Chapter 26
Chee
“I love him. I just can’t stand him!” Garnet wailed, voice laced with guilt as she sobbed uncontrollably.
“Sweetie, this is normal,” Goldie continued to reassure her sister, looking very much like she was trying not to burst out laughing.
Tanin, while getting dressed that morning, had apparently moved too fast. And Garnet, in full s’skree pregnancy hormone fueled freak out mode, had taken that as a threat to her and her baby.
She then threw the closest thing at hand at his face.
Which just happened to be a pistol. Garnet’s pistol, in fact.
Fortunately, she hadn’t shot it. She just chucked it like a rock.
And Tanin, fully prepared for his pregnant mate’s violent outbursts – it was normal for his kind, after all – had caught the gun neatly out of the air.
Garnet then followed it up with a hissing roar that was absolutely not a human instinct, and only after that did her good sense return.
And now she felt terrible because she had attacked her mate, even if she hadn’t succeeded. She was also in this weird headspace where her instincts still considered him a threat. Just from moving too fast, she couldn’t stand him being near her.
Which was why he wasn’t here now. He was off doing work, helping them make their new arrival plans for Heava Yu so they could deliver the painting.
They were still in subspace and weren’t due to swing out for another couple days, but it wasn’t too soon to begin planning how they were going to get that painting out when it didn’t fit in the landing shuttle.
He knew Garnet didn’t want him near her, so he was making himself scarce. Garnet had gone to her sister in the medbay because she needed the comfort. And Chee found herself caught between them because she needed to get the bruise on her hand fixed so Trove didn’t see it.
But she had just barely managed to get inside and hadn’t even gotten her request out when Garnet came running in, crying, barely able to get the story out. And naturally, the hormonal pregnant lady took precedence, so she was waiting around while Goldie calmed Garnet.
Humans carrying hybrids usually borrowed the bulk of the pregnancy symptoms from whatever the paternal species was.
For human children, that was morning sickness and nesting behaviors and wild hormones and who knew what else depending on the time of the pregnancy.
For other species, they tended to downplay the human symptoms, so it was rarely morning sickness, but nesting behaviors were usually ratchetted up.
And then there were things like this.
S’skree females, when carrying, were notoriously protective and violent, even against their mates. They usually didn’t even like other females around themselves. They typically nested and isolated themselves completely, barely letting their mates close enough to bring them food or supplies.
Garnet must have been borrowing heavily from human instincts, however, because she liked having her girls around her, and she liked having her mate at her side. He had scared her a few times and irritated her a few more, but nothing out of the realm of normal pregnancy hormones.
It was the first time she had physically attacked him, and no amount of reassurance from Goldie could make her feel better about this being normal for a s’skree.
That Tanin expected it, and probably worse, and he absolutely did not mind that she threw a gun at his face.
She just couldn’t stop the guilt of attacking her mate from eating her up.
It made Chee really stare at the mark on her hand.
Right there on the back, at the base of her thumb, a dark mark had formed overnight.
It was only getting darker as the morning went on.
It was decently sized, and if she moved her thumb too much it ached a little bit.
Honestly, she’d hurt herself worse bumping into things on accident. On the whole, it wasn’t too bad.
But she just kept seeing that look on Trove’s face when he realized he hit her…
No, not just then. From the moment he threw himself away from her, there had been something about him that was just… terrified.
Yeah, that was the word. In the dimness of his incredibly spartan room, he’d looked at her like she was threatening everything he loved and held dear. Like a child, terrified and trembling, meeting a monster in the darkness.
She felt like a monster. He was little more than a wild animal driven into a corner, afraid for its life, and somehow she had put that look on his face. She didn’t understand it, but when she reached for him, wanting just to calm him down, he’d lashed out and left this bruise on her.
And she didn’t blame him. Like Tanin with Garnet, she couldn’t be mad because he was just so scared at the time. A primal kind of fear. The kind that went beyond reason. The kind that was so deeply ingrained, it left harsher scars than even the one across her face.
Chee had wanted to get to know him, and this was what she found.
She couldn’t be mad that he had lashed out at her.
That kind of fear, that kind of bone deep terror, would make a person know nothing else, know no other way to react.
She just needed to figure out who that person was. Why they reacted that way.
