bad thing. He will not be less precious, but he will be less turoch.”
“I understand,” she murmured. “In a few generations, there won’t be much left of any of you, genetically anyway.”
“So no, I am not settling for a human mate. But now I can see that there is something to grieve all the same.”