Chapter Twenty Nine
Mia knew that she wasn’t allowed to be outside when it was nighttime. None of the females were allowed. She thought she had a good reason to be sitting outside tonight instead of the inside of a hut alone while Kai was off with Ruro to help with the things around the tribe after the shake. With everyone here, she knew that cleaning up wouldn’t be a problem. She had faith that everything was going to be fine in the end.
She smiles as she gazes at the stars and kept the small box she hand made in her lap. She was sitting on a branch in one of the jungle trees. It wasn’t an impressive climb, she just had help with the tangles of branches that she found that was near their hut and in this beautiful spot near the village. It was quiet, tranquil, and had a beautiful view of the village and the Great Fire.
The small box she had on her lap was the best she could get to an actual present. Two inches thick and it was longer than it’s width, the color of it was dark gold and had a burgundy silk ribbon on it both ways with a neat bow in the middle that she could be proud of. It was an important gift she had been working on for days by herself, even sacrificing being away from Kai for the past couple of days. Avoiding intimate activities. She needed to have everything ready for this moment.
He didn’t like the fact that she had been coming up with excuses so they wouldn’t mate. She had a good reason not to, she had other plans. Not that it wasn’t affecting her either. Emotionally when she always moved away with his feelings hurt because of her subtle rejections. Just seeing him walk in the room made her feel like she did during their first time, but she admired herself at how she kept herself collected, even with Kai’s witty tricks to get what he wants.
He would like this gift. She knew he would. This was the perfect spot, the perfect opportunity, with the stars in the sky and the three moons that were half full in strange ways. There were even colorful lights on the night sky that spoke the difference between this world to the human one, it was always like this when summer was here. A different season.
To believe it has only been a year since she had been here. Over that now. It has been some time.
She felt like this was her world now. If she ever woke up in her old world she wouldn’t know what she would do with herself. In only a year she was already accustomed to this one, and she fell in love with it. So much more than she would with Earth. She felt like she was spared a life that she would be unhappy on earth. She did think of her father sometimes. She figured all the girls who were brought here were.
Ser’avi never brought a girl here that was truly happy before. Just like how she had observed Clara and Kito as much as she was able, but they had been gone a couple of days to find Alira and came back only to lock themselves away in their hut. She watched the little boy for a while but Zeta seemed to have more joy in watching him than Mia did all because Kane was Clara’s and now Kito’s. since
Everyone in the village even gave him a new name. The Maurea was the one who came up with it, calling him Shi. It was short for Shi’Ruro, and she wonders if Clara would be okay with everyone calling him a different name than Kane already.
Shi was supposed to mean Joy in some way here, she was still not sure about the ancient dead language they had. Kane had a lot of Joy however and everyone thought it would be humorous if Ruro’s name was added to it. It also was meant to protect him if others knew that he was important to the Chief. The main reason was to protect him since he was a human boy in case he ever faced troubles outside of the tribe. They were already looking forward to his future.
It was a nice thought. She was happy that everyone here was so accepting.
A small warm shiver went down her spine and she turns her head sideways with a smile.
Kai stood on the large branch with his staff on his side, his yellow eyes bright and he stood tall. He never ceases to amaze her when he stood in his authoritative posture even when he doesn’t mean to be, his eyes were soft and his ears were only halfway low to show his tender affection towards her. He stood for a moment, leaning his staff against a tree and walking forward with balancing stride. “Why are you out here?” He welcomes himself to her side closely, his forehead immediately connecting to hers with his eyes closed.
He shivered. He wasn’t cold at all.
She knew he was desperate for any kind of contact. She knew that she wouldn’t be able to hold out any longer herself and tonight was the night to give him his present. “You left obvious trails to let me know you were here. Is there something you wanted to speak to me about alone? Why not in the hut? It isn’t safe for you to sit alone like this in the with your back towards the jungle.”
“The sky is too beautiful to just sit in the hut alone,” she giggles. “I also really do have something I need to tell you. Lucky guesser.”
She turns her head and gave him a kiss she had been denying him for a while, and the purr she expected came in waves. His lips coated hers and he moved his head in desperately for more, feeling more of the heated shivers in him. Somewhere deep. Moving from his mouth to the tip of his tail as he felt another strange warmth fill him in his gut he couldn’t explain. She broke the kiss when he tried to slip his tongue past her lips and turned her head before anything further happened. She was afraid it would be spoiled.
Relief filled her with his next words, “Why do you deny me? We have not mated since the day before the Celebration and I want you. Badly.” he made that small begging noise that always broke her heart a little. His eyes saddened. “Are you not happy?”
“No! Oh, Kai,” she places her hand on his cheek to soothe him with her thumb that made small, leisure circles. He moved into the sensation. “I am happier now than I have ever been. I have just been preparing a gift for you,” she slid the box from her lap and into his. “And afterward we can go back to the hut and do whatever you want to do.”
