Raashh Decisions (Xxan War Book 3) (20 page)

At a loss to understand the intricacies of Xxanian families, Sandy returned to the clerk just in time to see the silk shoes that matched the dresses being set out for her to choose from.

****

Arren knew whatever was preying on Sandy’s mind was coming to a head. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

She didn’t look at him. “Are you ashamed of me?”

He nearly wrecked the car in surprise. “What? Why would you ask such a thing?”

“Joy had never heard of me before. Why wouldn’t you tell your family about me? Why don’t you want to take me to the…nest?”

The hurt in her voice made him want to beat his head against the steering wheel. “I don’t speak to my family often.”

“You work with Daveed.”

“Not really. We work in the same building. Two floors apart, but we rarely make an effort to see each other or speak to each other. We send papers and memorandums back and forth by office courier and assistants. We rarely even pick up a phone.”

Sandy turned to look at him, her eyes wide and wounded. “Why?”

It was his greatest failing, a disgrace.

“What happened to make you two hate each other?”

“I don’t hate him. We just… I’m a Subdominant.”

“What does that mean?” Her expression said she really didn’t know.

Arren pulled over and stared at the steering wheel. He turned to look at her. “All my life, I have been…less. Less than my brother. Less than my nephews. Less. A disgrace that my Dominant
seir
produced a Subdominant son. I have always been too human for his tastes.”

“But his mate is human,” she protested. “It seems all their mates are human.”

“My mother
was
. They are. He doesn’t begrudge the fem…the women being human. They were born human.”

“You were born mixed,” she fumed. “How can he begrudge you that?”

“Because he is the typical Xxanian Dominant. Raashh doesn’t take my mother’s attributes and genetics into account. He is a Dominant that produced a Subdominant. It is his failure, and I am a reminder of it. The only value I have to my family is in running the business. So, I moved out of the nest and live alone.”

She touched his hand. “You aren’t alone.”

He smiled. “No, I’m not alone anymore. Now I am the Subdominant head of my own nest. It’s an odd situation. It would be unlikely to happen on
Xxania Uuaahth
.”

“And you don’t want to take me to the nest because?”

He forced his jaw to unlock and his ridge plates to retract. “Because I refuse to let them show me disrespect in front of you. I know you would feel bad because of it, and that would make me brutally angry. It would be…unpleasant for all of us.

“They would not disrespect you, of course. Any female added to the nest is an asset to them. In fact, being able to bind a female to myself may make me more worthy in their eyes, but only marginally so.”

“Why?”

He cocked his head to one side, at a loss for what she was asking.

“Why only marginally more worthy? Oh, I
hate
that term.”

Arren smiled. “I knew you would.” He sighed and ran a hand through his blond curls. “I am a Subdominant. Though I might bring female young to the nest, any males I produce will likely be…”

“Subdominant.”

He nodded.

“They aren’t really that stupid, are they?”

Holding back a laugh at that pronouncement was impossible. “That’s one way to put it.”

“Just so I know… Are we ever going to visit your family?”

Arren would have liked to lie to her, but that would be dishonorable. “I suppose we’ll have to. But not today.”

Her smile was wide and heartfelt.

Chapter Seventeen

Four days later

Arren turned toward the trilling phone, sighing. Back at work two days, and it seemed the paperwork and calls never ended. He would ask Betty to handle the calls while he caught up on paperwork, but he’d asked her to teach Sandy everything she needed to know about her new position as his legal aide, and he hated to interrupt that. The two women had bonded so well, he wanted to encourage it.

The secretary Betty had left on her own desk was knowledgeable enough to handle a pre-made list of chores, but she wasn’t knowledgeable enough to handle calls for Arren.

He scooped the phone to his ear with a greeting of “Arren Raashh.”

“You cannot continue ignoring our
seir
, Arren,” Daveed informed him.

I should have just let all phone calls go to the message box. Betty could have gone through them later.

But who knew Daveed would call me?
Honestly, Arren couldn’t remember the last time his brother called him personally. Usually, Mallory called and spoke to Arren or Betty, and Arren or Betty spoke to Mallory. He would have sworn, until that very moment, that his older brother had never willingly used a phone.

“I’m not ignoring Raashh, Daveed. After mating, which isn’t something you interrupt, I had the priority of seeing to the needs of the company. Raashh put me in this position, so things were not left undone or half done.”

“You have a mate, Arren.”

A smile curved his lips at the reminder. “I know. It is not something one is unaware of.”

“I introduced Joy to the nest less than a day after mating ended, and I only waited that long because Rayn insisted on his blasted tests.”

And we all know you are the perfect son, Daveed.
But there was no need to antagonize him. Arren’s problems were largely with their
seir
. Even Daveed’s attitudes could be traced back to the elder’s.

“It’s been four days,” Daveed continued.

“I am well aware of the time.”

“Do you ever intend to introduce your mate to the nest?” He was losing his patience, by the sound of it. Arren was sure his brother’s ridge plates were extended.

I have to.
“Eventually. When other priorities have been met.”

“Other… It’s not as if the nest is on the other side of the world, and even if it was, you have a shuttle at your disposal. How many priorities can there be that make visiting Raashh a physical impossibility for you?”

Even when you “ran the company”, most of the work I do was delegated to others.
But Arren didn’t say that. Even if Daveed acknowledged it, he wouldn’t find it germane to the discussion. “We will get there in time. Joy knew all three of us before she mated with you. For you, it was a matter of form to introduce your mate to Raashh.”

Daveed lost what little patience he had retained thus far. “It isn’t a matter of form. It is a matter of tradition.”

Ah, yes. And Raashh loves his traditions.
“In case you’ve forgotten, I don’t live at Raashh’s nest. My mate is fully comfortable with my nest. She’s been bathed with
Saahaal
in
my
nest. Doing the same in a nest I don’t live in is not my highest priority.”

