“My ribs sure hurt where he landed a blow, but otherwise fine.”
“We will allow the physician to be the judge of that.” Arrazyl said. “Come.”
The minute we all stepped into the main room of the infirmary, the physician gaped. In a voice pitched high with disbelief he all but yelled “again?”
I gripped the banister, gritting my teeth as I fought the rage that consumed me. I’d never lost control before. And yet today I’d nearly torn that vorpyr apart when I found out what was happening.
I forced my breathing to calm and listened to the steady footsteps as Kyvar finally approached after watching me like I was some wild animal. Right then I felt unhinged enough to be one. He stopped at my shoulder, keeping wing distance between us. I looked at him and unclenched my jaw. He studied me carefully.
“Did you mate her?” he asked.
“What does that have to do with anything?” I ground out.
“Because you’re acting like you’re in a mating frenzy.”
“That’s ridiculous. That only happens with true mates, and certainly not before any coupling occurs.” I snapped. He was being absurd. Ihyl had crossed a line, and I’d put him in his place. Maybe too violently, but my attack hadn’t been without provocation.
“Look at yourself, you can barely contain the primal instinct to kill anyone that comes near her.” His right wing twitched, a suresign he was about to do something stupid. “If you really aren’t in a mating frenzy, then you won’t mind if I go to her and hold her. She’s scared and needs to be comforted.”
I bit back a growl, but he saw the flash of my fangs and the warning ripple of my wings. He held my gaze.
I shoved away from the wall. “We should be going.” I turned my back on him. It wasn’t possible that I was in a mating frenzy. Not for her. It wasn’t possible.
“Denying it will only bring suffering. To both of you.” Kyvar’s voice was soft but full of meaning. A male that is rejected or forced apart from his true mate lives in constant pain, unable to sate his desire fully with others, and the violent part of his nature becomes more prominent as he fights against himself. It takes a long time and a lot of work for that part of our nature to accept another, but it is possible. But if a female is not only a true mate but is also marked by him and later rejects him or is killed, he usually does not survive.
I let my voice turn icy. “Do not speak of your suspicions to anyone.” If it were true, and I doubted it greatly, it was a weakness I needed to deal with myself.
Chapter 26
Arrazyl and Kyvar had vanished, leaving us at the infirmary with the physician who coerced us out of our clothes and into the airy, too-thin garments he liked to have patients wear when he examined them. At least it was better than the butt-revealing ugly green things at the hospitals on Earth.
Vuldrex and the guard who rescued me soon appeared to take us back home, and the physician gave us a clean bill of health.
“I love those healing devices.” Jaron’s face was thankfully no longer creased with pain.
“I would appreciate not needing to use them so much.” I turned to Vuldrex. “Where is Ihyl now?”
“I am uncertain of any particular details, but I’m sure the Vorazyr will fill you in.” I said nothing in response to that, andVuldrex seemed uncomfortable. “Shall we take you back so you can rest?”
“Yes.” Jaron said. “And I don’t plan on leaving the safety of home for a while.”
Home. Was it, though?
We landed in front of the house, and I blinked in surprise. “What happened to the door?”
“I believe Arrazyl tore off the locking bar. It goes to say you have free rein from now on. I will order the door fixed though, we can’t have that hole in it.” Vuldrex eyed it.
“Arrazyl did?” I turned toward him. “Where is he now?”
Vuldrex seemed to choose his words carefully. “He is in his suite.”
“At a time like this?” Jaron frowned. “That doesn’t seem like him.”
“It isn’t at all. He’s rather…upset.”
I thought about the roar I’d heard on the top of the cliff. “Would you take me to see him?”
He paused for a long moment. “Yes, I can do that.”
