𝙍𝙚𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙣 𝙩𝙤 𝘿𝙚𝙧𝙫𝙞𝙙𝙞𝙭

|6| Does She Have a Mate?

TAERIC

The small female walks over to the beast that had tried to attack her and nudges it with her boot. She bends down and shakes her head.

"What on earth?" she murmurs quietly, looking at the beast. Before I can react, she grabs the legs. "I want-" she drew in a deep breath, trying to move the creature, "-to use this!" She let go, and the creature's legs thumped to the ground. "I mean, I am pretty sure you can eat mountain lion. I could use the hide, too."

She stares at me as I jump up, lifting the creature from the ground. "You're gonna help?" she seems shocked for a moment before chuckling. "Thank you."

Help her? Of course. Doesn't she get help from anyone? I did not like the thought of her being alone and vulnerable without help, either.

She looks at me with thankful eyes and a smile. "Here, I will carry your bag."

She holds out her hands, and I looked down at them. I shake my head, but she places one hand on her hip and holds the other out, raising a brow that dares me to say no again. She smiles as I pull my pack off my shoulder and hand it over to her.

I shift the animal in my arms to brush one of the branches out of my face. The small female simply ducks a bit but passes through it easily. Her head only comes up to the middle of my chest. She is much smaller than me. I can't help the feelings that come over me. This tiny, fragile female held the future of my entire race in her hands.

"That is a mountain lion," she says, interrupting my thoughts. "Well... I mean, I'm guessing you don't know what it is."

Shifting the beast in my arms to get a better grip, I nod my head.

"The scent of the animals on my belt attracted it or something..." she trails off, and I watch as she trembles a bit. I am unsure if it is fear or cold. One inhale is enough to tell me it is the former. "You must be pretty dang strong! You aren't even breaking a sweat!" She chuckles awkwardly, but her eyes hold amazement. I can't help but be proud of the fact that she noticed my strength.

She pushes a low-hanging branch out of her face and looks over her shoulder at me, "So..." she trailed off. "Do you have a name? I don't want to keep calling you 'The alien man,'" she chuckled.

My mouth turns up at the corners, admiring her bravery. No doubt she is confused and a little terrified, especially after that creature attacked, a mountain lion as she called it, but she is acting calm and composed. "Tare-rick," I enunciated my name slowly before repeating it faster, "Taeric."

She smiles. "Nice to meet you, Taeric."

"Nay'em?" I ask with a smile of my own, trying to mimic her earlier question. It would have been much simpler if the translator was not broken. I had questions I wanted to ask her. Things to tell her.

The little female pushes a piece of her dark hair behind her ear as she ducks under a branch, and I felt my breath catch over her beauty. "Emara Davis, at your service," she says turning back around to give me a salute and wide grin. "You can just call me Emara, though."

"Emara," I say slowly, letting the syllables run over my tongue. It is a lovely name, just as lovely as her.

"Do aliens have last names?"

"Lass Nay'em?"

She hums thoughtfully, "You know, like an extra name to connect people together? Everyone in my family has the same last name, but we also have our own personal names. They are called surnames, and in some countries, they say the last name first, but here, in America, we say last names.... well, last," she tells me with a laugh. "It's like a name you pass on. You give it to your kids when you have them, so everyone knows they are yours, or like someone you marry... or something..." She turns away from me and back towards the trees.