Teril's Fire: A Mate Index Alien Romance (The Mate Index Book 12)

by S. J. Sanders

  “Very well, katna. I have a connection with a trader who brings me supplies. I am certain he can acquire your coffee. You will have your opportunity to prove it to me. Speaking of home,” he sighed as he tossed back the rest of the intimbar in his cup, “we should be going. It is a long flight home, and even leaving now, it will be quite late by the time we return.”

  He did not look forward to how Borth would receive their arrival well after dark fall. He still had not informed his brother that he was bringing home a female. He had merely made his excuses about needing to pick up a delivery. That was not quite a lie.

  Lie or not, Borth wasn’t going to be pleased. Hopefully, he would not be angered too long.

  Crystal hurriedly drank her own intimbar and stood. She was so small next to him that he faltered for a moment. She was not quite as short as the Arobi’s human mate, but next to him, he was aware of just how delicate she was compared to himself. Perhaps he should have been more specific and asked for a tall female…

  No, despite how small and vulnerable she was, he already could not imagine replacing her with another female.

  She didn’t say anything as she followed him to the flyer, her lips pinched tight with uncertainty. Poor female had to be nervous. This was an entirely new world, and now she was mated as well.

  “This must all be very new for you,” he said conversationally.

  She glanced up at him, her brows drawing up. “Didn’t they tell you… No, not too different. I mean, the planet is a surprise, to say the least. But the situation itself is not. I’ve been sent to five other males on four different planets and one space station. I’m afraid whoever handled your case neglected to tell you that you were getting a rejected mate.”

  Despite her careless grin, Grish heard the pain in her voice. Her other matched mates had thrown her away. He bit back a growl and attempted to regain control of his anger on her behalf before he said anything he would regret. He didn’t want to alarm her with the protective instincts already surging through him that demanded that he challenge each of the males who had hurt her. He gave her what he hoped was a charming smile as he spoke.

  “All the better that the males were foolish enough to part with you. They obviously weren’t the sort to appreciate a female and wisely left you for a male who could.”

  One corner of her mouth quirked upward. “That is really sweet. Nicely done.”

  “Bah, nothing nicely done about it when words are spoken in sincerity,” he replied with a snort of distaste. “You should know: Terils as a species do not flatter. We are fond of a good joke or boast, but false compliments are considered beneath us, an insult to the individual falsely praised. I would not so insult you.”

  Her lips parted in an expression of surprise before her mouth slowly closed. She gave a small thoughtful huff and shook her head. “Of all the things I’ve heard over the years, that is actually a new one for me.”

  Grish’s smile widened into a flirtatious grin as he activated the security locks on the flyer and stepped aside to allow the ramp to descend.

  “You will learn many new, interesting things with Teril mates.”

  The laughter that burst from her was genuine and full, her body shaking with it as her eyes teared. She was a joyous sight. Watching her amusement, he was certain that he was half in love with her already.

  Gesturing for her to precede him up the ramp, he followed his small mate inside the flyer. Unlike the cramped conditions that he and his brother dealt with, watching Crystal walk to the flight console, he was aware of just how little space she took up in the vessel. Taking a seat in the navigation station, she gave him an uncertain look as he dropped into the pilot seat beside her.

  “This is all… very big,” she observed as he input the flight coordinates.

  “We are a big species,” he replied. “It is overwhelming, I know, but we will do all we can to make you comfortable. Starting with this.”

  With a flourish, he pulled out a food storage container and unlocked it, the escaping cold air blowing across his face.

  “It is cold, but cold veriksnal is good. I hope you enjoy it, katna.”

  Crystal gave him a grateful look as she leaned forward and reached in to grab several strips of cold-stored veriksnal meat.

  “Thank you,” she murmured.

  Settling back once more, she began to eat, a sound of surprised pleasure escaping her at the first taste. Other than that little sound, they shared their meal together in silence, but Grish felt a deep satisfaction that he had provided well for his mate.

