Page 19 of The Hummingbird’s Gift

Rohahen looked so pleased that Tier had to give him another kiss. “I did. I told them that you balance me. That I want you to be my mate.”

Rohahen leaned back into his embrace. Tier cupped his face, kissing his lips, his forehead, the salty liquid gathering at the corners of his eyes. “Don’t cry, beautiful. Unless they’re happy tears?”

Rohahen nodded, then shook his head, then nodded again.

Rohahen twisted out from under him, and he reluctantly let him go. Tier couldn’t ever remember fighting so hard just to move back a few inches.

His mate arranged himself, legs crossed, on the ground. He was gorgeous in the moonlight. Tier settled onto the ground facing him, their knees just touching. Even that small press of skin was driving him to distraction. Especially since Rohahen was still so naked, with his delicious cock on display.

But all of that was unimportant if Rohahen didn’t want this, too.

Rohahen stared at the dark space between their crossed legs. “You might not want to make the tribe understand this. But I felt like I should tell you first. Even if it means...” he squeezed his eyes together, like he didn’t want to finish the sentence, “that you don’t want me anymore.”

Tier’s mind raced, but he couldn’t think of anything that would deter him from his course. “There is a lot that I would accept if it means that you’re mine.” He rubbed Rohahen’s thighs soothingly. “Tell me now.”

Rohahen looked up at the moon, like it would give him guidance. Maybe it would.

Finally he spoke, his voice soft. “You know how some people are transgender?”

Tier nodded. He didn’t know a lot, but he’d gotten the gist. Tier wasn’t sure what he was supposed to say. Unless… “Are you saying that you want to be a woman?” That would… definitely change things. He couldn’t quite see it, but if it was what Rohahen needed, he supposed he would figure it out.

Rohahen shook his head with a pained laugh. “No, not that.”

Rohahen huddled up with his knees to his chest. That wasn’t how strength-sharers behaved. Rohahen had never acted much like a strength-sharer which was, honestly, one of the reasons Tier was so attracted to him. He had a sense of where this was going now, but he still didn’t want to make assumptions.

“Rohahen,” he said gently, “will you tell me?”

Rohahen looked around the clearing. The trees, the brush, the grass under his fingers. Anywhere but at Tier. Finally, he spoke, so faintly that Tier would have missed it if not for his shifter hearing. “I think I’m not a strength-sharer.”

“You want to be a heart-singer,” he breathed out. It wasn’t just Tier’s twisted desires, but what Rohahen wanted, too. He still didn’t quite understand it, but this was better than anything he’d expected.

Rohahen looked up at him nervously. Even with his head tucked to his knees, he was a large man. But he seemed so vulnerable now.

Tier rested one hand on Rohahen’s knee, a spark racing through him at even that light touch. “Is that right? Do you want to be a heart-singer?”

Rohahen still looked concerned. “I don’t think I want to be a heart-singer. I think I just am a heart-singer.”

The idea of somehow transmuting a gift was completely foreign, like the world had been shaken and put back together differently. But maybe those gifts weren’t what made someone a heart-singer or strength-sharer, anyway. “So, you’re a heart-singer,” he said, liking how it felt on his tongue. Rohahen was his heart-singer.

He wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do differently, though. Rohahen seemed to be waiting for something more. “Should I… or do I say that… um…” He couldn’t quite figure out a question.

Rohahen shrugged, still curled in a timid ball. “I have no idea.”

“Do you want to… talk to someone? Like one of the shamans, or a doctor, or maybe a therapist or…”

Rohahen gave him a glare. “I’m not sick.” He breathed out. “Sorry. Not that there’s anything wrong with any of that. And I probably will talk with someone eventually.”

“OK, alright. What do you want to do then?” He considered. “Or who do you want to be? I’m not sure how to ask that question.”

Thinking of Rohahen as a heart-singer would probably come slowly to some members of the tribe, but he hadn’t been the only one who noticed it. It seemed obvious, really, once he knew it was a possibility. If other people didn’t understand at first, they would get there.

Rohahen’s voice came out small. “I’d like to… I’d like to be able to do the things that a heart-singer would do. You know, have people come to me for advice, take care of people who need it.”

“You already do that,” he said immediately. “You’re already the heart of the tribe.” Rohahen couldn’t chant the heart, but he soothed and encouraged so well with his voice and body language. The whole tribe came to him. This was the argument that he’d made to the Council of Elders, that Rohahen already served the tribe by keeping the peace and being everyone’s emotional support.

Tier relied on him because he was thoughtful and creative, able to mediate and lead with calm words, insightful critiques, and honest praise. Like the best Guides, he was savvy to people’s moods and able to handle complex situations that Tier didn’t often have the patience for. He knew that together they would balance the tribe.

He’d gone over all of the possibilities with the Elders earlier. This wasn’t one that they’d spoken of much, since it was so unusual, but he hadn’t been the only one to think of it.