Chapter 20 #2
“I gave that robot back its core, it’s damaged but it probably still works,” I confessed.
That gave me much greater worry than the water and darkness that surrounded us.
I was trying not to think about the prospect of having to dive beneath the rock to escape this tunnel.
It was our only option, so I was going to have to suck it up and do it.
Zeidon shrugged his shoulder, then hissed when that made his ribs ache, but he did not let go of me.
“It is what it is. We will deal with him later. The others? Did they get freed?” I felt a little guilty for not even having spared them a single thought.
Our doors had closed, but so had theirs.
That, I’d seen on the screens as Zeidon had raced us for the water and our intended exit.
I had no clue, and I had not purposely included them in my demands for release; I had only thought of Zeidon drowning the longer I took.
His life and safety had been all that filled my mind.
I shook my head, “I don’t know. I only demanded he release our doors so you could get out.
You were drowning Zeidon, I thought he might have killed you when that hatch slammed down on your chest.” I shuddered against him, and my throat closed up with emotion at the recollection.
I could have lost him, again. Clutching him tighter around his neck, I mumbled against his scaly throat. “I love you, Zeidon.”
That was quick, we had only known each other such a short time, although it was longer for Zeidon as he cared for me when I was sick and unconscious.
My dad always did say I wore my heart on my sleeve; it was the biggest reason I’d given up on dating back on Earth.
I’d gotten hurt a few times when I fell in love but my feelings weren’t returned, or I’d discover they weren’t who I thought they were.
It hadn’t seemed worth the risk, but with Zeidon? It definitely was.
“What?” Zeidon husked out against the crown of my head, his head buried against my wet, messy hair.
I could feel the warmth of his breath coast over my skin, feel how his agile, serpentine body held and surrounded me beneath the water.
He felt so strong and vital now, but I could not shake the moment from my mind when he’d been limp and unconscious, his markings fading. “What did you say?”
His bioluminescent glow was not quite bright enough for me to properly read his expressions, but I made an attempt anyway.
Tilting my head back, I leaned against his arms so I could see his eyes.
I thought that maybe he looked a little shocked and baffled but why would he be?
Did he not expect me to say that? Was I moving too fast?
A hint of fear shivered through me but it faded almost immediately; no, that was not it.
He called me his mate, his forever partner, this was about something else, language.
“I love you, Zeidon,” I said louder, so I knew he couldn’t have heard me wrong.
Like conquering the water, this was another thing I could do with more confidence.
I’d grown; learned things about myself I hadn’t thought I had in me.
I didn’t feel like a regular Jane now, not after I’d made a robot back down and release us, not after I’d become the precious mate to a male as sexy and caring as Zeidon.
He was silent for a long, drawn-out moment and it felt like my heart stuttered in my chest as I waited for his response.
He seemed to be thinking about it, his head cocked at an angle, his eyes roving my face.
“You love me. You love me? That’s…” The green shine of his eyes drifted to my right, where Srazz clung to the rocks and watched us, Buzz’s lavender eyes peering at us from his back.
The man seemed so confused that I brushed away my own uncertainty to cup the side of his face and stroke the edge of his jaw. “Yeah love, you know that warm fuzzy feeling you have for those you care about, but it’s more, stronger, when it’s for your mate, your lover…”
He held me tighter, protecting me against the chill of the river.
Then he did that thing he always liked to do; he clasped the back of my head and held me so he could take my mouth for a kiss.
His tongue tangled with mine, his taste flooding my senses.
It was saltwater and spice, it was a taste all him, and a pleasure I’d known only in his arms. “Yesss,” he hissed against my lips.
“We are mates, and mates love. You love me,” he sounded like it was a revelation to him.
“I love you, but you love me too because you are human.”
His kiss barely left me with the faculties to parse the meaning of his words.
First, I just heard that he said it back, he loved me too.
Then I realized how sad the rest of that statement was, did he not expect me to love him?
Was that not what the females of his species did in return?
I recalled our conversations of his village and the way the males of his Clan were made to roam, and connected the dots.
It did seem that way. No wonder he craved a family just like I did, no wonder he wanted children and animals and a mate to fill that void.
“Yes, I love you, Zeidon,” I said when he pulled back to gasp for air.
The words brought forth a rough growl this time.
It filled the cavern and echoed back at us, a deep primal sound that made me aware of just how different he was from a human man.
This was Zeidon and he was barely civilized, a little wild, and a whole lot stubborn.
Too stubborn to give up on a small unconscious human, too stubborn to die, and too stubborn to give up on his dream.
I was going to make darn sure that he knew that he was loved for the rest of his life.