He nodded, his face taking on a pained expression at my words. “Almost.”
“How? I don’t know how I got here.” All I remembered was going flying. I needed to get away from… Emmen. Or at least the idea of him.
“You accidentally flew into a mountain?” It came out as almost a question. The mountain part would be fact, which meant he was questioning the accidentally part.
“I didn’t do it on purpose,” I assured him. “I was distracted by…”
“By what?”
The one question I didn’t want to answer. He already looked so worried. The last thing I wanted to do was add a layer of guilt to that.
I licked my lips. They were dry and cracked, like perhaps they had to put one of those breathing things on me.
Emmen lifted a cup of water toward me, and I took a sip from the straw. It hurt going down, like I was swallowing glass, but I couldn’t stop. My mouth was so dry.
“Not too much, you need to take it easy.” He took the cup away after I had a few swallows. “What distracted you?”
He wasn’t letting it go and that was probably for the best. Starting off with secrets sounded like the worst way to go.
“You went on a date. You’re dating someone.” I attempted to tuck my head and look away. If my body would just cooperate, Icould cover myself in the thin blanket and hide away. My limbs were still mostly immobile.
If Emmen had a person that he was interested in, then I didn’t stand a chance. Mates or not, there was nothing special about me. I was young, without a real future laid out. My accomplishments were nothing compared to his.
Emmen gripped my hand. “Sweetheart, what are you talking about? How did you know we were mates before today? I didn’t know. I’ve never seen you before now, yet it seems like you knew?”
I would blame the medicine and the fact that I was hooked up to too many machines to know better, but I was honest.
“I’ve known for months,” I said. I still couldn’t meet his gaze. “I saw you at an event at the academy. I was going to introduce myself, because you’re… you’re you. You’re amazing, and I’m a big fan. But then the wind shifted and I caught your scent, and I panicked.”
“You didn’t tell me?”
I shook my head. “You deserve so much more than me, Emmen.” My voice cracked. I blamed my dry throat. “You are… so incredible, and I’m just… not.”
He sighed and kissed my knuckles. “We will have a talk about that later. I’m just glad you’re alive.”
I tugged my hand, but I was too weak to actually get loose of his hold. I wasn’t sure I pulled hard enough for him to notice, but that was fine. I didn’t really want to lose his touch. If anything, I wanted more of it.
“If you’re dating—”
“I’m not,” he said, his voice commanding. “I went on a date with someone. Even if I was dating someone regularly, you and I are mates. There is nothing and no one that can come above that.”
I still hadn’t heard from my dragon, but he was there in the background, allowing himself to heal the way I needed to allow myself to. And while I hadn’t spoken to my family, their scents filled the room, even with all the chemically scents that were in my hospital room.
There was so much to say to all of them, but that would have to wait. My body had used up all the energy it’d managed to rally when we sensed our mate, and now, all of it was depleted and I was being pulled back to sleep.
Chapter 6
Emmen
Seeing Rhythe broken and battered on the hospital bed was a kind of torture I never wanted to experience again. It was all I could do to hold it together when he first opened his eyes and spoke. His voice was broken, his eyes glassy, his skin a tint of yellow that looked more like something out of a sci-fi film than reality. Holding back the tears that were begging to be set free took so much out of me.
Especially when he told me he was my mate and that he’d known for months. I couldn’t begin to fathom how difficult that must’vebeen for him, knowing I existed and keeping himself away. And then hearing I had a date… that had to have broken his heart into a thousand pieces.
Accepting a date wasn’t something I’d been thrilled about doing. It surely wasn’t something I was excited about. And hearing my mate talk about it, trying to disguise his hurt while at the same time giving me the freedom to stay on my current path if that was my desire—that nearly broke me.
We had a lot to talk about, and I had a ton to prove to him, but first he needed to heal. I doubt he understood just how close he came to death with his accident. If I had stopped for coffee along the way or taken my car… I couldn’t allow myself to go down that path.
I hadn’t wanted to leave the hospital with Rhythe still there. Going so far as the bathroom was challenging. Not only did I need to be by his side, I needed to hold his hand. I’d say that was me being selfish or needy, but it was more than that. As long as he was touching me, my mate was able to sleep peacefully, but if we lost our physical contact while he was sleeping, he became restless.
