Page 44 of K'Vella

"I'm sorry," Glinn, his mate, says. She places a hand on my bicep, and I tense under her touch before letting out a slow breath. "I should've had Elan warn you about who you were coming to meet. I thought it might be easier if you didn't know, that maybe you might've forgotten about me."

I squeeze my eyes shut tight and then try to release the tension in my body. I turn to face Glinn first because she's the one I'll struggle with looking at. I still remember how she looked when I found her, how she curled in on herself when it was over.

She gives me a soft smile when my eyes meet hers, and then my eyes travel down over the bites across her shoulders and neck, the same bites she got—

"Elan's bitten over all of them at this point," Glinn says, pulling my attention away from the bites. "They belong to him now, not the males who attacked me."

"So you found a mate?" I ask when there's nothing else I can think to say. "And had a young." I look down at the male hiding behind his mother's legs. "Hello, I'm Holoth. Your mother was friends with my sister growing up."

The young scrunches his eyebrows at me and uses his hands to push back his hair that's gotten unruly after a day of play. "You can't be Holoth because I'm Holoth."

And just like that, I'm on my ass. I don't know who pulled out a chair for me or who guided me down to it.

One moment, I'm standing in the entryway. The next, I'm sitting in their living area. The young is holding a cup in front of my face, telling me I'm supposed to drink. I take deep gulps and only stop when the cup is empty.

"Why's your hair in a braid? Only girls wear braids," the young Holoth asks me. "And your face is smooth. Why is it smooth?"

"Holoth," his mother scolds him, but it doesn't stop him from looking at me and waiting for me to answer.

"I have a friend who was hurt by someone who looked like me with my beard grown and my hair down," I answer, watching Glinn's reaction to my words. "She feels safer when I look like this."

"Like how dad can't wear that spray?" He turns to his mother and asks her with such innocence that it hurts my heart to look up at his mother to confirm.

I know which spray he's talking about. The smell makes my stomach turn as well. It's a sickly sweet smell that's said to boost pheromone production in males and boost their virility. Most in the clan wear it during heat and rut runs as a tradition.

"Just like that, Holoth." Glinn wraps an arm over her son and pulls him tight against her so he's not trying to get close to me. "Now, there's a reason I wanted you to meet this male. I'm sure you can guess why."

Holoth narrows his eyes up at me from his mother's arms and crosses his arms over his chest. He sizes me up, the expression on his face making it seem like he is less than impressed. "I was named after a Holoth."

"Mhm," Glinn murmurs, watching for my reaction. "Why's that?"

"He protected my mama from bad males," Holoth's gaze softens. "Did you protect my mama?"

"I—" the word cracks as I say it, so I close my mouth and turn my attention back to my hands in my lap.

"He did," Elan says, patting me on the back. "Now you've met him, and he's met you."

Glinn looks at her mate curiously, and Elan mouths something to her that I can't quite make out.

"We shouldn't keep you too long. You have a mate to get back to."

Elan rubs his belly and mouths something else to Glinn but I'm too preoccupied with my own thoughts to care very much for whatever he's telling her.

"Oh!" Glinn sounds surprised for a second and then. "Oh! Holoth, say goodbye."

"Goodbye," the young says cheerfully, not caring that his father is now throwing him over his shoulder and carrying him deeper into the house.

"I'm so sorry. You should get back to your mate," Glinn says, standing from her seat on the couch and helping me out of my chair.

"I thought I was meeting with Haral and Sythel?" I ask as I'm ushered out of the house as though Elan didn't spend much of his night trying to get me here.

"They left right before you came," Glinn says. "They wanted to be here to tell you that you're always welcome back in the clan. You never needed to leave after what happened. No one—and I mean this with everything I have—no one here blamed you for what happened."

"I should've been faster." I shake my head, swallowing down the bile in my throat. "I was so lost in the rut. I should've been there sooner."

"It was not your responsibility." Glinn grabs my arms and holds me out at arm's length. "Holoth, it was not your responsibility. You could've run off to look for a female. You wouldn't have been the only male to do that. You stayed, you helped me, and you got me to the sisters."

"I thought you were just playing at first," I say, trying to force the words out because I've never spoken them to anyone. "The run started, and I was so eager to find a female. I heard your scream and almost ignored it. Then, when I got closer, I thoughtyou were playing with them as some of the females like to do. I stayed hidden in the trees for too long."

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