Chapter 157: Fuck That Shit
"Fuck that shit," I growled, looking at Da’kea. He appeared to be sitting in some type of dark room with only a single bed. I shook my head, pushing aside his evident lack of decorating skills to the issue at hand. "I am not going to stand in front of all those guys and let them smell me."
"It wouldn’t be like that," said Da’kea in an assuring manner, but that managed to piss me off that much more.
"And what would it be like?" I demanded, crossing my arms in front of me. I didn’t have my armor on; Ye’tab, being the absolute genius that he was, got the environmental controls working, so I was no longer in danger of freezing to death.
"You would come over, and they would show you their kill rooms. You would then judge each male on the difficulty of each kill, how skilled they were in preserving the kill, and then make a decision about whether or not they were worthy to submit seed in hopes that it would produce offspring," explained Da’kea.
The way he composed himself didn’t give me a clue about how he was actually feeling, but I could sense something off in his tone. Mind you, the anthropologist inside of me was really interested in seeing the skeletal remains of creatures I had never even heard of or seen before. It must be the same feeling that the archaeologists felt when they discovered the first dinosaur bone.
"What is your opinion?" I asked. "Your honest opinion. I am mated to you, not to a diplomat. I want your thoughts on the matter," I clarified. The last thing I wanted was for him to give me the ’correct’ answer, pushing his own feelings aside. No relationship would last long if one partner only gave the answer they thought the other one wanted to hear.
"I want to rip each one of their spines out of their bodies and present their skulls to you to line your shelves. However, as the Elder supervising this area of the hunt, I am not allowed to say that,’ he growled, and I could see him physically trying to pull himself back together.
"Would I see your kill room? Or only the guys?" I asked. I was beginning to understand how important these kill rooms were to courtship, and I didn’t want to bypass something that meant so much to him. Besides, my curiosity could be a bitch sometimes.
"If you wanted, I would be honored to show you my kill room," replied Da’kea, straightening up even more.
"Fine. I’ll be over once GA and Midnight have finished arguing over the perfect temperature to cook konjin," I grumbled, listening to the two of them just outside the ramp arguing.
"Ah, you like konjin that much?" mused Da’kea.
"I have no idea what it is," I said honestly with a sigh. "I think it was the first meat that GA fed me on a rainforest planet. And because I was starving, any meat would have tasted good. But they have it in their heads that this is the only meat that I like to eat."
"You are a good female," said Da’kea, thinking back to the conversation that he just had with Ai’to. The comparison between the two females was night and day.
"Hardly," I chuckled, more than aware of my faults. "I tend to be more passive when it comes to things that I don’t really care about," I continued, trying to think of the best way to phrase it.
"Is that why you are so... unconcerned about the mates you seem to be claiming all over the place?" he asked, and I took a second to think about it.
He gave me an honest answer about how he was feeling, so I owed him that much. "I don’t think that I am unconcerned, as you put it, so much as think that it is a waste of energy fighting it. From what I understand, this is a genetic connection that can eventually drive you guys insane if you are not physically around me," I continued, hoping that I was making sense. "Therefore, I don’t see a reason to fight the connection. How it grows in the future is still to be determined. But for right now, it is what it is."
"That is a very interesting way of thinking about it," said Da’kea, and I could hear the amusement in his voice. "It takes less energy to go with the flow, which is why you are accepting it."
"Unless I get pissed off, and then I make no promises that I won’t try and kill you myself," I added with a shrug. It wasn’t that I was unaffected. I now had four men tell me that I was their genetic match and that they would go insane without me. However, I was also enjoying them around. Why not go with the flow?
"I’ll try not to have that happen," chuckled Da’kea, and I could hear his tusks clicking together in amusement.
"Just be honest and straightforward," I said after a few seconds of thought. "I will rarely get pissed if you are telling me your truth than if you are just saying what you think I want to hear."
"That might be a bit hard. I am a diplomat. I am known for my double speech and hidden meanings," he said, barking out a laugh. All of a sudden, there was a knock on his door. "I need to go," he sighed. "I will expect you over here after dinner."
"Got it!" I said with a nod as the knock came again. "Have fun!"
I waited for him to hang up before turning to Ye’tab, who had been sitting right beside me the whole time. "I assume you three are coming with me?" I asked, just as my other two mates came up the hatch with a steaming piece of meat between them.
"We will be," he assured me. "And at some point in time, I am going to have to get my kill room to show you."
"Sounds good. I’ll put aside a few rooms in Jun Li for you guys. Let me know if you have any preferences."
I was sure that he was going to say something, but then Midnight piped up, announcing that dinner was served.
Might as well enjoy it before going to deal with a bunch of stupid males. I wondered what the rules were on not killing them.
