Arobi's Queen: A Mate Index Romance (The Mate Index Book 11)

by S. J. Sanders

There was no doubt that it was due to the way Hayley ran her fingers through Tanji’s clean, brushed mane. The male had left it loose around his shoulders when he joined them. Simah doubted that it was with any intent to lure their queen into touching him, but it did just that. She didn’t even seem to notice the way she stroked his mane.

  The very next morning, Exeri’s mane had been groomed. Any time Hayley approached him, the male puffed up like a stud looking for attention. Their queen never failed to smile at him, which only encouraged the behavior. Simah found the entire exchange an endless source of fascination. He wondered just how long it would take before their alpha had her pinned beneath him. He had little doubt that the female would be eager for it. The constant exposure to her arousal was wearing on Simah’s resolve to wait until she asked.

  He hoped that something would give soon.

  But it wouldn’t be soon enough to deal with the male’s current bad mood. Exeri glowered at him from the other side of the table, one hand rubbing at his neck. If Simah was not mistaken, their alpha appeared to be almost… worried. For a male who always faced everything fearlessly, to see him so agitated was alarming.

  “We should take Hayley into the port city,” he said at last.

  Simah stared. That was not what he had been expecting. He did not know what he thought to expect—but it was not that. “I thought we were going to wait longer,” he replied as he set his datapad down.

  Exeri grimaced. “Our queen is growing restless. She says that she is not, but she has taken to pacing from one end to the other. She did not come to us with belongings. It is perhaps natural that she can’t find much with which to occupy her.”

  “She has been keeping busy learning Intergalactic Common,” Simah pointed out.

  He knew his argument was a weak one. It was true that she had books, games, and programs that she enjoyed, but they did not have an extra datapad for her personal use. Simah had to borrow it often, since it was where all his data and programs were stored. He was surprised to see just how much she had downloaded on his device. Much of the digital space was taken up by books in which every male seemed to have somehow misplaced his shirt. There was no getting around the fact that their queen needed her own datapad, as well as any personal items that they did not think to provide.

  Perhaps going to the port city was a good idea. It was not like she would be given free rein through the city alone. They would be there to protect her.

  “What of the Itashvanda?” he asked.

  Exeri shook his head. “I have commed my contacts on the space station nightly. They reported no unusual behavior on the part of the male. He has been going through his regular routines. There is even a rumor going around that he is preparing to welcome a mate. If we do not attract too much attention, a visit for our queen to amuse herself and provide her with what she may need would be worth the risk. Though she wears the robes we provide for her, I don’t think they are to her liking.”

  “I have noticed that too. It would be good to get her whatever supplies she needs, and whatever amusements she prefers. While there have not been any recent reports regarding our prey, if it resurfaces again, Hayley will need the distraction. I scented her worry when we returned last time,” Simah said. “If you are confident about the Itashvanda…” He trailed off and looked away.

  He hated when he did that. He was always anxious and worrying about data he could not control. He worried about the unpredictable creature, and he worried about the Itashvanda. He worried about their queen rejecting them—or him. It made him feel weak when measured against his pack. He was leaner in form and slower to react to things because he would get easily caught in thinking things out.

  It was also why he was currently reading one of the books Hayley had downloaded on his datapad. He had learned to read English some time ago, when they were in the Fleet, so he could understand more about the humans in his unit. Now it was useful to learn about what his queen liked and wanted. He found the work of fiction to be a bit strange at times, but the focus on the erotic within the book fueled his imagination. As did the suggestion that human females enjoyed strong males who take charge in intimate situations. He wondered if Exeri was going about things the wrong way with her.

  Clearing his throat, he looked back at his datapad. He did not see Exeri’s tail lift until the lower half smacked him gently. Startled, he glanced over at the alpha to find him wearing an expression of patient understanding.

  “There is no shame in being concerned or wanting things thought out,” Exeri said.

