5. Sten

Chapter 5

Sten

I pace in front of the fireplace in my bedroom, holding my tablet in my hand, irritated that my family is trying to interfere with my life, once again. I’m stuck on a group vid face chat with my parents and my two brothers for far too long. “I don’t want any of you to come over. I need time alone.”

“I want to meet your fiancé,” my mother retorts through the screen. “We all want to meet her.”

I’ve been telling so many lies lately I can’t keep them straight. I reach up and rub my left horn and tell yet another lie. “She’s not my fiancée, she’s a human here for a job as a local Librarian.”

“Since when do we need a Librarian? There isn’t a library branch in Fire Creek, only the school library, and there’s a Librarian already working that job. And, if we did, why would we hire a human from so far away? None of this makes sense.”

I don’t want to explain to my mother, or anyone in my family, how I promised Hugsen Blackstone—the son of my mother’s best friend—a cushy, well-paid job that now isn’t going to happen. How he already put a down payment on a new domicile to house him and his pregnant bound, with the expectation of this job paying off that house.

None of my family know of the cave I recently found. I didn’t want to burden anyone else with this information that they had to keep secret. I’ve made sure to basically tell no one. Also, if they knew the entire extended family, including distant cousins, would descend on me and all move in for the next month. Sandstones love a good treasure mystery. And somewhere along the way I’m certain word would get out and I’d be dealing with criminals trying to steal into the cave looking for “treasure.”

“It doesn’t need to make sense,” I growl with a puff of black smoke. “For once in your lives, leave me alone.”

I must have shocked them with this response, because I hear a gasp of surprise and they don’t immediately respond. Everyone goes quiet. They must be sending each other messages, talking about me.

Finally, my father makes a final declaration. “We will wait until you let us know you are ready.”

“Thank you.”

The session ends and I toss down the tablet and glance at the wall clock. I am indeed hungry and dinner sounds good but I do not want to see Taylor right now.

I shake my head. The Librarian is so close. Her bedroom is directly next to mine. We share a wall. I had to get away from her before I did something stupid, like invite her into my own bedroom for the night.

Why am I doing this? I should’ve put the irritating yet sexy human, Taylor Dumas, on the far wing. Or even in one of the cabins outside. Instead, I have her in the adjoining suite.

When I stood close to her, after we parked at the front porch, I could scent her arousal towards me.

The worst part is that my body lights up for her too, which only makes me angrier.

I refuse to pleasure mate with her.

I pick up my tablet again and message Roda to tell Taylor that we are each eating alone this evening. Because I can’t see her again. My cock thickens in her presence, which is ridiculous. I’m not taking the Librarian as a pleasure mate. She is everything I do not like about off worlders.

Images of her screaming and falling in the transporter room flash through my mind. Part of me is proud of the fact that my species is so ferocious that we frighten others, but this is also tiring. I’ve seen this fright syndrome so many times now, I find I have little patience, especially seeing it from someone who is supposed to be a professional and supposedly used to dealing with a variety of species in the four sectors.

I admit, it causes me to mistrust this female.

And yet my body still heats up for her whenever she is close. Part me is proud of the fact that she also finds me attractive, despite her initial fear. Her scent enters my lungs and I want her in my arms.

It is an irritating conundrum.

The suns have set behind the mountains. I stand and stare out the dark window at the lights of the back garden.

This room used to be my parents’ bedroom. I was born and raised in this large ranch house, as were many of my ancestors. My brothers and I each had our own room on this wing, and then my parents had this room. I inherited this main ranch and nowadays this room is mine and my office is downstairs.

I glance over at the only wall that separates me from the unmated, beautiful human next door.

That room used to be my mother's dressing room and office, but I have since turned it into a guest room. All the other rooms are now guest rooms. I had originally meant to put the team that arrived from Gravian in the cabins nearest the shed where their supplies are stored.

But after Taylor finished at the med lab, I put her luggage in the back of the vehicle and messaged Roda and told her to ready the room next to mine for our guest. I don't even quite understand why I did that. I thought I was going to rid myself of her, or that I needed to distance myself from her.

I pace in the room, my tail flicking behind me.

Isn't she my enemy? Don't I need to protect my ancestry from her?

