Page 56 of A Monster’s Future

As if on cue, my furry little warrior came scrambling out of the foliage, launching herself at me. I caught her midair, and she immediately clawed her way into the pouch I’d forgotten I was still wearing.

“Let’s get you and Grtirr back to the stronghold.”

***

The last time I’d been in the stronghold’s medical bay, I’d been the one stretched out on the exam table. Grtirr had loomed over me, lecturing me about missing my vitamins and not getting enough exercise. Now I sat in a cot pushed up beside his bed, my fingers curled around his. He was the one lying there, his massive frame filling the specialized bed. His chest rose and fell in slow, steady breaths. He was alive and stable, but he hadn’t woken up yet.

If someone had told me a month ago that I’d be sitting and staring at Grtirr’s unconscious body and actually wishing he was lecturing about my terrible eating habits, I would’ve laughed in their face. I realized now why he’d always butted heads with me in here. He’d known I was his mate, and it had been the only way he could express how much he cared without giving himself away.

I’d give anything to have him glaring at me right now, that grumpy frown etched into his features as he scolded me for skipping meals, staying up all night, or pushing myself too hard. I’d take his overbearing, infuriating concern every day for the rest of my life if it meant he’d just wake up.

When I’d first arrived, they hadn’t let me into the Infirmary at all. Grtirr had been in critical condition, and they hadn’t wanted me to see him until Lxare could get him stabilized in the medical bed.

I was still of the mind that if Grtirr hadn’t already been shot multiple times by the time Dr. Kim arrived, he could’ve taken him without grievous injuries. Maybe it was just the confidence of a mate, but I really believed it. Instead, the doctor had fought him, knowing Grtirr already had a handicap. The coward!

Grtirr had still won in the end, ripping out the bastard’s heart with his only remaining working hand like a goddamn trophy. Lxare had commented on how lucky Grtirr had been to have snuck in at an angle right next to the metal plate the doctor had installed to protect the organ. It meant Grtirr had torn up his hand though, and it now lay bandaged and resting on his belly.

My gaze traced over his injuries. The tree trunk had ripped off a bunch of skin, which had already started regrowing. Then there were the pits where they dug the lead out of his body. One of his shoulders was held immobile in a metal frame. They’d had to set it back into the shoulder socket since Dr. Kim had tried to rip it off. And his wings! They were riddled with holes, and there was a decent tear through the right one. It wouldn’t grow back and would need to be mended with an artificial membrane.

Grtirr was so thin. I knew that these warriors pulled from their muscles to rebuild critical things like bones. I’d seen it happen before. But he was almost skeletal.

His chest rose and fell, but a part of me wondered if it had been too much after all. What if he was technically whole, but still wouldn’t wake? According to Lxare, he should’ve woken hours ago.

His communicator, which was sitting on the side table, beeped with an alarm. I tried to ignore it, but it kept beeping, so I picked it up. The message on the screen was mostly in Kadrixan. I couldn’t read it, except for one single word: my name was there in Galactic English. This wasn’t a message. This was an alarm.

Somehow, I knew it was midday even before I checked the time. Intuition told me that even if my phone had been salvageable after being crushed into pieces, that “automatic” alarm I’d gotten every day reminding me to take my vitamins would not be ringing. Because it hadn’t been an automatic alarm at all; Grtirr had been reminding me himself every single day.

Tears welled up in my eyes, threatening to spill over.

“Wake up, Grtirr,” I murmured for his ears only. “Wake up and berate me for not taking my vitamins. I missed them twice. Completely ignored the alarm.”

There was no response. And my brain decided that now was the perfect time to remind me how he’d looked crumpled on the ground. What if they were lying to me so I’d stay calm? What if… what if I never got the chance to tell him I love him?

I’d spent the entire time up in our aerie wanting to and trying not to say it. I thought I was waiting for the moment I knew it for a fact, undeniably, that the love was real. But right now, I didn’t care about any of that. Now I wished I’d told him a million times.

I couldn’t stop the hot tears that rolled down my cheeks.

“Come on, wake up. Wake up, you idiot. Wake up so I can tell you I love you.”

Nothing happened. He didn’t miraculously wake up and tell me he loved me back, or that I was being silly. He just lay there. But I could feel calmness radiating through me where we touched. Even injured, his body was trying to calm me.

I knew he probably couldn’t hear me, but I needed to say it anyway. “I love you, my mate. Don’t you dare die on me.”

The moment I said it, I knew, irrevocably, that it was true. Even without the pheromones or the chemicals or the mate bond, I loved Grtirr. And now, I might lose him.

Chapter 29: Grtirr

She loves me. Julie loves me.

I wanted to roar in triumph. I wanted to pull her into my arms and tell her she was my entire universe. I had no intention of dying, not now when I finally had something worth living for.

But my body betrayed me, refusing to move. The medical bed had me locked down, keeping me immobile while my body knitted itself back together. It was probably for the best. If I’d been able to move, I would’ve already had her crushed against me, wings wrapped around her like a shield. I doubted that would be good for the injuries.

Her tears seeped into my skin, warm and wet, and my body responded instinctively, releasing the right chemicals to soothe her. To soothe us both.

Soon her breathing evened out, her body relaxing into sleep.

I was a lucky male. Despite failing her, she still wanted me. I didn’t deserve her love and devotion.