  “It is a weakness,” Simah muttered in embarrassment.

  Exeri wasn’t having any of it. He pushed the datapad away, sending it flying halfway across the table as he leveled Simah with a hard look.

  “You are not weak,” he snapped. “You are a good, thoughtful male, one I am proud to have in my pack. I know that you were ejected from your first pack for not being aggressive enough. That your master then sold you because he thought you were too weak for a healthy pack. I know also that this was only compounded when my master threw you into our kennel hoping that Bilax and I would tear you apart for his amusement. I did not see a weak male then when you stared back at us, defiantly refusing to attack for the pleasure of the master, and I do not see one now.”

  Simah bowed his head, overcome with emotion. That had been one of the most important days in his life that changed the course of everything for him. He recalled the way Exeri had towered over him and Bilax had been close on the alpha’s heels, bristling at the intruder in their kennel. They were notorious for rejecting everyone put in their kennel with them. No one expected him to survive, much less be accepted into their pack. He had not expected it. He looked into the merciless eyes of the alpha, seeing a tortured male staring back at him, overcome with hostility. He had submitted to the alpha rather than fight, taking a gamble on the odds that the male might leave him alone. But mostly it was so that none of them would be playing to the master’s desires.

  He had been tired of the constant anxiety of bowing to the master’s whims. The action had surprised the alpha, and his arm had come up to halt Bilax. Exeri had leaned forward and sniffed cautiously as the expression in those glowing eyes shifted from hostility to curiosity. He had turned his head and snapped his teeth near Simah, but when he failed to get a rise out of him, Exeri chuckled and turned away.

  The only memory dearer to him was a fuzzy one from his youth as his dam held him lovingly. He was her only pup. Never had he felt such love and warmth as he had in those formative memories. She loved him so much that, when he was weaned, she had dared to attempt to hide him away. He shuddered at the sudden sad memory that evoked and turned his mind away. Among the Arobi, daring to love and hold onto anything courted punishment and even death from the Agraak masters.

  Maturing into an adult simply reinforced it. Anything that one acquired had to be done through stealth and trickery, even something as simple as stealing a forbidden treat. Or teaching himself to read Agraaksi, though it was illegal for an Arobi to possess such knowledge. He had kept every scrap he found with written words hidden away, buried deep in the kennel where the master would not find them. Such knowledge served their pack as they received information their master did not wish them to know and plotted accordingly for their freedom.

  Hayley was like him in those small ways: grasping for her freedom in such a way that she would travel across space as a mate. It was what he would do. He would do whatever he needed, learn whatever he needed to learn, and then…

  Simah frowned and glanced at Exeri. “Do you think our mate intends to leave us?”

  The alpha closed his eyes and expelled a soft sigh. “I think it was her plan, but now… I don’t know.”

  “Do the others suspect?”

  Exeri shook his head. That was a good thing. Bilax would withdraw, and Tanji… It was best not to find out just what lengths he would go to in order to keep their female from fleeing. There was one thing that he knew all too well: nothing
truly stops a being intent on freedom. Instead, they needed to make her feel freedom beneath their protection—however they could achieve that.

  With a nervous flick of his tail against the chair’s leg, Simah nodded. “When should we leave for the port city? It is still early. If we wish to take her today, it is possible.” There was nothing more important than their queen. It was time to show her that.

  “I was thinking…”

  “Hey, uh, guys?” a soft voice intruded.

  Simah glanced up and nearly knocked his chair over in his haste as he stood up. “Is something wrong? What can I do?” He sniffed the air and froze, alarm escalating through him. “Do I smell blood?” he barked out.

  Hayley’s brow puckered in confusion and she let out a small, nervous laugh. “It’s not an emergency. Slow down. Actually, this is really embarrassing… but I just realized that I don’t have any… uh… lady stuff. I’m using a rag right now, but I could really use a lift into town.”

  “Lady stuff?” He had no idea what she was talking about. He looked to Exeri, but the male shrugged.

