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“Oh, it gets worse when you realize Ashtar left this morning before it happened,” Veronica says. “And he’s bringing Tia back just in time for her to realize her long-distance boyfriend just resonated to someone else.”
My stomach clenches in pity for all of them, and I reach for O’jek’s hand. He takes mine in his and kisses my fingertips. No matter what happens, we have each other…but it’s not going to be quiet and drama-free on the beach for the next few months.
Not at all.
Even so, is it wrong to feel relieved and possessive all at once? O’jek is mine. Mine, mine, mine. The thought rings in my head, full of jubilation. My perfect mate, my supportive, adoring, handsome O’jek, has always been meant to be mine.
And he was absolutely worth waiting for.
EPILOGUE
O’JEK
Months Later
I climb the cliffs, wrapping my tail around a scraggly plant to anchor myself as I move higher and higher.
“Nothing on my side,” S’ssah calls out, a short distance away from me. “Do you see anything on yours?”
I haul myself up to the next ledge and peer out, looking for rounded white blobs hidden amongst the rocky crevices and jagged stone that make up the cliffs. I know I saw dirt-beaks here a few days ago, hovering near this area. And when I passed over the trail yesterday, I could have sworn I had seen a nest. Today, however, it seems to be eluding me.
But I refuse to return home to my mate empty-handed, so I continue to climb.
“There,” S’ssah cries out, hauling himself a bit higher. “Two hand-spans higher and to the right of you. Can you get it?”
Climbing, I follow his instructions, pulling myself up, and then I spot the treasure we have spent all afternoon hunting for. A dirt-beak nest is lodged into a crevice between two thicker bands of rock, and four large eggs wait inside.
My pretty D’see will be so pleased. She has spoken of eggs for days now. “Four,” I tell him. “A good number.”
“Two for each of our mates,” he agrees with a broad grin, “if they are feeling greedy and do not want to share. One for each and two for others, if they do.”
I give him a look.
“You’re right,” he says with a guffaw. “That was foolish of me. Two for your mate, two for mine.”
Reaching out, I carefully pluck one egg and put it in the cradle of my fur-stuffed pouch. “I do not know about Sam, but D’see has been obsessed with eggs. She even dreams of them.”
“I caught her licking a stone yesterday,” he admits. “She says she wished to know what it tasted like.” S’ssah shakes his head. “Expecting females have weird hungers.”
I grunt at that, delicately picking up another egg. My face feels hot at S’ssah’s comment, because D’see has had all kinds of hungers while carrying our child, and not all of them are for food. Last night she brought out oil and insisted upon putting a finger deep inside me while she sucked on my cock and…my face grows hot at the memory. Johani taught her strange things.
And I am strange too, because I enjoy them.
If S’ssah notices I am quiet, he does not comment upon it. I tuck the remaining two eggs in the fur and make sure that each one is wrapped individually so they do not bounce against each other as I descend. “All good,” I manage, and clear my throat. “Let us return to camp.”
And I will try not to think about where D’see had her fingers last night.
When we return to the village, I split the eggs with S’ssah, who races off to show his mate the treats we have found. For today, we have come back successful, at least. Tomorrow, the cravings might change and we will have to go on another hunt of some kind.
It does not matter. Whatever D’see wants, I will bring back for her. I will happily climb every cliff if it means finding the eggs D’see craves. Cradling the eggs to my chest, I jog over to the hut I share with my mate. She is in charge of the evening meal tonight, but I do not see her by the fire, which means she is napping or she does not feel well.
I hope she is simply napping. D’see has had a good pregnancy thus far, but I worry about her. I will always worry about her.
I scratch at the covering to the hut and then duck inside. Sure enough, my mate is resting on the furs, her cheek pressed to her curled fist as she sleeps. She faces the fire pit, which has gone out, but I cannot be mad. The kit inside her belly makes her so sleepy that she falls asleep at the blink of an eye. D’see will be upset that she let the fire go out, though, because she frets that she will disappoint me. I drop down next to the fire and dig in the dead coals, looking for a hint of red. When I find one, I lean in close and blow upon it until they come back to life, and then I add a bit of fuel, building the flame again. I tuck the eggs into the ashes at the edge of the pit and leave them there to cook, then move to my mate’s side and join her in the furs.
