Page 21 of Keeping His Mate

I am not fond of tr’gorys, vile, ruthless creatures that they are, but that seems needlessly cruel. “Why would she abandon him when he needs her the most?”

Elle-noor shrugs. “It happens sometimes. If the mother is sick, or just too weak to nurse her entire litter, she’ll leave the runt or the sick one behind. It’s sad, but it’s about survival.”

“So we are to let this pup die because its mother chose not to care for it?” I ask, incredulous. I am partially irritated at the mother’s callousness, but also at my sudden interest in how this beast fares.

“No way,” she replies, aghast at my suggestion. “I can nurse it back to health. When he’s strong enough, we can reunite him with Nanay.”

She makes it sound like such an obvious, simple plan. I suppose I am to be the one paying attention to the logistics of it all. So be it. “And how do you plan to nurse it back to health without anyone knowing? You are going to remain holed up in Ahlvo’s old room with a tr’gory pup?”

“Well,” she replies, and then pauses as if she did not consider anything beyond the mucus covering my bed and the feces on my floor. “We don’t have to keep it a secret,” she says. “I’m sure...Kaiva, um, wouldn’t mind.”

I laugh. The sheer lunacy in her words is too humorous to ignore. “You do not know Kaiva well, but I assure you that she would very much mind, as would Varrek and the rest of the clan when they learn that a tr’gory pup, of all things, has been rescued and that clan resources will be used to aid in its recovery.”

She stares at me, blinking several times as she mulls this over. “Well,” she finally says as she clears her throat. “We could keep him here, with you.”

I am about to unleash the loudest and most passionate protest ever spoken when she adds, “I’d stay here too, of course, and I’ll handle everything: the cleanup, the daily feedings... everything.”

Elle-noor.

Here.

With me.

In my home.

Sharing my bed.

“Very well,” I reply, suddenly remembering our conversation from the garden about how she is not, in fact, mated. Her heart does not belong to another. She is free to choose a mate. Perhaps… me.

The moment the thought enters my mind, I shut it down. Of course, she would not choose me. I am far too hideous to stand at Elle-noor’s side for the rest of our days. She is luminous and soft, where I am grizzled and rough.

But having her offer to share my bed until we return the tr’gory pup to Nah-naye is not something I am capable of refusing, not when the tether grows stronger each day. She does not know she is my inara, and she does not need to know. That is a secret I must keep, just like the presence of a tr’gory pup in my home.

I envision lying next to Elle-noor and feeling her soft curves pressed up against my aching cock when an impatient knock sounds at the front door.

“Shit,” Elle-noor mutters as she begins using my tunic to wipe up the pup’s waste.

“You handle this,” I tell her. “I will handle that.” The easiest compromise I have ever made.

I shake my arms out, trying to compose myself before I pull open the door and quickly pull it closed behind me as I step outside to greet Kay-teh and Nee-roh. “Hello,” I say, focusing on the tone of my voice. Does it sound calm enough? I cannot appear as if I’m hiding anything.

“Hey, Bruv,” Kay-teh replies. “So, word has it that Eleanor was last seen at the meal hall with you, loading up your plates before you were supposed to come back here and look at some security footage. That was yesterday.”

I nod, not knowing what else I should say regarding how Elle-noor and I have spent the last day.

“I sincerely hope you didn’t steal that woman from Bzzsil Chi just so you could murder her here on Oluura and eat her fingernails.”

Now she has confused me. Does she truly believe I would harm Elle-noor? Or is it merely her strange way with humor? It is often hard to tell. “I do not understand, Kay-teh.”

“Where is Eleanor?” Nee-roh demands, impatiently. “I have not even met this human yet.”

As if summoned, Elle-noor appears from behind me as she quickly steps outside. “Hey, Kate!” she says enthusiastically. “And you must be the dragon. So nice to meet you, Niro.”

“Draxilio,” Nee-roh corrects with a proud grin. “Yes, I am.”

“You’re alive!” Kay-teh exclaims. “What a relief. The girls and Varrek will be so pleased.”

“Indeed, she is alive,” I repeat. “Now that you have confirmation, you may go.”