He often enjoyed her little gifts. Yet the thought of what they would be doing afterward made him grin excitedly. His tail that hung over the side nearly curled into a circle. His eyes observe the little box she put in his lap, grabbing it with both hands. He held it upside down and looked at its side, even seeing the small ribbon that she worked hard on. He thought it was a neat little box she made. “This is why you avoided me?”
She hit his arm with the palm of her hand lightly, playful. Giggling more. “Just open it.”
“I do like the silk on it,” he touches the bow. “I do not want to ruin what you worked so hard on for me.”
“I can always make another one,” she even reached over his waist to grab his dagger from it’s home for him. “I think you will like what’s inside.”
He grabs it with a smile and slid it beneath the ribbon, the sharp edge slicing the silk easily and he grabs it before it could slide off the box, placing it beside him. He settles it in his lap so he could open it, seeing her from the corner of his eye how excited she was.
His eyes caught sight of what was inside. His gaze immediately went to her, his yellow feline eyes wide and his pupils thickened. She knew it meant his rising excitement was lurking just beneath the surface.
“This is a small tunic for an infant cub, Mia,” he pulls the small item out of the box that was slightly larger than his hand. The infants here always looked like premature babies from her world, and Tina had told her it made giving birth easier, especially with the drugs they have here. “Is this meaning what I think it does, little mate?”
She didn’t hesitate to nod. She didn’t want to, smiling so wide her cheeks ached and placing both of her hands over her stomach. “I’ve known a little after the Celebration started when I became nauseous and moody, and I went to Pasha to make sure. She was waiting for me at the front door and we spoke a little before I came back to you. That was when that shaking happened. But yeah,” she nods a second time just as fast. “We did it.”
His reaction was what she wanted and more. He jumped up in the excitement with his hands on his head so fast that he actually lost his balance and almost fell over the edge, his leg and his arm hooked on the branch kept him in an attempt to keep him from falling.
He was fine, climbing back to her side with ease. He was still holding the infant cub tunic and purred louder than she heard him before. He put the small outfit against his cheek and shut his eyes, “My cub is going to wear this. Our cub.”
She stood up and moves closer to grab his hand and span it on her stomach, positioning his fingers, her outfit that she wore purposely exposed it for this reason so he could sense it himself without any barrier. She knew he would. The alien feeling he felt before, the surge of warm shivers that went through his hand and his body and left at the end of his tail. He felt foolish that he hasn’t noticed that feeling before when he kissed her. It was the reason why she was avoiding him.
He kneels before her and presses his cheek over the spot that he knew the cub laid warm and happy, and now as he focused he knew it was there. They created life together. His purr increases and his eyes shut to rely on his other senses, and all she could do was look down at him and move her hand through his hair.
He was looking at her with so much emotion he wondered how he didn’t explode. Gods, he loves her. More than words could ever express. “I like this gift. I cannot wait until it is born already. I wish for a female. And for her to have your eyes,” his hands gently rub over that spot. “And I am going to prepare for everything so when it is time you can have an easy birth. For both of you. I will be there as well, I will not wait outside like Dahl had,” his forehead went back on her forehead. He could not express his happiness enough. “I am so, so happy.”
She laughs, “It could be a boy, Kai. No need to get excited if it’s a girl so soon.”
“I would not mind a male,” he chuckles. “I will teach him everything.”
He picks her up, uncaring for the box on the branch that he knew one of his Warrior would find and pick up when they see it. He would not dare to leave the small gift that he still had bunched in his fingers when he held her bridal, kissing her passionately with everything in him. He knew how to express his happiness in other ways, which was why he was eager to return her to the hut. He starts walking over the branches, Mia makes sure to grab his staff.
She didn’t mind being carried, she knew he didn’t want to waste a second getting back to their private area. Their minds clouded in their happiness and laughter.
Their minds were too occupied to notice the dark figure that had been looming. Striding into view, grabbing the ribbon on the ground, accompanied by a shadow that had a mind of its own and on a tree. The visitor lifts the ribbon and observes it himself, looking forward at the direction where the odd human and Xutashi left, undoubtedly to celebrate their little new addition. He had stood by inspecting curiously at the display similar to the one he seen before.
His dark brow arches inquisitively, looking over the village to scan it.
It has changed.
The shadow that watched from the tree was crouched and it’s the figure of its tail curled. Waiting. Never speaking.
The man did.
“Find me some more knowledge of this place,” his black-red eyes follow his abnormal shadow that listens. He tested the words he knew now. “I need answers. You know what to do,” he let the ribbon fall, so lightweight and majestic it curtains to the spot it relaxed before.
The shadow turns his head and he felt its humor. It has a sick sense of humor that he second-guessed giving it any means to do its task. He didn’t bother changing his orders, watching the shadow leave and travel elsewhere. He didn’t follow. He just remained in the same spot and he looks gazes upon the village, intrigued.
This was a beautiful view.