Page 20 of His Human to Learn

"Good," Almaac says with a firm nod. "Then, if you are in no danger of being reckless, I am taking my mate home."

"You're good, right?" Diane asks me as she interlocks her fingers with Almaac's.

"I'm good."

I make a quick cross over my heart with my pointer finger. They both look like they believe me, which is a great confidence boost because I'm still not one hundred percent certain I'll stay away. I'm at ninety-nine percent sure because I agree I don't want Ralleth to have to debate whether or not to kick Marron and me out of the tribe, but I also really like Marron.

The more intelligent half of me wins out, though. When Diane and Almaac leave, I follow them out into the great hall and then branch off to go to the room I'm sharing with a few other women. I waste no time falling asleep.

If I'm lucky, I'll be unconscious until later tomorrow. The more time I can spend not awake, the less likely I am to sneak around to find Marron.

11

Tori

Iwent to bed like a good little human last night and slept until mid-morning. It's easy to stay away from Marron while I'm unconscious, but as soon as I wake up, I'm ready to find him all over again.

Instead, I go with a few other women to the bathing pool. I'm used to bathing on my own, but there's not a lot of modesty in the tribe. Not that anyone is looking at me when they're all still a little self-conscious of themselves.

When the world ended, I had been shaving my legs and armpits for about two years. So, looking down at my body and the vast amounts of body hair I now have and don't have the means to dispose of makes me more than a little embarrassed. All of us women are in the same boat since there are no razors here.

We could figure out a way to make some since the males have knives and other sharp objects, but no one has broached thesubject yet. I don't want to be the one who brings it up. Not to mention, I like not having to worry about shaving all the time. My legs aren't itchy from hair growing. The demons don't seem to mind it at all. Many of them seem intrigued since their bodies are made up of smooth scales without any hair.

For a few minutes, I ponder why I don't hate my body hair as much as I did when I first started letting it grow. Then, my thoughts return to Marron.

More importantly, I want to figure out a way to make sure the male who hurt him doesn't get a chance to hurt anyone again. Not to mention, I kind of just want him out of the mating ceremony and the entire tribe for hurting Marron at all.

I dry off quickly and run back to the great hall as my clothing dries up the small bits of water I missed. Ralleth and Olivia are sitting where they usually do, and when their eyes land on me, they must see how determined I am because they both sit up a little taller.

"Tori, how are you this morning?" Olivia asks me, waving her hand and offering the seat across from them.

I take the seat and return her smile. I'm about to demand a lot from them. The least I can do is give them a few smiles and a minute or two of small talk. "I'm good. How are you?"

"Tired." Olivia laughs and lays her hand on Ralleth's forearm. "We were up most of the night with Azaana. She's decided now is not the time to sleep through the night."

"That's rough." I rub the back of my neck since I don't know what else to say, and my limit for small talk seems much lower than I thought it was.

"Go ahead and speak your mind," Ralleth says. "You did not come to speak about my daughter's sleeping."

"I want to know what's being done about the male who hurt…" My voice trails off as I decide if we're far enough away from the others to say Marron's name or if I should just leave mystatement as is because Ralleth and Olivia will understand who I'm talking about.

"Marron has decided he wishes to continue through the mating ceremony before telling us which males attacked him. I disagree with this, but he has told me it will be the best course of action to take. I have no reason not to trust him, but I also wonder why he thinks he must protect this male until the ceremony is over."

I don't realize I'm grinding my teeth so hard until I open my mouth to speak and feel a twinge of pain in my jaw. Note to self: Stop grinding your teeth because there's no dentist in the tribe—probably not a dentist on the whole planet.

I lean across the table until I'm close to both of them, and they do the same, so I can whisper to them that others can't hear. "It was Joll. You have to know that."

"I assume it is him, yes." Ralleth leans back in his seat, not even flinching when I say Joll's name because they both know there is no way I'm saying his name like I want to sleep with him. "I can do nothing with assumptions. I would love to send him out of the tribe, especially after what he has done to you. However, going through the mating ceremony is still the best plan if his only fault is that he lied about wooing you. This will prove he was not. If Marron wants to wait to unveil his attacker until he is already humiliated by being rejected by a female he has been telling others is his, well, I will not stop him. I do wish he would admit who it was to keep you safe, but I do not think you are in any danger from any of the males, and if Kal thinks you might be, he will be swift in keeping you safe."

"I'm more worried about my mate doing something to protect me," I say.

Marron wouldn't attack Joll without reason, but he has plenty of reasons. He didn't attack Joll last night when he came into theroom with a swollen eye and split lips, so maybe he's more in control of his anger than I give him credit for.

"If he protects you from another male harming you, then he has done an honorable thing. This would not be punished," Ralleth says easily, as though it should be fine that two males could fight over me at some point during this mating ceremony. It's not fine. It's definitely not fine because I can't handle even thinking about Marron getting hurt again.

"I don't want anyone to touch my mate," I say louder than is probably best.

A few heads turn in our direction, but most women in the mating ceremony with me last night already know I have my eye on one male. When I was heading to the bathing pools this morning, I heard a couple of women not in the mating ceremony talking about it in hushed tones. Gossip spreads fast in the tribe, and my claiming Marron is mine will only help to prove that Joll was a dirty liar.

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