ZEDD
I head for the kitchen to get some coffee, breakfast and the supply list from Goldar before I leave. I throw the kitchen door open, startling the pair already there. Dar hands me a cup of coffee even as Pina says dryly, "Well good morning, sunshine."
"Not today, Scorpina. I'm not in the mood."
Dar raises an eyebrow at me. "What's the matter? Didn't get any last night?"
And he could not have possibly picked a worse thing to say. "Don't" I snarl out between clenched teeth. My grip tightens on the staff I've yet to lay aside and the top starts to glow with power.
Standing as he sees my reaction more than pays attention to my tone, Goldar exchanges fast looks with his mate. "Whoa, easy Zedd. I'm just kidding. Breathe Zedd."
"What part of 'not in the mood' didn't you get?" I snarl at him. I force myself to calm down enough to dissipate the excess power in the staff. I'm hurt and angry and I just want to lash out, but it wouldn't be fair to take it out on them. "As soon as I'm done eating, I'm leaving on the supply run."
Frowning and again exchanging looks with Dar, Pina is not helping my temper any better than her mate. "Don't you want to wait for Tommy to get up? We figured he'd probably want to go with you since he was so interested the last time Dar went."
"We sort of assumed you'd want to give him a chance to get out for a while. After all he has been mostly cooped up with you and Pina having been gone. Hell knows I wasn't venturing out into the woods and there really isn't anywhere else to take him on this planet." And this is my problem how?
"The human is your responsibility until I get back."
"The human?" Pina echoes. Has she gone deaf?
"You heard me."
I see the pair exchange looks for a third time but at least this time wisely say nothing. I finish the plate of food before me and snatch up the list beside me and head for the hangar. It's not long before I'm on my way. Once out of the atmosphere, I set the autopilot and my thoughts return to my disagreement with Thomas. Where would he have gotten the idea that he's - in his words - a lousy lay? I'd swear by my own life that I've never said or done anything that would make him think so.
Therefore, he got the idea somewhere else. But where? Obviously, Goldar and Scorpina wouldn't have any idea. What if it was somehow connected to his question about being clingy? That would certainly point to a prior mate as I know I've never used such a word nor have we discussed at any point the cuddling and snuggling that we often do after mating. Hm, I may have been too hasty in assuming that his questions had something to do with me. Although, once more, it irritates me how much his prior partners have damaged his self-esteem.
I take a deep breath, willing myself to calm sufficiently to think through this rationally. Before I get there, I recall Jason telling Thomas not to let his past relationships dictate ours. While I think that he is trying to keep them separate, they do color how he manages our relationship. He mentioned comparing me to his former girlfriends and I won every time, which I think is a large part of why he decided to even try with me instead of ending things after the whole evil episode.
I can't help the small spike of jealousy as I wonder how many girlfriends he's had and why all the relationships ended. He mentioned once before that he's never been the one to end things. He even suggested that there might be something about him that didn't meet their needs. I shake my head as I cannot imagine anyone thinking that Thomas wouldn't be worth hanging on to. I recall that he also suggested the idea that they didn't work out because we were meant to be together. From my own point of view, as much as it hurt when I lost Annwyl, losing Thomas - is unthinkable, unsurvivable in a way that has nothing to do with the bond.
The couple of hours of travel pass by quickly as my thoughts are filled with my mate as well as how to address my temper driven behavior when I return. Once I arrive on the planet, I stow my staff safely in its secret compartment. It's pointless to carry it here as the locals all know what I can do and therefore not to mess with me. Plus I can summon it from there if I were to actually need it.
I swiftly get the shopping done, ordering what they don't have readily available. Normally, I'd do the shopping and then get a drink - or two - or six - at the bar before returning home, but this time I need to get back to patch things up with my mate. I start loading the supplies as speedily as I can. I've just set the last package on board and stepped out to check one last time to make sure that I haven't missed anything when there's a movement behind me, a sharp pain in my head and everything goes black.
