Ka'Cit's Haven (Riv’s Sanctuary #3)

She’d given him the name because he seemed all-wise, all-knowing.

As a matter of fact, she’d named almost all the animals on the Sanctuary. She’d certainly had the time to do so.

The others didn’t understand or could even keep track of the names, so she was the only one that used them.

Riv, for example, frowned at her whenever she called the animals by their names; he looked at her as if she was crazy and taking up his space…but then again, he looked at everyone like that. He didn’t understand why she named most of them…probably Lauren and Cleo didn’t understand either.

Don’t get her wrong, she was truly grateful for the fact Riv had taken her in. She shuddered to think what would have happened to her otherwise. But life wasn’t easy…and it wasn’t easy in one of the most superficial of ways—so superficial, she hated admitting it.

She was lonely.

There. She’d said it.

God, it felt horrible even thinking that.

She felt stupid and ungrateful. But the truth was, the feeling started small until it developed into something she was having a hard time controlling.

It was the sort of loneliness that came even when you were in a crowd, surrounded by people.

And what was surprising was that it came from a part of her life that she’d least expected.

She’d always been comfortable being on her own.

She’d never depended on anyone. Never expected anything from anyone.

So, this emptiness within her that was rooted so deep was one she didn’t quite know how to approach.

Morpheus blinked at her.

“No, Morpheus. I’m not talking about sex. It’s not sex that I want.”

She looked away.

It wasn’t about sex. If that was the case, she had her fingers and a wicked hot tub in the bathroom with super jets she could make use of.

It was more than that.

It had been well over a year and a half since she’d left Earth, and in all that time, she’d been mostly alone. Back in California, she hadn’t had time to think about relationships.

She’d always kept busy. Between working part-time at the clinic and helping her dad run his program for disadvantaged children, she hadn’t had much time to think about her romantic future.

On her off days, she’d be at the shooting range hitting targets for most of the time or playing Call of Duty.

Social relationships had never been her thing.

Not that it mattered now. None of the friends she’d have made on Earth would be able to keep her company now anyway, but she guessed seeing Lauren and Cleo so happy with their mates didn’t help either.

Their relationship was so close that she couldn’t help feeling left out sometimes, even when they tried their best to include her.

Third-wheeling was her life now.

Damn.

She couldn’t go down this rabbit hole. Not this morning.

Cleo sighed and entered Morpheus’ enclosure. The other tilgrans ignored her, but Morpheus dipped his head and chewed her afro a little.

“Morpheus! Stop! Down boy. I told you my hair isn’t food. You know that.”