SUMMER

Of course, because I’m unlucky, the chief isn’t home.

Georgie is, though. She’s lying in bed, a puke bucket near her face. Her oldest daughter, Talie, strokes sweaty hair back from her mom’s forehead, and the younger is playing in one corner of the hut.

“Is this a bad time?” I ask from the doorway. “Because if it’s a bad time, I can come back.”

“Nah, it’s fine.” She sits up, putting the bowl between her folded legs. “Talie, honey, why don’t you go see Kate’s kitten again? Take Vekka with you.”

Talie gives her mother a dubious look. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine, baby girl. Go play.” She manages a bright smile.

I add a quick, “I think the twins were playing with him a few minutes ago.”

Georgie shoots me a grateful look, and the girls give their mom kisses and then race out the door, past where I’m standing. “Thank you. It worries them to see Mama sick. They don’t realize that this is expected. Talie was too young to remember much about me being sick with Vekka, though I admit this is a different kind of fun.”

“Oh?”

She nods and gestures at a seat near the fire. “Come sit. I’ll stay in bed if you don’t mind.”

“I don’t mind.” I move to the stool, watching her. “This pregnancy different than the others?”

“In little ways. The puking started earlier. And when I was pregnant with the girls, I wanted to eat everything in sight. Now any sort of raw meat turns my stomach. Not exactly a great thing, given where we live.”

I have to laugh at that. It took me a while to get used to the fact that the sa-khui eat raw meat constantly. “That is a bit difficult.”

“Gonna be a lot of eggs for the next fourteen months or so.” She makes a face and then leans over her bucket again. “Or not,” she adds faintly.

Oh dear. “Can I get you anything?”

She shakes her head, still leaning forward. “Just tell me what’s up. Distract me.”

“Oh. Okay. Well.” I wring my hands as she makes gagging noises and try not to sympathy-puke. “I wanted to see if there was a decision about waking up the humans or not. I guess I’m just being a bit nosy. You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. And I can totally see myself out if I need to. You don’t have to get up. I totally understand if it’s not something you want to talk about—”

She puts a hand up to stop my nervous yakking. “Summer, it’s okay. We can talk about that. I mean, everyone owes you. Warrek talked about how brave you were. He told Vektal all about how you pretty much had a plan for everything and you put yourself at risk to save the others. He was so impressed with your bravery.”

I feel a little flustered at the flattery. “I just did what anyone else would have done.”

“Maybe. Either way, the tribe can’t thank you enough.”

“So…have you guys decided?”

Georgie sighs. “Yes and no.” She lies back down on the blankets, fluffing her pillow. Her face is sweaty, and she’s pale, but she sets the bucket down next to the furs and isn’t heaving anymore. Progress. “It’s ultimately Vektal’s decision. He’s the chief. But he’s also…well, he’s innocent.” She frowns to herself. “All of these people are. If you tried to explain war to them, or murder, they don’t get it. To them, all people are a great big happy family that get along. Sure, we argue, but the worst thing you can do to someone is ignore them for a few days. And we all saw how well that went with Bek, right?” She grimaces. “But you and I know not everyone is nice. Not everyone is in this for the common good. I have to be the negative one sometimes. And that means I have to shoot down some of his ideas.”

My stomach feels like it’s tied in a fierce knot. “Oh?”

She stretches on the blankets, then pulls them over her. “It’s funny, you know. I’ve never wanted to be a leader. Never wanted to be in charge of anything. And I was pretty sure that when I was a mom, I’d be the cool mom, you know? The laid-back one who doesn’t take anything too seriously. Turns out that now I get to be a leader—or a co-leader, at least—and I’m not the cool mom at all. I’m the spaz mom who overprotects everyone and freaks out over everything. But…I have to. I feel like I’m responsible for my girls, for the others in the tribe, and especially the humans here. It’s like I’m mom to everyone.” She rubs her brow. “Sometimes it’s a little stressful and I make snap decisions that aren’t always the right ones. But I try to think of everyone and how the entire tribe is affected. So yeah. I’m not the cool mom. I’m the one who makes you eat all your carrots before you get up from the table, and then if you make too much noise, I’m going to make you sit in the corner for three hours and think about what you’ve done.”

“This is a hard job,” I say quietly, giving her support. “I don’t know that anyone would want it.”

“Mmm. Vektal loves being chief, though. I guess it’s different when you’ve been groomed for it all your life. And when you have a really innocent view of the world.” Her smile is faint.

