Page 66 of Mated By Twilight

“I’ll go get it then,” he said, standing, giving Tillos a look.

He nodded at his brother even as he was putting his arm around Leah. She turned into him, hiding her face against his chest instead. She was actively seeking comfort from them. That was good.

“What song were you trying to sing?” Tillos asked, stroking her back gently.

“They let me pick. It was a song for children on Earth. Just this silly little thing, and I couldn’t even dothat. How am I supposed to sing on stage? Oh, gosh!” She gasped, head jerking back tostare at him in horror. “What if I can’t sing to my own kids one day!? Tillos-”

“Easy,” he shushed her gently, stroking back her hair. Trying to turn his pelvis away so she didn’t feel how his cock had jumped at the mention of her having their young. “What song was it?”

“It was just this stupid song about a tree in a hole in the ground. It’s silly, but I always liked it growing up. And I couldn’t sing it!”

“A tree in the hole in the ground? Was it a buried tree? Why would someone bury a tree?”

She snickered, the sound tinged with her near hysterical sadness. “No. It was growing in the hole.”

“I don’t get it. How’s it go?”

“You know… just… There was a tree…” She started singing. Her voice shaky and uncertain, a bit questioning. Like she was prompting him to remember the song that he had never heard. But as she fell into her rhythm, her voice evened out and she sang to him about a bird that was in a nest in the tree in the hole in the ground. She was right, it was a silly song, and it lost some of its rhythm in the translation into Standard.

But her voice was lovely as it gained strength. He wouldn’t call it confidence, but comfort. And when she finished, he smiled.

“See? Youcansing.”

She blinked, like it hadn’t occurred to her that she was singing, before burying her head back into his chest in an effort to hide. It was adorable, and he let her do it. Enjoying just being able to hold her in his arms.

They hadn’t moved from that position when Sollit returned bearing a tray positively overloaded with food of every type.A few delicacies from Yeluka Akuley were there, but Sollit had mostly grabbed sweets and comfort foods she’d shown preference for from other planets. Though insects, especially those from home, were good for her, their little female did seem to have some kind of hang up about eating them.

But they were good for her health, for her skin, her hair, her vision. They were going to keep feeding them to her until she no longer balked or hesitated at the offering. But now wasn’t the time to be pressing her gastric boundaries.

Tillos sat up, bringing her with him, as he reached for the tray. Sollit gave it to him, allowing him to sit unencumbered. He leaned back against the raised edge of their bed, against a thick pillow, and took Leah from Tillos’ arms so she could lean back against him like a chair. Tillos began picking through the offerings, deciding what to give her as Sollit immediately launched into a story of the drama ongoing in the cafeteria when he went to fetch the food. Something about a fight between the ship crew and the stage crew about room ownership or something silly like that.

Tillos wasn’t really listening. He was focused on Leah who giggled along with Sollit in between bites from Tillos’ fingers.

Though she was listening and engaging with him, there was still something distant in her eyes that made him curious.

What was she thinking about so hard?

Chapter 29

Sollit

Leah was distracted. Though her responses were all appropriate and well timed, he could tell how far away she felt, even in his arms. He didn’t need the quick glance Tillos sent him, or even the concern he felt coming from him, to tell him that.

But she calmed down and she ate her food and that was progress enough. When she begged them not to give her another bite and he could tell how full and firm her little belly had become, Tillos set aside the tray and instead crawled between her legs to lay his head down right over her pelvis.

Leah’s breath caught, but she didn’t attempt to move him away. Which Sollit took as permission to begin stroking his thumbs under her breasts. Barely caressing her. Both of their touches intimate, but very easily able to just be comforting if she showed signs of discomfort.

So jumpy their female was, but he didn’t mind that. He enjoyed the way she made them work for it. He’d have done so much more than just get her food and help calm her fears.

“Sing him the tree song,” Tillos encouraged, placing a kiss right there on the curve of her lower belly as he stroked her calf.

“Oh, yes,” Sollit agreed eagerly, no idea what he was talking about, but playing along like Tillos had raved about the tree song for days. “Sing me the tree song,aevea.”

She chuckled and did so. Her voice was thready and weak, uncertain of herself, but at least it wasn’t getting caught in her throat this time. The cute little song made him smile as he trailed his lips along the shell of her ear, cupping her breasts a bit more blatantly.

Her voice faltered, but didn’t stop.

“Keep singing,” Tillos told her when the song came to an end. Pressing a kiss atop her thigh this time. Giving her positive associations to singing to try to combat the large, negative ones her poor excuse for a father had imprinted on her.