Chapter 17
She is alright. She is here. She is mine
Ghauro
Icould not think straight. When my mother had caught my attention, pointing at what was happening, I nearly lost my mind.
Thanato had to physically restrain me from tackling the other male, as the bastard was holding her too close. My mother and her natural authority had done a wonderful job getting her back to safety, freeing the way for me.
Now, my horns and fists were covered in his clear, slimy blood. This whole mess had ruined the flowers my mate had carefully picked and woven into my hair and horn. And that made me even madder.
Melanie did not fight me as I carried her to the temporary shed and settled her on the floor bed. I kneeled in front of her and placed my forehead against hers, trying to calm my racing heart.
“Assa perti,” I repeated as I slid both hands behind her head, knowing full well it did not translate. “I am sorry it happened. I had a feeling it might, and I should not have let you out of my sight.”
“I’m alright,” she whispered, rubbing her nose against mine as she pushed back against me. “I was terrified, but I’m alright. You got here. Your whole family did.”
“But if we had not—”
“You have,” she insisted. “That's all that matters.”
Her eyes gleamed. The smile she gave me made my heart settle in my chest. She is alright. She is here. She is mine.
I stood up, instantly missing her warmth and went to fumble with the little bottles on the wooden shelf.
We had three different healing salves and one was made with a plant that, according to the human book, could be harmful for them.
So my choice settled on the safer choice.
The healing would take longer, but at least, it would not poison my mate.
I kneeled back in front of her, removing the wooden cork and emptying half of the mostly liquid light blue paste in my hand. With careful fingers, I spread it over both her hand-shaped bruise and wound.
My brave little mate did not flinch once, sitting straight as I treated the injury she received because of my failure. Once I was done and ready to put the bottle where I had found it, she stopped me, closing her small hand around my wrist.
“You’re hurt too,” she said softly.
I looked down at the small gash on my side. A poor calculation on my part as I mindlessly rammed into the asshole and we had tumbled into the earth, his horn slashing into my flesh only once before I had snapped them clean off his head.
“It is fine, it will heal on its own.”
“Please, Ghauro. Why…why do you always take care of me, but won’t let me do the same?”
The sad look in her eyes mixed with her pleading voice made me cave. I was not sure why it was so hard for me to let her look after me; it was the norm for our people. The lingering fear of her leaving me made me reluctant. Scared to open up completely only to lose her after a too-short time.
I handed her the bottle and a clean piece of fabric I had snatched in case her wound needed to be wiped more, and she joined me on the floor. Only to tap the spot where she had sat on the bed for me to sit on.
She was careful as she slid the piece of fabric over the open wound, wiping the clear white blood and dirt off before applying the same salve that I used on her.
“He said I was unclaimed,” she whispered and I tensed at the words. “That since you did not want to…breed me, he would.” My heart stuttered, missing a few beats. “You said other males would smell you on me…did you lie?”
“I did not lie. They can already smell me on you, which makes them aware that we—I did not claim you fully.”
She paused for a beat before resuming the slow motions of her hand. “How?”
“The forehead,” I admitted. “When I press my forehead to yours and you push back, it releases the pheromone that tells people that you are mine. The scent gets stronger when I…if my seed is inside of you.”
Her hand fell on her thigh and she turned her face away with a defeated sigh. “So it will happen again.”
I frowned. “It will not.”
She closed the bottle and stood up, turning her back to me. “It will! Because you don’t want to breed me. Other males could decide at any moment that I’m fair game and just…fucking abduct me!”
Her hand shook as she placed the bottle back on the shelf and I stood to follow, my heart back to being frantic.
“I want to.” I tried taking her hand but she pulled her arm back, turning sharply to level me with her teary eyes.
“You don’t. You say you do, and yet here I am—unclaimed. Not carrying your scent nor your child. I don’t understand you!”
I got a grasp of her hand then and did not let go when she tried to pull away. Fuck. This was it. Whether I would lose her here and there or we would find a common ground.
“I heard you,” I mumbled, equally embarrassed and upset. She looked at me with a mixture of anger, hurt and confusion. “When you were talking to yourself on the shore, that first morning. I heard you say you would be leaving as soon as you could.”
Her eyes widened and she tried to step back again. I did not let her. “I—”
“What is a granny, and why does it matter enough for you to want to go back to your dying planet instead of staying here? Instead of choosing to stay with me.”
She stared at me, anger gone, wetness spilling at the corners of her eyes.
Her bottom lip wobbled. “I—Granny is my grandmother,” she croaked.
“She raised me. She’s sick because of the polluted air and alone.
With no money to fare for herself! I-I can’t leave her to die! I need to go back, I-I can’t—”
There was no other male…I cupped her face between my hands, searching her eyes. No lies. No manipulation. Only hurt, confusion, fear…
“Why did you come here in the first place if you did not want to leave your grandmother behind?”
Her expression shifted then, gaze hardening. She pushed me back, her hands hitting at my chest. “I didn’t have a choice!” she yelled. “They abducted me, shoved me into a damn shuttle for weeks and said the only way I could go back in less than twenty fucking years was to give you a child!”
The sound of my heart shattering was loud in my ears, like pieces of glass clinking against each other as someone punched a hole through it.
“You…you did not come here willingly?”
I needed to warn the others. To avoid them the heartbreak of finding out their human bride did not want anything to do with them. That they were forced into it.
Her face softened, but the pain remained. “I didn’t. But I…I don’t regret taking their offer. I don’t regret becoming your wife and ending up here, not even for one second. But—”
“But you do not wish to stay once you have given birth to our child,” I continued for her.
Her hands that were reaching for me dropped, tears falling down her face. “I want to,” she sobbed. “I wish I could. Stay here. Stay with you. But I can’t. I can’t leave my grandmother to die on Earth. I need the money the program promised me to pay for her medical care.”
Hope flared in my chest, the crumpled vine heavy on my horn.
She wanted to. Wanted me.
There was just one thing standing in our way, and it was not another male.
My back straightened in resolve and I took a step back. “I see,” I said. I turned around and started walking to the door.
“Ghauro…”
“I need time,” I said. “I will be back in the morning.”