12. Thalen
THALEN
Icouldn’t believe that I’d actually been bold enough to go do that.
I’d been hungering to meet them both as soon as I’d seen their images on my datapad screen, immediately feeling a paternal warmth towards the kit and a definite sense of arousal for Evan, both feelings growing stronger as each day passed before their arrival.
That was it. My mating instincts have been simmering for days now, and that’s what gave me the sudden urge to go do what I did.
I smirked to myself. I didn’t regret a thing about what we’d just done, not a single little bit. It was just that now our encounter was over and I’d had a taste of him; I was having to fight back even stronger urges while contemplating just how out of character Evan made me feel.
I wasn’t the male who was the life of a party, or who warmed up to people and became best friends with them immediately.
I was the quiet one who often sat on the fringes of any gathering and watched, observing the behavior of others to gain a deeper understanding of who they actually were around others as well as when they didn’t think anyone was watching them.
I had a deep seated need to know a bit about the core of who a person truly was before interacting with them.
This was a habit long ingrained in me. It wasn’t that I didn’t like people in general, because I did.
I simply did not wish to form any unfortunate friendship attachments to those who would later prove incompatible or even unworthy.
Like those louts my cousin Slagth fell in with after taking that job back on the homeworld. He barely escaped taking the fall for what they did after setting him up so they could simply walk away with the spoils of what they’d stolen.
“I’ve finished putting my clothes away,” Jason announced, wandering into the main living area.
“Your dad is about to take a nap before supper, so if you wish to do the same, that’s fine,” I informed him.
My response saw him screw up his face in dismay. “Ugh! I hate naps! I’m not a little kid, you know.”
I cocked my head at him assessingly. “Do others treat you as a very young kit?”
He shook his head. “No, well, Ms. Baines does, but no one else. She tried to make me hold her hand even when we walked from her car to meet Dad at our old apartment. I wouldn’t hold hers back, so she just held mine extra tight.
It wasn’t like I was gonna run away or go swinging on the handrails of the stairs like a baby! ”
I nodded. “I see. I don’t know why she did that, but I assure you, I was not suggesting a nap because you are a young kit. Your dad is not a kit either. He is simply tired.”
“Yeah, well, she even made Dad put me in a booster seat, and I always had to ride in one in her car too. And Dad’s getting old. He’s going to be thirty in a few years. He told me so once when we were talking about birthdays.”
I inwardly chuckled at his thinking thirty was old. I knew it wasn’t, not even for a human who had an average natural lifespan shorter than a Dragonii.
“What would you like to do then?” I asked him.
“Can I take the dogs outside to play with me?” he asked hopefully.
“Stay close to the house and away from the animal pens. Make sure to stay out of the fields too. We don’t want the crops getting trampled.”
“Stay in the yard, got it.”
He called for both dogs to follow him, and they did, getting excited when he picked up a fuzzy green ball from a crate of pet toys Evan had unpacked at the same time as their bowls, beds, and food.
I wandered back to our bedroom, intending to let Evan know I’d let Jason outside to play.
I hovered in the doorway, smiling at the sight before me.
He’d gotten as far as putting on an undergarment before sprawling out across the coverlet on the bed.
His bed, which was now ours, and which was a little too narrow as well as too short to accommodate my size.
I sighed. My bed also was not large enough for two, and the home replicator was not capable of manufacturing anything larger than a table lamp.
I quietly closed the door and went back into the kitchen, making myself a mug of hot klah to drink before settling down to look through available furniture patterns for something similar in style that I could get replicated and delivered tomorrow.
It was nearly time to prepare supper by the time I’d found what I was looking for.
I made the purchase and went to check on Jason, as his calls to the dog and laughter, as well as their yips and barks, had gone quiet.
I didn’t have to look far. He had fallen asleep on the porch swing, the ball still clasped loosely in one hand, and the dogs were sprawled out on the porch, both of them lifting their heads to regard me as they became aware of my presence.
I chuckled softly to myself. As neither of the two humans in our family were awake yet, I could allow them a bit more time to sleep, I decided.
This would give me time to make borska for our evening meal, preparing it myself instead of replicating it.
Mind made up, I walked over to the strange chiller unit I’d had installed and began pulling out ingredients.
I was short a few things, but the replicator was as capable of producing ingredients as it was for entire meals or small household goods.
Then, with everything in hand, I began to peel and chop the vegetables after setting a pot of water on to boil.