“Thank you,” she said quietly, feeling a little bad for getting irritated with him.He’d made sure she was safe that day, had patiently guided her over any obstacles during their journey, and he’d made sure she had a hot meal and a fire for the night.
Vikan tilted his head down in acknowledgement but he didn’t say anything and they ate their dinner in complete silence, save for the crackling of the fire.
The meat was surprisingly delicious and filling.Taylor ate two more slices that Vikan offered her, but let him finish the last of it and the whole secondmirizax,which he polished off easily.
Afterwards, he plucked one of the water gourds from its place lining the fire pit and he dug his claw into one end, puncturing the thick, tough skin, before he handed it to her.
“Drink,” he murmured before grabbing another one for himself.
Eyeing the gourd, she did as he told her and drank.
The water inside was warm, but clean.It had a distinctly earthy taste to it, but already she could feel it hydrating her body.After she drained the gourd of its contents, Vikan had another for her, half of which she used to wash her still-dirty hands.
And as if reading her thoughts, Vikan dug into his bag and pulled out a spare tunic before ripping it into six large strips of cloth.He hand her one, along with a fresh water gourd.
“For washing,” he murmured and Taylor gave him a small, hesitant, grateful smile.
She drenched the cloth in the water and began to run it over her face and exposed skin, washing and rubbing away grime and sweat and dirt.Taylor was keenly aware of Vikan’s gaze and she flushed, but didn’t look at him, not until she was satisfied with her level of cleanliness.
She sighed, content, dropping the empty gourd and the cloth beside it.She was fed, watered, warm, and—somewhat—clean.
Now, if only she could stop butting heads with her travel buddy, she’d be in pretty good spirits, given the circumstance.
Vikan was cleaning and sharpening his blades when he suddenly rasped, “When I said I was not pleased that my Instinct had awakened, it was because I had not wanted a mate.It was not meant as an insult to you.Never.”
Taylor’s lips parted and silently digested his words.Was he finally opening up to her?Just a little?
“Why don’t you want a mate?Cecelia told us every Luxirian male wanted to find their mates, that that was why we were kept separated.”
Vikan was quiet, but right when Taylor was beginning to lose hope again that he was done talking, he said, “I had a mate once.”
Taylor’s breath hitched.All at once, she felt a multitude of emotions, some of which she didn’t want to identify.
But the strangest thing that happened after he spoke those words was that Taylorknewhe’d had a mate before.
But for once, instead of freaking out about how she knew, she let herself accept it.Only then did she remember.It had been a dream, one of her many dreams.They’d been lying in their bed, sated after a night of sex, and he’d told her about his past mate.Taylor had asked, she remembered.She knew that his mate had been important in his life and she wasn’t jealous of her.How could she be when she knew how much Vikan loved her, when she felt the extent of that love every single day?
In the present, Taylor felt her face draining of blood because she knew the mate’s name.
“Nitav,” she whispered, looking into the fire because she was afraid to meet Vikan’s eyes, was afraid of what that knowledge meant, once again.
Vikan hissed out a breath.“You know her name?”
“Yes,” Taylor whispered, feeling like she dreaming, in a haze of disbelief.She squeezed her eyes shut, but behind her lids, she saw that particular dream, saw and heard Vikan speak about her in an affectionate yet distant way.Her eyes flew open.“I…we…”
There was nothing to say.
Taylor had run out of excuses at that point for how she knew these things.
And if what Vikan claimed was true, that her dreams weren’t dreams at all butvisionsof the future, what did that mean for them?
She didn’t want to think about it.
Vikan recovered more quickly than she did.“She was not my fated mate.She was a mate by choice, a Breeding partner, as Luxirians call them.”
Taylor grasped onto any information as a way to distract herself.“How long…how long were you together?”
Maybe she knew how long they’d been together.Maybe he’d told her.But Taylor realized she didn’t want to think too much about it.She’d already scared herself enough.
