“I will leave you to give you time to rest,” he said, turning his gaze away.
“Vaxa…” Kate said, her voice trailing off as he turned to the door.His pace was quick, urgent.He didn’t even stop to breathe until he had boarded his hovercraft and left their terrace.
With the wind at his back, he raced towards the training pits.He needed to focus his mind and punish his body before he could return to his mate.
* * *
Regret weighed Kat’s body down as she slipped into their bed.After the incident at the marketplace and the somewhat heated exchange with Vaxa, she felt drained.She’d looked forward to taking a little nap snuggled up to her warm mate, but now she faced the large bed alone.
She cursed herself for not stopping Vaxa.Now, he believed he’d hurt her, when in reality, he’d just accidentally touched the sensitive flesh where that man in the marketplacehadactually hurt her.
It had been on the tip of her tongue to just tell him.He had looked so…stricken.So pained.
Kate felt tears drip down her cheeks.What she wouldn’t give to be able to talk to her best friend, Beks, who was millions and millions and millions of miles away on Earth.Beks always had answers for any kind of predicament, especially when it came to men.
And she probably thinks that you’re buried in a ditch somewhere, she thought with a fresh wave of sadness.
Beks would’ve been the first one to realize that she’d been taken.The two had talked every day, had seen each other almost every day.They’d only just lived down the street from each other in Chicago.
She wondered if there was some possible way to send a message to her.In choosing Vaxa, in choosing to remain on Luxiria even though Vaxa’s spaceships could return her to Earth, she’d abandoned her best friend and left her wondering what the hell had happened.Guilt ate at her almost every day whenever she thought about it.
Miss you, Beks, Kate thought, hoping that somehow, some way, her friend would just instinctively know that she was alive and well.Kate had to believe that one day, they would see each other again.
Pressing her nose into the furs, she inhaled the comforting smell of her mate.She wished that they hadn’t argued.But she also wished that he would drop the whole ‘going to work’ thing.She didn’t like people telling her what to do.She never had.Her mate was no different, but unlike a lot of people, she cared about his opinions, about what he thought about her.
Kate was so used to her independence, so used to being single, that she’d forgotten what it felt like to be cared for, to be protected.Eventually, she knew that working might be out of the question, especially if the baby was going to be as big as Privanax believed, but for now, she enjoyed it.Vaxa would understand.They’d just both been a little on edge since the marketplace.She’d talk to him about it in the morning.
Kate just wished they hadn’t left things the way they did.
* * *
It was night time when she woke next, surprisingly enough.And she woke when Vaxa slid into their bed.He was nude, his hair wet from the bath.
Kate remained still, coming out from the heavy, disorienting daze of sleep.So, she was confused when he didn’t immediately pull her close, wrapping her in his arms, like how they usually slept.He stayed on his side of the bed, close to the edge, lying on his back.
Kate frowned.
“Vaxa?” she whispered, reaching out her hand to touch his bare forearm.
He touched her hand.“Sleep,luxiva,” he murmured.But he didn’t roll over to embrace her.The wrongness of it struck her.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, sitting up, the furs pooling around her larger belly.She peered through the darkness at his face.He didn’t look like he was injured even though she could see fresh cuts and bruises that would be gone by morning.Luxirians healed fast.
Vaxa blew out a breath.“It is nothing, Kat.Rest.”Still, he didn’t move to touch her.For the first time, she actively tried to reach out to their blood bond, to try to glean his emotions.But he must have felt her doing it, because he said sharply, “Nix.”
“Vaxa?” Kate asked, wide awake.She hated the way her throat burned.“Why are you being like this?What’s wrong?”
She remembered their argument from earlier, how upset he had been when he’d left, but nothing that would warrantthis.
She scooted towards him until her hip pressed against the side of his chest.“Please tell me.”
“Kat, I just want to rest,” he snapped.
She sat still for a brief moment.Hurt and the feeling of rejection made her eyes burn.
Still, she whispered, “Is it something I—”
“Kat,” he growled, “For once, just obey me.”
