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The look he gives her is full of pride and heat.
I clear my throat, reminding them of my presence. “D’see, you spoke of the ancestors. What does this have to do with the cave and the missing fruit?”
“Oh. Right.” She smooths a hand on her mane, flustered, and pulls her gaze away from O’jek and his “strong” hands. “Well, O’jek and I were talking, and if there are bots in the cave, there should be a manual uploaded on the ship somewhere as to how they were built or how they work. And Penny’s mention of the writing on the walls made me wonder if they left a message for someone else on how to run them. I thought it might be worth looking at what was left at the ship for some clues.”
It is not a bad idea. If D’see can read the ancestors’ words, perhaps she will uncover other secrets they have left for us to find. “Would it not be wiser to go to the fruit cave and look for these baahts ourselves?”
“Yes and no,” D’see says. “Just because the bots are in the fruit cave doesn’t mean that the maintenance manuals are, whereas any decent computer would have records like that available. You wouldn’t believe the amount of knowledge that could be stored on machines, even ones that are a thousand years old. And I could be wrong. It might not be bots at all, and then we’d just be under-foot if it really is metlaks stealing the fruit.”
“And R’hosh and R’kh said they do not want females anywhere near the caves while this goes on. If it is dangerous, I will not risk D’see.” O’jek gives his mate a possessive look. “I will take her to the ancestors’ cave, but not to the fruit cave.”
It is a sensible plan, and one we could do without involving the other clans.“You should not go alone. All of Shadow Cat should join you.”
This time, O’jek and D’see exchange a look. “We’ve talked about that,” D’see says. “Bridget and Raven have little kids and it’s heck trying to travel with little ones. I wouldn’t ask them to make such a trip. I thought it might be better to go just me and O’jek.”
“Bah,” I say, irritated. She is right, but she has completely overlooked me and my mate. “F’lor and I will join you, then.”
“Um.” D’see bites her lip again and glances at O’jek.
O’jek chops with great determination, not looking in my direction. “It is just…you both are resonating right now. Very hard.”
“So?”
“So it might be distracting for you both,” O’jek continues. “D’see and I know how it feels.”
D’see looks over at her mate again, her expression soft with adoration. “We’ve finished resonating and I still want to throw him down in the furs several times a day. This stuff takes a while to settle down.”
O’jek gives his female a heated look, and I grow distinctly uncomfortable at just how very interested they are in one another. I have no desire to see O’jek claim his female while we are trying to have a conversation. “F’lor can handle it. She is very strong and capable.”
“What about you?” O’jek asks, amused. “Can you handle it?”
“Bah. I am fine. I am not weak with hunger for my mate. We will go with you and we will see what the ancestors said about baahts in their caves. When do we leave?”
D’see looks to O’jek, who shrugs. “In the morning? If you say you are not troubled by resonance…we will pack our things tonight and ready for the journey.”
I nod. “It is decided, then. I will pack and let F’lor know we leave with you.”
FLOR
I wait for Tia to seek me out and get everything off her chest. I’m sure she will. She has to be feeling a lot of things right now. Hell,I’mfeeling a lot of things right now. I try to put myself in her position, though. I try to imagine what it’d be like if R’jaal had resonated to her and it was just me and I’rec left, unresonated. But every time I think of it, I think of I’rec and his smug smile that makes me crazy and how he touches me. How it feels to have him deep inside me when we have sex, and how he watches me with that intense gaze, as if he wants to devour me whole. As if he can’t get enough of me.
So I’m having a hard time picturing anything but our resonance, and I guess that makes me feel vaguely guilty, too.
Despite I’rec’s distractions, I was able to catch a pair of fat, nice-looking fish. I’m going to cook them as if I’m preparing a feast, and then offer them to the ocean as an apology in case I’ve offended any unseen spirits here in this world. My mother was both Catholic and a huge believer in the old ways, so I’ve been taught to pray to a saint on one hand and make an offering on the other. I think of her now as I gut and scale the fish.
Sure enough, the flap to my hut opens, and Tia storms in without asking for permission. It’s the height of rudeness, but I ignore it, because I’m guessing she’s too worked up to be polite right now. She immediately glares around my hut, her gaze landing on the extra-large pile of furs that make up our joined bedding. “I’m told I’rec’s living with you now,” she says in a tight voice. “And I get his empty hut.”
“Sounds about right,” I say calmly. It’s on the tip of my tongue to apologize, but I’m not sure that I have anything to apologize for. Sorry about my biology? Sorry my khui didn’t pay attention to yours? Sorry we’re being showered in bad luck that’s making this mess happen? “Look, Tia—”
She closes her eyes and raises a hand in the air. “Don’t. Don’t even bother to tell me you tried to fight it off, because we both know you didn’t.”
“We didn’t,” I admit. “Resonance is impossible to ignore. I can’t imagine holding out when it hits you. It’s like your entire brain gets rewired and all you can think about is fucking.”
“So you fucked my boyfriend,” she says flatly.
“Was he yours? He wasn’t sure.” I tried to be polite about this, but now I’m bristling. She makes it sound like I’m a home wrecker. “Because I’rec had me read your letters to him over and over again, to the point that I practically memorized them. And I can tell you that there was never anything in any of them that would have given him hope that you two were a couple. You never told him you loved him or that you missed him. All you talked about were herbs and whatyouwere up to. You never asked abouthim. Do you know how many times I watched him hope for some sort of personal note from you? Something? And each time I watched how disappointed he was when there wasn’t one? So you can say I’rec is a lot of things, but he isn’t a cheater, and he damn sure isn’t your fucking boyfriend.”
Tia flinches.
