Chapter 57
CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN
Cylus isn’t going fast enough, damn it.
Ever since he entered the room, he’s been so maddeningly calm. Moving with care, approaching Sofi slowly.
He’s gentle with her, at least. I suppose I should be grateful for that—else I’d likely be severing one of his tails right about now. The twin whips aren’t thrashing around like they normally do, though. They’re both as quiet as he is when he reaches out to cup Sofi’s cheek in his hand.
The healer turns her head, his icy blue-gray gaze climbing over her every minute feature. “You said she’s hurt?” he prompts, his voice thick.
I have to assume so. I was an animal with her. A beast. Fresh fear chokes me each time I recall how out of my mind I’ve been. How easily I could have bitten her or torn her apart.
The pink scratches over her flawless cream skin are proof of that. Not to mention the shadows along her waist and her thighs—thin lines from where my tail gripped her. Much too insistently.
It’s my own fucking fault for keeping myself from her as long as I did. And lacking the common sense to know my usual methods of hiding these ruts wouldn’t work anymore—not now that she’s aware of our connection.
I owe her so many apologies. For hiding the truth. For inadvertently luring her here with my need. For existing at all—and being the reason she can never go home.
I still can’t believe she wanted to help me. Not when I haven’t done a single thing worth respecting since she arrived.
Despite my shortcomings, my mate is so deeply, hopelessly good. She refused to leave my side or let me continue suffering. She was brave. Fearless, even. My very own goddess.
The dull ache in my knots agrees, my spent cocks still giving a twitch when I recall the utter possession that gilded Sofi’s gaze. How she mounted me and used me until I was able to think clearly again.
After gods know how many rounds, my poor fallen star collapsed into an exhausted slumber. But not before she had taken each of my cocks in every imaginable way.
Sofi’s lashes flutter as she sleeps on, humming quietly. Still unconscious, she rubs her face against Cylus’s palm, likely leaving a swath of her scent on his skin.
Possession and tenderness fill my chest. Burning. Bleeding. Swelling into a sort of pride I’ve never felt before.
This wondrous little creature is my mate.
“Tell me,” Cylus says, low and rumbling. Likely squashing down a purr like I am.
I realize I don’t have to anymore. In fact, I should be purring for my omega.
As my chest begins to rattle, I round the bed and slide in behind her, wrapping an arm over her soft, curved torso. She sinks into the embrace with the kind of trust that twists my hearts round one another. I can barely get my words out with how deeply my chest vibrates for her.
By the time I reach the end of my explanation, Cylus has moved to sit on the other side of the sleeping pad. He traces one of the scratches on her shoulder, listening thoughtfully as he scans a small device over her body.
I’m surprised I don’t feel murderous at the thought of him moving our sheets to tend to her. It isn’t my favorite thought, perhaps, but if she needs him to see her naked…
A slew of wholly inappropriate images flood my mind. I’m not sure if it’s an after-effect of the rut, or the night I shared my mate with Rask, but the thought of sharing her with another alpha… directing her pleasure… proving I can do it better…
Cylus notices the spike in my scent and turns toward me. I brace for his disgust or exasperation. Instead, the Chief Healer’s eyes gleam.
Almost… flashing.
Instead of commenting on the change, his even voice reports, “Her readings are quite normal. Optimal, in fact. Heart rate and oxygen saturation are textbook. Her hormones have even rebalanced themselves. In fact, I believe you might have sparked the start of her courses. Which means she’ll heat in approximately two spans. ”
Two spans?
It’s no time at all. Especially when one considers Mortana’s insistence on a Presentation. And—
Everyone will expect us to bond.
More images rush through my head. Thoughts of my fangs piercing her creamy skin, leaving a mark for every alpha to see…
I can’t quite swallow past the thick bolt of longing that sticks in my throat. It makes my words hoarse. “I see. I will alert the staff and make sure her chamber is stocked for her courses. Thank you.”
I should apologize for panicking and dragging Cylus away from his work without warning. Especially to bring him here, where our scents are so enmeshed. I know there was something building between them before all this—it’s cruel to force him to stand here now, breathing her in. Unable to have her.
Cylus doesn’t flinch away from Sofi, though. Which is odd, considering she’s covered in my seed.
One of his tails begins to tap against the floor. His dilated eyes peer across the space between us. “We’ll need to tell her when she wakes: Rask is gone. He left on a ship this afternoon to meet an incoming Drakosian attack.”
My stomachs drop to my feet. I feel my hearts beat there, the panicked pulse reverberating in every corner of my body. So loud, I barely hear the healer’s next statement.
“I don’t believe that’s our biggest issue at the moment, though.”
Outrage strikes me. Anger for my mate, who will be devastated, and my idiot best friend, for potentially forfeiting his life. “What could possibly be worse than that?” I demand.
Cylus blinks, then gazes at Sofi. She burrows closer to the hand he’s left under her cheek, and his clawed thumb traces her flat eyebrow. As he turns back to me, his eyes change completely. Beaming iridescent white.
Brimming with blinding light.
“Sofi? Your mate?” he says, utterly earnest. “She is my mate, too.”