Chapter 19 - Aloryk

I had tried to keep my hands from my mate as we slept this last night. The effort was futile, though. First, my tail seemed to have formed a mind of its own, and wrapped itself around her calf as if she were a downy feather that may blow away in the breeze. Then, while I lay on my side, avoiding any undue pressure to my bandaged wings, I found I could not help but hook an arm over my mate's soft body, pulling her closer into me.

Polly finally let out a gorgeous little giggle when my leg had slung over hers.

"You're like the world's biggest spider monkey," she had whispered into the night. "With the world's heaviest legs, oh my God!" She had started touching my outer thigh, then. I had been unable to repress my purr. "What are you, like 98% muscle?" Her touches to my leg had grown into slow strokes and her voice became gentle. "Aloryk?"

I had answered her with a caress of my thumb over her shoulder, and a hum for good measure.

"Thank you for rescuing me and… and, just thank you ." Her voice had sounded small in the dark of the night, but I knew her words were sincere. She need not thank me, though. I would have rescued her in a thousand dreams, no matter the consequences.

I had held her for the remainder of the night, pleased beyond measure when she sleepily turned into me, her little human nose and forehead pressed into my chest. I could not pry the story she had told out of my head, though. With Trixikka, it is often the case that a Protector will be permitted to sire a son, and once his seed is accepted by a female inside the Temple, he need do no more for that youngling. Truly, it is the Caregivers that get to celebrate on days where a son is given to the tribe, for it is them that raise us. From what I gather, human fathers are expected to behave differently. Their offspring are not just an honor to your memory, or a daughter band to wear on your tail. Polly's father was someone she had loved, and he had turned his back on her.

For what seemed like the whole night, I had thought of my Polly and her heart. How the male who had sired her had considered her so easily disposable for a new tribe.

Unthinkable.

Not my Polly.

She will never feel such a betrayal again.

This is my vow to Tribe, Temple, and most importantly, my mate .

When the twin suns finally do rise, I have not had a restful night in my nest. I am not used to sharing it, and it was hard to keep the level of excitement down to have my Polly so near and not tucked away in the lands of dreams and slumber. Every time she would make the smallest of movements, my chest would rumble into a purr and I felt the need to hold her tighter.

I do not complain, though. How could I?

I, Protector Aloryk, had spent the whole of this last night with my female in my arms and my face buried in her mishi-colored hair. It was the second-best night of my entire existence, and I hope all my nights to come are exactly this way.

I know my mate is waking when her breaths are not so deep, when I feel the flutter of her eyelashes against the skin of my chest. There is a momentary tensing of her body, as she realizes she is pressed up to me in our nest. I am happy to learn that the tensing does not last long, and seems to melt away with the huff of a breath Polly sends skittering down my stomach, making the muscles there jump at the sensation.

Peering up at me, Polly's amber brown eyes blink from amidst a nest of her own violet-colored hair. She is adorable, and I cannot help the wide grin I greet her with this day. "Good morning, my mate," I tell her, my tail giving her leg a little squeeze. "Did you sleep well?"

I watch with fascination as she rolls away from me and stretches that gloriously curvy body of hers as she welcomes this day with a yawn. "Please tell me you're not a morning person," she mumbles, scrubbing at her eyes with balled up fists.

"I am a person at all times of day and night."

She chuckles at this, and stands from the nest with yet more stretching, her arms reaching up to reveal a slither of bare skin on her lower back, gifting me with a glimpse of those two little dimples that flank the base of her spine. My mouth waters, and not for breaking my fast.

I sit up and glance down at my chest, trying not to feel crestfallen that my heart-stars still remain elusive. I had thought perhaps a whole night of my mate in my arms, her sleepy little breaths painting my chest with reactive skin-stars with every puff might have coaxed them out of hiding.

