“I will stay here this night,” Privanax said, “in the next room.Alert me if you are worried about her condition or if she wakes.”
Vaxa’an nodded, fatigue weighing on him.He had hardly slept in the past few spans and he knew that he wouldn’t sleep much this night either.
“You have my eternal gratitude, Privanax,” he told him, holding the doctor’s eyes.
Privanax jerked his head in a nod.“It is an honor, Prime Leader.”
With that, he turned to leave, the door closing behind him.Vaxa’an turned to regard his mate, watching the way her chest fell in measured breaths, and the dark little hairs she’d called her eyelashes fanning over her cheeks.He leaned down, touching his forehead with hers.Her skin was cool to the touch, but he thought it may just be an effect of the large amount of blood he’d given her.Her lips were no longer the pale white they’d been when he’d first brought her there.They were flushed and he was glad to see their color.
He glanced between her legs and then rummaged around the room before he found a clean cloth.With a gentleness he didn’t know he possessed, he washed her body, erasing every evidence of blood, until she lay clean.Then he went about wiping himself off.
Privanax had pushed a small device into her body to monitor her womb and Vaxa’an was careful not to disturb it as he lifted her from the cold slab of the lab table and set her on the pillowed sleeping platform.Privanax had left a piling of furs at the foot and Vaxa’an drew them around her shoulders before slipping into them himself.
She didn’t wake.The sedative that Privanax had given her was strong, the effects of which wouldn’t wear off until the dawn.Vaxa’an had succumbed to its numbing embrace more than once when he’d returned to Luxiria, fresh from battle, with injuries that required invasive surgery.
He stroked her hair, pressing his flesh against hers, needing to feel her safe and alive.
He understood now why his sire had taken his own life, once his mate, Vaxa’an’s mother, had been killed by the Jetutian virus.He’d been presented with that possibility this night.If hisluxivapassed into the next life…Vaxa’an knew that he would follow her without hesitation.There was no other option, not now.
His fate was tied to hers, a truth that was both sobering and comforting…because he knew that he would never live another span without his mate by his side.
* * *
Kate woke from a strange dream, the memory of which was fleeting as she ventured further and further into the real world.She was groggy, her head muddled, and it felt like cotton was stuffing her ears.
When she realized where she was—the bright, blinding lights of the lab gave it away—she gasped, dread filling her, the memory of last night rushing back to her in one dizzying tidal wave.
Her hands flew to her stomach, feeling its roundness.A dull ache between her legs reminded her that last night hadn’t been some terrible nightmare, but very, very real.
“Calm down,luxiva,” Vaxa rasped next to her.She felt his hands touch hers on her stomach.When she turned her panicked gaze onto him, she noted that it looked like he hadn’t gotten much sleep.The bed they were on was small in comparison to the one they slept on at home.She was disoriented and confused and it felt like she was drugged.
“The baby,” she said.“What—”
“Our child lives,” Vaxa told her, trying to coax her back to lying down.Sweet relief swept through her at the words and she almost burst into tears.“Come,” he murmured, slowly lowering her back on the bed.“Rest, Kat.”
She did as she was told, reclining back.They were in the labs yet Privanax was no where in sight.Kate glanced at her mate, who was lying beside her in bed, although he’d propped himself up on his elbow to help her.
“What happened?” she whispered softly, racking her sluggish brain.She remembered the day before, she remembered cleaning the blood off Vaxa, she remembered—
Blood.There had been so much blood pouring from her.Red blood.Not blue.
She didn’t remember anything after that.
Vaxa leaned close and pressed his lips to her cheeks, nuzzling her face.Kate felt herself relax, responding to the comfort her mate was offering her.
“You were in pain,” he finally told her, his voice gruff, as if it painedhimjust talking about it.“You were bleeding out.Privanax worked on you, mending the bleeding inside.He saved you and the child.He injected a sedative and you have been resting for a full span now.Your body needed the rest.”
Her breath hitched.“A full day?What time is it?”
“The suns have long set.”
“You…you’ve been here this entire time?” she asked, eyeing him.He looked awful.At least as awful as she’d ever seen him look.His hair was mussed, his eyes unfocused, and he wore some strange robe that didn’t fit him properly.
“Where else would I be?” he asked, his voice quiet.“I would not leave you,luxiva.”
Her heart softened.
Vaxa squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, the lines of his face drawing tight.When he opened his eyes, they were tormented.“I have done this to you.Privanax said that stress was the partial cause of this.If I had not—”
