Sam's Secret (Icehome)

Kvasaht is…an entirely different sort. And explaining that to someone as unworldly as Sessah is tricky. "I don't trust him yet, Sessah. I don't know that we can lead him back to the others. I worry if we do, we're going to cause trouble for the tribe. It's probably best that we keep him here a few days and determine his character before bringing him to meet the others."

He tilts his head, regarding me. "Why?"

"Because he might hurt someone. He might steal food. He might steal…people." I think of all the kids back at Icehome Beach, and I am ten thousand percent positive we are not bringing this guy back to the beach until we know it's safe. "What if he does something awful and we're responsible?"

Sessah shakes his head. "Why would he steal food? There is plenty for all." He has a perturbed look on his face. "And M'tok and S'bren stole females. They were wrong, but they were also punished."

I don't know how to explain to him that even though M'tok and S'bren were absolute fucktards and could have really, really made things ugly, there was still an innocence to what they did. They didn't think beyond drugging a female just to get her to go with him. People were upset, but no one was ever worried that Callie or Penny was ever truly in danger, just inconvenienced. Penny said once that when she explained to S'bren why it was bad to drug and kidnap people, that he'd been utterly horrified. It had never occurred to him that such a thing could be weaponized, that someone could just grab a female and take things she didn't want to offer.

I was mad at them when it happened. It reminded me of Brad, and how what I wanted had never mattered. Even so, I never felt there was malevolence in their thoughts.

I'm not so sure about Kvasaht.

I think about the cuff on his leg, and how he's been cagey with his answers, just as cagey as we are. "I don't trust him."

"You do not trust any male," Sessah reminds me.

"I trust you." I chew my upper lip, thinking. "And there are layers to trust. I trust you completely. I trust Raahosh and the other men in the tribe not to cut my throat while I'm sleeping or murder someone. I trust them not to break into my tent and attack me." It's weird to realize that, but I do trust the men on the beach. The mated ones treat their women with such reverence that it's clear I mean nothing to them, and the unmated ones keep a respectful distance.

Huh.

"You think he would cut a throat?" Sessah is shocked. "Why?"

Why does anyone murder someone? But murder is another one of those things that's all but unknown on this planet. I pat Sessah's chest. "I'm not saying he would, but…I'm not saying he wouldn't, either. We don't know anything about him."

"We know Mardok's friend sent him."

Do we? Sessah in his innocence volunteered Niri's name, and I imagine it didn't occur to him that Kvasaht would lie about such a thing. Tomorrow I intend to pry at him more, to learn the truth. "I'm not so sure," I say to Sessah. "Just trust me on this, please?"

"Of course." He rubs my back. "We said untruths all day to him. I worry we will have to say more tomorrow." He gives me a sheepish smile. "And my tongue will become so knotted with confusion I will be able to say nothing at all."

He's got a point—we need to get our story straight. "Let's talk it out, then. We'll come up with a story so that even if something happens to us, he wouldn't assume there are others to go after. As long as he doesn't know they exist, they're safe.

We manage to come up with a somewhat convincing story. That our ship crashed far to the north in the mountains, and we ended up wandering here. That we were the only two that survived, and we set up the fruit cave in order to grow food. That this is where we live. "If he asks about our gear or our leathers, we can point out that we have some stuff stored in a storage cave a short distance away." I try to consider every angle, and he might ask why we have cold-weather clothes if we “live” in the cave. "We'll just stick together so if you make something up, I know about it."

Sessah's hand moves lazily up and down my back as he holds me against his chest. I should be more anxious about the stranger on the ledge above us, but for some reason, all I can think about is how cozy I feel in Sessah's arms, how safe. How I wish his hand would slide into my pants and he'd touch me and make me come. I know some of that is resonance speaking, that pushy, consuming need that won't let us go until we mate. But some of it, I think, is all Sessah and his sweetness. Sessah and his protective nature.