Chapter Forty
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“HOW MANY PLACES HAVE we searched now?” Monica asked grumpily as they drove away from the house they’d stayed in last night.
“I haven’t kept count, female,” Nazab said. “Is something wrong?”
“I’ve got cramps,” she muttered, hunching over.
“Cramps?” he asked with a frown. “Are you sick? Cambions don’t usually suffer from human ailments.”
“They might have if you’d let more of them live to reach puberty,” she muttered.
“Oh,” he said in realization. “Those sorts of cramps.”
“Yeah,” she agreed with a grimace. “I don’t know if I’ll be up to using my power on anyone today. You might have to kill any bad guys we come across without my help.”
“Or we could avoid the bad guys and you can have a rest day,” Nazab suggested.
“You mean I won’t have to shoot at tree stumps?” she asked, perking up a bit.
“Not if you don’t want to,” he said, willing to do whatever it took to make her feel better.
“This happens every month,” Monica said.
“So I’ve heard,” the knight said.
She made a face at him. “What I mean is, my monthlies hit me harder than average. Sometimes, I’m out of action for three days until the cramps ease up.”
“They affect you for that long?” he asked in surprise.
“Yep,” she confirmed, wincing in pain. “Lots of women suffer like I do, so I’m not alone, I guess.”
“What can I do to alleviate your pain, female?” he asked in concern.
“Lying down with a hot water bottle is about the only thing that works,” Monica told him. “You could just leave me in our next base and scout the locations on your own,” she added.
“I’m not going to abandon you in your time of need,” he said firmly. “Our search for my brothers can wait until you’ve recovered.”
“You got a raw deal,” she said with an eyeroll. “Not only am I missing part of my leg, I get debilitating cramps every month as well. I bet none of your brothers’ mates are as pathetic as I am.”
Her tone was glum and he reached over to take her hand. “Fate gave me my ideal match, Monica Yamil,” he said. “To me, you’re perfect just as you are.”
“Aww,” she said, tearing up a bit. “Sorry, I get emotional at this time of the month, too,” she confessed.
Nazab had never been around a female in this condition before and he hated that she was suffering.
He drove for a couple of hours before pulling into a long driveway.
He could tell even from a distance that the large white house had been abandoned.
Scanning it when he drove closer, his hunch was confirmed.
“Wait here for a moment and I’ll make sure there’s nothing dangerous inside the house,” he said.
The front door was unlocked when he tried it. A glance at the garage confirmed the occupants had probably driven to their church on the night of the Rapture. The beds were dusty, but no one had vanished from them, leaving their nightclothes behind.
Glancing around the kitchen, dining area and living room on his way back to the door, he shook his head. It was too filthy for her to sit down on any of the furniture, so he quickly dusted off a dining chair.
Monica’s face was pale and pinched when he returned to the truck. He opened her door and carried her inside. “I’ll clean the couch, then you can lie down and rest,” the knight said.
She nodded and remained hunched over on the chair.
Nazab carried the couch cushions outside to beat the dust off them.
He found a couple of blankets in the linen cupboard upstairs.
Carrying them downstairs, he covered the couch with them, then deposited her on it.
“Let’s make you more comfortable,” he said, then removed her shoe and prosthesis.
“Thanks, Nazab,” Monica said with a wan smile. “I feel better already.”
He leaned down and pressed his lips against her forehead. “I’ll see if I can find you a hot water bottle,” he said.
Returning upstairs, the warrior searched the bedrooms and found three hot water bottles on a shelf in a closet.
“I hope this will work,” he said, returning downstairs.
He’d noticed the kitchen had a gas stove and tested it to find it was operational.
He took a large pot out of a cupboard, then filled it with bottled water, since the faucet wasn’t working.
He boiled water, then filled one of the water bottles with the steaming liquid.
Monica’s eyes were closed, but she was still awake when he returned to her. “Here, my sweet,” he said, placing the hot water bottle against her flat stomach. He’d wrapped it in a towel, since it was wet.
“I love you, Nazab,” his female murmured, holding it against her stomach.
He knew she was half-asleep, but his heart still lurched. “I love you, too, my beautiful mate,” he said softly, brushing loose strands of her reddish-blonde hair behind her ear.
Nazab spent three days looking after his female.
He changed her hot water bottles, prepared her meals, carried her to the bathroom when required and lay beside her in the master bed at night.
He’d cleaned the bedroom and the downstairs area while she’d slept.
When she was awake, they talked about their lives, getting to know each other even better.
He knew she’d been lonely even though everyone liked her.
How could they not when she had such an engaging personality?
“Why couldn’t my Aunt Pansy love me?” she asked him plaintively on their third night sharing a bed. Her cramps were easing and he hoped she would be better in the morning.
“Some people prefer to be alone,” he figured. “She never found someone she wanted to marry and she didn’t have children of her own. I imagine she saw taking on her sister’s youngling as a burden.”
“That’s what she made me feel like,” Monica said. “I wish I’d gotten to know my mom before she was murdered. I’ll never know if she loved me or if I was just a burden to her, too.”
Nazab held his cambion as she sobbed on his chest. “She loved you, female,” he said soothingly. “If she didn’t, she would have given you up for adoption, or left you at a hospital after you were born.”
“You really think so?” she asked, taking the tissue he handed to her. He’d placed a box of tissues on the nightstand since she’d been so emotional during her cramps.
“I know so,” he said. “Everyone with a gray soul we’ve met so far has liked you. Only people with dark hearts wouldn’t find you charming.”
She blew her nose and he tossed the tissue into the wastebasket near the bed. “You always make me feel better,” she said as she snuggled against him. Her hand came to rest on the tattoo on his chest as her breathing evened out.
“It’s my job to keep you safe and happy,” Nazab said, stroking her hair. She’d fallen asleep and didn’t hear him, but he didn’t need her to hear his words. He would prove how much she meant to him through his actions and make sure she would never doubt his motives.
He lay awake for a long time, holding his slumbering mate as he worried about their future. They’d driven hundreds of miles by now, crisscrossing the state in search of his brothers. Nazab knew he would find them eventually. He just hoped Monica wouldn’t feel ostracized for being the only cambion.
“My brothers’ mates won’t have the same lifespan as we do,” he said beneath his breath so he didn’t wake Monica up. “They’ll grow old and pass away a few decades after we return to the Void. How long will my mate have to exist without me at her side once I’m gone?”
The thought of her living all alone for eons haunted him when he finally drifted off to sleep.