  Her face reddened and she coughed. “You know, for my monthly.”

  “Monthly what? Are you expecting something? Are you diseased?” Surely their sweet queen wasn’t diseased. He felt a full-on anxiety attack as he doubled over. He had not had one since he was a juvenile, but it brought back all the feelings of helplessness he experienced then.

  “What? Whoa! No!” she shouted as she rushed to his side. She felt her small arms wrap around his shoulder, and the scent of blood was stronger. There was something wrong with her, no matter what she said. “It’s okay,” she said, trying to soothe him.

  “There is not. What is wrong? Why are you bleeding?” he bellowed.

  Hayley jerked back a little in surprise, her lips pressing into a thin line for a moment before a giggle broke out of her.

  “Gods, I’m sorry. This is going terribly. That is my monthly. I guess our species differ in that way,” she chuckled. “There’s nothing to worry about. Every month, human females ovulate to release an egg, and when it’s not fertilized our bodies flush it out. I usually have products to help me with that, but I’m a bit unprepared. No Tylenol for cramps, no chocolate, no fucking tampons.” She sighed and rubbed her lower belly miserably.

  His mind scrambled trying to decipher what she needed. “Tylenol would be… pain medicine, I am assuming?”

  Again, that miserable nod that tugged on his heart. He scratched behind one ear. Her body was cramping… That sounded painful. He raced out of the kitchen to go to the med room. It took him very little time to shuffle through their supplies and find the pain medicine. Holding the bottle in his hand, he rushed back at top speed, nearly knocking over Tanji in the process.

  “Apologies!” he shouted back. “Our queen is not feeling well.”

  “Something is wrong with Hayley?” Tanji growled in concern, as he turned and followed on Simah’s heels.

  When he arrived back in the kitchen, he noticed that Bilax had arrived and was standing over the stove, the smell of sweetened Ontang filling the air. The male glanced back at him patiently.

  “Hurry up and give her the medicine so she can have her Ontang,” Bilax snapped, already frazzled due to their queen’s distress. “I have made an entire pot so we can reheat it as she requires. She insists that this will make her feel better.”

  Nodding, Simah popped open the container and handed one round pill to Hayley. She looked at it incredulously.

  “Just one?” she said skeptically. “I’m sure I’ll need more than that.”

  Exeri placed a large hand on her shoulder as he handed her some water. “It is potent. Warriors take that after they have their gut stitched up after battles. It should be enough,” he said. “Go rest in your bed. Bilax will be along with your Ontang, and I will locate something that might work better for you than the rags from the medkit. I also have a hot pack I use at times when old wounds act up. I will heat it and bring it to you.”

  Their queen looked up at them gratefully as they escorted her to her room and helped her as she eased into bed. She accepted the cup of Ontang from Bilax and took a long sip before setting it down on the small table at her bedside.

  “This is a lot of fuss over something that’s happened every month since puberty… but thank you,” she murmured as her eyelashes fluttered as she drifted off to sleep.

  Simah sighed. “It was not supposed to do that. I only meant to help ease her pain, not make her sleep.”

  “Next time, half a tablet, I think,” Tanji put in helpfully.

  They stood around her bed and everyone nodded soberly.

  “Did she say that this was monthly?” Bilax snarled. “I need to comm the port city and tell them to set aside a large supply of Ontang root. She mentioned something about the powder mixed with sweetener and other ingredients to be molded into compressed bricks that she favors. I will start looking at recipes,” he muttered as he stalked out.

  “I will get the hot pack,” Exeri said as he followed Bilax from the room.

  Tanji sighed and crawled up on the bed beside their queen. At Simah’s raised brow, he growled irritably.

  “Don’t look at me that way. She says it makes her feel better to have someone to cuddle with. So I am offering my body for cuddle time. Just leave me the datapad. Any more of this and I will probably get my own,” he mumbled as he settled in, his body curving around their female.

