“You have my thanks,” I tell her. The exhaustion that was in Har-loh’s eyes seems to have transferred over to the healer. No doubt the woman is exhausted from caring for my mate all day.
She nods slowly, and her gaze moves to Har-loh. “Her khui is still very tired.” Her voice is so soft I can barely hear it, and I lean forward so I do not miss a word. “Her body…it was not doing well before she took on the khui. It has had to work hard to keep her healthy. Now with the baby, it is struggling.”
I nod. She told me this earlier, though it is no less terrifying to hear it a second time. “What can I do?”
“The kit will probably come early,” she says, reaching a hand out as if to touch Har-loh’s stomach. “Her body cannot make enough nourishment for it, and when it grows hungry enough, it will seek its way out. We must be ready.”
I nod slowly. Then Har-loh must stay here, with the healer.
And I must stay with her.
I gently stroke Har-loh’s hand, even as Maylak gets to her feet and settles her child in a nearby bed, then crawls in the furs next to her mate. Now it is just me with Har-loh, and my searing thoughts. Her khui struggles to keep her well. What if she were to become hurt out at our sea cave? Or what if we resonated again? The healer herself carries a kit in her belly and one in her arms.
If I take her away from here…it will be her death.
The thought is agony. And I think of Vektal’s hard face, and his reminder that he will make the decisions for Har-loh, even if they are not what I want.
To save my mate, I might lose her.
I hold her hand and brush my lips against her skin, aching at the thought. My life was nothing but loneliness before her. The thought of losing my sweet mate?
It will destroy me.
HARLOW
A big, warm body is curled up next to mine as I wake up, and for the first time in what feels like forever, my side doesn’t ache. I open my eyes and stare at an unfamiliar ceiling, then touch my belly to make sure my baby is still there. It flutters under my touch, reassuring me, and I turn to look at my mate.
Rukh sleeps on, oblivious to the fact that I’m awake, and I simply gaze at him, soaking in his peaceful sleeping expression. His fingers are linked with mine, and he’s squeezed in against the rock wall, which doesn’t look comfortable. Meanwhile, I’m lying on a padded wealth of furs and feel really good. I wiggle my toes, unwilling to get up and face the day just yet.
There’s a soft hum of voices in the distance, at once familiar and yet strange. It’s been a year since I woke up to the sleepy sounds of the tribe. They’re so strangely…noisy. I absently squeeze Rukh’s hand. It can’t be easy for my poor loner to be here. Being around me was a shock to his system. Being around a tribe of forty-something? It must be making him insane. I feel a twinge of unhappy guilt at the thought.
Lips nuzzle my ear, and I feel the flick of a ridged tongue against my earlobe. “You’re awake,” Rukh says, voice gruff and sleepy.
I snuggle closer to him – or at least, as close as my ungainly body will allow. “Did you sleep okay?”
“No.”
Always honest, my mate. Heh. “Too many people around?”
“They are everywhere,” he says thickly. His fingers caress my cheek. “I am surprised they do not stumble over one another.”
I chuckle. “It’s not that bad, but I will be ready to go back to our home soon, I imagine.”
Rukh is silent. He kisses my temple and gets up from the bed. “I will wake the healer.”
“No, I’m fine,” I protest, but Maylak is already rising from her bed across the cozy den. She gives me a sleepy smile and adjusts her leathers around her body, smoothing the round bump of her belly. It’s so weird to see her a year later and she’s no more pregnant than she was the last time I saw her. I sincerely hope I don’t carry my baby the full three years that the sa-khui do. I don’t know if I’ll be able to stand being pregnant and swollen for much longer.
“How do you feel, Harlow?” Maylak asks.
Rukh lowers to a crouch next to my bed, as if guarding me. I move to sit up, and my mate is immediately there, arranging the furs and adjusting things to try and make me more comfortable. “Do you need more cushioning? Shall I get you more furs?”
“I’m just fine,” I tell him. “Really.” The worried look doesn’t leave his face, and I’m torn between exasperation and sympathy. This is all new to Rukh, I remind myself. He’s not familiar with the hospital bed situation.