Chapter Seven

The compound felt eerily quiet without the men. Loralia and the human women stood in the center of the compound long after the warriors had marched out of sight, disappearing into the darkness of the forest that bordered that edge of the compound. The Denynso women and the monarchs had walked away, returning to their daily activities, within just a few moments of the last man marching out of sight, but the humans and Loralia couldn't seem to pull themselves away from where they stood. These had been the spots where they were standing when their mates had given them their final kisses goodbye and stroked their faces, imparting their warmth and expressing their love even without words. They didn't want to move and break the beautiful, precious space they had created with their men.

Finally Samira sighed.

"I don’t think that standing here is going to make any difference, guys. They aren't coming back today."

There was a brief pause and then the rest of the women started laughing, happily breaking the painful tension that they had all been feeling. They needed that moment, that first second that forced them to have a thought that wasn't their mates' voices and the touch of their skin. None of them wanted to do it. They all would much rather continue feeling their men close to them, but they had no idea how long it would be before the men would be back and if they didn’t push themselves out of that frame of mind, they would all just allow themselves to waste away. They knew that they wouldn't be able to get through this on their own. It would take the strength of all of them to support each other and take care of the compound while their mates were gone.

"Loralia," Eden said and Loralia turned to her, "I haven't had a chance to tell you that I'm really happy that things worked out for you and Bannack."

"Thank you, Eden."

"I am, too," Zuri offered, "I heard what happened between you two and I wanted to tell you that you aren't alone."

"What do you mean?"

"I know it can feel like him being resistant to accepting you as his mate was him rejecting you, and that that can be really hurtful. I just don't want you to think that things were so easy for the rest of us."

Loralia looked at each of the women. She wasn't sure how to feel about the conversation. She had just that morning told Bannack that he needed to let go of what had happened between them at the beginning of their relationship and let them move forward into the future together, but at the same time she found it comforting to hear that these women had also coped with challenges when they were finding their way with their mates in the Denynso compound.

"It wasn't?"

"We should have told you that when we first came to see you that first night you were on the compound. It probably would have made things much easier for you," Zuri said, "The truth is that finding a mate is something that the Denynso men look forward to their entire lives, but it can be a really scary and uncomfortable experience for them. They can get really violent and aggressive, even more so than usual, and they feel like they can't get their minds straight. That's really hard for all of them, but sometimes they have a lot of their own issues to work through, too."

"I wasn't exactly the most pleasant person in the world, especially to Pyra, and basically told him that I didn't like him and didn't want anything to do with him," said Eden, giving a short laugh and looking down at her hand stroking across her belly.

"I was a virgin who was terrified of Ciyrs and had a really difficult time trusting him," Elianna offered, "and when I was kidnapped by the Klimnu, he had to deal with knowing that I was being tortured and not being able to find me."

"I had been held by the Klimnu for almost two months and tortured, and was in a coma when they brought me back to the compound," Leia said, her voice sounding strong even though it was still difficult for her to talk about her ordeal in the prison, "Gyyx spent days with me and he finally had to…" she hesitated, "excite me to get me to wake up. Even then he was terrified to touch me because I'm so small and he didn't want to hurt me."

"Ty resisted how he felt about me as hard as he could because he thought I was too young for him. I came here with Zuri when she came back to Uoria and Ty was my guide and protector. I had to force him to acknowledge that we were meant to be together."

Loralia nodded, appreciating how these women were opening up to her and feeling more confident in her new place in the compound. She turned to Zuri, the final woman in the group to tell her story. Zuri looked slightly startled as if she had forgotten that she hadn't told about her early days with her mate.

"Oh," she said, "Ero thought I was fat."

The women laughed and together they started walking back toward the houses. Loralia was processing the connection that she was feeling to these women, trying to remember what it was like to have friends to spend time with and people to rely on. She had spent so much time alone that she was finding it harder than she would have imagined just relaxing in their company and enjoying having the friendship. She knew it would take time for her to really feel like she was a part of them, but she had already begun to feel a strong loyalty to the Denynso and was looking forward to spending more time with these women.