Page 35 of Riding His Spaceship

“You what?! Little bro, you–”

“Lia doesn’t know about true mating, Bargus! Everything outside of her planet is new to her, she’s from Terra, remember? How could I irreversibly bind her to me without her knowledge?”

That didn’t stop his brother from harrumphing.

T’kala, on the other hand, gave Dargus a sympathetic smile that revealed all her tiny sharp teeth. “You’ve done the right thing. Honorable, like always. But I fail to see why you need advice from us, in that case?”

He sighed. “Because I don’t know how to explain the true mate mythology to her, T’kala. I fear I’ll make a mess of it… So, I… run from the nestroom.”

Bargus chuckled.The inconsiderate butthole.

T’kala blinked with her forehead eye only.

This time, Dargus’ tail came to cover his eyes. “I’m the most cowardly true mate in the galaxy.”

“No, my poor brother-in-mating, you’re not.” T’kala’s gentle tone made him lower his tuft just a fraction. “You’re simply a perfectionist. You want everything to run smoothly, without hiccups. But with true mates, made for each other as they might be, the beginning is still a tad rough.”

“But I left her locked in a room without an explanation! And with a stunned Cubbie that’s yet to wake up.”

“Oooh, that’s a low blow, little bro. You’d qualify for the most cowardly true mate in the sector.”

T’kala elbowed her true mate. “Remind me, how many planetary rotations did you avoid meeting Daddy?”

“My mate, your father is the most feared pirate in this and several other sectors.”

She gave Bargus a pointed look.

“Fine. Little bro, sorry for what I just said. The truth is you’re the most cowardlynon-fuzzytrue mate in the sector.” Bargus grinned when he got elbowed in the ribs again. “Which sector are you in, anyway?”

“Heading to Funk’fru as we speak.”

“That’s so close!” T’kala clapped, her yellow claws clicking against each other. “We could come meet you and your forever love there. Right, Fuzzy? Me and Lia could talk, go shopping, go dancing–”

“No!”

“No.”

Dargus exchanged a look with his brother.

“No, my mate,” Bargus elaborated, “club dancing is in your past, remember?”

She rolled her eyes again. “I won’t be on stage. I’ll be partying among the crowd.”

“The stage is whereyouare, my mate. No way I’m letting other males watch you dance.”

“You’ll come along to protect me. With your body against mine.”

“Hmm… In that case–”

“We won’t be meeting on Funk’fru,” Dargus interrupted them. Before long, they’d be all over each other, and he wasn’t staying on the call for that. “Not now, anyway,” he added more calmly. “I’m working a case now, we’ll have a family get-together after.”If there is an after.

“How are you working a case with your true mate aboard, little bro?...Wait, didn’t you abduct the Terran to use her in the case? Isn’t that dangerous and–”

“Gotta go, Lia needs me. We’ll talk again later.”

Dargus terminated the call before his brother and T’kala could utter a single sound.

Coward. You didn’t mistake the turn-off button this time around, did you?

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