Chapter 9
Chapter Nine
Khesan
Fiona has been downstairs a long time, and it makes my skin crawl.
I’ve been sitting on my bed waiting for her to return to her room so I could wish her goodnight.
I loved watching her enjoy my meal tonight, despite the fact she spent the afternoon with Shathar.
I was almost able to banish it from my mind until now, when she went down the stairs with him and still hasn’t returned.
I’ll have to grow accustomed to this anxiety. They will do many things while I’m not around, and I need to get used to that fact without letting it drive me to madness. Though it is very hard to imagine your fated mate spending time alone with a rival. It goes against my very nature.
When I hear the stairs creak, I hop to my feet. Fiona comes down the hallway, and I lean out the doorway to greet her.
“Oh, Khesan!” Her face is red and her hair looks tousled. “Thank you again for dinner tonight.”
“It was my absolute pleasure.” I step out into the hall, closer to her. I can pick up Shathar’s scent on her, but endeavor not to react to the fury that suddenly courses through me. “I look forward to our date tomorrow,” I say instead.
Fiona grins, showing off her cute blunt teeth. “It’ll be good to spend some time together. I’ll cook breakfast, then work for a while, and then we can go. Capisce?”
I cock my head. “Capisce?”
“It means we’re in agreement,” she says with a giggle.
“Then, capisce.”
Fiona hovers until a yawn sets in. She waves a hand in front of her face.
“Sorry, I’m exhausted,” she says with a sad smile. “Time to crash.”
A wave of anxiety washes over me. “Please do not hurt yourself.”
Fiona laughs again, and I love the sound of it. “Just on my bed. I’ll be okay.”
I nod and let her go, closing my bedroom door behind me. It is unfortunate to be here alone, knowing my mate rests only one room down the hallway, but I can be patient. If the military taught me anything, it is that one must work hard and wait to be rewarded.
I will show Fiona that I am the best choice for her, that we are destined to be together.
When I get undressed, I palm my cock, which is thinking rather lewd things. It’s strange to see the new shape of it since I smelled Fiona for the first time. Now it has nalopo, a ribbed texture along it that it didn’t have before I came here.
I hope when the time comes, the nalopo will make her feel quite good.
I am tempted to touch myself while thinking of her, but I shouldn’t, not when she is so close by. Hopefully, soon, I can find relief in a different way and show Fiona how I’ll always treasure her.
In the morning, I am ready to face the world. To learn all about Earth and Fiona, and discover a new activity with her this evening—away from Shathar. Once I get some time alone with her, it will be easy to show her how we are intended to grow old together.
The gods don’t make mistakes when assigning fated mates.
When I come down the stairs, the lights are on and Fiona stands in front of the stovetop. I thought I would be the earliest to wake, but she beat me to it.
“Good morning.” She sips a dark liquid from a cup. “Sorry if I’m not chipper yet. Coffee hasn’t kicked in.”
“Coffee?” I sniff the air. It is an enticing scent. “What is that?”
“Oh, it’s good stuff.” Fiona grabs another cup with a handle from a cupboard and heads to a pot, pouring some dark liquid into the cup. She passes it to me. “Tastes bad at first, but it grows on you. Then you can’t live without it.”
Sounds like an addictive substance. But I should try it anyway, for her. The scent of it is fascinating as I raise it to my lips.
“Wait,” she says, stopping me. “I should put some creamer in there first.” She heads to the fridge, grabs a bottle, and pours something white into the coffee to make it more of a light brown. “Now it won’t be so strong or so hot.”
Again I bring the mug up to taste, and the “coffee” is exceptionally bitter as it hits my tongue. But I drink a full mouthful anyway because Fiona clearly likes it, and there must be a reason.
“Interesting,” I say after swallowing. It has a complexity of flavor hidden underneath the bitterness. “I can see how one would develop a taste for it.”
She shows me what she’s making for breakfast, and I do my best to assist. When the sausage is cooking and the toast is… toasting, the door to the basement opens and Shathar steps out.
