Page 45 of Keeping His Mate
“Pleasure as always to see your scowl, Bruvix,” she replies, then disconnects the call.
The three of us look at each other, silently agreeing this is the best possible outcome for a potential attack on our village. If Bzzsil is foolish enough to attempt this, we will be prepared. He will not live to see another day.
“Right,” I say. “I am leaving now.” Varrek says he will join me on my walk toward the meal hall as Ahlvo departs, heading back to his home. “I am not hungry,” I tell Varrek. “I must see to other tasks.”
Varrek stops me just before we reach the main path and clasps a hand on my shoulder. “I do not see you at the hall very much lately, cousin. Is all well?”
No. All is not well. I am extremely late to meet my female at the falls so she can feed a dangerous predator raw meat from her hand.“Yes” is what I reply, however, because I cannot reveal the truth.
He stares at me for a long moment, his lips pursing as he searches my face. Finally, he shrugs, accepting my words. Just as we step out onto the soft blue moss that covers the main path, a familiar voice cries out for help in a frightened and anguished tone. My heart stops beating in my chest completely at the sound.
It is Elle-noor.
We spot her a long way ahead of us, clutching at her forearm as blood spills from beneath her hand, running down to her elbow and onto her clothes. My body reacts in an instant––adrenaline pumping hard through my blood as my feet race to reach her. She collapses onto the ground before I can catch her, and I see the whites of her eyes as her lashes flutter closed.
I hear Varrek shout something at my side, but I do not know if it is directed at me, Elle-noor, or someone else, and I do not care. All I care about is Elle-noor.
I gather her carefully in my arms and lift her, looking for any other visible wounds on her fragile body. Finding none brings me no peace, however, because of the large gash on her arm. Her skin is turning a shade of pale I have not yet seen. Her lips are dry, and the normal rich pink of them has been replaced by a faded, dull blush.
“I-I’m okay,” Elle-noor mumbles in a hoarse whisper as she awakens.
“You are not,” I reply, my tone harsh and angry as I turn and run toward Kaiva’s. She went to feed the tr’gorys alone. She left without me at her side. What was she thinking? “That tr’gory could have killed you.”
I feel the growl in my chest as I press Elle-noor tighter against me. It was a tr’gory that did this to my female. Which tr’gory, it matters not. Playful little Stahn-lee could have done this, and I would feel the same level of fury rattling my bones. Theydareharm my mate? The one who has summoned the courage to approach them in order to offer them food? The one who saved the unwanted pup of a tr’gory mother and nourished him until he was strong enough to return to his pack? The one who prioritizes their needs above her own? They think they will successfully get away with this treachery?
I would tip my head back and laugh into the night sky if I were not so worried about Elle-noor’s condition.
“It’s just a small bite,” she reasons, her teeth chattering together.
I look down at her wide, brown eyes, shining with tears that continue to tumble down her cheeks. Her nose is red and puffy from crying, and I am confused by the conflicting urges to yell at her for her soft heart and hold her in my arms for the rest of our days, acting as her eternal shield.
“You are a fool” is what I settle on because it is the most prominent thought in my mind. “Those beasts could have killed you,” I tell her through gritted teeth. “Sliced you into ribbons and left you to die in the dirt.”
“Bruvix,” she says, her bottom lip wobbling as she continues to put pressure on her forearm.
But her sadness cannot sway me. Not now. I could have lost her this eve. The possibility of that sends a shudder down my spine. “Do not.”
“Here,” Kaiva instructs me as I burst through the front door to her med room. “Put her here.”
I do as she says, placing Elle-noor on the middle bed. Kaiva runs around, turning on overhead lights and gathering supplies she tosses onto the metal tray next to Elle-noor’s bed.
“Got your comm!” Aye-vah shouts as she rushes into the room. She quickly scrubs her hands in the basin behind the section of beds, then organizes the tools and salves on the tray in the order in which Kaiva will use them. “It’s okay, Eleanor,” she says, confidently, almost convincingly, as she offers my mate a warm smile. “You’re going to be just fine.”
I want to believe that Aye-vah speaks the truth, but part of me is sure it is merely to calm the nerves of her patient, who is looking at me with panicked eyes as she reluctantly lets go of her arm so that Kaiva can inspect the wound.
I wince as Kaiva shines the overhead light onto Elle-noor’s arm. The flesh is torn in such a violent way, as if she had to rip it from the beast’s mouth, no matter what would be left of it in the end.
“Don’t look at it, okay?” Aye-vah asks of Elle-noor as they press clean wraps into her skin, trying to stop the bleeding. “This is for the pain,” she says just before sticking a needle into Elle-noor’s bicep.
“And this will prevent infection,” Kaiva adds, releasing three drops of a yellowish liquid onto Elle-noor’s tongue.
“Are you mad at me?” Elle-noor asks me between loud sniffles.
I do not respond. I am too focused on watching Kaiva and Aye-vah as they work. They are fast, careful, and skilled at their craft. I am grateful to have both of them among our small clan. “We shall not discuss this now,” I bark out as I am too angry to have this conversation in front of an audience.
Elle-noor pinches her eyes closed as more tears fall, and she drops her head against the thin pillow, looking defeated. “It was an accident. I promise,” she says.
“I do not understand,” Varrek says at my side. “How did this tr’gory attack you? Where were you when it happened?” I forgot he was here. And now we will have to reveal the secrets we’ve kept. What a spectacular debacle.