“I can give you love,” I said. “I want to give you love. Maybe I’ve already given it to you? You just said you feel the same things for me that I feel for you.”
“And I am angry with myself,” she sighed. “Victor, you cannot defeat my husband. That is the issue. Even if he cannot be here for you to challenge, it goes against my kind’s ways to consider you as an option.”
“Uhhh, really?” I said as I felt my stomach start to knot again.
“You are five times the man he is,” Sheela reached out with her hand and touched my cheek. She held me with her golden eyes, and the air threatened to leave my body. “You are kind and generous. You are hardworking and charming. You are funny and intelligent. You have saved my life dozens of times, and you are only becoming more powerful as you learn to use your Tame ability. However, the contest for ownership of me must be accomplished in one-on-one physical combat, and you would not be able to defeat my husband. I’ve admitted my feelings for you even though I know this, and it means that I have tarnished my name.”
“But wait.” I reached up to touch her hand on my cheek. “It’s just that? The fight? Or your impression of what could happen? I’m confused. It sounds like you are saying that you can be with me as long as you think I could defeat him in combat. Is that true?” The words almost gushed out of my mouth.
“Yes,” she said with a nod. “He is a great warrior though, you will not--”
“Teach me,” I interrupted her. “You know how to fight, and you said I have some weird potential. I don’t think there is anything to that, but if you teach me to fight, you’ll know when I’ll be able to beat him.”
She stared at me for a few moments, and I forced myself to keep my mouth closed. I didn’t know what I would say if she said no, but I knew I wasn’t going to stop trying. Sheela obviously had feelings for me, but she couldn’t let go of her cultural bonds.
“I will teach you,” she whispered, and my heart skipped a beat.
“Awesome!” I gushed. “I’m looking forward to--”
“But you do not have much free time,” she interrupted me. “I should not be a priority for you. It does not make sense that you would spend your time learning how to fight from me just so you can defeat a husband who you will never battle.”
“Then you should just give up the idea and consider yourself divorced from him,” I laughed, and she surprised me by smiling a bit.
“Yes, I realize that I am somewhat foolish. I have considered this for a few weeks, but it is--”
“Wait,” I interrupted her, “back up a second. You’ve been considering this for weeks? Like… you wanted to get out of your marriage?”
“Victor,” she said as she touched my cheek again. “I knew my feelings for you, but I did not know if you felt the same way. I am conflicted, because I respect the laws and ways of my people, even though I will never return home. I suspected you felt the same way about me, but I did not think we could be together, so I did not wish to lead you on.”
“But you wanted me to ask you?” I turned around on the saddle so that I could face her more, and my hand moved to rest on her muscular thigh. A short gasp left her mouth when I touched her, and her eyes turned down to my hand, but she didn’t move to push me away.
“I am not trying to be coy with you,” she whispered. “I am not my own woman. Do you see how I am conflicted? I crave your touch, but please take your hand off my leg.”
I pulled my fingers away from her, and we looked at each other again. Her eyes actually seemed pained, and she bit her bottom lip aggressively. “We should get back.”
“Yes, Victor,” she whispered, and I turned around on the saddle so that I face forward on Bob. I was about to kick my heels against his flanks and send him running back toward the camp, but I felt Sheela’s arms circle my waist and her body press against my back. I sat there and let her hug me for a moment, and she let out a long sigh as her head rested on my shoulder.
Neither one of us spoke. I just held onto the reins while she clung to me. Part of me wanted to turn around and kiss her, but I knew it would be foolish. She was conflicted, and I wanted us to be together without the complications of her marriage weighing on her soul. Especially when I had two other women that I loved who needed my affection.
There was a flash of light across my vision, and I blinked my Eye-Q on. The entry under Women now read 3, and I motioned my eye over it and willed the menu to open. Sheela’s name now appeared beneath Trel’s, and I released a long exhale.
“I love you, Sheela,” I said as I brought my fingers up to cradle her hands on my chest. “I’ll work to be the man you need me to be.”
“I know you will,” she whispered. “Thank you, Victor.”
“Let’s go.” I kicked Bob forward and commanded my group of parasaurs to run with us back to the camp.
We had a lot of work cut out for us tonight, tomorrow, the next day, and for as long as we probably lived on Dinosaurland, but I had the love of three amazing women, and the path forward seemed illuminated with bright lights. I’d learn how to fight from Sheela, and then we could be together. The beautiful woman deserved to be happy, and I wanted to be the man who brought her that joy.
Chapter 11
“What took you both so long?” Trel asked as soon as Sheela and I returned.
“We chatted a bit while we got the water,” I said as I set one of the pots down beside the fire. Kacerie moved to reach for the jug, but then she froze and looked at me with questioning eyes. I nodded to her, and she took a long drink.
“Now that you are here, everyone else needs to leave so that we can have sex.” Trel made wave-like motions with her black fingers, and the women turned to stare at her.
“Trel, I am cooking a nice meal for everyone. Perhaps we can wait until everyone has finished eating?” Galmine smiled at the spider-woman.
“Ugh. Fine. Let’s eat. This is my last day, so I need all of his sperm. I’m sure you all understand.”
“Yes, I do,” Galmine sighed as she looked across the fire at me.
“How is the cordage looking?” I asked. They each had a small pile of processed ferns in their hands, but I didn’t see any completed ropes.
“That basket is filled with a few dozen,” Trel said as she nodded across Galmine.
“Great,” I said as Sheela brought the last water jug inside the hut. “How many baskets do you think we’ll need to complete the project?”
“Ha!” Trel shook her head. “We’ll need maybe two hundred more baskets filled.”
“Damn, that’s a lot,” I groaned.
“The logs we are using are larger,” Trel said. “The perimeter of the new wall will be some eight hundred and seventy feet. However, it will be made with roughly one hundred and fifty logs that are around six feet in diameter. Let’s say nineteen feet of cord per single wrap around, but we’ll have to do a wrap at the top and the bottom, and I do three wraps per, so each log will require some two hundred and thirty feet of cord to attach to the next log. So two hundred and thirty feet times seventy-five logs is seventeen thousand two hundred and fifty feet of cord. I’m rounding up a bit in my math since the logs are not all perfect and I’m expecting some rope to break during the building process.”
“Wow,” I said as I tried to follow her math. “That’s a shitload of cordage, and I can’t believe you just did the math that fast.”
“Victor, don’t you recall me telling you I’m a genius?” She fluttered her eyelashes at me. “I’m a genius. You are lucky to have me as your mate.”
“Yeah, I am.” I smiled at her and then took the plate of food that Galmine gave me. She used a flint dagger to cut the meat off the roasting carcass, and I wondered if that was because Kacerie said something to her about using her fingers.