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A shadow flies overhead.
I pause, gazing up at the sky as A’tar, the golden dragon, flies in fancy circles over the encampment. On his back are two laden baskets, and as I watch, a head pops out of one of them.
Oh no. T’ia.
This morning grows from bad to worse.
“I’rec, there you are.” O’jek turns and sees me, his face alight with happiness. “I have heard you and F’lor are to be congratulated. Have you heard that D’see is finally mine and I am hers?”
I grunt, hugging the bowl of gruel to my chest. I want to race away and find F’lor so we can meet T’ia together, but she is down on the beach and O’jek is dragging D’see toward me. The pretty female O’jek has lusted after for so long smiles at me, her expression sweet. “I hope you’re not too disappointed.”
“Why would I be disappointed?”
“Because I know you don’t like me.” D’see gives O’jek another radiant smile, taking his hand in hers and squeezing it. “You never have. But I’ve turned over a new leaf.”
Why do I care if she is turning over leaves? What does that have to do with anything? “There will be more Shadow Cat clan. I do not see a problem with anything.” I watch as a few of the others stand and head for the slope to the north, where A’tar will land. I need to get away, to find F’lor on the beach and pull her from her fishing. Make her eat, and then we will talk to T’ia together. She will see that we are meant to be mates, and it will all be explained easily. But I need to make sure I find F’lor first.
“You have always been dismissive of D’see in the past,” O’jek comments. He puts both hands on his mate’s shoulders and gives her a gentle push toward me. “I would have you tell her she is welcome.”
Distracted, I try to move toward the beach. The look on O’jek’s face is determined, though. He stands at D’see’s side, and she looks worried. As if I have time for this?
“I do not care,” I say, and I mean it. If they are happy, I am truly unbothered. I have bigger things to deal with. I gaze over O’jek’s shoulder. T’ia has dismounted and is searching the crowd gathered nearby. The pit of my stomach sinks as I see her gaze lock on me. She races across the sands toward me, a wide smile on her face.
I panic.
“I must go and find F’lor,” I say to D’see and O’jek. “We will speak later.”
“Oh, I see Flor right now,” D’see tells me, nodding at something behind me. “Here she comes up the beach.”
“I’rec,” T’ia cries in that moment, pushing past O’jek and D’see. She flings her arms around me and kisses me on the mouth, the gruel in my hands smashing against my chest in a hot, sludgy mess. She makes a happy sound, her arms dragging around my neck as she hauls me down against her and her tongue pushes against my lips.
That does it. I jerk backward, horrified, and swipe the back of my hand over my mouth. The taste of her is…awful. “Pfaugh!”
She gasps, recoiling as if stung. “I’rec? What the fuck?”
Her scent is in my nose, and the taste of her lingers on my lips, awful and invasive. I turn my head, spitting upon the beach to try and rinse the taste from my mouth. I rub my lips again, and when I look up, everyone is staring at me.
D’see and O’jek have wide eyes. T’ia’s expression is full of shock and hurt. And the rest of the tribe—W’la and Gren, R’kh and H’rlow, D’vi and N’dek, and all the others stare at me as if I have committed some sort of atrocity. As if I am the one to blame.
V’ronca rushes up to A’tar’s side, the big golden male striding toward us. “Ashtar,” she cries. “You were supposed to say something!”
“I was in battle form,” he tells her, and then nods in T’ia’s direction. “I’m supposed to tell you that I’rec resonated to someone else.”
“Ashtar,” V’ronca says again, a groan in her voice. She puts a hand to her forehead. “Seriously.”
“He what?” T’ia looks at me with utter betrayal.
“I was in battle form. She is not psychic. What was I supposed to do?” A’tar gestures at T’ia, who continues to regard me with distress. “We only stopped at the fruit cave, and we were too far away for me to receive my mate’s thoughts. After that, we came straight here. By the time I was in range to tell her, it was quicker to just land.” He shrugs. “It seemed smarter to return instead of leave again, return to Croatoan, shift, tell her, see if she wants to stay, and then return.”
V’ronca just smacks her forehead again.
“You resonated?” T’ia asks me, her voice so full of hurt that it makes me ache. “And you didn’t tell me?”
As if this is all some plan of mine? “It was on the day that A’tar left. There was no way for me to tell you.”
Her gaze leaves me and she stares at something over my shoulder. My heart plummets. When I turn, I see F’lor standing in the distance, a stony expression on her face. I wipe my mouth again, and she glares at me.
Well now, this is much worse.
