His mouth opened, then paused, clearing his throat. “How did you mean?”
“Like this.” I started to dry him again. “I need to take care of you.”
“Fine.”
Grinning, I dried him off, but I kept my pressure soft so as not to cause him pain. Bartholomew was covered in bruises. They had turned a sickly yellow in places, but my mate had assured me he was fine, and I’d chosen to believe him.
When I moved behind Teddy, his breath sharpened and his head bowed. Taking advantage of the bare skin, I bit the back of his neck, and he gasped. I bathed the same spot in case it had hurt, and Bartholomew groaned low in his throat.
“Flower, you need to change. I don’t mind assisting you.”
Bartholomew leveled me a glare, which made me smile, and he stepped away. He stripped right in front of me, taking the wet undershorts off without hesitation. My soul pounded in need at the sight of him completely bare. He yanked on a dry pair of undershorts, pulling them over his flat butt.
“Change, Mindy, and stop staring at my ass.”
“Hard to do, but as you wish.” I removed my wet undershorts and tugged on dry clothes.
“Let me,” Bartholomew said, turning my back toward him. His fingers slid through my wet hair, making me groan loudly, and he started to braid it. “I like taking care of you too.”
“That’s because you fit.”
He chuckled. “Explain this ‘fitting.’”
I frowned. “You fit.” How else was there to phrase it? “When I hold you or we spend time together, you fit.”
“I guess I do.”
“You do,” I assured him. He was my mate; of course he fit.
Once we were dressed, I started toward the shuttle, keeping my eyes on the surroundings for the other alien. I refused to let the threat of them steal any enjoyment of time with my mate, but I’d never risk Bartholomew. Not ever.
The jungle was silent, and we made it out of the tree line without incident. I tucked the blanket around my mate, brushing the skin of his neck. Bartholomew shivered, and I grinned.
“Come on, Flower. I want to take a nap with you.”
He let out a long breath, but he didn’t fight my hold.
We trudged across the snow to the cliff. The nests appeared empty, but I hadn’t investigated them. My mate had stopped me the first time I’d tried. In retrospect, I agreed that poking around nests that might have sleeping creatures was probably not wise. Nonetheless, I kept watch on them, but truthfully, I wasn’t concerned.
Leaning over, I nuzzled my mate and took a deep inhale of his earthy perfume. Stars, he was certainly my flower. I kissed him, and Bartholomew squirmed. I chuckled, straightening, and continued to the shuttle. A nap curled around my mate sounded extremely nice.
Bartholomew came to an abrupt stop.
“Flower?”
He pointed, and my gaze traveled in the direction he indicated. A creature lay in the snow—not moving. It wasn’t large enough to cause concern; not to mention there was a good chance that whatever it was, it was dead. But my mate was stricken and trembling.
“I’ll check.” I motioned for him to remain where he was. My mate had enough things troubling him that he didn’t need anything else to clutter his thoughts. Carefully, I stepped closer to the blob, patting the blaster on my hip. The animal was covered in white fur, and had six long legs like the crustacean creatures from the river, but this one did not have a rock shell. It was soft and pudgy with floppy ears. It had a curly tail that wiggled and a snout that snorted at my approach.
When I crouched in front of the creature, its beady red eyes opened and it let out a pitiful whine. One of its legs was broken, pointing in the wrong direction.
“Poor thing,” I muttered. I would need to end its suffering. Normally, I’d bundle the creature and take it to the closestmedbay, but we didn’t have that here, and I refused to allow it to suffer.
Someone grabbed my forearm, and I looked at Bartholomew, who stared at the small creature. “It’s hurt,” he said.
“Yes.”
“Can we help it?” he asked, expression expectant.
