by Belle Harper
Jaim didn’t say anything as he actively looked anywhere but me. I rolled my eyes. He didn’t seem to have any issues looking at me earlier.
“Did you want some water?” I held the half empty cup out to Aalee. I hadn’t seen him and it was now making me nervous he was here. Like I really was the reason why he hadn’t been back in days. I watched his eyes drop to the cup in my hand, his mouth opening to say something but, instead, he got on his feet and rushed out of the hut.
I slumped down onto the nest, drank the rest of the water, and hoped no one collected it while I was having fun in the waterfall earlier. Vetok took it from my hand and placed it back on the table. Jaim still didn’t look at me as he looked like he was busying himself with something on the floor. Jaka sat beside me as I laid down on my blanket pillow. I sighed as he started to stroke my hair and I drifted off into a restless sleep.
Chapter Ten
Aalee
The female offered me water. I didn’t understand her motives. I didn’t understand any of this, the way my body pulled to hers. I spoke to Adee. He didn’t feel the pull like how I described, but he said Jaim had felt it. His cock was excited by Hadley and he stroked it to her image many times.
She had said she would consider us as mates. I wanted to laugh at that. Why would I want a mate? The last one I was chosen for ran away and left us behind. Brooklyn left us to wander, trying to find her, and instead we found the M’Mori.
Those memories I didn’t want to think of, but they were there every time I closed my eyes. Their sticks burning my flesh, and if it wasn’t that, their fists. The females wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for the M’Mori. I wouldn’t have chased after one I believed wanted to be my mate, have a family with me. And I wouldn’t have ended up in a mine, a slave on my own land. I didn’t trust these females and I wouldn’t take water from her. She might think she had power over me, like all females did.
I refused to be treated badly anymore. I was now an outcast from my own lands because I chose the human female. They wouldn’t accept me, Jaim, and Adee back after we left in search of Brooklyn. And knowing we had been with the M’Mori would only seal the deal of being rejected males. Jaim and Adee were already rejected mates because Brooklyn touched them, chose them. But now, Adee explained that it wasn’t what she meant. She was hugging. She only wanted to thank us, and she had done it to many males that were part of Clan Wolf.
“Aalee, wait up. What did Hadley say? Did she say she will choose us soon? She asks for you, brother. She won’t choose you if you won’t come and speak with her.” I moved faster, back to the fall of water where I had seen her body and the way the males did things to her. At first, I thought she was hurting them, they were hurting her. But then I realized they were mating her. When Jaka looked at me, I watched his cock enter from below her. I wasn’t close enough to see, but I knew Jaim got a good look. He walked close to the water’s edge.
“She asked if I wanted water and held the cup she had drunk from out to me.” My brother stopped suddenly and I took that as a sign to walk faster from him. I wanted to be away from him and his insistent questioning. I turned back to see what he was doing and, in turn, my foot hit a rock and I stumbled slightly.
I grumbled to myself as I watched Adee chase after me.
“What did you do? Did you take it from her? Do you think it was a test? Like, if you drink the water she will choose you?” I could see him now, beside me, looking back to where she was in the hut. I didn’t know. I didn’t understand females, I didn’t even understand what mating was until today. How should I know?
“You should go. It might mean what you want. I don’t want to be part of it.” I jumped up the nearest klaven tree and made my way to the top. I loved to sit up here, watch the others from above.
“I heard she likes all different things to eat, and she is always hungry because she grows kits within her belly. Did you see her belly? It was beautiful, if not small. She might need to eat more but she only has two mates. We are being considered, so I think we should offer her food. I will collect pixxe up in the ridge. Now I have no tracker, I can go further looking for food.”
I waved my hand to tell him to leave, I didn’t want to be a part of it. Why would I want to? If she wanted fruit to choose me, then I would sit up here and never return to my hut. Sleeping had been hard, but I now made a platform so I could rest more. The nightmares still scared me too much to fall too deeply into sleep.
