Chapter 11

Zara

A lovely smell creeps into my subconscious and I breathe it in again trying to determine exactly what it is. My hip and shoulder are sore from lying on something hard, my legs hurt, and my arm throbs. Hell, my whole body aches. Half of me is cold, while the other half—the side pressed up against a stiff object—is warm and toasty. The object shifts and I become fully alert as the memories of the last few days pour in.

I slowly open my eyes. Leathered lavender skin with black swirling marks greets me. I tip my head back and those bright yellow and purple-black eyes meet mine.

“Good morning. Did you sleep well?” Kyler asks in a sleep-roughened voice.

Considering dried drool is crusted in the corner of my mouth and I don’t remember anything since I closed my eyes yesterday, I’d say I slept shockingly rather well. “I did.”

“I am glad.”

We continue staring at the other, neither of us moving. His warm breath ghosts across my cheek. Are these Tavikhi pure perfection or something? There’s not a hint of gross morning breath in the air. Instead, Kyler’s smells like he sucked on a mint leaf all night.

I’m sure mine smells like dead and rotting dreri meat. Sometimes life is entirely unfair.

Feeling a bit self-conscious, I blink and break eye contact. Then I carefully push myself upright and adjust my arm that’s half out of the sling, wincing at the pain.

“Here.”

An animal skin appears in front of me. I take it from him with a mumbled thanks and drink the remainder of the bitter water inside. As nasty as the stuff is, I’ll admit it takes the edge off. God knows how much hurt I’d be in if not for the pain reliever.

Now that I’m awake, my bodily functions are making themselves known. “Can I get your help, please?”

“Of course.” Kyler brings me to my feet and, like we have several times now, he leads me to a private spot away from everyone and helps me with my pants.

I lost my sense of modesty after that first time. It’s pointless. Once I’m finished and wash my hand, we head back to where everyone is once again breaking camp. I’m so ready to get back to the village. The first thing I’m going to do is jump in the river and take a bath. I don’t even care how cold it is. I’m absolutely disgusting. I’ve been ignoring how much I stink and the sweater that’s growing over my teeth.

“If we make good time, we should be back to our village before night fall,” Zydon announces, his gaze falling to me before quickly skipping away and traveling to the rest of the group.

Message received: don’t hold us up, Zara.

Kyler holds something out and I glance down. “We all need our energy.”

I take the meat. Everyone has already taken off into the forest so I move as well, eating as I walk. It doesn’t take me long to tell that we are, in fact, heading down. It’s a huge relief from the upward climb we had yesterday. That sucked. If I never see a mountaintop again it will be too soon.

When we get back to the village, I’m never leaving. Not to welcome any new humans who might arrive by ship to the human settlement that’s only about a twenty- or thirty-minute walk from the Tavikhi village. Not to help Sage search for the roots and plants she and Kyler use to make medicine. Nope. I’m keeping my happy ass either at the forge or in my tent. I glance over at the male walking beside me. I suppose now that we’re mates, I’ll be sleeping in his tent.

Come to think of it, I don’t actually know where Kyler’s tent is. I mean, there’s never been any reason to know. But now I’m curious. In fact, my curiosity encompasses more than just where he lives. I know his parents and brother are dead, but other than that, I don’t really know much about him other than he’s a great healer who cares about his patients.

“What do you like to do for fun?” Since my lungs aren’t dying for air, I can actually talk and breathe at the same time.

“Fun?” Kyler says the word like he doesn’t understand its meaning. Damn, maybe he doesn’t.

Everything the Tavikhi do is geared toward survival. We’ve had a few celebrations where we all gather around the central fire and drink, but the occasions have been few and far between.

“Yeah, like when you’re not healing people, what do you like to do in your free time that you enjoy? Any hobbies?”

“I enjoy walking through the forest and searching for roots and plants for healing. Is that what you mean by fun?”

Hell no, that’s not what I mean. That is the exact opposite of what I mean. “Um, what about anything not having to do with healing?” Or leaving the village borders.

Kyler pauses for several seconds like he’s giving it a lot of thought. Which pretty much tells me everything I need to know. Once again, I’m questioning Deeka. She’s given me a guy who is the complete opposite of me. We have nothing in common.

“There is not much else I do,” he says cautiously as though knowing that’s not at all what I want to hear. “What about you? What do you like to do for…fun?”

It’s been a lifetime ago, but when I was little, Amelia and I used to dance. We would find music on our datapads and dance around her room, laughing, and having the best time. I stopped dancing after she died, but there are days I miss it, and lately, I’ve been finding myself swaying and moving in place when I get dressed in the mornings while I hum a tune…badly.

“Have you ever played Pebbles?”

Kyler’s brow bones shift. “I am unfamiliar with that. Is that the stone game the kits play?”

I laugh lightly. “That’s the one. I taught Talek, Cecily, and some of the other kids, and now they play each other.”

“I have seen this game, but it not something I have experienced for myself.”

“I’ll have to teach you how to play it when we get back.”

My breath catches when two dimples appear on either side of Kyler’s curled mouth instead of one. Did I say I’m a sucker for a guy with dimples?

“I would very much enjoy that,” he says.

“Me too.”

After that, the day progresses and as though we all know we’re getting closer and closer to home, our pace picks up slightly. I somehow manage to not slow us down. We stop once for food, water, and to pee and then finally, at long last, the light of several fires is visible through the thinning of the trees. I almost cry with relief that we actually made it. In fact, I can feel the tears well.