  Hayley smiled in her sleep and snuggled into him. Chuckling, Simah handed over his datapad and brushed a hand through her mane.

  His work could wait until their queen was feeling better.

  Chapter 21

  Hayley stood in the entrance to the comm room. She had followed the sound of growls and curses all the way there.

  “This is not right,” Simah growled, drawing the attention of the pack as they clustered around the comm system.

  “What is that?” Hayley asked, squinting to see the screen.

  Simah glanced back at her in surprise. The other three males had glanced at her but hadn’t said anything to discourage her. Or told her to go back to bed. Ever since she had her period, the males had been walking on eggshells around her as if she were delicate.

  “Should you not be res—”

  “Don’t even think about finishing that sentence,” she stated firmly. “I’m fine. Now what am I looking at?”

  The male shook his head. “A security vid that just came in from a reported sighting of the creature. But this is just… unusual. It disappears for days at a time and now that it has surfaced, it does nothing. There have been no injuries, just some damage to the mine and equipment. This vid though,” he indicated the grayish-green blur frozen in a still on the holoscreen, “hints at something beyond a scale that we have ever encountered. Its attacks are random, not seeming to have much to do with feeding as some of the typical predators do.”

  “That cannot be right,” Tanji said as he leaned forward and frowned, his eyes running over the report contained in the lower left of the screen. “This is useless,” he snapped. “There is almost no information coming in from the mine. Just that there was a disturbance and significant damage, and that they expect us to respond immediately in-person on the site.”

  Just behind them, Bilax paced impatiently, his claws flexing as he threw a disgusted look to the report. “Just like all the reports. Nothing but demands that we take care of the problem while not providing any conclusive information, or even an accurate description of what we are dealing with. Just conflicting, jumbled pieces of information.”

  Exeri growled in agreement, his eyes narrowed on the screen. “Bilax, you and Tanji will come with me to the western hill mine. Simah, see what you can do to clear up the image more. Comm me the information when you have it ready.”

  The male nodded his head, his hands flying over the controls as the image began to contort in small increments.

  Hayley felt sick to her stomach. Whatever this creature was,
it was so out of the norm that it had the entire pack worried, and that freaked her out. Biting her lip, she followed them to the door. She wanted to beg them to stay home. It was selfish, but she didn’t like the idea of them being out there when they had no idea what they would be facing.

  Tanji glanced over at her, his expression softening. He ran a gentle hand through her hair. “Do not worry. We will not be gone long. There is not much that we can do. We will patrol the area, collect evidence, and then return home.”

  “Unless the blob from the mountain tries to eat you,” she muttered.

  A laugh burst out of him and Tanji hugged her close to his side. “Do not worry, my sweet queen. Arobi do not taste very good, and trying to eat us is usually an unpleasant experience,” he boasted as he spread his claws.

  Hayley stifled a laugh. “Show off. That monster is going to eat you first because you said that.”

  “It would not be the first time something has tried to eat him,” Bilax said.

  “In my defense, I had no idea that thing could hunt underwater. I thought the river was the safest route to travel,” Tanji rebutted.

  Hayley patted his shoulder affectionately. “Do yourself a favor then and don’t go to Earth. With the gators and crocs, you might not get off so lucky.”

  He chuckled and nuzzled her before making room for Bilax and Exeri to do the same. As they loaded in the flier, she realized that they had succeeded in distracting her from her worry. Sighing, she went back inside. She considered staying with Simah as he worked but changed her mind. She didn’t want to be a distraction.

  Picking the datapad off the kitchen table where he left it to charge the solar cells, she returned to her room with it. Her lessons would distract her.

  Chapter 22

  Tanji circled the area of the damage. As always, their pack had been left to deal with everything without assistance or input. Not even the foreman had bothered to stay. The entire area was devoid of workers, the only life that could truly tolerate regular exposure of the mines.