11. Beren

Nia has made it clear that she has no idea that I want her in the way mates do. How she could possibly think that I would mate her and want nothing to do with her in that way is beyond me. I almost did not believe Erkoz when he first told Lyath and me that she was asking other brothers to bed her.

Now? Now, I realize that she has no idea that I think she is one of the most beautiful creatures I have ever laid my eyes on. She does not know that I lie awake wanting her body pressed against mine just as Lyath’s is. She thinks I do not see how caring, fearless, and creative she is. I am just waiting for her to ask so I can admire her in all of her beauty as mine.

“I might kill him.” I can feel the anger bubbling under my scales when Nia continues to talk to Kal.

She finished her food long ago, yet she still sits there and speaks with him. He has not once looked at her or made to move closer to her. I cannot think rationally when I know one of my mates is soliciting another for things they should only ever solicit from me. It makes me not care about how Kal is doing everything right because I still want to rip him apart.

“You will not,” Lyath says lazily as he leans his head against my shoulder. I wrap my arm around him and let him settle against me. We had plans of seeding the land today, but now that Nia has made it her goal to find a male she wishes to be inside of her, our plans have changed. “He has done everything you have asked of him.”

“He is still entertaining her,” I snap.

“He has said maybe three words the entire time.”

“Three words too many,” I grumble, my hand fists and flexes on the table.

My eyes have been red since Nia said Lyath’s name because I am a male who struggles to control his emotions when they are heightened. It is not that I mind her saying Lyath’s name. I will enjoy it very much once she is mine in all ways. It is the fact that she has only said my name in nonmatelike ways and I want her very much to say it like she said Lyath’s when she was talking about teasing him as I do.

I’m about to grumble more about how little I am enjoying watching one of my mates try to woo a male who is not me when Nia gets upset at the lack of attention Kal is giving her.

“Is it me?” She asks more to herself than to Kal.

He does not catch how her shoulders slump when she asks because he is purposefully not looking at her. I see it, and it causes a flare of panic to roar to life underneath my scales.

She turns her eyes to Kal, narrowing them in what looks to be anger, before asking him directly. “Do you think I’m ugly, or is it because I probably can’t have kids that you won’t sleep with me?”

Kal cannot stop himself from looking down at Nia now. In fact, many of the brothers have heard her since she has grown loud with her words. Her sadness from her first question morphs into a kind of outrage that I might find amusing if she was not upset because my brothers are unwilling to bed her.

Kal opens his mouth to speak with her, but then his eyes look toward me. His expression is worried, confused, and a little scared. It does not help that I have pushed away from the table and am stalking toward where they are sitting.

“It is not that you are not beautiful,” Kal stumbles over his words as I near them. All eyes are on us now, and all conversations are silenced since this is the most entertaining thing happening in the tribe. Kal keeps talking, probably against his better judgment since he knows I am not eager to have another male speaking to my mate about her beauty. “I would be honored to share your bed, obviously. Many of us would be honored.”

“Then what’s the issue?” Nia asks. She glares at me when I stand on the opposite side of the table from where she sits next to Kal. She gives me a brief once-over with anger in her eyes before settling her gaze back on Kal, who is looking very much at me and not letting his eyes stray at all. “If you’d be honored, then why am I still not getting laid?”

“Getting laid?” I hear one of my brothers ask somewhere at another table.

“Lovemaking, my Ralleth.” Olivia’s voice is too loud, much like Ralleth’s, but I can hear the laugh in her voice as she watches all of this. Or maybe she is laughing at her male, not knowing what it means. It is for the best that she explained loudly, though. Human females have so many different ways of saying lovemaking, and we only know a few.

“You are not getting laid,” I stress the words as I sit myself in an empty chair. My hard gaze is focused on Nia even though she refuses to look at me. She refuses to give me the satisfaction of taking her attention away from a male she is pursuing. “Because you have yet to ask the right male.”

