I decided to stall.

“Why do you think the Lavrika told you I was your mate?”

Buroudei’s answer was instant.

“Clearly because you are perfect. And you are the perfect mate for me.”

Damn. What did I say about this guy having a way with words? If he keeps throwing stuff like that at me, I’ll be mounting him myself.

I shook my head quickly, my messy braid flopping back and forth.

“No, I mean, why a human? Why are there so few women around here?”

He settled himself on the sand, sitting cross-legged, and sighed.

“That is the fault of my foolish ancestors.”

I inched closer to him, getting more comfortable. His eyes tracked my every movement.

“Go on. What happened?” I wanted to know more about his people, his history. And just why oh why I of all people had ended up as his sacred mate.

He sighed again.

“It is a long history, but I will do my best to make it short. The Lavrika helps us keep the balance of our people. It is deeply tied to every part of us and this land. This is why its blood can heal. And why, I think, it was able to give you our language.”

I nodded slowly. I was mostly following. I mean, as much as an Earth girl could follow a story about a magical snake-dragon that helped aliens get it on with each other.

“It is imperative that we follow the visions of the Lavrika when choosing a mate.” He gave me a meaningful look, and I cleared my throat, suddenly very interested in how my nails looked. Spoiler alert: not great.

“The men of the Sea Sands can only father cubs of one kind. Either boys or girls. It does not matter how many cubs a man sires, they will all be either male or female. Some generations ago, women started rejecting their mates after realizing their mates would produce girl cubs. Many women wanted to be the mother of a Gahn, and they sought new partners to have sons.”

“Wow. You guys put men above women that much?” I couldn’t help the judgmental tone of my voice. Buroudei’s tail lashed powerfully, his voice hardening.

“A warrior treasures his mate above all else and would never reject her. As I have said, it was the women making these decisions. And those decisions were honoured and respected. Until we started to understand the repercussions.”

Oh. So it wasn’t as simple as boys are better than girls. The women had a lot of power and agency, too. I thought of Rika and Balia, how respected they seemed among the tribe, and nodded, waiting for Buroudei to continue.

“We did not know how important it was to follow the Lavrika’s visions. Though it is possible to produce children outside of a sacred mate bond, it is very difficult. Our birth rates fell, and of the cubs who were born, most of them were male. Within three generations, we were brought close to the brink of extinction. And this happened in every tribe of the Sea Sands. It was only by returning to the Lavrika’s ways that we have been able to start to rebuild. Though it is slow. Until you arrived with your other women, we thought we may never truly recover.”

The weight of his revelations clanged like a gong inside my head. Me being Buroudei’s mate wasn’t just about him wanting me. It represented something much more important than that – the survival of his people. The balance of the whole planet.

No pressure.

“You said it was the women choosing to leave their mates before. What about now? What if a woman rejects her mate now?” With men outnumbering women three-to-one, it seemed like the women should have their pick of options.

“It is extremely rare for such things to happen now. We have seen the devastation this can cause. Besides, like I said before, the women of the Sea Sands feel the sacred mate bond, too. They feel, as you say, in love with their mates just as much as the warriors do. It is highly unusual now for a woman to reject her mate. I cannot remember the last time such a thing happened in our tribe. It was not within my lifetime.” He stopped, grinding his fangs together, then spoke again, but slowly, as if every word pained him. “Ultimately, if a woman were to refuse her mate, she would be allowed to do so, and could go and live the life she wished.”

“Interesting,” I muttered, chewing my lip. And I had to ask the next question, even though it would hurt him. And maybe hurt me, too. But I had to know where I stood. Was I a captive or not? “What if she’s the mate of the Gahn?”

Buroudei’s eyes sparked, and suddenly he was on me, pushing me easily to the ground, his hands locked around my wrists, which he raised up above head. His huge, hard thigh pressed up between my legs, making me gasp, and something else huge and hard pressed against my waist. I arched, my breasts pushed against his muscled chest, my pulse increasing every moment.

I was in trouble now. It was hard to think straight like this. My blood rushed frantically through my body, congregating between my legs, right where his thigh was pressing. He groaned, lowering his mouth. My lips parted involuntarily, and I gave a small moan when he didn’t kiss me. Instead he spoke against my mouth, his lips and breath sending shivers exploding down my spine.

“I will not tie you up, my beautiful mate. I will not make you stay here with me. But you should know that, if you flee, I will always follow. No matter where you run, I will find you. I will not force you to live as my mate, but I will always be at your side. Until the very end of my days.”

So I wasn’t truly a captive. Not really. Buroudei would honour my wishes the best way he knew how. And that was good enough for me. It was the final piece that helped me come to my decision. My decision that I was going to give whatever the hell this was a try. Not even that, I was going to dive right in, headfirst. I already knew that I was falling, and when Buroudei had almost died, and then I had almost died, the only thing I cared about was being with him again. I wasn’t going to run. Not from him. Not anymore.

These thoughts were crashing one against the other in my head, and as they did so I was silent, starting into Buroudei’s magnetic eyes. But my silence made him uneasy, and his voice came out like broken glass when he spoke next, his hands tightening at my wrists.

“I know I am not of your kind. But am I that displeasing to you?”

Wow. There was a lot there, bound up in those words. Hurt and rejection and insecurity and hope. The fact that this insanely strong, attractive, powerful warlord was insecure over me potentially not loving him was breaking my little human heart. A heart that I was about to wrench up into my mouth and give to him. Because I knew he’d make it whole again.

“Remember when I said I liked you a whole lot?”

He grew very still, and grunted, “Yes.”

“Well, I lied. Or, I didn’t exactly lie, but I didn’t say everything.”

Buroudei had turned into stone. It barely seemed like he was breathing. I gulped. Here we go.

“I’m in love with you.”

Buroudei didn’t move.

OK... Slightly anticlimactic.

“The sacred mate bond! I feel it for you. I’m saying I want to do this... Be your mate.”

The words were embarrassing, and I started wiggling under him, looking off to the side, face on fire.

“You could say something, you know,” I whispered, anxiety pulling at me. Buroudei sucked in a great breath.

“Forgive me, Zeezee. You have broken open my world and put it back together again. Your words have forged futures I never thought I’d live to see. It is difficult to speak.”

“I know what you mean.” I turned my head back to look into his eyes. The glimmering, spaced out shards of his eyes were practically vibrating. He gave one maddeningly slow thrust against my abdomen and my core tightened with need. I nodded feverishly, and Buroudei groaned, taking my mouth in a wet, heated kiss before trailing that amazing tongue down over my neck to run along my collarbones. He let go of my wrists, yanking my tunic up and over my head, and I was naked, totally bared to him. And it was more exhilarating than anything I’d ever experienced before. Buroudei knelt, running his hands over my sensitive breasts, then down over my waist and hips before reaching my thighs once more. I could feel the wetness growing between my legs as he parted my thighs, staring at my spread pussy.