I’m with child.
If I didn’t already want to get back to the tribe, I want to sprint there now—even in spite of the ever-present gloom for Haime shadowing over my heart.
But something is wrong with my mate, and I can’t shake my worry.
“Drazak,” I say softly, reaching out to take his hand. His fingers tangle with mine.
He stops and tilts his face up. “I smell it.”
I look at him, confused. “Smell what?”
“The ocean.”
He pulls me after him, rushing through the foliage. The run is a relief. Drazak is fast, and the effort distracts me from my concerns. We race, playful as children, and soon, the jungle opens up and long grasses take over the ground. Glimpses of turquoise blue appear between the last of the trees. When his feet strike the sand, his body under the direct rays of the sun, Drazak stops. Panting, I gaze at him. His eyes are wide.
His purple scales twinkle like the rarest jewels.
“Beautiful,” he whispers, glancing at me after a long moment. “Beautiful like you. I forgot it.”
I blush from the compliment. No one has called me beautiful before. “You forgot the ocean?”
“Yes.” He hums. “A body of water envisioned in my mind is nothing compared to the real thing. I forgot its color, its song, its vastness. I remember soaring over it until there was no land in sight.”
I round my arms around his middle and embrace him. Pressing my face to his back, I wrench my eyes closed. His words sadden me.
“What is wrong, Milaye?” he asks.
“We can take our time. We can take all the time you need,” I say.
His arm rounds over mine. “I do not understand?”
“I know there’s something wrong. I can feel it.” I nuzzle his back. “I shouldn’t have pushed you so soon. Not only have you just transformed, but you recently recovered from a sickness I can’t comprehend. You may still be recovering.”
He turns in my hold and catches my eyes. “I still do not understand. You have not pushed me. I am well now. The poison and its effects are gone… Any time I need now is for selfish reasons. This time, any time with you, it is everything to me.”
I lick my lips. “Then why are you unhappy?”
His gaze goes distant, his lips flatten. But it’s fleeting, and the Drazak I know is staring back at me soon after. He drops his stick and cups my cheeks. “Unhappiness is not what plagues me. Nor is it poison.”
“Then what is?”
“I believe… it ischange.”
My brow furrows but my confusion doesn’t last long. He continues.
“Change from what I was to what I am now, from what I believed was my fate, to what possibilities exist now. Everything has changed, and those changes have been good, but…”
“But?”
“But I do not wantthisto change,usto change.”
My chest squeezes. “It won’t—I won’t let it. I like this and what we are.”
“Though you wish to go back to your tribe? Where there are others?”
“The others will not bother us. They will help us, protect us,” I tell him. “That’s what tribes do—what a family does.”
“I do not need help,” he grunts, straightening. “I will protect us.”
