“I’m not weak,” I said, shifting out of his lap.
Mindy reached for me, and I shoved him away.
“I’m not weak,” I repeated, my voice deepening. “I survived, damn you.”
“I don’t mean that.”
“It was not easy, but I fucking survived.” Tremors wracked me. Smoke and blood filled my nose. The sound of flesh smacking flesh as a crowd screamed resounded in my ears. The small cell. The burning hot incinerator. The sharp zap as Agk prodded me with his baton. I clutched the front of my shirt, unable to stop shaking.
“I survived,” I repeated. I had, right? A reptilian shriek ripped through my mind as Agk slammed the door of the incineratorclosed, locking it with a dull clang. “I survived,” I groaned, rocking. “I survived.”
Warmth enfolded me, but I was blind to my surroundings. All I saw was blood, fire, and pain. Warm lips brushed my ear, and I flinched.
“Bartholomew, I’m right here. You’re here. You’re safe.”
I shuddered.
He gathered me close until I was on his lap again. Serlotminden pressed his lips against my forehead, the metal of his piercing pressing into my skin. “I’m right here.”
I fisted the front of his shirt, breathing in his scent, and forced it out, “I am not weak.”
“I know, Bartholomew. I did not mean that.” He lifted my chin until our eyes met. “You are mine to take care of.”
I grunted, unable to form words.
He tucked me against him, tail coiled around my ankle.
I was straddling his thick thighs, and I didn’t care or even react. I was trying to hold it together, but I couldn’t. I shivered, memories flooding me. Serlotminden pressed his mouth against my temple and rocked me. I wrapped my arms around him, pressing closer, almost as if I was trying to claw my way inside of him.
“Can you tell me?” he asked.
“What?”
“Where did you go? What happened?”
“No.” I wasn’t ready to talk about it. At least not yet.
“If you ever do, I will listen. I’m not leaving you, Bartholomew. Not ever. You're safe.”
I didn’t respond, fingers digging into him to the point that it must be painful, but he didn’t say anything.
Chapter 18
Rocks are rocks, right?
“Are you sure about this?” I asked.
I didn’t know how much time had passed since we’d crash landed and Mindy had gotten hurt, but it hadn’t been that long. Thankfully, Mindy was doing much better than I would’ve been if I’d been stabbed in the gut. I’d have been down and out, but he moved around with ease and told me he felt almost normal. Drakcol had to heal faster than humans did.
Maybe it was all the running. We had beenplayingevery day. Mindy loved to chase and tackle me into the snow. I was getting faster and stronger. I was able to avoid him longer each time; the trick was changing directions quickly and taking advantage of when he got distracted, which happened often. Though nomatter what I did, I ended up in the snow with Serlotminden on top of me.
He would pin me, then growl against my throat. It had gotten harder and harder to not react. Mindy also seemed equally unwilling to move off me. He always pressed his mouth against my neck, keeping it there without using any pressure. Only when I shivered or he worried about me drinking water did he slide off me.
Mindy had been melting and boiling water for me easily enough as well. After his freak out about me being dehydrated—he’d seriously acted like I was about to die—he’d made sure I had plenty of water. Maybe his dramatic as fuck reaction had something to do with his own biology. Perhaps dehydration was more dangerous to drakcol. If it was, I needed to watch how much Serlotminden was drinking; he didn’t always take care of himself.
“I’ll be fine,” he said, tightening the blanket before checking the blaster he’d removed from the smaller crate in the cargo bay.
“We’ll be fine,” I corrected, and he frowned, tail writhing. He was welcome to try and leave me behind, but I’d follow him. If Mindy didn’t want me to go out by myself, then he wasn’t either. So if he planned to go, I was going with him.
