As for his other words…I thought I understood what he meant.
“You think I hid myself? Under the Dead Mountain?” I asked.
“Lysi,” he told me, those red eyes glowing in the dim light. “I think you had to. I think you were afraid. Trapped. And only when you were not afraid anymore could you be free.” His small smile was wry. “Though I caught glimpses of you. With your claws. And even then, mysarkiamade my cock hard, even though I was bloodied and chained. Even then, I wanted her.”
I didn’t blush with the words. I simply stared down at him, memorizing the lines of his strong features, as if I didn’t have him committed to memory already.
I feared…I feared I was undone for this male too.
Undone.
That word was fitting. Because I felt like a spool of thread, tangled and wild. Nothing made sense anymore. I felt vulnerable, like my heart was outside my body, exposed. And it was him that had possession of it. It was him that protected it.
He must’ve seen the strange expression on my face because he asked, “What is it,rei Morakkari?”
“I fear for tomorrow,” I told him softly. “I fear for you.”
His features softened. “Mina…”
“I cannot shake this feeling,” I said, feeling my throat tighten, feeling it bubble up once more. I’d felt it earlier tonight, though I hadn’t told Wrune. “That something is going wrong. Or will. I—I’ve lost many I’ve cared for in my life. Icannotlose you too.”
Wrune’s hands slid to cup behind my knees before he moved them back up my thighs, stroking me as if in comfort. As if his touch could soothe me. And it helped. Somewhat. I focused on him, on his heat and his scent and his touch, and I reminded myself that he washere. He was righthere. With me.
“You care for me,rei sarkia?”
I slapped at his chest. The words came out gruff but I recognized the teasing lilt of his tone. I could read him well now. All his moods and expressions.
His half-grin made my stomach flip and flop.
“You know I do,” I told him.
“There was a time when you could not stand the sight of me,” he said, repeating the words I’d told him only moments before.
I huffed out a breath. “Setovan.”
But I understood now, with my words thrown back at me, how they must’ve seemed to Wrune. It made me realize that…
“Even when I felt that way,” I began, “I stillwatchedfor you.”
Those red eyes gleamed and glittered. I recognized that look. It told me I was about to be kissed. It told me I was about to be pinned to the furs of our bed. It told me—
Wrune’s head snapped up, his muscles suddenly tensing, his gaze going to the entrance flap of ourvoliki. His nostrils flared and he went deathly still.
I froze, my breath going shallow, though I remained as quiet as possible. Dakkari could hear better than humans. He could hear something that I couldn’t.
Carefully, I slid off him and he rose from the bed with a speed that shouldn’t have surprised me but continually did.
That was when I heard it.
The shouts. The yells of alarm.
Rippling towards us as they broke through the stillness and quietness of that night.
“Vok,” Wrune cursed and he lunged for his trews, pulling them on with lightning quickness.
“W-what is it?” I asked, breathless as I began to shiver, despite the warmth from the fire basin.
“Stay here, Mina,” my husband growled.
