Page 48 of Love Galaxy

“I was not going to,” he says, voice deadly calm. There is not a flicker of blue among his scales. His finger touches his screen again. I think he is scrolling through the results. “Rutting. Rutting. Rutting,” he says, evidently dismissing many of the results as he scrolls. “Rutting… ”

“Nothing else? I want something that is less… Something more… I want romance,” I confess, lowering my voice to ensure Briar cannot hear me through the door. Almost hoping Killan cannot hear me.

“This one says Ril’os Males become aggressive toward other Males when in the presence of a potential Mate.”

“That is all?” I already knew that. I had walked over a table to confront John Smith. I had wanted to hit Killan. I had wanted to fight Roan.

“Here is a study on the ideal temperature for Ril’os Females. Another on their sleeping patterns, their metabolisms, their hormones. There have been many studies.” He continues scrolling. “Many, many studies.”

Briar is not Ril’os. “Briar said I should ignore the task and do something I want instead.”

“That is one possibility,” Killan agrees, pausing his search. “So you really do wish for Briar to be your Mate?”

“I had thought that was obvious.”

He raises two hands in a gesture of appeasement. “I was merely checking. You could have been lying for the benefit of the cameras.”

I glance toward the camera mounted on the wall opposite, its lens focused on my face. Since coming into my room, I had forgotten I was being filmed, and now this entire conversation is public record. I snap my mouth shut, my throat suddenly thick with regret.

Killan clearly had not forgotten. Instead of dismissing my fears when I first called, though, he had answered me, giving me his full attention and disregarding any negative implications such a conversation might reflect on him. Those implications being that neither of us knows what we are doing. That neither of us is used to Female company and all the difficult emotions that accompany the vulnerable act of finding a Mate.

I want to thank him, but to do so would only draw even more attention. I will just have to hope that this conversation does not make it into one of the LOVE GALAXY episodes. John Smith has been collecting hundreds of hours of footage; he cannot possibly use every minute of it to build his broadcast.

“You are happy with Briar, I am guessing. You do not find her too… akh… ” Killan struggles to locate the right word.

“What?” I glare at him, straightening to my full height. “Do I find her too what?”

“Do not growl at me,” he snaps. “And I did not mean Briar specifically. I have barely spoken with her. I know almost nothing about her.”

“Then what?” Suddenly suspicious, I point at him on my screen. “Which of the Females have you been arguing with? Harlee or Lydia?”

“I have not—” He purses his lips, refusing to dignify my question with a lie.

“Come on,” I coax. “You argue with everyone who does not let you lecture them. That is how you communicate.”

“Forget I said anything.” A muscle twitches in his cheek. He looks away from the screen.

“You are very much like our mother.”

Still, he ignores me. Sulking. Looking suddenly younger than his thirty-eight years.

“Right now you remind me of Roan,” I tease, knowing exactly how to elicit a response.

“Pah!” His eyes flash.

“See. That is exactly what Roan would have said.”

“You are impossible.” And he ends the communication.

I drop the old datapad onto my mattress, allowing myself the luxury of hiding my face in all four hands, wishing I had not called. Wishing Killan could have given me a better answer. Wishing I knew what the fek I could do to persuade Briar to stay with me forever.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Briar

Finishing my call with Lydia, I knock on Sorin’s bedroom door, entering when he calls my name. His cracked and battered tablet is lying on the bed next to him, but he quickly moves it, making room for me.

“You’re kind of amazing, did you know that?” I lie down, and he rolls onto his side so we’re face to face.

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