“You’re all I want. And need.”
When my eyes close, she strokes my horn. “I will make any sacrifice to be with you, Kobrik. But you have to pull through, okay? Promise me.”
My lips curve into a grin. “Zyanthan warriors do not give up, sholani. Especially when they have a heartmate to live for.”
Her head rests against mine. “Then, live for me.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
KENZIE
Two weeks since Kobrik was nearly killed, Gansig, the medic in charge of medical matters at the Zyanthan Embassy, finally cleared Kobrik to move into his own quarters. As his sholani, I’m allowed to stay with him.
The embassy liaison assigned us a huge suite with everything we need except food. But there’s a computer console I use to communicate with the kitchen staff and Gansig if Kobrik needs medical assistance.
I haven’t left Kobrik alone, except to shower and use the bathroom. He’s been sleeping a lot but healing quickly. I still can’t believe this handsome male is mine and that I ever hesitated in going with him to his world. All those excuses before, all my fears and worries, can’t compete with the fear of losing him.
I leave the ensuite bathroom as quietly as I can so as not to wake him. After knotting my towel around me, I lean over him to snag the clothing I left on the bed. Without warning, Kobrik lifts me and swings me to sit on his lap.
“Put me down before you hurt yourself!”
“Drekk, Kenzie, we’ve been through this. You’re as light as a feather.”
Normally, I’d swoon hearing that, but not when he’s still healing. “If you pop your stitches, Gansig will be on my ass about how I’m unfit to be your nurse.”
“I don’t have stitches.”
“Stitches, glue, or whatever technology he used to knit your skin back together is not the point. You were shot in the chest. That’s not a simple injury. And you had a belly wound.”
“I feel fine.”
In a maneuver I don’t see coming, he tears the blanket away and flips me under him.
“Nearly peak condition,” he adds.
“You’re certainly energetic.”
“I’m recovered enough to take you.” Elbows on either side of me, he leans down to kiss me while he grinds his hips against mine. “I’m hard for you, sholani.”
Yes, he is. Very hard indeed.
“You’re supposed to be resting, not fucking.”
“Fucking’s more fun. I’ve waited weeks to claim you.”
“Are you sure about this?” I ask.
He draws back slightly. “Are you unsure about me?”
I grab his horns and pull him down on me. “When I heard what happened to you, I wanted to climb into my bed, hide under the covers, and pretend I was having a bad dream.” My hands slide up and down his horns, his face, his chest and arms because I still worry I’m dreaming, that he’s not really here.
“I couldn’t walk away from you, even if I’d wanted to. I had to do any and everything possible to make sure you survived. The alternative—you dying, Kobrik—” I swallow hard because it’s still too raw, too recent, to talk about.
His hand caresses my face. “I will not die and leave you, my sholani. I have too much to look forward to. Loving you, watching your belly swell with our younglings, raising them, growing old with you, and everything in between. I wish to hold your hand as we explore your world. And to dip my toes in the Pacific Ocean and look for something called a shark to see if it truly has more teeth than a kuvak as Zirkov claims.”
“That’s the warrior who came for me when you got shot.”
“I commed him when I knew I was in trouble. Zirkov is a fellow warrior and a male I trust to watch over you if anything happened to me.”
