3. Beren

The dining hall has a very odd feel to it today. Yes, it is time for the next human female to come, which is always a happy time in our tribe. However, this happiness is dampened by one of the human females being taken by others and another on her way to the nearest tribe to talk with them about humans coming to our planet. All of it has us on edge.

Instead of enjoying the fact that a new female will be here at any moment, we are all awkwardly sitting around one another, barely speaking, unsure if we are allowed to find joy right now when so much has gone wrong recently.

Lyath does not seem to mind the awkward tension in the air. Why would he when he knows I will do everything in my power to make sure he is safe in all ways all of the time?

Maybe I should be annoyed that he is able to smile at me and eat like nothing is wrong, but instead, it makes me puff my chest in pride. My mate is so willing to stay relaxed when he is near me, so eager to find joy in all things because he is with me.

Yes, I am the luckiest of males, and yet I cannot shake the need for a female. Lyath, the wonderful mate that he is, accepts this part of me and accepts how I will be greedy and possessive. He does not shy away from it. No, he teases me relentlessly, and it only makes me even more sure that we are meant to have a female. I will do everything in my power to make sure Ralleth allows us the opportunity to woo one.

I scan the dining room, hoping the next female will appear soon so that Lyath and I can return to our room. This female will not be for us. I have yet to speak with Ralleth, and no one here knows that we wish to share a female. The only one we have spoken about it with is Toron, and he is off searching for his mate, who was taken from the tribe in the night.

Panic slides down my spine when I see Dath and Yril both tensing in their seats. Their red eyes look toward the great hall doors, and their claws shoot out. It is clear to me, and anyone else watching them, that something has happened with Toron, the third chosen warrior.

Yril is still healing from the punishments he received for attacking the other brothers when he found out males from another tribe had taken his sister in the middle of the night. He did not attack Lyath or me, which is good. If he had hurt my mate, I do not know if I would have been happy with the punishment Ralleth gave him.

My muscles tense as I push away from the table, only enough to give myself space to get up and protect Lyath if needed. He is not a weak male, but he is unaware. Even when I am narrowing my eyes and trying to get a better read on what is going on between Dath and Yril, Lyath is happily eating his food.

Dath whispers something to his mate before standing, letting her take his seat, and then running through the great hall until he is outside. Everyone has noticed at this point, and thankfully, Yril does not keep the news to himself.

“Toron tugged on the tether,” Yril announces to all of us. “We are almost certain he has found his mate. The tugging is not as desperate as it has been when he’s accidentally tugged on it these last few days.”

Chatter immediately erupts among the brothers, and not a panicked sound filled with negativity and despair. No, we are all very much thinking that Toron has found his mate. We can only hope and pray to the goddess that she would not be cruel to our brother, and soon, we will all know for certain whether he found her or not.

Lyath looks at me with a smile on his face. Yes, we very much think Toron will have found his mate. He is much too stubborn to have not found her, even if he was slowly losing himself to bloodlust.

We attempted to aid him in the wooing of his female when she was still in the tribe. Not that Lyath and I were much help. I was not because I did not try to help at all, and Lyath because he made Alice cry in front of everyone just by mentioning Toron’s cock.

Even thinking about my mate mentioning someone else’s cock has me debating if I should take him back to our bedroom. If we leave now, the others will still be too interested in the arrival of the new human to bother us.

The chatter ceases when a soft white light begins to glow behind the partition. The portal that brings human females to our world is open. Olivia, the first human female to come to our world, is already on the other side, waiting for the newest female with a tunic.

The humans all come to us bare and confused, and it is up to their sisters to get them acquainted with their new home. Some of the females have been excited to be here and mate with us. Others take a little more time. I hope that whichever female Lyath and I get to woo will be a female who very much wants to be here. It is not as fun to chase someone who cries and overthinks our advances. At least, I do not think it would be fun. Lyath has always been easy, and I assume anyone else we bring into our bond will be just as easy.

“What the fuck?” Olivia’s voice is more angry than anything else, and it causes all of us to turn our attention to our tribal leader, her mate. “Ralleth!”

He is out of his seat and running to his mate with red eyes in an instant. The rest of us are standing from our seats as well, ready to help in any way. To our surprise, Ralleth is met by another human-looking creature walking out from behind the partition before he can get there.

