Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 77764 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77764 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
I just wish it didn’t hurt my silly feelings.
Swiping away a stupid tear, I turn and walk away from the scatter of huts as quick as I can. Find R’jaal, I tell myself. Get it out in the open. Nothing has to be decided today. You can take your time. You and I’rec have at least a year to figure shit out between the two of you.
Heck, maybe R’jaal will want to be a step-dad.
Even as the thought crosses my mind, I shudder. I don’t want that. Trying to picture R’jaal as anything more than a buddy is impossible, especially since I’ve spent the last day being pounded by I’rec. It’s probably the resonance speaking, but I don’t want anyone else. I don’t even want to consider it.
I find R’jaal seated atop the large cluster of rocks that juts out into the choppy sea. It acts as a pier for those that like to fish but don’t want to get into the water, and I know he calls it his “thinking rock.” He likes coming here when he’s troubled, because he feels like he is gazing out at the long-lost island and seeking advice from the ancestors. Of course he’s there now. He gazes out at the bottle-green waters of the ocean, his long mane whipping in the breeze behind him.
“R’jaal?” I call out, moving up to the base of the rocks. “Can we talk?”
I hold a hand up so he can help me onto the boulders, but instead, he gives me the saddest look in the universe and gets to his feet. He hops down next to me, his hair fluttering, and then straightens. His expression is just…heartbreaking.
“You already know,” I say softly. Of course he does. R’jaal is observant. He takes his time and watches over things, tries to figure out the best strategy. He’s not a scowling pillar of opinions and decisions like I’rec.
The look he gives me is wry. “Of course I know. I saw the way you looked at him when he arrived. In that moment, I knew.”
My chest feels tight. “How did I look at him?”
“Like you were seeing him for the very first time.”
Oh. His answer steals my breath away and I try to recall seeing I’rec in that moment. I can’t. How funny that he took one look at my reaction to I’rec and knew, and yet I had no idea until the song hit— and it’s been mindless fucking ever since. Even now my khui is humming, but the noise feels lonely and discontented without I’rec’s song nearby.
He hears it and turns away, wandering near the shore. I walk next to him quietly, trying to get my head wrapped around this entire weird situation. I feel like I need to apologize, but I know that’s ridiculous. I’ve done nothing wrong. It wasn’t as if I activated my khui. It wasn’t as if I begged for it to match me with I’rec. Heck, it wasn’t as if I paid special attention to him over R’jaal. I did nothing wrong, yet I still feel like a naughty child that’s been caught being bad. To make things worse, my khui keeps singing so loudly that R’jaal keeps glancing over at me.
The beach feels both noisy from the waves, and far too quiet. Deciding to speak up, I glance over at him. “I hope we’re still friends.”
“Of course we are friends.” He gives me a chiding look. “Resonance does not change that. It just means you have someone new to hunt for you.”
Well, it actually means a whole hell of a lot more than that, as my sore pussy can attest, but sure, we’ll go with that. “I guess that means you and Tia, huh? Since you’re the last two holdouts?”
I don’t know what that means for I’rec, considering he still wants Tia, but I guess if he wants her as a pleasure-mate even after we resonated, maybe R’jaal and Tia can work out some sort of agreement.
He grunts, pausing and gazing thoughtfully out at the waves that endlessly roll towards the shore. “It is odd. When I first met T’ia I liked her. She was charming and she liked to show me how to kiss. But I quickly realized she liked to show all the males how to kiss and I no longer felt special to her. I put distance between us, and ever since then, I have not felt anything for her. It is very…odd to think that she might be my mate.” R’jaal shrugs. “Of course, I might have no mate at all.”
“I doubt that is it. You khui is just waiting for the right moment and the right girl.”
“Hmph,” is all he says. He glances over at me again. “So I’rec is the right one for you?”
I manage a weak smile, trying not to think about the conversation I overheard just a short time ago. “Guess so.”