  Although he tried to keep himself occupied with his meal and with the controls of the flyer so as to not overwhelm her with too much of his company too soon, he found himself glancing at her as he mentally went over how he might proceed to win her affections. So far, he didn’t have much other than to not smother her, as his human friends advised when he sought them for advice. Hayley, the kind female mated to his Arobi friends, however, told him to be upfront with his desire and interest to avoid any misunderstandings.

  Be direct, but not overwhelming.

  He prayed he wouldn’t make a disaster of it.

  Hours passed, during which she drifted in and out of sleep. It wasn’t until they were approaching the farm that she roused herself and stretched. Squinting at the dark landscape lit only by the beams of the flyer, she sighed and shifted in her chair as he began their descent.

  Darting a curious glance his way, she cleared her throat. “Tell me, what sort of tech connection do you have at the farm?”

  Startled, Grish glanced down at her. His tiny human was inquiring about tech connections? He eased and laughed silently to himself. She must be worried that she would not have access to vids. He understood that humans enjoy their many entertainments.

  “We do have a long-distance comm. Though it’s not a wide-range intergalactic class that will allow you to comm Earth directly, we do have access to vids and long-distance contact with some of the neighboring systems,” he informed her as he began the landing procedures.

  “So I can link into the intergalactic data systems from your farm?” she asked, her eyes glittering with something fiercer than excitement, not even taking note of the subtle jerk of the flyer as it settled on the landing pad outside the domicile.

  “We may have to do some upgrades for full uplink ability,” he said slowly as he unbelted himself and stood, still uncertain what she would need it for, “but it would be easy enough.”

  Her face fell in disappointment, but she summoned up a strained smile as she also unstrapped and followed him to the exit port. “But not yet, huh? Out of curiosity, how long do the upgrades take?”

  Grish pursed his lips as he stopped in front of the door and considered. “I would have to comm a trader to bring the materials I would need and set up an account with the intergalactic server… Six lunar cycles, seven at maximum.”

  “Six or seven months…” she whispered. Her smile wobbled, and she appeared to stiffen her spine as if facing an adversary. It was fascinating to watch. “Sounds great. I really appreciate all the effort you’re willing to go through.”

  “A small effort for the happiness of our mate,” he soothed as he took her hand and led her out of the flyer.

  She halted the moment her feet hit the solid turf, confusion clouding her expression.

  “Our?”

  “My brother and me. You are our mate.”

  Her mouth dropped open, her eyes wide with shock. He wanted to soothe her, but the door of the domicile slammed open at that moment, light flooding over them.

  “Grish, you’re back. I was wondering what was taking you so… What in Engril’s name is that doing here?”

  “Excuse me? What the fuck do you mean by that?” Crystal snarled. She glared at Borth before turning a hard look back to him. “And again, what’s this ‘our’ bullshit? I don’t do multiple mates.”

  “In this case, you will not be,” Borth replied tersely. “Get her off our property now.”


  Chapter 3

  Crystal stared at the pale straw-colored Teril—supposedly her other mate—who had come from the house. Horror at the idea of being match mated to two huge males had been eclipsed by outrage at how he reacted to her presence and a very real fear that if Grish did exactly as his brother demanded, she would be returned to Earth.

  Do not pass Go. Do not collect two hundred dollars. She would be heading straight to jail.

  While at least there she would be safe from the Calystii, she hardly wanted to face a prison sentence for fraud, hacking, and a slew of other charges that the Mate Index legal team would manufacture. And unlike other women in the system, who were given a chance to start over through the Mate Index, she would no longer be eligible for that opportunity.

  She would have nothing to look forward to but many years in a prison cell.

  That was the one thing that gave her a pause and kept her from lashing out at being called “that.” Without that threat hanging over her head, she might have taken Borth at his word, told him to shove it, and demanded that Grish take her back into town.