The creature looks like our human females in that they are smaller than us, have soft-looking skin, and have light hair on top of their head, but they have come to our tribe fully clothed in materials I have never seen before. This human has us all feeling a little on edge, especially when they walk toward Ralleth like they are more powerful than our leader.

“I need to speak with Simone,” the newest human says before Ralleth can speak. “I am a male. I am not a human, and I need to speak with you about the future of your tribe. First, I need to speak with Simone.”

The not-human male looks around the room at all of us, not giving any of us more than a glance as his eyes search out someone who is not here. I take a step closer to Lyath, positioning my body in front of his. I doubt this not-human could do any damage to any of us since he is built much smaller than us. I do not want to take any chances, though. Not when it is my mate’s life that could be in danger if this new creature is more dangerous than he seems.

“Where is Simone?”

Each time the not-human says Simone’s name, Ralleth gets more and more angry. His eyes are already red, but now his claws are growing long at the tips of his fingers. Simone is the human female who left with Ralleth’s brother to tell the other tribe about our females in the hopes their tribal leader would get a better hold on his males trying to kidnap our females. Simone is a prickly female, but she has very much ensnared Ralleth’s brother with her charms. We all know it is only a matter of time before she accepts that she is meant to be his mate.

“My brother’s mate is with him,” Ralleth snaps, causing the other male to stare up at him as a flicker of white crosses his eyes so bright I think I must have imagined it for a moment. “They are on their way to his tribe to explain the existence of our human females.”

The not-human seems to recover from this revelation much faster than I would if I were in his position. He is saying Simone’s name like he is her mate and not like she is the mate of someone else. I would be upset if someone were to tell me Lyath is mated to another and is not where I left him, but this male does not seem to have this problem.

“I need to speak with you then.” He nods to Ralleth, not sparing the rest of us another glance. “When will your tribe be able to take on more females?”

“How many more?” Ralleth asks, his arms crossing in front of his chest. His anger seems to have dissipated almost as fast as it came on now that the male is speaking of bringing more females to our tribe.

Ralleth looks around the male to the other side of the partition, where we can all hear Olivia still speaking with someone else. Whoever it is, she has not come out from behind the partition, and I think she will not until Ralleth and this not-human have their conversation.

“Hundreds, at least,” the not-human says.

The beating in my chest is hard and loud as the reality of what this not-human is saying. There are hundreds of females needing homes, and we could offer them those homes here in our tribe. If there are hundreds, that means there is a better chance of Lyath and I getting our other mate. Lyath’s hand squeezes mine, a hopeful look shining in his eyes as he thinks the same things.

“We need time to prepare homes,” Ralleth says. He barely seems surprised, even though we all know he is not prepared for the idea of so many human females coming to the tribe. “We could house maybe a hundred now, but we’d need to expand the walls of the tribe, get the farms up and running, and get more males here to do more hunting if we are to feed that many.”

“How long?” the not-human asks again. “I can bring them in waves, so let’s just say fifty for the first trip. Not all of them will be adults.”

“If the other tribe is open to assisting after learning of our humans, and there are truly only fifty or so who will not mind sharing spaces with one another, we can have space for them in a hundred or so days. That allows time for the storms to be over and for us to have a first harvest.”

The not-human nods his head once and then sticks out his hand. “A hundred days. I need it done by then.”

Ralleth takes the male’s hand and shakes it twice before releasing it. Their conversation is over just as fast as it happened, and then the not-human is turning to face all of us. He cocks his head to the side as he looks over my brothers and me. A soft white light glows from his skin in a strange way that makes my scales crawl. Something is not natural about him, but I cannot place my finger on it.

“I need someone willing to mate a female who will struggle to give you young, and you need to do it right now.” The not-human looks to all of us like he is asking an easy thing.

He wants us to mate with someone we have not seen, have not talked to, and do not get to woo. I care very little about the young since Lyath and I agreed a long time ago that we were fine with no young. I do not feel any sadness in not having them because I never even thought it was a possibility. Not to mention I am already greedy enough with my mate’s time. There is no way I could find it in me to give up so much time for a young and still be happy.

The silence in the dining hall is intense as everyone takes in what the not-human is asking of us. I’m starting to feel offended for this poor female on the other side of the partition who can hear that no one is offering themselves up to mate her.