Who was Trove, and why was he so deeply scarred?
“Er, Chee?”
She looked up from her contemplation to find Goldie there, making an apologetic face.
“Sorry, is your hand really hurt? Do I need to fix it now or…”
Chee smiled, shaking her head and putting her hand behind her back. “It’s not a big deal. I can come back later. I think she, er, needs you a bit more.”
Goldie bit her lips, still trying not to laugh as Garnet tried some deep breathing exercises while wringing her hands, looking up at the ceiling, trying to keep her tears in.
“If it’s bad, I can fix it real quick,” Goldie offered her hand. “Or I can examine it if you need.”
Chee shook her head. “No, really. It’s just a bit banged up. I know it’s not broken. Make sure Garnet’s okay. I’ll come back later.”
Goldie smiled gratefully. “Thanks a lot. Really.”
“No problem. Shoot me a message when you’re free again.” Looking past her, she called out, “Feel better soon, Garnet. You’re doing great.”
“Stop being nice to me!” She wailed, losing the battle against her tears. “I don’t deserve it.”
“Sweetie,” Goldie rushed for her, also losing the battle against her laughter.
Chee was giggling as well as she left. Violence against your partner wasn’t funny, but it was hard to be mad about something that was completely natural for their species.
Something that Tanin expected, welcomed in a weird way, and had no problems with.
No harm had been done, the rush of protective hormones meant Garnet was still having a healthy pregnancy, and this was normal.
Chee’s amusement only lasted a short time, however.
Just outside of the medbay, Trove was standing there.
Chee came up short, her smile fading away. The door shut behind her, closing off the sorrowfully joyful sounds of the twin sisters and their problems. The heavy silence that followed immediately weighed down her shoulders as she felt her heart clench in pain.
There was another tragic expression on Trove’s face. This one of guilt. Of despair. His gaze was already on her hand, and she wasn’t quick enough to hide it behind her back again. He couldn’t miss the discoloration there.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered, his voice broken.
“I’m fine,’ she reassured him immediately.
“Does it hurt badly?”
“Huh? No!” She shook her head quickly, bringing out her hand. She showed off, making a few test fists then wiggling her fingers. Demonstrating how easy it was to do. How little that small ache in her thumb mattered. “See? It’s just my skin type. I bruise easily, that’s all.”
Trove was already shaking his head, banishing her words. “That’s no excuse. I hurt you. I… I marked you. I’m sorry, Chee. I’m so sorry. I knew I couldn’t do this. I knew better than to think I could do this. I tried anyway, and I hurt you because of it.”
“No, Trove-”
“I’m not going to ask you to forgive me, because I don’t deserve it. I’ll leave you alone. I won’t show myself before you again until this job is over.”
“Trove, please-”
She reached for him, using the same hand he struck before. Because she didn’t mind that he was trying to protect himself. She just wanted to understand why. Even if it meant risking him striking her again.
But that’s not what happened this time. There was a flash of fear in his eyes, but he didn’t knock her hand away. He took a quick step back, pulling his own hands back, as if to make absolutely sure he didn’t do the same thing again.
Chee’s hand didn’t drop immediately. She kept reaching for him. Wanting more than ever to close this distance. But he was scared. He was running.
She needed to bring him back. She needed something to keep him here. Something that would make him confront this thing between them.
Before it was broken for good.
Her hand tightened into a fist, and she gave him a hard look.
“You owe me,” she said firmly.
He started in surprise. “Owe you?”
“Yes,” she held her head high. “I believe I deserve an explanation at least.”
He didn’t owe her anything. If he refused her, she couldn’t keep pressing. But she had to try. She needed to know…
Trove’s face fell and his head lowered. “You’re right. I do. I… I’ll tell you.”
He turned and began walking away. Chee followed right along. Fully expecting him to take her back to his room. But that’s not where they went.
Instead, he brought her to the spare room. Her room. It was brighter there. More open. Simple, but she had spread her stuff around so, at least in comparison to his, it looked lived in.
He led the way inside and went to lean against her desk. She followed and sat on the edge of her bed. The parallels to last night couldn’t be avoided. But his expression was so tightly closed now. In the brightness of the artificial lights, he was carefully guarded and hidden away.