They needed to be close to the bauxite though, so they made their homes in the desert. Lucas’s home was nowhere near as luxurious as the palace Kai had grown up in, but it was large and comfortable, and Kai loved the freedom from servants always hovering over him. Here he was allowed to bathe himself—well, most of the time, that is, when Lucas let him shower alone. He could dress himself too, though Lucas usually undressed him every night. Still, Kai had no complaints. He found that he enjoyed Lucas’s attentions very much. He loved the fact that his husband made love to him every night, and in ways he could never have imagined. His husband had taught him a lot about the ways men made love since he’d come. Kai had grown to crave Lucas’s presence, and the hours during the day when Lucas was at the mines were increasingly difficult for him.

After that first violent fight on the balcony the night they met, Lucas had never lifted a hand to him in anger. He always treated him with consideration and even affection. All in all, Kai’s life had been busy since he arrived on Lycanus 3, and he was content, but he knew Lucas was holding back some of his affection and it bothered Kai. What if he decided to put him aside? Kai had heard of things like that.

His aunt Robesia, his mother’s sister and a second daughter, had married a prince from Alger, their closest neighboring planet, and after only six months of marriage, he’d put her aside and sent her back home in disgrace. Kai had never been told what happened between them, but she lived in the palace after that, a stooped, lonely figure that kept mostly to her rooms. Kai shuddered. What would he do if Lucas sent him back home?

Sighing, Kai strode over to the target to retrieve his arrows, his movements still a little awkward in the stiff leather trousers Lucas insisted he wear outside. Inside, he allowed him to wear his soft leggings, but he said they were way too tight to be decent for anyone but him to see. He sighed and rubbed absently at his stomach. Ever since he’d awakened after they had made love on the ship, he’d felt this nearly constant cramping in his stomach. Most of the time it was only a dull ache, but lately, the pains had grown worse. Just the other night, as they got ready for bed, Lucas saw him wince and clutch at his stomach.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Kai said, slipping under the covers and curling up around the cramps. “Maybe something I ate.”

Lucas came to stand beside him, and then sank down to gather him up in his arms and pat him on the back. Surprised, Kai looked up at him. “What?”

“It’s not something you ate. Remember how I told you there’d be physical changes from the mating? This is one of them, I’m afraid.”

“These cramps in my stomach? What causes them?”

Lucas sighed. “It’s me. I’m sorry, Kai. Whenever I’m upset with you or have any negative feelings toward you, this will happen. ” He snuggled him closer and kissed the side of his neck and Kai was amazed to find the dull achiness in his stomach that had been plaguing him all day begin to fade away.

“You’re upset with me? What did I do? You mean you’re doing this to me? But why?”

“I’m not doing it consciously, baby. I’m sorry. ”He bent to kiss his lips tenderly again. “Is that better? Still as much pain?”

“No, it’s easing now, but I don’t understand.”

“The venom in our mating bite causes a psychic connection and causes you to feel physical discomfort if I’m upset with you.”

“But what have I done?”

Lucas sighed. “Nothing.It’s just the lies you and your mother told me to bring me to Scythia. I was just thinking about them. I still feel torn about it and I sense you’re hiding something from me. I don’t like it, yet you still refuse to tell me everything. I’ll try harder to get my mind off it.” He gazed down at Kai. “Unless you feel like unburdening yourself now? You know you can tell me anything, don’t you? I promise I’ll try to understand.”

Kai pulled away, miserable at being put in this position again. It always came back to this. “But you wouldn’t understand. You couldn’t. If I told you, you’d take action and I can’t let you do that.” He buried his head in his hands. “Oh goddess, what if I’m wrong about this? Then you’ll hate me like you’ll hate my mother and my whole people.” He turned toward Lucas desperately. “I don’t think I could stand it if you hated me, Lucas. You’re the only one I have now.”

Lucas pulled him closer and kissed his lips. “I could never hate you. I promise you that won’t happen. Let me help you with whatever secret you’re keeping. Please, Kai.”

Completely miserable, Kai could only shake his head, and then bent over clutching himself as a sharp pain sliced through him. Lucas saw it and wrapped his arms around him, making soothing noises and rubbing his back until the pain subsided. “I’m not consciously doing it, Kai. I don’t mean to hurt you, sweetheart.” He blew out a heavy breath. “Maybe I should just try to stay away from you more. If we had separate bedrooms…”

Kai flinched again at his words. He loved sleeping with his husband, but perhaps Lucas didn’t enjoy it as much and was using this as an excuse to get away from him.

