Page 70 of Vexing Valmir

"It's my refuge. It's made from the land with warmth in your hearts." April's hands go over her heart. "I adore it and it's perfect to me."

Take that, Jason. I put an arm around my mate's shoulders, full of pride. "I'm glad you like it."

"You guys did an amazing job. Thank you, everyone." Her gaze goes to me, warm and full of love. "Thank you, pussycat."

"I'm your mate," I tell her, gruff but pleased. "It's what I do." But her happiness warms my spirit.

That spirit warmth continues as April blows on a large shell she calls aputo call everyone's attention. It's to alert the spirits as well as the living that a ceremony is about to happen.Next, she hands out the leis she has made, looping one over the neck of each person who helped work on our hut. She puts one over my neck, then hands me the second-to-last one so I can drape it over hers. Hers is more of a vine than a loop, open at the bottom like the ones she's handed the males, because she's pregnant and a closed lei is bad luck. After that, she takes a small bowl of salt and breathes on it, adding a bit of water from the ocean. She sprinkles the concoction over the doorstep and goes inside the hut, covering every nook and cranny. As she does, she thanks the land and the sea for providing for us. With the very last lei that I've been holding for her, she takes it and drapes it over the doorway, as a promise to care for the home. She asks the ancestors of this land to look over us and to watch out for all the families that live here, and promises to honor and respect the world around us.

"I'd like to perform a dance of my people called ahula," she says, pulling off her boots. She told me that it is a dance that must be performed barefoot, so she can be connected to nature. I set her boots aside for her, even though I know her toes must be cold. I will warm them for her later, I decide.

April dons a skirt of dried seaweed that she has made and encircles her waist over her clothing. She stands in front of us, and U'dron begins to drum nearby. I wanted to drum for her, but April insisted that U'dron do it since he's the best drummer. She does not want to offend any spirits that might be listening.

Then she begins to dance.

I have seen U'dron's mate dancing before, and some of the other females, but this is very different. April's face is serious as she chants, moving her arms and feet in fluid motions. Her hands ripple to mimic the waves, and her footsteps are measured and precise. I do not know the words to the song nor the motions to the dance, but the meaning is obvious to me. She tells the land that she respects it, she tells the spirits that she islistening, and she asks them to bless our home and our future. The beat on the drum is steady and solemn, and it is April's voice that provides the music. She sings a story, her hips swaying the grass skirt as she moves, her arms sinuous and beckoning, and her face is alight with happiness.

When she finishes singing, her smile is radiant and tears roll down her face. I know in this moment she feels connected to her people, even though she is a universe apart from them, and it makes me ache with joy for her.

"Do we clap?" Jason whispers.

"You'd better keffing clap for my mate," I growl at him.

There is a scatter of applause, and April beams at all of us, wiping happy tears from her face. "I don't know if all of that was right, but I have a good feeling. It felt like I was honoring mykuleana."

I know that word from her using it. It means she feels a moral responsibility to the land and to live in the way of her people. "I think it was perfect." I shoot a few looks at the others, as if daring them to say anything about it. No one does, and I turn to my mate. "What's next?"

She shrugs, eyeing the entrance flap that has been pinned back. "We go inside?"

I pull Makana out of the pouch on my chest and let the creature waddle into the hut first. Jason told me that there is a human custom where males carry their mates over the threshold and I want to do that for April. I scoop her up in my arms. She flings her limbs around me with a panicked squeak. "I'm carrying you over the threshold, woman," I tell her. "Calm down."

She clings to my neck, her arms chokingly tight. "Warn me next time!"

"Is there a next time for such things?" I ask, setting her down as she squirms.

"I guess not." She takes a step back from me and clasps her hands under her chin, gazing at the interior of the hut with shiny eyes.

From outside the hut, Jason calls out. "We're going to take off and grab something to eat. Catch up when you can, Valmir."

"Heard." I don't take my eyes off my mate, though. I'm not leaving her side. This moment is hers, and I want to drink in her reaction. She's beautiful, her eyes shiny with happy tears. She gazes up at the ceiling of the hut, where the two of us worked on stitching waterproofed skins together for days before the walls even went up. April sewed our initials into some of the stitching, to further brand this as "ours," and when I look up, I can see those symbols near the smoke hole.

April lowers her gaze and turns slowly, admiring all of the hut. "This is incredible, Valmir."

"It's just a hut," I say with false modesty. I'm loving her reaction.

"But it's our hut. This is where we're going to live, with our Makana and our baby." She moves toward me and puts her arms around my waist. "And it makes me so happy, too. Thank you."

As if I wouldn't make her a home? I've been dying to ever since we resonated. I cup her face in my hands and kiss her soft, hungry mouth.

She lifts her lips from mine and gives me a sly smile. "Did you mark the doorway?"

"Not yet. I'll do that after dark, when no one's watching."

April wiggles her brows. "I wanna watch."

"Better yet, I'll let you help."

"You're right, that is better." She kisses me again, and the scent of crushed vines from the leis around our necks mingles with the scent of my mate. "Thank you again. For not thinking I'm weird for wanting to bless the hut before we move in."

"Why would I judge you for that? It's part of who you are. It makes me proud to see you follow your heart."

She beams at me and smacks my ass with a sharp slap in the way she knows I love. "Wanna bless the bedding?"

"It makes sense to bless everything in the hut," I tell her, trying not to grin. "Make sure we cover all angles. Wouldn't want to offend the ancestors."

"I'll get the door," April says. "You unroll the bedding."

I like to think the ancestors would be thrilled at our enthusiasm as we bless the floor, the bedding, the firepit, the door frame, and then the bedding once more. I'm sure they approve. How can they not? I am a male in love with my beautiful, clever mate in the home that we've made for ourselves.

How could they be anything but overjoyed?