Argurma Monster (The Argurma Chronicles #2)

Chapter 25

Zoreth surveyed the room that he would be sharing with Talech and Beverly. Meg had refused to allow their female to leave the med unit at all until she was convinced that Beverly had fully recovered. Although Zoreth processed the reasoning behind it, the separation had been difficult. Not only did he struggle to sleep but he found it difficult to maintain any sort of focus or calm. Emotions that he once swore he suffered little affliction from rose to the fore, drowning him in their chaos. If not for Talech, he would have been lost. He found some measure of peace with the male, their vibrissae tangling as they instinctively sought comfort from each other as they suffered from the absence of their female.

It was not made any easier that their request to share a cabin had been met with incredulity from Kaylar, but it had been granted. His systems screamed with the wrongness of it all as he lay night after night with Talech without their mate safely wedged between them. It increased the stress on his systems knowing that Talech suffered on a deeper level. Every evening and every morning when they were locked out of the med unit, Zoreth was vigilant in his attempts to soothe Talech to keep the male from losing his grip on sanity on destroying the ship when he was refused access to Beverly.

Seeing Talech in such pain plagued his systems, enough so that Zoreth came close to attempting to wrestle control of the ship from Kaylar, just so that he could unlock the med unit to give the male some relief. It was only the knowledge that Beverly required the time to heal completely within the med unit’s operating bed, and that uninterrupted sleep was a necessary part of that healing, that kept him from acting.

And now finally Beverly was being released.

He processed that relief was flooding his systems at finally being reunited with her, but it was also making him edgy. He desired perfection for their coming night together. He was forced to acknowledge that part of that was due to Kaylar’s announcement that they would soon be joining the house fleet. Things would change then, and it was not knowing precisely what impact that change would have that made him anxious. The biggest of which was whether the mother-house would separate him from his small family. He was unable to calculate whether they would even allow Talech to live without the male at least tethered to a mate to assure some degree of stability. For the first time since meeting Beverly, he felt their time together winding down and it alarmed him.

He had erroneously assumed that he would have more time. Of course, he had also made the mistake of assuming that it was all a simple matter of proving himself a pleasing mate and waiting for Beverly to make her choice. And he had been certain that she would pick him. He had grievously miscalculated, unable to comprehend at the time how much she obviously loved the other male. She had hidden it well—or perhaps had not been aware of the emotions that she was experiencing—but the signs had been evident to anyone who was observant. If he had clearly processed the situation, he would have found a way to make Talech receptive to his presence much sooner.

It was rare for a female to accept more than one male. It was done only among houseless females who desired the additional protection of more males, or in cases where males had to pool their resources to care for a mate and offspring. Because of that it was discouraged as a mark of poverty and undesirability among both males and females alike for somewhat different reasons. Beverly was not Argurma, but he could not guarantee that no one within his mother-house would casually remark upon such a mating where she might hear it.

His jaw clenched. Anyone who spoke unwisely would have to deal with him. He would not have anyone bringing his mate pain and embarrassment... or Talech for that matter.

If it even came to pass. Though he clearly processed Beverly’s feelings for the other male, he was unable to calculate whether she had come to love him as well. Or what the probability was that she would accept them both as her mates.

They needed to make their first night reunited together as close to perfection as possible. It could take everything he had to secure his mate.

Zoreth rearranged the pillows, testing them for softness before placing the best ones in the center where she would lay between them. Unless she only lay there to humor them. It was possible that she might wish to lie in another spot. His gaze roamed over the bed disconcertedly as he tried to calculate the likelihood of where she might prefer to sleep, all the while feeling Talech’s amused gaze boring into him. Zoreth glanced over at him in annoyance.

The very least he could do was help.

Talech appeared to be unaware of his obligations. The male sat on the other side of the room, his arms crossed over his chest and his spinal limbs relaxed in a manner that suggested that he lacked any concerns. Even the small smile that teased the corners of his mouth contained so little anxiety that Zoreth was forced to marvel at it.

“You worry too much,” Talech rumbled, and Zoreth shot him a hot glare.

“And you do not concern yourself enough,” he replied with a bite to his voice. Straightening, he swept his arm around the room in frustration. “Do you not process that we risk everything if she does not choose? If we arrive unmated, the mother-house will separate her from us to give equal opportunity to all the males who might wish to court her. We have little time to convince her to set aside her fear and agree.”

Talech’s shoulders lifted as he shrugged, the gesture causing his upper spinal limbs to bob faintly. “If she does not say yes then we have done a poor job of being the males she wants and needs. The room makes no difference. The mother-house makes no difference. Just us.”

Zoreth’s eyes narrowed, but in the next moment he sighed, and the tension drained from him. Talech’s observation was sound.

“My heart will not know how to go on without her. She is all that truly brings me joy,” Zoreth rasped morosely, his eyes falling upon the bed.

“Then we give our hearts to her and let her do what she will. She will either keep them or crush them.”

With those words, Talech turned away, his gaze fastening entirely on the door. Zoreth was not fooled. Though the male spoke pragmatically and had been quick to make a second sound observation, he recognized that the soft growl that accompanied Talech’s words that revealed the male’s emotional distress. Zoreth was also forced to recognize that his own anxious behavior was adding to that distress.

In the end, he had to acknowledge that Talech was correct. They could only offer their love and hope it was enough. Still, that did not stop him from eagerly turning toward the door as it opened to admit a very whole and healthy Beverly inside. Clean of the dust and grime of the planet from her recent bath, she wore nothing but a simple, thick robe that was crafted from the replicator but in his mind, she never looked more beautiful. His mate’s cautious smile lit something within him and threatened to destroy his systems.

In her own fashion, she processed that the time had come to settle things between them and was experiencing an equally nervous reaction.

Surprise filled her face in the next moment when Talech dropped to his knees before her. Taking the other male’s actions in, Zoreth slowly sank to his knees as well. They had no heads of her enemies to offer her as trophies to prove their dedication and love for her. All they had was themselves.

He prayed to the gods that it would be enough.