by Sadie Carter
Still, he needed to give her some space to work this out herself.
“I understand. I will let you work this out with my mother. Unless you get too upset. I can’t have that.” He hated to see her unhappy or in pain.
“Are you finished for the night?” she asked, glancing up at him hopefully.
“I am. I thought we might picnic under the stars.”
“Picnic? Did you read about that in one of those romance novels Thor got for you?”
“Perhaps,” he allowed. Those stories had been immensely beneficial in enabling him to understand how Zoey’s mind worked.
“That sounds wonderful.”
***
“Thank you for doing this, Dex.” Zoey lay back on the blanket, her head resting on his thigh, and stared up at the stars above. Dex had brought a small light with him, but the stars were so bright they didn’t need it.
“You are enjoying yourself?” he asked.
“Immensely.” She could actually breathe out here. In the palace, she felt oppressed, watched, and judged. But not here, with just Dex.
“Good. I will admit I had my reservations about eating food while sitting on the ground. It is an odd idea. I had to work hard to convince the cook to put this together. He thought my mind gone.”
She grinned up at him. “It’s romantic. Just the two of us. No one else around.”
“It is quiet. Since I have returned, I seem to be surrounded by others, all of them wanting something.”
He sounded almost miserable. How had she not seen that he wasn’t happy? Had she been so wrapped up in her own problems that she hadn’t seen he was having issues?
“Is this what it’s always like for you?”
He nodded. “Only it is getting worse. My father has been talking about stepping down from his position. That means I must take on more responsibility.”
“Sounds dreary.”
“It is my heritage.”
Zoey reached down and itched the skin just above her ankle. It had been growing increasingly itchy all day. That damn creature better not have infected her with something.
She opened her mouth to tell Dex what had happened when he sighed.
“Sometimes I do wonder what it would be like to have no responsibilities.”
Maybe he had enough to worry about. It was done now, anyway. The creature was dead and from now on, she’d be sure to keep the doors and windows shut.
“Why don’t you delegate more? Do you really have to do everything?”
“I admit I have had similar thoughts. My father is immersed in tradition. I am not certain his way is the right way to rule.”
“Why do your women always have to be accompanied by guards when they are outside? What is so dangerous about this place?” Zerconia seemed so peaceful and safe.
Dex ran his hand through her hair. “Do you remember how I told you we once had an alliance with the Coizils?”
She nodded. “They betrayed you, right?”
“Yes, after that, my father made the decision to limit the number of visitors allowed on Zerconia and to reduce the number of off-planets explorations undertaken.”
“What has that got to do with your over-protectiveness towards your women?”
“The reason our alliance broke down is because three Coizil males kidnapped two of our women. They raped and terrorized them.”
“Oh God, that’s awful.”
Dex clenched his fists, and she could feel his fury through the bond. “We shut down our trade systems, evacuated everyone who wasn’t Zerconian. I was young at the time. But I remember the quiet. How serious everyone became. They stopped smiling. There used to be parties at night. People would laugh and drink and dance. Then there was nothing. My father became this stern, withdrawn man overnight.”
“And that’s why your females are so closely guarded.”
“My father swore that would never happen to another Zerconian female. I agreed with his decision until lately. Now the markets are dead. My people are slowly becoming disenchanted. They are squabbling more. There has even been some crime.”
“Maybe it’s time to consider making some changes,” she suggested.
“My father will not hear of it.”
“Do you know how you eat an elephant?” she asked.
“I do not know what an elephant is.”
“It’s a really big, gray animal with a long trunk and you don’t actually eat it.”
“I do not understand.”
“You eat it one bite at a time. Understand?”
There was silence and she sighed.
“Small steps, Dex. Don’t suggest big changes. Just make small changes. Little things that people can cope with. I know I haven’t lived here long and it’s not really my place—”
“This is your home now.”
“Then I think things need to change. The stallholders are sad. I got the feeling that they have almost given up. One of them told me that the palace supplements their income.”
Dex nodded. “We took their income away, we had to do something.”
“But that also took away their pride. They need that back. Just because your females were attacked doesn’t mean they are helpless. They don’t need guards watching their every move.”
“That is something that I cannot guarantee will change. I do not like the idea of you being unguarded. You are constantly in trouble.”
“I don’t go looking for trouble.”
He just stared down at her.
She sighed. “Not going to change your mind, am I?”
He shook his head.
“Fine. Guess I’ll just keep eating away at the elephant.”
“Did you just liken me to a large, gray animal with a big nose?” he asked.
“Perhaps. What will you do about it?”
“Demand a kiss?” he replied.
“I can handle that.” She sat up and he pulled her onto his lap before leaning down and kissing her thoroughly.
“Again,” he demanded.
She ran her tongue over his lips, slipping it into his mouth.
He rolled them so they lay on their sides facing each other. Running his hand down her side, he cupped her ass as he kissed his way down her neck. He moved his hand up to cup her breast, thumbing her nipple until it was hard and throbbing. Bright moonlight highlighted his face, which had tightened with erotic hunger.
