Chapter 6 #3
Am I just another burden you’re waiting to get rid of, like I’ve been to everyone else?”
I stop dead in my tracks. “NOooo, it’s not like that … How?” I point at the runes dancing across my chest, my own body reacting to her distress and acknowledgment. Taking her small hand in my own, I am mesmerized by her delicacy.
“You can thank ANDI. The moment you left to help the others on Ethra, I started researching your kind. Honestly, I was fascinated. A little star-struck, too, and you know how ANDI is when it comes to anything remotely romantic. Give him a hint of a love story, and he becomes obsessed.”
A small smile pulls at my lips when I picture her bent over a holo pad, practically stalking me on the other side of space. Her gray eyes seek out my own, and I know she is trying to figure out how I am processing all this information.
“He showed me your two forms and told me about your world, your culture, your history. And about the fact that your kind are just one of the few who can flourish this close to the Void, the same place where Ginger and several others were found.
I had nothing but time, so I used it to read everything I could find about your people and about this world and your role in it.”
She must have seen the question on my face.
Yes, there are still a thousand things I don’t know and I’m not pretending otherwise.”
Her gaze drops to my chest before rising to my eyes, and I am shocked by her next words.
“But I do know what happened on ANDI. You touch me willingly. From everything I’ve learned, that isn’t something your people do casually. Touch means something to your kind. You don’t offer it to strangers. You don’t give it to someone who means nothing to you.”
My thumb moves slowly over the back of her hand.
“And now you’re sitting here, holding my hand.”
I let the silence settle between us. My mind is trying to figure out the correct way forward.
“So, tell me why?”
The runes beneath my skin are moving again. Dancing. Glowing in intricate patterns that shift and pulse with an almost impossible rhythm. A rhythm in sync with her heart.
“So … Are you going to tell me why the runes on your chest are dancing in time with my heart? Or are you going to keep playing hard to get? Because I’m too old for games.
I’ve done the research, HaL. I know what your touch means. I know what those runes are doing. What I don’t know is why you’re still pretending this doesn’t mean something. So, tell me the truth.
Why does your body know what your mouth refuses to admit?”
“You don’t know everything, Dawn.” I watch her gray eyes flash and her cheeks flush, and I must hold back the smile that rarely graces my lips as I enjoy the fire in her soul.
“HaL, let me tell you what I do know. I am a twenty-six-year-old woman, who is touch and life-starved. A woman who finds you interesting and magical, not to mention beautiful in a way that you’re almost scary. But aside from looks, I know you raced across a barren landscape to save a stranger.
You carry the weight of your people on your shoulders and probably feel out of place among your own because of your father and the expectations you put on yourself as his son.
So, you understand more than most about what it’s like to watch from afar, to want to be a part of something, but know it’s not possible. But the one thing I need to know HaL, is … You didn’t know it was me the Korgons had taken, did you?”
“No.”
“See, that didn’t matter to you. You would have done the same for anyone; you are a good man. I know that your healer looks at you lovingly, and that you’ve sat by my side for days now. What am I to you, HaL? Am I just another random Earth girl lost in the cosmos?”
“You are my Mate, Dawn! The one I never dreamed of … or saw coming.”
She doesn’t seem shocked by my words; if anything, it’s relief and a little bit of worry I now see in her beautiful features.
“Were you really going to send me away?”
“I want to say yes, but the truth is ... it’s always going to be your choice, even if it destroys me.”
“What if I told you that I want to stay?”
“Then we will find a way. I will not pretend to know what our next step is. I ask that you have patience with me Roja, as I have no idea what to do with you … us.”
“HaL, the fact that you are willing to try is all that matters. And when you finally figure it out, you can tell me what this ‘Roja’ means. Until then, we will be clueless together. I am not a mind reader, and I have no idea how to live in your world. All I ask for is some patience with my ignorance and that you never go to bed mad at me. Mom used to say that was the key, to remember you were friends before you were lovers. Will you be my friend HaL?”
“I will be anything you need.”
My communicator keeps pinging to the point that I am ready to take it off and throw it across the room. With a small smile on her face, Dawn pulls her heated covers higher and scoots down into the bed, her eyes heavy as she fights the sleep her body desperately needs.
“HaL, I know you have responsibilities you need to tend to. You don’t need to stay here with me every moment. Go do your thing. I’ll be here when you get back.”
I am torn, my beast is roaring inside my head at the very thought of leaving her, but I know Bane and Oset are trying to get a hold of me for a reason.
Because I cannot stop myself, I run my finger down her silky cheek.
My entire body shivers as if I am cold, stimulated by the connection pulling me toward her all the time.
Within a tic, she is asleep, and when I hear Troza slide the door open, I make myself step back.
“You will stay with her until I can return?”
“I will not leave, HaL.”
Leaning down, I kiss Troza on the top of the head, earning a gasp from her as I’ve rarely done that since I was a youngling.