Page 31 of His to Worship
Xiomara gives her a soft look. “I don’t know, hun. I’ve never heard of mass abductions, but you’d probably have been separated if things like that occurred anyway, so I can’t give you an answer.”
Renata ponders for a second before she speaks. “Anything else?”
Xiomara shifts uncomfortably. “I have a chip in my head, a translator, that helps me talk to the clients,” she admits. “I got it a few clients ago, but I just thought you’d want to know. It’s able to recognize lingual and vocal patterns to determine meaning and decipher foreign languages rapidly. It might work with the goat guys’ language.”
I feel myself getting excited, but try to hold it back. Renata beats me to speaking, though, and I’m glad for it.
“We should hop on that. We need to know more about them and their people, and to find out if they have anything at all that can help us to get home.”
The girls all look to me, and I startle a bit realizing they want me to get the guys’ attention. Even in the short time they’ve been awake, it seems everyone is well aware that there is an interesting dynamic between Kuvier and I.
“Kuvier.” He’d moved from his spot cooking at some point and is just outside. His forehead is tilted close to Enikk’s, and they appear to be in a very heated conversation. I almost feel bad interrupting, but he looks up as soon as I call his name, and he’s heading towards me before anything else is said.
When he comes to stand next to me, I motion towards Xiomara. I tell him to talk to her in his language. I stumble over my words a bit, nervous to be on display before the other women, but he gets the gist. He seems confused but he looks at her and begins talking. He gets out a few sentences, with some words I recognize but many I don’t. He goes quiet, but I encourage him to keep talking so that her chip has time to get a read.
“Oh!” Xiomara exclaims after about five or so minutes of him talking, cutting off his monologue. “I understood that last part.” She looks at him and says in the grunts of his language, “Keep talking.”
Kuvier reels back at first, but hesitantly starts talking again, looking between me and Xiomara. She cocks her head towards him, listening intently. She lets out a chuckle and looks at the rest of us.
“He said he’s confused by us ‘Sky People,’ and that it’s a good thing ‘his’ Sedona is worth it.” Heat crawls up my neck and over my ears at being called ‘his’ in front of the other women.
Krissy looks at me with a quirked eyebrow, but before she can open her mouth and say something sly, Renata jumps in. “Ask him where the rest of his people are, or is it just him and Enikk?”
Xiomara thinks on the question a second, seemingly forming the words, before she asks the question in Kuvier’s language. Kuvier frowns at the question and makes eye contact with Enikk who’s creeped forward slightly in interest, before he answers, his tone halted.
“He says that he will take us to meet his people when the worst of the storm has passed.” Xiomara looks at us. “But, I feel like there’s more to it than that.”
Kuvier butts in and speaks to Xiomara. She nods and his face breaks into a breathtaking smile as he turns on me. He speaks directly to me, looking in my eyes, and I hear that word ‘khesi’ again.
Xiomara’s breath catches and she looks at me with shock. “He, um, he has declared that you’re his…mate essentially. You were gifted to him by what I’m assuming is their deity? The ‘Great Mother.’”
My breathing picks up in time with my racing heart. Khesi wasn’t just a term of endearment. It was a claiming. Kuvier speaks again, his words at Xiomara, but his gaze trained on me.
“He’s making promises to care for you, and love you, and—oh god.” She covers her face in embarrassment but finishes the translation, “He promises to fill you with many, um, kits.”
My whole body catches on fire as Krissy snickers and the other women fight hard to hide their reaction. Samra pats my arm and gives me a reassuring smile. I like her already.
“Well, if you had to have any alien in love with you,” Renata says with a shrug. “Kuvier’s a good dude, for a goat-cat hybrid.”
Our awkward moment is interrupted when Enikk suddenly approaches the fire, his eyes fixated on Xiomara. Kuvier steps in front of him, speaking rapidly.
“‘Enikk, stop this. You will scare her. You have not given time to sway her heart,’” Xiomara translates automatically. “Enikk says, ‘You have declared your intentions for your female, I wish nothing but the same. Move out of my way or I will make you move.’ Oh god, is he about to declare he loves me?”
The air feels tense as we huddle around the fire. Kuvier stands between Enikk and us, his chest rumbling with a deep, vicious growl.
Xiomara winces as they continue speaking. “They’re going to go at it. They’re just exchanging taunting words.” Someone needs to stop this.
“Stop!” I shout, stepping forward instinctively, but Renata grabs my arm, holding me back.
“They’re going to kill each other,” she mutters, her eyes wide with fear.
Kuvier and Enikk begin circling each other, their eyes locked in a deadly stare. Enikk is shouting something, his voice raw with emotion, and Kuvier’s response is a low, menacing growl.
“Enikk gave Kuvier one more chance to move and Kuvier essentially told him to shove his chances,” Xiomara relays to us.
“Kuvier, please,” I beg, hoping he’ll listen to me, but he’s too focused on Enikk, his body coiled like a spring ready to snap.
Amari is trembling, tears streaming down her face. “Make them stop,” she whispers, her voice barely audible. Enikk freezes, his eyes snapping to Amari, who has barely said anything since waking up.