Because the best part about the meadow? There were no walls, except for the mountains
She could see as far as the moonlight would allow her in the darkness, far into the black, vast plains of Luxiria, where she could make out other mountain ranges and hills.
Lainey shivered a bit with the breeze. A moment later, she felt Kirov envelop her from behind, wrapping his warmth around her, squeezing her to him.
She pressed her cold hands into his strong arms, letting him warm her, taking what he was offering so generously.
Why did it feel soright, sonaturalwith him? It was as if they’d known each other for far longer than a few days.
Was it his Instinct? she wondered. It was the first time she’d allowed herself to acknowledge whatever was happening between them. Had he been right? Was a great force binding them together, a force she didn’t yet understand that both frightened and intrigued her?
Lainey shivered, despite Kirov’s heat, looking at the magnificent view in front of them.
Again, he’d given her another gift. An unexpected one. And the sweetness of it made her throat close.
He’s really good at this first date thing, she thought, blowing out a breath in defeat.
Kirov - 6
Lainey - 0
“Thank you,” she said, tilting her head to look back at him.
His beautiful blue eyes glowed in the moonlight and she remembered the first night they’d met. Of him, standing naked, on the terrace, his body drenched in light.
“Thank you for taking me here,” she continued, feeling like shemight’vejust lost a piece of her heart to him. A piece she might not ever get back.
“You are welcome,luxiva.”
Chapter Twelve
“Ten?” Lani asked, her voice rising in what Kirov assumed was astonishment. “You were only ten-years-old when you left home for this warrior training?”
“Tev,” he replied. “All males must leave for warrior training at ten rotations.”
“That’s…that’scrazy,” she exclaimed, her lips parted in shock. “You were just a little boy.”
Suddenly, her eyes dropped down between them to look at his exposed arms, where a multitude of scars marked his flesh.
He’d told her warrior training was…intense. She assumed that was where he’d received his scars. Some yes, but not all.
“These are also from battle,luxiva,” he told her. Vaxa’an had told him, in secret once, that humans tended to be more adverse to violence and war. He needed to tread carefully. “Soon after we completed warrior training…we were called to war. I was not on Luxiria for a long while.”
They were sitting on the banks of the stream, side-by-side, Kirov’s thigh pressed against hers. Lani had her small, pale feet in the water, since he’d told her it was warm from the mountain. He glanced down at them often, feeling affection, awe, tighten his chest.
Some moments, he still couldn’t believe that he’d found his fated mate. Some moments, even when she was with him, it didn’t feel real. Even when her scent filled his nostrils, even when her warmth was pressed into him, and her beautiful voice calmed the buzzing inside him, it didn’t feel real.
Softly, she said, “Kate told us about an attack on your planet. That it killed your females, most of them, and left the rest…unable to have children.”
Kirov’s gaze held hers as he said, “Tev, that is true. We went to war shortly after, for five long rotations.”
“Did you…” Lani began to ask, her fingers picking at the moss on her other side. “Did you lose anyone?”
“My mother,” he said and Lani sucked in a small breath. “Many lost mothers and sisters and their elders. Many lost sires as well, who took their own lives to be with them in the blackworld.”
“I’m sorry, Kirov,” she said quietly. “Did you lose your father as well?”
Kirov inhaled a sharp breath, his gaze sliding away, familiar guilt eating at his chest. “I may as well have.”