I am a Sandstone, the latest Sandstone in a long line of Sandstones who are caretakers of this land. My oldest brother, Rake, who should technically have inherited, didn't want it because being a host didn't match his personality, he said. And then my middle brother, Thorn, didn't mind passing this role onto me, leaving him the ability to start a new ranch.

It is true that I must be more like my mother than the others are. My two brothers excel at the actual running of the ranch. My strengths lie in other parts of our business, which are also very important. Someone must be the face of our brand, be that Hyrrokin who goes out and schmoozes with politicians and other business leaders, who talks to the media, who doles out philanthropy. The Hyrrokin who lets beings come and stay here and holds events. It's a big job. An important job.

I found our ancestry in a cave and now I must attend to that too. There are so many things that aren't the actual ranching that have to be done that are equally as important as the actual ranching.

My ranch manager is Tilden. Tilden Cornerstone is also extremely quiet and wants only to do his job, which I respect. He's done an amazing job with this portion of the ranch. He's new. Our previous ranch manager retired, and I really do enjoy working with him and make sure I pay him well so I can be assured of retaining his employ. After a long search, he was found, and this takes a lot off my shoulders, knowing that everything is cared for here.

Rake and Thorn, my two brothers, have their portions of land, and they are doing very well, tending huge swaths of our extended Sandstone ranch. Meanwhile, I have an excellent ranch manager, which leaves me free to do the other things that I have to do. It wasn’t until this generation that we added more land and divided it, expanded even further, enough for my brothers to have their own ranches adjoining mine.

My two brothers built brand new homes. My own home, the main Sandstone ranch house, is historic and several hundred years old. But right now, this home feels empty. I often have Hyrrokin coming and staying and there's lots of company. But if they're staying overnight, I do tend to put them in the cabins outside, which they don't seem to mind because they are nice, and they can make their way back inside for meals via lighted pathways.

It’s rare that I place visiting Hyrrokin in the main house and never do I place anyone besides my own parents in the room next door.

Roda lives in staff quarters behind the kitchen. My parents never liked having a big staff, and I find I don't either. The cleaning bots seem to be able to care for the house itself. Maybe I should hire more employees to run this house, but right now, I like having extra staff only come in as needed, for events.

But this house was always full of family, and now, between visits from company, it feels strange living here mainly alone. At first, after my parents and brothers moved out, I was delighted to have the run of the ranch house myself. I remodeled as I saw necessary. But this feeling has changed. I often wish I could find a mate as my brothers have done and start my own family. I am ready for this change in my life. But I haven't found anyone right for me. No one was impressed at university that I was the heir to the Sandstone ranch. They considered it uncivilized and much too wild, too remote. None of my friends wanted to come back with me during breaks, even just to visit.

Roda, who has known me her whole life and feels more like an aunt than an employee, knocks on the door to deliver a tray of food for dinner. She frowns because she doesn’t like that I’ve left our guest on her own instead of using the formal dining room.

I don’t bother to answer and just begin eating my meal, which is excellent as always.

I’m alone again, gazing at the fire in the fireplace. Then I look over at the enormous bed, where I have not once entertained even a pleasure mate.

When I moved in here, I was able to remodel this main room, so it's decorated differently than when my parents lived here. At the same time, I remodeled the room next door.

What would my mother think of the fact that I placed this female next door?

I finish eating the last of my food and chug back my fire ale. I’m about to leave the dishes in the hallway for the bots to retrieve, but then decide to take the tray downstairs myself, because I feel restless.

The quiet hallway is lit softly with the light of wall scones that flicker like real flames. I glance at her closed door. What is she doing? Is Taylor asleep, or is she reading? She is, after all, a Librarian, even though it sounds like she doesn't have an actual library of books to tend to as a regular librarian.

She left her tray of food in front of her door, and the cleaning bot hasn't arrived to pick it up. So I pick up her food tray and carry it along with mine. Might as well. Now I've got two trays in my hands, and I keep going downstairs and make my way into the kitchens and drop them off. The cleaning bot arrives and greets me with a beep and begins work on the dishes I've brought.

“You're welcome,” I tell him.

He beeps in response.

I stride away, glancing with pride at the newly remodeled, modern kitchen. That was also another big project, because getting anything fixed when you live so remotely is an enormous undertaking. The crew came in via ferry or hovercraft, as did the materials and appliances. Everything cost twice as much, but it was worth the effort. I also remodeled every bathroom in the ranch house, again making sure we had all the modern conveniences.

