Page 5 of His Human to Charm

“Yes, maybe she will.”

A flicker of hope sparks in my chest, and it’s enough to warm the hollow ache I feel in the center of my chest. It is the same ache Dath told us about when he was without his mate for many days because we kept them separated.

Dath was the first brother to begin the transition into one of the goddess’s warriors. We did not know what was happening to him, just that he was becoming an aggressive male who wanted to claw and rip us apart for any small slight he thought we gave him. So, we trapped him in his room with his mate in another house for many days. When they were finally brought together, we realized that Dath was chosen by the goddess, and his mate was blessed to ease the rage he felt under his scales.

After Dath’s transition, my brother, Yril, and I also began the transition. Yril’s mate ran out of the safety building yesterday, begging him to chase her down. I was left in the great hall with a mate who could not stop herself from crying and who chose not to wear my tunics.

Alice’s words rattle around in my head again. She doesn’t want to have sex with me. I am so foolish that I had to ask another what sex is. The humans have so many different ways of saying making love that I did not know one, and had to ask Ralleth what it meant since he was the only male in the great hall with a mate who would not make fun of me for asking. He snickered when he learned he knew something I did not, but he promised not to tell the others about me asking.

I throw my head back, and my horns tap against the stone wall of the hallway. I brought one of the dining room chairs into the hallway yesterday. I have sat in it diligently since then so I can keep an eye on her and anyone who might come down her hallway or knock on her door. Being so close to her and unable to see or hold her makes me feel restless, though.

My mate, the one thing that will make me feel whole and sane, is not far from me, and yet I cannot just go to her and wrap her in my arms and call her mine. No, I have to wait because she is trying to push me away.

When it has happened to other brothers, it is because their females were afraid, but I can think of nothing my mate might be afraid of. Unless… No, surely she is not scared of me.

Just as the thought enters my mind, Olivia comes around the corner and jumps when she sees me. She composes herself and gives me one of the soft smiles that she so frequently gives the brothers. I try to reciprocate, but I am sure I look more like I am snarling than anything else. She doesn’t stay to talk with me but walks down the hall to Alice’s room. As soon as she knocks on the door, Alice pulls her inside and closes the door behind her.

It makes me suspicious. Did Alice say something to Lyath to get Olivia for her? Surely, it cannot be about me being in the hallway. She said she did not want to have sex with me, but that does not mean I cannot stay at the end of the hall all day and night to make sure she is safe. Does it?

Olivia and Ralleth both said good night to me last night when they finally returned to their room after many hours of talking with the brothers. Ralleth even offered to bring me a blanket.

My need to know what Olivia and Alice are talking about gets the better of me, and I find myself creeping to the closed door and pressing the side of my head against it. The humans all say that we have much worse hearing than them, and in this instance, I am very glad they think this because they are speaking in normal tones that I can hear through the door if I am close enough.

I can hear soft laughter that is followed by a loud cackle that makes me cringe. Ralleth’s creature has always had an abrasive laugh, but he seems to love it, and none of us will ever say anything against it.

“It’s not that bad,” Olivia laughs as she says the words.

“What part of it isn’t that bad?” Alice’s voice is louder than when she was with me. It is almost like she is more comfortable with Olivia than she is with me, which makes no sense because I am her mate. She should feel most comfortable in my presence. “The part where I have to seduce him or the part where he’s a giant red monster? They’re all giant red monsters. How does that even work?”

Monster? My mate thinks that I am a monster? I have to blink my eyes a few times as the hurt of her words fully registers. Oh, I have not been successful in making my mate feel comfortable or safe if she thinks I am a monster.

I push away from the door, my claws scratching against it when I move a bit too quickly. I want to sit back in my chair and watch over my mate, but maybe this is why she has not come out of her room. Maybe she is scared of the monster down the hall, watching her, waiting for her to come out of her room.

I hear Alice’s door open just as I round the corner into the dining hall. A few brothers look at me, but plenty of others are still waking up and too tired to care about my dilemma. Thankfully, Lyath and Beren are still close by, so I grab them and ask for their help.

“Will you keep an eye on my mate, please?” I ask.

My eyes scan the great hall like Alice might appear out of nowhere to tell everyone how scared she is of me. Do they all already know? It is not honorable or good for a male to scare his mate. It is the opposite of those things, and I have managed it in less than a day of knowing her. Oh, I am the worst type of male, and I do not even know what I did.

“Is something wrong?” Beren asks, shifting to stand in front of Lyath like I might strike at either of them in an instant. No, I look angry on the outside, but pure despair has coiled itself tightly around my chest and is suffocating all of the anger and rage from me. When I only stare at him with wide eyes and a hurt expression, he glances toward the hallway and gives me a soft nod. “Human females can take a while to warm to the idea of us. It has only been a day.”

“I know.” I rub at the ache in my chest that feels all-consuming now that I know how my mate truly feels for me. “She needs some time, and I will give it to her.”

“Do not run out into the trees like Almaac,” Erkoz says with a smile on his face. How he can always be so happy is a wonder to me because he is likely always on someone’s nerves. Right now, he is on mine. “Running to the trees and crying can only work for one male, I think, and he has already claimed his mate. You will need to find another pathetic way to woo your female.”

I lift my lips in a snarl. Maybe I can work out some of my feelings by beating Erkoz in the face a little bit. I am not normally one to take out my aggression on a brother, but the transition has started. My heightened anger and Erkoz’s general annoying nature mean I am more than willing to take out some of my aggression on him. Unfortunately, Erkoz is never stopped from wanting to annoy someone if it is truly what he wants to do. He wraps an arm around my shoulder, ignoring the angry glare I aim at him, and guides me to sit with him at one of the tables. Lyath whispers something to his mate, and then he follows after Erkoz and me, making himself a part of my humiliation.

“I will help you come up with a plan to court the human,” Lyath says with a smile that could rival Erkoz’s in mischief. “Beren will watch your female. He is good at keeping mates safe, yes.”

“Oh, this is good.” Erkoz claps his hands together and rubs them. “I have successfully wooed a female. Lyath has been mated for many years. Between the two of us, we cannot give you bad advice.”

“True, very true.” Lyath nods solemnly. I scowl at the two of them, huffing when they only laugh at my misery.

“No sadness.” Erkoz pushes me in the shoulder as though that is supposed to help in any way. I hiss loudly, my teeth snapping together in a fit to see if I can get him to cease his teasing.

“See, we must help him find a way to not look scary for his mate so that she will want his cock,” Erkoz says when I have finished hissing. “If she never does, then Toron will turn into an actual monster, and we will all have to kill him.”

I go to push myself away from the table, but Lyath is holding my chair in place on one side, and Erkoz is holding it on the other, trapping me at the table with them unless I were to use more force than I really want to right now. It doesn’t help that I kind of want to know what plans they might have to help me woo the female.

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