Hrad leaves as I enter. Like Sunif, his clothes are ripped and smeared with blood. Hrad nods at me and closes the door, leaving me in the very pristine gray room. I take a few seconds before I look at him. I keep hoping that it’s not Yva in the bed, but his friends, his brothers, wouldn’t make that mistake.
My gaze finally settles on the man in the bed. He’s breathing on his own, and there’s a bandage on his head, no doubt to protect or hold his damaged kam together. The human doctors probably didn’t know what to do. But they would’ve stitched the stab wounds, and other cuts, and set any broken bones.
Yva takes up all the bed. It’s barely tall enough or wide enough for him. I keep expecting him to open his eyes and laugh as though this was a bad joke.
But he doesn’t move.
I drift closer, not sure what I’m supposed to do, even though Sunif thought I needed to be here. Whatever Yva has been telling them about me must only be positive. He must be convinced that I will take the leap and become his mate.
How is he so fearless when it is he who will suffer the consequences if the mating doesn’t work out? But it’s that same fearlessness and lust for life, for adventure and experiences, both good and bad, that attracted me. I didn’t even realize I was attracted to him at first.
I sit on the chair Hrad vacated. “Hey.” My mouth dries, so I place my hand over his. My fingers trace the dark markings onhis arm the way they have done so many times as we lay in bed and talked. They help direct the charge from kam to fingers, or sword.
“I guess you know they caught some animals…why did you have to get hurt?” I bite my lip. It’s not as though he wanted to be injured. No, he was attacked and the man who stabbed him is dead. Was Brett behind it? I never thought him capable of violence, only arrogance.
I shake my head, trying to force away the angry tears.
“You’d better wake up because I can’t choose you to be my mate if you don’t.” I don’t know if he can hear me. Doctors think humans are aware when unconscious, so there’s no reason to believe the Honey are any different. I watch as my finger traces the marking that tells which tribe he is from, and that he is the son of a chief.
When touching him we can talk without words, something to do with his kam. Can he hear my thoughts even now? Or will his damaged kam prevent that?
“Sunif warned me you may not want a mate now. Well, you get that option. Not now. You chose me, you lured me into your bed and this morning I went back to tell you how I felt, but you were already gone. Now you need to wake up so I can choose you and make this thing official. I don’t care if your kam is broken and you never hunt again. But I am going to be very pissed off if you don’t wake up.” I’m not sure if this is a motivational talk, or if I’m talking through my own turmoil. Maybe it doesn’t matter. “You don’t get to leave me like this. We are supposed to have a chance at being happy, like in the fairy tales.”
I lean in close so I can whisper in his ear. “You don’t want to die before you taste your princess’s pussy.”
Okay, that is the wrong thing to say to an unconscious man, but the number of times he’s buried his face between my thighs like he wants to rip off my pants and claim me…even though itgoes against his culture’s rules… I hope it will give him a reason to live.
“If you wake up, I’ll…I’ll climb on the bed and sit on your face to claim you.” I draw in a breath, as if I’ve somehow spoken the magic words to make him wake.
He doesn’t stir.
Shit.
“Please don’t leave me, Yva. I love you, and I want you.” Tears break free and roll down my cheeks. I rest my head on his shoulder. “Please wake up.”
By the time my tears run dry, he hasn’t even twitched. I don’t want him to be alone all night. What if he wakes up and doesn’t know where he is?
I press a kiss to his lips, then leave him to ask the nurse if I can stay.
When I step out, Tiril and Edilk are waiting. They are dressed in colony clothes, but they are bearing the scratches and bruises of the hunt.
“If that was a successful hunt, I don’t want to see the results of a bad one,” I snap.
Edilk inclines his head. “A bad one ends with no food.”
I snort.
“We will stay with him overnight. It has been cleared by the doctors.” His lips twist. “They do not want him to wake and panic.”
“That’s what I was worried about. I can stay.” But I’m glad his brothers are thinking of him and want to make sure he is safe.
Edilk shakes his head. “You don’t have the strength to restrain him if needed. If he wakes, you will be called.” He nods at the nurse waiting not far away.
He’s right, but that doesn’t make this any easier. “Will he wake?”
Tiril nods. “I believe so. There is a charge running through his body and brain. The doctors said that while he lost a lot of blood, there is no major damage. He said it’s shock from blood loss and kam damage.”
“Not internal damage from being trampled?”
