Page 53 of His to Worship
“Can they carry our kits?” The question comes from Junq, unsurprisingly. The way he looks at me makes me want to scrub my body under a hot geyser.
A rumble starts in Kuvier’s chest and he moves me behind him, partially out of sight. “This female is mine. She is my bonded.”
Enikk references Amari, but doesn’t touch her. “As this one is mine.”
Their declarations turn the muttering from the crowd to an all-out roar. Junq glares at them as one of his elders leans in to whisper in his ear. His anger drops at whatever is being said to him and his face breaks into an eely grin. The older dude leans away from Junq’s ear and fixes his stare on us.
“I do not see a mark. In fact, none of these females carry marks.”
Enikk tries to defend us saying, “Elder Viquum, human females have different customs tha—”
The irritating female elder interrupts, “Without the marks, they are all unmated and available to any who are worthy of them.”
Junq’s grin gives way to a wide, vicious smile, and I know in my gut that whatever shit comes out of his mouth next is not going to be good.
“Clansmen,” he turns to the crowd with victory in his voice, “the Great Mother has gifted us eight unmated females to carry on our clan's lineage with the worthiest of males. Rejoice!”
A roar of celebration rises in the crowd and I feel my body go cold. Kuvier’s grip on me tightens and I see him exchange a look with Enikk.
Junq holds up a hand to the crowd and everything quiets.
“Much has been revealed today, but I think there is one thing we can all agree upon,” he turns his eyes towards our group, “Kuvier and Enikk have proven themselves unworthy of any female in their selfishness. While their clansmen starved for female affection, these two males took it upon themselves to withhold them and pursue false bonds.”
“That’s not true!” Amari exclaims suddenly, her eyes bulging with fear. “Our bonds are not false.” There are crickets at first since her words are entirely English. But then Xo jumps to translate, her voice echoing in the air as she relays what Amari said.
“If they were not false, they would be complete already.” Junq waves away her words as if they are gnats in the air. “None can resist the pull of the bond.”
“We are not Lieq,” I assert in their language. “Human women do not feel the bond as your males do, but that does not make it less true.”
This is news that the crowd was not expecting. Nor, it seems, was Junq. The fact that we don’t feel the bond as intensely means that any claim to us needs to be proven. How can they prove or disprove it? They would need to rely on our word alone, whether we confirm that we felt it or not. I can see the wheels turn in this grimy man’s head as he tries to find some other way to pawn us off.
My eyes stay on him, but out of my peripheral vision, I see that awful woman slide away. She disappears into the chattering crowd, and a minute later a voice breaks through the crowd.
“I call upon the Rites of Challenge for the females that stand with Kuvier.” My head snaps towards the voice and Kuvier goes statue still behind me. The man that steps forward is broad and clearly closer to Junq’s age than Kuvier’s.
“Jepiil,” Kuvier growls his name as a warning, moving closer, but I stop him with a hand on his wrist. Something in me is screaming not to let him go more than a foot away from me. I do not feel safe without him right next to me.
“Atan, that custom has been long forgotten,” Enikk protests and pleads at the same time. “Surely you cannot allow this to happen.”
“Forgotten does not mean it holds no weight,” the older female reappears beside Junq and smirks at him.
Junq continues addressing the crowd once again, “In accordance with ancient laws, we will host a Rite of Challenge for each female. For eight blinks, the unmated males of this clan will have the opportunity to enter the pit and fight for the female of their choice. Each time, as the second eye sets, a different female’s hand will be offered. The male left standing at the end of the day will claim them as his mate.”
“Atan, you cannot—” Kuvier protests, his body nearly shaking with anger, but his sentence is never finished.
Junq locks eyes with me and says, “The first female up is that one.”
THIRTY-TWO
- sedona -
“This whole thing has gone to shit,” Krissy announces.
“No kidding,” Meghan concurs, her normally boisterous attitude stunted. Honestly, all of us are wracked with tension and a good bit of anger.
“The way they talked about us like we’re not even real people.” Sabrina shakes her head, her face crinkling in disgust. “I guess men don’t change regardless of species.”
“Anybody got an idea?” Renata asks from the corner of the hut. After Junq’s announcement last night, everything went from bad to worse, and it landed us stuck in the hut of Tiqii—the elder woman who was terrible—without Kuvier or Enikk.