Chapter 14
Zul had his doubts about the fireworks, but the pictures Ursula showed persuaded him to allow such incendiary frivolity.
“Now, we just need to acquire them and figure out how to launch them without blowing the place up,” she muttered under her breath.
Having already given his permission, Zul was reluctant to rescind it, so he set himself and two of the castrati to researching fireworks.
What he learned made him wonder if she’d hookwinked him into doing something terribly foolish.
Taking her aside one evening after supper, he cautioned her as to the danger of such entertainment.
“Well, of course, they’re dangerous,” she agreed with a chuckle. “That’s why we need experts, people who understand how to handle gunpowder and explosives.”
“I cannot risk you or Crow getting hurt.”
Ursula’s hands closed into fists which she propped on her hips. She glared at him. “Are you reneging?”
Zul’s hearts constricted. His lungs seized with dread and he nearly gulped in fear, not fear of any physical retaliation she might bestow with her small stature, flat teeth, and blunt claws.
She could not hurt him in that way. But she could withdraw her affection for him, which had been slowly building as her comfort in his presence grew.
He extended a hand toward her. “No! No, I am not reneging. I will keep my word.”
She nodded, a curt gesture. “Good.” She threw a hard glare at him. “If I can’t trust your word, then there’s no future for us. Trust is everything.”
He nodded. “I will see it done.”
Ursula granted him a beatific smile and settled a hand on his arm, and all was right with his world once again.
“Thank you, Zul. I know this is difficult for you, but I’m not inclined to run headlong into my own demise.
Humans have been using fireworks for centuries.
Yes, some have been injured or even killed, but the vast majority of fireworks result in no harm.
Besides, we’ll be well out of range of the explosives during the show. ”
Zul heaved a relieved breath and squinted his eyes. “You will take care of the rest of the arrangements?”
“I’m already on it,” she replied with a grin. “Addilli’s being a great help.”
Zul blinked at her and waited for further explanation. She did not disappoint.
“Gallik and Sifgul have given their permission for Addilli to help me.”
“They are not ignorant of the prestige of allying with the Fangrys Triad,” Zul said.
Ursula nodded. “No, they’re not. And I have assured them of Addilli’s safety and well-being when she visits here.”
“As if I would allow harm to come to any female!” Zul snarled, offended by the other two males’ apparent distrust.
Ursula laughed, a sound he found simultaneously charming and offensive, for he thought she laughed at him. “No, Zul, they have no fear she shall come to any physical harm when we meet here. What they do fear is that I will contaminate her with my ideas of women’s liberty and female agency.”
“Explain.”
Ursula pointed to herself. “Am I stupid?”
He reared back, sensing a trap. “No, of course not.”
“Am I incompetent?”
“No, of course not.”
“Am I foolish and incapable of making smart decisions?”
He paused, thinking of her determination to have fireworks at her festival, then rapidly said as her expression began to sour, “No, of course not!”
“Then, if I am a functioning, intelligent adult, why should I have to seek and obtain permission to do what I want?”
Trying to choose his words carefully so as not to insult his mate and earn her enmity, he slowly replied, “Because the world is a harsh and dangerous place, and females do not have the physical strength to prevail.”
Ursula snorted and reached up to touch his cheek. “Just because I don’t have a man’s brute strength doesn’t mean I can’t figure out other ways to get things done.”
He leaned over her, looming in a manner that would have been threatening if she didn’t already know he would chew off his own arm before harming her.
“I am stronger than you, faster than you, and much, much more dangerous than you, pretty mate.” He bared his pointed teeth at her, and she retracted her hand.
“That is why you must ask and obtain permission; otherwise, I cannot guarantee your safety and well-being.”
Ursula sighed. “I hate to break it to you” —her tone indicated she did not actually regret her words— “but no one can guarantee my safety and well-being.”
He nodded, because what she said was true. There was no guarantee. “Bran, Gil, and I make harming you and Crow much more difficult.”
“That’s true,” she admitted, recalling how she and Zul had met.
She said nothing about how, throughout history, women on Earth had needed protection from the very men who were supposed to protect and cherish them.
She’d met several mated females in her years on Uribern, both full-blooded Uribs and hybrids, and all appeared to be doted upon by their mates.
She clapped her hands together. “Well, I’d best get to work. ”
Before she could dash off, Zul said, “Elska’adir, you do know that I would protect you with my life?”
Although frustrated by her mates’ inclination to, figuratively, wrap her in cotton wool and bubble wrap to keep her safe, Ursula realized she had some repairing to do.
She’d hurt Zul’s feelings. She wrapped her arms around the hulking berserker and laid her cheek against him.
“I do, Zul. And do not think for one moment that I am ungrateful—”
“I do not want your gratitude,” he growled.
She tilted her head back. “You have it nonetheless. And you have my love, too.”
Both of Zul’s hearts stuttered. “Your love?”
She pressed a kiss to his chest, for her lips could reach no higher, then smiled. “Yes, Zul, my love. You have earned my trust and affection. You fit with Bran and Gil. And I find it terribly difficult to resist you.”
He sighed and ran a hand down the silky length of her hair. “We are mates. You should not resist me.”
She patted him. “Until Bran and Gil return, I must.”
Zul sighed again, knowing she spoke truly.
He took her small hand in his big paw and lifted it.
He turned it over and pressed his mouth to her palm.
After kissing her palm, he said, “And I am a male of honor. But once we have performed the Rites of First Taste and First Union together, I will take great pleasure in fucking you” —his words made her shiver— “and you will receive great pleasure when I fuck you.”
The musk of her arousal floated up to his nose. Zul put his arms around her and held her against his body, hoping Bran and Gil would return home soon before his fraying control snapped.