Laura grimaces. “I wouldn’t have interrupted, but Crispin and I were wondering if you two have talked about living arrangements yet?”
“Living arrangements?” Bash asks dangerously. “Isla and I live together.”
“I’ll take that as a no,” Laura says faintly, beginning to back away.
Bash’s tail makes a cracking noise like a whip. “Stay.” He catches me by the chin and gently turns my head until my eyes are on his narrowed ones. “Explain her statement.”
I catch him by his wrist and pet up and down his arm. “Chill, it’s nothing to get worked up about. Laura and I have hit it off, as I’ve told you—”
“Yes,” Bash agrees, because when we make dinner at night, he asks me about my day, and I’ve told him that I like Laura and her mate, Crispin. Plus, he likes Laura and Crispin because they rarely irritate him… now notwithstanding. “You speak of them often.”
“Well with the way the human village construction has suddenly sped up, of course everyone’s been talking about who will get the first houses. And also being discussed is who will pair up as neighbors. Since I like Laura and Crispin and you like Laura and Crispin—”
Bash’s ears flatten.
“—they wondered if we would be moving out of your cave.”
“Our cave.”
“If we did, they asked if we thought we’d be compatible neighbors.” I bite my lip. “Ours could be the corner house we toured. The one with the mortaring that’s almost done. Remember how you liked that one? The one on the far end, because it’s all small pebbles that I picked? It’s special.” I give him a great big smile. “I told them I’d talk to you.”
He releases my chin. Freed from his grip, I twist to Laura and mouth, “Run!”
Wide-eyed, she backs away and Bash watches her go like a predator, but he doesn’t release me from his arms. When she’s too far away for him to easily attack, he turns his gaze on me. His voice comes out very low and much softer than I expected. “You want to live among the humans?” He murmurs this with the sort of horror-level in his tone that you’d expect from someone being asked if they mind moving next door to a tribe of alien Pygmies who’ve turned cannibal.
“These are perfectly nice people.”
“They’re humans.”
“Like me. Remember?” I pat him on his tense shoulder. “Do you want time to process this and we talk about this at home?”
“No, I want you to tell me now why you want to leave our den.” His lids are open so wide he looks horrified. “To live with people.” Ah, his lids are open wide because he is horrified.
But it isn’t for the reason I assume. At least not entirely. He tugs me closer. “Isla, now that Gracie’s dam-by-law has purchased the quarries, I thought you would no longer feel threatened to live in the cave.”
God bless Gracie and Dohrein’s mom. It did settle something inside me not to have Bash under his Gryfala’s thumb, even if she didn’t flex her power over him. The new owner of this sector has no designs on my husband save for having him build her a settlement fit for the rescued humans she finds so fascinating. And that works for me.
Bash searches my gaze. “Are you struggling to come to terms with another female owning your territory? Because as a Rakhii, I am not fond of the situation either, but at least the Gryfala haven’t abused the power they have. I would not have you run from them.”
“I’m not running. And no, Gracie’s Gryfala-in-law is fine. This isn’t about a Gryfala owning the cave at all. It’s…” I roll my lips free of my teeth, making a small squeaky-sucking noise before I slowly inhale. “Okay. It’s like this: I get that you need a certain level of privacy and… seclusion from humans as much as you’re able. But I’m a little concerned because I’m an extrovert.”
Bash’s features darken with concern. “Translate,” he orders, “this human term.”
I snap him an aye-aye, Sir! salute. His ears flick with interest or irritation, I’m not sure, but his lids lower over his eyes a little, making him look a bit more relaxed but also a bit more dangerous. And even more sexy. “Extrovert means I get worn down if I don’t have enough interaction with people.” I lick my lip, then drop the hammer. “I need to visit and enjoy the company of many others on a frequent basis to feel settled.”