  Clenching her jaw, she met his irate gaze with a hard glower. She wasn’t going to flip out on his ass, but she wasn’t going to let him to think that was acceptable either.

  “Not so fast, asshole. Despite the fact that I’m still trying to process here—because really, who the hell shares a mate with their brother?—I am not leaving just because you say so. Grish here has a contract with the Mate Index. He’s the only one who can ask me to leave. Furthermore,” she swallowed as she took a small breath, preparing to lie her ass off, “my contract obligates him to eight months minimum before he can terminate the contract.”

  Grish looked at her, his expression blank. She wasn’t sure if he knew that she was lying, but if he did, he didn’t let on to Borth. Instead, he shrugged.

  “Ah, if eight months it must be, then eight months it is. There is nothing to be done about it, Borth,” he said with all appearance of being apologetic to his brother.

  “No need to look so cheerful,” the other male snapped, his scales darkening with his increasing fury.

  Grish turned to her with a helpless look. “It seems I have erroneously angered my brother. As there’s little I can do to remedy it, I may at least set your mind at ease and inform you that we are not brothers by blood. There are some species who have evolved that way, such as the Edoka, but not the Teril. It seems the agent did not give you all the details either. I gave all the information regarding our culture and family unit to him. In our culture, males pair into uthaks to form a family unit with a female.”

  “Information that you do not need to know because it’s not happening,” Borth bit out, directing a scathing look at his brother, though his words were directed at her. When his eyes turned to her once more, the deep amber-red seemed almost ready to shoot flames from their depths. He was really angry. “I do not want a female here. Not you, not any female. The moment we are able to, we will be returning you to the Mate Index Distribution Program. Grish should never have sent for you.”

  “Yeah… well, unfortunately, he did. So now we all get to play nice for the next few months,” she bluffed, adopting a sharp tone that didn’t require much acting on her part.

  He was starting to piss her off. Yeah, he wasn’t happy. She got that. This wasn’t a picnic for her either, and it certainly wasn’t what she had asked for on her forged application, but she was adjusting. Given time, she could have become comfortable with the arrangement. But that wasn’t likely to happen.

  Grish was a nice guy, and she hated to lead him on and take advantage of him, but she didn’t see her and Borth coming around. Once again, she needed to look out for herself, even if being the cream filling in their enormous sex cookie was equally fascinating and terrifying.

  No, her days were obviously numbered, and she would need to take advantage of what little of it she would have to link into the intergalactic data streams, find a way to earn credits, and establish contacts.

  Borth squinted at her, and she adopted a bored expression, giving away nothing. Finally, he grunted and turned away from her, his gait stiff.

  “Very well. If we must endure the company of the female, then there’s nothing more I can do. Fair warning, brother: I will not be waiting on her or indulging her,” Borth grumbled. “She is not my mate. You brought her here—you deal with her and keep her out of my way until you can return her.”

  Grish gave her an apologetic look as the other male made his exit, his long tail slashing behind him. “He’s not usually so irritable. It is late and he worked in the fields all day. No doubt his leg is bothering him. It will be better in the morning.”

  It wasn’t better in the morning.

  Oh, Borth didn’t direct any more scathing observations or comments in her direction. He didn’t say anything at all to her. Instead, he acted as if she wasn’t there. His attention was entirely on the morning meal that he prepared for himself, leaving Grish to show her where the replicator was and familiarize her with the menu program. After he was certain that she had it, he retrieved the food he had selected for himself and went to sit beside Borth.

  Crystal frowned at the unappealing selections. There were variations of boiled grains and protein-laden stews of unidentifiable ingredients. Nothing looked close to what she would consider edible. Was this the crap they were living on? Why when they had such a large, well-equipped kitchen? They were farmers, for fuck’s sake. She was still trying to decide what she wanted when the males pushed back their chairs and stood.