Two days had passed. I had spent some time with a Zalli most of yesterday. He let me share his hut last night. I found myself hitting branches in the dark of night as I tumbled from my platform. It wasn’t safe. I had kept myself awake too much that I was so exhausted I fell into the deepest sleep. I only woke up once I started hitting branches on my way down. I caught myself with my tails and decided it was best to find somewhere else to sleep… and hide from Hadley. If she couldn’t find me, she wouldn’t choose me. She would take Jaim and Adee as her mates and I would be happy for them, if not lonely.
“Did you know Jaim had been looking for you?” Jeralk asked as he entered his hut at lunch with some pixxe in hand for me. I took one and shook my head.
“No, is he looking to tell me he is now mates with Hadley?” Jeralk gave me a strange look. For a Zalli warrior, he was different to the rest. He was the only one that was pink. I hadn’t really seen many colors until I met the Zalli. My color looked so boring compared to his vibrant hue, but it made it hard for him to hide in the trees. He was not safe anywhere on Aarzyn.
“No, he has been looking for your brother, Adee. He hasn’t returned since you left the hut the other day. He told me about the water. Why didn’t you take the water? Hadley is a very nice female. I spoke to her earlier. I don’t understand why you’re running and hiding from her. Any male, Aashi or Zalli, would be happy to be in your position. I have heard them all talking about it. Trust me, if you don’t make a move, another group will.”
I shrugged. “She already has two mates and she will take Jaim and Adee. She doesn’t need me.” And it was the truth, she wouldn’t want me. I woke screaming most nights. I couldn’t trust her, trust any females or M’Mori for that matter.
Jeralk shook his head. “No, you don’t understand. She is looking for a bonded group. She won’t choose them if you’re not part of it. She was heard talking to her mate about other groups of males and I had seen some groups form in the last day, trying to catch her attention.”
What? Why would she not choose the others because of me? They would make the best mates. Adee dreamed of the day he could be a father to kits. I grew up with listening to him talk about it almost every night. This had been the longest I had spent away from my litter bother. I was missing him badly.
“Where is Adee?” Now thinking back to what he had said.
“I don’t know, that’s why he was looking for you. You left after the water thing and Adee followed you. That is the last time Jaim has seen him.”
My heart stopped. He said he was going to get her heaps of food up on the ridge… He went to the top of the cliff to get her pixxe and now he hadn’t been seen since. That was not like Adee. He was very excited to bring it back to her.
“I will go to Jaim. Adee was going to gather food for Hadley up on the ridge. This isn’t good.”
I rushed over to the hut looking for Jaim, but instead I found Hadley. She was alone.
I stumbled to stand as she turned to me. She must have been sleeping because at first she smiled at me, and then I watched as her face changed, realizing I was not my litter brother. She was not excited to see me as she would have been with him. He was everything you could ask for in an Aashi male. I was not.
“Aalee.” Her voice broke a little as she moved to sitting. I watched as she winced. I moved forward onto my knees and I looked to the hut door. Where were her mates? Why was she unprotected?
“Where have you been?” I was taken aback at her words. They weren’t harsh and unkind like an Aashi female would have been, b
ut they were that of concern. I didn’t know what to say to her, so I said the best thing I could.
“You must choose Jaim and Adee as your mates. They would make you the happiest.” I watched her eyebrows and the corner of her lip rise. She shook her head slightly and I was angry. Why not? They have proven they can take care of her, why was she denying them? She was using them, letting them believe they had a chance just so she would laugh and choose other males. Maybe she was just like an Aashi female. Only smaller in size.
“And you couldn’t make me happy?” she asked. This time her lips were now in a wide smile. I was stunned. I couldn’t make her happy. Maybe in the past, but now I wasn’t the same. I had changed and the others knew this too. Females only caused pain.
“Look, I get it. I understand that you don’t like me. And I would be happy to choose Jaim and Adee. I care for them. But I also care for you. I don’t want to cause you to fight or no longer be friends.
