Page 7 of His Human to Charm

Alice doesn’t look at me after I say the words. A small part of me hopes she will look at me. The bigger part of me wants her to throw herself in my lap and place her soft human lips against mine. I do not think she will react at all. I definitely do not prepare myself for the awfulness of her furrowing those tiny brows, opening her mouth to say something, and then scampering away to the dining hall before saying another word to me.

I stand to follow her when she rounds the corner to the dining hall. I keep my distance in case she is worried I am following her. I am, but if she looks over her shoulder in fear, I will run out into the storm and let the goddess take me from this life. I do not think there could be a worse rejection than that. Not after I just told her that I would do anything for her. For all I know, anything she wants me to do is not to mate her at all. I will hold out because I will not force a female. I will be overcome with lust at some point, though, and that is when things will become very bad for me.

“How did the plan go?” Lyath asks me as he stands beside me.

His eyes follow my mate as she makes her way to where Olivia is sitting with Ralleth. Alice says a few words to her, grabs a plate of food, and sits beside the other female.

It surprises everyone in the dining hall. Olivia, because my mate has yet to leave her room. The other brothers because this is the first time they are seeing her. Even I am surprised because it seems as though I am the one she is the most uncomfortable around.

“Could you go say something to her?” I ask, hating myself for even suggesting it. I need to know if she is scared of all of us or if it is just me that frightens her.

“Say what?” Lyath asks, his smile faltering as he watches to see where I could be leading this conversation.

“Anything.” I shrug my shoulders.

Alice is staring very purposefully at her plate, but every once in a while, she will look around the dining hall as though she is not accustomed to it yet. It is the first time she has been out here, and she looks unsure of herself. I wish she did not fear me because I would help her feel more comfortable here around all of my brothers. Instead, I must send Lyath to speak with her and see if she is just as scared of him as she is of me.

“I will talk to her about your cock,” Lyath says, nodding like he has decided this is the perfect thing to talk about at dinner with my mate when it most certainly is not.

I am just about to tell him this when Erkoz slaps me on the shoulder, distracting me long enough that Lyath can slip away without me protesting. My nostrils flare in anger when I realize what Erkoz has done, but he only laughs to himself before slinking away to his mate and Xoth. He pulls his mate into his lap as though that will save him from me killing him.

“New female!” Lyath says much too loudly. It has almost everyone in the dining hall watching the interaction play out.

Alice’s cheeks turn a bright red as she stares up in horror at all of the eyes watching her. It makes my scales feel too tight, and the simmering rage underneath them scalds me. I have done this. I have made her more uncomfortable by having Lyath speak with her, and now he is going to make things so much worse. Beren also seems to understand this, for he is moving to his mate before I can get myself to move. Unfortunately, he doesn’t get there before Lyath is making me want to make good on the promise of letting myself die in the storms.

“I want to speak with you about Toron’s cock.”

“You what?” Beren wraps a hand around his mate’s horn and tugs him to his side as he pierces me with a look that tells me he would kill me if he thought he could. Lyath looks pleased with himself, though. Even the tugging on his horn has him smiling up at his mate as he is dragged from the dining hall to the room they share.

I do not care about their lover’s quarrel. No, I care about the female who is now crying into her food. I don’t even get to move a step closer to her before she grabs her plate and makes a hasty exit out of the dining hall and back to her room.

Erkoz looks mortified when he sees my mate’s reaction to what he thought was just fun. It is not enough for me, though, and he must sense this because he is whispering something sweet to his mate before shooing her into Xoth’s lap. Erkoz holds his hands up as he stands from his chair. My steps are purposeful and angry as I move to stand in front of him. I want to smash my horns into his and make him submit, but he already is.

“One strike, brother,” Erkoz says with a nod. “I deserve it for making her cry. I know this.”

I don’t need any more permission than that. My arm pulls back, and I punch Erkoz straight in the face. He stumbles back a few steps but stays on his feet. When I know he is not actually hurt, I make my way back to my chair and listen to my mate cry in her room. So far, the plan has not been successful.

I tell myself to let her have her time alone to cry in peace. She needs time, still. Time to grow accustomed to the idea of me as her mate. I can only hope I am strong enough to give her that space. The itching underneath my scales to go to her is telling me I am not strong enough at all.

5

Alice

Four Days Before Kidnapping

Stop crying, stop crying!

I’m going to die of dehydration at the rate that I’m sweating and crying in this new world. It’s like every little thing is enough to set me over the edge into crying territory, and it makes me feel so weak.

I’ve always been an easy crier. I’ve never felt like I needed to be ashamed of it. Mostly because I did most of my crying alone in my own home with no one else there to see it. I’ve never completely lost it in a room full of people because one of them said something about an alien’s penis.

“You’re such a baby,” I whine to myself as I throw my head back against the mattress. My tears have mostly stopped, but I can feel the trail they’re leaving down my temple as they disappear into my hairline.

“You finally work up the nerve to speak to the man you’re supposed to mate and barely say two words to him before walking away because you feel awkward. You start crying because someone brought up his cock, and now you’re crying alone in your room. Again!” I throw the pillow against the wall, wishing it was someone throwing something at me so I’d have an actual reason to be acting the way I am. Nope, just me in all of my socially anxious and terribly socialized glory.

Olivia had some more clothes dropped off for me a couple of days ago by a demon that I now recognize as the same one who brought up Toron’s intimates while I was trying to eat. Either they’re friends, and they thought that was a good come-on, or he’s an asshole who only wanted to embarrass me. I’m hoping for the former because purposefully trying to humiliate me will only ever end in tears. The fury on Toron’s face when I fled the dining room told me that at least he didn’t think I would react the way I did.

When Olivia spoke with me yesterday, she told me that all of the demons were curious about me. They all already know that Toron has staked a claim on me, so none of them will try to seduce me or woo me, as she told me the demons like to call it. It’s a relief because dealing with the confusing feelings I’m having for one alien man is enough for me for a good long while. I still need to figure out how to explain to him that I’m okay with seeing how and where things go with one another, but I need to take things slow.

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