Her stomach clenched. Oh, crap. A light sweat broke out on her skin.
“You’re glowing.”
Not in a good way.
“Dex.” She swallowed desperately, trying to prevent herself from losing the contents of her stomach.
“Shh, my own. Let me make you feel good.”
She took a deep breath, trying to calm her rolling stomach. Her leg burned and throbbed.
“Zoey? Are you well?” Dex asked.
“I don’t feel so good.”
Dex immediately sat up and stared down at her, his concern clear. “What is it?”
“My stomach. Do you think the food could have been bad?”
“I feel fine.”
“Oh God, I’m going to be sick.” Rolling away from him, she threw up. Acid burned her throat and mouth and tears streamed out of her eyes at the pain.
She stared down at the vomit which was glowing fluorescent green.
Oh shit.
Before she could ask Dex what the hell was going on, her stomach lurched again. And again. She threw up everything that was in her stomach, and then some.
When she finally stopped vomiting, Dex rolled her onto her back, murmuring to her reassuringly, but she could feel his concern through the bond. She was too weak to move. His lips moved, but the ringing in her ears meant she couldn’t understand him.
Darkness encroached on her vision and, too exhausted to fight it, she slipped into unconsciousness.
Chapter Eight
“Let me go! I must be with her. Let me go! I order you!” Dex snarled at the warriors pinning him to the floor of the medical cente
r.
In the room beyond lay Zoey. His mate. His fragile, beautiful mate. He needed to be with her. With a herculean effort, he shoved his right leg up, dislodging the warrior pinning it down.
“Hold him down,” Koran roared.
“Let me go or I will have your head.” He glared at Koran, letting the full force of his fury show. His best friend gave him a solemn look.
“You cannot go back in there, Dex. You were preventing the healers from helping her.”
“She is dead.” He had watched her stop breathing, her lips turn blue. “Let me be with her.”
The pain that filled him made his heart stutter. Waves of nausea assaulted him. She was gone. His mate was gone.
“Let them try and save her,” Koran implored.
Dex felt the fight drain out of him. There was nothing they could do. There was nothing anyone could do.
Zoey was dead. And there was no doubt in his mind that he would soon follow her.
“Can you feel her?” Koran asked, not moving from his position on Dex’s chest.
“What?” Feel her? How could he touch her when he was pinned to the ground?
“Through your bond? Can you feel her?”
Even though he thought it a pointless exercise, Dex let his shields drop and fully opened himself to the bond.
Nothing. Except… there was a tiny flicker of life. Hope surged through him and he took a deep breath. Zoey.
“She’s alive,” he spoke hoarsely. “Get off me.”
“You cannot go in there,” Koran warned. “Not until Thor gives permission.”
“I will not do anything to risk her.” He’d wait out here, even though it killed him to do so. Because they had brought her back.
She was alive.
Koran nodded at the other warriors and they all slowly moved away. Dex sprang up. They watched him warily, ready to grab him if he made any move toward the door, but he’d meant what he said. The only reason he had lost control was because he thought Zoey was dead.
His sanity couldn’t survive losing her. Dex wouldn’t survive losing her. She was his everything.
When Zoey had fallen into unconsciousness, he had wasted no time in getting her to the medical center.
The healers on duty had been examining her when Thor had arrived. It was just as Thor got to her side that Zoey had stopped breathing.
Dex had exploded with grief. Koran, who had arrived with Thor, rushed into the room. Thor had ordered him to leave when Dex had started throwing healers out of his way to get to her side.
He’d refused, naturally. Which is how he’d found himself pinned on the floor in the waiting area.
Wearily, he sat on a seat in the waiting room and closed his eyes, just holding on to that flicker.
Stay alive. Stay alive.
What the hell had happened? Why had Zoey collapsed? Was it his fault? Was it something he had done?
“Dexanon?” a male voice asked. He raised his head, glancing over to see his parents and Fedora rushing inside. “What happened?”
A rush of gratitude filled him. Even though he knew it was hard for them to accept Zoey as his mate, they had come to support them.
“Zoey collapsed. She stopped breathing.”
His mother frowned while Fedora stepped forward and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Oh, Dex, how awful. What happened?”
He shook his head. “I do not know. I have no idea what is wrong with her.”
“We were told you had to be restrained,” his mother said, her disapproval clear.
“I thought my mate was dead.” He stared up at his mother in disbelief.
“But she will live?” Fedora asked.
“She must live. I cannot live without her.”
“Do not be dramatic, Dex,” his mother snapped at him.
“She is my mate!” He couldn’t believe she was being this way.
“She is human. There has been no mating ceremony and you have admitted that your bond was weak to begin with. If something were to happen to her, then you could carry on, find someone else.”
Dex stood, scowling at the woman who had given birth to him. The woman he had always held in the highest esteem. Was this seriously what he had wanted in a mate? Had he really wanted Zoey to look at his mother to see how a proper Zerconian female conducted herself?
“Get out.” He kept his voice low, his tone somewhat civil.
