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“Yeah,” Pip said. “What happened after you turned me off last night?”
“Turned him off? Oh, so you two were…unchaperoned.”
“Oooooooh.” Pip did a very good impression of a twelve-year-old girl who’d just discovered a super juicy secret.
“Well, would ya look at that, the power’s almost gone. Gotta go!” I reached for the end call button on the touch screen, but the button suddenly moved, and I missed it. Damn it, Pip. That was cheating.
“Come on, Sam. Did you manage to convert the human-hater or not?”
“That’s not my job, Aanya. Don’t forget he claimed I’d brainwashed Pip, and he thought I was going to brainwash Jask’l too.”
I took Kan’n’s standoffish attitude this morning to mean that whatever happened between us yesterday had been just a transient anomaly. We’d both been under a lot of stress, and we’d temporarily found comfort in each other. That was all. There was nothing between us, as demonstrated by the complete lack of a mate bond. We were back to the way we were, and honestly? That was fine by me.
“You know, everyone is worried whether he can even assimilate into the group or not. It’s been weeks, and he’s done nothing but grunt at everyone except you and Heather.”
Shit. I hoped that didn’t mean they were thinking of kicking him out. He’d been an ass to everyone, for sure, but we still needed all the fighters we could get, and he did say he was on our side. That was enough for me to keep him in the group. It wasn’t a crime to be a grumpy jerk.
“I think he just needs some time to realize we’re not like the other humans he ran into.”
“Interesting,” Anya said slowly. “You haven’t denied that anything happened. That must mean…”
“…that somethingdidhappen,” Pip finished for her.
“Okay biotch, that does it. Spill the beans.”
“Yeah! I’m all microphones!”
I sighed. “It’s not like we formed a mate bond or anything. He was uncharacteristically nice to me yesterday, but he’s back to being a jerk today.” And by uncharacteristically nice, I meant very talented in the sack, but I wasn’t going to explain that to them. “That’s all. Maybe it was just the stress of losing the mothership or something.”
“Perhaps. That must be hard.”
“Okay, seriously, my battery’s dying.” Sure enough, the laptop showed only two percent of its battery left, and the screen had dimmed. “I really gotta go. Tell everyone we’re fine, and we’ll be back soon.”
I ended the call, and the last thing Pip said before the screen went blank was, “The next time I wake up, I’d better be in a really nice shuttle.”
Honestly, I’d expected Pip to be a lot more dramatic after finding out he no longer had a body, but he was super chill about it. I guess he had to be, with an intense hunter like Kan’n.
I packed up Pip and the laptop, wrapped myself up extra warm and cozy in every piece of clothing I had, and headed over to the library to look for additional reading material to bring home while I waited for our ride out of this dump.
Chapter 18: Kan’n
My resolve to stay away from Sam to avoid forming a mate bond lasted until the second we stepped foot into the local hunter stronghold. I couldn’t help but notice the way all the unmated males looked at Sam like she was the star that lit up the sky. All I wanted to do was claim her as loudly as I could, declaring her as mine so no one else could have her. I managed to restrain myself and inserted myself between her and any male instead.
I even managed to keep from growling, offering only angry-sounding grunts. Most of the males understood and backed down from the unspoken challenge.
It worked well enough until I was pulled away to help clean up the piles of scourge the group had taken down that day. While I helped move and burn the carcasses, Sam climbed onto the roof, her light and lean body perfect for the job, and helped them fix the areas that had been damaged by the storm.
“Thank you for your help, Kan’n.”
I turned to Zhe’l. Cade stood next to him, exhausted after the day of events. Their glum mood reflected that of the entire group.
“Thank you for coming to our assistance.” I was surprised they’d taken time out to find us, even with so much happening at home.
“You two stayed back to disarm the mothership so the scourge couldn’t use its weapons against us. It’s the least we could do.” At the mention of the mothership, Zhe’l’s face dropped.
“Sam did all the work.”
“Yeah, but you stayed behind and got her out,” Cade said. “I hear you are missing a shuttle?”
