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“And I have no idea what a charka is, but clearly, I’m being one right now.”
S’Tou begins chuckling until I glare at him. He stops while looking at me then Cinq. “Sorry, but you were fierce and biting. If that isn’t a slarka, I don’t know what is.”
I hold up a hand. “Whatever.” Facing Cinq, I let him know, “Consider us unmatched because I’m not feeling this whole mate thing.”
Cinq, rubs his face, muttering, “It’s not that simple.”
“Fine, I don’t care. Undo it and I either want my own bed or the couch.”
“Fine. We’re unmatched.” His amber eyes chill me as he adds, “We’re no longer bondmates or anything else.”
“Good,” I snap, shivering. The cold starts to sink in now that I’m not furious. My voice was raspy with the last word, probably from the chill and my hollering. I clear my throat. “Can we go back now?”
“We? You want to return with us? With me?” Cinq asks.
“I do since I really have no choice.” I press the space between my eyes for a second or two. “It’s too cold to sleep out here and the cavern’s large room is too uncomfortable. Plus, it’s partly the bathroom.”
“Excellent points. I suppose I’ll have to find a way to keep you safe until you hitch the next ride off world, even if it means you’re protected by me.” He begins examining his injured hand as if the bite is far more interesting than any comment I might have. “Something you’re clearly adverse to.”
I also look at his hand. Yes, there’s some guilt involved even though I’ve seen worse bites from a three year old. The skin isn’t broken at all and I barely left deep dents. “I know you’ve told me the empire won’t allow me to go home but I have to try. Plus, forcing me stay here won’t make me your mate. It’ll just end up hating you.”
He looks up from his injury and to me through his eyelashes. “You don’t already?”
Damn it, those sexy, ‘don’t hate me eyes,” of his. “Not yet.”
His face likes up like all is forgiven, but I don’t stop frowning even as he says, “Good. Let’s go back to the habitat. I’m hungry and don’t like being out here so soon after a Gharian ship’s been here.”
The last thing I want to do while this angry is return with any of them. Except Quin because he’s nice. Nilt, too, because he’s decent. Then, S’Tou, while he might be a Gharian, wasn’t stopping me from leaving. Okay, so it’s Cinq I don’t want to be anywhere near until I cool down a bit. He’s giving me a slight smile right now. The jerk is decent looks, a great lover, and does care for me in a very misguided way. Yeah, I just need a little while to think things through. Planning another angle of attack for getting back to Earth and taking Cinq with me will improve my mood.
Nilt has already turned back to the cave. Quin pats me on the shoulder and follows him with S’Tou behind both men. Cinq’s looking at me with an expectant expression. I can’t figure out why until it hits me. He wants to bring up the rear to protect me, us. I sigh, because this alone time was way too short, and get moving toward the cave. After a little ways, I glance back at him to find he’s looking at me. Yep, he’s acting like my mate whether I like it or not.
I sigh and turn my focus ahead. The path gets a little tricky with the tree roots. When I ran through before, I just vaulted over them. But now that I’m tired, they’re tougher to deal with. The way back seems a lot longer than the way out here. The time gives me a chance to think about what happens when we’re at the cave again. How to get back to my mom on Earth while, I don’t know. Can I even begin to hide my self-professed mate?
Climbing over a particularly high root, I glance back at Cinq, who’s waiting for me. He doesn’t seem impatient, so I pause to ask, “What happens if there’s an accident and I’m the only one left at the cave?”
“Not possible,” he replies as I sort of let myself fall over to the other side. He lets me move back before he climbs over, too, making doing so look easy. “We would all keep you safe.”
I go on, the idea taking shape in my mind as to how it’d happen. “Look, you might have nanos, but you can’t predict the future. Anything could happen.”
“Like?”
“I don’t know. A cave in?” I look back at him. “You’re worried about deletion with your tech. What if it damages your brain and the others decide to stop hanging around? You’re in a coma or something similar with only me here to help you.”
“Us alone on a deserted planet? What a horrible fate,” he teases before laughing. “I won’t mind you nursing me back to health.”
I walk a little faster, more irritated by his casual attitude about being trapped here. He might not mind, but I do. The man has no idea what it’s like to be an infirm person’s caregiver. “Damn it, Cinq. This isn’t funny,” comes out of me, harsh from emotions and the air I’m trying to breathe. “I can’t hunt for medicinal plants and have no idea what’s good to eat around here. We would both die a slow, lingering death.” If breathing didn’t hurt so much, I’d jog to get home, or their home, faster. I cough, my breath a little wheezy. I try to keep walking but can’t. The coughing makes me want to barf.
Cinq catches up to me. “I was afraid of this.” He puts a hand on my forehead. “What’s a normal body temperature for Earthers?”
“96.8 Fahrenheit?” I reply, wondering if the measurement would translate properly. “I don’t know what it’d be in Kelvin or Celsius.”
“It doesn’t matter. I downloaded your planet’s conversions, too.” His hand falls. He begins tearing off his sleeve from the shoulder. I gasp at him ripping up a perfectly good shirt, but he ignores me. “You’re cool, not fighting infection. Let’s get you into shelter and into filtered air.” He gives me the sleeve. “Wrap this around your nose and mouth.”
“The cave has filtered air?” I ask, doing as he’s instructed and continuing our trek to ‘home’ when he nods ahead
“Yes, it does. Aard brought me an air scrubber soon after I first landed. I didn’t have nanos of any kind and needed one.”
My mouth muffled, I want to know more. “How did I not know about the air?”