“Son—” his father began to say.
“All of you. Get out. If you cannot support my bond with Zoey, then you need to leave.”
There was movement behind him and he turned to find Koran standing there, backing him up.
“Clearly you are not thinking properly,” his mother replied. “You are letting your emotions rule your head.”
“Yes, I am.” He ignored their shocked looks. He didn’t care what they thought of him. A warrior was never supposed to give in to his emotions. Control was paramount.
Screw his control. Right now he cared about nothing but Zoey and every moment he argued with his family was a moment he could be concentrating on her. “Now leave.”
“She has had a detrimental influence on you, Dex,” his mother said even as his father pulled her away. “She cannot be a proper mate to you.”
“Get her away from me, Father, before I say something I will truly regret.”
He turned his back on his family, fury strumming through his body.
“Dex?” He turned his head as Fedora grew close, placing a hand on his arm. “May I stay?”
“If you are quiet.” Probably the wrong move, but all he cared about right now was Zoey. He held on to that flicker of life inside him. That hope that she would survive.
The door opened and Thor stepped into the waiting room. He glanced over at where Fedora had her hand on Dex’s arm and scowled. Dex stepped forward, shaking off Fedora’s hand.
“Is she well? Is she awake? Can I see her?” he asked.
Thor held up his hand. He looked exhausted, strained. “It was a battle to save her, but she is stable.”
Thank the stars.
“I need to see her.”
“Wait.” Thor gave him a somber look and his stomach dropped. His legs literally shook. Never had he felt this weak and helpless.
“What is it?” he asked.
“Do you have any idea where Zoey would have encountered a qola?”
“A qola? She was bitten by a qola?” Qola’s were well known for their deadly poison. They had a nasty temperament.
“It appears that a qola grazed her leg with its fangs.”
“But qola are only found in the desert. They are rarely seen near civilization,” Koran stated with a scowl.
Dex ran his hand over his head. “I do not understand it. When did she encounter one? Why did she not tell me?”
Thor ran his hand over his face. “The wound site looks hours old. The poison seeped into her bloodstream. She is very lucky to have survived. If the qola had sunk its fangs into her, there is nothing we could have done to save her.”
“Why did she show no effects if she encountered the qola hours ago?” Koran asked.
“Her immune system fought off the poison as best it could but once it reached her internal organs they began to shut down.”
“She stopped breathing.” Dex felt as though he’d taken a hundred punches to his gut.
“Yes,” Thor said solemnly. “Once we were aware of what was happening, we injected the antidote and immediately placed her into a regeneration chamber to heal her organs. But she is very weak.”
“Will she be all right?” Dex didn’t want to ask, but not knowing was worse.
“She is stable. You can sit with her. I hope she will awaken shortly.”
Ignoring everyone else, Dex strode into her room. He came to a stop as he saw Zoey lying on the bed. Hair, the color of the desert, lay like a cloud around her face. Dark lashes rested against cheeks so pale they appeared translucent. Tubes ran from her body and a monitor beeped
Had she e
ver looked so tiny? So helpless?
“I hate seeing her like this,” Thor said from behind him. “She is always so full of life. So vibrant. I keep expecting her to open her eyes and say something silly to cheer me up.”
Dex swallowed heavily, trying to remove the lump in his throat. “She will live.” He didn’t make it a question. He couldn’t make it a question.
She would live.
***
“Why has she not woken?” Dex demanded as he paced back and forth across the small room in the medical center where Zoey had been placed.
This room had become his prison. He never left. He couldn’t leave. Perhaps his fear was foolish, but he felt that as long as he remained by her side then she would be safe.
But the pale, whitewashed walls were closing in on him. The sterile scent of the medical center, the hushed tones, the beeping and constant surveillance, it grated on his nerves.
He was a man of action. These last few weeks of meetings and settling squabbles had already worn his temper thin.
Three days. Three torturous, never-ending, stress-filled days of sitting here by her bedside, waiting for her to wake up. It was as much as he could take.
“Unfortunately, I cannot tell you,” Thor stated. “Her organs have recovered. She is weak, but her heartbeat is regular and strong. She should be waking up.” There was frustration and worry in Thor’s voice.
Dex glanced at him, surprised by the strain evident on Thor’s face. He looked as exhausted as Dex felt.
“You should go home. Rest.”
Thor raised his eyebrows. “So should you.”
Neither of them would, though. The only time Dex left her side was to go to the bathroom. Since she’d collapsed, he’d barely eaten, barely slept.
He glanced over at Koran, who sat beside the bed. On the other side of the door, Dex knew he would find Boris standing guard. Either Macon or Jaxan generally kept him company. Giz snuffled and moved around on the bed, searching for a comfortable position.
Zoey might think that she had few friends, but she had inspired loyalty in a large number of people.
“Aunt Liula came in again,” Thor told him.
The first time his mother had come to visit, Dex had allowed her inside Zoey’s room. That had been a mistake he hadn’t repeated. He had actually assumed his mother might have come to apologize. To make peace. To at least check on his mate.