I haven't bothered to change much in the way of the decor downstairs because this area holds many public rooms for guests and everything was originally created by Hyrrokin masters. I only change something worn out or broken. A couch will need to be re-covered, a banister repaired, or a tapestry restored.

And then I decide to pause and get some work done in my office. I open the door and glance at the wall clock. If I start now, there will be so many messages to answer I'll never get any sleep and I've got a big day tomorrow. I must show that cave to the Librarian. At the very least, I'll have to show her the shed so she can see her equipment.

I still have my doubts that this small, delicate female can make it all the way out to the cave. I don't think she understands what she's taking on. She sounds like someone who normally works in a lab, in libraries and inside buildings. I assume she lives in vast cities. This isn't someone who could settle down out here. She’d never choose to live on the Sandstone ranch.

Why would it matter if she would or wouldn’t choose to live here?

A growl rumbles in my chest. On my way out of the office, I pass by the library and decide to go in for a nightcap. I take a few steps inside and distend my jaw to send a blast of fire into the fireplace.

I hear a squeak of surprise and turn and to see the human Librarian standing nearby.

“Taylor,” I growl.

“Sten,” she answers.

I glance up and down at her dangerous curves. Taylor Dumas is dressed differently than before. She looks ready to go out for the evening and is now wearing traditional female Hyrrokin clothing. Her curves are on display and so are her thick arms and her perfect shoulders.

She is stunning.

I clench my jaw and will my body to stand down. “Why are you dressed like that? Why aren't you in pajamas?”

She takes one step closer. “I thought we were going to have dinner downstairs in that formal dining room, and I thought this is how I was supposed to dress for a fancy dinner and then I found out too late that dinner was canceled.”

The scent of her arousal hits me hard. This would all be so much easier if this human had no interest in me. I would be able to ignore my inappropriate urges for pleasure mating and move on with the two of us being business associates. But instead, this female is highly aroused in my presence, which causes my own sexual urges to multiply.

I let out of snort of white smoke and stomp over to the liquor cabinet. “Do you want a drink?” I question.

“No…” she grumbles. “Oh hells, yes, yes, I do.” The female waves a delicate hand toward the rows of bookcases. “I’m here because I really, really like your library.”

I glance around at the two-story-high, shining black bookcases, filled with ancient print books and then back down at the glasses I’ve chosen. “It's a very old collection.”

“I'd like to be able to…” She stops. “I'm sorry. This is a private library. I came down because remember, I asked if you could show this to me, but then you canceled tonight. I couldn't wait. I finished dinner in my room, and then all I could think about was that you had told me there was a private library in this house. I couldn't rest until I'd seen it with my own eyes. I have a new black market original planet romance book that I can read tonight on my tablet, but the idea of this private library kept speaking to me.”

I pour a drink, ignite the top and hand it to her.

“What is this?” she questions, mesmerized by the flame flickering on top.

I blow out her flame, surprised at how natural that felt, being the male who blew out her flame. I’ve never blown out a female’s flame before. Unmated Hyrrokin and even pleasure mated females always insist on putting out their own flames, it’s a matter of pride. Only a bound or a parent puts out another’s flame. “It's an amber fire spirit,” I explain, “There's an area in the wildlands famous for their spirits, and they grow this and have a brewery there.”

Taylor lifts the glass, ready to give a delicate sip.

I laugh. “That's not how you drink it.”

She looks up wide eyed. “What am I supposed to do?”

“Watch.” I lift my own glass and toss the contents, along with the flame, back in one gulp, and then slam it down on the counter and give her a challenging look.

She nods, smiles and takes a deep breath. Then she leans back, drinks all of hers, coughs and coughs some more. I pat her back, and then she leans over and with surprising strength, slams her glass down almost as hard as I did, and then uses the back of her hand to wipe the remaining moisture off her mouth. “That was good,” she gasps.

A grin spreads across my face. This female is tougher than I first assumed.

She looks at me as if she understands what I'm thinking. “I keep remembering what happened when I first arrived.” She sighs. “I’m so embarrassed how I screamed when I first saw the staff at the transporter station and then fainted with fear when I saw you too. I’ve already apologized, but I want to apologize again. I've never behaved that way on a mission. I think I'd gotten cocky; I had been on so many missions and met so many different species that I thought I was good at this, and I could deal with anything and was quick on my feet. I didn't do any research on your species before I arrived and I should have. It turned out I have this latent, primitive fear inside of me.” She taps on her chest, “that is afraid of your… I'm so sorry but I was afraid of your specific features. I know, I know.”

