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heart pinched at the idea she could be, but he ignored it. He was already intended for marriage in less than three weeks. His betrothed, whom his mother had selected only a month ago, was a sensible choice. Still, if the human was his mate, he’d have a valid reason to deny the betrothal.
My mother is…powerful. She’ll want to make sure my wife is a strong female so our children will be strong.”
“That isn’t how mating works. Our people view it as sacred. Marriage is more of a duty.”
“If you were raised in what I can only assume is a female-run society, and trained on how to make a wife happy, then why have you been so bossy with me?”
“I can trust you, right?” she whispered, her eyelids becoming too heavy to fight any longer. “With your life.”
the knowledge that she’d used her precious water to clean his wound, in an attempt to keep him alive, made his chest ache. He wasn’t used to being cared for in that way.
This is how I’m gonna die. A stupid man comes and takes stupid risks. Trying to show off. This is it. No more soda. No more French onion soup.
A low, rattling vibration, more melodic than the growl he’d directed at her before, sounded from his chest, and she jumped away.
Verakko showed her his back and muttered, “I’ll regret it either way, mivassi.” Muscles shooting tight in an instant, he froze. Mivassi? Where in this world or the last had that come from? He’d never even thought to use the endearment before. With anyone.
A small, sad smile curled the corner of his mouth. He lifted his hand as if to reach out to her, then curled his fingers into a fist and dropped it back to his side. “It would mean something to me.”
Mivassi was a word that referred to a claimed alternative to your chosen spouse while under contract. Only used in the rarest of instances when a person recognized their mate while married to another.
“Your eyes were black. I don’t know how, but you were hurt in some way. And you were going to let him take you. What if you couldn’t get free?” “I would’ve found a…a way to…” Verakko’s words stuttered out as her words finally registered. “My eyes?” The world around him slammed to a halt, the thunderous pounding in his chest freezing as though even his heart feared he’d misheard her. I recognized her? She’s mine.
“Stay alive. Stay alive. Stay alive,” he swayed over and over, putting all the force he could muster into the demand. As though the universe sensed the importance of speed, his pace suddenly increased. His feet carried him across the desert faster than he’d ever gone before. Without stopping, he peered down at his hands and saw his marks. Bright blue and taunting.
“I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to you if you let me.”
