Page 9 of Flower of Seshana

Gamay smiled kindly and undulated away as she made her way toward Alexandra. To the alien’s credit, she did not flee or meet the female’s presence with terror. Quillen knew his foster mother well enough to know that alone would raise Gamay’s opinion of her. Indeed, the elderly Vahel smiled and dipped her head in welcome as her arms and wings stretched wide. Alexandra looked at them uncertainly and his heart melted just a little. Such a shy little female. He found it an odd characteristic to see in an adult, but for some reason he found that small difference quite endearing. He dipped his head in encouragement as Kethan leaned forward to whisper something in her ear.

Good. Kethan possessed a gentler, if not highly inquisitive, nature. If anyone could assist her in adapting comfortably into life among the Vahel, it was him. Quillen would help, naturally, but he tended to be brasher and did not enjoy the easy interactions within the nara that his brother experienced—mostly thanks to his own mother’s infamy. She had not only deserted her son to fly headlong into the nighttime fog in a state of frenzy, but had been found days later, half-eaten and hanging in a tree where a zaron had left her. Even worse was that Quillen had been the one to find her while playing with Kethan and several other nestlings as they practiced flying high within the trees. The image was burned into his mind—the condition of her torn body and the way her one remaining eye stared sightlessly into the abyss. It had been such a brutal, horrifying sight that afterward he spent many nights shuddering with nightmares within Gamay’s coils

The memory still haunted him.

It would be best for Alexandra to get settled quickly and comfortably among the Vahel because one thing was certain: he would never allow her into the fog of the Zir… but nor would he surrender her to her glass nara. No place on Seshana was safe from the hungry predators that hunted it, and he was determined that if nothing else, this tiny female would survive it. He would wrap her in his coils every night and sleep deeply knowing that she was safe there between him and Kethan.

And that had been a revelation. He had found comfort resting there with them throughout the night without even a hint of the fierce jealousy he had expected. It felt right. He only hoped that Kethan and Alexandra would come to discover the same.

Chapter

Eight

Kethan smiled eagerly, his gavo flaring with his pleasure as he watched Alexandra trail her fingers over the delicate blooms of the mother balm. She did not even seem to notice that she did so as she listened intently to his mother’s description of the plant’s usage. She certainly had a deep interest in the plants growing on the Zir, and more specifically their application within the nara. He would have thought her a healer but when he had suggested it, she had laughed and corrected him that she only studied the plants—she did not do practical application.

Regardless, even if she was not a healer, his mother certainly was delighted at having a captivated audience. She had hoped to train him despite his inability to form all the proper vocalizations, but like most males of the nara, he was needed as a hunter. And his mother had long given up on him finding a mate with a proclivity for working with the plants or the talents of a healer to whom she could pass on her knowledge and skills aside from the bits he had learned in his youth.

Seeing them together—his mother with her obvious delight and Alexandra’s clear fascination about the healing techniques and plants used among the Vahel—did something to his heart.If he had not already desired to claim Alexandra before, due to the call of her pheromones, seeing her open acceptance and willingness to embrace the ways of the Vahel was making him absolutely obsessed with her. And he would have to be blind to not notice that he was not the only one being affected.

It had been two full days and Quillen had not yet slipped off to escape into Zir’s forests. Not only did he attentively recline a short distance away from where she happened to be occupied but he had also led them to some of the harder to find plants, which he never did for anyone. He always returned to the nara with his harvests, but Kethan could not recall a single time that the male brought anyone into the woods with him. More than that, he was attentive, and when he wasn’t lying nearby in order to readily be at hand, he was bringing her water and even bits of fruit the moment he noticed that her needs were different and more frequent than their own.

Kethan should have noticed that. He seemed hyperaware of everything she did, and yet other than observing the fact that she tended to eat and drink more, he had failed to make the connection that she required it more frequently than the Vahel did. Instead of being truly observant, he had watched her like a lovesick juvenile pining after the first attractive female he laid eyes on. He would need to do better if he wanted to convince Alexandra to remain. She needed to have confidence that he could take care of her. He just was not entirely sure how to accomplish that. He was younger among those unmated males dwelling within their nara and so lacked experience in such things. He could possibly ask one of the mated males, but then there was a good chance that word would spread among the females back to his mother, making the situation even more difficult for him.

