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Kind of.
The silence stretched between us.
“I guess there’s nothing left to discuss right now,” I said. I pulled up my hood and put on my sunglasses.
Gahn Errok didn’t answer. Instead, he watched me with the dark intensity of a panther.
I pushed off from the stone wall and started to walk through the clearing, back towards the stone tunnel we’d come through. I’d almost expected him to just stay where he was, staring at my back moodily as I left.
But he didn’t.
Goosebumps prickled along my skin as he fell into step directly behind me, looming over me like some kind of grumpy shadow.
“Thought you were just going to stay back there,” I said.
“Please. You cannot think so little of me as that. No worthy Gahn would let his mate be alone out where it is dangerous,” he grumbled.
“I can take care of myself,” I stated flatly.
His next words were a clawed caress down my spine.
“Not as well as I can.”
Thankfully, the next few steps brought us out into the open air, letting the hot sunlight burn away the oddly cooling shiver of his words.
The group of human women who’d been watching Gahn Errok’s single-competitor strongman competition had mostly dispersed. My closest friends, Nasrin, Tilly, and Fiona had remained nearby, along with several warriors. Clearly, they’d been waiting to make sure I didn’t start screaming something like, “Help, I’m suffocating under the weight of this alien’s astronomical ego!”
I nodded at them to let them know everything was OK, then turned around to face Gahn Errok.
“You’ll be heading back now,” I said, the words more a statement than a question.
But he sliced his hand through the air.
“No. I will remain until your departure.”
Great. So, this guy is going to be strutting around here annoying everyone for the rest of the day and tonight?
“Won’t that mean we get to the mountains before you do? The shuttle has to be faster than riding a braxilk back,” I asked.
“Yes. That is what will happen.”
His sight stars flashed, his jaw working obstinately.
Oh my God. He wants to make sure I actually follow through and go.
“I am going,” I said, annoyed by his doubt. “I said I would, and Iam. I already decided I would.”
“Every expectation and belief I held about our first meeting has been utterly dashed. Forgive me for wanting to confirm this one simple thing with my own sight stars,” he growled. There was a sarcastic bite to his words.
Forgive me. Yeah right.He didn’t seem the type to ask either for permission or forgiveness.
“Alright. Whatever.” It would only be for another 24 hours, tops. Probably not even that long. We’d be leaving early tomorrow morning. Then, I’d be able to focus on getting the new settlement set up instead of the ferocious drag of opalescent sigh stars along my skin.
I hurried over to the group of my waiting friends. Together, we walked away from the brooding mountain Gahn.
But even as my feet took me further and further from him, the distance seemed only to diminish.
Moment by moment, his sight stars grew stronger and harder at my back. More demanding, more desperate. I could physically feel them, hooking into me like talons.
