Page 66 of You're Not My King!

He nodded and left the hut, returning with the flustered female several moments later. Roo-bin had already insulted several elders, and my patience was waning. “Please, take him to our den,” I said. “He is stubborn.”

She nodded, understanding. “Roo, deer-ay, come with me,” she cooed softly, hands on his arm to steer him from the tent. “We can talk about it outside, awl-rrite?”

“No.” He shrugged her off, misty-eyed, his voice wavering with his irritation. “Eye-m sick of being pushed az-eye-d. I want to help.”

Fee-oh-nah gave him a sympathetic look. “But you cannot be here, low-vee.”

“But why? Kawz eye-m hoo-man?” He scoffed. “That deed-unt stop you from fucking ob-duhk-teen me! Or does taking pee-pul from their lives, their homes, not count?”

He did not regard U’suhk as his home, and the admission impaled me deeper than any arrow in my chest. Against my will, my tail swished in agitation, not in anger, but the thought of my hoo-man still being unhappy here was heartbreaking.

For the first time, I did not know what to do.

“Doh-nt you dare thump your stump at me, Meest-ur.”

Zae’l huffed a short laugh, folding his arms over his chest as he leveled me with a sideways glance. “Take him over your knee. That would teach him respect.”

I hummed in distracted agreement, but I doubted the hoo-man would ever forgive me. Nor would I subject him to it knowing what he had endured.

The little thing dug his hands into his hips, scowling. “What did he say?”

The disapproving voices of the elders still filtered in from behind me, and the unyielding temper of my hoo-man was riling me. It was not his fault, he was frustrated and I could not explain, but Zae’l was correct, he had to learn respect—later, not in front of my clansmen. Pinching the space between my eyes, I exhaled sharply.

“Please leave, my Roo-bin,” I said, lowering my voice. “Talk later.”

Those seemed to be the wrong words also.

I could not win.

“Fuck you,” he seethed, pointing his finger at my chest. “You doh-nt get to tell me what to do. Yew-r not my king!”

Silence descended over the tent, bloody rage flared inside, and the stutter of my hoo-man’s heart echoed in my head. I stepped forward, using my size to intimidate, planning on removing him myself as a final resort. “Leave,” I growled, my voice harsh and commanding, forcing even my clansmen to simper. “Now.”

Two events occurred in quick succession. First, my hoo-man flinched, freezing on the spot as fear muddied his face and scent. Second, remorse snapped inside me like a thread losing its strength, my fanned ears lowering, my top lip dropping to cover my bared fangs.

What had I done?

Watching my Roo-bin regard me as a stranger, cowering from my touch was a vat of icy water trickling down my back. I would never lay hands on him in fury, but he gazed at me as if unconvinced. I softened immediately, retreating from his space as the realization dawned that I had plucked a nerve from his past life. The abuse he had endured angered me, but I had already crossed the line unintentionally. I did not wish to make it worse.

Unfortunately, my mate had morphed into a skittish creature, eyes wide and body shaking—prey cornered by a predator—and it killed me to witness, to refrain from tugging him into my arms and soothing his distress.

Before I could express regret or assure the hoo-man that he was safe, he turned on his heel and fled.

REUBEN

I ran as fast and as far as my legs could carry me—which was barely the outskirts of the camp, but adrenaline carried me through the ache, taking me farther, forcing me to the point of collapsing to my knees, lungs burning. I’d disrespected the king, had broken some unspoken rule, and even when Fiona had warned me, I hadn’t stopped. I had just wanted to help.

Remembering how I’d felt seeing Vo’ak lying there, dying in front of me, I never wanted to feel that useless again, but no one would listen. I’d been shoved aside like an annoyance instead of a life partner, and reliving the same bullshit all over again had boiled my blood.

I shouldn’t have called Vo’ak out in front of his men. Customs were different here, and despite what I thought of it—like, really, were they living in the fifteenth century?—they weren’t going to change anytime soon, so I should have bitten my tongue. But I had felt betrayed and hurt. Like all the months I’d been here, letting the alien grow on me, falling for him, choosing him, had been a big, fat lie.

Like it meant nothing.

Vo’ak’s irritation had made me seize up, had triggered flashes of the first time my ex had dragged me away during an argument. Zack had convinced the room that he was the saint, calming the situation only to beat me to a pulp as soon as we were alone.

I couldn’t say why that memory had come to me. Maybe my emotions were still raw and everything was too overwhelming to think rationally, but I couldn’t shake it off. I’d seen an instant apology dawn on Vo’ak’s face, but instead of staying to fix it, I’d bolted before he could soothe my fears and tell me everything was fine.

Had it ever been fine?

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