“Yes.” Kol nodded.
I turned and stared at the bed in the centre of the room, and I was delighted that it was so large. I had to lay next to Kol while we slept, but knowing I had the chance that I could scoot away and have my own space slightly calmed my spiked nerves.
“You’re scared?” Kol murmured from behind me. “Why?”
I closed my eyes. “I’m not exactly scared … just nervous.”
“Because you will share furs with me?”
I tensed and whispered, “Yes.”
“You remember my oath?”
“Yes, you swore on your honour not to touch me.”
Unless I give consent.
“And you still feel fear? Why? An honour oath is everything to the people.”
I opened my eyes and turned to face Kol, not surprised to find him within arm’s reach.
“I don’t doubt your word,” I said softly. “I said I trust you, and I do. I haven’t trusted a person in a very long time. I know you have the best intentions for me, and I know you will keep your word, but I still can’t help but be nervous. I’ve never slept with a man before. I mean … you were my first kiss.”
Kol lifted his hand to my face and cupped my flaming red cheek.
“I’m not a man, Nova. I am a male. A Maji warrior, an Elite of the Guard, a prince … but I am not human like you, and I never will be. Please separate Maji males from the bad human men you once knew. I will be the best mate to you. I will take away your nervousness, and in time, everything about me will feel natural to you, and you to me.”
A breath of air left me.
“Thank you, Kol.”
“If you want,” he continued as he stroked his thumb over my cheek. “I will sleep on the floor while you take the bed. I do not want to share furs and make you uncomfortable.”
I shivered but not with cold or nervousness.
“No,” I said, touched by his offer. “We’re to be married, and I want to get past this embarrassment before we reach your home world.”
And meet your family.
“Our home world.”
It was nice of him to try to make us humans feel included, but personally, I couldn’t call a planet I had no knowledge of days ago my home. I hoped in time that outlook would change.
“Where did you previously stay if tonight is your first night here?” I asked Kol, trying to focus on a normal conversation to set me more at ease. Kol lowered his hand from my cheek, and I was surprised that the loss of his touch saddened me.
“I shared quarters with Mikoh, Nero, and Thane.”
Thane?
“I don’t think I’ve met Thane.”
“You haven’t,” Kol said, his eyes roaming over me. “He is rarely out of the engine hall.”
I gasped. “He is an engineer?”
Kol’s eyes flicked back to mine. “Yes,” he said with a nod. “He is the chief engineer on the Ebony.”
“Can I meet him?” I asked excitedly.
Kol’s expression turned dark. “No, you’re mine.”
Goose bumps spread across my body at his show of dominance.
“I’m interested in his job, not him. I’m only interested in you.”
I didn’t know if it was my words that surprised me, or if it was the fact that I meant them.
“Why?” Kol pressed, not convinced. “Why would you be interested in a male’s job?”
I rolled my eyes. “That is so damn sexist.”
Kol furrowed his thick, dark eyebrows. “I do not understand that word.”
“Of course not. That’s one word that won’t be in the Maji vocabulary.”
Kol waited for me to continued speaking, so I did.
“Sexist means characterising a person based on their gender. This typically happens to women. You were sexist ‘cause you implied being an engineer is not a job a woman can do… but you’re wrong. Many women on Earth were engineers … before the war.”
“Were you an engineer?” Kol asked, and he looked as shocked as he sounded.
I would have been.
I frowned. “Not by trade, just by interest.”
“But you wanted to be one by trade?”
I shrugged. “I was too young to be certified, but if the war hadn’t happened, I’d have been well on my way to being one.”
“Really?” Kol asked, not any less shocked.
“Yes. My father was an engineer, and he taught me many things … which is why I’m interested in meeting Thane. An engine hall is a place I am familiar with. A place where I am comfortable. Engines … put me at ease.”
Kol growled, and I jumped with fright.
“Why’re you growling?”
“Thane has a profession that impresses you … I will fight him if you smile at him or show interest in him.”
My stomach lurched. “Are you serious?”
“Yes.”
I blinked. “Kol, you can’t just fight men—I mean males—I smile at.”
“I can, and I will.”
I didn’t know why, but I laughed.
“This is not funny,” Kol continued to growl. “Why are you laughing?”
“Because I am now part of a community of people who don’t want to kill me, rape me, or sell me. I am one of the people, I am protected, and for the first time in my life, I have someone to keep me safe from all harm … and you’re telling me I can’t smile at anyone when smiling is all I want to do because I’ve never had any of this. Even when my father was alive, we lived day by day with fear, but now … now I can imagine a future and not think myself a fool for doing so.”
Kol’s angry expression fled from his face, and compassion washed over him.
“I am sorry,” he said. “I misunderstood.”
I tilted my head to the side. “I’m not angry with you,” I assured him. “You aren’t human, so you don’t react to things the way I would. You have more animal instincts than not … and I kind of like how possessive you are of me.”
A rumble started at the back of Kol’s throat, and it sounded like a rougher version of a purr.
“Does that sound mean you’re happy, angry, or sad? I want to learn what they mean.”
He licked his lips, and the sight of it ignited a fire in my belly.
“It means I’m having lustful thoughts and would love nothing more than to act on them.”
Oh.
“You’re having lustful thoughts about me?”
“Since I met you, the only thoughts I have are of you, shiva.”
My legs threatened to give way underneath me, and the fire in my belly seemed to be catching. Kol suddenly sniffed the air then his eyes fluttered closed when he inhaled deeply, and the rough purr rumbled louder this time.
“You’re aroused,” he rasped, his eyes opening and focusing on me. “The air is so thick with your scent I can almost taste you on my tongue.”
I sucked in a startled breath and pressed my thighs together.
“I’m not … You must be mistaken … I …”
“Nova,” he purred. “I want to taste you.”
If Kol hadn’t surged forward and grabbed me when he did, I’d have probably dropped to the floor like dead weight. “Give me permission, shiva,” he whispered into my ear, licking the lobe. “Let me taste what is mine.”