"Let me fetch you what you need," I say, getting to my feet with a stifled groan. "Food, water for washing-"

"Aloryk," she says, putting a hand to my chest, halting me. "You're injured. I'll just-"

" I can care for my mate ." The words come out perhaps more harshly than I'd intended and cause Polly to start pulling away her hand - her hand that I catch, and press back into the skin of my chest, right over where my heart-stars will appear. "Let me, please, Polly. I want to prove to you that I can care for my mate," I say, ending on a soft smile.

Polly glances down at where I press her palm to my heated skin and then back up again. "Yes, ok. But let me look after you, too. Take me with you when you return to the Healer guy today."

I… almost decline her request. Instead, opting to give a swift nod and murmurings of ‘later' before heading out to gather all that my mate will need to start her day - a task that proves more complicated than I had first thought. The food stores are plentiful this day, but with all the choice, I am cursing that I do not yet know my Polly well enough to be able to pick her preferences.

No matter - I am a swift learner. After all, it did not take long for me to learn that she very much likes a gentle sucking motion on on that little pink bud between-

" Fuck !" I hiss, the large tyk-tyk fruit that I'd dropped on my foot rolling away, it's juice-filled inside sloshing as it goes.

Thinking of my mate's cunt is far too distracting. How do mated males get anything done without looking a fool when they know what is awaiting them in their nests? Quickly, I gather many food options for my Polly and return to our hut, my arms laden with fruits, waterskins and cured meats.

When I enter the hut to find my Polly is gone, fear lodges between my ribs like a spearpoint. The food gets dumped and I curse myself for not telling her to stay put. Logically, I know she will not come to harm now that we are with my tribe, but logic seems to have no place when it comes to my feelings about my mate.

It is when I am almost at the center of the village that I hear it; my mate's laughter. She sounds a little nervous. She also sounds like she's surrounded by my brothers if the low collective murmurings of male voices is anything to go by.

I move on the swiftest of feet, following that sound only to find a large gathering of males near the now dead fires from last night's welcome feast. They crowd around something like mountain hounds on a frizikki, and despite the protest of pain in my wings, I forge ahead, shoving my way to the center of their attention.

" Aloryk ," my Polly says on a relieved sounding exhale as her eyes meet with mine. "Your friends were just-"

I take one look at her arms - arms now laden with gifts. One of my brothers even has the gall to offer a filled seed pot .

A possessive rage consumes me as I stalk forward, prying the offending seed pot from her arms with one hand, the other unsheathing the dagger at my thigh as I turn to address my so-called-brothers. "Who did this?" I snarl.

"Whoa, Aloryk," Polly says, moving forward and attempting to placate me with a hand to my arm. She cannot complete the gesture, however, due to all the trinkets, feathers, and food she has been gifted this day by these traitorous males. "It's just a cute vase, it was a welcome gift-"

"Who?!" I demand. "Who gave this to you? I will cut the male's cock from his body."

" Hey now ," a female voice pierces the tense silence as I hear her moving through the crowd of males surrounding us. The human females are so small, I do not realize it is Chaz-Titi that is the owner of the voice until she comes into view. "What's all this about? Who's cutting cocks?"

I watch as her keen eyes scan Polly and I, one brow rising as if she were a High Spear demanding an explanation without delay. My jaw tightens before I grit out, "some male has given my female a seed offering."

Chaz-Titi lets loose a long, slow breath past her lips. "Oh, no wonder you've got your loincloth in a bunch."

Polly shakes her head. "I don't get it?"

"Honey," Chaz-Titi starts, moving over to my mate. "These guys just love to give the weirdest darn gifts you ever did see-" she says, as she peels the offerings one-by-one from my female's arms and shoves them into the chests of the nearest bystanders. "And that there seed pot is one of the weirdest."

"Seed pot?" Polly asks, looking from Chaz-Titi to me and then back again. "You mean, a pot of… seeds to grow flowers and stuff, right?" When no one answers her, my Polly's eyes widen and she takes a step toward Chaz-Titi. " Right ?!" Chaz-Titi makes a face and gives the smallest of headshakes. "Oh, my God! Ew !"

