Page 12 of Their Human to Entice

“So the doctor is in contact with a female Hand who has apparently gone AWOL on the hivemind, and the doctor thinks he can just, what? Convince the others to let him have this planet, sever his tie like she did, and then no one will look for him?”

“You’re thinking about this so much more in-depth than I did,” I say with a groan. “He told me he didn’t want to kill everyone. I believed him because he gives me okay vibes, and then I let him convince me to come here and try to convince someone in a tribe full of men who want babies to be with me who probably can’t have babies.”

“What a great change of subject,” Deja says cheerily as she jumps onto the bed next to me like this was all some way of getting me to open up even a small bit about how I’m feeling being on this planet. “How do you feel about your mate?”

What’s the word for that sound you make when you’re full of surprise and a bit of indignation? Whatever it is, that’s the sound that I make when she asks. Followed shortly by a laugh of desperation as I attempt to keep the tears I have held in check for so many weeks from falling.

“How do I feel about the poor alien that offered to mate me even though he has no interest in me and only did it because this tribe is full of giant alien sweethearts?”

Deja’s face falls when I ask the very rhetorical question. “Oh.”

“Yeah, oh,” I groan. “Look, I’m grateful they offered because it’s clear no one else in that dining room was going to.” The reminder of the silence that followed Vex telling them that someone needed to mate me will haunt me for the rest of my life.

“They probably just wanted to see you,” Deja offers with a smile. A small smile that doesn’t reach her eyes because she heard the silence, too.

“It’s okay,” I try to believe the words myself, but it’s hard when I thought I’d still get love and a partner who wants me. I still have my friends, though, and that will be enough. It has to be. “I’m here with you. You’re going to have so many babies that I can play with, and we can both talk about my lack of a sex life for the rest of time.”

“Yeah, I guess life could be worse,” Deja says. Her hands twist as she tries to bring some levity into our conversation.

I give her a way out to be kind and also because I am exhausted from the trip through the portal. Vex told me I’d be a little more tired, but I wasn’t expecting to want to go to sleep after just arriving.

“Where can I sleep?” I ask, not wanting to intrude on her home that she obviously shares with someone else. She told me her mate’s gone for a few days, but that doesn’t mean he wants me all up in his bed when he’s not here.

“Let’s go back to the great hall,” Deja says as she wraps her hand in mine.

“You have to stay in my bed, though, because you know I sleep like shit on my own. If Simone were here, I’d have her acting as my cuddle buddy when Dath is gone, but you’re here, so you’re stuck with the duty.”

“Oh, goodie for me,” I laugh and shake my head.

Deja isn’t wrong about not liking to sleep on her own, and I’m honestly glad she’s offered it. Sure, when we were on Earth, I hated sharing a bed with her and Simone when they wanted to have a sleepover. Now, my nightmares plague me almost every night, and I’ll try anything to make them stop. Hopefully, I won’t wake her up, and maybe I’ll get a good night’s sleep for the first time in a long time.

“I’ve figured it out!” Deja comes running into her room in the great hall. I’m sitting on the bed we’ve been sharing, working on the hem of a pair of shorts.

I eye her suspiciously because she’s still dripping wet as she pads over to me. She left with a few other women to bathe before it got too dark outside. I’ve bathed twice out there in the three days I’ve been here, but I do it when I first wake up since I sweat so much at night with how hot it is here. Some of the women bathe twice a day because of the sweat, but there’s always a bigger crowd in the evenings. I don’t want to deal with that many people all naked in the same place at once.

“What have you figured out?” I ask, returning my attention to my shorts.

“You could probably get a hookup demon,” Deja says it so easily I think I must be hearing her wrong.

“Excuse me?”

“Like a demon that you fuck,” She clarifies as though that’s the part I didn’t understand. “There’s still like twenty of them that aren’t mated just from this tribe. Not to mention the other demons that could come by if we really are opening this tribe up to others. I’m sure at least one of them would be willing to keep you company.”

“But I’m mated?” I sound like I’m clutching my pearls. I need a necklace so I can actually do it.

“To a demon that doesn’t want what’s between your legs. I doubt he’s going to care if you go around and find another one.” Deja sits down on the end of the bed, and I cringe internally, knowing she’s going to make that section of the bed moist. I’ve been sticking mostly to myself for the last few days unless I’m hanging out with Deja and the other humans. “There’s Brirk, Kal, Garath, and Duan, who don’t seem to mind messing around with mated females. I think there’s a few more, but I don’t want to list someone who’s not interested.”

“And I just what?” I ask, flailing my arms about like it’ll help to articulate the question. “Go up to them and ask them if they want to fuck me even though I’m mated to their friend and can’t give them any babies?”

Deja rolls onto her side and narrows her gaze on me. “The alternative is to live a life of celibacy. Is that what you want?”

I let out a long, long exhale. “Good point.”

“I know.” Deja smiles at me like she’s the fucking Cheshire cat about to get me into so much trouble. “Now, I’m not saying you need to do it right now, but I am curious what they’ll do if we even offer it as an option. The wooing they’ll give you will probably be crazy.”

“The wooing?”

“The wooing.” Deja wiggles her eyebrows and then stands back up, not caring that she’s left a large damp spot on the comforter. She offers her hand to me, and I reluctantly set my sewing to the side and take her hand. “Feel up to taking all the attention away from Kendra for a day?”

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