His arms wrap around my shoulders, lifting me off the stone and pulling me flush against the vibrating thunder of his chest.
I let out a shaky breath, burying my hands deeply into the long, soft strands of his hair, and just hold on.
Chapter 22
I WILL DISEMBOWEL ANYONE WHO LOOKS AT HER (A LOVE STORY)
KOL
Ido not put her down.
I hold her lifted against my chest in the center of the cavern, her small hands fisted securely in my mane, until the rapid, terrified flutter of her dra-kir finally slows.
Then, ignoring the watchful eyes of my war council, I carry her directly to my alcove in the stone and drop the dense furs over the entrance so no other male can look at her.
She does not argue. The moment I lay her against the sleeping hides, she is unconscious, the adrenaline of the last three sols finally abandoning her delicate frame.
I do not sleep.
My body is trained to shed rest when the clan is threatened. But this dark, it is not the threat of Lucek that keeps me staring into the pitch-black stone.
It is the sheer volume of noise inside my skull.
Not from the clan. The warriors are quiet, their presence in the mindspace nothing more than the low, dull thrum of resting bodies in the outer cavern.
The noise isher.
My female is asleep. Her small body is tucked flush against my side, enveloped in my heat. Her head rests on my muscle, her soft thigh pressing against my thigh.
She is asleep, yet her mind is racing.
I lie perfectly still, letting the sensation of her thoughts wash through my mindspace. Her sleeping thoughts are pure chaos.
Urgency. Fear. An image of the missing female, Ah-lex, and the one Sorn did not find, Hah-na. The drive to rescue. The planning. Always the planning.
Even in sleep, she leads.
That low rumble starts deep in my chest. My body recognizes her drive, her fierce need to protect her kin, and answers it with pure approval.
I pull her closer, my head tilting down to her face.
The mating has changed her, just as it changed me. The sickly pallor that had haunted her features is gone. Her skin is flush, healthy.
But her jaw is set.
She does not surrender. Never.
She shifts in her sleep, burying her face deeper into the crook of my neck. Her small, flat teeth drag lightly against my skin.
My pulse spikes immediately, both shafts thickening against my thigh.
I want to wake her. I want to roll her onto her back, pin her wrists lightly to the stone, and slide inside her until she calls my name through the entire mindspace. The urge is so consuming that I have to clench my teeth just to keep from moving.
Control,I remind myself, forcing the instinct down.She requires rest. Her bones are delicate. You cannot mate with her every time she breathes on you.
It is a miserable realization.
I wrap my arm around her waist instead, pulling her flush against me. She makes a tiny noise of protest, her fist thumping weakly against my stomach, before she settles back into the heat of my body.
