Page 57 of Starlight

“We’ve only just met. And we spent most of last weekend fucking.” They were entirely different species and lived in different worlds. He didn’t have a clue how it would work if they were mates.

“You make it sound like a bad thing.”

“It’s not, and I brought more lube. But if I don’t know what I want to do with my life, how can I involve another person?”

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

It was one thing for Akai to say he wasn’t ready for a mate, but another for Cole to agree with him. Especially when he had rubies and silver everywhere. Humans loved that stuff, but Cole had barely looked at them. He cleared a space for dinner, wondering if the only reason he was feeling jittery about the mate thing was that deep down, he suspected that Cole didn’t want a monster as a mate.

He served up the stew he’d made with what he’d foraged on the hike back to the cabin. He’d had time to throw everything together and work on the rubies. Now they sat in silence, eating.

This is not what he’d planned. He hated walking over rough terrain when it was so much easier to fly, yet this time he didn’t have a choice.

“I’m not going to ask what was in it because it tasted good.”

“It was the ground-up toasted crickets. They give it a nutty flavor.”

Cole gave him a sideways glance and swallowed as if regretting eating. “I said I didn’t want to know.”

“I was joking. I’d never put crickets in a stew.” Maybe sprinkle a few on top for garnish, but never in a stew.

“Of course. What was I thinking?” Cole gathered the empty bowls and started doing the dishes.

Akai rested his chin on his hands and watched him. They were on the same branch about being mates, so why did it feel so weird? “Why does this not feel like last weekend?”

Cole shrugged. “Because talking about the future is scary? It means we’ve both thought about it and neither of us can see a way forward.” He paused his hands in the soapy water. “I think it hurts a bit, too, because everyone wants to be wanted.”

Is that what it was? He would make an excellent mate. He had workshops and mines and was an excellent jeweler. But he wasn’t human. “You would prefer a human mate.”

“I’ve dated humans, and you have dated other monsters. Neither of us has done this, which adds another level of weird.” He pulled the plug and stared out the window. Not that there was much to see with the lights inside the cabin reflecting off the glass. “I know my family wouldn’t like you. They wouldn’t believe me if I told them I was dating a monster. They think I’m meeting a secret boyfriend and aren’t too happy about it.”

“I am kind of a secret.” He hadn’t said anything to his family. “My family wouldn’t mind me mating with a human. It’s not as though I was going to find a nice female harpy and have children. Mom gave up on that idea a while ago.”

“They don’t hate humans?”

“My sister’s death gutted them…it’s one of the reasons they moved. They wanted me to go with them, but all my friends are here, and I know the land and the mines, and I didn’t want to start over. They do not hate all humans. Only your cousins. And since they are already dead, there was no need to seek vengeance.”

“Do they know you played a part in their death?”

Akai was silent for several seconds. He considered lying for a heartbeat, but figured it was best Cole knew the truth. “No. No one does.”

“So no one knows that you saved me?”

Akai shook his head. “I would get in trouble for going after them.”

“Why?”

“Because I risked revealing myself. I should have let it be handled, but I had their trail, and I wanted my jewelry back. They’d taken an entire year’s work. I also didn’t care if they attacked me. I was furious and reckless, and I shouldn’t have done it. If I had left it alone and sought help, then you wouldn’t have been hurt.”

“Our paths wouldn’t have crossed.”

And there would be no tangled fate lines between them. “Perhaps…or perhaps we would have met anyway.”

Which didn’t help him understand what was going on, or what he wanted.

Cole dried his hands and hung up the tea towel. “This should be easy if it was meant to be?”

Akai laughed. “No. That is harder. You must prove you are worthy.”