A growl rumbles through me. “You speak dangerous words, female.”
“So, it is a secret,” she says, an evil grin turning her lips up.
“They won’t understand,” Sayer explains, his brows pulling together sadly.
Her cold exterior softens a bit and she sniffs the air. “What’s that smell?”
I lift my arm and sniff my pit. Nothing smells out of the ordinary.
Sayer’s jaw clenches. “I smell it, too.” He dips his nog in a guilty way—a way I remember from when we were mortlings and he’d get caught doing something he wasn’t supposed to be doing.
Sucking in a deep breath, I attempt to smell whatever it is they both seem to notice. Again, nothing.
“It’s you,” Grace utters, pointing at Sayer. “Come here.”
As though she has a rope around his neck and holds the other end, she draws him to her with one simple command. Irritation blooms inside my gut like a hagbud. Poisonous and thorny and black.
She touches his shoulder and leans in, her nose brushing against the very jawline I was just caressing. Possessiveness rushes through my veins hot and furious. He closes his eyes and his nostrils flare as he inhales her.
What. The. Rekk?
Jealousy spikes its way through me, and I have to refrain from tearing the female from my mate. He doesn’t seem to be harmed by her. In fact, he seems pleased to have her near.
“Pheromones,” she mutters, tilting her head up. “You’re secreting pheromones.”
“What is pheromones?” I demand. “Sayer is not sick. We morts are regularly checked for illness.”
She doesn’t step away from him but turns her nog to look at me. “I’m a scientist—er, was—and a pheromone is something the body secretes that can trigger a response in the same species. And apparently, different species.”
I cock my nog in confusion. Sayer’s eyes are still closed. He looks like he does when he’s found pleasure. Relaxed, satiated, happy. My heart squeezes in my chest, tight with worry.
I can’t lose Sayer to…to this alien.
As though my thoughts have entered his nog, he opens his eyes. In his stare, I find confusion and fear flickering there.
“I’ll need to speak with Avrell…” She trails off and frowns. “Never mind.”
Sayer looks down at her, his hand gently gripping her waist. She doesn’t pull away, which has my mind running rampant with wild thoughts.
“What is it?” he asks. “Are you afraid of Avrell? I could go with you.”
“We could go with you,” I growl.
He winces at my words and shakes his nog as if to clear it. “We could go with you.”
She looks down at her stomach and palms the large swell. “I don’t really want to talk to him because of what he did, but this is interesting. I’m a scientist above all, and this is going to drive me bananas until I get to the bottom of it.”
“Bottom of what?” I demand.
She bites on her plump bottom lip and darts her gray eyes my way. They aren’t filled with hate and animosity. No, she looks…uncertain.
“My mood,” she murmurs. “I feel better.”
“You were unwell?” Sayer asks, his voice dripping with concern.
“N-No,” she stammers. “I was unhappy.” She waves the air around her. “But your pheromones, probably because I’m carrying your baby, are doing something to my body. It’s a physiological response, clearly.”
“Does that explain why I feel the same way too?” Sayer frowns at me. His eyes flicker with guilt.
“How do we make it stop?” I demand, my gaze darting between them both.
Grace is leaning against his chest and his hand has crept around to cradle her stomach. They’re coming together and don’t even seem to be realizing it. If we don’t stop it, he’ll have his cock inside her by the next solar. Over my dead rekking body!
“You’re growling,” Sayer says, jerking his hand back from her stomach.
I bare my double fangs. “I can’t watch this. I can’t watch this alien steal my mate.”
Grace’s eyes widen. “Your mate. Holy shit.”
Another growl rumbles through me.
“You can’t tell anyone,” Sayer pleads. “We could get locked away for this.”
Her brows scrunch together. “They’d lock you away for loving each other? What kind of fucked up planet are we on?”
“On Mortuus, a traditional mating is a male and female. Two males cannot reproduce,” Sayer explains.
“To our kind, it would be pointless,” I hiss out.
“Let me think for a second,” Grace mutters, pinching the bridge of her nose with her fingers.
Sayer dips his nog and nuzzles his nose in her hair. “Take your time.”
My sub-bones start popping again, but neither of them seem to notice. When she grips his arm and caresses her thumb over his minnasuit, I lose it.
“Get your hands off my mate, alien,” I snap.
Sayer growls at me. “Enough, Jare.”
“Enough?” I roar, throwing my arms in the air. “Look what’s happening! You can’t even stop it! You’re both blind to it!”
The door swooshes open behind us. Draven stalks in with Molly on his heels.