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THE MATE LINGERED ON the outside of the pen as it grew darker outside. She looked bewildered, as if she couldn’t understand the reason for the darkening clouds.
Did she not understand the water that would fall from the skies? That it would cool the weather, moisten the ground? She needed him to care for her, obviously.
Thankfully, they’d taken the muzzle off of him so he could eat. He tried to form words—the same words the others used—but nothing would come out between the shape of his jaw, the newfound teeth in his gums, and the thought processes of his brain.
He slunk lower on the ground, making himself as unobtrusive as possible. Her teeth chattered, but he forced himself to hold still. To gain her trust. It took several long minutes before she would cross the lines of light that would shock him, but no one else.
He tamped down his overzealous glee at having her within his forced territory. It would not do to frighten her now. Not when she’d been outside away from him for hours since he’d seen her last.
Very slowly, he inched up from his belly, cowering on all fours. He nudged her with his head toward the grove of trees where the canopy of leaves might protect her from the soon-to-be falling rain. The rain that would water their crops.
Crops?
Where did that thought come from?
He shook his head to clear it, whining softly. Her palm petted him again, sending a shudder through his body.
She yelped, pulling her hand back. He held stock still, trying not to scare her. After a bit, she allowed his nudge in the right direction. Seeing that he brought her to a large tree, she sank down just as the sprinkling of water from the skies erupted.
He raced away, eager to bring the meal that would feed his mate.
He headed back to the perimeter of the fence, where the strange-speaking males had left it earlier. A huge slab of bloody meat for him, tied in some sort of twine. And a bag of separately boxed foods for her.
He opened his mouth to grab the bag and then paused. Surely it might scare her to see his razor-sharp teeth? He worked his hands, flexing to try and straighten the tight muscles of the digits that curled when he walked on all fours. Carefully he reached for the bag, trying not to jar the contents with his clumsy grasp. Then, when he was sure his grip was tight, he opened his jaws to grab his own meat, already forgetting the danger of scaring her with his teeth.
He raced back to his mate, eager as a pup to present her meal to her.
Again, she stank of shock and fear. He’d have to do better at presenting himself, moving more slowly, perhaps using his legs only to walk. He’d have to do better at mimicking the human-speakers.
He spat his twined bag of meat at the ground and dropped to one knee, presenting her with the bag of food. Her shaking hand reached out, taking it from his hold but not touching him in the process. He couldn’t help the whine that came from his throat, but she didn’t understand. Or didn’t crave his touch the way he did hers.
Not yet.
His appetite renewed, he tore into the meat, spitting out the twine that held the tender piece in place. She ate slowly, avoiding him with a curtain of hair that moved forward when she did. Finally, he understood the reasoning behind Thane reaching out and tucking Everly’s hair behind her ear. He wanted nothing marring the perfection of her face.
An image of Everly’s profile struck his memories. She’d held herself still, staring into the pit where Thane lay, trying her best to ignore Zee. Her perfect, smooth skin.
For as beautiful as his true mate was—her skin was not smooth. No, a pink scar added dimension to her profile—a line that bisected the top of her face and disappeared into her hair.
That and their scent, as similar as it was, was what marked the differences between his true mate and Everly.
Thane could have that one.
He finished his meal long before she was done. In the future, he’d have to eat as slowly as she did so she wouldn’t have to hide from his concentrated stares. But for now, she was protected within his territory and protected from the falling rain. He regretted ripping apart the contraption they’d set up to protect him from the nightly rainfall.
Shelter.
That was what his mate would need next. Now, while the ground was soft and muddy, he’d begin his digging. His sharp claws would loosen the dirt in the crevice of the hills up ahead. And his mate would be able to watch him and not have fear that he’d abandoned her. He took off running, leaving her to her meal.
He continued to dig even after the rain stopped, his attention split between his task and his mate. She’d finished eating, though he noticed she ate faster when he left her, which signified that she held back from satisfying herself in his presence for some odd reason.
It made him...sad.
She’d curled into a ball and had fallen asleep under the tree where he’d left her. The position was indicative of the cooler temperature since she was wet. He knew this—he’d shivered enough each night, but he only cared when he thought.
Like now.
Dripping mud from his claws, he loped toward his new mate and sank down behind her, curling her into his body heat.
He woke her at first dawn, knowing that in a couple of hours, the human-speaking males would arrive with more food. They’d be pleased to see he had delved into the boxed food for humans. Perhaps they would bring him another contraption to keep the rain off his mate.
He fought a growl down. No, that wouldn’t do. He didn’t want anyone to know he had a mate. Hell, they helped the last one escape with Thane. No, this one would have to hide from the curious eyes that kept him trapped in his own territory.
“Is the sun out already?” she asked, stretching herself.
He purred. She was beautiful, this amazing creature created for him.
“What were you digging last night? And who’s been leaving you food?”
