Page 27 of Roar Letter Word

MAHES

Things with Addie had been going wonderfully. They had made love on several occasions, both of them unable to keep their hands off each other. It was unlike any entanglement the king had ever felt, even without the mating mark. His body had developed a permanent hum, one that radiated from his core.

It was working out mostly because he had been following the research that Ruzyll had done for him on how to properly court a human woman. Mahes had drunk up all the suggestions like they were words from a prophet.

He’d taken her out on dates, both pertaining to her interests and to the thirst she expressed for learning about Nova Aurora. He listened to the words coming out of her mouth rather than the rhythmic wave of the emotions he could pick up with his shifter senses. He had flubbed up a few times but remedied it with actions that displayed he had her in mind.

Yet, the king couldn't help but feel like there was still something missing. As a shifter and renowned king, he had honed the various skills that his kind took for granted, like scent detection and emotional vibrations. As royalty, it was a matter of life and death for him to pick up the desires and motivations of others, particularly his foes. If he made any rash decisions or, even worse, missed a blinding indicator, it could mean his head on a silver platter.

What that meant for Addie was that he could detect what was going on with her without her needing to say anything at all. According to his research, though, many women didn’t like that. They often labeled it as making an assumption rather than communicating. But he couldn’t help a lifetime of practice in identifying alterations in patterns and behavior. He had been trained to search the feed for pulses and movement that deviated from the rest … for any flare in the night.

And Addie was that flare, that brilliant blaze of starlight across a gloomy ocean. Her distance, despite their obvious attraction and interest in one another, was the open water. It was painfully obvious to Mahes, even if it wasn’t to her.

Half of her heart was pointing back to her homeland of Earth, while the other was curious about his land. It seemed like an average tearing of passions, but that wasn’t going to do for someone like Mahes.

So, he took the matter into his own hands and hired a human advisor. Ruzyll had found a service for him that specialized in human and Nova Auroran relations through their shared relations with King Alyx.

The man was named Robert Angle and was set to arrive on a sunny afternoon. Mahes didn’t want Addie to know, so he scheduled it during the time of day he was dealing with “kingly matters.”

It wasn’t a complete and outright lie, though, was it?

Robert arrived in a suit and tie, and Ruzyll escorted him into the lounge next to the dining room, where Mahes waited for him. Mahes was prim and proper, having trimmed his beard that morning and slicked his hair back with sage-scented pomade.

The first thing that struck Mahes about Robert was the state of his clothing. It was ruffled and wrinkled like he had pulled the outfit out from the back of his drawer that same morning. All of Nova Aurora’s clothing was AI, which meant they could alter themselves on a whim, even with the person still wearing them. The suit was clearly from Earth, the sandy black starting to fade to a rusty orange in the folds of the forearms and armpits.

It wasn’t that aspect of the clothing that really made the king wonder. He was human, so of course, he would lean more toward outfits he was used to. But the one adorning his body appeared two times too small for the lanky bastard that stood before him.

Mahes held out his hand to the sloppy human, who shook his hand fervently. Robert's eyes were beady-like holes carved out in an apple by an intruding snake. He cast aside his judgments for the time being as humans were still somewhat of a mystery to him.

“It’s nice to meet you, Robert. I am King Mahes of the Tellahn pride,” Mahes said, offering his guest a seat.

“Oh, I know who you are, and I am honored,” Robert said, clutching a suitcase to his chest as if it was a bomb ready to go off. “You wanted to discuss matters pertaining to your human mate?”

Ruzyll and Mahes exchanged a look, and they both politely ignored the human’s encroaching inquiry. Ruzyll asked if he wanted anything to drink, and he requested water from the springs of Zandron and a thinly sliced mangorian.

Mahes and his second shared another look, the snooty request a rather brazen one. A mangorian was a fruit native to the planet, only available to the obscenely wealthy. Or royalty. As was fresh water from springs that had been delicately curated from the Zandron Mountains.

Mahes ignored the contents of the request, excusing it as normal human blundering of alien planet norms.

Robert sat, clicked open his briefcase, then pulled out a pad and paper. It was a relic of another time for the planet, and Mahes snarked to himself about it.

“So you have been having success with courting your human woman, no?” Robert asked enthusiastically.

Mahes nodded.

“I have, yes. My chief of staff, who you met earlier, did research for me, and the majority of it has been going well. I, however, feel some distance from her.”

Robert raised his eyebrows dramatically.

“In what sense?”

“I fear that she yearns for home. Her planet, I mean, Earth. She is relatively well-known and famous there. I wonder if our customs, as well as the distance from where she grew up, would be too much for her heart to take.”

“Hmm.”

Robert nodded, slid the pad of paper back into his suitcase, then clicked it shut. Mahes watched him closely, somewhat amused, somewhat incensed by his egotistic aura.

“That does sound like quite the conundrum. Unfortunately, my main suggestion would be for you, as King of Tellahn, to give up your position as the leader as well as your kingdom and return to Earth with your mate.”

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