Page 139 of I'm Not Your Pet

“Dohn’t tehst mai pay-shins,” Huu-goh snapped, and though I did not understand what he’d said, the tone was clear.

The Sahrk did not argue again.

I did not blame him.

Instead, the three blobs separated. The two smallest turning right and heading upward through the hallways as the largest of them turned to the left.

“He’s coming here,” Mala said, staring at the little blips that were Huu-goh and Briar with fascination.

Mala was correct, Huu-goh was on his way here.

There was no denying that.

Despite the darkness, the little blob that was Huu-goh did not falter.

“Follow him.”

Thrash flickered through the cameras as Huu-goh made his way to me. Corridor by corridor. Up, up, up he went.

The lights turned on. The real lights. And as Thrash adjusted the cameras accordingly and I saw my little love hopping down the last corridor, shoving his legs out of a hazmat suit, my hearts beat at what had to be an unhealthy pace.

The door to the helm slid open, and I turned, just in time to see Huu-goh enter the room.

His orange fur was wild all over his head. Puffy and sweaty, there were creases on his face from what—I did not know. Dressed in what he had told me was a “tenk top” with lace around its edges, and the tight pants he’d called “jeens” he was a sight to behold.

“Roark.” He paused just inside the doorway, staring at me for a beat as I stared back.

I could hardly breathe, he was so beautiful. In an odd way this moment reminded me of the day we’d met. Though this time it was my turn to showcase vulnerability.

In a blink, I was across the room.

With no hesitation I smashed Huu-goh into the floor, cushioned by a cocoon of tendrils as I sobbed into his lovely, tiny chest. I had no tears, not like he did, but that did not mean I couldn’t cry. Even if I’d half convinced myself I was not capable.

“Oh my sweet baybee,” Huu-goh stroked over my fin, his tiny hands more soothing than they had any right to be. “I’m okay.”

“Huu-goh.”

His name was the only word I remembered. The only thing thatmatteredas I held him close. As I shook and shook and shook, and my hearts became whole once again. Right then, I was not a captain. I had no responsibilities. No rules. My discipline was shot.

All I was, was his.

And as I clutched him tight, melting beneath the torrent of tiny huu-man kisses I realized just how lucky that was.

How lucky I was that I had met him.

That he had turned my life around.

That this brilliant, stunning, wonderful man was mine and mine alone.

“I made it okay,” Huu-goh whispered, an echo of the first promise I’d ever given him.

“I love you,” I said. Three words I’d had Ushuu teach me in English the first lesson we’d had. Three words I hadn’t been sure I was equipped to say. Three words that may not have been familiar to me—but I knew would resonate with Huu-goh.

I love you was a promise.

A promise that he would have no more lonely birthdays.

He would never feel invisible again.

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