Her heart softened.She knew that Luxirians—or at least most Luxirians, thinking about the male at the marketplace yesterday—thought that harming females was the worst possible crime a male could commit.Was this the root of it all?Was he so disgusted with himself last night that he’d pushed her away?
She huffed out a breath and then debated on what to say.Kate didn’t want to tell him about what happened yesterday in the market.It would only pile on more stress than what he was already dealing with and she knew that it would infuriate him.He would somehow blame himself for what happened, which would be ridiculous.
But he’s already blaming himself, she reasoned.And her very astute mate wouldn’t believe that she’d hurt her wrist at work.The bruise wrapped all the way around; it wasn’t just isolated to one spot.
The water trickled as she lifted her left wrist from the water and displayed it for him to see.His eyes never left hers, but he gave her wrist a side-glance…before he did a double take.
“Kat…” he breathed, his body stiffening so abruptly that a water ripple stretched outwards in the bath.
“You didn’t do this,” she told him, emphasizing her words, before he could say anything else.“When you reached for my wrist yesterday…I reacted that way because I wasalreadyhurt.It wasn’t your doing, Vaxa.I know that you would never hurt me.Not in this way.”
Vaxa shook his head.He glanced at the bruise and winced, as if it was the worst thing he’d ever seen, as if his own body wasn’t completely covered in cuts and claw marks.“I do not understand.”
Kate took a deep breath, hoping that she could control his reaction.“Yesterday…in the marketplace…”
“What is it,luxiva?” he asked when she stopped.
“There was this male.And he came up to me in the crowd when I was following behind Keriva,” she started.“He…he grabbed me, Vaxa.Pretty hard, enough for me to bruise like this.He called me a—a human whore.”
Vaxa was staring at her and she could tell that he was trying to process what she was telling him.And when he finally did, the fury flowed from him in waves, but she knew it wasn’t directed at her.At least, not all of it.
“Who?” he asked, his tone deceptively quiet.
“Vaxa,” she murmured, “Please, I—”
“Who?”
“I don’t know,” she murmured.“It happened so fast and there were so many people.He…it was possible he was a warrior.He had the build and I—I think he had some scars.”
“What else?”
His tone was scaring her.She’d seen her mate kill another alien when he’d first ‘won’ her, she’d seen him train in the fighting pits on Luxiria, so she knew what he was capable of.But she’d never seen him this singularly focused on one thing with so much rage.
“I don’t remember much else,” she whispered.He’d had dark hair and black, curled horns, but so did virtually every Luxirian on the planet.If she saw him again, she thought she might recognize him.
Through the water, she could see the way Vaxa’s hands fisted.He brought them up, raking them through his hair, accidentally scratching his wrists on his horns.He didn’t seem to notice.
When he spoke, his voice was just on the cusp of being a full-on growl.“A maledaredto touch myluxiva.A warrior!”He gave an anguished roar to the ceiling of the washroom and he stumbled back in the bath, putting space between them.
Kate’s heartbeat throbbed in her throat.“Vaxa, please…calm down.”
His eyes fastened on her and then held.His shoulder muscles rippled and he seemed to grow in size.“Why did you keep this from me?”
The pain in his voice grated at her, shredding her from the inside out.Her stomach cramped.
“Because I knew you’d react like this,” she said softly, reaching her hand out to touch him.He jerked away from her, pressing his palms to his eyes.
“You lied to me,” he finally said, his voice even.His face was like stone when he looked up at her.
“I didn’t lie to you,” she said, frowning, feeling a sharp rise of anger and frustration in her breast.It didn’t help that the two of them had tempers, especially when they were in the middle of a fight.“I just didn’t tell you.”
“It is the same!”
She sucked in a breath.“Youwant to talk to me about lying?Way to call the kettle black!”
He scowled.“What is this?”
“If I lied to you, then you’ve been lying to me.Possibly forweeks.So don’t you dare try and turn this around on me!”
