ASHTAR

My mate wakes up the next morning, rested but sad. Her shyness has returned, but I expected that. It will take time for her to be truly comfortable around me. In a way, we will be strangers until we have our minds linked by my fires. Until then, I must learn patience. We head out of our tent, and my mate immediately moves toward the large fire on the beach, where others are gathered. I follow her, because I do not intend on leaving her side.

Others have different plans, though. The moment Veronica sits down, one of the blue sa-khui comes up to me. Mardok. "Good, you're here, Ashtar. We need everyone we can to help with the hunt." He is pacing, his tail twitching with impatience as he touches a datapad.

"Hunt?" I ask. "What are we hunting?"

"I'm still getting bio-signatures on Marisol and Lauren. They're alive, but the readout is scrambled. We're going to comb the beach and make sure we haven't missed them." He taps quickly at the datapad, and as he does, I notice others are gathering, their spears in hand.

"Why would I do such a thing?" I ask, genuinely puzzled.

Two of the sa-khui scowl at me. "You are part of this tribe. We need your help."

I cross my arms. "I do not care if they are alive or not." Life is cheap, and I would much rather stay close to my mate. It is a shame to lose two females, of course, but there are plenty more to go around.

"You are going," Vektal says flatly, and Zolaya comes to my side and shoves a spear into my hand.

I glare at them both, ready to protest, when a hand reaches out and touches my arm. "It's okay," Veronica tells me in her sweet voice. "I'll be safe here by the fire, Ashtar. Don't worry about me. You should go help them."

My mate. I look over at her, and her eyes are shining, her spirits cheered by this news. "You wish for me to go help them?" At her nod, I sigh heavily. I do not understand this thinking they have, that we are all friends. We are not friends. We are competing for the same food, the same females, the same spots on the beach. No slave has friends. No gladiator has friends.

But my mate wants me to do this. She doesn't understand why I would say no. "For you I will, Veronica." And I do my best not to glare at the chief. "Lead the way."

The males gather up and then split out, heading in different directions on the beach with instructions to look for the two missing human females. The wind blows into my face and carries no scent of decay with it, so if they are dead, they are not here. Perhaps they are alive, but I do not smell that either. Then again, neither is my female, so I have not taken the care to implant their scents into my mind.

If this will make Veronica happy, I will do it, but I will not be pleased to spend the day with the other males. I head down the beach to the area I have been instructed to search, and I am even less pleased to find that the one named Zolaya—the male with a messy braid of long black hair—follows at my side.

"I can search without help," I tell him curtly. My sense of smell is far better than his. I do not require assistance.

"I am coming anyhow," he says.

I narrow my eyes at him and pause. "Why do you watch me so closely? Are you thinking to steal my mate?" My eyes go black at the thought, and I can feel rage pulsing through my body. If he so much as tries anything, I will tear his throat out.

Zolaya snorts and moves past me. "I have a mate, and she is the most perfect creature in the world. I have no need for yours."

"Then why not spend your time harassing someone else?"

He glances back at me. "Because your mate is a vulnerable female, and someone should watch out for her. I have decided I will be that someone."

I clench my jaw at his arrogant words. "You should stay away from Veronica."

"Interesting, I was going to tell you the same." He drops all pretense of eyeing the beach and instead turns to glare at me. "I know you have resonated, but you are pushing her very hard. You need to give her time to adjust. There are many new things in this world. For her, everything has changed in a matter of days. She will need time to be used to this new world, these new people." He gestures at himself and the beach, then back at the fire. "And the more you push, the more you will scare her or make her afraid. Until she is ready and reaches for you, you should go slow."

He knows nothing of me and my mate. I scowl at him, fury burning in my chest. I can feel the flames of fire licking at my insides, just waiting to be released. It would be nothing for me to destroy him, to change to my drakoni form and tear him in half, to burn his body down to coals. "No one keeps me from her," I warn him in a deadly voice. I watch a curl of smoke escape my mouth. "No one."

Zolaya's expression changes. He sighs and shakes his head. "I am not trying to keep you from her. No one is. You have resonated, and resonance cannot be controlled. What I am trying to say is that you should go slow. I am trying to be your friend, Ashtar. Your friend and hers."

I snort, blowing out steam. "I need no friends." And I turn and stalk down the beach.