He is not wearing a shirt, to my surprise—only his leggings. His body is lithe, but his muscles are defined, which I didn’t expect of an Arshurian of his age and profession. He comes into the room rubbing his eyes, and then he stops when he sees me.
“Half naked for breakfast?” I ask, smirking. “Dignified.”
He shrugs. “It was very warm downstairs.”
“Oh, shoot!” Fiona pauses while cracking an egg. “I forgot to turn down the thermostat. Sorry. I’ll show you where it is next time so you can control it yourself.”
Shathar smiles. “Thank you. It will just take a few minutes to cool down, and then I will put on one of my new shirts.”
I don’t like that he’s up here with all those bare scales showing. He might even look attractive to Fiona. He is certainly good-looking by Arshurian standards, which fills me with even more irritation.
Fiona goes back to cooking, and Shathar approaches the counter.
“Do you need help with anything?”
“No, no.” She pats his arm affectionately, and my fans rise on my head. They are already so close? “Go sit, have some coffee if you want.”
“Coffee?”
“It is a delicious beverage,” I call out from the table, and Shathar spins around. “I will pour him some, Fiona.”
While she continues cooking, I find my way to the “coffee pot” from earlier and find a cup with a handle for him in the cupboard. Shathar watches me with suspicion as I pour the coffee into the cup. I do not offer him the “creamer.”
When Shathar takes a sip, he lets out a yelp. “Hot!” He pulls it away from his mouth. “And so bitter!”
I chuckle, sipping from my own cup. “Weakling.”
He hisses at me, and I hiss back, until I hear Fiona say, “None of that crap this early in the morning!”
We both back off, but Shathar shoots me one last dirty look as we each sit on opposite ends of the table. Unfortunately, it is a small table, so we are still rather close together.
We both endeavor not to exchange a look or a word until breakfast is served. After we’ve all eaten, Shathar scoops up the dishes before I can and takes them to the sink.
“All right, I have to go to work,” says Fiona. “Please don’t get into any trouble today, okay?” She shows us both into the living room where she flips on the television. “Feel free to watch TV. There are some movies, too. Maybe you guys can figure it out together.”
Then she’s gone, and we are left to our own devices.
Shathar picks up the remote as the television starts to play, pressing buttons to figure out what they do. The volume rises, and I cover my ears.
“Turn it down,” I gripe.
He lowers it again and I roll my eyes, wandering away to find something else to do with my time.
There are two sliding glass doors in the kitchen area that lead to what appears to be a private yard, so I head outside to see the sun.
There is a table with two chairs on the concrete pad, so first I do my exercises, then I sit in one and bring out my communicator.
I will use this time to study humans even more and become as useful to Fiona as possible.
The day passes slowly. At lunchtime, Fiona emerges from her office to take us to the tailor’s and be fitted for Earthling pants.
Luckily, the old woman announces after taking a good look at us, she can simply adjust some existing jeans to fit.
Fiona lets out an immense sigh of relief at the prospect of simply having them modified with straps to fit over our tails.
After our fitting, we make lunch.
“I’ll be done with work soon,” Fiona tells me as she heads back to her office with a sandwich. “Then we can go out, all right, Khesan?”
“Capisce,” I answer. She giggles as she heads back to her work, leaving Shathar and I sitting at the kitchen table.
He shoots me a suspicious look. “What is this ‘capisce’?”
I shrug. “A code. Just for us.”
Instantly, his fans flare, and I laugh at his reaction.
After putting my plate in the dishwasher as Fiona instructed, I head back to my room to work out for a while, building my strength.
Then I check my communicator, and my parents have sent me a message to check whether or not I have arrived safely, so I type out an answer to let them know I am now on Earth with my new wife.
I even admit that she is my fated mate, so they have no reason to worry.
They worried much before I left on this journey, but they understood why I needed to do it. Arshur didn’t hold what I needed, what I wanted.
They are so far away, and it is difficult to imagine I might not see them again. But it is worth it to have found Fiona. This will be my new life, and I am excited about it—if I can simply get Shathar out of the way.
“Khesan!” I hear Fiona call out a few hours later. “Do you want to leave soon?”
“Capisce!” I call out as I leap to my feet and head down the stairs.