“What do you mean, it’s too late? Did the Zarpazian come for you?” The question nearly choked me. Willa snagged a cup of water from the bedside table and insisted I take a sip.
“He tried,” she said, holding the cup against my lips.
“What happened?” I waved the cup away, despite how refreshing the liquid felt against my parched tongue. Information was more important. “Did Adtovar defeat him?” I asked, even though it made my heart heavy, feeling shame for my earlier aggravation at the elder warrior. Adtovar had saved my mate, most likely at the cost of his own life.
Yet the expression on Willa’s face held no grief. The grin she wore while sheepish, held pride.
“No. I did.”
“What?” I blinked at her with equal parts terror and relief.
It was an effort, but I lifted my hands, running them over her body to make sure she was well. I suffered a sudden flash of horror that perhaps the Zarpazian had gotten to my mate and assumed her form. An idea that vanished when I cupped Willa’s face in my hands, her blue eyes meeting mine. I knew in my very bones... this was my mate.
Willa sighed and pressed her lips to mine for a moment before continuing her story. “He came into our room pretending to be you, but I knew. I knew it wasn’t you.”
“I’ve always heard that Zarpazians look exactly like the being they copy.” Something strange and warm bloomed in my chest.
“Oh, he looked just like you,” Willa admitted with a grin. “But there were tells.”
“Tells?”
Her smile deepened. “The main thing was the way he spoke. He didn’t speak English like you. But it was more than that. He didn’t look at me the way you look at me or say the same things.” She sighed and kissed me again. “It just didn’t feel like you. I pretended to be fooled, then when he was about to touch me, I grabbed the knife Adtovar left on the table and stabbed him.”
“My courageous little warrior.” I stroked her cheeks with my fingertips while sending up a silent prayer of gratitude to the Goddess for keeping her safe.
Willa’s smile faded, her expression growing somber. “I thought he killed you.” A shimmer of wetness covered her eyes, tears hanging off her lashes like gemstones. “At least that’s what you and Adtovar said—that to feel the touch of a Zarpazian was to feel the touch of death.”
“It felt like death,” I admitted, lifting my arm and realizing with a start that the movement came easier. A white bandage covered my forearm just above my wrist. A smaller wound than I would have expected. “It felt like he sucked the very soul from my body.”
Willa laid her head on my shoulder, slipping her arms tightly around my neck. “He nearly did.” She sighed, and the unreleased sob made her voice wobble. “Please don’t do that to me again. I didn’t like it... not one bit. You scared me.”
“I’m sorry, my little warrior.” I brushed my lips along her hairline, letting my arms slip around her waist and cuddled her against me. “Are you okay? I know how it feels to take a life, even from one that deserves to die.”
Willa raised her head, gazing at me thoughtfully. “I’m okay.” She made a face as though pondering the idea for a moment, and then her expression relaxed. “I thought killing a sentient being might bother me more, but I’m strangely okay with it. He tried to kill both of us after all, and God knows who else he would have killed if Nansar’s plan worked.”
Goddess, this female was perfect.
“What did you do with the body?” I hated the idea of her dealing with it alone.
“Adtovar hid both Malakal and the Zarpazian in the tunnels.”
I relaxed further with the knowledge that our friend had escaped harm. “Good. The longer we can keep Nansar from realizing his assassin is dead, the better.”
“That’s what Adtovar said,” she grinned. “Great minds, huh?”
“What?”
“It’s an Earth saying… great minds think alike.”
“You think Adtovar has a great mind?” I teased, feigning disbelief.
Willa laughed, but only for a moment. Our eyes met, and something shifted in her expression. She burst into tears, burying her face against my shoulder.
“What’s the matter, my little warrior?” I ran my hand along her spine, heartened by the ease of the motion.
“I almost lost you.” She eked out amid sobs.
“I’m here,” I promised, stroking my fingertips through her hair, trying to remain consoling despite the sudden reemergence of feeling in my cock.
