Chapter Twenty-Six
Elaina
Drazien pulled me along, growling at any alpha who looked my way. I was too shocked to resist, still trying to figure out how this could have happened.
There were supposed to be symptoms to warn me. I should have known my heat was coming.
We had just made it to the landing at the High Ledge when I hissed and looked down at my arm. Tiny spots of red bloomed, as if someone had thrown red glitter all over the arm closest to the ravine.
“Zorrash!”
I’d never heard Drazien curse, but I knew the word he snarled from overhearing it. Between that and the tiny pricks of pain, my brain finally caught up and started working again.
“Dravakh’raeshk.”
I tipped my head, trying to work out the phrase, but he’d never used the last part before.
“Trouble?”
He’d pulled me deeper into the cavern where I was protected from the wind by one of the massive pillars. Taking my arm, he turned it to inspect the wounds.
“Trouble stalks. Specifically, you, rethari. Shaevrin is being merciless.”
I looked from him back down at my arm. None of the spots had grown larger than a pinhead, but the act of climbing the stairs had cleared my mind enough for me to understand.
“Veyr’karin?”
I’d never seen him look so…
I couldn’t even name it. I didn’t want to call it defeated, but that was the closest I could come.
“Even if I could get you to the shuttle, it can’t take off with the winds like this. And you—”
He let out a breath as if he couldn’t bring himself to finish. Cramps were still tightening my middle, I felt a fine sheen of sweat along my spine, and the scent of him kept pulling at me, but I could think well enough to make my decision.
Placing my hand over his, I let a small smile pull up my lips.
“Or, perhaps Shaevrin is preventing us from making a mistake.”
His confusion was clear, and he frowned down at me as if I’d said something insane. Perhaps it was, but when I considered what I had here versus what was left for me back on Earth, the choice was obvious.
“I want to stay, Drazien.”
He blinked, as if it took him just as long to process what I’d said as it had taken me to come to terms with going into heat.
Snapping into action once more, he stepped around me and tried to pull me back down the stairs we had just climbed.
“I can take you to the Karzhari. They help omegas through their heat when they don’t want to bond. There are special medicines—”
I kept my feet planted, forcing him to stop or risk pulling me down the stairs.
“Drazien.”
His eyes met mine, the pupils narrowed into thin slits of black bisecting the dark blue. His chest was heaving, but I knew it wasn’t from the climb, and his kethra were glowing blue instead of their usual, steady violet.
“I’m staying,” I repeated, squeezing his hand.
When he continued to stare at me, I huffed a laugh and reached up to cup his cheek. We still hadn’t talked everything through, but the thought of leaving him, of letting all of this go, felt wrong.
I was tired of taking the safe path.
“I told you I had planned to leave. Had. I wanted to feel like I was still in control of my life. But being here, learning your language and culture, has been a dream come true.
“Fear made me think mating a Morraki would be terrible, but then you teased me mercilessly, irritated me to the point I wanted to pull out my hair, and showed in too many little ways to name that you were trying.”
My chest hitched as I sucked in a breath to continue.
“You still need me to catch the rebels. And if you can forgive me for keeping things from you, I can forgive you, too.”
Drazien searched my face as if he expected to find hesitation hidden somewhere, but I was certain. I’d been ready to say I wanted to stay before the incident with the cart, and even though our secrets had rocked my confidence, it hadn’t changed what I wanted.
“You don't understand, Elaina.”
His voice had dropped to little more than a rough whisper, but I reached out and placed my fingers over his lips.
Firm lips that caught my focus for a heartbeat before I said, “I do.”
Pulling away from my touch, he shook his head as I frowned up at him.
“No. This is only what you want now. It may be different than what you want when your trehvyr is over.”
Another cramp tightened my abdomen, stronger than the last and forcing a thin whine from my throat. I’d imagined menstrual cramps when they said it was a symptom of heat, but these were worse than anything I’d experienced before the serum.
I sucked in a slow breath and waited for it to ease before answering.
“I've spent my entire life making decisions because I didn’t want to rely on anyone else. I didn’t believe a relationship could be permanent since everyone I cared about left me.”
His expression didn't change, but I saw something flicker in those dark eyes.
“My mother, my uncle, my nannies, my friends…”
I gave a small, humorless laugh.
“Why would I think mating an alien would be any different?”
He lowered his gaze, shoulders drooping.
“Being alone hardens the soul.”
“No.”
I stepped closer until only a handspan separated us.
“It teaches you what’s fake and what’s real. It teaches you to treasure those who truly care. I believe what you’ve shown me is real, even when you weren’t telling me everything.”
The scent rolling from him wrapped around me again, rain and warm stone filling my lungs until it became difficult to think about anything else. I forced myself to continue before instinct stole the words from me.
“I wanted to stay before the attack.”
His jaw tightened and his chest barely moved as he stared at me as if his life hung on my next words.
“And now?”
I placed my hands on his chest, his flesh jumping beneath my palms as he stiffened. My mouth watered with the desire to lick where his pulse fluttered in his throat, but I couldn’t reach unless I dragged myself up his body.
“I still do.”
The wind howled through the openings along the High Ledge, carrying fine grains of red sand mixed with shards of glass that looked like they had been made from blood. People hurried down from above and moved deeper into the tunnels, but we stood frozen behind the pillar.
“I'm choosing this, Drazien. I'm choosing Morrakan.”
I swallowed, suddenly finding the next words far more difficult as I tried to focus once more.
“And... I'm choosing you.”
For a heartbeat, he simply stared. The fierce alpha who had faced rebels and who knew how many battles without hesitation looked utterly lost.
“You—”
His voice broke and he swallowed as his hands came up to my back. His tail was curled around me as tight as it could be without causing pain, and I knew he’d been holding back.