"On the plus side, their stuff has more glitter than a drag act's dressing room, but yeah-" Chaz-Titi comes over to me now, prizing the seed-pot from my grip and forcing my dagger hand to lower "-we're trying to introduce them to the concept of chocolates and flowers, but obviously old habits die hard."

I peer down at my human friend with flame-colored hair. "They are trying to steal my mate," I grunt at her, still not soothed at all by this whole situation. Because I do not have my heart-stars, they think she is not mine. They think they are more worthy of her matehood. They are not broken males, and think they can care for her better than I.

"I know, Ricky. I know," Chaz-Titi says, patting my arm. "But let's not castrate anyone today, okay? Not before breakfast, anyway."

She grins up at me before hooking her arm through mine and then Polly's to steer us away from these traitorous males. I cannot return the smile, instead, I elect to glare every Trixikka in the eye as we pass, deciding how best to dispose of each of them.

* * *

"I will talk to them. They meant no harm and were just excited about the new female," my High Spear says as he offers his Zahreenah a bite of cured meat.

" The new female is my mate ," I remind him, barely concealing my growl. It would not do to growl at a High Spear, but this is maddening. My tail wraps around my Polly where she is seated next to me, the tufted tip reaching right around her middle.

Maybe we should have stayed out there in the jungle.

It is a ridiculous thought, and I shove it away as soon as it appears. But still, the whole display of my brothers this day has had my feathers bristling - bound wings or not.

"Er, hello ?" Polly says, raising her hand. " The new female has a name. And she was not warned about possible gifts of… that nature ."

All the females stifle some laughter - well, all except the meekest of them, Bea. She only grimaces and hides behind her curtain of dull-colored hair.

"Sorry, girl," Ah-Lanah offers as she rocks little Nova in her arms. "They'll all back off when Aloryk's chest has its ‘Grand Lights Switch On', I'm sure. Some of these guys could barely look me in the eye when Mav's heart-stars came in. Speaking of Mavyx-" she starts, pausing to shush the tiny youngling who begins to fuss. "-when do you expect him and the rest of them to return, Rynn? I'm anxious to have my man back."

My High Spear starts to answer, but I am not truly listening. All I see is the way my Polly glances down at my star-less chest, and I want to scoop her up and tell her that if I could will them into existence, I would. Instead, I shove a large piece of tyk-tyk fruit flesh into my mouth and chew, hoping the sweetness will wash away my sour mood.

After breaking our fast with the females, High Spear Rynn makes me promise not to dismember any of my brothers. In return, he will remind the males that a female's choice is of the highest importance.

And Polly chose me.

The High Spear also requested that I attend a meeting with him this night regarding the other rescue party and the caves they have journeyed to. The gathering itself will take place up in the Mother Caves and I do not relish the thought of having to be flown by other males up there to reach it.

It is while I walk my Polly back to our hut that I am lost in thoughts of damning my own broken wings that my female surprises me by taking my hand.

"Hey, are you ok?" she asks, her voice soft and her brow laced with concern.

I glance down at our conjoined hands just as she shifts the position, threading her fingers between mine. Her hand is so tiny and vulnerable. It makes my palms look monstrously large. Yet she gives her hand to me freely anyway. She trusts me to keep her safe.

I give a small, probably unconvincing smile in answer to her question and continue walking. What is ‘ok' anyway? The other females have told me it is a general feeling of content, and I do not feel that.

I am beyond joyous that I have my female now, but cannot shake the feeling that a better male will come along and take her from me. What if she was meant to be mine before, but now I am broken, the Goddesses have someone else in mind for my Polly? Maybe that is why my heart-stars are not shining for all to see?

As if reading my mind, Polly squeezes my hand with her tiny one, tugging lightly to make me halt my steps. "Aloryk?" she asks, peering up at me before dropping her gaze to my bare chest. "Do you… do you maybe think there's things we could try doing to make your heart-stars appear?"

My little female sinks her teeth into her bottom lip as she blinks up at me, her gorgeously curved hips twisting in a fidgety sort of motion. She is looking at me as if I should know what she is talking about, but I do not.

Unexplainably, my cock begins to swell.