Page 26 of The Monster's Mate

“No!” Mejak looks affronted.

“Bronan, then?”

Kalrian snorts. “We decided on our own. Just because we do most things together doesn’t mean we can’t do things on our own, too.”

I grunt, but don’t respond.

Technically, if they’re doing this together, they’re not actually on their own, but I don’t point that out.

It’s halfway through the bloody work of dressing the kill before I speak. “I met a female.”

Mejak looks up. “On Earth?”

“Yes. She’s Isabel’s roommate. She reminds me of River, though I don’t feel anything like this toward River. They have the same fear pounded into them, but yet there’s that spark of spunk. The defiance, the bravery. They even look alike.”

“Why aren’t you back on Earth talking her into the Match Program?” Kalrian asks. “If she feels the same, surely the system is failproof and you’ll be matched. Those Britonians know what they’re doing.”

“Bel says she can’t enter. It would expose her name and address and she’s running from someone. A patron who wishes to kill her.”

Mejak looks aghast. “Just like River.”

I nod. That must be why Lucy reminds me so much of her. There are so many similarities.

“How about if you just visit more regularly? Surely Mikhail can sneak you in?”

“I’d wanted that,” I admit. “I was planning to tell him that she needed protection from the person hunting Bel. But Lucy kicked me out.”

“What? Why?”

Both males stop and look up. Cheeks burning, I brutally hack through a thigh bone.

“She wants to save her cousin. Samantha. She asked me to mate her instead.” If my hands weren’t bloody, I’d clutch my aching heart. “As if I could ever look at another female.”

“She must have been desperate,” Kalrian says softly.

“I tasted her, right before I left. She tasted of desperation. Disgust. Regret.”

Mejak sighs. “Maybe she regrets asking and can’t even let you know. Disgust with herself over her desperate situation.”

I didn’t think of that. She may have regretted her words and has no way to contact me, whereas I can request Mikhail’s assistance to go back.

“Besides, if her cousin was mated to someone here, wouldn’t she be allowed to come through as the relation? Under that new law Lilaina of the Adroki clan created when River brought Isabel?”

“Yes,” I realize with a sinking heart. “That’s probably what she was trying to do. Save them both. But I was so enraged, I couldn’t see past the fact that she wanted me to mate Samantha. I told her mating is forever.”

“There’s no guarantee that the system would match you with the cousin anyway,” Kalrian points out.

“Easy fix for now,” Mejak says. “We head over to the communication cave and ask Mikhail to keep an eye on her. And the cousin. If she’s still angry with you and refuses your visit, Kal and I could go.”

“And put in a good word for you,” Kalrian says. “You’re not as suave as Tiran, who obtained his mate sight unseen.” He tosses a blob of fat at me, and it lands square on my forehead and sticks.

“You just pick favorites,” I complain, flicking the piece off my head. With just this conversation, I can feel my mood switching more good-natured.

Kalrian grins, not denying it. I don’t take it to heart.

It’s nearly dusk by the time we bundle the meat. This batch will be smoked overnight for tomorrow’s meal, maybe some dried for jerky, or some cured in the kitchen cellars. The Tiiblets brought a lot of knowledge of curing meat, for which we are grateful. They are allowed to take home as much as they want which is why we provide an extra kill every now and then. It’s hard to get them to understand they don’t always have to work for what we provide. They have a fierce sense of pride instilled in them and need to believe they are important to a village. We’ve tried to explain we need them to spin silks because no one is better than them, but it’s hard when someone like my brother is such a gifted seamstress, a term that makes River break into uncontrollable giggles. They think all Bronians can sew if we put our minds to it.

I shudder. The thought of sewing a garment horrifies me. I’d rather hunt. Paint. Fish. I’d rather carve out a cave. Polish and dig for diamonds.

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