Chapter 198: See What I See
"Stardust!" said Midnight, shooting to his feet at my entrance. The other six men were quick to follow, but my eyes narrowed in on Da’kea, and I went to him. He wrapped his arms around me, his tusks scent marking me again. I felt him relax just a fraction as he took a seat and pulled me into his arms.
Au’dtair quickly went to the other side of the room and brought me one of the furs that I had left there for movie night. Gently laying it over my legs, he quickly tucked me in. If his tusks also left part of his essence on me, no one was calling him out on it. Even Ye’tab grabbed my wrist and gently placed my skin between his inner and outer mandibles. I shivered as his tongue glided over the underside of my wrist, right over my pulse.
"Why are you here?" he asked as he removed his mouth. "Everything okay?"
"Night came in," I answered with a shrug. The nightmare seemed more than a little on edge. And since there was not much to watch on my phone, I decided to go find everyone.
Thankfully, I did because if the newcomers thought that they were going to be taking any of Jun Li’s weapons away, I would kill them myself.
"If you are sleepy, just close your eyes. Don’t worry about anything, okay?" murmured Da’kea as he settled me more comfortably on his lap.
I looked at him and nodded. I would let the guys figure things out. This was their time to bond and see if they could work things out and live together or not. If it was the second option, well, they were the ones genetically attached to me, not the other way around.
"You know my views," I said, tilting my head back until I could see Midnight.
"Of course," he replied with a smile. "I still owe you a glass from before."
"It is enough that you remembered."
"My name is Tha’juen," interjected one of the newcomers as he stood up and walked toward me. Moving the coffee table out of the way, he crouched down in front of Da’kea so he could see me. "It’s a pleasure to meet you."
"You might not think that in a little while," I chuckled. I was still in my pajamas, my hair up in a messy bun. I always had a theory that if they couldn’t take you at your worst, they didn’t deserve your best. However, the way the male in front of me was staring, I don’t think I had to worry about it too much.
I stared at his armor that no one seemed to have commented on. Did no one else notice it? He looked almost like a dragon with a crown of curved horns on his head and a smaller set coming out of both sides of his temples. There was a line going up from between his eyes, held together almost like it was stitched in place. His glowing red eyes stared at me, and I could practically picture steam coming from his mouth.
There were even two metal tusks coming out of the bottom of his jaw and two long strands of white metal encasing his dreads. His body armor seemed to be weaved together, the darker brown offset by what looked like samurai armor on his shoulders and upper arms.
"You are the pet, aren’t you?" he asked, practically purring his words. I blinked a few times, looking past his looks to his comment.
"Pet?" I replied, my eyebrows shooting up into my bangs. I knew that GA occasionally referred to me as a pet, but I thought that was more like Country E’s term of endearment rather than they thought I was an actual pet.
"For a while, I was on a Sisalik ship that was sent to find you and an L-series ship. Is this the one?" he asked, not noticing that I was still pretty hung up on the idea that anyone considered me a pet. Then again, humans were stupid enough to make lions and tigers a pet...
Still. Not impressed.
"It is," I said. We were pretty much the only L-series ship with no known location at any given time, so it would make the most sense. "Let me guess, they needed me for some experiments?"
"Something like that," admitted the Saalistaja, kneeling in front of me.
"They need to get in line," I grumbled under my breath.
"How are you here then if you were on a Sisalik ship?" demanded Da’kea, pulling me tighter into his embrace.
"I got off at one of the ports they stopped in to stock up on. From there, I was able to find a Saalistaja ship that brought me to the hunting planet where Au’dtair, Vraev’ox, and Cruz’uts were taking a break.
"Hunting planet?" I asked, my eyes never leaving the male in front of me.
"Yeah, you were there hunting the zmaj," said GA with a smile on his face.
"And that was when you decided I might make a good pet?" I asked, calling him out on coming back to my ship and basically stalking me for God only knew how long. Then again, it was partially my fault, too, for not noticing.
"No, I wondered how someone as delicate as you stayed alive as long as you had," answered GA, taking a strand of my hair into his hand. "I figured you needed someone to watch over you so you didn’t die."
I stuck my tongue out at him and then turned my attention back to the male. "Does no one see what I see?" I asked, looking up at Da’kea. "Or is everyone just too polite to comment?"
These were really important things. The other two hadn’t changed armor yet, not like this one. But if no one else saw it, did he really change?
"I haven’t noticed any difference," said Ye’tab, staring at Tha’juen. "Same as before."
"It really isn’t," I muttered, taking in a deep breath. I was not going to dive into the secrets of the universe right now. I needed to know if I was going to keep the other two or... not.
