The valley's ordinary ambient sound — animal calls, canopy movement, the distant percussion of ten thousand biological systems — was gone.Replaced by pressure.A held breath.The entire ecosystem was quiet as if even the trees understood what was coming.
They did.Of course they knew.Their song had gone quiet as well.Hushed.Preparing to build to a crescendo when the peak of the storm hit.
My chest tightened.I could not fail her.Would not fail.She risked her life to land her ship and spare my village.My brave, beautiful mate.
And she was beautiful.Brilliant, and difficult, heart surrounded by armor, and entirely, devastatingly beautiful.She moved through the charged pre-storm jungle with the same focused forward momentum she brought to everything.I tracked her with the helpless thoroughness of a man who had accepted his fate.Welcomed it.Would fight to protect it.She was mine.
Thank the storm, she had stopped arguing.Stopped resisting the pull between us.Given her body into my keeping.Allowed me to touch her.Kiss her.Fuck her.Claim her.There was no going back now, not for either of us.Her skin bore my marks and, soon, mine would shift as well.I was not the same man I’d been three days ago.I was hers.
She had chosen me.Last night, in that cave, she had chosen.
But she could still choose to leave.Could demand we part.
The thought moved through my nodes like ice.If she left me now, I would be alone in the way I had not been alone before she arrived.Living without her now would be far worse.My loneliness compounded now that I would understand what was missing.
I would go with her.
Yes.My earlier decision had not changed.My commitment to her was complete, total, required no deliberation.I would leave this valley.Cross the dark between stars.
Because the alternative was not a life I was willing to live.
She didn't know that yet.Would not understand the depth of my devotion to her.My obsession.My need to be with her, to feel the bond and energy flow between us.
I would ask the elders if any of our people had bonded to aliens before.What happened if the bonded mates had been separated?Knowing I would not tolerate being physically separated from her was one thing.The idea of causing her pain and discomfort was unacceptable.
I could not allow her to leave me behind if the bond could hurt her or cause her to suffer without me by her side.
The trail had widened enough that we moved side by side.I shortened my strides to match hers.Kept pace.Kept moving.Almost missed the small movement as she wiped one of her emotional leaks from her cheek.
"Your emotions are leaking again.You are worried about your friends."
A snort of laughter came from her.“Yes.Am I that transparent?”
“I am your mate.You cannot hide anything from me.”
She glanced at me sideways.That glance moved through my nodes like current — quick and intelligent and… annoyed?My cock stirred, demanded I kiss her until she felt nothing but pleasure.Stopped trying to hide things from me.Gave me her whole self, heart and body and soul.I wanted to know every thought she had.Every fear.Every dream.I wanted all of her.
I hid a smile.She would learn to trust me.One day, I would not need to ask such questions.One day she would tell me everything.“Do not worry about your crew.Rythan and the others will have found the pods by now."
"I know.You already told me."
"You needed to hear it again."
"What if they haven’t found them all?"
"They have."
"Sorik—"
"Sloane."I stopped.
She stopped two paces ahead and turned.
The jungle held us in its charged, violet-tinged stillness.She stood in the light, in the strange pre-storm beauty of the valley and looked at me.Her eyes leaked more emotions, moretears.I wanted to kiss them away.If I kissed her, I wouldn’t want to stop.I offered the comfort of words instead.
"I have protected this valley for eleven years.My warriors know every pattern this storm system produces.Every stormglass tree.Every trail.I know what my warriors are capable of.Every single one of your crew, your friends, will be found and kept safe.I promise.Trust me.”
The marks at her collar pulsed.Mine answered.