Chapter Thirteen
Ines
The whole compound knows about us.
I blame Texon. He told Chief, who told his brothers, who told their wives, and in about twenty seconds every single being under this roof knew that he has scented me and believes we are confirmed mates. I’m a journalist who has chased stories across New Earth for years and I have never, in my entire career, seen news spread this fast.
“Twenty seconds,” I mutter to myself as I walk through the common area on my way to the kitchen. “Twenty. Seconds.”
Lila looks up from where she’s folding laundry on the couch. “Good morning.”
“Morning.”
“You look tired.”
“I am tired.”
She grins. Not a sympathetic grin. Aknowinggrin. “Mm-hmm.”
“Don’t.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You were about to.”
She laughs and goes back to folding.
This has been happening for two days now. The knowing looks and the soft smiles from the other women who live here, in the compound. Naomi hugged me yesterday morning and held on for a solid thirty seconds, which was lovely but also made me want to crawl under the table.
Even Scar grunted at me in a way that I’m pretty sure was approval. Roxy actually squealed.Squealed.The woman who lectures about molecular bonding while holding a glowing crystal of infinite cosmic power straight-up squealed at me like we were teenagers at a sleepover.
It’s sweet and also hilarious because we haven’t even done anything yet.
That’s the problem.
I have spent two entire nights lying next to Texon of Twenty-Four in his enormous bed, both of us fully clothed, both of us wearing the green gloves of the unmated, and we have not touched. Not once. Not a brush of fingers, or a quick kiss, not even an accidental leg against a leg.
I want to kiss him so badly it hurts. I want to climb him like one of the trees in the Timbur jungle and do things to him that would make Lila’s knowing grin look like amateur hour. Texon might be a virgin, but I’m not and I know exactly how much I’d love that enormous cock of his to be sliding inside of me.
Meanwhile Texon remains completely dormant. He’s not aroused and sleeps next to me like a monk. His body is just… waiting. Annoyingly patient.
“When we clasp hands and I become enflamed, I’ll take care of you,” he told me last night, when I was practically vibrating with frustration. I had thoughts of masturbating right there, while in bed next to him, or take care of myself in the shower atthe very least. But I’ve decided to hold on a little longer, so the first time we’re together will be as explosive as we both want.
I pour myself a cup of coffee and try to remember that the fate of his family and the collapse of this conspiracy are more important than my personal need to see what this male looks like naked.
Priorities.
An hour later,Chief finds me alone at the kitchen table. He’s already dressed for the mine even though he isn’t going in today. None of them are.
“The story?” he asks.
I smile up at him. “It’s finally ready. I can transmit it in under a minute.”
“Good.” He sits across from me. “And you’re sure about this?”
“About the story, or about tonight?”
“Both.”