“The village knows we are coming by now,” Kyler tells me. “The scouts would have let Zander know. I am sure your tribe sisters will be waiting for us to arrive.”

Knowing my friends will be waiting makes the tears fall. The only person in my life I knew was a true friend had been Amelia. Until I met London, Remi, Maeve, Sage, and Eloise, that is. Those five women have taught me what genuine friendship is supposed to be. Each and every one of them is like having another sister. I can’t always express how much I love them, but I do. More than they’ll ever know.

We finally break through the trees to level land near the area of the village where all the elders live. Their central fire burns brightly, and surrounding it appears to be the entire tribe. So many people—Tavikhi and human—stand around and several of them break away and move forward.

The tiniest body rushes toward me. “Zara.”

A sob catches in my throat when three more people follow quickly behind her until before I know it, I’m engulfed in the biggest group hug by all my friends. Maeve is bawling and even London, Sage, and Eloise are wiping away tears. Including mine. My arm hurts like a motherfucker, but I don’t care. This right here is worth the pain.

“Careful guys. Zara’s hurt,” Remi lightly scolds them.

“It’s…o—okay,” I stutter through the tears, not quite ready for them to let go. “I’m okay.”

Still, they release their hold but stay closely circled around me.

“We’ve been so worried about you,” Maeve manages through her sobs.

“I was worried about you guys, too. I’m so glad you all are safe.” My gaze travels beyond them to the crowd of people and the village behind them.

Despite the sinking sun, it’s obvious how much the village has changed while I was gone. There’s definitely a fewer number of tents than there were before I was taken. I remember seeing so many of them on fire and all the smoke that day. My heart aches for everything we’ve lost.

“Holy shit.” London gapes at something behind me.

Everyone’s gaze shifts in that direction and several people suck in breaths. The hairs on the back of my neck stand up and I can literally feel the heat of a warm body as someone stands close. I don’t have to look to know it’s Kyler, and yet, I turn my head and meet his eyes over my shoulder. Just knowing he’s here helps calm me for some reason. I face my friends again.

“I guess some good came out of me getting abducted.”

London laughs. “Only you could get kidnapped and come back mated.”

“What can I say? I like to keep things interesting.” I grin widely.

Someone approaches, and I glance in that direction to find Zander joining our group. He stands next to London and wraps his tail around her. It hits me that the only time Kyler has done the same is when he’s stopped me from falling on my face. Will he, too, one day wrap it around me as a sign of affection?

Then, to my surprise, Zander takes a step forward, reaches for my free hand, and presses his brow bones to it. “We are so happy to have you home, sister. You have been greatly missed. And blessings on your mating.”

Goddamn it. The tears that just dried up flow again. He releases me and returns to London.

“Thank you Shefir, but Zara needs to rest,” Kyler’s voice comes from almost right next to my ear.

A warm hand settles on my back, and I want nothing more than to lean my weight against him. Wait, why shouldn’t I? He’s my mate, right? Fuck it. I move into his space and press myself to his side. I wanted a bath, but now that we’re here, all I want to do is sleep for days.

“Go. Take all the time you need to heal,” Zander says.

Being careful with my arm this time, the girls each give me one last hug before everyone disperses.

“Come, keeshla .”

I let Kyler guide me through the village. It isn’t until we’re standing outside my tent that I realize where we are. I glance at him in surprise. He must sense my confusion.

“As much as I would like for you to join me in my tent, I am sure you would prefer being in your own furs for the time being,” he says by way of explanation. “We have the rest of our lives for you to sleep in my furs.”

I’m slightly irritated that Kyler just assumed this is where I wanted to be without even asking me. I had enough of other people making decisions for me back on Earth to last me a lifetime. Except I’m too tired to argue with him tonight. He pushes aside the flap. I step inside and nearly sob in relief that someone has lit a torch and planted it near the fire pit to give me some light to see.

Everything is exactly how I left it—messy furs, clothes tossed everywhere—which means that I was one of the lucky ones whose stuff wasn’t torched by the Njeri. I almost feel guilty over the fact, but then I was kidnapped, so maybe it’s a fair trade.

“Get some sleep, keeshla ,” Kyler says, interrupting my thoughts. “I will see you in the morning.”

He takes a step back and the flap drops.

“Wait.” I move quickly forward to stop it, but he’s already there holding it open again. I worry my bottom lip and fidget with the hem of my shirt. “Will you…will you stay? Please?”

Kyler blinks his feline eyes. My anxiety spikes and I open my mouth to tell him to forget it.

“You honor me with your trust, keeshla ,” he says. “Will you be all right for a few moments while I check on the injured warriors? I promise I will return as quickly as I can.”

Of course he would want to look in on those who’d been wounded during the battle.

I nod. “I’ll be fine.”

Kyler hesitates for a second, and the next thing I know, he’s inside my tent with my head cradled between his palms and kissing me. It’s quick and hard, but I feel it all the way to my toes. He ends the kiss and rests his brow bones gently against my forehead. Both of us are breathing hard.

“I will return.”

“Okay,” I whisper.

As suddenly as he closed the distance between us, Kyler’s gone. The torch flame flickers from the breeze created by the flap closing over the entrance. I stand there for the longest time before finally taking a seat on my furs to wait for him to come back.