“Whatever you think,” he replied, unable to meet Lucas’s eyes.

A tense silence fell between them. Lucas stood up abruptly. “All right then. I’ll sleep in the other room tonight. Maybe that will help us both.”

He’d walked quickly toward the door without looking back and it had taken Kai a long time to get to sleep with the dull ache throbbing inside him. Trouble was, he couldn’t tell if the ache was coming from his stomach or his heart.

Since that night, he and Lucas still made love, but now Lucas left afterward and slept in the spare bedroom. He still visited him almost nightly, seeming to be unable to stay away, but Kai could feel things slipping away from him, and he had no idea how to stop it.

In an effort to fill his time, he sometimes visited with the other mates of Lucas’s family members. Lucas’s brother and two of his cousins had been recently mated, and Kai was getting to know the family better, especially the mates. They were often either coming or going from their trips around the galaxies with their mates, though, so he didn’t get to spend as much time with them as he would have liked. He particularly enjoyed talking to Ryan, the handsome blond mate of Lucas’s brother, Blayde.

Ryan had been at the docks to meet them the night they returned and Kai witnessed the passionate reunion between him and Blayde. Ryan had thrown himself on Blayde the minute he’d jumped down off the ship and wrapped both his arms and legs around him. Kai had been amazed at such a public display of affection—such things just weren’t done on Scythia.

Blayde had peeled Ryan off him eventually, though he kept a big hand on his waist and kept Ryan pulled possessively close to him. “Kai, this is my mate, Ryan. You two will probably be seeing a lot of each other in the days to come. Our home is next door to yours.”

The handsome little blond held out a hand to him, but his eyes were wide with surprise. “But I thought you were going to be a girl.” He clapped his hands in delight. “This is a wonderful surprise.” He turned to Blayde in confusion. “What happened? Did Lucas arrange for a different mate?”

“I’ll tell you later,” Blayde said quietly.

Kai, who was feeling overwhelmed with all the males swarming over the dock, looked around for Lucas. Not finding him, he started to tremble a little, but tried to smile and gave Ryan his hand. “N-nice to meet you,” he said softly.

Ryan smiled back at him. “You’ll like it here—and I know we’ll be good friends.”

Lucas came up beside Kai then, and Kai stepped close to him. Looking a little surprised, Lucas reached for Kai’s hand. “I think Kai is feeling a little nervous. Maybe you can come over tomorrow to talk to him, Ryan? Once he’s had a chance to settle in a bit. It would be good for him to talk to one of the other mates.”

Ryan nodded happily. “I’d love to. I’ll see you tomorrow then, okay, Kai?”

Kai smiled as Blayde pulled Ryan down the ramp and into one of the waiting vehicles. They looked like the land vehicles on his own planet, but the wheels were huge and the tires knobby. When Kai followed Lucas to one of them and stepped off the wooden dock, he sank down into the sandy soil and realized the wheels had to be so large to navigate through the terrain.

When they arrived at Lucas’s large home, Kai got an overall impression of low white walls with a stone fence wrapping entirely around the home. He followed Lucas inside and stood hesitantly by the door, not sure what to do next. Lucas put down his bag and turned toward him. He looked exhausted, yet his big body as he leaned against the counter was incredibly attractive, stirring something deep with- in Kai. Predictably, the flesh between his legs started to get hard. He’d noticed this whenever he looked at Lucas over the past two days of the voyage. Kai angled his body away, so that Lucas wouldn’t notice. Lucas had his hand down there on Kai most of the time anyway, and Kai figured he’d touch him there again if he noticed, as if it was his duty to see to it. Even though Kai ached for his touch, he knew his mate needed rest more than anything else.

“Where do I sleep?” Kai asked, and Lucas tilted his head as he stared at him.

“With me. My room is at the end of the hall. I did make provisions for you to have your own space, though, in the room next to mine. I’m afraid we’ll have to redecorate. It’s very…frilly,” he said, wrinkling his nose.

Kai shook his head. “Oh no, I like frilly things. In my room at home…”

“I said we’d redecorate,” Lucas said, his voice tight with anger. “You’re not a female, so stop acting like one.”

Kai lowered his head, but anger surged through him. He tried hard not to show it, not wishing to argue so soon after arriving, but he was getting very tired of people telling him what he was supposed to like. Who decided these things, anyway? Why was his natural preference for soft colors, frills and lace so wrong?