His jaw was tight when he tried the speech-language the others used.
“’aales,” he gargled.
“Are you trying to speak?” she asked.
He grunted.
“Let’s try again,” she said softly.
“’ale.”
“Ale? I don’t know what you mean.”
His frustration level grew.
“It’s okay,” she said, stroking his jaw. He turned his head to cup his cheek in her warm palm. Her touch calmed him.
Much as he hated to break her touch, he sensed others approaching through that dimmed mental communication that the others linked with the strange speech. He had to get her into the freshly-dug den and away from prying eyes.
Using his hands gently, he held one out to help her up. She raised an eyebrow, but rose. He nudged her toward the den.
Her feet trudged through the mud. “What is this? What are you digging?”
He whined, unable to communicate. Very slowly, he reached for her foot and tried to stick it into the hole.
“You want me to go inside?” she asked. “Is it safe? It looks barely big enough for me to crawl in. And heaven forbid another rain comes.”
“Raaain,” he croaked. He knew that word. That was the word for the falling water from the skies.
“Very good,” she said, startled. “Yes, rain. Like last night. Wait a minute. I get it. Is this a rain shelter? You dug this in the rain for me?”
“Raain,” he croaked again. Again he pushed her foot into it.
“You want me to try it?” She sighed, squatted down, and peered inside. “Doesn’t look very deep,” she muttered. “I’m not going in head first.”
She butted into the den feet first, wriggling in as much as the cavern would allow. So far, it was only deep enough to hold her up to her shoulders. He’d have to dig much, much more to hold both of them.
“He’s back there,” someone yelled.
Adrenaline hit his gut, making him snarl. He blocked the view of his mate with his much larger body, squatting down low in attack mode as he faced the newcomers.
“Shall we tranq him?”
“No!” Someone yelled. “Robyn wants to avoid the drugs if possible so we can see if he’s starting to revert back to normal. Just stay back.”
“Hey, he ate the other meal,” someone else yelled from the direction of the tree.
Zealish howled, knowing that someone was looking in the bag his mate had been in. That was too close for his liking.
“Dammit, he’s loud first thing in the morning,” someone said. “Muzzle?”
Suddenly, the calming touch of his mate in the middle of his back soothed him. It was as if she wanted to silence him. He reduced his howls to softer growls so as to not scare her. Her stroking his back soothed him and he knew the others couldn’t see her.
“Replace the bag with another and get him his raw meat, too. What’s he shielding?”
“From all the piled up mud, I’d say he’s digging a den or something.”
“Or something,” someone else echoed. “We’ll check it later since he’s being so protective of it right now. Come on. Everyone out!”
Only when they were long gone did he let his mate crawl from their den. He’d have to widen it and deepen it before the sun dried it later that day. But for now, he’d have to feed his mate.
This time, she allowed him to place her much smaller hand in his, the way Thane did for what’s-her-name. He moved gingerly, careful not to smash it. He’d take the utmost care of his mate.
After they ate, and this time she didn’t avert her face, he pressed her to the tree and grunted, so she’d understand to stay put while he dug. But somehow, hours later, she’d slipped by without his notice. He was frantic, howling for her, unable to leave the electrical field. More of the human-speakers came, and this time they darted him, leaving him lying sleepily in the mud while they searched his den.
It was all right, he tried to console himself. His mate wasn’t present to witness their desecration of their den.
Though the human-speakers had a strange word for it. They called it tomb. It worried them, and they sent frantic looks in his direction. He roared his rage.
They shot him with another dart, this one too strong to fight against, and placed the dreaded muzzle on him. He slept briefly, or at least one half of his brain did. The other was lulled into a drugged daze until they were done inspecting his property. One of the males leaned over him before he left.
“You okay, man? I hate to muzzle you. You know if you stop creating a ruckus that scares the humans over the wall, we can stop muzzling you, right? Zee? Anyone in there?”
With all of the sleepy darts rolling through his system, he could hardly keep himself awake, much less understand the strange language coming from the man’s lips. He seemed vaguely familiar—a red being who was always with the silver skinned one. And then he zoned out for a few minutes.
He woke up to find his head in his mate’s lap. She was back! His beautiful, magnificent mate had returned home. He whined, wanting her to know how frightened he’d been when she’d disappeared.
“Shh,” she said, her touch warm on his brow. “I know this hurts. I watched them hold you down. You’re one tough sonofabitch, aren’t ya? It took three darts and it was like watching an elephant go down. They forgot to take this off, didn’t they? Let me get it off for you.”
She lifted his head from her lap, her graceful fingers working at the buckles at the back of his head. She was gentle with the snarls of his hair, and he didn’t even mind when she pulled. Finally, the hated contraption fell off.
“There, that’s better. Don’t know how they expected you to eat if they were going to leave you muzzled! Now you can eat to your heart’s content.”
He held her tenderly, unable to believe she’d returned to him. And she let him.
