Page 18 of His Human to Adore
Erkoz snatches the sketch out of Kendra’s hands and examines it. “He should have added your tits.” He smiles at his mate before looking back at the sketch. “Maybe we ask him to make another so your mates can have a sketch to look at when we touch ourselves to thoughts of you.”
I narrow my eyes at Erkoz, knowing full well Dath isn’t allowed to sketch any more human females, especially not any intimate details of them. He catches my eyes and laughs loudly. “Dath’s female is just as angry as him, isn’t she? This is why you need to mate. A chosen and his mate are tied and will slowly go mad if they are without one another.”
The sound of thunder far off reminds us we need to get back to the great hall.
“You can explain everything the elders told us as soon as we get back,” Kendra says as she scans the sky. “I don’t want to be out when the weather is this unpredictable.”
“What about Dath?” I ask as I look back in the direction he ran off.
“He hates the storms,” Erkoz assures me. “He will be safe before they come. If he is a smart male, he will come to the great hall where his mate is. I have a feeling he is a stupid male, though, so he may stay in his workshop until the storms finish. In that case, he might actually go mad and mate you, even if he is not thinking clearly. Either way, the goddess will make sure he mates you and that our tribe has a chosen.”
“Dath is still a stupid male, brothers,” Erkoz shouts when we near the dining tables where all the other demons are sitting. “He tried to fight Erkoz and then ran off when he realized he was no match for my superior strength.”
I roll my eyes, not giving him more of a reaction than that. Thankfully, all the others seem to know he’s full of shit, too.
“You are stronger than a chosen?” Toron smiles at Erkoz and challenges his statement. “Tell us then, why has the goddess not chosen you to be our warrior?”
Erkoz flops down in a chair and pulls Kendra into his lap. “The goddess has already blessed me with the best personality and the best female. If she made me our warrior as well, all the other brothers would have no reason for being. Erkoz is the closest to perfection we will ever see in a male, but even the goddess knows she cannot make a male perfect. She saves that for her females.”
The brothers all grumble, but Kendra is swooning in Erkoz’s lap and kisses his scaled lips as he smiles. I find a seat near them, but I’m called away by an older male motioning for me to sit near him, Toron, and another demon. They all have the same shaped horns as Dath and similar coloring. I have a fleeting thought of questioning whether they’re related before remembering that Kendra told me Toron and Yril were his relatives when we used Toron to make Dath jealous.
“Dath’s mate?” The older demon asks as I sit across the table from him. Toron is in the seat next to me, his presence comforting since he helped me get Dath to want me when he was acting a little dumb.
“Uh, not yet, but maybe one day,” I say as I rub the back of my head. Dath has made it perfectly clear that he can’t mate me, but everyone seems to think that he needs to, even if it isn’t what he wants. “He’s pretty adamant that he can’t mate with me.”
The older man’s eyes flash red for a moment before they return to their dark black. “He will see reason. I am sure.”
I nod my head, not knowing what else I’m supposed to do. “Are you the elder that thinks Dath’s a chosen?”
“Yes. My name is Narrath,” the older man says. He looks from Toron and Yril before returning to my gaze. “Dath is my blood. His father was my brother. He still is if he’s alive and well in another tribe. Toron and Yril are my sons. I stayed behind when all the females died since I had two young sons. Their mother and sisters died quickly when the sickness overtook them. Their older brother was sent with Dath’s father to find a home in a new tribe.”
“Wait, his father left him?” I ask, trying to fully understand everything Narrath just told me. “What about Dath’s mother?”
“She was the last female to pass. She found out she was pregnant right before Dath’s father left.” He rubs his horn as he looks around the room, almost like he’s trying to make sure Dath isn’t there to listen. “Ulmara was a strong female. She was young and knew nothing of carrying a babe, but she forced herself to live through the sickness until Dath was born. Then her fight was over. Many of the males do not talk about those we have lost because many of them do not remember their mothers at all.”
“Our father always told us stories, though,” Toron smiles and breaks up some of the sadness that the older male is telling me. “No more sad stories today, though. Tell Dath’s mate why you think he is a chosen.”
“Where would you like me to start, Dath’s human?” Narrath asks. “I can start at the beginning when Dath was still young and survived the storms when some of the elders tried to thin the number of mouths we had to feed, or I can skip to ten days ago when you blessed this tribe with your presence?”
“The beginning,” I say and then chew on my lip when I see Toron’s face fall. He gives me a weak smile, shrugs his shoulders, and turns to face his father.
“Toron suggested less sad stories, but yes, let the female hear the saddest.” Yril crosses his arms in front of his chest and leans back in his seat. “Just know that we all survived, and the worst any of us have to deal with now is nightmares.”
“Nightmares and issues with mating females, it seems,” Narrath chuckles to himself. “I need my sons to find a mate because maybe the goddess will look favorably on them as well and allow them the honor of being a chosen. My father was one, so maybe they will be.”
“Tell your story, father,” Yril says, shaking his head and apparently not wanting to listen to his father talk about him and his brother possibly being warriors like Dath. Maybe they realize just how much it’s affected Dath and his personality, or maybe they don’t want the responsibility. It’s not really my place to judge, especially since I don’t really care unless it’s about my demon.
“Eat your food, Deja.” Narrath points at a plate that another demon brought over at some point. I frown at his use of my name, but he smiles at me in amusement. “There comes an age where we know names no longer symbolize the want to bed someone. I have been at that point for many years, but never thought there would be a female here I could say the name of. If it offends you in any way, I can refrain.”
My eyes dart between Narrath and his sons, who don’t seem stunned by him using my name. He must be telling me the truth about it no longer mattering as we age. Which makes sense. I’m sure there’s going to come a time when the other women and I have children, and it’ll be too much of a headache not to call them by their names.
“No, it’s fine. Start your story, and I’ll start eating,” I say as I grab my fork. I don’t know if he’s not wanting to tell it or if he’s just stalling. I don’t want there to be any more stalling, though. I want to know everything about my demon, even if I have to get the information from his family because he’s too busy fucking me to really talk to me about the important stuff.
Narrath smiles and motions for me to begin. As soon as I raise a piece of meat to my lips, he speaks, telling me about what happened to Dath when he was still a child.
Dath
Eighteen Years Ago