Star Side

Chapter 59

His father gestured to the landing so they could talk further without disturbing Jo's sleep. Gilrack returned the egg to its warm niche against his mate's belly, tucked her in, and followed his father to the other side of the curtain. When his father sat down on the landing and curled his dark red tail about himself, Gilrack followed suit, tucking his wings in close as well.

"Your smell has changed," his father said, just loud enough to be heard. "And your mate's is..."

Gilrack nodded, instantly understanding. What had drawn him in as though he'd had no will of his own had been Jo's heavenly scent. The only reason she hadn't enticed anyone else up unto this point is because she'd had her suit on around everyone except his mother, who either hadn't been affected by her scent, being female herself, or simply hadn't thought it necessary to note it.

His father, however, emanated concern.

"You cannot keep her in a den," he said. "She'll need friends."

"I know." And oh, how it pained Gilrack to know.

His father lowered his ears in sympathy. He, more than anyone else in their family, knew how much Gilrack hated his mother's polyandrist ways. Being quiet and kind, his father had never voiced complaint about sharing his mate with two others, but Gilrack had sensed his pain in rare, vivid moments throughout his childhood. Yet the traits of royalty, the purple coloring, sharper intellect, and growth of wings, was exceedingly rare, and even among many children only he and one other sibling had these traits, and only Gilrack had grown wings through what he was beginning to believe was due to circumstances more than genetics. The rest of his siblings were not considered royalty and would live lives similar to everyone else, without the training or expectations to be chief.

It was only because of this his mother was allowed multiple mates, as would he and his brother, in hopes of a child with the traits to rule.

Still, Gilrack would never take another mate. The thought made his stomach roll and bile rise to his throat.

And now with a divine being in the mix, there was no telling what their children would be like, only that they would have the ability to rule the sky. Part of the reason those with royal traits were given the responsibility to rule was because, according to legend, they were the only ones capable of making war with the divine beings, and therefore protecting the people from them. To have a divine being down here themselves, when they had long faded into myth...

All this passed between he and his father's eyes, felt in his father's warm concern.

"What can I do?" his father asked.

Gilrack clenched his tail in tighter and felt his pupils shrink. His first urge was to admit he had no clue and beg for his father to fix everything like he had as a child, but of course he wouldn't. He was a man now, with a mate and young, and perhaps soon to be chief. He wanted his father to be reassured that he had raised Gilrack well.

"Be with my mate when I have to hunt. I'm worried about who Mother might bring to the nest."

Instantly, his father's calm, soft demeanor twisted into a scowl.

"Only royals and their mates can come here."

"She was talking about introducing Jo to other males. She might take Jo from the nest, and I don't want Jo to leave until she is ready. And..." he hesitated to admit that he simply did not feel comfortable with his mother around Jo.

His father nodded. "I shall be present as much as I am able. I can hunt as well. What does your mate like?"

"I'm not sure. Food of the heaven's is different from ours."