Page 26 of Enchanting Her Mate

I sniffle, trying to will my tears to stop falling. “You do not have to say it if you are doing it, brother.”

He opens the door just a sliver to poke his head in. “Alussanai, are you well?”

“No!” I shout, throwing the pillow across the room. What a foolish question. Of course I am not well. My heart has just been cracked right down the center.

He sighs against the door frame, shoving his hands into the pockets of his dark gray pants. “Perhaps you should join me in the eating room.”

I turn away from him and plop down onto my side. “I am not hungry.”

The door creaks loudly as it is opened all the way. “But we are having tibbi,” a deep, growly voice adds.

“Kulissanai!” I yell when I turn to find him standing next to Niro. Launching myself off the bed, I race to him and leap into his arms. He stands frozen at first, which is normal when I hug him. But I do not care that he refuses to hug me back because he is here. That is all that matters.

“Please join us before I am forced to swallow another mug of this slop,” Kuli says as I release him, his bored tone echoing off the walls of the cave.

I run full speed down the hall. Sliding into the eating room, I find Kate sitting at the long table.

“Oh,” I say, disappointment thick in my tone. “I was hoping Bexossanai would be here.”

“Sorry, babe,” Kate replies with an empathetic frown. “We sent him several comms and he never responded. He must be busy with the farm.”

“That farm holds too much of his focus,” Niro adds with a groan.

I take a seat next to Kuli and throw back a large glass of tibbi, my favorite beverage made from bokna fruit from the trees around my cottage. Kate refills it immediately.

“Now, tell us what has happened,” Kuli says, resting his elbows on the table. “Who has caused you such pain and how do we go about destroying them?”

Kate and I yell “No!” at the same time.

“No one is going to touch Jo,” I say through gritted teeth as I meet my brothers’ gazes. “You shall not go near her. Is that understood?”

Niro holds up a hand. “I have no interest in harming Jo, but I cannot promise I will not go near her, as we spend much of our time with the clan.”

The image of him and Kate having meals with Jo, or witnessing Jo practice her magic, fills me with crippling envy. They are so lucky to still have a place among the clan. Whereas I have nothing.

“Why are we gathering here if not to avenge Alussanai’s pain?” Kuli asks, shaking his head in disappointment.

“We’re here to offer support, just as you all did for me when I thought I had lost Kate for good,” Niro says with a level of warmth in his tone that I am not used to. My heart squeezes when he shoots me a wink.

Mek caws loudly as he does a loop around the eating room, then leaves just as quickly to fly down the hall.

“Why is there a dirty, feathered critter flying around your caves, brother?” Kuli asks Niro.

I watch as measured restraint tightens his features. “It is, um, Alussanai’s companion. She brought him with her from the jungle.”

“Ick,” Kuli mutters with a look of sheer disgust. “Birds are filthy creatures who should remain outdoors.” Then he turns toward me. “Did you consider the mess thisthingwill cause in your home?”

“Well, I––” I begin, ready to explain that Mek has lived in my cottage with me since the day I finished building it, and that the mess he creates is confined to the room he occupies, but I do not get the chance to say any of that as Kuli interrupts.

“You truly did not think this decision through, Alussanai,” he says with an incredulous chuckle. “Did you?”

We seem to have reached the part of the conversation where my brothers pick apart my lifestyle and my choices, and for once, I do not have the energy to try to convince them they are wrong. I am just…so very sick of being seen as a fool who cannot take care of herself. I have almost reached my third century of being alive. If I could not properly care for myself, I would be dead by now, would I not?

I say none of this to my brothers, however. I simply rise from my seat and walk out of the eating room.

“Where are you going?” Kuli shouts.

I pause just outside the door to the eating room and turn to face him with a shrug. “I am not interested in being the object of your ridicule. If this is how you plan to support me in my time of need, I would rather you left and returned home.” I take a moment to revel in the look of shock on Kuli’s and Niro’s faces before I turn back toward my room.

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