Page 58 of Theirs to Crave

Choose us.

Chapter 17

Estrella

“Dibs.” It was as much a squeak as a word, and heat rushed to my cheeks as Ria snorted. I chanced another look at the three Teterayuh who’d rescued us, only to gulp and look away again. What the hell was that pose? They looked like a poster for an eighties sci-fi adventure film, complete with the sexy woman—or Zafett, in this case—wrapped around the impossibly muscled hero’s leg. Litha, looming behind them like a freaking Amazon, took the image to a whole different level.

Itdid thingsto me.

I wiped my cheeks and blew out an unsteady breath. Turning to the others, I forced myself to deal with what was happening.

Shock, worry, and abject terror warred with flickers of curiosity and dull resignation in the eyes that looked back at me. Every one of those emotions jostled inside me—alongside a healthy dose of “What the fuck did you expect?”

I’d wanted to believe we’d find some kind of alien halfway house in the village where we could all stay together. But fromwhat I’d seen, there were less than two hundred people living in this village. Two hundred people who were obviously, deeply connected to one another. It showed in everything they did. They wouldn’t need a goddamn halfway house. If someone needed help, there would be people ready to offer it—just as Litha, Revik, and Zafett had done for my family.

I reached out my hands. Cass took one, Yin the other, and we came together fiercely. My brother surrounded us with his arms, our little pod shifting until we all clung to each other.

“We’re going to be okay,” I whispered.

Cass’s hair rubbed my cheek as she nodded, jerkily. I squeezed her hand.

“Anything bad happens, we tell each other. Agreed?” Shane demanded.

“Asap,” Ria added.

Everyone murmured their agreement.

“This is it, huh?” Cass cleared the wobble from her throat and continued. “This is when our new lives start.”

“Time to fly, Mariposa.”

Mariano said the words so quietly I wasn’t sure he meant her to hear them, but her glancing smile said she had.

“Always family,” Yin said solemnly. “Always together, inside.”

“Always,” Salat and Therry echoed in unison.

With a final squeeze, we broke apart and faced the line of Teterayuh. If we were going to do this, there was no point in waiting. I’d only stew and get more nervous.

I lifted my chin, met the only familiar yellow eyes in the crowd, and walked to them. Mariano’s hand dropped from my shoulder at the very last moment, and I felt the loss in my chest, as if a rubber band had snapped.

Zafett rose as I drew near, his eyes wide and surprised.

I stopped in front of them, nodded once, and said, “Het.”

Suddenly, a sense of claustrophobia washed over me, like being boxed in by semis on the freeway. My three surrounded me, so tall, so close. Zafett said something to which his mother replied, sounding amused.

I peeked out from between big furry bodies, watching as the other Teterayuh stepped forward—some alone, some in groups—and...auditioned? I couldn’t think of any other way to explain it.

Oops. I guess I jumped the gun.

???

I sat on my new bed, aching with loneliness. I hadn’t hurt like this since I’d thought the bugs had killed Mariano. But he’d lived, and we’d gathered up our little family—a buffer against fear and uncertainty. Without them, I was adrift.

I pressed a hand into the cushion—which was more like one of those giant bean bags than a mattress, really—and closed my eyes, inhaling the sweet, spicy scent that rose from it.Don’t be a baby. No crying. You’re a goddamned adult. You’ve been living on your own for years now.

Ignoring the voice that said this was a hell of a different situation than being a homesick twenty-year-old—because that might be right, but it wasn’t fuckinghelpful—I fought for some semblance of composure.