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countless times after his arrival, in my darkest days when I didn t think I d
find the strength to breathe, much less make it through another minute in as
much pain as I felt.
He held me tighter. I promise. We ll all get through this. Just hold on
tight to me. It had been his answer, every time.
I ll never let go.
Love Nate? Absolutely. Make love to him? Over the years, countless
times. Each of us had a different relationship beyond the sex. The first and
most obvious level was Mark as our leader, if we could be said to have one.
The true Alpha pet in the hierarchy. Then there was Mark and me, and Nate
and Coop, as couples. And so on. One of the special things between Nate
and myself was that residual lifeline he held for me, my back-up. When I
needed a steady shoulder, I had Mark, or if he was unavailable for whatever
reason, I had Nate. I didn t begrudge Nate sought a similar kind of dynamic
with Mark, needing strength to lean on. I could take Coop off his hands for a
few hours and he would spend time with Mark, and everyone was happy.
Or Mark would distract Coop not hard if you had a penis and Nate
and I would spend time alone. That flexibility made us all stronger, in some
ways. It certainly strengthened our bond, with never any jealousy between
us.
How do I bring him back? I asked. How did you bring me back?
I didn t. I just held on and knew one day you would be ready to love
Acquainted with the Night 183
me as much as I loved you. You d already started coming back to us when
he returned. He kissed me. He ll come back to us. Remember, he was with
Master longer than us. You bonded first with him. He bonded first with
Master.
I looked into his blue eyes. Who d you bond with first?
He stroked my cheek. You. I love Coop, you know that. I love all of
you. Coop made it fun. You made me see I could live here.
I snorted. How? I was a wreck when you got here. I could barely talk
to you.
I saw how much you and Coop loved Mark. But especially you. I knew
if you could come to love him so strongly in such a short time, and I saw
how anguished Master was over losing Mark and worried about you, then
this was the only place I ever wanted to be. I d never had love like that
before in my life.
He let out a harsh laugh. What, I m supposed to pick some Terran
woman out of a catalog and hope she likes me? Fuck that shit. He kissed
me again. There s a reason why the Terrans had to give up trying to
repatriate us, and I don t just mean because most of us didn t want to go.
Their guys wanted what we had. Not the sex, but yeah, sure, that s cool.
They wanted the love. I didn t give a shit about anything before I got here.
Nothing. I got here and I learned how to care. Wanted to care. He nuzzled
my forehead. Cared about all of you.
I took a deep breath and let it out. Please keep telling me I m gonna
make it.
Every day, in every way.
I smiled. Another familiar mantra.
What did you think when he returned? I asked. Honestly?
He didn t need me to clarify. After a minute to think about it, he said,
Well, you remember I asked if I d have to leave.
Yeah? But what else?
I worried he might hate me for loving you.
I turned in his arms. Really?
Don t worry, we talked about this, me and Mark. He kissed me again.
He thanked me for keeping you going. That s what I mean. He loved me
for loving you. Because you loved me. He could have easily been pissed or
jealous about it and he wasn t. Can you imagine that happening back on
184 Tymber Dalton
Earth?
No, frankly, I couldn t. I d seen guys get into bar fights over taking
someone else s chair. A lover? That would have been a to-the-death fight.
Do you think what they did to us changed us? I asked.
He smiled. Yeah, I do. But it changed us because we decided to
change, not because of what they did to us. We adapted. We ll adapt to this,
too. It ll hurt, but once we re back with Marzan, life will settle, Mark will
heal
Coop will beg for an egg, I snarked.
We both burst out laughing. My poor guy s such a little slut. Jesus, I
love him for that.
Truth be told, so did I.
Acquainted with the Night 185
Chapter Twenty
Poor Mark. Marzan sat with him that morning in the garden by Master s
grave and quietly talked with him, just the two of them. I watched from the
patio. Mark finally nodded and Marzan kissed him before helping him to his
feet.
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