I mean, I have my flaws. And my biggest one? I’m clingy as fuck. I acknowledge it. Doesn’t mean I’m changing, but I’m aware of it. But I still wonder if Haeden’s comment made its way back to the chief and that’s why my mate’s been gone for so long. As if agreeing, the baby in my stomach kicks hard, and my stomach growls in the next second. All right, all right. I know when someone needs a snack.
With one last glance back at the chief’s cave, I pick up my ‘tea’, blow on it, and then tip the oily sludge into my mouth. The different flavors hit me all at once - the wasabi-like taste of the kah, followed by the sweet caramel of the hraku, and then the tart bitterness of the tea. Heaven. There’s even notes of meat and fat in there. Yum.
Nora makes another gagging sound. Josie just giggles.
“You wait until you have a craving for peanut butter and pickles,” I tell Josie as I take another sip/slurp. “And then you remember that the ice planet doesn’t have either. Kah-hraku-soup is gonna look pretty good then.”
“Just not yet,” Nora says drily. She pulls Elsa from her breast and begins to pat the baby’s back, as Anna stirs in her lap.
Josie immediately puts out her hands. “Can I hold one?”
“Sure.” Nora hesitates, trying to decide which baby to hand over, her arms full. After a moment, she hands over Elsa.
Josie pulls the baby against her, a look of bliss on her face. She’s so excited to be pregnant, and I’m happy for her. I know she’s been lonely for a long time. I rub a hand on my aching back again. For a while, I’d almost felt guilty that I’d resonated to my sweet Cashol…almost. Except I wouldn’t give him up for anything. Josie’s like a kid sister to me and I hated to leave her behind, but when it comes to my mate? All bets are off.
He’s mine and mine alone, and I wouldn’t give him up for anything.
Josie starts to talk again and I take another sip of my tea-soup and look over at the chief’s cave. My mate’s still in there? I’m tempted to get up and go push into the conversation, but…getting up is an effort lately. I rub a hand on my belly absently and drink more tea as Josie chatters Nora’s ear off.
I’m tipping back my cup to finish the dregs when a familiar pair of shoulders and long dark hair catches my eye. God, my mate is gorgeous. I’m so stinking lucky. When we got to the ice planet, I didn’t see how I could possibly fall in love with an alien, but the moment I resonated with Cashol? Everything clicked into place. It was like a switch went on with my brain, and instead of freaking out over horns and tails, I realized how graceful his big blue body was. I learned that there was nothing finer than the crooked smile on my mate’s mouth when he makes me laugh. I learned that his hair’s always slightly messy because he’s too focused on other things - like me - to care about the fact that the braids that keep the hair out of his face aren’t even. I learned that he might not be the most physically attractive of the aliens on paper, but to me? He’s perfection. His big nose, long face and goofy smile? I love all of it, because it’s him.
I set my cup down and struggle to get to my feet to greet him, but he’s at my side before I can even manage to get halfway out of my seat. He takes my hands in his and helps me haul my body upright. “You were gone a while.”
He ignores my cranky tone and presses a kiss to my cheek. “My chief had much to say to me.”
I glance back at the cave to see if Georgie or Vektal are heading this way. When they don’t appear, I turn back to Cashol. “What were they nagging you about?”
He tsks at my choice of words and brushes a lock of hair from my cheek. “We will discuss it later. Do you want to bathe? The water will be good for your back.”
I narrow my eyes at him because I recognize a subject change. He’s trying to distract me, or he doesn’t want to discuss it in front of the others. I rub my lower back again. “I guess so.”
“Come,” he says, gently steering me toward the pool in the center of the cavern. “I have fresh soapberries and your favorite comb.”