27. Xax

Chapter 27

Xax

I hunted and brought meat to Gerain and Floosar's home, withholding enough to get Amanda and I through the next few days. That meat, I placed in my cool box.

If I offered Amanda my meat, would she take it with a smile or refuse me?

I wanted to court her with Earth rituals that might include meat but presented in different ways. I'd rarely followed the path others had already taken, and I wasn't going to start now. If she found me worthy, even my unconventional courtship rituals would strike through to her heart.

The day waned, and after taking care of a few things inside my shroom, I joined those smoking meat at the fire. Amanda worked with us, and I could tell the others were pleased to have her help.

We ate some of the meat for dinner and sat on stumps near the fire after, feeding the flames wood as the sun slid down below the tree line.

Gerain was right. We should've thought about cultivating spores for this area as well. I'd love to sit on a sofa with Amanda, my feet up on a stump instead of feeling the hard wood digging into my ass.

Finally, I stood and stretched, catching Amanda watching the movement out of the corner of her eye. Did she find blue skin and silver hair attractive? Zuldruxian coloring was very different from her own.

I was much bigger than her, and I assumed males of her species were nearer to her size than mine.

Not blue. No silver hair. Smaller bodies.

I faced not only the cultural differences between us but the realization that she might find my physical appearance unattractive.

I'd never thought of myself as beautiful, but I'd hoped one day to find a mate who'd adore me for what was inside rather than my exterior. For Amanda to love me, she had to be willing to accept both.

"Good night," I said to the group.

Murmurs of the same greeted me, others standing to go to their own homes. Julop's gaze had remained on Amanda for most of the evening, and it was all I had been able to do to hold back my growl. He had taken care not to offer her a slice of smoked meat, though Efendest had, only to be promptly turned away. She selected her own meat, showing me again that when it came to mating, she'd choose who she wished to be with despite what the gods might say .

"I'll come with you," she said, standing and sending me a shy smile.

Efendest groaned, as did a few of the other males, and I tried hard not to show how happy I was that she was making it clear she wanted to sleep inside my shroom.

We left the group and walked through the twilight to my home, riding to the upper level once we'd entered the stem.

"I still can't get over the fact that something this big and beautiful grows from a tiny spore," she said once we stood inside the living area.

"Have you planted yours and begun to coax it from the ground?" I asked.

"Not yet. I've still got it." She pulled it from the pouch on the front of her clothing, holding it out in her palm. "Gerain said you might be willing to help me cultivate it."

"I'd be glad to do this with you. My stump chairs and tables . . ." My voice croaked, but I was still upset with myself for not thinking of something better for her tea shop. "They're not comfortable."

"I love them," she said. "I'm not burning them or throwing them away. I have an idea for how I can use them."

"That's good."

A peep rang out ahead in the main living area, and Amanda froze.

She turned wide eyes my way. "I know that sound."

"His mother didn't return, and he was still waiting patiently on the branch." I cleared my throat. "He's a gift for you." The first of many I planned to give her.

Would presents like this help me win her heart?

She rushed toward the drettire perched on the back of a sofa I'd talked Alexa into crafting and leaving for the creature to sleep on.

"The god created a place for the drettire in the bathing area," I said. "We don't want excrement to be a problem, though Alexa would absorb it."

"Great thinking." Amanda stopped in front of the creature and gazed at it with adoration, holding her hand out slowly. "He's cute."

"He is." She appeared to enjoy my gift. "Alexa also agreed to keep food bowls filled with what the god said a drettire prefers to eat."

"You thought of everything." When the beastie tentatively sniffed her fingers, she smiled my way. "I've been worried since we left him. I kept thinking of the big bird returning and eating him."

"That won't happen now. He's safe here with us." I crossed the room and settled on the sofa opposite the drettire.

"Do you think he'll let me pick him up?"

"I imagine so. He came to me quite willingly. He hasn't learned to be afraid of much. I don't think he's been far from his mother until recently."

She carefully lifted him and held him against her throat, coming around to settle on the sofa beside me. "What's his name?"

"He's yours. You get to give him a name. "

"I always wanted a pet, but my foster parents said no, and my apartment charges more than I wanted to pay to let me have a cat or a dog." She looked up at me with tears in her eyes. "Thank you. I love him already."

"What do you think you'll call him?"

"Hmm." She placed the tiny beastie on her lap and stroked his furry body. He rewarded her with a purr that made her smile up at me again before her gaze returned to her new friend.

"What would you have named a pet if you had one on Earth?" I asked.

"When I was little? Fluffy, which isn't going to work and is too silly."

"If you like it, it's not silly. His tail is fluffy." I tweaked it and the drettire looked up at me from where he'd curled into a ball on her lap.

"I want something more dignified. Maverick?"

The drettire's gaze lifted to meet hers, and he sneezed.

She laughed. "I think he likes it." Lifting him, she touched her nose to his. "Where are you going to sleep tonight, Maverick?"

"Alexa will make him a bed."

"He might want to sleep with us."

Us? We started each night in our own beds, but . . . I wasn't going to hope that Amanda would choose to start tonight in mine.

"Let's see what Alexa does first," I said instead of begging her to lie beside me tonight.

"Alright." She lowered him carefully onto her lap again and settled into my side as if she wanted to be there. As if she belonged there.

I liked sitting here with her. Even more, I liked watching her enjoy my gift.

It appeared a drettire was a much better gift for a potential mate than a hunk of meat.