Page 62 of K'Vella

"I don't care if those females don't like me," K'Vella says easily, as though the reminder of the most awful half hour of our lives doesn't bother her. And maybe it doesn't because we're together, and there's nothing that will ever take my mate away from me again.

"You should fight Balta at least," Helna says, waving goodbye to Jovi and Alik, who've already grown bored with our conversation and are slinking off back to their room to get back into bed with their mate. "A female that fights for her male shows she has claimed him."

"I have claimed him enough," K'Vella says, taking another bite of her food. "I'm much stronger than her as well. Nothing good comes from me fighting her."

"Something good does," Helna mutters under her breath but doesn't argue anymore. "So, what's your plan if you're not staying here?"

I frown at the question because a part of me wants to stay here. I want to be back in my clan, back with my people and my culture. I want to raise a small army with K'Vella and do it in the house I built here for my future mate.

That was never her plan, though, and I don't want to trap her somewhere where she's different from everyone else. She's taken to our customs and acts like one of us, but that doesn't mean she wants this for her life.

K'Vella looks at me from the corner of her eyes, waiting for me to answer my sister. I press a kiss to her temple and take a drink of water before deciding that I have absolutely no idea how to answer that.

"I don't know," I say, shrugging and hoping it's enough for the two females. Helna looks like she has more questions, but I turn to K'Vella and whisper low in her ear. "If you want to do the heat run, I'll find you."

She turns to face me, bewildered. "You want to run in it?"

I don't understand why she seems worried until I remember the last time I participated in a run. I cup the side of her head and pull her close, pressing my lips to the corner of her mouth, making her giggle.

"Okay, so maybe we reserve a time on the field when there's not a run because you're right. I don't know if my mind could handle being back out there with the others all rutting."

It's not the ideal answer because there's no guarantee that we'll be here long enough to reserve time to run the fields without anyone else there. Normally, we can reserve timesbetween runs, but couples going into ruts or heats are given priority.

"I want to run from you," K'Vella murmurs.

I keep my attention on her as my sister slips out of the kitchen, leaving us on our own. That's good. I'm surprised she didn't try to stay the whole time to make me uncomfortable. At least she knows some boundaries.

"We'll get a spot reserved then if we're still here," I growl, shifting how I'm sitting so K'Vella can turn in my lap to straddle me. She's a good Rytharian and does what I want without me even having to ask.

"What if it's weeks from now?" K'Vella asks, lifting her furs so her warm center is grinding against my pants, right over my erection.

"I'll make an excuse to come back," I groan, feeling myself wanting to do whatever she asks right now if she's willing to tease me during breakfast when we already spent a half hour locked together when we woke.

"What if…" Her words trail off as she tilts her head to the side and lets out a shaky breath.

"What if?" I prompt, my eyes wide in anticipation of whatever she's about to say.

"What if we don't leave?" She sucks her bottom lip between her teeth and looks at me like she's unsure if that's something I want or not.

"You want to stay?" I stutter out the question like I'm a male who's never talked to a female before.

My emotions must be evident to K'Vella because she grins at me, places her lips on mine, and soaks up the way I'm shaky from her question.

"I want to stay," she says, barely giving me a second to process before continuing. "I want to move into that house I wanted todestroy last night. I want to build you a perfect nest, and I want to fill it with babies. So many babies, Holoth."

I growl low in my throat, wanting to pull my pants down now and lock her to me just so she has to keep saying these sweet things to my face for the next thirty minutes.

Instead of getting to do that, though, the kitchen door opens, and the whole crew walks inside. My eyes go wide as I growl at them, trying and failing to scare them into leaving so I can continue trying to get inside my mate.

"It's done," Essa says, kicking her feet up onto the kitchen table as she sits down.

"Get the fuck out," I snarl, snapping my teeth at Phial as he moves to grab his chair and spins it around so he can rest his chin on the back of it.

"Your mate told us to come find her as soon as we finished doing what she asked," Phial says. "We made Jovi and Alik come just in case you got angry."

"You want them here?" I turn to look at K'Vella, who's giving me a sheepish grin and tucking her hair behind her ear. "You do."

I press my lips into a tight line and let out a long exhale. I beg my cock to soften, but that isn't happening unless I can get this pretty Varon out of my lap. I lift her up and off me, making sure her furs fall to cover her.

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