Page 4 of Jessica's Mates
“Just take it slow; small bites until you're used to it. If you drink too fast you might make yourself sick,” Elle reminded me. I nodded, but it was hard. I felt empty, but one bite and I felt full and sick. It was going to be a while before I was feeling myself.
I didn’t know how to bring up what had happened, all the bad shit I wanted to tell them. All I could think about was how terrible everything had been, and K’Tem. I was worried about him. If he was going to come here, he would probably meet me where we were dropped off. That big open space. I needed to go there to find him.
“I need us to go to the Goddess Arena. We need to go back there and wait for the M’Mori.” There was silence at the table now. They all stared at me like I grew two heads, and from the way my head was feeling, it wouldn't surprise me that I had.
“No way, I'm not going back there. If anything, I'm going to avoid anywhere the M’Mori are. They might take me away from my mates.” Luna cradled her stomach with her hands.Oh my god.
“You're pregnant?” We hadn't even been here that long. Two months and she was already knocked up. The rest of the table all looked at each other with smiles and placed their hands on their bellies. Was I the only one not expecting?
“Aren't you pregnant too?” Brooklyn asked when she saw I wasn’t cradling my belly. I shook my head and looked up at her.
“No, usually you have to have sex to get pregnant and I haven't done any of that. Hell, I haven’t had sex in about a year.”
They all looked at me again, their eyebrows raised. “Dang girl, you didn't even experiment at all with one of them?” Hadley asked as she leaned closer to me. I shook my head no. Why would I bother experimenting with them? They’re not the one I wanted. I wanted K’Tem.
“Don't worry, Jessica. We have only nice males here, most of them are single. But we can tell you which ones they are. I don’t think any would turn you down for a date. So, you have your pick,” Quinn suggested, her arms opening wide to all the Aashi males around. They were staring at us, and now we were staring at them, they all pretended to be working.
“Yeah, Jessica, I went on dates to get my mates. I know a few single guys that would make good mates to you.”
My mouth dropped open. “How many mates do you all have?”
Brooklyn, with her huge grin, held up her hand, all four fingers and her thumb wiggling at me. She had five mates. Holy shit, she actually took five. I didn't think anyone else would actually pick all of their chosen males.
“Oh, I didn't realize you were going to take all of the Chosen. Did you get nice ones at least?” Was I the only one to get chosen males that were complete assholes?
“Oh no, I didn’t pick all my chosen. Just one. I totally didn't know about the whole touching thing either. And I really like hugs so… I kind of, accidentally, hugged a lot of them to get here.” My eyes widened at that. How did she not know about the touching thing? That was pretty clear the first time I touched one of mine. To push past him, that was.
“Brooklyn’s translator broke on the first day, so she couldn't actually talk to any of them,” Quinn answered for her.
“Oh hell, that would really suck,” Elle exclaimed as she held Brooklyn's hand tightly in hers. Brooklyn just nodded. But when she caught me looking at her, she smiled.
“Tomlee would make a great mate.” I stared at Brooklyn. I just got here and she was already trying to set me up. But she must have read my face. She quickly added, “Like, when you're ready, they know how to all date. So, if you wanted to go on dates and meet nice potential mates—” She didn't finish as Luna quickly stopped her.
“Let's not talk about that right now. I bet you're all really tired and you want to sleep. We will get some beds made up for you all. Elle and Hadley, I know this might sound strange, but do you guys think you could shack up together just for tonight? We don't have a lot of room, we are working on that and building more huts.”
They both smiled. “Yeah, that’s not an issue. We've been together for about three weeks now. We kinda got lost on our way here, but our mates, well, they're used to us all sleeping together a huddled group. So, I don't think one more night will upset them.” Hadley looked over to the guys she had brought with her and Elle. They both told us they chose males that were rejected once they left their clans and chosen males. Their mates were watching them both from a distance.
I didn't know if I would like that. I noticed that all of the girls had someone watching. I didn’t know if I could handle someone staring at me, watching my every move.
I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. I would sleep now, and tomorrow I would ask them to go back to the Goddess Arena with me. Where I knew my mate would be waiting for me. He had to be.
Chapter Five
Jessica
It had been two days, two long, tiring days, begging them all and sobbing at their rejections. They didn't want to go to the Goddess Arena. They were all happily pregnant; their mates not as creepy as I thought. They watched them and predicted things they needed, like food or water. They were loving and caring. I watched as Luna’s mate Axoh braided her hair after bathing.
“Just so you know, there is no fucking allowed in the bathing pool,” Luna told us all and then pointed at Quinn. All the girls laughed but me. I agreed with Luna; I did not want to be washing myself in their sex juices. Gross, Aashi cum.
“Wait up… Quinn, who did you fuck in here to make this a rule?” Elle teased Quinn, splashing water at her. But Quinn just gave a funny smile and gave a pointed look to Luna who had turned red in the face and held her hands up.
“It was me, okay. And, well, I wasn’t thinking. It was an “in the moment” thing. But it was one time that won’t happen again. Plus, Daku doesn’t come to the bathing pool anymore. Only Axoh.” Luna laughed and shook her head.
That was something I did have to get used to. The girls all bathed together, naked… in front of each others’ mates. The Aashi all sat around and watched their females. They didn’t look at the other females, though. Both of Elle and Hadley’s guys came to watch them. So that was four eyes from one side and three on the other. I didn’t think I would ever get used to it, but I guess I had to try if I wanted to bathe in the morning when the fog was around to hide me from all the other watching males. And there were a lot of them.
I was slowly starting to remember some of the mates’ names, the ones who followed the girls the most. These guys were mostly healers calledtakxe. There was one with me when the Chosen met me at the ship. But I left him behind at Clan Ariaan. He didn’t follow me.
Luna had Axoh. He was really cute the way they moved around each other, like they were in sync. Quinn had Tyee, he was also small but he was different. Not as relaxed but you could see how much he cared for her.