  She had only been looking over the selections for a few minutes, and they were already done! She watched in surprise as they carried their dishes to the dish sanitation unit and neatly put them inside without a word. It was such an obvious routine that she almost felt sorry for just how staid their lives, going through the motions in the morning as they prepared to go out into the fields. It was efficient, sure, but it was all so stiff and practiced that it didn’t seem at all like a couple of guys comfortable in their own home, getting ready for the day.

  Borth didn’t look her way as he walked by her, his massive body moving with almost soundless grace despite his size and the supportive brace around his knee. Grish followed close behind him but stopped when he reached her side. He seemed disconcerted that she had yet to eat and gave her a worried glance.

  “You should eat something, katna.”

  She grimaced and made an uncomplimentary grunt at the idea.

  “I will. It’s just hard to choose.”

  He gave her a doubtful look but nodded.

  “Good. Eat and rest today. I will be back to check on you at midday.”

  Hours of nothing to do to occupy herself in an empty farmhouse. Let the good times roll.

  Sighing, she eyed him, reluctant for him to leave. “Why do you call me that?”

  “It is a term of endearment that males enjoy calling their mates,” he answered with an easy smile.

  “I think your brother would disagree with that usage.”

  “As you say, he has eight lunar cycles to get used to the idea,” Grish laughed.

  One large hand ruffled her shoulder-length hair before he too left, following his brother out.

  “Be sure to eat something!” he yelled back just as he stepped outside of the dwelling, the door sealing behind him.

  Sighing, she looked back at the display menu again. Boiled grain snot with questionable fruit topping it was. At least she hoped that was fruit.

  It wasn’t fruit. It was some sort of red sponge cake-like bits mixed in with the gruel, obviously intended to sweeten and provide some texture. The first bite made her instinctively gag as the mush coated her tongue. She wondered if the plain grain snot would have been easier to consume. The taste wasn’t so horrible if one could get beyond the texture. For Crystal, there was no going beyond it. But half a lifetime of her mamá telling her not to be wasteful meant that she choked down every bite.

  With that orde
al endured, Crystal put her bowl with those of the Ugaar brothers and set about exploring. She didn’t know shit about what needed to be maintained around a farmhouse, but it definitely wasn’t cleaning. She was nearly run down by a hip-high droid that powered through the entrance into the kitchen.

  She watched after it for a moment before continuing on her way farther into the house, taking a left at the fork in the hallway just outside the kitchen. A quick investigation revealed that the entire place was clean to a point near unattainable for human standards by several roaming droids of various sizes.

  The house was pretty unremarkable. There was a cleansing unit, one large bedroom and four others. She wondered if the “brothers” shared the large room intended for them and their mate or if they spread out among the rooms. Her room had been vacant, but there was more than enough space for them each to have a room or two for their own use. She peeked into each one, unsurprised to find every room immaculate.

  If she wasn’t mistaken, they were not staying together in the larger room, but neither did they have many belongings to give a true sense of having a presence in their rooms. As someone who always vigorously marked out her territory with photos and color that made a statement of who she was, the emptiness of their rooms disturbed her on a personal level. Who didn’t surround themselves with beautiful things and little mementos of cherished memories?

  Frowning, she stepped back out into the hallway and looked at the blank walls with a critical eye. Not a picture or a single work of art or spiritual homage. Nothing around her gave her any sense of the brothers.

  Having gone as far as she could, she turned around and traced her steps back through the hall, passing the kitchen once more until she arrived at a large room. The first sign of character was an enormous stuffed couch that sat in the middle of the room, turned to face one wall.

  There were no armrests. Rather, the high back seemed to frame all three sides with thick padding that looked comfortable to lean upon. The material a dark charcoal gray, it appeared soft and inviting. As she approached, the viewscreen taking up the entirety of one wall blinked on, startling her. The light blue screen flashed in waiting mode while she collected her thoughts. This was a newer model than anything she had on Earth, though she knew at least one of her previous mates had something similar. Seldom did she have the freedom to access one before she was sent back.