Free Knollig: A Terraneu Novel ( Book 2) by Stormy McKnight

face, “You little Earth
female are not attracted to me, and I am not your mate.” He dropped his hand
back down. “That doesn’t mean I will not enjoy being your friend, and learning
all I can about Earth females so that I can be the perfect mate.”
    Her eyes brimmed with tears. He sounded so genuine,
and his desire to be the perfect mate was so admirable, for a second she wished
she was attracted to him instead of Knollig. Then she thought of her time with
Knollig in the medical bay. His sweet compliments about her character before
the change when she was still sick. The smoking hot kisses they shared, and the
pull she felt for him all reminded her why she did want him and not Fortem.
    She smiled weakly and took his hand to hold it.
“When you do find the female you want, I will be sure to put in a good word for
you. Any woman would be lucky to have you!” Mairi though she heard a deep
growl, but when she turned to look to see if there was a Sacath around, there
was nothing. Shrugging her shoulders she went back to finish her chat with
Fortem.

Chapter
Nine
    Mairi was going to drive him crazy! He knew that he had asked her to get
to know other males in the community, but he hadn’t meant for her to find one
she might choose for mate in the same day! He had walked into the training for
the males and seen Mairi with Fortem. Did she have to hold his hand and hug
him!?
    He had tried to get her to talk with him at the meeting, but she had run
off with Fortem claiming she had something important to speak with him about.
He was honest enough to admit he just wanted to get her away from the other
male. He hadn’t really had anything to say. He would have been too distracted
by her to talk, and would have ended up kissing her sweet mouth again instead.
He was going crazy with the thought of her with another male and he had no one
to blame but himself.
      He had pushed her to get to know
different males. It was a good thing for her to like Fortem, he kept telling
himself. He was an admirable man, very honorable and well thought of in the
community. After Mairi had left the class, Amber and Kniam had tried to
continue the meeting about respecting personal space. He thought it was more of
training on getting into personal space. He had left on the pretense of
heading over to look at how work was advancing in New Haven, but he had found
Mairi and Fortem instead. Sitting on the bench with their hands on each
other…in public!
    With a growl of frustration he had turned and hurried in earnest for New
Haven to help with the work there. It was important to have at least a hundred,
if not more housing units available for the families that would live there.
They had about fifty finished, and he knew in the next six months they would
get the rest of the fifty completed. Not that they were expecting one hundred
mated couples right away, but they wanted to be ready for any eventuality.
    He worked throughout the night in New Haven. All of the units needed to
be checked for working water and solar. Amber had insisted that Earth females
did not like to get their water and glasses from the bathroom. She said it was
“disturbing” and that the preference would be to get water from a living space
instead. So they had made “great rooms” and in the corner was a rock wall
feature that would provide drinking water. There were also customizable couch
arrangements, a wet bar with tall stools and then the bedrooms and guest
spaces. In all New Haven homes had larger balconies, and extra buffer spacing
between them. Oh, and a lot of sound proofing at the request of all the males
of the community. If Amber and Kniam were any indication, the residence of New
Haven would really appreciate the extra privacy.
    Knollig spent the next day avoiding Mairi in New Haven. He did hear that
the females had another successful day of classes. The men were swarming to
them now that there were two women, one of whom was unattached. He was told
that Mairi went on