Page 14 of Return of the Nine

She didn’t have a chance to ask about what precisely was degrading, he gently lifted her to her feet, and they left the podium and the relieved councillors behind.

Lyneer walked in front of them, deflecting the people who tried to approach her. She tried to ask Rothaway what was going on, but his face bore a frightening intensity that told her to hold questions until later.

He seemed to have grown by a few inches and his hair was fluffed out she could swear that she saw his ears twitch as they passed other males. The Wilders that they approached took one look at him and flattened themselves to the walls to get out of his way.

She scrambled in her mind for the information as to what was going on, but there was nothing specific to Wilders in the information Meevin had surrendered. There was nothing coming from Rothaway right now either. This was an emotional matter and she couldn’t hack through to the logic of it.

Silently she let Lyneer lead them through the halls until they entered a huge garden in the centre of the ship.

There was an attendant to one side and Lyneer moved to speak with her quietly. She nodded and handed him a triangle that had a slight glow.

Lyneer held the triangle out and walked down a barely visible path, the object brightened and continued to increase in luminosity as they progressed.

The green man paused next to a stone obelisk and pressed the triangle into the rock.

Rothaway tugged her past the stone and Lyneer smiled in encouragement. “It will be fine, Signy. No harm will come to you.”

With that alarming statement, a barrier sprang up betweenthem crackling with energy. Lyneer waved at her and kept his smile in place as she was hauled along.

Now that privacy was assured, she was irritated. “What the hell is going on, Rothaway?”

He looked down at her and she flinched back, the whites of his eyes were crimson and fangs were showing at the edge of his lips. “I will explain when we get there.”

“Holy heck. What is that about?” She tried to dig her heels in but he gave her arm a yank and she stumbled forward.

She should have been feeling fear, but nothing that he had done was violent and it seemed that his situation was understood by those who had seen him in the halls. It was something they were familiar with so it obviously occurred enough to be recognised.

Green and lavender grass and flowers were all around them, filling the air with a heady perfume that gave her a heavy feeling in her limbs.

She stumbled as he kept forging forward and he turned swiftly to lift her in his arms. “It is the flowers. They will relax you and keep me calm.”

His words were rumbling out of his chest and she bit her lip as the vibrations ran right through her to pool in her lower abdomen and between her thighs.

She breathed in deep for self-control and more of the floral scent ran into her bloodstream.

He stopped in front of a rocky altar that had the hilt of a knife sticking out of it.

He set her on her feet and stood in front of her, his teeth were shorter and he looked less wild.

“Signy, five years ago you started this when you kissed me. My people have a strict no contact policy when it comes to the opposite sex for just this reason.”

“What is going on?”

He dragged in a deep breath and held her hands. “When you kissed me I was in a susceptible state and I keyed to your genetic code. Only you were able to be my match from that day forward.”

“What?” Her voice came out on a husky whisper.

“I was with an all-male crew because we needed all ships in the air and I was entering a receptive phase. If I had been trapped with a female of the Nine, I may have fought for her with my crew and that would not have been a good thing. As it was, when you touched me I knew that I was doomed and despite the effect of your kiss I was elated at the same time.”

She blinked up at him. “I don’t understand.”

“Wilders hunt their mates by scent and opportunity. If we don’t find a mate before we reach a critical age, we go into the rut and seek our mate with aggressive fixation.” He paused to inhale. “I was lucky enough to have a powerful female find me instead of running from me.”

She blinked. “Me?”

“Indeed. Now, to end the rut we need to engage in one of two events. One, is to have sex right here.”

Her mouth opened in shock.

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