She throws a hand up in the air and takes a step back, starts pacing back and forth in front of the fireplace while looking amazingly beautiful, so animated.

“I’m really annoyed, too, that I wasn’t prewarned. I’ve heard Hyrrokin here on Tarvos refer to how I reacted as something you call Hyrrokin-fright syndrome. It happens often enough to have a name, therefore there should’ve been a red flag about that on the information packet I was given before I left. I’m going to make sure this is changed so we don’t act foolish in the future when new staff arrives on Tarvos.”

She stops to meet my gaze. “I have to write this up and tell my boss, the Head Librarian, exactly what happened when I arrived. There will be repercussions for how I behaved here. I'll be demoted, and this probably is going to be the last lead position I get for a very long time, if ever, because that's unacceptable for a Librarian to behave that way. First contact with a variety of species is what you’re supposed to be good at when you're in this exact line of work. Obviously, I'm not as good as I thought. So again, I apologize.” Taylor pauses and bites at her luscious lower lip, waiting for my response.

“How about we each take another shot of fire alcohol?” I question.

A smile widens across her perfect features. “Sure, one more,” she agrees.

We each throw back two more shots. Then I take this human on a lengthy tour through my family’s ancient private library, explaining everything we see with an excruciating amount of detail that would bore anyone else.

“I have wanted to do this type of tour before, and no one would listen to me,” I admit. “I’ve always had an interest in ancient history, art and texts that no one else around me understood. I majored in business at university but minored in ancient art, not telling anyone because it was just for me.”

“Oh,” Taylor giggles, pushing her glasses higher on her adorable nose, “you could give me this exact same tour again tomorrow, repeat everything you said the first time, and I would be thrilled, happy to hear it all again.”

I laugh. “Beings get bored. Their eyes glaze over.”

She leans in, pressing her full chest against my red forearm. “They think it’s nothing but boring print books, but these are amazing doorways into the past.”

My barbed tail wraps around her hips. “No one understands. And I feel no one will ever understand the importance of that cave of tablets I found either.”

“ I understand , because I’m a Librarian and I love books, both new and old.”

I look down and meet her molten blue gaze, and for the first time since we met, it hits me hard that this sexy female is the only being who really does understand me.

And then she wobbles on her feet, and this is when I finally realize I gave her too much alcohol. For any Hyrrokin, three shots is enough to only feel loose and warm. But for my small human, it was over her limit. I’ll remember this error in the future and make sure to only give her one shot, or even half of one.

She giggles again and her eyes look a little droopy.

“You need to go to bed,” I tell her.

“Oh, no, no,” she hiccups. “I'm okay, yeah, I guess I should. What time is it? We've got a big day tomorrow.”

“Yes, we do,” I tell her. Then I scoop her up in my arms.

“No, I can…I can walk. Remember you took me to the med lab. I am all fixed up.”

This is when I realize how good she smells.

“What are you doing?”

I take my nose out of her hair. “Nothing, nothing.”

I lift her in my arms and then blow out a large draft of wind to bank the fire.

She cries out, “Oh, my gods, I cannot believe how you can do that. I am staying with satanic-looking creatures who can breathe fire and have barbed tails. And you know what?” She lifts her arms and wraps them around my neck as I exit the library. “I think I’ve already learned that you might look terrifying, but inside you're really nice.”

“We are,” I tell her. “We are.”

“What about me?” she questions as I stride up the stairs. “Do you think I look terrifying?”

“No,” I tell her, under my breath. “You're adorable.”

“What did you say?”

Before I can answer, I hear a little sound and notice that she's snoring against my chest.

I laugh and walk in silence down the hallway. A bot greets me and opens the door to her room for me, and I walk her inside. The bot pulls back the covers and I lay her down on her bed. I pause to take off her odd human foot coverings and place them on the floor nearby, of course noticing the softness of her delicate skin and the odd beauty of her human feet. Then I put the covers over her and blast a flame into her fireplace, so she'll have a cheery fire to keep her warm as she sleeps.

Then I stare at her for far too long, because her features as she sleeps are amazingly beautiful.

Finally, I quietly step out of the room and close the door behind me.