Chapter 8

CHAPTER EIGHT

His chest heaves as I step toward him, the blade still raised at some unknown foe.

"Drohako, it's okay, I'm still here," I whisper, trying to diffuse this situation.

When the alien barbarian tilts his massive jaw down, his eyes are black with fury.

"I'll go, just for now. I will convince them to let me come back to you." I try to comfort the alien, who refuses to feel anything other than rage.

"They will not let you come back to me," he says through gritted teeth.

"Drohako, they will— they must ." Grabbing his hand, I press it to my lips, kissing his scarred knuckles. I'm taken aback when he rips his hand from my grip, grunting with disgust.

"Just listen," I beg him, tugging his palm back. "Listen to your mate. "

He looks at me with a wary expression, as if the word "mate" breaks him. His defensives seem to fall, and Drohako collapses to his knees. It's as if his body cannot bear its weight. The thought of losing me physically crushes him. His face is no longer taut with anger, but his fists are still balled at his sides.

I take a deep breath, ready to talk some sense into him.

"It will be okay, I will go?—"

"Udders," he says, cutting me off.

I jolt, surprised at his response.

"Udders? What does our safe word have to do with this?" I ask, thinking he must be confused.

"If anything becomes too intense...or too painful, we use our safe word," he whispers.

Oh.

A fat tear slides over his purple cheek, a shocking burst of emotion for the barbarian. He seems just as uncomfortable at the display as he swipes away the wetness and quickly steels his expression.

Oh no.

"Drohako, I will convince them we belong together, but to do that, I need to go." I say the words, even though it's not what I want to do. The image of the lone tear on his cheek will be permanently burned into my memory.

"We promised this to each other...you say udders and I stop. Now when I finally use this word, you choose to betray me like this?" He stares into my soul, knowing that he's right. "I don't want a stranger to raise our child, not when you're my true mate. Don't leave me." He pauses, placing a hand on the small of my belly. "Don't leave us. "

His plea hangs in the air, and my heart thumps in my chest.

"I want to stay," I whisper, knowing it's the truth. "I want to stay here with you."

Drohako's body relaxes as he lets out a sigh of relief.

"But how would we even do that? They're tracking me, aren't they?" I run a finger over the still blinking ear cuff .

"Do you trust me?" he asks, his eyes shining with a calculating glint.

I almost laugh with absurdness of the question. How could the answer be anything but yes? Do I trust the alien in front of me that holds my face in his huge hands?

"With my life," I tell him.

He reaches behind him, grabbing a scrap of leather. Holding it to my lips, he orders me, "Open your mouth and bite down on this."

I do it, and flinch only slightly as he brings the sharp steel tip of the blade to the shell of my ear.

"I will cut only what I have to," he says matter-of-factly. "Then we set out to the wilderness. My hunting partner, Rahldro, will help us. We have a hunting ground with supplies to hold us over until we can establish a new homecave."

I spit out the leather, anxiety suddenly welling in my stomach.

"Your hunting partner? Is he trustworthy?" It seems from my limited view of the fighting in the spawning pits that survival of the fittest is no joke.

"He is…" Drohako's face twists, as if he's searching for the right words to say. "We have no choice."

"Comforting," I say uneasily.

"It is the reality of things."

"Do you think I'm cut out to be a space pioneer?" I ask, scared of what this new life he has planned might be like.

"We're made to be together, mate. "

The last word hangs in the air. It feels so different from when he says "human."

I nod, trusting him, letting my chest burn with fondness for him—my mate. He hands me back the piece of leather, and I place it obediently back in my mouth.

All those sparkly warm feelings are cut incredibly short as the tip of his knife curves under the ear cuff. He angles it into my skin and starts prying the connection points out.

Even though I bite down on the strap, I can't stop my hand from shooting up reflexively. Drohako quickly pins it against my body.

"Be still. It's almost free." His purple tongue darts out from his lips in a show of concentration.

"Ugh, fuck, Drohako," I yelp, spitting out the strap again. I feel the last bit of resistance give way and the cuff clinks dully against the floor.

He nearly knocks me over when he starts to stomp the shit out of the tracking device.

I stare in awe as he keeps slamming his foot into the device, tiny metal shards flying free as he works. The orange light flashes again once before it's smashed from existence. He keeps going until I'm not even sure there are pieces of the cuff left.

"Drohako," I say to his unhearing ears, before yelling even louder. "Drohako!"

Finally, I grab his biceps, and he turns. The vein in his forehead throbs, and he tries to catch his breath.

"Let's go," I command, "tell me what you need me to do."

He needs me to focus him, to funnel his rage about the situation into action.

I need to ground my mate.

He takes a deep breath, and his whole demeanor changes as he becomes an alien of action. He tosses me a bag.

"Fill this with as much dried meat as it'll hold. I'll ready Grasyi."