All of Georgie’s talk makes me worry a little. “So…we’re not getting the newcomers out of their pods?” I don’t know how I feel about that. On one hand, I feel a tiny kernel of relief. On the other, I feel horribly sorry for those trapped people.

“Oh, we’re getting them out. Sorry. My mind is wandering. I was up all night talking it over with my mate.” She rubs her eyes with the back of a hand. “But I admit, a lot of me didn’t want to. Part of me still wants us to run screaming in the other direction. It’s the spaz mom in me acting up again. I want desperately to protect my family, and the tribe is my family. It’s just…” Her eyes look suspiciously glassy. “I lost everything once, you know? My planet, my life, my family. If I lost it again, it’d break me. Maybe that’s why my knee-jerk reaction is to say no.” She sighs. “But at the end of the day, they’re people, and they need our help, so we’re going to help them and hope they’re not convicts or murderers.”

I swallow hard. Jeez. Here I was just worrying that they were too sexy. Georgie’s taken worry to a whole new level. “If that’s the case, then I want to ask that Vektal tell Warrek that he can’t go.”

“Warrek cannot what?” Vektal ducks into the hut, a steaming bowl in his hands. His gaze flicks to me, and he gives me a quick nod of greeting before moving to his mate’s side. He kneels by the furs and strokes Georgie’s tangled, sweaty curls. “I brought you broth. You must drink this. You need your strength.”

She nods and sits up, giving him a grateful smile full of love. “Thank you, love.” She cups the bowl and takes a sip, then tells him, “Summer and I were talking about the newcomers. How we’re worried, but it’s still the right thing to do to save them.”

He nods firmly. “There is no other choice. We will welcome them and feed them. There is room enough for all.”

Georgie shoots me a look, and I remember what she said about the sa-khui being innocent. She’s not wrong. What if these are bad guys? I don’t blame her for wanting to protect her “family.”

“I want Warrek to stay here.” I plunge ahead bravely. “I know you guys need every strong hunter to go and help with the rescue party, but here’s my thing. He hasn’t resonated, and I think if he goes, he’s gonna resonate to a newcomer. It’ll cause all kinds of problems, and I’m sure everyone would prefer that doesn’t happen, you know? Especially me.”

Vektal gives me a patient look. “Is that so?”

“Yes.” I’m pretty sure his lips are twitching with amusement, but I continue. “I know it’s a thing with hunters dragging the woman they’ve chosen off to a cave because they want to hold her until they resonate. I’ve heard all kinds of stories about that, and apparently Raahosh did it with Liz, right? Or Maddie and Hassen? I don’t remember the details. Kate and Harrec ran off for a while, too. At any rate, I want to do the same to Warrek. I want to kidnap him.”

“You do?” Vektal looks astonished.

“I do.”

Georgie giggles into her broth. “I’m picturing oh-so-serious Warrek being kidnapped by a small human woman.”

“Well, it’s more like I’ll tie him up and keep him in our hut for a few days.” I blush, because it sounds kinkier out loud than it was in my head. “Just long enough that he can’t catch up with the rescue party. Not that I don’t think it’s a noble thing to do. I…” I swallow hard. “I think my heart would shatter if he came home with a new mate.”

“You cannot force resonance,” Vektal says, but his gaze is on Georgie as he says it, and he’s devouring her with his eyes. It’s clear he wants her as much now, all sick and sweaty, as he did the moment he met her.

“I know that. I just want him to avoid that initial mating surge. And maybe give us a few more days together. Like a honeymoon.”

“Ho-nee-moon?” Vektal echoes.

“Tell you more about it later, babe.” She pats his arm. “It’s a human tradition.”

“And you wish for Warrek to stay behind?” Vektal grins.

“I do.” I try to sound brave and determined like everyone thinks I am, but I’m about to shake with nervousness. “I want to kidnap him.”

“It is not necessary,” Vektal says. “My Georgie and I decided last night that we would only send mated hunters on the retrieval party in order to avoid such a situation as you have described. We do not need newly mated strangers adding that to our list of problems. Both Sessah and Warrek will stay behind.”

“Oh.” Well, that took all the steam out of my argument. “I see.”

“But,” Georgie says with a little smile on her face. “I think you should kidnap him anyhow. Rattle him a little. Show him what’s what. And I’d bet money that he wouldn’t mind being tied up by his woman for a honeymoon.”

I grin at her, and I’m already planning out my strategy. If Warrek wants to think of our relationship as chess, I’m about to put his cute, tight ass into checkmate.