I loosened my hold on him so he could turn to his familiar, and Zephyr smiled at her, then patted her head.
"I'm okay, Rei. Just a nightmare."
Rei nodded, then glanced between us. "Do you want me to leave?"
"Not at all," I said before Zephyr could say anything, sensing she wanted to stick around. She'd known Zephyr longer than I had, even discounting the hundreds of years in-between when they were apart. Just because we were mates didn't mean Zephyr needed her any less than he needed me.
"Tomorrow, I'll ask someone to get a bed for you so you can sleep here with us," I said, and she squinted up at me.
"Nah, I'll sleep in Zephy's office. I don't want to see you two... you know..." She made some weird hand motions, and I snickered as Zephyr groaned and hid his face against my chest.
"Whatever you want. You can stay here for tonight, though. We're just going to sleep, I promise."
"Okay."
We settled back into bed, with Zephyr and me under the blanket and Rei over it on Zephyr's other side. I pressed a kiss on Zephyr's cheek, and Rei grumbled under her breath, making me chuckle.
"Relax, it was just a goodnight kiss. Or are you annoyed because you want one too?" I teased as I leaned up on my elbow to look at her, and she huffed, then turned her back to us, making me chuckle.
Lying back down, I placed my head on Zephyr's shoulder, wrapped my arm around his waist, and sighed as I settled in to sleep again. We'd have to be up again in a few hours, but I didn't mind. Just thinking about how many nightmares and panic attacks Zephyr must've dealt with on his own over the years made me grateful I could be here for him tonight.
"Good night, Keoni. Night, Rei," Zephyr murmured, already sounding half-asleep.
"Good night, Zephyr, Rei."
Rei gave a very raccoony chirp, and then everyone went quiet. The sound of their breathing eventually lulled me to sleep, and Ihoped that one day, Zephyr would have no more nightmares to contend with.
Rei was gone when I woke up the next morning, and I assumed she was out wrecking havoc on the Sanctuary. Zephyr was still asleep, and he'd turned on his side at some point so he was facing me, half his face smushed into the pillow.
What had grabbed my attention, though, was his left arm. It was thrown over my side, and if I glanced down, I'd see it, sans prosthetic. Zephyr had said it was okay last night, but did that carry over to now? Or had he said it was okay simply because the room had been dark then?
If he'd only meant it for last night and I looked, I'd be breaking his trust. But if it had been a blanket permission and Ididn'tlook, would he think I was avoiding looking at his arm because I was afraid or uncomfortable?
Zephyr stirred before I could make a decision, and I snapped my eyes shut, then slowly opened them, rolling my eyes at myself. I wasn't going to pretend to be asleep.
"Good morning," Zephyr mumbled as he turned his head, sleepy blue eyes meeting mine.
Smiling, I pressed a kiss on his nose, then chuckled when he went cross-eyed. "Good morning, Zephyr. Did you sleep okay?"
He hummed, then glanced down. His lips pressed in a firm line, and he blew out a breath before raising his gaze to mine.
Putting some distance between us, he drew his left arm back and into the space between us.
Getting the message, I lowered my gaze to his arm as I debated over the best way to handle this. I didn't have a lot of time to mull over it, so I decided to go with my gut.
I placed my right hand on his left shoulder, his skin warm under my touch, and slowly trailed it lower, humming at his firm biceps. My gaze followed my hand as I reached his elbow, then the stump where his prosthetic connected.
"Oh," I murmured when I realized there was a band of woven metal threads just above his elbow, and I ran my fingers over it. The threads were so slim they were almost invisible. "What is this for?"
"It extends and attaches to the prosthetic once it clicks into place. It adds balance and keeps my arm from hurting from the added weight."
Draven really was a fucking genius. I had no idea why he was here, but I was glad we had him.
Gripping his arm above the elbow, I leaned down and placed a kiss at the bottom of his arm, the skin long since healed. I couldn't imagine the pain he must've felt when he lost his hand or when he got the infection and then had to lose more of it. With the amount of pain he'd gone through at such a young age, it was a testament to his strength and conviction that he'd turned into such a wonderful person. He could've easily let his pain twist him into something bad, but he hadn't.
"Keoni," he murmured, sounding pained, and I glanced up at him, wishing I could put everything I was feeling into words.
"You're beautiful, Zephyr," was what I settled for, though it felt highly inadequate, "every single inch of you."