The room is silent as they all watch our conflict play out. Kal is trying very obviously not to look at Nia, and I can tell he wants to be away from the two of us. I have no intentions of doing anything to him since it is clear to me and everyone else that he was not trying to seduce my mate. In fact, he may have protected everyone else from her attempts at wooing by sitting and listening to her all morning. He should be considered a hero to the others since he is the only one who was ever in danger of upsetting me.

Nia’s jaw ticks back and forth before she finally whips her head to face me. Her tight curls bob around her face. Then, with a frustrated sigh, she pushes it all back. “What do you even mean?”

“Exactly what I said.” I shrug and lean back in my chair.

Lyath is sitting where I left him at the other table, and I only spare him a quick look to make sure he understands things are fine and I will not be starting a fight in the dining hall. He beams at me with a bright smile before returning his gaze to Nia. He is as excited for her to know the truth as I am because she might finally be with us in all the ways we wish.

“And who is the right male?” Nia throws her hands up in exasperation, and it is then that I notice the tears pricking her lower lashes and the slight quiver in her voice.

Oh, no, this is not how this was supposed to happen. She is a strong, stubborn female. I do not want her to break because none of my brothers have offered to bed her.

“Because no one will even pay me any attention, and I’m mated to someone who doesn’t want me. So who is the right male, Beren?” Her voice rises as she asks her question, and I can see her struggling to keep the tears at bay.

I lean forward, placing my elbows on the table. “Why do you assume I do not want you? I have mated you have I not?”

“You mated me so I wouldn’t be forced back to Earth,” Nia wipes at her face, keeping a stony expression even as we both know she is wiping away the evidence of her tears. “No one else wanted the broken female, right?”

“Broken?” I tilt my head to the side, trying to figure out what she could possibly mean by that.

I mean, obviously, she is not thinking clearly because she also thinks I only mated her so she would stay on our planet. I do not know why she suddenly thinks I am altruistic when I have made it abundantly clear I am greedy and possessive. Two traits that do not go well with a selfless male. It is the second part of her statement that hurts me the most, though. Why would she think she is broken when she most certainly has never seemed anything but whole to me?

“I might not be able to have young,” she says, her eyes narrowing on me like she thinks I am acting confused as a means to hurt her instead of genuinely not understanding her. “It’s why no one else wanted me, right?”

“I do not know why my brothers did not want you. I do not care why they did not want you because it only meant that I could have you. Why should I care if you can bear young or not? Lyath and I have known for years we were not meant to have young. You being my mate does not change that fact at all.”

“Wait,” Nia holds up her hand before rubbing her eyes with it like she is all of a sudden tired. I do not know how when it is still so early in the morning, but her nightmare last night did seem to be a terrible one. Maybe she struggled with sleep after we left her room. “So, wait, just—“ Nia looks back up at me, her tears gone and a new fight seeming to light in her eyes. It has a thrill running down my spine when I see it. Yes, this is the female I mated. “Why did you mate me?”

I cannot help the smile that tugs at my lips at my female finally starting to ask the correct questions. “I feel as though I have made it clear that I am a very selfish male. Selfish and greedy if I am being honest.” I lean across the table and snatch one of her hands in mine before she can pull it back to the safety of her side of the table. “I have wanted a female since I knew it might be possible. It is true I did not know what you looked like or who you were when I mated you, but the goddess would not have me mate someone I would not cherish and care for.”

Nia does not try to tug her hand away from me. She does not let her eyes leave mine. No she stays frozen for a moment with her mouth slightly agape as she takes in my words. I am sure there was a better way to say the things I have longed to say to her, but I am not a male used to saying sweet things. Sure, I say them to Lyath after I have been especially cruel to him, but he is the only one who hears my sweet words. Even then, he often makes fun of how unnatural they sound coming from me.

“You want me?” Nia finally asks.

“I do.”

“This whole time?”

