Page 73 of I'm Not Your Pet

Startled out of my thoughts, I decided enough time had passed that I could stop pretending like the fall had hurt.

“Good?” Huu-goh gasped out from above me. His whole body heaved with each winded breath. He’d gone for the back of my knees—a weakness most creatures shared, so it had been the first I’d shown him.

It was, however, the first time he’d tricked me quickly enough he’d been able to actually send me to the ground. Huu-goh offered me a hand up. There was no way he could lift me, but I thought the gesture was cute, if misguided. Now standing, I could feel a purr building inside my chest. I had never been this playful with another person. I had been a serious child, a serious teenager, and an even more serious adult.

But this was…nice.

“Again,” I teased, only for Huu-goh to rebel.

“No!” he whined petulantly. “Tired. Huu-goh is tired. No more.”

I suppose wehadbeen at it for a good forty minutes. My morning exercise hour was nearly over. I hadn’t realized how much time had passed. In light of this, it appeared my plan to bring him to the lower depths of the ship to the pool to recover would need to be postponed.

I sighed, but didn’t argue with him as we exited the sparring ring and a few Sahrks barked their laughter on our way past where the colorful crowd had gathered. The curiosity they’d all had for Huu-goh had faded by this point. Now, they saw him as one of their own, and the respect they showed him as my mate made me feel at peace.

It was nice to know that my unorthodox choice of partner was as widely accepted as Mala had promised me he would be. Even if he hadn’t been, I wouldn’t have changed my choice. Huu-goh was worth too much for me to worry about silly things like fitting in.

My little huu-man continued to huff and puff beside me. “I feel stupid,” Huu-goh muttered under his breath, assuming I couldn’t hear or understand.

“Huu-goh is no stupid,” I grunted back in his language, stopping at the end of the room and twisting to catch his attention. He stumbled a little, glancing up at me in astonishment. Affection softened his expression. “No say that.”

He was sweaty.

His hair stuck up in all directions, and his skin was a ruddy, painful looking red.

Still wheezing, my Huu-goh was lovelier than any other being in the entire galaxy.

“Sorry,” he apologized, reaching out to lace our fingers together. I smiled, pleased, and gave his hand a squeeze back.

“Training needed,” I reminded him. “Forsafety.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know.” Huu-goh rasped. “I hate it. I hate sports. I hate exercise. I hate all of this.”

Those words I didn’t know, so I just grunted in commiseration. He was all talk, truly.

We’d be back again the next morning. Huu-goh would be vibrating with glee the second we climbed inside the sparring arena, ready to tussle with me. And just like today—when his physical limits became apparent—he’d get angry and irritable all over again.

He just liked to grumble.

And I didn’t blame him.

My little love wasn’t built for physical conflict. I couldn’t fault him for disliking it. Not when I was sure he would be perfectly content to stay fiddling with his tools and toys, and never exercise—aside from sex—for the rest of his life.

He was always game to try something new, however. And always ready to latch on to any excuse to touch or spend time with me. It was heady, to be the center of someone else’s world. To have that sentiment returned. Intoxicating, really. And so…wonderful.

I hadn’t known love could be like this.

Father had been a lonely man. He had no mate. He’d used the pods to conceive me, as all modern Sahrks did. But he’d done it alone. I was made in his spitting image. At the orphanage after his passing I’d thought I had learned what love was. When I’d taken care of the other children during The Great Calamity. When my heart had been full as I provided for them, and I realized that was who and what I wanted to be.

But even that paled in comparison to the joy I felt now, in Huu-goh’s presence.

He saw me as a person.

He saw behind my teeth and claws. Behind my rank. Behind the icy exterior I’d maintained to keep my heart safe. He made me smile.

He was brighter than the stars on our ceiling. Brighter than the stars outside the control room. Brighter than the stars that had taught me to chase adventures in the sky.

“Roark?” Huu-goh’s voice broke me from my reverie. “You okay?”

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