His wings twitched disconcertedly and Quillen glanced over at him with a knowing grin as he dropped from the tree and glided over to settle at his side.

“Beautiful, is it not?” the male trilled.

“You have chosen a suitable location. Alexandra seems to enjoy it,” Kethan replied begrudgingly as he glanced around with approval.

It was the perfect spot to bring Alexandra. The dense greenery of the forest was broken up a sheer rockface and a small clearing was created by a waterfall partially shrouded in its own spray and the fog that clung to the mountain. Not only was the waterfall a vivid hue of blue, but the clearing was filled with lush, low-lying bushes and vines flowering with large blooms possessing the most captivating mesh of fragrances. The entire area was a feast for the senses. Every beautiful flower accentuated the scenery, and the sunlight caught the droplets of water spraying up from the waterfall, making them shimmer around Alexandra as she stood a short distance from it.

His head jerked around toward his nest brother when the male made a distinct sound of disgust in his throat.

“You are hopeless,” the male pointed out with a huff. “How can you be of any assistance to me in courting her when you have no idea which way your tail curls?”

Kethan’s gavo twitched in annoyance as he peered at the other male. “What are you implying? Are you suggesting that I am lacking?” Quillen only smirked in reply, but Kethan’s gavo flared fully as the rest of the male’s question sank in. “And what do you mean by helping you? You stay out of this,” he hissed. “I saw her first. I brought her to the Zir. I did not bring her here for you to attempt to steal her from beneath my wing!”

Quillen chuffed in amusement. “Listen to you. You sound like a nestling. I did not say I was going to steal her from you. In case it has escaped your notice, she responds to both of us.”

Kethan’s eyes narrowed on the male suspiciously. “What do you mean?”

“Have you not smelled her alluring fragrance in the morning?” Quillen asked, his gavo rising slightly with his question as he peered at Kethan expectantly. At the fanning of his ears, Quillen drew back with a satisfied smile. “That is what I mean. You are young so you probably did not understand what you were scenting?—”

“You are exactly two lunar cycles older than me,” Kethan interrupted as he folded his arms over his chest.

Although he disliked admitting that he did not realize the significance of her delicious scent, he did know how it made him feel. He rose with his sant filled with his engorged primary cock and an overpowering adoration for her. If anyone had dared to try and separate them at that moment, he was uncertain of whether he would go mad or just curl up and die in despair. The extremes of his emotions were frightening but also elating because he knew the expected signs of bonding with one’s potential mate.

Quillen huffed with acknowledgment. “Do you want to know what it means or not?”

“Continue,” Kethan hissed in response.

The other male grinned and leaned in closer. “Desire. More than that, both of our scents have begun to merge with hers, which is the first sign for bonding and acceptance. She is not interested in just mating with only one of us.” Kethan’s eyes widened in shock, but Quillen withdrew with reluctant sigh. “Unfortunately, it does not mean anything in terms of successfully mating. Many males have gotten to this point only to fail when a female decides to reject them.”

His nest brother’s words were a revelation but also equally worrisome. “If that is the case, it is hopeless. Females have always selected a single male and made their acceptance clear tohim upon successful completion of a courtship. How would we even proceed if she does not know which of us she favors?”

Quillen’s wings shrugged before extending fully for a powerful snap that lifted him back up into a nearby tree. “Why does it matter?” he countered. “We are not like most males of the nara, nor even on the Zir. We nest together by choice rather than carving out our own territories within the nara. Why should a mate change anything when we have always shared everything between us? We should see this as a fortuitous opportunity—or destiny.”

Kethan gaped at him. “You mean share a mate? No male shares his mate with another! It is unheard of. We would be lucky to merely be scorned. We could be cast out for joining in an unnatural nest.”

---