Hannah's Hero - Ruby Dixon Page 0,7
silence bothers me. I keep pacing, my tail flicking even as I clasp one set of hands behind my back. “Well?”
“Strong words.”
“But they are not wrong words.”
“But…perhaps they are stronger than they should be because of your own situation. T’chai did not come to speak to me, after all. A’tam did not. R’jaal did.” He taps at his brow and then points at me. “Think on that.”
“Because he is jealous.”
“Because he is lonely,” K’thar corrects. “He is willing to ask ridiculous things if it will get him what he wants.”
“A mate.”
“What else is there?” And he grins, so pleased with himself. I can tell the moment his thoughts go to L’ren and my jaw clenches.
It seems R’jaal is not the only one full of envy.
“So…where is your female this fine morning?” K’thar asks, reaching one hand into the front pocket of his tunic to scratch at Fat One. “Counting rocks on the shore? Counting stars in the sky? Counting how many times she must count before we all run away screaming?”
I scowl at him. “Not funny.”
He lifts a hand and pinches his forefinger and thumb. “A little funny.”
I roll my eyes. H’nah does count many things, it is true. She has told others she is “taking stock,” and while her actions annoy some of the others, I am sure there is a good reason for it. “I see nothing wrong with her actions.”
K’thar just grins at me. “You will have to tell me if she counts while you are in the nest with her.”
I growl in his direction. K’thar is of an age with myself and N’dek, but he has always taken on a leadership role, ever since the rest of the clan was destroyed by the Great Smoking Mountain. Right now, though, I do not think of him as a leader. Right now I want to push him off the log he sits on so he will stop teasing me about H’nah. “You know as well as I do that she is not sharing my nest.”
“Still fighting it?” His teasing expression quickly grows sympathetic.
I nod. “How did you convince L’ren to join you in the nest so quickly?”
“My L’ren did not need convincing at all. She welcomed me happily.”
This is not making me feel better. I rub my brow. “So I am the problem.”
“Your female is very stubborn. L’ren is many things, but she is not half as stubborn as your H’nah.” He thinks for a moment, scratching at Fat One inside the pocket of his tunic. “Have you tried convincing her?”
“Convincing her?” I shake my head, incredulous. “She barely even looks at me. How am I supposed to have a conversation with her?”
“I said convince her, not have a conversation with her.”
“You mean…convince her with my cock?” I frown into the fire. “If words will not sway her, I do not know how exposing myself to her will. You know the human females are skittish about seeing such things.”
K’thar snorts with laughter. “That is not what I meant. If she were a Strong Arm female, I would say you should track and kill something dangerous to show her what a fierce hunter you are. Shower her with meat. But she is human, and they think differently.”
He is not wrong. I cannot figure out how H’nah thinks at all. “What does L’ren say of the situation?”
“She thinks you should leave H’nah alone. Stop chasing her and let her come to you. She will, eventually, but it must feel like her idea.”
I do not know if I agree with this, but I merely grunt acknowledgement of his words. Leave her alone? Easier to ask me to fly through the air. I get to my feet. “I should see if N’dek needs anything.”
K’thar looks at me. “Let him be.”
His words make my heart heavy. “You know I cannot.”
“We all suffer because he hurts, J’shel. He is as a brother to me as well.” He scratches at the flyer, and I can hear it make a happy chirp, buried in K’thar’s tunic. “But this is something he must figure out on his own. If you hover over him, you do not help him.”
Leave him alone? When all of this is my fault? I shake my head. “I will be there for him now because I was not when I should have been.”
K’thar rolls his eyes.
I turn and leave. He does not understand. The weight of N’dek’s injury—his very life—does not weigh on his spirit like it does mine. He will never understand.
3
HANNAH
“Does