His brother growled curses in Xxan. “Consider it.”

“I’ll consider it.” He had since before he’d bound Sandy to him. “I promise.” But he wasn’t in any hurry to go back to Raashh’s nest, where he was always treated as less.

****

Two days later

Sandy pulled her hair back into a ponytail and turned toward the bathroom. The cleaner would arrive soon, and she had to collect the last of their scattered clothing from the week into the bags.

A sound from the living room sent her that direction instead. She’d thought Arren was in the arboretum, collecting clothes with her. What would have sent him to the living room?

“Arren? We don’t have—”

She stopped short at the sight of a huge, hairless male, carefully removing his shoes just outside the elevator doors. He straightened, coming to his full height of nearly a head taller than Arren was. She’d wager he carried at least another thirty-five kilos of muscle on his form as well.

His brows raised in surprise at the sight of her, and he took a step toward her. Sandy backed away from him, nearly toppling backward over the couch in the process.

He charged toward her, and she ran further into the room. Sandy could have smacked herself for that. There were no doorways to other rooms that direction. Just the windows. She pressed her back to one, and pulled down on her nightshirt, trying to make it cover more of her body. As it was, he’d probably gotten a great look at her ass as she’d run from him.

“Arren!”

The intruder stopped a body length away.

My body length.
She would have been more comfortable with one of his.

His hands went up in a calming motion. “I mean you no harm.”

“Arren!”

He bolted from the bedroom doorway, a nude streak against the dark wood walls, and hit the intruder solidly, taking him to the floor. The fight she expected didn’t occur. Instead, Arren came to his feet between them, blocking the other male’s view of her.

The larger levered himself off the floor. “I meant her no harm,” he groused. He dusted off his clothing, though there was no dust to remove.

“How dare you enter without asking permission.” Arren’s voice was little more than a growl, a sure sign that his ridge plates were extended and his Xxanian teeth bared.

“I didn’t enter the center nest.”

“In our small nest, the entire nest is the center nest. Sandy and I feel free to wear what we like or not here.”

“In a proper nest—”

“It is proper enough for us.”

There was a moment of tense silence. At last, the other male spoke. “My apologies to you for frightening you. I only meant to help you when you fell.”

Arren whipped around and took visual inventory of Sandy. “Are you hurt?”

She shook her head, still trying to convince her breathing to settle.
He doesn’t see this male as much of a threat, or he wouldn’t turn his back on him.

He pressed a kiss to her forehead and turned back to the other. “I suggest you leave, Daveed. We are clearly not dressed for company. Next time, try calling before you enter our nest.”

“I came to—”

“I
know
why you came. In good time, I will come to Raashh’s nest.”

Daveed’s ridge plates extended at that. “
With
your mate, I assume.” There was a challenge in that.

“That is my mate’s choice.”

“I see.” He turned on his heel and stalked back to the elevator. Daveed didn’t pull his shoes back on. Instead, he scooped them up and stepped into the elevator. He didn’t look back as he punched a button.

Sandy took a calming breath, as the doors closed him in. “Your older brother.” She didn’t question it.

He turned to look at her, his lips twitching in a wry smile. “Yes.”

“When will we be going to the nest?”

“When you are comfortable with it.”

She glanced toward the elevator doors. “Not today.” With her nerves jangled by Daveed’s appearance, Sandy knew she wasn’t ready for that.

Arren tipped his head and led her back to the bedroom. He lifted her onto the mattress, and she shook her head.

“We don’t have time. The cleaners will be here soon.”

He smiled widely, a dangerous smile that showed his hunting teeth. “And I will meet them with the collection bags. Then I will come back here to you.”

Her heart pounded in excitement at his meaning. She stripped off the nightshirt and handed it over. “You should add this to the bag.” She didn’t question that they wouldn’t be donning clothing again after the cleaner left with the bags.

Chapter Eighteen

Two days later

Sandy slid from the bed, her stomach growling. She’d had a full dinner with Arren, but they’d also made love for a good portion of the evening. If there was one thing she’d learned it was that she could work up a hearty appetite with her husband.

Mate.
Just the thought of it still sent pleasant shivers through her body. She had a mate who would never stray and wouldn’t stand for someone hurting her.

She didn’t bother to pull a
S’suuhhea
or robe on. There was no chance someone would barge into the apartment again, and there was something sinfully sensual about walking around the nest nude.

The floors were warm against her feet, and the water sounds from the fountains were soothing to her half-asleep mind. Overall, the only more calming thing about the nest was the times they slept in the arboretum.

The air from the refrigerator raised goose bumps on her body, but the low-level light Arren kept in it was kind to her eyes. In the weeks living in Arren’s nest, her eyes had become accustomed to the lower light levels, so much so that she now wore sunglasses in bright light, just as he did.

Sandy reached for a bag of cheese cubes, then withdrew. Item after item caught her attention, then was dismissed. She was hungry, but nothing looked appetizing.

Except that.
She pulled out a bowl of spiced meat and sank cross-legged to the floor with the bowl in her lap. Sandy had eaten Arren’s meals a few times, though he made sure she had everything she needed or wanted to eat, if that wasn’t her choice.

The meat was cold, but her mouth watered at the taste.
It would be better warm.
She didn’t doubt it. The juices would flow through her mouth rather than being trapped in the meat.

Cube after cube disappeared from the bowl. Sandy let the refrigerator door swing shut.

She closed her eyes and savored every bite. All too soon, the bowl was empty. If there was more, she would eat it, but the idea of preparing more meat sounded like too much work.

Moving was too much work. Sandy lazed on the heated floor and dropped back to sleep.

****

Arren stretched, his hand extending to—
Empty space.
He raised his head and opened his senses.