“I had wanted to speak to you after you ran away the other day. I have a hut, it’s almost finished. That is where Jaka and Vetok are now. There is a single male hut that is now complete. It is beside my hut and I don’t know if you know the male Apak? He has no tails.” I noded. I knew of the male, his survival this long as an outcast male has been spoken a lot among the males here.
“Well, I asked him if he had room for one more and he said that he did. That he built the hut to house ten Aashi males. And I want to make a deal with you, because I think it will be important for you and me.”
I looked to the hut door. It opened and I expected to see Adee walk through with the grin he always wore on his face. But it was more females. I turned my gaze away from them. I didn’t know what Hadley wanted and I didn’t want to make deals. I needed to find Adee.
“Oh, sorry, Hadley. We didn’t know you had company,” the one with wild hair spoke.
“Hi, I’m Luna.” She looked at me. I was grateful the translator spoke most of the words for me, I still didn’t understand this different language. I had only just worked out how to speak Zalli.
“Aalee?” I replied. I wasn’t sure if she was requesting me to respond with my name as she stood there, blinking and watching me.
“Aalee,” I turned back to Hadley. “I want to make a deal.”
I ran my hands through my short hair. I was surrounded, there was no way I could escape these females now.
Chapter Eleven
Hadley
Luna and the girls all came at the worst time. I wasn’t expecting Aalee back here, but I was glad to see him. I could see Adee had been worried about him, and he went after him when he ran out of here the other day. But Adee hadn’t come back and Jaim said it was not usual for him. He thought at first he was keeping Aalee company in the tree he was staying in, that he worried about him after what happened at the mines.
I prodded Jaim about the mines and what they went through, but he didn’t want to say much other than Aalee received more punishments than most and had changed since they had been kidnapped. He used to be happy and so full of life, if not somewhat shy, but now he was angry and withdrawn. I was so upset that I cried for him. Vetok wasn’t happy that Jaim made me cry, but I told him it was pregnancy hormones. I didn’t know if that was true, but I felt so sad for Aalee.
The M’Mori were the cruelest… except K’Tem, he was good. And his brother who led us here with his datapad device thing, he was okay too in my books. All the rest could die.
Aalee must hate me right now. I came into his life and changed everything, and he probably feels like I have taken his hut, his friends… brother. His only support, and that was why I needed this deal to work.
“I want to make a deal,” I repeated to Aalee. I had been thinking about this. I didn’t want to choose Jaim and Adee and have him left out, that was the last thing Aalee needed. He needed to be with his family and I wanted to be part of that family, if only as a friend. I had grown really close with Jaim the last two days. He had come with me to speak with the girls earlier, and Jaka and Vetok left him with me as they went to work on the hut. I knew they trusted him, and I really liked him. A lot.
He was not like my mates, he was shy, and he would stare at me like I wasn’t real. Plus, he was so sweet. He told me stories of when he was younger and his fathers, that he was always excited to be able to take care of kits when they arrived and as a female’s healer he would look after their health. But he never thought one day he could be a father, until Brooklyn touched him. I loved the way his eyes lit up at the thought, and I wanted to be able to give that to him too. He was more than just mate material, he was someone I could see growing old with.
Plus, he told me I smelled different to the other girls, that he couldn’t help himself when he saw me at the waterfall. He was drawn to me and he didn’t know he was that close until he saw my face, and he has apologized so many times about it. I told him it was fine… I didn’t tell him that I liked being watched. I wasn’t sure I wanted to tell him that until I was sure he would be my mate.
“We will just wait outside. It’s good to see you again, Aalee.” Brooklyn nodded as they backed out. We were going to practice our new show routine, but I must have slept longer than I thought. Songs had been picked and we were gonna put on a real big show for all of Clan Freedom Wolf as a way of saying thank you for all accepting us, and for the merging of our two clans. Plus, it gave us something special to do for them all.
