“He will when he wakes.”
He’s not awake? How badly is he hurt? I’m almost too scared to ask. “How can you be sure? He may think human women are too much trouble.”
Sunif laughs. “His last thoughts were of you, and how much he loves you.”
His last thoughts? He’s unconscious? I need to be prepared before we reach the hospital, and every step is taking me closer. “How badly is he injured?”
“If we were on our own, I do not think he’d make it. The stab wounds were too deep.”
“Stab wounds? Won’t that giveaway that he was attacked?”
“You didn’t see the beast we were hunting.” There is a measure of pride in his voice.
“Was the hunt successful?”
Sunif nods. “And we learned about the beasts and the creature that hunts them.”
My eyes widen at the mention of something else hunting the same animals they were hunting. Every time he opens his mouth, this whole thing gets worse. “Is there anything else you need to tell me?”
Or is he giving me bite-sized pieces in case I freak out?
He is silent for several paces, and the hospital building looms closer. My stomach is winding in tighter and tighter knots. “Sunif?”
There is more bad news.
“One of his kam was broken during the stampede. We will not know if it works until he wakes up. If he cannot make a charge, he may not be able to hunt again.”
“He doesn’t need to hunt.” Though if he needs meat to survive the way they say they do, then he will need to ask his friends to hunt for him.
Sunif places his hand on my arm. “He may not need to hunt, but he will see himself as an unsuitable mate, as he cannot provide for you or defend you.”
“He doesn’t need to.”
“I am preparing you for what you will see and what he might say. It would be different if you were already mates.”
“Because I wouldn’t be able to leave him?”
“Because you might, and he might prefer that outcome.”
I stare at him for several heartbeats as my brain struggles to process what he means. A Honey warrior without a mate will suffer and most likely die. If we were mates and he was badly injured and I left him, he would die.
I shake my head. Yva won’t want to die. He’s too full of life. “He’ll be fine. The doctors will stitch him up.”
“Not all wounds can be stitched.” Sunif holds the door open for me and I step into the cool, bright interior of the hospital.
The nurse sees Sunif and knows why we’re here without us speaking. She ushers us toward Yva’s room.
The hospital isn’t very big, one surgery, one room for scans, another for the treatment of minor injuries, and a few rooms for those who need to be monitored. Most of the time, according to Grace, it’s minor injuries like cuts and breaks that they are treating.
The nurse stops outside the door. “It’s meant to be one at a time.”
“You go in,” Sunif says.
I’m not sure I want to go in on my own, but the nurse opens the door for me, and I don’t have a choice. If I choose to run now, then this is over, as Sunif will tell Yva when he wakes.
I don’t want it to be over. I want Yva.
I decided that this morning, and for me that hasn’t changed.
