Mira nods, but her gaze drifts across the cavern, and the excitement drops off her face.
My gut twists.
The other women are still huddled together. Pam is shivering, hugging her arms tightly across her chest, even though the cave is sweltering. Tina keeps rubbing her temples.Lucy’s hands are shaking so badly she can barely hold the waterskin to her lips.
“They’re not doing so good,” Mira says quietly, and the dejection seeping into her voice sits in my gut. “I don’t know what to do, Erika. The extra firebloom isn’t helping anymore. The fevers won’t break.” She swallows hard, pulling her gaze away from the women. “This is the part where Alex would tell me what to do.”
Alex’s name echoes somewhere raw.
I press the spike of panic down. “We’re going to get her back.”
“But what about them?” Mira gestures hopelessly at the other women. “The only ones recovering are the ones who... you know. The ones with a mate.”
She studies me for a long time. “I don’t think we’re getting rescued, Erika...”
My throat tightens even more. “No, I don’t think we are.”
Mira lets out a shuddering exhale. “So what do we do?”
I don’t know what to do. But as my gaze moves around the cavern, landing on Drakav who incline their heads at me the moment our gazes lock, before landing on the one male who my heart apparently knew was mine before I did, the answer comes to me.
“We don’t wait for the women to adapt,” I say slowly, the pieces falling into place. “We make the Drakav adapt to them.”
Mira frowns. “How do we do that?”
“By telling them to,” I say. I look back at Kol, feeling the solid, thrumming weight of him surround me in the mindspace. “I’m their queen now, I suppose. Which means they have to listen to me. We don’t force anyone to mate, but I can absolutely order these warriors to sit down and just actively guard them. Proximity therapy. No pressure, no expectations. Just... biochemical exposure.”
Mira’s eyes widen as she catches on. “If they just spend time near them, their bodies might stabilize enough to break the fevers?”
“Exactly.” I nod, determination finally cutting through the panic. “Kol already implemented a buddy system. We just amp that up. It’ll be exactly like a kindergarten field trip, except your assigned buddy can rip a throat out with his bare hands. We start today.”
I don’t wait for permission. I requisition five of the calmest warriors I can find, ordering them to sit silently at the edges of the women’s huddle like giant space-heaters. They are deeply confused by the assignment, but the moment I project the request, they incline their heads and obey.
Within twenty minutes, the ambient temperature near the sleeping space rises, and Pam’s frantic shivering actually starts to ease.
I let out a long breath, the immediate crisis managed, and finally turn my attention to the rest of the cavern.
Kol’s across the cavern, and he doesn’t look at me, but I know he knows I’m watching. I can feel the smug edge of it through the mindspace, which is something I’m going to have to get used to.
He’s crouching beside a wounded warrior, mixing what looks like mashed firebloom paste with his hands. The paste stains his thick fingers, and he packs it into a nasty, jagged gash along the warrior’s ribs.
His touch is incredibly disciplined. These are the exact same huge, clawed hands that pinned me against the furs last night. The same hands that gripped my hips so hard he left faint, dark bruises on my skin.
Watching him apply the medicine with such steady control makes the blood rush hot to my face. A spike of pride hits my chest. He is so perfectly controlled right now, but I know exactly what it takes to completely shatter it.
The warrior on the ground hisses through his sharp teeth as the paste stings. I feel Kol project something firm and reassuring into the male’s mind. The warrior nods, his jaw clamping shut, and he holds perfectly still.
I catch myself staring at Kol’s back. He finishes treating the wound, the thick muscles flexing beneath his amber skin as he stands tall.
He surveys the cavern, his golden eyes narrowing. I watch him take the crushing weight of the clan’s survival squarely onto his own broad shoulders. He manages their panic. He manages their bleeding. He pushes them forward through sheer, unrelenting will and the thrum of his massive heart.
A sudden, sharp ache tightens my chest. I know exactly what that heartbeat sounds like. I know the exact rhythm of it vibrating through my jawbone when we are pressed together in the dark.
Seeing him operate like this, so ruthless and fiercely protective of his people, sends a slow flush of heat straight down to my core.
All of these details and I didn’t realize how much I’d been noticing.
The joke’s on me. My body knew exactly what was happening. My brain was just the last one to catch on.
