I gaped at him, realizing that it would be a long and arduous road mastering the subtleties of that language. Doom and Reklig chuckled at my distress.
“As for fire, it does not mean passion,” Doom continued. “It means destruction. Fire burns and consumes all that it comes in contact with. Since Creckels eat their meat raw, cooking isn’t a concept they entertain. For them, cooked meat is burnt meat; it has been damaged by fire. If you want to express passion, you show a sun shining bright, its surface flaring. You make it spiral around your mate in a frenzied and erratic fashion to express the intensity of the fever burning you up inside.”
“Well, fuck. You couldn’t have told me that sooner?” I said snarled angrily.
“You didn’t ask,” Doom replied with a shit eating grin.
I glared at him and hopped to my feet. I couldn’t have my woman thinking such horrors, especially not now when Brees didn’t seem overly keen on coming to Khepri. I hurried into the woods, following both the rough path and the playful ruckus a short way ahead. The trees open up on a small clearing running alongside a river. The original Creckels were teaching the Horned ones how to swim. While my heart rejoiced at all they would finally get to experience and learn from their kin, it also sank as this further highlighted why it would make sense for them to stay on Dreija.
I found my mate and Brees having an intense conversation at the edge of the tree line. The Creckel’s wet scales indicated she had been in the water earlier and had likely come to fetch my mate to show off her swimming skills. Yet, right now, she seemed to be chastising Janelle. I stopped at a respectable distance, not wanting to intrude on their conversation while eager to clear the misunderstanding with my mate.
Brees noticed me and immediately gestured with her head for me to come over. She didn’t have to do it twice. A strange expression descended upon Janelle’s face when she saw who Brees had called to them. It made me nervous and confused. My mate stared at me, still looking somewhat angry, but also uncertain, and almost guilty. As soon as I stopped in front of Janelle, Brees bumped into her leg before giving her a stern glance implying for her to get a move on. My mate glared at her as if to say ‘don’t push me’ then looked back at me, searching for her words.
My stomach dropped at the thought Brees might have told her to kick me to the curb for my involuntary blunder and convinced her to stay with her right here on Dreija.
No fucking way!
“Before you say anything,” I interrupted as she was opening her mouth, “I wanted to apologize. I was trying to be romantic, but it appears that my knowledge of the Creckel language is abysmal. The last thing I want to do is break up with you. And I would take my own life before I would ever do you any harm. My hearts beat only for you. You are my life now. I would give up everything and anything just to be with you as long as I draw breath.”
An adorable expression, both timid and shamed, crept on my mate’s face. She cast an embarrassed sideways glance at Brees who stared back at Janelle smugly, her long forked tongue lolling on the side of her jaw in a mocking fashion. It suddenly struck me that the intense discussion I’d walked into had likely been Brees chastising my mate for being mad at me.
Janelle made a face at the Creckel before peering at me sheepishly.
“She pretty much said the same thing,” Janelle admitted reluctantly. “She thinks I should be the one apologizing for not being more understanding of the challenges you face learning the Creckel language.”
Relief washed over me, and I carefully approached her further. “You do not have to apologize,” I said softly. “Doom told me the real meaning of my images. It’s only natural you’d be upset.”
“But I should have guessed…” Janelle insisted. “You’ve shown me a million ways how much you care.”
“It’s all right, my love. At least, you know now that I’ll definitely mess up plenty of times in the future as I learn this language. So, the next time I send you a completely offensive image, just tell me what stupid thing I said so that I can fix it.”
“Okay, I can do that,” she said with a relieved smile before stiffening. Her eyes narrowed at me while she examined my features pensively. “You’re totally going to abuse this, aren’t you?”
“Of course, I am,” I said smugly, while carefully drawing her into my embrace. “Would you expect anything else from me?”
“I don’t think I like you very much right now,” Janelle muttered with false displeasure.
“Then I’m going to have to fix that,” I said against her lips.
“Yes, you do,” she said before kissing me.
I loved the bold way Janelle increasingly claimed or stated what she wanted. There was nothing sexier than a confident, assertive woman, that didn’t try to bully her way around and was reasonable in her demands and expectations. But just as I was about to deepen the kiss, my mate pulled away to press her lips against my ear.
“You can start making it up to me by proceeding with a certain bonding you promised me earlier,” she whispered.
A bolt of fire exploded in my groin, and I barely repressed the victorious roar that tickled my throat.
“Your wish is my command, my mate,” I said, picking her up in my arms.
I burst out laughing when Brees turned into a ball and spun three times around us before unfolding and hooting in encouragement. Janelle blushed at the Creckel voicing her approval. They weren’t as prudish about mating as humans. While I generally was rather reserved on that topic, right this instant, I couldn’t care less who knew of my intentions as I carried my mate to the ship.
Epilogue
Janelle
I couldn’t tell for sure how many eyes followed us as my mate carried me to the chaser, but it felt like it was everyone. By human standards, it should have embarrassed me, but I couldn’t have been prouder. I was being officially claimed. By Creckel customs, Reaper should have made a display of it, bared his teeth at any who would think to challenge his claim, strut and preen about the fact that such a fine female had chosen him.
Neither of us had made a secret of our relationship. Then again, the entire crew had known about his glands swelling when he met me. But the fact that he still hadn’t bonded with me after three weeks had me starting to question his intentions. Yes, I understood—and agreed—that I had needed time to recover from the terrible ordeal my body had been subjected to. Still, it had fed my countless insecurities. The only reason I hadn’t lost it had been his displays of passion every night since that first time, and how hard he seemed to struggle to keep himself from going all the way—not that I would have stopped him.
Truth be told, I had also feared that him wanting to wait was based on what choice my Creckel companions would make. Although Reaper had clearly stated he would stay with me wherever I went, it was beyond obvious he didn’t want to leave his brothers and the Vanguard to settle in the wilderness of Dreija. Personally, I would have enjoyed it. In many ways, life had made me more Creckel than human. However, staying here would have been settling for the safety of familiarity, rather than facing my fears of the unknown, of living among so many new-to-me alien species on Khepri.