He still wanted me.
“You are certain?”
I huffed a laugh.
“As certain as I can be about something I don’t completely understand.”
He twitched before locking his muscles once more.
“Your heat—”
I cut him off.
“Isn't making this decision. It might be rushing the forgiveness, and making me impatient for the make-up part of this fight though.”
Despite everything, his mouth twitched, and that smirk I’d missed so much returned full force.
“We can make-up right here…”
I rolled my eyes as he leaned down but let out a moan when his nose stroked the side of my neck. My skin tingled from the brief touch, and I gasped a moment later when his tongue followed along the same path.
“Wasn’t there something about a special Hall for this?”
Another wave of warmth washed through me as I leaned into his frame, his erection digging into my belly. The cavern was suddenly too hot, and my skin prickled beneath my clothing.
Drazien stiffened and stepped back, his tail the only thing keeping him from pulling out of arm’s reach.
“You’re in heat.”
I tried to close the distance between us, but he backed away, holding up his hands and keeping his tail stiff so I couldn’t press against him again.
“I know.”
“We should—”
He hissed and turned his head. It was enough for me to snap out of the fog that had descended over my thoughts again.
His skin was too dark for me to see the blood, but I scented it. He’d stepped back too far, leaving the protection of the column.
“Drazien—”
I shifted to move closer to him, but he kept his hand between us.
“Why are you—”
I was cut off again as footsteps approached from behind me. Drazien’s focus moved over my shoulder, and while he finally took a step closer so that he was safe from the glass in the wind, his face had hardened into sharp lines.
Following the direction of his gaze, I spotted four Morraki hurrying towards us.
Three were shrouded from head to toe in robes, even their tails hidden beneath the snapping fabric.
Behind them came Rhydek, his massive frame nearly filling the width of the tunnel they came from, nothing more than a hand held up to protect his face.
“There you are. We were worried when you didn’t respond at your meyr’kal.”
Drazien frowned, looking from Rhydek to the other three figures.
“I did not summon the Karzhari yet.”
Rhydek folded his arms, one brow raised. He stood beyond the protection of the column as if the storm winds were nothing more than a pleasant breeze.
“There were reports from others.”
One of the figures approached me, pulling her hood back and offering a reassuring smile. I wasn’t sure Morraki aged the same as Humans, but I would have guessed she was around my age, although one of the others sported wrinkles around her watchful eyes.
“Elaina, we are here to help you prepare.”
My hand moved to Drazien’s tail, still looped around me, and my fingers tightened instinctively. I narrowed my eyes, baring my teeth at her before I realized what I was doing.
“He’s mine.”
Her smile didn’t change.
“He is.”
Her calm voice settled something inside me.
“But it is time. To claim him properly, you must come with me.”
Drazien’s tail slipped from my waist, and he stepped forward before I could respond to what she’d said.
“I was giving her the chance to leave.”
Four sets of strange eyes turned to me, one worried, two shocked, and one that remained calm and patient.
Rhydek’s mouth opened but it was the older Karzhari who spoke.
“The choice is yours, luthra. This alpha, another, or spending your trehvyr alone?”
Drazien and I both snarled at the suggestion of another alpha, and the faintest smile lifted the elder Morraki’s lips. Still, I took a calming breath before responding since I didn’t want them to think I was being influenced by my heat.
“I choose to be with Drazien.”
Rhydek moved between us with the ease of someone who expected Drazien’s reaction to my words. A dark brown hand landed in the middle of Drazien’s chest, a scarred tail winding around his to keep it from coiling around me once more.
“You know the tradition.”
His voice was low and calm, a contrast to Drazien’s bared teeth and deep growl.
“I don't care about tradition.”
Rhydek made a noise that was somehow both a laugh and a scoff.
“You don’t now, but you will.”
His voice remained steady even when he had to sidestep with Drazien to keep us separated.
“Drazien, this isn’t about you.”
Drazien froze but his eyes never left mine, his chest heaving under Rhydek’s palm.
“She needs the chance to prepare without an alpha's instincts overwhelming both of you.”
Drazien’s voice was calmer when he said, “I won't lose control,” but there was a crease between his brows. Rhydek was silent for a long moment before speaking again.
“Are you willing to risk losing her? Or condemning her to Dravkai’kiren?”
The question seemed to strike him harder than any fist could have. I saw it in the way Drazien flinched, finally pulling his gaze from me.
I knew I should have been able to understand the word, but kiren was too similar to karin.
I knew kai was negative, but my thoughts were too heavy to move them towards something that made sense.
All I was certain of was that it would have been bad for me, because Drazien closed his eyes and let out a soft, “No.”
The single word seemed to cost him, but when he looked at me again, the panic I'd seen earlier had given way to something steadier. Not confidence, but perhaps something I could call hope.
“I'll be waiting.”
I swallowed hard, instincts telling me not to let my alpha out of my sight even as the Karzhari moved to my sides and looped their arms through mine.
“I know,” I said as they turned me.
My eyes stung, but I couldn’t pull them from him as I was led away. Something in my chest felt like it was ripping. Like there were claws tearing at my organs to keep me from allowing more space between us, but I let the Karzhari pull me away until Drazien disappeared from view.
His eyes had followed every step, holding promises I planned to make him keep. He was trusting me to choose my own path, but the path to him led away first.
Sucking in a deep breath, I solidified my resolve and let it hurry my steps. If they had to prepare me to be claimed by him, then I wouldn’t resist, because the sooner they were finished, the sooner I’d get to feel his skin on mine, his tail wrapped around me, and his cock filling me once again.
And then we could see if this bond they spoke of was real.