“N’Ashtar.” Dana sounded a cross between upset and shocked. “Seriously?”
I blinked my third eyelids at her, not certain where the emotion was coming from. “It is a Caterri. They can survive much.”
“He’s a person,” Dana hissed. “It’s not that black and white.”
It was attractive, watching my small human mate puff up over the Caterri. I didn’t approve of her attachment. Maybe it had to do with her being held captive.
Guilt made my cock wilt from any ideas it had gotten and I fought to keep any expression off my face. Dana had suffered at the hands of the Caterri and there I was, telling her that I was prohibiting her from doing little things she asked. It may not have been something I agreed with, but Dana had suffered because I had not come after her sooner, and I needed to make it up to her.
“Fine.” Pulling a knife out of my belt-wrap, I undid the Caterri’s wrist-binding, leaving its feet tied together. Dana pulled out some of the travel rations I had brought, although I had no idea where she had gotten them. She was resourceful, my mate.
That was yet another thing I needed to talk to her about. I knew I had much to make up to her, but I wanted to make her mine. That was something that needed to be decided with both parties’ agreements, not just mine.
Once the Caterri had eaten, Dana hugged it and sent jealousy spiraling through my body. Fire licked at my veins and I itched to molt my skin, to come out a new N’Akron who would tear that Caterri to pieces, my silly human’s wishes irrelevant. But I was not that N’Akron, and Dana’s wishes were important, no matter how strange.
“I smuggled you a bedroll and a pillow,” Dana assured him, laying them both out for him. She didn’t look at me, which was smart of her, since she was giving the Caterri my supplies. Yet I could not be too upset. My strong, fierce Dana had a gentle heart, and what she was doing would have been acceptable if it was for another N’Akron, no matter what tribe. A Caterri was a different story.
By the time we were back in the cave with O’Rrin and the others, Dana was shooting me glances out of the corner of her strange eyes that I could not read. She didn’t seem to be angry, or upset, or in pain, yet she kept looking at me. Humans were confusing. Instead of talking to me, Dana went to Jackie and Hetta, sitting next to them and taking some food when it was offered. I sat next to O’Rrin, who passed me some of the dried dohli meat we kept as rations.
“Humans are difficult,” O’Rrin said, watching me in a way that told me he understood what I was dealing with.
“Are they always so confusing?” I leaned forward to keep Dana in my sights, but made sure my voice was low enough she could not hear me. I had a feeling she would not appreciate me inquiring as to how to court her.
O’Rrin leaned forward and stoked the small fire that was providing light and heat to the cave that was our home for the night. “Yet there is something appealing about that.”
I had to agree with that. Then O’Rrin told me what had been happening in N’Akkar, how after R’Asha had failed to bring me back, he had been confined to the priest’s lodge to meditate on his failure. My eyes flashed with hints of red at that news. I had not thought my father would have been so angry to punish R’Asha for my decision. Maybe it was him trying to get me to return and give Dana up.
Now I had both. If my father did not accept Dana and me, we could go somewhere else.
“I figured after a couple days, you had enough of a head start, so I packed up and went after you,” O’Rrin said amicably.
I looked at the humans. “Did they follow?”
A complicated mix of emotions whirled through O’Rrin’s eyes. “I do not let Hetta go places without me,” he said finally, the words stone-like. “Jackie was following at a distance.”
Sympathy tugged at me, but I knew there was nothing I could do. O’Rrin’s mate, the small human named Hetta, had been kidnapped by my brother a moon cycle and a half ago. O’Rrin had been forced to follow him all the way to Kohta, the capital of the Caterri, to get her back, and it had ended in my brother Yrrix’s death.
“I am glad you did not end up needing my help sooner,” O’Rrin added.
I did not flinch, but it was close. O’Rrin may have said that, but I had not done enough. If O’Rrin had been with me, there was a chance I could have attacked the Caterri sooner, saved her before they could have done to her what they did. It could have prevented what happened to my Dana, maybe even prevented bringing the strange Caterri she had sort of…adopted.
“We’ll leave in the morning?” O’Rrin asked.
I nodded, not sure how to find words. Whenever my tongue tasted the air, there were still hints of the air burns from a menlin ago, and it made speaking for a long time uncomfortable.
“Um, excuse me?” Hetta was the one who spoke, much to my surprise. She was looking at me, although Dana was by her side. “I’m going to take her to go get clean.”
“You are not leaving.” I immediately stood at my full height, aware I towered over both her and Dana. O’Rrin’s sharp hiss and the barring of his teeth told me he did not approve, but I did not care. He could take care of his mate, and I needed to take care of
