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“Any chance you’d do a segment with us?” Ashley asked. “We’re interviewing everyone who’s able and sharing the footage with the surface. Nothing’s live,” she hastened to add.
I gulped and grabbed my juice since it suddenly felt like some egg was lodged in my throat. Could I do an interview? Fuck, I wasn’t sure I could. Even if it was just me in a recorded segment, the story would be picked up by every other station and dissected by their talking heads and so-called experts. The right-wing media would eviscerate me.
“Can I think about it?” I managed to ask.
Ashley patted my arm. “Of course! Take your time. But you are the one that everyone’s desperate to hear from, Owen. We want to know what you know.”
It might’ve been easier if they’d just gotten mad at me.
CHAPTER 7
PYSINA
Two days later, after Owen left our quarters to get breakfast with his escort, I placed a call to my family home back on Nor. I’d let them know I was fine after the bomb so they wouldn’t worry, but now I had questions for my father about being mated. Worries and fears that I hoped he could abate.
“Pysina!” he said with a beaming smile the second the connection established. He smoothed back the white hairs around his mouth, and I knew he’d probably just had a torsa cake, his favorite snack. “How are you? No more explosions, I trust?”
I resisted rolling my eyes. “No more explosions, Father.”
He squinted at the screen. “Then tell me why your frown lines seem deeper than usual. Are the humans misbehaving? Are you making less progress?”
I ignored his questions since he knew I wasn’t actively involved with the delegation and got straight to the point instead. “I’ve found my mate in one of the visiting humans. A man named Owen Devin.”
His eyes slowly widened and his mouth popped open before he suddenly hollered, “Feesia! Connect in! He’s found his mate!”
I sighed. I should’ve known he’d make a thing of it. While the background behind him seemed to indicate that he was out in the back garden, my mother joined from her workshop, paint already streaking her face.
“A mate?” she said in lieu of greeting. “Who is it? You haven’t told us about anyone since that Khess who broke?—”
“They’re a human man,” Father interrupted. “Straight up from the surface! What was his name again? Oden?”
“Owen,” I said patiently.
Mother made a whining sound and clasped both hands against her chest. “Finding love during such trying times… How romantic!”
I shifted around and cleared my throat. “Actually, that’s one of the reasons I wanted to discuss this with…you.” I’d wanted my father’s perspective since he’d been the one to recognize that they were mates long before Mother accepted it, but I couldn’t cut her out of the conversation now.
“Mmm, yes,” Father said, “that does add another layer of complexity.”
At least he understood. “On top of this being my first mating, him being human and only knowing Norlons exist for the past few months, and his father having been the bomber…”
“Oh dear,” Mother whispered.
“Well, let’s focus on one thing at a time,” Father said, and I was relieved to hear it. “As a first mating, you’re probably questioning everything you’re doing—but don’t. Fate has seen fit to toss the two of you together, so trust that your compatibility is infinite. Your instincts will guide you, and you need to listen to them.”
While Mother nodded in clear agreement, I considered what my instincts had been telling me so far. In truth, it wasn’t much beyond marking and claiming Owen as often as possible. Well, no, over the past two days we’d discussed his concerns over how the other visiting humans perceived him, whether he should talk to the news crew officially, and what he was learning about Norlon culture and our offerings to the humans of Earth. I’d been honest with him during every conversation, so I must’ve been trusting my instincts there as well as in bed.
“And don’t worry about him being human,” Father continued. “They aren’t so different from us. I think you might need to watch your claws and teeth a bit more than normal, but if your instincts say to do something, do it.”
“Exactly,” Mother said. “My friend Ipsy—you know Ipsy—her mate is human and she said he never responds better than when she treats him no differently than any other Norlon lover she’s ever had.”
I didn’t want to discuss with my parents the details of my sex life with my new mate—or Ipsy’s with hers—but what they were saying made sense. Every encounter I’d had with Owen had seen me following my urges, and Owen had reacted with hearty approval each time. I wasn’t holding back my claws and teeth because he loved to feel them on his delicate skin, so I didn’t need to worry about that either.
“Trust in our compatibility,” I said with a nod.
“Too right,” Father said. “Communication is key, of course, and much of that isn’t spoken, but you’re together for a reason. This business with his father, though…”
“Owen holds not a single one of his father’s beliefs,” I said, feeling suddenly defensive of him.