“You have approximately three minutes to decide before the creatures I work with come to collect her and me. The only way she stays on this planet is if one of you mates her.”

Again, no one talks, no one offers themselves, and no one even moves. Well, almost no one. Lyath’s hand is down my pants, coaxing my cock out of its pocket. He has had enough of no one offering to take on this female as a mate. Everyone is so focused on the not-human and his offer of mating a female that we do not get to see who cannot have young that they pay no attention to Lyath as he strokes my cock.

I should stop him. I should tell him we are not meant for a female yet. Especially not when the others do not know that we want her. I do not stop him, though. No, I close my eyes, let myself imagine the human on the other side offering her mating to me, and I release into my mate’s hand.

“We’ll take her!” Lyath shouts as he pulls his hand from my pants and runs around the table toward the partition.

“Lyath?” Ralleth’s eyes go wide when he all but runs past him toward the partition.

A hiss escapes my lips just as it does anytime anyone else says my mate’s name. It is foolish because he is a male, and the brothers who are only interested in females think very little of how it seems like an overstep to me. He is still only allowed in my bed, which means I should be the only one to say his name.

I stalk in my mate’s wake, following him toward the partition but staying near Ralleth and the not-human. Lyath is probably the best one to see the female first. He will be more cheery than I am, and I do not want to scare her off before I have even shown her how safe she will be with me.

“Okay, this is kind of weird,” I can hear Olivia explaining the mating ceremony to the other female, but she cuts her off.

“The doctor already told me I have to eat their ejaculation and then call myself theirs.” The new human’s voice sounds so determined, so vibrant. I know I already very much enjoy hearing her talk, and now I just wish to hear her talking to me.

“Did he tell you there’s a possibility of being mated to two?” Olivia asks, uncertainty filling her voice. She knows that Lyath is my mate, knows he finds his pleasure on my cock and in my hand.

“He’s said it’s happened before.” The determination in the new human’s voice wavers slightly as Lyath disappears on the other side of the partition, kneeling so he can be near her. I wish to be near her as well, but there’s no reason to overwhelm her with the two of us when even the idea of belonging to two males has lessened her resolve.

“Do not worry,” I can hear the smile in Lyath’s voice and have to look down to hide the small one that pulls at my lips at his eagerness. “You will only have one.”

His words seem to shock everyone in the room, but they do not know I will be her mate. No, they all still probably think it will be Lyath since he is the one to go to her. I do not correct them because my mates will when Lyath has her say my name instead of his.

“Here is your mate’s seed,” Lyath says, and I can imagine him holding his hand coated in my release up to this new human.

“I just lick it?”

I have to grit my teeth to stop the hiss in my chest. I wish I were there to see her small, unforked tongue peek out from between her lips, to watch her lick and suckle on Lyath’s fingers. I wish I could admire them both as they devote themselves to me. Instead, I keep myself firmly rooted where I am. I tell myself I will just have them recreate this moment at a later time when we are all very much acquainted, and she is comfortable enough to share her body with us. The silence lasts for a long moment until Lyath’s hiss sounds from the other side, and I once again have to bite down hard.

“Now I just say your name?” The new human doesn’t sound all that upset about having to eat my seed. She sounds almost pleased. I can imagine her enjoying it, though that is probably wishful thinking.

“No.” Lyath stands from behind the partition, staring straight at me. “Our mate’s name is Beren.”

My chest swells with pride at the idea of having two mates I can care for—two mates to protect, cherish, and love. I will give these mates all of myself. I will provide them with anything they want or need to the best of my ability. There is nothing more that a male could ask for.

My happiness is short-lived, though. The new human causes pain in my chest almost immediately.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” She comes around the partition with a scowl, and an accusatory finger pointed at the not-human.

I have to admire my mate’s beauty for just a moment, even if she is slowly killing me by seeming so upset about having to mate me. Her skin is dark and smooth, her hair fluffy and coiled, and her body is made up of the most beautiful curves I never knew I needed. If she decides not to go through with the mating because she will be mated to me, I might find it in me to allow Lyath to be the one who mates her so that I can keep her in my life forever.

“Did you plan on having me mate someone named Beren?” she shouts at the not-human, and my cock doesn’t seem to register that she isn’t happy with us or anyone because she has said my name, and I don’t care if it’s in anger. I would take her anger in my bed anytime.