“Of course, you are a beautiful female. Stubborn and mouthy as well, but you are also creative and kind and so brave for such a small female.” I hope my words convey that I want her. Yes, for her body because it is most pleasing to me, but also because I have grown fond of her and her companionship, even as just a roommate, as she has called us these past days. “How could I not want you?”

“Well, no one else wanted me either,” she pouts, as though it will make her feel less foolish for not knowing that I have wanted her since she joined our tribe. “How was I supposed to know that you, of all the aliens, wanted me when you’re perfectly happy with Lyath?”

I frown when she says his name, but I do not miss the sparkle in her eyes like she is trying to get me to react. Oh, she will be so wonderful to play with in the bedroom. She is feisty and playful, two things that will make it even more fun for me when I get her to submit.

She must see the lust in my eyes because she gives me a breathtaking smile that makes me ache for her.

Of course, this important moment in our relationship is happening in the dining hall, with so many brothers and their mates watching. It makes sense that at least one of them would try to ruin it, as they are always trying to be the most clever for the females.

“It is not true that none of the brothers wanted you,” Toron says as he adjusts his mate in his lap as though she will work as a shield against the deadly glare I shoot his way. He has been gone for many days out in the trees searching for his mate, so maybe he has forgotten just how protective I am over my mates. He will learn if he continues to poke at me. Although I am sure this is just retaliation for how Lyath made his mate cry.

“What do you mean?” Nia spins to face Toron, but I keep my grip firm on her hand.

She shoots me a warning glare, but it softens when she sees the desperation creeping into my features. I am so close to having her fully as my mate, and I will not risk losing her when we can be so happy together.

“What does he mean?” Her question is softer this time. Almost like she already knows that I may have been a cruel mate in how I handled her wanting to bed my brothers.

My mind races as I try to think of how to keep her from being too upset when I tell her the truth. Yes, I snuck into each of my brothers’ rooms the night I found out about her wanting a male for lovemaking and told them that if they even gave her a small glimmer of hope that they might be interested, I would seal them. Then, after I made it clear to them that they could show her no interest, I went to my mated brothers and made them promise to watch my mate and tell me if anyone showed her any interest. I also might have told them all to keep my requests to themselves.

Most of the mated brothers thought it was a fun game, and I am sure it still is to them. To my mate? I do not think she will look at it with such humor since this whole time she has been thinking it is because no one wants her that they have not been in her bed already.

My eyes move over to where Lyath is still sitting, entranced in my conversation with Nia. It is then that I realize I can offer her something that she most definitely wants. I do not know what she did with males on Earth, but when I saw her watching me tease Lyath, I saw the glimmer of pleasure in her eyes. She has the same need that I do, and maybe I can forgo making one of my mates submit so long as she is helping me with Lyath.

“You may not like my answer, but I am willing to give you something I think you will want very much.” I hope I have not given away too much by looking over at Lyath. I am curious to know how desperate he will become if it is not just my hands on his body.

Nia is a smart female, though, probably one of the smartest. That is why I am not surprised when she says. “You’re offering me your other mate, yeah?”

“Only if you agree to return to our home for the rest of the day.”

Nia stands from the table, her hand still wrapped in mine, as she shoots me a devilish smile. “What are you waiting for? I’ve wanted to get laid since I got here.” She turns to look over her shoulder. “Come on, Lyath.” She emphasizes his name, making me hiss in displeasure.

If I were not already letting her help me with him, I would be punishing her for being so bratty in how she behaves. I jump onto the table and take two steps before dropping down on the other side, right in front of Nia. Her eyes go wide as she stares up at me, and her pink tongue peeks out for a moment to lick at her lips.

I do not say anything else to her. Just wrap an arm over her shoulder and lead her out of the room. Lyath is right behind us, running to catch up once he gets over his surprise at the turn of events. When we’re outside, and he is next to me, I wrap my other arm over his shoulder and hold both my mates tight to me, finally knowing that they are both fully mine.