Aalee didn’t look like he was happy to see Brooklyn. I guess he was upset that she had left and found other males and that she never came back and chose him. While he ended up in the mines, Brooklyn was off getting other mates. So, I could see his dislike and distrust of her. I wondered if he felt the same about me, even though we had only just met.
“No deal,” was all he said as he stood in the hut. He was so tall, but the roof of the hut was built for his and Adee’s size.
“But you haven’t heard me yet, you don’t even know the deal.” Ugh, this guy was going to be hard to crack. But I could see he looked unsure of himself from the way he shifted his weight on his legs. Oh Aalee… he looked so messed up and confused. He really needed a hug, someone to care for him. But I couldn’t give him one, he didn’t have the mating hormones. And I didn’t think he would be impressed if I tried to care for him. He didn’t like talking to me as it was.
“You mate Jaim and Adee,” he repeated the same as before, but in English this time. I smiled, letting him know that I appreciated him speaking my language. I couldn’t just take them as my mates and leave him out… all alone. It was hard to swallow as a lump formed in my throat. I wouldn’t cry, he wouldn’t want to see my tears for him. He was too proud for that.
“I want to take them, but I won’t leave you behind. That’s what the deal is about. If you move to the hut next to us, you can be close, see them all the time. That’s all I want. That’s the deal I am asking you for.”
He looked at me warily, like I had a hidden agenda. I didn’t. I looked up to the roof of the hut and closed my eyes. I said a prayer that I wouldn’t raise my voice, I would stay calm. Even though I really wanted him to say yes, I knew I would have to accept him saying no. He didn’t need to be forced or yelled at, he was a grown man. I just worried about him.
“Look, I know you probably don’t believe me, but I worry about you. When you’re not here I worry where you’re sleeping, if you’re safe, happy, cared for. Jaim and Adee are not the only ones who worry about you. So, would you consider the offer of moving into the hut next to mine?”
He scuffed his feet on the floor and looked around. He moved around the hut, picking up an empty cup and setting it down. His hands moved from his hips to his chest, to his hair. So much hand movement it was dizzying. He would peer back at me every so often, so I made sure to keep the smile on my face and not move or speak. Just in case I scared him.
He paused and looked down at me, his eyes barely visible with all that wildly cut hair. My hands itched to push it out of the way so I could se
e his big, dark eyes.
“Okay,” he whispered. I blinked… Did he say okay? My heart started to race but I needed to be calm. I let out a small breath before speaking.
“Okay? Yes, you will move into the hut or okay you will consider the offer?” I wanted to be sure what he was agreeing to here.
“Move to the hut.” His fingers on his left lower hand started to tap his thigh and his tails were moving a lot. Something I didn’t really notice until now. He wasn’t completely upset with me, they were moving, so this was good. This was a huge step forward and I couldn’t keep the huge smile on my face from beaming at him.
I couldn’t wait to tell Jaim and Adee. I let out a deep sigh of relief. Now if Adee would only come back, I could talk to him and Jaim and by the end of the day I could have two new mates. I giggled a little. I felt the warmth spread through my chest.
“I will go find Adee,” were the last words Aalee spoke to me before he left the hut without giving me a chance to answer. Now, where the hell did Jaim go? Wasn’t he supposed to be my “keeper” of the day? The guys left him in charge, but he didn’t seem to be here anymore.
I groaned as I got up and out of the nest. “Jaim?” I called out. But instead, it was Elle who replied.
“Hadley, you should come out. I think they’re setting up a search party for Adee. No one has seen him.”
“He’s missing, missing?” My stomach dropped and Luna came in and hugged me.
“It’s okay, they’ll find him. He might have been caught up somewhere chatting. Adee talks a lot, you know.” I nodded at her words, but she knew as well as me, he wasn’t chatting for two whole days.
I felt all the girls now hugging me, and it felt nice to have all their support. I was so lucky to be with them all, which reminded me of the girls now in the six different clans. How were they doing without something like this? If I didn’t have Elle for all that time, man… I wouldn’t have survived, that was for sure. I needed this friendship.