Chapter Eighteen
When Mina made no move towards me, when she didn’t move atall, I softened my voice. “Let me be certain you are unharmed,kalles.”
I detected a deep exhale from her. Another violent shiver racked her body and again, I felt my rage rise. Only, it had never left, had it? It was always there, right under the surface.
What kind of a male—what kind of aleader, for that matter—treated his people like this? Treated afemalelike this?
Seeing Benn touch her…seeing Benn strike her…
It had undone something within me that I feared would never be restrained again. Feral and wild andvengeful.
I had never wanted to kill another as much as I wanted to kill that pitiful excuse for a male. My bloodlust was still running high. I wanted to gut him, remembering the frantic expression on Mina’s face as she squirmed in his grip, trying to break free. I wanted to rip out his innards when I remembered the violation etched on her face. I wanted tovokking bathe in his bloodwhen I remembered the desperate little sounds she’d made in her fear.
There was a special kind of hell for males like him and I wouldgladlyhelp shove him there.
My palms were bloodied and throbbing from where my claws had imbedded themselves. Fresh blood drenched the cuffs where the skin was cut again. I’d nearly wrenched my shoulder from its socket trying to reach her.
Though I cursed her, though there was a bitter part of me that blamed her for her trickery, for exposing a weakness I never knew I possessed, I was inexplicably drawn to her in a way I’d never experienced before.
“Mina,” I called to her. “Come to me.Hanniva, kalles.Hanniva.”
Please.
When was the last time I begged? I couldn’t remember.
She shifted. An unknown ache built in my chest when she lifted her head towards me and I saw her eyes were glassy with tears. Dakkari could see better in the dark than humans and my belly twisted when I saw the deep bloom across her cheekbone.
“Come,” I murmured, the chains rattling as I moved, seeing her shiver and straighten. She wrapped her arms around her nakedness. Her wet hair stuck to her cheek, her neck, and dripped water down her breasts.
She had no protection against the cold. Thin skin, no fat or muscle to speak of, no clothing to keep her warm.
Mina moved towards me. Her hand grazed over her ribs and she winced. She’d be lucky if none were broken. I growled, still hearing the sound of her pained wheeze when Benn had drawn back his foot to kick her. It echoed in my ears, taunting me with my inability to protect her.
She froze at the sound, backing up a few paces.
“Nik, kalles,” I murmured. “I won’t hurt you. I only want to warm you.”
Like a waryprivixi, she resumed her approach, tentative and slow. Another shudder racked her body when she crouched near me. I widened my legs, shifting to move them around her, and she settled between them, though her movements were uncertain.
I grunted. Her skin was like ice.
“Lean against me,” I ordered her.
Mina waited a breath. I heard the crack of her teeth as they chattered together. Then, slowly, she did as I said. If she were over my lap, she’d be cradled like a babe. The side of her right arm was pressed into my chest. Her hip bone was tucked against the furs of my loincloth. When I drew my knees up, the inner sides of my thighs bracketed her, bracing against the column of her spine and her shins when she drew them up against her.
My thighs tightened, keeping her in place, pressing warmth into her.
As the moments ticked by, I heard Mina let out a shuddered sigh. Her body relaxed into mine. Giving in? I tilted my head to regard her and I was taken off guard when she straightened, when she pressed her cold, tear-stained face into my neck and huddled there. She spread her palms across my chest, not caring that half of my tunic was stained with my dried blood.
Though I stiffened in surprise, she didn’t pull away. For such a timid little creature, she was certainly brave to touch a horde king like this.
Slowly, I felt my muscles begin to relax around her. My jaw unclenched as her icy flesh began to warm against me, though her soaked hair continued to run down my chest. She wouldn’t be able to regulate her body temperature until it was fully dried. And in this damp place, I feared it would take much too long.
“Are you hurt?” I rumbled and I heard her small intake of air at the words. Could she feel the way the words threaded up my throat? Could she hear them before they ever escaped my lips?
“Oh,” she whispered, pulling back, frowning. “Yo-your tail—”
“I’ll be fine,” I assured her, though truthfully, my tail throbbed, sending hot pain zinging up my spine. Our tails possessed numerous nerve endings, which made them especially sensitive to pain and injury. It was why Dakkari battle armor included a sheath for the tail, plated in blackened steel. “Did he break your ribs?”
